The discoverie of the large, rich, and beautifull Empire
of Guiana, with a relation of the great and golden citie
of Manoa (which the Spaniards call El Dorado) and the
provinces of Emeria, Aromaia, Amapaia, and other
countries, with their rivers adjoyning. Performed in
the yeere 1595 by Sir Walter Ralegh Knight, Captaine
of Her Majesties Guard, Lorde Warden of the Stanneries, and Her Highnesse Lieutenant Generall of the
Countie of Corne-wall.
The Epistle Dedicatorie of sor Walter Ralegh to the right honourable the L. Charles Howard knight of the Garter &c. and sir Robert Cecil, Councellour &c.
To the right Honourable my singular good Lord and
kinsman Charles Howard, Knight of the Garter, Baron
and Counceller, and of the Admirals of England the
most renowmed: and to the right Honourable Sir
Robert Cecyll knight, Counceller in her Highnesse Privie Councels.
FOR your Honours many Honourable and friendly partes,
I have hitherto onely returned promises, and now for
answere of both your adventures, I have sent you a
bundle of papers, which I have devided betwene your
Lordship, and Sir Robert Cecyll in these two respects
chiefly: First for that it is reason, that wastful factors,
when they have consumed such stockes as they had in
trust, doe yeeld some colour for the same in their account;
secondly for that I am assured, that whatsoever shall bee
done, or written by me, shall neede a double protection
and defence. The triall that I had of both your loves,
when I was left of all, but of malice and revenge, makes
me still presume, that you wil be pleased (knowing what
litle power I had to performe ought, and the great advantage of forewarned enemies) to answer that out of knowledge, which others shal but object out of malice. In my
more happy times as I did especially Hon. you both, so
I found that your loves sought mee out in the darkest
shadow of adversitie, and the same affection which accompanied my better fortune, sored not away from me in my
many miseries: al which though I can not requite, yet
I shal ever acknowledge: & the great debt which I have
no power to pay, I can do no more for a time but confesse to be due. It is true that as my errors were great,
so they have yeelded very grievous effects, & if ought
might have bene deserved in former times to have counterpoysed any part of offences, the fruit thereof (as it
seemeth) was long before fallen from the tree, & the dead
stocke onely remained. I did therefore even in the winter
of my life, undertake these travels, fitter for bodies lesse
blasted with mis-fortunes, for men of greater abilitie, and
for mindes of better incouragement, that thereby, if it
were possible, I might recover but the moderation of
excesse, & the least tast of the greatest plenty formerly
possessed. If I had knowen other way to win, if I had
imagined how greater adventures might have regained,
if I could conceive what farther meanes I might yet use,
but even to appease so powreful displeasure, I would not
doubt but for one yeere more to hold fast my soule in
my teeth, till it were performed. Of that litle remaine
I had, I have wasted in effect all herein. I have undergone many constructions. I have bene accompanyed with
many sorrowes, with labour, hunger, heat, sickenes, &
perill : It appeareth notwithstanding that I made no other
bravado of going to the sea, then was ment, and that I
was never hidden in
Cornewall, or els where, as was
supposed. They have grosly belied me, that forejudged,
that I would rather become a servant to the Spanish king,
then returne, and the rest were much mistaken, who
would have perswaded, that I was too easefull and sensuall to undertake a journey of so great travell. But, if
what I have done, receive the gracious construction of a
painefull pilgrimage, and purchase the least remission, I
shall thinke all too litle, & that there were wanting to
the rest many miseries. But if both the times past, the
present, and what may be in the future, doe all by one
graine of gall continue in eternall distast; I doe not then
know whether I should bewaile my selfe, either for my
too much travell and expence, or condemne my selfe for
doing lesse then that, which can deserve nothing. From
my selfe I have deserved no thankes, for I am returned
a beggar, and withered, but that I might have bettred
my poore estate, it shall appeare by the following discourse, if I had not onely respected her Majesties future
Honour, and riches. It became not the former fortune
in which I once lived, to goe journeys of picory, it had
sorted ill with the offices of Honour, which by her
Majesties grace I hold this day in England
, to run from
Cape to Cape, and from place to place, for the pillage of
ordinaries prizes. Many yeeres since, I had knowledge
by relation, of that mighty, rich and beautifull Empier of
Guiana
, and of that great and golden Citie, which the
Spaniards call El Dorado, and the naturals Manoa, which
Citie was conquered, reedified, and inlarged by a yonger
sonne of Guainacapa Emperour of Peru, at such time as
Francisco Pizarro and others conquered the said Empire,
from his two elder brethren, Guascar, and Atabalipa,
both then contending for the same, the one being favoured
by the Orejones of Cuzco, the other by the people of
Caxamalca. I sent my servant Jacob Whiddon the yere
before, to get knowledge of the passages, and I had some
light from Captaine Parker, sometime my servant, and
nowe attending on your Lordship, that such a place there
was to the Southward of the great Bay of Charuas, or
Guanipa: but I found that it was 600 miles farther off
then they supposed, and many other impediments to them
unknowen and unheard. After I had displanted Don
Antonio de Berreo, who was upon the same enterprize,
leaving my ships at Trinidad
, at the Port called Curiapan,
I wandred 400 miles into the said countrey by lande and
river: the particulars I will leave to the following discourse. The countrey hath more quantity of gold by
manifolde, then the best partes of the Indies, or Peru
:
All the most of the kings of the borders are already
become her Majesties vassals: and seeme to desire nothing
more then her Majesties protection and the returne of
the English nation. It hath another ground and assurance of riches and glory, then the voyages of the West
Indies, an easier way to invade the best parts thereof,
then by the common course. The king of Spaine is not
so impoverished, by taking three or foure Port townes
in America
, as wee suppose, neither are the riches of
Peru
, or Nueva Espanna so left by the sea side, as it
can bee easily washt away with a great flood, or springtide, or left dry upon the sandes on a lowe ebbe. The
Port townes are fewe and poore in respect of the rest
within the lande, and are of litle defence, and are onely
rich, when the Fleets are to receive the treasure for
Spaine: and we might thinke the Spaniards very simple,
having so many horses and slaves, if they could not upon
two dayes warning cary all the golde they have into the
land, and farre enough from the reach of our foote-men,
especially the Indies being (as they are for the most part)
so mountanous, so full of woodes, rivers, and marishes.
In the Port townes of the Province of Venezuela, as
Cumana
, Coro
and S. Iago (whereof Coro
and S. Iago
were taken by Captaine Preston, and Cumana
and S.
Josepho by us) we found not the value of one riall of
plate in either: but the Cities of Barquasimeta, Valencia
,
S. Sebastian, Cororo, S. Lucia, Laguna
, Maracaiba, and
Truxillo, are not so easely invaded: neither doeth the
burning of those on the coast impoverish the king of
Spaine, any one ducat: and if we sacke the river of
Hacha, S. Marta, and Cartagena
, which are the Portes
of Nuevo reyno, and Popayan
; there are besides within
the land, which are indeed riche and populous, the townes
and Cities of Merida, Lagrita, S. Christophoro, the great
Cities of Pamplon S. Fe de Bogota, Tunxa and Mozo
where the Esmeralds are found, the townes and Cities of
Marequita, Velez, la
Villa de Leva, Palma, Unda, Angustura, the great citie of Timana, Tocaima, S. Aguila,
Pasto
, Juago, the great Citie of Popaian it selfe, Los
Remedios, and the rest. If we take the Ports and villages
within the Bay of Uraba, in the kingdom or rivers of
Dariene, and Caribana, the Cities and townes of S. Juan
de Roydas, of Cassaris, of Antiocha, Caramanta, Cali
,
and Anserma have gold enough to pay the kings part,
and are not easily invaded by the way of the Ocean: or
if Nombre de Dios and Panama be taken in the Province
of Castilla del oro, and the villages upon the rivers of
Cenu & Chagre; Peru
hath besides those & besides the
magnificent cities of Quito
& Lima
so many ylands, ports,
cities, and mines, as if I should name them with the rest,
it would seem incredible to the reader: of all which,
because I have written a particular treatise of the West
Indies, I wil omit the repetition at this time, seeing that
in the said treatise I have anatomized the rest of the seatownes aswel of Nicaragua
, Iucatan, Nueva Espanna, &
the ylands, as those of the Inland, & by what meanes
they may be best invaded, as far as any meane judgement
can comprehend. But I hope it shal appeare that there
is a way found to answer every mans longing, a better
Indies for her Majestie then the King of Spaine hath
any: which if it shal please her highnes to undertake, I
shal most willingly end the rest of my daies in folowing
the same: if it be left to the spoile & sackage of common
persons, if the love & service of so many nations be
despised, so great riches, & so mighty an empire refused,
I hope her majesty wil yet take my humble desire and
my labor therin in gracious part, which, if it had not bin
in respect of her highnes future honor & riches, could
have laid hands on & ransomed many of the kings &
Casiqui of the country, & have had a reasonable proportion of gold for their redemption: but I have chosen
rather to beare the burden of poverty, then reproch, &
rather to endure a second travel and the chances therof,
then to have defaced an enterprise of so great assurance,
untill I knew whether it pleased God to put a disposition
in her princely & royal heart either to folow or foreslow
the same: I wil therefore leave it to his ordinance that
hath only power in all things, & do humbly pray that
your honors wil excuse such errors, as without the defence
of art, overrun in every part of the folowing discourse,
in which I have neither studied phrase, forme nor fashion,
that you will be pleased to esteeme mee as your owne
(though over dearly bought) and I shall ever remaine
ready to do you all honour and service.
W. R.
The Epistle of sir Walter Ralegh to the reader
To the Reader.
BECAUSE there have bin divers opinions conceived of the
gold oare broght from Guiana
, and for that an Alderman
of London & an officer of her Majesties Mint, hath given
out that the same is of no price, I have thought good
by the addition of these lines to give answer aswel to
the said malicious slander, as to other objections. It is
true that while we abode at the yland of Trinidad
, I was
informed, by an Indian, that not far from the Port, where
we ancored, there were found certaine mineral stones
which they esteemed to be gold, & were thereunto perswaded the rather for that they had seene both English
and Frenchmen gather, & imbark some quantities therof:
upon this likelyhood I sent 40. men & gave order that
each one should bring a stone of that mine to make trial
of its goodnes: which being performed, I assured them
at their returne that the same was Marcasite, & of no
riches or value: notwithstanding divers, trusting more
to their owne sence, then to my opinion, kept of the said
Marcasite, and have tried therof since my returne in
divers places. In Guiana
it selfe I never saw Marcasite,
but al the rocks, mountains, al stones in ye plaines,
woods, & by the rivers side are in effect throughshining,
and seem marvelous rich, which being tried to be no
Marcasite, are the true signes of rich minerals, but are
no other then El madre del oro (as the Spaniards terme
them) which is the mother of gold, or as it is said by
others the scum of gold: of divers sorts of these many
of my company brought also into England
, every one
taking ye fairest for the best, which is not general. For
mine own part I did not countermand any mans desire,
or opinion, & I could have aforded them litle if I should
have denied them the pleasing of their owne fancies
therein: but I was resolved that gold must be found either
in graines separate from the stone (as it is in most of
the rivers in Guiana
) or els in a kind of hard stone, which
we call The white spar, of which I saw divers hils, & in
sundry places, but had neither time nor men, nor instruments fit for labour. Neere unto one of the rivers I
found of the said White sparre or flint a very great ledge
or banke, which I endevoured to breake by al the meanes
I could, because there appeared on the outside some smal
graines of gold, but finding no meane to worke the same
upon the upper part, seeking the sides and circuit of the
said rocke, I found a clift in the same from whence with
daggers, and with the head of an axe, we got out some
smal quantitie therof, of which kind of white stone (wherin
gold ingendred) we saw divers hils and rocks in every
part of Guiana
, wherein we traveiled. Of this there have
bin many trials, and in London
it was first assaid by
M. Westwood a refiner dwelling in
Woodstreet, and it
held after the rate of 12000. or 13000. pounds a tunne.
Another sort was afterward tried by M. Bulmar & M.
Dimock Assay-master, & it held after the rate of 23000
li. a tunne. There was some of it againe tried by M.
Palmer comptroller of the Mint, and M. Dimock in goldsmiths hal, & it held after 26900. li. a tun. There was
also at the same time, & by the same persons a trial
made of the dust of the said mine which held 8 li. 6.
ounces weight of gold in the 100: there was likewise at
the same time a triall of an image of copper made in
Guiana
, which held a third part of gold, besides divers
trials made in the countrey, & by others in London
. But
because there came ill with the good, & belike the said
Alderman was not presented with the best, it hath pleased
him therefore to scandall all the rest, and to deface the
enterprize as much as in him lieth. It hath also bene
concluded by divers, that if there had bin any such oare
in Guiana
, and the same discovered, that I would have
brought home a greater quantitie thereof: first I was not
bound to satisfie any man of the quantitie, but such onely
as adventured, if any store had bin returned thereof: but
it is very true that had al their mountaines bene of massie
gold, it was impossible for us to have made any longer
stay to have wrought the same: and whosoever hath
seene with what strength of stone the best gold oare is
invironed, hee will not thinke it easie to be had out in
heapes, and especially by us, who had neither men, instruments, nor time (as it is said before) to performe the
same. There were on this discovery no lesse then 100.
persons, who can all witnesse, that when we past any
branch of the river to view the land within, and stated
from our boats but 6. houres, wee were driven to wade
to the eyes, at our returne: and if wee attempted the
same, the day following it was impossible either to ford
it, or to swim it, both by reason of the swiftnesse, and
also for that the borders were so pestred with fast woods,
as neither boat nor man could find place, either to land
or to imbarke: for in June, July, August and September,
it is impossible to navigate any of those rivers: for such
is the fury of the current, and there are so many trees
and woods overflowne, as if any boat but touch upon any
tree or stake, it is impossible to save any one person
therein: and yer we departed the land it ranne with such
swiftnes, as wee drave downe most commonly against
the wind, little lesse than 100. miles a day: Besides our
vessels were no other then whirries, one little barge, a
small cockboat, and a bad Galiota, which we framed in
hast for that purpose at Trinidad
, and those little boats
had 9. or 10. men a piece, with all their victuals, and
armes. It is further true, that we were about 400. miles
from our ships, and had bene a moneth from them, which
also we left weakly manned in an open road, and had
promised our returne in 15. dayes. Others have devised
that the same oare was had from Barbary, and that we
caried it with us into Guiana
: surely the singularitie of
that device I doe not well comprehend: for mine owne
part, I am not so much in love with these long voyages,
as to devise, therby to cozen my selfe, to lie hard, to fare
worse, to be subjected to perils, to diseases, to ill savors,
to be parched & withered, and withall to sustaine the
care & labour of such an enterprize, except the same had
more comfort, then the fetching of Marcasite in Guiana
,
or buying of gold oare in
Barbary. But I hope the better
sort wil judge me by themselves, & that the way of deceit
is not the way of honor or good opinion: I have herein
consumed much time, & many crownes, & I had no other
respect or desire then to serve her Majestie and my
country thereby. If the Spanish nation had bene of like
beliefe to these detracters, we should litle have feared or
doubted their attempts, wherewith we now are daily
threatned. But if we now consider of the actions both
of Charles the 5. who had the maidenhead of Peru
, and
the abundant treasures of Atabalipa, together with the
affaires of the Spanish king now living, what territories
he hath purchased, what he hath added to the acts of his
predecessors, how many kingdoms he hath indangered,
how many armies, garisons, & navies he hath and doth
mainteine, the great losses which he hath repaired, as in
88. above 100. saile of great ships with their artillery,
& that no yere is lesse unfortunate but that many vessels,
treasures, and people are devoured, and yet notwithstanding he beginneth againe like a storme to threaten
shipwrack to us all: we shall find that these abilities rise
not from the trades of sacks, and Sivil oringes, nor from
ought els that either Spaine, Portugal
, or any of his other
provinces produce: it is his Indian gold that indangereth
and disturbeth all the nations of Europe
, it purchaseth
intelligence, creepeth into counsels, and setteth bound
loyaltie at libertie, in the greatest Monarchies of Europe.
If the Spanish king can keepe us from forren enterprizes,
& from the impeachment of his trades, either by offer of
invasion, or by besieging us in
Britaine, Ireland
, or elsewhere, hee hath then brought the worke of our peril in
great forwardnes. Those princes which abound in treasure have great advantages over the rest, if they once
constraine them to a defensive war, where they are driven
once a yere or oftener to cast lots for their own garments,
and from such shal all trades, & entercourse be taken
away, to the general losse and impoverishment of the
kingdom and common weale so reduced: besides when
our men are constrained to fight, it hath not the like
hope, as when they are prest & incouraged by the desire
of spoile & riches. Farther, it is to be douted how those
that in time of victory seeme to affect their neighbor
nations, wil remaine after the first view of misfortunes,
or il successe; to trust also to the doubtfulnes of a battel,
is but a fearefull & uncertaine adventure, seeing therein
fortune is as likely to prevaile, as vertue. It shall not
be necessary to alleage all that might bee said, and therefore I will thus conclude, that whatsoever kingdome
shalbe inforced to defend it selfe may be compared to a
body dangerously diseased, which for a season may be
preserved with vulgar medicines, but in a short time, and
by litle and litle, the same must needs fall to the ground,
& be dissolved. I have therefore laboured all my life,
both according to my smal power, & perswasion, to
advance al those attempts, that might either promise
return of profit to our selves, or at least be a let and
impeachment to the quiet course and plentifull trades of
the Spanish nation, who in my weake judgement by such
a warre were as easily indangered & brought from his
powerfulnes, as any prince of Europe
, if it be considered
from how many kingdomes and nations his revenues are
gathered, & those so weake in their owne beings, and so
far severed from mutual succour. But because such a preparation and resolution is not to be hoped for in hast,
& that the time which our enemies embrace, cannot be
had againe to advantage, I wil hope that these provinces,
and that Empire now by me discovered shal suffice to
inable her Majestie & the whole kingdome, with no lesse
quantities of treasure, then the king of Spaine hath in
all the Indies East and West, which he possesseth, which
if the same be considered and followed, ere the Spaniards
enforce the same, and if her Majestie wil undertake it,
I wil be contented to lose her highnesse favour & good
opinion for ever, and my life withall, if the same be not
found rather to exceed, then to equal whatsoever is in
this discourse promised or declared. I wil now referre
the Reader to the following discourse, with the hope that
the perillous and chargeable labours and indevors of such
as thereby seeke the profit and honour of her Majestie,
and the English nation, shall by men of qualitie and
vertue receive such construction, and good acceptance,
as themselves would looke to be rewarded withall in the
like.
W. R.
The discoverie of Guiana
.
ON Thursday the 6. of February in the yere 1595. we
departed England
, and the Sunday following had sight of
the North cape of Spaine, the winde for the most part
continuing prosperous: we passed in sight of the Burlings, & the Rocke, and so onwards for the Canaries,
and fel with Fuerte ventura the 17 of the same moneth,
where we spent two or three dayes, and relieved our companies with some fresh meat. From thence we coasted
by the Grand Canaria, & so to Tenerif, and stayed there
for the Lions whelpe your Lordships ship, and for Captaine Amyas Preston and the rest. But when after 7.
or 8. dayes wee found them not, we departed and directed
our course for Trinidad
with mine owne ship, and a small
barke of captaine Crosses onely (for we had before lost
sight of a smal Galego on the coast of Spaine, which
came with us from Plimmouth :) we arrived at Trinidad
the 22. of March, casting ancker at point Curiapan, which
the Spaniards call punta de Gallo, which is situate in 8.
degrees or there abouts: we abode there 4. or 5. dayes,
& in all that time we came not to the speach of any Indian
or Spaniard: on the coast we saw a fire, as we sailed
from the point Caroa towards Curiapan, but for feare of
the Spaniards none durst come to speake with us. I my
selfe coasted it in my barge close abord the shore and
landed in every Cove, the better to know the yland, while
the ships kept the chanell. From Curiapan after a few
dayes we turned up Northeast to recover that place which
the Spaniards call Puerto de los Espannoles, and the
inhabitants Conquerabia
, and as before (revictualing my
barge) I left the ships and kept by the shore, the better
to come to speach with some of the inhabitants, and also
to understand the rivers, watering places, & ports of the
yland, which (as it is rudely done) my purpose is to send
your Lordship after a few dayes. From Curiapan I came
to a port and seat of Indians called Parico, where we
found a fresh water river, but saw no people. From
thence I rowed to another port, called by the naturals
Piche, and by the Spaniards Tierra de Brea: In the way
betweene both were divers little brookes of fresh water
and one salt river that had store of oisters upon the
branches of the trees, and were very salt and well tasted.
All their oisters grow upon those boughs and spraies,
and not on the ground: the like is commonly seene in
other places of the West Indies, and else where. This
tree is described by Andrew Thevat in his French Antarctique, and the forme figured in the booke as a plant very
strange, and by Plinie in his 12. booke of his naturall
historie. But in this yland, as also in Guiana
there are
very many of them.
At this point called Tierra de Brea or Piche there is
that abundance of stone pitch, that all the ships of the
world may be therewith loden from thence, and we made
trial of it in trimming our shippes to be most excellent
good, and melteth not with the Sunne as the pitch of
Norway
, and therefore for shippes trading the South parts
very profitable. From thence wee went to the mountaine
foote called Anniperima, and so passing the river Carone
on which the Spanish Citie was seated, we met with our
ships at Puerto de los Espannolles or Conquerabia
.
This yland of Trinidad
hath the forme of a sheep-hooke,
and is but narrow, the North part is very mountainous,
the soile is very excellent and will beare suger, ginger,
or any other commoditie that the Indies yeeld. It hath
store of deare, wilde porks, fruits, fish and foule: it hath
also for bread sufficient maiz, cassavi, and of those rootes
and fruites which are common every where in the West
Indies. It hath divers beastes which the Indies have not:
the Spaniards confessed that they found graines of golde
in some of the rivers, but they having a purpose to enter
Guiana
(the Magazin of all rich mettals) cared not to
spend time in the search thereof any further. This yland
is called by the people thereof Cairi, and in it are divers
nations: those about Parico are called Iaio, those at
Punta de Carao are of the Arwacas, and betweene Carao
and Curiapan they are called Salvajos, betwene Carao
and Punta de Galera are the Nepojos, and those about
the Spanish citie terme themselves Carinepagotes: Of the
rest of the nations, and of other ports and rivers I leave
to speake here, being impertinent to my purpose, and
meane to describe them as they are situate in the particular plot and description of the yland, three parts
whereof I coasted with my barge, that I might the better
describe it.
Meeting with the ships at
Puerta de los Espannoles,
we found at the landing place a company of Spaniards
who kept a guard at the descent, and they offering a
signe of peace, I sent Captaine Whiddon to speake with
them, whom afterward to my great griefe I left buried
in the said yland after my returne from Guiana
, being a
man most honest and valiant. The Spaniards seemed to
be desirous to trade with us, and to enter into termes of
peace, more for doubt of their owne strength then for
ought else, and in the ende upon pledge, some of them
came abord: the same evening there stale also abord us
in a small Canoa two Indians, the one of them being a
Casique or Lord of the people called Cantyman, who had
the yeere before bene with Captaine Whiddon, and was
of his acquaintance. By this Cantyman wee understood
what strength the Spaniards had, howe farre it was to
their Citie, and of Don Antonio de Berreo the governour,
who was said to be slaine in his second attempt of Guiana
,
but was not.
While we remained at Puerto de los Espannoles some
Spaniards came abord us to buy linnen of the company,
and such other things as they wanted, and also to view
our ships and company, all which I entertained kindly
and feasted after our maner: by meanes whereof I learned
of one and another as much of the estate of Guiana
as
I could, or as they knew, for those poore souldiers having
bene many yeeres without wine, a few draughts made
them merrie, in which mood they vaunted of Guiana
and
of the riches thereof, and all what they knewe of the
wayes and passages, my selfe seeming to purpose nothing
lesse then the enterance or discoverie thereof, but bred
in them an opinion that I was bound onely for the reliefe
of those English which I had planted in Virginia
, whereof
the bruite was come among them; which I had performed
in my returne, if extremitie of weather had not forst me
from the said coast.
I found occasions of staying in this place for two
causes: the one was to be revenged of Berreo, who the
yere before 1594. had betraied eight of Captaine Whiddons
men, and tooke them while he departed from them to
seeke the Edward Bonaventure, which arrived at Trinidad
the day before from the East Indies: in whose absence
Berreo sent a Canoa abord the pinnesse onely with Indians
and dogs inviting the company to goe with them into the
woods to kill a deare, who like wise men in the absence
of their Captaine followed the Indians, but were no sooner
one harquebuze shot from the shore, but Berreos souldiers
lying in ambush had them al, notwithstanding that he
had given his word to Captaine Whiddon that they should
take water and wood safely: the other cause of my stay
was, for that by discourse with the Spaniards I dayly
learned more and more of Guiana
, of the rivers and passages, and of the enterprise of Berreo, by what meanes
or fault he failed, and how he meant to prosecute the
same.
While wee thus spent the time I was assured by another
Casique of the North side of the yland, that Berreo had
sent to Margarita and Cumana
for souldiers, meaning to
have given mee a cassado at parting, if it had bene possible. For although he had given order through all the
yland that no Indian should come abord to trade with
me upon paine of hanging & quartering, (having executed
two of them for the same, which I afterwards founde)
yet every night there came some with most lamentable
complaints of his crueltie, how he had divided the yland
and given to every souldier a part, that hee made the
ancient Casiques which were Lords of the countrey to be
their slaves, that he kept them in chaines, and dropped
their naked bodies with burning bacon, and such other
torments, which I found afterwards to be true: for in
the city after I entred the same there were 5. of ye lords
or litle kings (which they cal Casiques in the West Indies）
in one chaine almost dead of famine, and wasted with
torments: these are called in their owne language Acarewana, and now of late since English, French and Spanish
are come among them, they call themselves Capitaines,
because they perceive that the chiefest of every ship is
called by that name. Those five Capitaines in the chaine
were called Wannawanare, Carroaori, Maquarima, Tarroopanama, and Aterima. So as both to be revenged of
the former wrong, as also considering that to enter
Guiana
by small boats, to depart 400. or 500. miles from
my ships, and to leave a garison in my backe interrested
in the same enterprize, who also dayly expected supplies
out of Spaine, I should have savoured very much of the
asse: and therefore taking a time of most advantage I
set upon the Corps du guard in the evening, and having
put them to the sword, sent Captaine Calfield onwards
with 60. souldiers, and my selfe followed with 40. more
and so tooke their new City which they called S. Joseph
by breake of day: they abode not any fight after a fewe
shot, and all being dismissed but onely Berreo and his
companion, I brought them with me abord, and at the
instance of the Indians, I set their new citie of S. Joseph
on fire.
The same day arrived Captaine George Gifford with
your Lordships ship, and Captaine Keymis whom I lost
on the coast of Spaine, with the Galego, and in them
divers gentlemen and others, which to our little armie
was a great comfort and supply.
We then hasted away towards our purposed discovery,
and first I called all the Captaines of the yland together
that were enemies to the Spaniards; for there were some
which Berreo had brought out of other countreys, and
planted there to eate out and wast those that were naturall
of the place, and by my Indian interpreter, which I caried
out of England
, I made them understand that I was the
servant of a Queene, who was the great Casique of the
North, and a virgine, and had more Casiqui under her
then there were trees in that yland: that shee was an
enemie to the Castellani in respect of their tyrannie and
oppression, and that she delivered all such nations about
her, as were by them oppressed, and having freed all the
coast of the Northren world from their servitude, had
sent mee to free them also, and withall to defend the
countrey of Guiana
from their invasion and conquest. I
shewed them her Majesties picture which they so admired
and honoured, as it had bene easie to have brought them
idolatrous thereof.
The like and a more large discourse I made to the rest
of the nations both in my passing to Guiana
, and to
those of the borders, so as in that part of the world her
Majestie is very famous and admirable, whom they now
call Ezrabeta Cassipuna Aquerewana, which is as much
as Elizabeth, the great princesse or greatest commander.
This done we left Puerto de los Espannoles, and returned
to Curiapan, and having Berreo my prisoner I gathered
from him as much of Guiana
as hee knew.
This Berreo is a gentleman wel descended, and had
long served the Spanish king in
Millain, Naples
, the Low
countreis and elsewhere, very valiant and liberall, and a
gentleman of great assurednes, and of a great heart: I
used him according to his estate and worth in all things
I could, according to the small meanes I had.
I sent Captaine Whiddon the yeere before to get what
knowledge he could of Guiana
, and the end of my journey
at this time was to discover and enter the same, but my
intelligence was farre from trueth, for the countrey is
situate above 600. English miles further from the Sea,
then I was made beleeve it had bin, which afterward
understanding to be true by Berreo, I kept it from the
knowledge of my company, who else would never have
bene brought to attempt the same: of which 600. miles
I passed 400. leaving my ships so farre from mee at
ancker in the Sea, which was more of desire to performe
that discovery, then of reason, especially having such
poore and weake vessels to transport our selves in; for
in the bottom of an old Galego which I caused to be
fashioned like a galley, and in one barge, two whirries,
and a shipboat of the Lions whelpe, we carted 100. persons and their victuals for a moneth in the same, being
al driven to lie in the raine and weather, in the open
aire, in the burning Sunne, and upon the hard bords, and
to dresse our meat, and to cary all maner of furniture
in them, wherewith they were so pestered and unsavory,
that what with victuals being most fish, with wette clothes
of so many men thrust together, and the heat of the
Sunne, I will undertake there was never any prison in
England
, that could bee found more unsavorie and lothsome, especially to my selfe, who had for many yeeres
before bene dieted and cared for in a sort farre more
differing.
If Captaine Preston had not bene perswaded that he
should have come too late to Trinidad
to have found us
there (for the moneth was expired which I promised to
tary for him there ere hee coulde recover the coast of
Spaine) but that it had pleased God hee might have joyned
with us, and that we had entred the countrey but some
ten dayes sooner ere the Rivers were overflowen, wee
had adventured either to have gone to the great Citie of
Manoa, or at least taken so many of the other Cities and
townes neerer at hand, as would have made a royall
returne: but it pleased not God so much to favour mee
at this time: if it shall be my lot to prosecute the same,
I shall willingly spend my life therein, and if any else
shalbe enabled thereunto, and conquere the same, I assure
him thus much, he shall perfourme more then ever was
done in Mexico
by Cortez, or in Peru
by Pizarro, whereof
the one conquered the Empire of Mutezuma, the other
of Guascar, and Atabalipa, and whatsoever prince shall
possesse it, that Prince shall be Lord of more golde, and of
a more beautifull Empire, and of more Cities and people,
then either the King of Spaine, or the great Turke.
But because there may arise many doubts, and how this
Empire of Guiana is become so populous, and adorned
with so many great Cities, townes, temples, and treasures,
I thought good to make it knowen, that the Emperour
now reigning is descended from those magnificent princes
of Peru
, of whose large territories, of whose policies,
conquests, edifices, and riches Pedro de Cieza, Francisco
Lopez, and others have written large discourses: for when
Francisco Pizarro, Diego Almagro and others conquered
the said Empire of Peru, and had put to death Atabalipa
sonne to Guaynacapa, which Atabalipa had formerly
caused his eldest brother Guascar to bee slaine, one of
the yonger sonnes of Guaynacapa fled out of Peru
, and
tooke with him many thousands of those souldiers of the
Empire called Orejones, and with those and many others
which followed him, hee vanquished all that tract and
valley of America
which is situate betweene the great
river of Amazones, and Baraquan, otherwise called Orenoque and Marannon.
The Empire of Guiana is directly East from Peru
towards the Sea, and lieth under the Equinoctial line, and
it hath more abundance of golde then any part of Peru
,
and as many or moe great Cities then ever Peru
had when
it flourished most: it is governed by the same lawes, and
the Emperour and people observe the same religion, and
the same forme and policies in government as were used in
Peru
, not differing in any part: and I have bene assured
by such of the Spaniards as have seene Manoa the Imperial
Citie of Guiana
, which the Spaniards call El Dorado, that
for the greatnesse, for the riches, and for the excellent
seat, it farre exceedeth any of the world, at least of so
much of the world as is knowen to the Spanish nation: it
is founded upon a lake of salt water of 200. leagues long
like unto Mare Caspium. And if we compare it to that of
Peru
, & but read the report of Francisco Lopez and others,
it will seeme more then credible: and because we may
judge of the one by the other, I thought good to insert
part of the 120. Chapter of Lopez in his generall historic
of the Indies, wherein he describeth the Court and magnificence of Guaynacapa, ancestour to the Emperour of
Guiana. All the vessels of his house, table and kitchin
were of gold and silver, and the meanest of silver and
copper for strength and hardnesse of metall. He had in
his wardrobe hollow statues of gold which seemed giants,
and the figures in proportion and bignesse of all the
beasts, birds, trees, and hearbes, that the earth bringeth
foorth: and of all the fishes that the sea or waters of his
kingdome breedeth. He had also ropes, budgets, chestes
and troughs of golde and silver, heapes of billets of gold,
that seemed wood marked out to burne. Finally, there
was nothing in his countrey, whereof he had not the
counterfait in gold: Yea and they say, The Ingas had a
garden of pleasure in an yland neere Puna, where they
went to recreat themselves, when they would take the aire
of the Sea, which had all kinde of garden-hearbs, flowers
and trees of golde and silver, an invention, and magnificence till then never seene. Besides all this, he had an
infinite quantitie of silver and golde unwrought in Cuzco
which was lost by the death of Guascar, for the Indians
hid it, seeing that the Spaniards tooke it, and sent it into
Spaine.
And in the 117. chapter Francisco Pizarro caused the
gold and silver of Atabalipa to be weyed after he had
taken it, which Lopez setteth downe in these words following: They found fiftie and two thousand markes of good
silver, and one million, and three hundred twenty and
sixe thousand and five hundred pezos of golde.
Now although these reports may seeme strange, yet if
we consider the many millions which are dayly brought
out of Peru
into Spaine, wee may easily beleeve the same:
for we finde that by the abundant treasure of that countrey the Spanish king vexeth all the princes of Europe
,
and is become, in a few yeeres, from a poore king of
Castile
, the greatest monarch of this part of the world,
and likely every day to increase, if other princes forslow
the good occasions offered, and suffer him to adde this
empire to the rest, which by farre exceedeth all the rest: if
his golde now indanger us, hee will then be unresistable.
Such of the Spanyards as afterward endevoured the conquest thereof (whereof there have bene many, as shall be
declared hereafter) thought that this Inga
(of whom this
emperour now living is descended) tooke his way by
the river of Amazones, by that branch which is called
Papamene: for by that way followed Orellana (by the
commandement of Gonzalo Pizarro, in the yere 1542）
whose name the river also beareth this day, which is also
by others called Marannon, although Andrew Thevet
doeth affirme that betweene Marannon and Amazones
there are 120 leagues: but sure it is that those rivers have
one head and beginning, and the Marannon, which Thevet
describeth, is but a branch of Amazones or Orellana,
of which I will speake more in another place. It was
attempted by Ordas
; but it is now little lesse then 70
yeres since that Diego Ordas, a knight of the order of
Saint Iago attempted the same: and it was in the yeere
1542 that Orellana discovered the river of Amazones; but
the first that ever saw Manoa was Juan Martinez master
of the munition to Ordas
. At a port called Morequito in
Guiana
there lieth at this day a great anker of Ordas
his
ship; and this port is some 300 miles within the land,
upon the great river of Orenoque.
I rested at this port foure dayes: twenty dayes after I
left the ships at
Curiapan. The relation of this Martinez
(who was the first that discovered Manoa) his successe and
ende are to bee seene in the Chancery of Saint Juan de
Puerto rico, wherof Berreo had a copy, which appeared to
be the greatest incouragement aswell to Berreo as to others
that formerly attempted the discovery and conquest.
Orellana after he failed of the discovery of Guiana
by the
sayd river of Amazones, passed into Spaine, and there
obteined a patent of the king for the invasion and conquest, but died by sea about the Islands, and his fleet
severed by tempest, the action for that time proceeded not.
Diego Ordas followed the enterprise, and departed Spaine
with 600 souldiers, and 30 horse, who arriving on the
coast of Guiana
, was slaine in a mutiny, with the most
part of such as favoured him, as also of the rebellious part,
insomuch as his ships perished, and few or none returned,
neither was it certeinly knowen what became of the sayd
Orgas, untill Berreo found the anker of his ship in the
river of Orenoque; but it was supposed, and so it is
written by Lopez, that he perished on the seas, and of
other writers diversly conceived and reported. And hereof
it came that Martines entred so farre within the land, and
arrived at that city of Inga
the emperour; for it chanced
that while Ordas
with his army rested at the port of Morequito (who was either the first or second that attempted
Guiana
) by some negligence, the whole store of powder
provided for the service was set on fire; and Martinez
having the chiefe charge, was condemned by the Generall
Ordas to be executed foorthwith: Martinez being much
favoured by the souldiers, had all the meanes possible
procured for his life; but it could not be obteined in other
sort then this: That he should be set into a canoa alone
without any victuall, onely with his armes, and so turned
loose into the great river: but it pleased God that the
canoa was caried downe the streame, and that certeine of
the Guianians mette it the same evening: and having not
at any time seene any Christian, nor any man of that
colour, they caried Martinez into the land to be woondred
at, and so from towne to towne, untill he came to the
great city of Manoa, the seat and residence of Inga
the
emperour. The emperour after he had beheld him, knew
him to be a Christian (for it was not long before that his
brethren Guascar and Atabalipa were vanquished by the
Spanyards in Peru
) and caused him to be lodged in his
palace, and well enterteined. Hee lived seven moneths in
Manoa, but was not suffered to wander into the countrey
any where. He was also brought thither all the way
blindfold, led by the Indians, untill he came to the
entrance of Manoa it selfe, and was foureteene or fifteene
dayes in the passage. He avowed at his death that he
entred the city at Noon, and then they uncovered his face,
and that he travelled all that day till night thorow the
city, and the next day from Sun rising to Sun setting yer
he came to the palace of Inga
. After that Martinez had
lived seven moneths in Manoa, and began to understand
the language of the countrey, Inga
asked him whether he
desired to returne into his owne countrey, or would willingly abide with him. But Martinez not desirous to stay,
obteined the favour of Inga
to depart: with whom he
sent divers Guianians to conduct him to the river of
Orenoque, all loden with as much golde as they could
cary, which he gave to Martinez at his departure: but
when he was arrived neere the rivers side, the borderers
which are called Orenoqueponi robbed him and his
Guianians of all the treasure (the borderers being at that
time at warres, which Inga
had not conquered) save only
of two great bottels of gourds, which were filled with
beads of golde curiously wrought, which those Orenoqueponi thought had bene no other thing then his drinke or
meat, or graine for food, with which Martinez had liberty
to passe: and so in canoas hee fell downe from the river
of Orenoque to Trinidad
, and from thence to Margarita,
and also to Saint Juan de puerto rico, where remaining a
long time for passage into Spaine, he died. In the time
of his extreme sicknesse, and when he was without hope
of life, receiving the Sacrament at the hands of his Confessor, he delivered these things, with the relation of his
travels, and also called for his calabazas or gourds of the
golde beads which he gave to the church and friers to be
prayed for. This Martinez was he that Christened the
city of Manoa by the name of El Dorado, and as Berreo
informed mee, upon this occasion: Those Guianians, and
also the borderers, and all other in that tract which I have
seene, are marvellous great drunkards; in which vice, I
thinke no nation can compare with them: and at the times
of their solemne feasts, when the emperour carowseth
with his captaines, tributaries, and governours, the maner
is thus: All those that pledge him are first stripped naked,
and their bodies anointed all over with a kind of white
balsamum (by them called curca) of which there is great
plenty, and yet very deare amongst them, and it is of all
other the most precious, whereof wee have had good
experience: when they are anointed all over, certeine
servants of the emperour, having prepared golde made
into fine powder, blow it thorow hollow canes upon their
naked bodies, untill they be all shining from the foot to
the head: and in this sort they sit drinking by twenties,
and hundreds, and continue in drunkennesse sometimes
sixe or seven dayes together. The same is also confirmed
by a letter written into Spaine, which was intercepted,
which M. Robert Duddeley tolde me he had seene. Upon
this sight, and for the abundance of golde which he saw
in the city, the images of golde in their temples, the
plates, armours, and shields of gold which they use in the
warres, he called it El Dorado. After the death of Ordas
and Martinez, and after Orellana, who was imployed by
Gonzalo Pizarro, one Pedro de Osua a knight of Navarre
attempted Guiana
, taking his way from Peru
, and built
his brigandines upon a river called Oia, which riseth to the
Southward of Quito, and is very great. This river falleth
into Amazones, by which Osua with his companies descended, and came out of that province which is called
Mutylonez: and it seemeth to mee that this empire is
reserved for her Majesty and the English nation, by reason
of the hard successe which all these and other Spanyards
found in attempting the same, whereof I will speake
briefly, though impertinent in some sort to my purpose.
This Pedro de Osua had among his troups a Biscain,
called Agiri, a man meanly borne, who bare no other office
then a sergeant or alferez: but after certeine moneths,
when the souldiers were grieved with travels, and consumed with famine, and that no entrance could be found
by the branches or body of Amazones, this Agiri raised a
mutiny, of which hee made himselfe the head, and so
prevailed, as he put Osua to the sword, and all his
followers, taking on him the whole charge and commandement, with a purpose not onely to make himselfe emperour
of Guiana
, but also of Peru
, & of all that side of the West
Indies: he had of his party seven hundred souldiers, and
of those many promised to draw in other captaines and
companies, to deliver up townes and forts in Peru
: but
neither finding by ye said river any passage into Guiana
,
nor any possibility to returne towards Peru
by the same
Amazones, by reason that ye descent of the river made so
great a current, he was inforced to disemboque at the
mouth of the sayd Amazones, which can not be lesse then
a thousand leagues from the place where they imbarked:
from thence he coasted the land till he arrived at
Margarita to the North of Mompatar, which is at this day
called Puerto de Tyranno, for that he there slew Don
Juan de villa Andreda, governour of Margarita, who was
father to Don Juan Sarmiento, governor of Margarita
when sir John Burgh landed there, and attempted the
Island. Agiri put to the sword all other in the Island that
refused to be of his party, and tooke with him certeine
Simerones, and other desperate companions. From
thence he went to Cumana
, and there slew the governour,
and dealt in all as at
Margarita: hee spoiled all the coast
of Caracas
, and the province of Venezuela
, and of Rio de
la hacha; and as I remember, it was the same yere that
sir John Hawkins sailed to Saint Juan de Ullua in the
Jesus of Lubeck: for himselfe tolde me that he met with
such a one upon the coast that rebelled, and had sailed
downe all the river of Amazones. Agiri from thence
landed about Sancta Marta, and sacked it also, putting to
death so many as refused to be his followers, purposing
to invade Nuevo reyno de Granada
, and to sacke Pamplon,
Merida
, Lagrita, Tunxa, and the rest of the cities of
Nuevo reyno, and from thence againe to enter Peru
: but
in a fight in the sayd Nuevo reyno he was overthrowen,
and finding no way to escape, he first put to the sword
his owne children, foretelling them that they should not
live to be defamed or upbraided by the Spanyards after his
death, who would have termed them the children of a
traitour or tyrant; and that sithence hee could not make
them princes, hee would yet deliver them from shame and
reproch. These were the ends and tragedies of Ordas
,
Martinez, Orellana; Ozua, and Agiri.
Also soone after Ordas
followed Jeronimo Ortal de
Saragosa with 130 souldiers, who failing his entrance by
sea, was cast with the current on the coast of Paria, &
peopled about S. Miguel de Neveri. It was then
attempted by Don Pedro de Silva, a Portugues of the
family of Ruigomes de Silva, and by the favour which
Ruigomes had with the king, he was set out, but he also
shot wide of the marke; for being departed from Spaine
with his fleet, he entered by Marannon and Amazones,
where by the nations of the river, and by the Amazones
hee was utterly overthrowen, and himselfe and all his
armie defeated, onely seven escaped, and of those but two
returned.
After him came Pedro Hernandez de Serpa, and landed
at Cumana
in the West Indies, taking his journey by land
towards Orenoque, which may be some 120 leagues: but
yer he came to the borders of the sayd river, hee was
set upon by a nation of the Indians called Wikiri, and
overthrowen in such sort, that of 300 souldiers, horsemen,
many Indians, and Negros, there returned but 18. Others
affirme, that he was defeated in the very entrance of
Guiana
, at the first civill towne of the empire called
Macureguarai. Captaine Preston in taking S. Iago de
Leon (which was by him and his companies very resolutely
performed, being a great towne, and farre within the land)
held a gentleman prisoner, who died in his ship, that was
one of the company of Hernandez de Serpa, and saved
among those that escaped, who witnessed what opinion is
held among the Spanyards thereabouts of the great riches
of Guiana
, and El Dorado the city of Inga
. Another Spanyard was brought aboord me by captaine Preston,
who told me in the hearing of himselfe and divers other
gentlemen, that he met with Berreos campe-master at
Caracas
, when he came from the borders of Guiana
, and
that he saw with him forty of most pure plates of golde
curiously wrought, and swords of Guiana
decked and
inlayed with gold, feathers garnished with golde, and
divers rarities which he caried to the Spanish king.
After Hernandez de Serpa, it was undertaken by the
Adelantado, Don Gonzales Ximenes de Casada, who was
one of the chiefest in the conquest of Nuevo reino, whose
daughter and heire Don Antonio de Berreo maried. Gonzales sought the passage also by the river called Papamene, which riseth by Quito
in Peru
, & runneth Southeast
100 leagues, and then falleth into Amazones, but he also
failing the entrance, returned with the losse of much
labour and cost. I tooke one captaine George a Spanyard
that followed Gonzales in this enterprise. Gonzales gave
his daughter to Berreo, taking his oth & honour to follow
the enterprise to the last of his substance and life, who
since, as he hath sworne to me, hath spent 300000 ducats
in the same, & yet never could enter so far into the land as
my selfe with that poore troupe or rather a handfull of
men, being in all about 100 gentlemen, souldiers, rowers,
boat-keepers, boyes, & of all sorts: neither could any of
the forepassed undertakers, nor Berreo himselfe, discover
the countrey, till now lately by conference with an ancient
king called Carapana, he got the true light thereof: for
Berreo came about 1500 miles yer he understood ought,
or could finde any passage or entrance into any part
thereof, yet he had experience of al these forenamed, and
divers others, and was perswaded of their errors and mistakings. Berreo sought it by the river Cassamar, which
falleth into a great river called Pato: Pato falleth into
Meta, and Meta into Baraquan, which is also called
Orenoque.
He tooke his journey from Nuevo reyno de Granada
where he dwelt, having the inheritance of Gonzales
Ximenes in those parts: he was followed with 700 horse,
he drave with him 1000 head of cattell, he had also many
women, Indians, and slaves. How all these rivers crosse
and encounter, how the countrey lieth and is bordered,
the passage of Ximines and Berreo, mine owne discovery,
and the way that I entred, with all the rest of the nations
and rivers, your lordship shall receive in a large Chart or
Map, which I have not yet finished, and which I shall
most humbly pray your lordship to secret, and not to
suffer it to passe your owne hands; for by a draught
thereof all may be prevented by other nations: for I know
it is this very yeere sought by the French, although by the
way that they now take, I feare it not much. It was also
tolde me yer I departed England
, that Villiers the admirall
was in preparation for the planting of Amazones, to which
river the French have made divers voyages, and returned
much golde, and other rarities. I spake with a captaine
of a French ship that came from thence, his ship riding
in Falmouth
the same yere that my ships came first from
Virginia
.
There was another this yeere in
Helford that also came
from thence, and had bene foureteene moneths at an anker
in
Amazones, which were both very rich. Although, as
I am perswaded, Guiana
cannot be entred that way, yet
no doubt the trade of gold from thence passeth by
branches of rivers into the river of Amazones, and so it
doth on every hand far from the countrey it selfe; for
those Indians of Trinidad have plates of golde from
Guiana
, and those canibals of Dominica
which dwell in the
Islands by which our ships passe yerely to the West
Indies, also the Indians of Paria, those Indians called
Tucaris, Chochi, Apotomios, Cumanagotos, and all those
other nations inhabiting nere about the mountaines that
run from Paria thorow the province of Venesuela, and in
Maracapana, and the canibals of Guanipa, the Indians
called Assawai, Coaca, Aiai, and the rest (all which shall
be described in my description as they are situate) have
plates of golde of Guiana
. And upon the river of
Amazones, Thevet writeth that the people weare croissants
of golde, for of that forme the Guianians most commonly
make them: so as from Dominica
to Amazones, which is
above 250 leagues, all the chiefe Indians in all parts weare
of those plates of Guiana
. Undoubtedly those that trade
Amazones returne much golde, which (as is aforesayd)
commeth by trade from Guiana
, by some branch of a river
that falleth from the countrey into Amazones, and either
it is by the river which passeth by the nations called
Tisnados, or by Carepuna. I made inquiry amongst the
most ancient and best travelled of the Orenoqueponi, and
I had knowledge of all the rivers betweene Orenoque
& Amazones, and was very desirous to understand the
truth of those warlike women, because of some it is
beleeved, of others not. And though I digresse from
my purpose, yet I will set downe that which hath bene
delivered me for trueth of those women, & I spake with a
casique or lord of people, that told me he had bene in the
river, and beyond it also. The nations of these women
are on the South side of the river in the provinces of
Topago, and their chiefest strengths and retracts are in
the Islands situate on the South side of the entrance some
60 leagues within the mouth of the sayd river. The
memories of the like women are very ancient aswell in
Africa
as in Asia
: In Africa
those that had Medusa for
queene: others in
Scithia nere the rivers of Tanais
and
Thermodon: we finde also that Lampedo & Marthesia
were queenes of the Amazones: in many histories they
are verified to have bene, and in divers ages and provinces: but they which are not far from Guiana
doe
accompany with men but once in a yere, and for the time
of one moneth, which I gather by their relation, to be in
April: and that time all kings of the borders assemble,
and queenes of the Amazones; and after the queenes have
chosen, the rest cast lots for their Valentines. This one
moneth, they feast, dance, and drinke of their wines in
abundance; and the Moone being done, they all depart to
their owne provinces. If they conceive, and be delivered
of a sonne, they returne him to the father; if of a daughter
they nourish it, and reteine it: and as many as have
daughters send unto the begetters a present; all being
desirous to increase their owne sex and kind: but that
they cut off the right dug of the brest, I doe not finde to
be true. It was farther tolde me, that if in these warres
they tooke any prisoners that they used to accompany
with those also at what time soever, but in the end for
certeine they put them to death: for they are sayd to be
very cruell and bloodthirsty, especially to such as offer to
invade their territories. These Amazones have likewise
great store of these plates of golde, which they recover
by exchange chiefly for a kinde of greene stones, which
the Spanyards call Piedras hijadas, & we use for spleene
stones: and for the disease of the stone we also esteeme
them. Of these I saw divers in Guiana
: and commonly
every king or casique hath one, which their wives for
the most part weare; and they esteeme them as great
jewels.
But to returne to the enterprise of Bereo, who (as I
have sayd) departed from Nuevo reyno with 700 horse,
besides the provisions above rehearsed, he descended by
the river called Cassanar, which riseth in Nuevo reyno out
of the mountaines by the city of Tuvia, from which mountaine also springeth Pato; both which fall into the great
river of Meta: and Meta riseth from a mountaine joyning
to Pamplon in the same Nuevo reyno de Granada
. These,
as also Guaiare, which issueth out of the mountaines by
Timana, fall all into Baraquan, and are but of his heads;
for at their comming together they lose their names; and
Baraquan farther downe is also rebaptized by the name of
Orenoque. On the other side of the city and hilles of
Timana riseth Rio grande, which falleth in the sea by
Sancta Marta. By Cassonar first, and so into Meta,
Berreo passed, keeping his horsemen on the banks, where
the countrey served them for to march, and where otherwise, he was driven to imbarke them in boats which he
builded for the purpose, and so came with the current
downe the river of Meta, and so into Baraquan. After
he entred that great & mighty river, he began dayly to
lose of his companies both men and horse; for it is in
many places violently swift, and hath forcible eddies,
many sands, and divers Islands sharpe pointed with
rocks: but after one whole yeere, journeying for the most
part by river, and the rest by land, he grew dayly to fewer
numbers; for both by sicknesse, and by encountring with
the people of those regions, thorow which he travelled, his
companies were much wasted, especially by divers encounters with the Amapaians: and in all this time hee
never could learne of any passage into Guiana
, nor any
newes or fame thereof, untill he came to a further border
of the sayd Amapaia, eight dayes journey from the river
Caroli, which was the furthest river that he entred.
Among those of Amapaia, Guiana
was famous, but few
of these people accosted Berreo, or would trade with him
the first three moneths of the six, which he sojourned
there. This Amapaia is also marvellous rich in golde (as
both Berreo confessed and those of Guiana
with whom
I had most conference) and is situate upon Orenoque
also. In this countrey Berreo lost 60 of his best
souldiers, and most of all his horse that remained in
his former yeeres travell: but in the end, after divers
encounters with those nations, they grew to peace; and
they presented Berreo wth tenne images of fine golde
among divers other plates and croissants, which, as he
sware to me & divers other gentlemen, were so curiously
wrought, as he had not seene the like either in Italy
,
Spaine, or the Low-countreys: & he was resolved, that
when they came to the hands of the Spanish king, to
whom he had sent them by his campmaster, they would
appeare very admirable, especially being wrought by such
a nation as had no yron instruments at all nor any of
those helps which our goldsmiths have to worke withall.
The particular name of the people in Amapaia which gave
him these pieces, are called Anebas, and the river of
Orenoque at that place is above 12 English miles broad,
which may be from his out fall into the sea 700 or 800
miles.
This province of Amapaia is a very low and a marish
ground nere the river; and by reason of the red water
which issueth out in small branches thorow the fenny and
boggy ground, there breed divers poisonfull wormes and
serpents; and the Spanyards not suspecting, nor in any
sort foreknowing the danger, were infected with a grievous kinde of fluxe by drinking thereof; and even the very
horses poisoned therwith : insomuch as at the end of the
6 moneths, that they abode there, of all their troups, there
were not left above 120 souldiers, & neither horse nor
cattell : for Berreo hoped to have found Guiana
by 1000
miles nerer then it fel out to be in the end: by meanes
whereof they susteined much want and much hunger,
oppressed with grievous diseases, and all the miseries that
could be imagined. I demanded of those in Guiana
that
had travelled Amapaia, how they lived with that tawny or
red water when they travelled thither: and they tolde me
that after the Sun was neere the middle of the skie, they
used to fill their pots and pitchers with that water, but
either before that time, or towards the setting of the Sun
it was dangerous to drinke of, and in the night strong
poison. I learned also of divers other rivers of that nature
among them, which were also (while the Sun was in the
Meridian) very safe to drinke, and in the morning, evening, and night woonderfull dangerous and infective.
From this province Berreo hasted away assoone as the
Spring and beginning of Summer appeared, and sought
his entrance on the borders of Orenoque on the South
side; but there ran a ledge of so high and impassable
mountaines, as he was not able by any meanes to march
over them, continuing from the East sea
into which
Orenoque falleth, even to Quito
in Peru
: neither had he
meanes to cary victuall or munition over those craggie,
high, and fast hilles, being all woody, & those so thicke
and spiny, & so full of prickles, thornes, and briers, as it
is impossible to creepe thorow them: hee had also neither
friendship among the people, nor any interpreter to perswade or treat with them: and more, to his disadvantage,
the casiques and kings of Amapaia had given knowledge
of his purpose to the Guianians, and that he sought to
sacke and conquer the empire, for the hope of their so
great abundance and quantities of golde: he passed by the
mouthes of many great rivers, which fell into Orenoque
both from the North and South, which I forbeare to name
for tediousnesse, and because they are more pleasing in
describing then reading.
Berreo affirmed that there fell an hundred rivers into
Orenoque from the North and South, whereof the least
was as big as Rio grande, that passed betweene Popayan
and Nuevo reyno de Granada
(Rio grande being esteemed
one of the renowmed rivers in all the West Indies, and
numbred among the great rivers of the world:) but he
knew not the names of any of these, but Caroli onely;
neither from what nations they descended, neither to
what provinces they led; for he had no meanes to discourse with the inhabitants at any time: neither was he
curious in these things, being utterly unlearned, and not
knowing the East from the West. But of all these I got
some knowledge, and of many more, partly by mine owne
travell, and the rest by conference: of some one I learned
one, of others the rest, having with me an Indian that
spake many languages, and that of Guiana
naturally. I
sought out all the aged men, and such as were greatest
travellers, and by the one and the other I came to understand the situations, the rivers, the kingdomes from the
East sea
to the borders of Peru
, and from Orenoque
Southward as farre as Amazones or Marannon, and the
religions of Maria Tamball, & of all the kings of provinces, and captaines of townes and villages, how they
stood in tearmes of peace or warre, and which were
friends or enemies the one with the other, without which
there can be neither entrance nor conquest in those parts,
nor elsewhere: for by the dissention betweene Guascar
and Atabalipa, Pizarro conquered Peru
, and by the hatred
that the Tlaxcallians bare to Mutezuma, Cortez was victorious over Mexico
; without which both the one and
the other had failed of their enterprise, and of the great
honour and riches which they atteined unto.
Now Berreo began to grow into dispaire, and looked
for no other successe then his predecessor in this enter
prise, untill such time as hee arrived at the province of
Emeria towards the East sea
and mouth of the river,
where he found a nation of people very favourable, and
the countrey full of all maner of victuall. The king of
this land is called Carapana, a man very wise, subtill,
and of great experience, being little lesse then an hundred
yeeres olde: in his youth he was sent by his father into
the Island of Trinidad, by reason of civill warre among
themselves, and was bred at a village in that island,
called Parico; at that place in his youth hee had seene
many Christians, both French and Spanish, and went
divers times with the Indians of Trinidad to Margarita
and Cumana
in the West Indies (for both those places
have ever beene relieved with victuall from Trinidad) by
reason whereof he grew of more understanding, and noted
the difference of the nations, comparing the strength and
armes of his countrey with those of the Christians, and
ever after temporized so, as whosoever els did amisse,
or was wasted by contention, Carapana kept himselfe and
his countrey in quiet & plenty: he also held peace with
the Caribes or Canibals his neighbours, and had free trade
with all nations, whosoever els had warre.
Berreo sojourned and rested his weake troupe in the
towne of Carapana sixe weeks, and from him learned the
way and passage to Guiana
, and the riches and magnificence thereof; but being then utterly disable to proceed,
he determined to try his fortune another yere, when he
had renewed his provisions, and regathered more force,
which hee hoped for as well out of Spaine as from Nueva
reyno, where hee had left his sonne, Don Antonio Ximenes
to second him upon the first notice given of his entrance,
and so for the present imbarked himselfe in canoas, and
by the branches of Orenoque arrived at Trinidad, having
from Carapana sufficient pilots to conduct him. From
Trinidad he coasted Paria, and so recovered Margarita:
and having made relation to Don Juan Sermiento the
governour, of his proceeding, and perswaded him of the
riches of Guiana
, he obteined from thence fifty souldiers,
promising presently to returne to Carapana, and so into
Guiana
. But Berreo meant nothing lesse at that time;
for he wanted many provisions necessary for such an
enterprise, and therefore departed from Margarita, seated
himselfe in Trinidad, and from thence sent his campmaster, and his sergeant-major backe to the borders to
discover the neerest passage into the empire, as also to
treat with the borderers, and to draw them to his party
and love; without which, he knew he could neither passe
safely, nor in any sort be relieved with victuall or ought
els. Carapana directed his company to a king called
Morequito, assuring them that no man could deliver so
much of Guiana
as Morequito could, and that his dwelling
was but five dayes journey from Macureguarai, the first
civill towne of Guiana
.
Now your lordship shall understand, that this Morequito, one of the greatest lords or kings of the borders
of Guiana
, had two or three yeeres before bene at Cumana
and at
Margarita, in the West Indies, with great store
of plates of golde, which he caried to exchange for such
other things as he wanted in his owne countrey, and was
dayly feasted, & presented by the governours of those
places, and held amongst them some two moneths, in
which time one Vides governour of Cumana
wanne him
to be his conductour into Guiana
, being allured by those
croissants and images of golde which hee brought with
him to trade, as also by the ancient fame and magnificence
of El Dorado: whereupon Vides sent into Spaine for a
patent to discover and conquer Guiana
, not knowing of
the precedence of Berreos patent, which, as Berreo
affirmeth, was signed before that of Vides: so as when
Vides understood of Berreo, and that he had made
entrance into that territory, and forgone his desire and
hope, it was verily thought that Vides practised with
Morequito to hinder and disturbe Berreo in all he could,
and not to suffer him to enter thorow his signorie, nor
any of his companies; neither to victuall, nor guide them
in any sort; for Vides governour of Cumana
, and Berreo,
were become mortall enemies, aswell for that Berreo had
gotten Trinidad into his patent with Guiana
, as also in
that he was by Berreo prevented in the journey of Guiana
it selfe: howsoever it was, I know not, but Morequito
for a time dissembled his disposition, suffered Spanyards,
and a frier (which Berreo had sent to discover Manoa）
to travell thorow his countrey, gave them a guide for
Macureguaray, the first towne of civill and apparelled
people, from whence they had other guides to bring them
to Manoa the great city of Inga
: and being furnished
with those things which they had learned of Carapana
were of most price in Guiana
, went onward, and in eleven
dayes arrived at Manoa, as Berreo affirmeth for certaine; although I could not be assured thereof by the
lord which now governeth the province of Morequito, for
he tolde me that they got all the golde they had, in other
townes on this side Manoa, there being many very great
and rich, and (as he sayd) built like the townes of
Christians, with many roomes.
When these ten Spaniards were returned, and ready to
put out of the border of Aromaia, the people of Morequito set upon them, and slew them all but one that
swam the river, and tooke from them to the value of
forty thousand pezos of golde: and one of them onely
lived to bring the newes to Berreo, that both his nine
souldiers and holy father were benighted in the said
province. I my selfe spake with the captaines of Morequito that slew them, and was at the place where it was
executed. Berreo inraged heerewithall, sent all the
strength he could make into Aromaia, to be revenged
of him, his people, and countrey. But Morequito suspecting the same, fled over Orenoque, and thorow the
territories of the Saima, and Wikiri, recovered Cumana
,
where hee thought himselfe very safe, with Vides the
governour. But Berreo sending for him in the kings
name, and his messengers finding him in the house of
one Fashardo on the sudden yer he was suspected, so
as he could not then be conveyed away, Vides durst not
deny him, aswell to avoid the suspition of the practise,
as also for that an holy father was slaine by him and his
people. Morequito offered Fashardo the weight of three
quintals in golde, to let him escape: but the poor
Guianian, betrayed on all sides, was delivered to the
campe-master of Berreo, and was presently executed.
After the death of this Morequito, the souldiers of
Berreo spoiled his territorie, and tooke divers prisoners,
among others they tooke the uncle of Morequito, called
Topiawari, who is now king of Aromaia (whose sonne I
brought with me into England
) and is a man of great
understanding and policy: he is above an hundred yeeres
olde, and yet of a very able body. The Spaniards ledde
him in a chaine seventeene dayes, and made him their
guide from place to place betweene his countrey & Emeria,
the province of Carapana aforesayd, and he was at last
redeemed for an hundred plates of golde, and divers
stones called Piedras Hijadas, or Spleene-stones. Now
Berreo for executing of Morequito, and other cruelties,
spoiles, and slaughters done in
Aromaia, hath lost the
love of the Orenoqueponi, and of all the borderers, and
dare not send any of his souldiers any further into the
land then to Carapana, which he called the port of
Guiana
: but from thence by the helpe of Carapana he
had trade further into the countrey, and alwayes appointed
ten Spaniards to reside in
Carapanas towne, by whose
favour, and by being conducted by his people, those ten
searched the countrey thereabouts, aswell for mines, as
for other trades and commodities.
They also have gotten a nephew of Morequito, whom
they have Christened, and named Don Juan, of whom
they have great hope, endevouring by all meanes to establish him in the sayd province. Among many other trades,
those Spaniards used canoas to passe to the rivers of
Barema, Pawroma, & Dissequebe, which are on the south
side of the mouth of Orenoque, and there buy women
and children from the Canibals, which are of that barbarous nature, as they will for three or foure hatchets
sell the sonnes and daughters of their owne brethren
and sisters, and for somewhat more, even their owne
daughters. Hereof the Spaniards make great profit: for
buying a maid of twelve or thirteene yeres for three or
foure hatchets, they sell them againe at
Margarita in
the West Indies for fifty and an hundred pezos, which is
so many crownes.
The master of my shippe, John Dowglas, tooke one of
the canoas which came laden from thence with people to
be solde, and the most of them escaped; yet of those he
brought, there was one as well favoured, and as well
shaped as ever I saw any in England
, and afterward I
saw many of them, which but for their tawnie colour
may be compared to any of Europe
. They also trade
in those rivers for bread of Cassavi, of which they buy
an hundred pound weight for a knife, and sell it at
Margarita for ten pezos. They also recover great store of
Cotton, Brasill wood, and those beds which they call
Hamacas or Brasill beds, wherein in hot countreyes all
the Spaniards use to lie commonly, and in no other,
neither did we our selves while we were there. By
meanes of which trades, for ransome of divers of the
Guianians, and for exchange of hatchets and knives,
Berreo recovered some store of golde plates, eagles of
golde, and images of men and divers birdes, and dispatched his campe-master for Spaine, with all that hee
had gathered, therewith to levie souldiers, and by the
shew thereof to draw others to the love of the enterprise.
And having sent divers images aswell of men as beasts,
birds & fishes, so curiously wrought in gold, he doubted
not but to perswade the king to yeeld to him some further
helpe, especially for that this land hath never beene
sacked, the mines never wrought, and in the Indies their
works were well spent, and the golde drawen out with
great labour and charge. He also dispatched messengers
to his sonne in Nuevo reyno to levie all the forces he
could, & to come downe the river Orenoque to Emeria,
the province of Carapana, to meet him: he had also sent
to Saint Iago de Leon on the coast of the Caracas
, to
buy horses and mules.
After I had thus learned of his proceedings past and
purposed, I told him that I had resolved to see Guiana
,
and that it was the end of my journey, and the cause of
my comming to Trinidad, as it was indeed, (and for that
purpose I sent Jacob Whiddon the yeere before to get
intelligence with whom Berreo himselfe had speech at
that time, and remembred how inquisitive Jacob Whiddon
was of his proceedings, and of the countrey of Guiana
）
Berreo was stricken into a great melancholy and sadnesse,
and used all the arguments he could to disswade me, and
also assured the gentlemen of my company that it would
be labour lost, and that they should suffer many miseries
if they proceeded. And first he delivered that I could
not enter any of the rivers with any barke or pinnesse,
or hardly with any ships boat, it was so low, sandy, and
full of flats, and that his companies were dayly grounded
in their canoas, which drew but twelve inches water. Hee
further sayde, that none of the countrey would come to
speake with us, but would all flie; and if we followed
them to their dwellings, they would burne their own e
townes: and besides that, the way was long, the Winter
at hand, and that the rivers beginning once to swell, it
was impossible to stem the current, and that we could
not in those small boats by any means cary victuall for
halfe the time, and that (which indeed most discouraged
my company) the kings and lords of all the borders of
Guiana
had decreed that none of them should trade with
any Christians for golde, because the same would be their
owne overthrow, and that for the love of gold the
Christians meant to conquer and dispossesse them of all
together.
Many and the most of these I found to be true, but
yet I resolving to make triall of all whatsoever happened,
directed Captaine George Gifford my vice-admirall to take
the Lions whelpe, and captaine Calfield his barke to turne
to the Eastward, against the mouth of a river called
Capuri, whose entrance I had before sent captaine Whiddon, and John Dowglas the master, to discover, who
found some nine foot water or better upon the flood, and
five at low water, to whom I had given instructions that
they should anker at the edge of the shoald, and upon
the best of the flood to thrust over, which shoald John
Dowglas bwoyed and beckoned for them before: but they
laboured in vaine; for neither could they turne it up
altogether so farre to the East, neither did the flood
continue so long, but the water fell yer they could have
passed the sands; as wee after found by a second experience: so as now wee must either give over our enterprise,
or leaving our ships at adventure foure hundred mile
behinde us, must run up in our ships boats, one barge,
and two wheries. But being doubtfull how to cary victuals for so long a time in such bables, or any strength
of men, especially for that Berreo assured us that his
sonne must be by that time come downe with many
souldiers, I sent away one King, master of the Lions
whelpe, with his shipboat, to trie another branch of a
river in the bottome of the bay of Guanipa, which was
called Amana, to proove if there were water to be found
for either of the small ships to enter. But when he came
to the mouth of Amana, he found it as the rest, but
stayed not to discover it thorowly, because he was assured
by an Indian, his guide, that the Canibals of Guanipa
would assaile them with many canoas, and that they shot
poisoned arrowes; so as if he hasted not backe, they
should all be lost.
In the meane time, fearing the woorst, I caused all the
carpenters we had, to cut downe a Galego boat, which
we meant to cast off, and to fit her with banks to row
on, and in all things to prepare her the best they could,
so as she might be brought to draw but five foot, for so
much we had on the barre of Capuri at low water. And
doubting of Kings returne, I sent John Dowglas againe
in my long barge, aswell to relieve him, as also to make
a perfect search in the bottome of that bay: for it hath
bene held for infallible, that whatsoever ship or boat
shall fall therein, can never disemboque againe, by reason
of the violent current which setteth into the sayde bay,
as also for that the brize and Easterly winde bloweth
directly into the same. Of which opinion I have heard
John Hampton of Plymmouth, one of the greatest experience of England
, and divers others besides that have
traded to Trinidad.
I sent with John Dowglas an olde casique of Trinidad
for a pilot, who tolde us that we could not returne againe
by the bay or gulfe, but that he knew a by-branch which
ran within the land to the Eastward, and that he thought
by it we might fall into Capuri, and so returne in foure
dayes. John Dowglas searched those rivers, and found
foure goodly entrances, whereof the least was as bigge
as the Thames
at Woolwich
; but in the bay thitherward
it was shoald, and but sixe foot water: so as we were
now without hope of any ship or barke to passe over,
and therefore resolved to go on with the boats, and the
bottom of the Galego, in which we thrust 60 men. In
the Lions whelpes boat & whery we caried 20. Captaine
Calfield in his whery caried ten more, and in my barge
other tenne, which made up a hundred: we had no other
meanes but to cary victuall for a moneth in the same,
and also to lodge therein as we could, and to boile and
dresse our meat. Captaine Gifford had with him master
Edward Porter, captaine Eynos, and eight more in his
whery, with all their victuall, weapons, and provisions.
Captaine Calfield had with him my cousin Butshead
Gorges, and eight more. In the galley, of gentlemen
and officers my selfe had captaine Thin, my cousin John
Greenvile, my nephew John Gilbert, captaine Whiddon,
captaine Keymis, Edward Handcocke, captaine Clarke,
lieutenant Hewes, Thomas Upton, captaine Facy, Jerome
Ferrar, Anthony Welles, William Connocke, and above
fifty more. We could not learne of Berreo any other way
to enter but in branches, so farre to wind-ward, as it
was impossible for us to recover: for wee had as much
sea to crosse over in our wheries, as betweene Dover and
Calais
, and in a great billow, the winde and current being
both very strong, so as we were driven to goe in those
small boats directly before the winde into the bottome of
the bay of Guanipa, and from thence to enter the mouth
of some one of those rivers which John Dowglas had
last discovered, and had with us for pilot an Indian of
Barema, a river to the South of Orenoque, betweene that
and Amazones, whose canoas we had formerly taken as
hee was going from the sayd Barema, laden with Cassavibread, to sell at
Margarita. This Arwacan promised to
bring me into the great river of Orenoque, but indeed
of that which he entred he was utterly ignorant, for he
had not seene it in twelve yeeres before; at which time
he was very yoong, and of no judgement: and if God
had not sent us another helpe, we might have wandred
a whole yere in that labyrinth of rivers, yer wee had found
any way, either out or in, especially after wee were past
ebbing and flowing, which was in foure dayes, for I know
all the earth doeth not yeelde the like confluence of
streames and branches, the one crossing the other so
many times, and all so faire and large, and so like one
to another, as no man can tell which to take: and if wee
went by the Sunne or Compasse, hoping thereby to goe
directly one way or other, yet that way wee were also
caried in a circle amongst multitudes of Islands, and
every Island so bordered with high trees, as no man
coulde see any further then the bredth of the river, or
length of the breach. But this it chanced, that entering
into a river, (which because it had no name, wee called
the river of the Red crosse, our selves being the first
Christians that ever came therein) the two and twentieth
of May, as wee were rowing up the same, wee espied a
small canoa with three Indians, which (by the swiftnesse
of my barge, rowing with eight oares) I overtooke yer
they could crosse the river, the rest of the people on the
banks shadowed under the thicke wood, gazed on with
a doubtfull conceit what might befall those three which
we had taken. But when they perceived that we offered
them no violence, neither entred their canoa with any of
ours, nor tooke out of
