45 
“ THE GILDED ETNO.” 
tie kingdom of Quito, wliere Luis Daza (1535) met w itli an 
nduin of New (Grenada, who had been sent by his prince 
yio doubt the zippa of Bogota, or the zag^iie of Tunja), to 
®>nand assistance from Atahunlpa, inca of Peru. This 
“■iDbassador boasted, as is usual, the wealth of his country; 
\vli ^ particidarly fixed the attention of the Spaniards, 
tTi^ asscHibled with Daza in the town of Tacuuga 
tdjlactacunga), was the history of a lord, “ who, his body 
overed with powdered gold, went into a lake amid the 
uountains.” This lake may have been the Laguna de 
0 ta, a little to the east ot Sogainozo (Iraca) and of Tunja 
t dunca, the town of TIuucahua), where two chiefs, eccle- 
■astieal and secular, of the empire of Cunduiamarca, or 
,’^*^^h™Diai’ea, resided ; but no historical remembrance being 
ached to this mountain lake, I rather suppose that it was 
le sacred lake of Guatavita, on the east of the mines of 
dock-salt of Zipaquira, into which the gilded lord was made 
i° I saw on its banks the remains of a staircase he wn 
Th T serving for the ceremonies of ablutioji. 
® Indians said that powder of gold and golden vessels 
ere thrown into this lake, as a sacrifice to the adomtorio de 
n Vestiges are still found of a breach, which was 
Tk + ^ Spaniards for the piu’pose of draining the lake. 
“® y®oiplo of the sun at Sogamozo being pretty near the 
j^Odtheru coasts of Terra Pinna, the notions of ‘ the gilded 
.'''■Ode soon applied to a high-pricst of the sect of 
”dhica, or Iiulacanzas, who every morning, before he per- 
orined his sacrifice, catised powder of gold to be stuck upon 
Otk ''*^*^* W'd i'ace, after they had been smeared with grease. 
. < ®d accounts, preserved in a letter ot Oviedo addressed to 
^ e celebrated cardinal Bembo, say, that Gonzalo Pizarro, 
at'tl^ discovered the province of cinnamon-trees, “ sought 
‘ time a great prince, noised in those countries, 
kp covered with powdered gold, so that from 
ha^fi roseinbled an imago of gold fashioned by the 
of a skilful workman (a una figura d’oro lavorato di 
oiTtk ^dionissimo orefice). The powdered gold is fixed 
Iri 1 means of an odoriferous resin ; but, as this 
na ot garment would be uneasy to him vvhile he slept, the 
! nee washes himself everj^ evening, and is gilded anew in 
le morning, which proves that the empire of El Dorado is 
