bent upon attack." Being an agile, quick fellow, he jumped to one side
barely in time to miss the venomous snake as it rushed toward him. The
warning made the Spaniards ready, and with unerring aim one of them
shot the reptile through the head.
"These are some of the guardians of Roraima," said Carino, solemnly.
"They are not only poisonous, but show fight, and will not run from
man."
By this time the Spaniards were beginning to lose heart.
"If the Holy Mother preserves me through this night I will give up
this search for El Dorado," said the leader, and the other men agreed
with him.
"The witch Monella has strange tales to tell of Roraima. She has been
through the secret cavern in the side of the mountain, and up to the
top," said Carino.
"Does she say that there is gold up there?" queried one of the
Cavaliers. Before the guide could answer, a large yellow puma stood in
the pathway, directly in front of them. A gun was leveled to shoot at
her, when Carino sprang forward and said:
"Do not harm the puma. She belongs to Monella, and no red man ever
kills one of these animals. They are always our friends, and to injure
one is to bring bad luck on yourself and family."
They went forward eagerly now for the thought of a human habitation
near by inspired them with courage, and they were soon rewarded by
seeing a thin column of smoke issuing from an opening in the dense
foliage. Nearing the hut they were met by a queer looking old Indian
woman, who had no teeth, and whose face was so wrinkled that she
could scarcely see out of her eyes. Carino approached her and said:
"We have come, good mother, to ask shelter and food for the night. We
are a band of travelers who are left with no servants and must make
our way the best we can."
[Illustration: "THE OLD WITCH, MONELLA"]
"Your strange white masters come on a useless errand," said the old
crone, blinking at them and grinning in a knowing way. "You think to
find the hidden treasure of Roraima and to unearth its buried secrets,
but you will fail. No one living, except myself, knows these things,
and I will not tell you more than is good for you."
"Do not quarrel with the old hag," said the leader to Carino, "we need
a place to sleep and are very hungry, so give her some gold and tell
her we will do as she says."
"These are not Mellenda's men," said the old crone to Carino, as she
eyed them suspiciously. "But the White Brotherhood would despise me if
I refused to shelter them from the dangers of the forest at night.
They are welcome to come and sup with me."
When they had all been given something to eat, and were sitting before
the fire of pine knots, one of the Cavaliers said:
"Tell us, good mother, how you have managed to live so long. Carino
says you are very old and very wise."
"Since I was a little child I have drank a tea made from the Plant of
Life. Its juice is bitter-sweet, and unless one has the Falloa, or
Don't Care Sickness, he can live always."
"Where did you get this wonderful plant?"
"It was given me by Ulama, the beautiful daughter of Mellenda,"
answered the old woman, proudly. "This is like her smiling face," she
continued, going back to a cupboard and getting a curious old
parchment roll from a shelf. As she unwound the figure the astonished
Spaniards saw a fair representation of a yellow-haired girl with a
circlet of gold set with gems on her head. On the breast of her
flowing robe there was a golden star, and around the waist there was a
jeweled girdle.
"Can you read this picture writing?" asked one of the Spaniards.
"It is the language of my forefathers, and as a child I could speak it
well. Listen, and I will tell you what it says. Long years ago there
was a rich and powerful white race living in these lands, and they
built a wonderful city on the Mountain of Gold. But the Children of
Darkness captured the city, and they enticed people up there so they
could sacrifice them to the Devil-tree. There is never any thunder or
lightning on top of Roraima, and its crest is a flat tableland edged
with a high forest and guarded by white eagles. The mountains
surrounding it were once islands in a great lake, and Mellenda was the
ancient king of the Children of Light who lived there. The King was a
man of peace and very great wisdom, and he had a wife and four
beautiful children whom his enemies, the Children of Darkness,
sacrificed to the Devil-tree while he was away in a distant part of
the kingdom. He had a great fleet and could have punished the Children
of Darkness."
The old crone ceased speaking, and seemed lost in deep study. Finally
Carino roused her by asking:
"Did Mellenda do nothing for revenge?"
"No; he went away, but he promised he would come back again, and he
will. Not long after his departure came the great sinking of the
waters, and the lake of Parima has disappeared into another region of
our country. For centuries after this the surrounding land was but a
chaos of swamp and mud. By degrees vegetation grew up, and in time the
trees became the thick tangled forest that cannot now be penetrated."
"Did this Mellenda take with him all the gold and silver?" asked a
Cavalier, intent upon finding something worth carrying away.
"In the city on top of the mountain is kept a full suit of his gold
armor, bright and ready, waiting to receive him."
"We will get it and take it home with us," said the Spaniards, now all
eagerness.
"We, of Mellenda's race, firmly believe that he will come again, and
none of us would dare touch any of his belongings," said the crone,
earnestly.
"You need not touch it," began one of the Cavaliers. "We will bring it
down the trail ourselves."
"There is no trail up the sides of Roraima. The entrance to its hidden
passageway is guarded by a giant Devil-tree."
"Did you ever see this Devil-tree?" asked her visitors.
"Yes; a few years ago, I took my two pumas and went to the cave for a
certain purpose. As we stood looking at the monstrous thing one of its
long, horny branches crept toward us, and one of the pumas sprang
forward to bite it. Instantly it curled around the body of the poor
creature, dragging it until they came to the trunk of the tree. Here
shorter and thicker limbs knotted together over the struggling puma,
and finally all rose in the air and almost disappeared in the hollow
trunk."
"Did you make no effort to rescue your pet?"
"I hacked the first branch with an axe until it bled a dark, crimson
liquid that smelled so badly I was deathly sick. Every inch of the
bark is covered with small mouths that pierce the flesh and suck the
blood of its victims. I kept watch until the moon came out, and then
the knots of limbs unrolled and out fell something. Each branch tossed
it before it reached the ground, when I saw it was the crushed and
lifeless puma. Out of a slimy pool near by rushed huge alligators, and
in a few minutes they were eating what the Devil-tree left of the
puma."
"Let us go away from here," said the Spaniards among themselves.
"Instead of being an earthly paradise, this is an infernal region."
When they were bidding the old crone good-bye the next morning, she
looked at them sharply and said:
"You came here searching for gold, and expected to find it ready for
your use. My friends, the great blessings of life must be worked for
and earned. You cannot cheat your way into Heaven, nor will you or
your people ever find any more hidden treasures belonging to other
races. You will earn all the fortunes you get after this adventure."
The Amazon Queens
We should all get very tired I am sure if we tried to follow the
Spaniards into every nook and corner of the New World where they went
in search of El Dorado, but we are interested in knowing that the name
Costa Rica means the rich coast, because it was one of the El Dorado
regions, and in Panama, the little narrow strip of land which unites
North and South America, they expected to find a Castle of Gold, while
the Island of Porto Rico is also one of the homes of El Dorado. It
made no difference to the Spaniards whether the natives in these
places had heard of the Golden Hearted or not. They only wanted to
find the riches of the country, and would not have listened to any
teaching other than that brought by the padres. So for years and years
they kept on making mistakes and undergoing the most terrible
hardships trying to acquire sudden wealth.
One of the stories that is very queer was that about the Amazon
Queens. Columbus wrote of them, and this is what he said:
"On the first island discovered on the voyage from Spain to the
Indies, no men are allowed to live. The female warriors do not follow
any womanly occupations, but use bows and arrows of cane, and cover as
well as arm themselves with brazen plates, of which they have many."
He says nothing of their having great wealth, but Cortez also heard of
them, and wrote to the King of Spain that the island was ten days
distance from a province in Mexico, and that many persons had gone
there and seen the women warriors. He concludes his letter by saying:
"I am told that these fighting women are rich in pearls and gold."
This news was quite enough to start the Spaniards on a search for the
island, and, as usual, the Indians gave them much contradictory
information about its location. Some said it was north and some said
it was south, so exploring parties were sent in both directions. A man
by the name of Guzman came up into Mexico as far north as Sinaloa,
looking for this wonderful island, and his march was one of
devastation and murder. He not only compelled the Indians to accompany
him as slaves to do all the drudgery, but tortured such chiefs as he
thought had gold, and in many cases killed them because they either
did not give it to him quickly enough, or in as large quantities as
he wanted. The farther north he went the poorer the natives were.
"Instead of a rich island inhabited by soldierly women," he exclaimed,
in disgust, "I find a few insignificant villages occupied by women and
children, because the men have all fled to the mountains. In the whole
country there is not a trace of gold, pearls or treasures of any
kind."
Along the way he found very scant supplies of gold, and this made him
furious, for he returned to the city of Mexico poorer than when he
left it.
Pizarro and his followers in Peru heard of the Amazon Queens, and so
did Sir Walter Raleigh and the German adventurers, but their country
was said to be along the banks of a very wide river in South America.
The Indians called them the Great Ladies, and the river has since been
named the Amazon in their honor.
"If the Great Ladies do not invite you to visit them, it is a very
dangerous thing to attempt," said the Indian guides to Orellana, the
man who discovered the Amazon river, and was the first to sail its
entire length.
"Why do you say that?" asked Orellana.
"Because they are tall, strong-limbed and fair, and are great
fighters. They wind their long hair across their foreheads in thick
bands, and defend themselves well."
"What kind of weapons do they use?" queried the Spanish soldiers, when
they could stop laughing at the Indians for being afraid of a lot of
women.
"They shoot with blow-pipes, bows and arrows, and have a war-club that
they wield with great vigor," answered the Indians, with serious
faces.
"Are they always so hostile to men?"
"Only the grandfathers of this generation have seen them, and none
save the Kings of the Borderers ever venture near their habitation."
"How are the Kings of the Borderers received by these strange women?"
"They meet them at the frontier of their possessions with bows and
arrows in their hands, but after an exchange of pledges the Great
Ladies invite the men to come and feast and dance with them. Sometimes
they stay a month, and then the Queens escort them to the edge of
their land, and send them home loaded with presents."
"What kind of presents do they give?" asked the Spaniards, suddenly
taking a great interest in what was being said.
"There are gold ornaments in plenty, and emeralds and pearls, besides
the grains of gold carried in eagle quills."
"We will capture these Great Ladies," interrupted the Spaniards,
excitedly. "We will teach them their proper places when we get hold of
them. Why do you Indians allow them to live in such a manner?"
"Our forefathers have taught us to hold them in great veneration,
because they live in a Mansion of the Sun. Long years ago they were
Virgins of the Sun, but in the wars between the different tribes they
were allowed to separate from the rest and live in a community by
themselves."
"Do they build houses?"
"They have temples, and keep the sacred fires burning on the altars,
as was done in olden times."
"Who rules them, and what do they do with their boy babies?"
"They select their own queen, and the boy babies are given to the
Kings of the Borderers; they only keep girl babies in their tribe, and
when they grow up they become either warriors or priestesses."
"How do they support themselves?"
"By hunting, fishing, weaving cloth and trading with their neighbors."
"Where do they get their riches?"
"From the mountains of Parima, where they have secret storehouses
filled with treasures they have been hoarding for ages."
This pleased the Spaniards very much, and quite decided them to make a
raid upon that country. Even after they had talked the matter over
fully among themselves they recalled the Indians and questioned them
still further.
"Would you be afraid to undertake to fight these strange women?" they
asked, when they saw that the guides were unwilling to accompany them.
"No, we are not afraid, but we are enjoined to let them alone. None of
us would ever think of disturbing them. They are very fierce, and will
kill any man that they do not like."
[Illustration: "A FLOWER OFFERING"]
"But you could easily conquer women warriors," urged the Spaniards,
now eager to commence the journey.
"It would not be so easily done as you imagine," said the guides,
shaking their heads doubtfully. "The Great Ladies wear thick shields
and cover their clothes with metal discs which turn away an arrow
point."
"We can easily overcome that protection with our guns, and we are not
commanded to respect them," replied the Spaniards.
"You will find that they have deep underground retreats to which they
fly in times of danger, and they are known to be excellent shots."
Just then a party of prospectors returned from the mountains where
they had been looking for gold. Among the things they brought was a
number of thin, flat green stones with holes pierced in each end,
showing that they had been used for ornaments. The Indian guides said
at once they were the same kind of emerald as that worn by the Amazon
Queens for an amulet against disease.
"How did you succeed in getting them?" they asked.
"From some Indian pedlars we met with packs on their backs. They said
the stones would cure the spleen, and we have been wearing them ever
since."
"Did you have any difficulty in persuading the pedlars to part with
them?"
"No; they said they got them from a tribe of women warriors many
leagues to the south, but we did not believe them."
"It is all true," said the guides, "and these Great Ladies have been
in that land a very long time."
"If we can find enough of these spleen stones to make our trip
profitable we do not care whether we meet the Great Ladies or not,"
said the prospectors, when told of the proposed trip in search of the
Amazon Queens.
As the party pushed forward into the tangled thickets, they found
cocoanuts, and plantains, ripe and ready to eat, and they also found
some very juicy little canteloupes growing on a vine, but none of the
Indians living on, or near the Amazon river, could tell them where to
find the Queens. They searched up and down the banks for a hidden
passageway which was said to guard the entrance to their mountain
home, but to all questions the river made no answer. To the
disappointed Spaniards it looked angry, sullen and relentless in the
untamed might of its turbid waters.
"It seems to be always summer here," said the weary soldiers, "but one
would die of malarial poisoning if compelled to stay long."
Some of the guides felt sorry for the sick men, and went into the
woods and brought them sarsaparilla bark, and made them a tea of it.
"Drink this," they said, "because it will cure your sickness which
comes from the head. If your heart was strong with love for your
brothers you would find blessings in this land. As it is you seek to
plunder and rob the Great Ladies, but the Sun is their father, and he
will make the mountains, trees and rocks hide them and their
treasures."
"It is no use to look for these women any longer. We shall all die
before we can reach them," said the leader, wearily.
And no one to this day knows just where the Amazon Queens lived.
[Illustration]
The Seven Cities of Cibola
The Nahuas in Mexico were really a sect of wise men descended from
those that came with the Golden Hearted. They believed that they
originated in Seven Caves, which were not locations at all, but was
only a way of saying that human beings have seven wonderful qualities.
They might have thought so because we can see, feel, taste, hear and
smell, and have instinct and are able to reason, or it may have been
something else. At any rate, it did not mean actual caves, but was a
symbol. In later times when people were not so wise, they said it was
seven tribes instead of caves, and when the Spaniards heard about it
they managed to twist it into seven cities, and immediately conceived
the idea that great riches and gold could be found in them. When
questioned on the subject the Indians said:
"To the far north there are seven wonderful cities where the people
make arrow-heads of emeralds and take the sweat off their bodies with
scrapers of pure gold, and have jeweled gates, and turquoise ornaments
over their doors."
"Do these men know how to work precious stones and metals?" asked the
Spaniards eagerly.
"There are long streets filled with jewelers who make rings for the
ears, nose and arms," they said. "Forty days must you journey to reach
this land, and you must travel through a desert where there is neither
water nor food to be had."
The first Spaniard to attempt the search for the Seven Cities was the
cruel Guzman, who looked north for the Amazons. He had with him quite
an army, and his men were so excited over the stories they heard that
they scarcely took time to eat or sleep on the way. They hoped every
day to find the cities, but instead of this the country grew more
desolate, the road more difficult, and the cities still farther to the
north. Then the Spaniards began to complain, and said:
"We have been deceived, and shall all die in this bleak land. Let us
return to Mexico." And they did. For six years no one had the courage
to seek the Seven Cities.
Then something very strange happened.
Into a little seaport where Cortez had ordered some ships built to
explore the western coast, came wandering four strange men. They were
barefooted, and had no clothing except some old, dirty skins with the
hair worn off in spots. Their heads were a perfect mass of tangles,
and their beards reached almost to the knees. Falling flat on their
faces before the first white man they saw, they cried out in a loud
voice:
"Thank God! We are safe at last!" When the astonished Spaniard turned
to look at them, they seized his hands and kissed them, and springing
to their feet danced and shouted for joy.
"These are escaped maniacs," said the people, gathering around to look
at them. "Whatever shall we do with mad men?"
"No, no! You do not understand. We are poor wanderers who have been
lost for years among the Indians."
"Let us take them to our Captain. There is something very strange
about this," said the Spaniards, and they started at once.
"Who are you?" asked the Captain, rudely, looking with disgust at
their dirt and rags.
"I am a noble of Castile who came to help conquer Florida, and my name
is De Vaca," said the oldest man. "The fleet was wrecked and all were
lost except my companions here, and me. All the years since we have
been with the Indians."
"I do not believe a word of it," said the Captain. "Put these fellows
in prison until we find out about them. They may be criminals."
For three months they lay in prison, and then the Alcalde came and
released them.
"Tell me your story," he said.
"When the ships were lost," responded De Vaca, "we swam to the
mainland, and were captured by the Indians. They were a poor, starved
tribe who lived on roots and berries, and often went days without a
mouthful. We had with us a rattle, and this, with our beards, made
them think we came from Heaven, and were great medicine men. They fell
on their faces before us and gave us all they had. We asked them to
take us where the sun sets, but they refused, and we pretended to be
very angry, until they finally let us go. After months of wandering we
came to a land of plenty, where the people were wealthy, and wore
beautiful plumes in their head-dresses. They brought us five emeralds
cut into arrow-heads, and many fine turquoises, and beads made of
coral. When I asked where they got these stones, they pointed to some
lofty mountains toward the north and told us the gems came from there,
and that near them were large cities, with houses three or four
stories high. I did not go there because I heard that toward the
sunset were other men of my kind, and I longed once more to look upon
the face of a Spaniard."
"Of course," said the people, as they talked the matter over, "these
are the same cities Guzman tried to find. He did not go in the right
direction, but we know where they are," and many were eager to set out
at once. But the Viceroy was a quiet and careful man.
"There have been many lives lost already," he said, "and it will be
best not to hurry. I shall not send an army there until I am sure."
Then he thought of a padre, named Fray Marcos, who had lived much
among the Indians of the north, and he sent for him, and said:
"Perhaps there lies to the north as rich a nation as Mexico or Peru.
If so it must be conquered for the Church and the King of Spain. You
know how to speak to the Indians, and it might be that they would let
you come among them and learn the truth. Will you undertake to do so?"
"God giving me strength I will," said Fray Marcos, with enthusiasm.
"Very well. The negro Stephen, who was with De Vaca is here, and is
willing to be your guide. If you come to any great city do not send
back word, but return yourself and tell me about it. Make all your
plans and set out as soon as possible."
Fray Marcos did as he was told, but it was several months before
anything was heard of him. One day a traveler, in a monk's gown, came
walking into the same seaport that De Vaca had visited.
"It is Fray Marcos, who went in search of the Seven Cities! Did you
find them! Are they full of wealth? Where is the negro Stephen?"
Fray Marcos would not answer their questions.
"I have much to tell, but my news is for the Viceroy himself," said
the padre, and he started for the city of Mexico. When there he said
to the Viceroy:
"The Indians came out to meet and welcome me everywhere. They had food
ready for me, and where there were no houses, they built bowers of
trees and flowers that I might rest safe from the sun. I spent four
days journeying through a desert, and then I found some Indians who
marveled much to see me. They thought, because I was white and wore a
gown, that I must have come from Heaven. I asked them if they knew of
any great kingdom where there were seven large cities, and they told
me that farther on were high mountains with wide plains at the foot
where the people lived in cities and clothed themselves in cotton. I
sent Stephen ahead three-score leagues, and charged him to send back
Indians to bring me news of his success. If the country was poor and
mean, he was to send me a cross no longer than my hand; if it were a
goodly place the cross was to be two lengths of a hand, and if he
found what he sought he was to send me a large cross. In four days a
messenger came from Stephen bearing a cross as high as a man. He
brought news of a mighty province called Cibola, thirty days journey
northward from the town where Stephen was. In this province there are
seven great cities governed by one Prince."
"You should have followed at once to make sure that all these things
were true," said the Viceroy, now very much interested.