IlfCTJESIOK OP THE CAB1B8. 
37 
blush before the Spaniards at the name of the daughter of a 
traitor.” The soul of the tyrant (such is the belief of the 
natives) -wanders in the savannahs, like a flame that flies the 
approach of men.* 
The second historical event connected with the name of 
Valencia is the great incursion made by the Caribs of the 
Orinoco in 1578 and 1580. That cannibal horde went up 
the banks of the Guarico, crossing the plains or llanos. 
They were happily repulsed by the valour of Garcia Gon- 
zales, one of the captains whose names are still most revered 
in those provinces. It is gratifying to recollect, that the 
descendants of those very Caribs now live in the missions 
as peaceable husbandmen, and that no savage nation of 
Guiana dares to cross the plains which separate the region 
of the forests from that of cultivated land. The Cordillera 
of the coast is intersected by several ravines, very uniformlv 
directed from south-east to north-west. This phenomenon 
1S f e 5, eral ^ ronl Quebrada of Tocume, between Petares 
and Caracas, as far as Porto Cabello. It would seem as if 
the impulsion had everywhere come from the south-east; 
and this fact is the more striking, as the strata of gneiss and 
w j 1 f n V' ki'led that had and ambitious captain. We chose a Caballero 
of Seville, Fernando de Guzman, for king : and we swore fealty to him, 
as is done to thyself. I was named quarter-master-general: and because 
l did not consent to all he willed, he wauted to kill me. But I killed this 
new king, the captain of his guards, his lieutenant-general, his chaplain 
a woman, a knight of the order of Rhodes, two ensigns, and five or six 
domestics of the pretended kiug. 1 then resolved to punish thy ministers 
™ y ta tW (C0UnSe "° rS ., 0f th , e Glenda). I named captains and 
sergeants : these again wanted to kill me, hut I had tham all hanged. 
In the midst of these adventures we navigated for eleven months, till we 
reached the mouth of the river. We sailed more than fifteen hundred 
leagues. God knows how we got through that great mass of water. I 
advise thee, O great King, never to send Spanish fleets into that accursed 
nv ® r - God preserve thee in his holy keeping.” 
Tins letter was given by Aguirre to the vicar of the island of Mar- 
gareta, Pedro de Contreras, in order to he transmitted to King Philip II. 
ray Pedro Simon, Provincial of the Franciscans in New Grenada, saw 
several manuscript copies of it both in America and in Spain. It was 
prin ed, for the first time, in 1723, in the History of the Province of 
enezuela, by Oviedo, vol. i, p. 206. Complaints no less violent, on 
e conduct of the monks of the 16th century, were addressed dj^ctly to 
e pope by the Milanese traveller, Girolamo Benzoni. 
* See vol. i, p. 164. 
