immediate work, which was, going forward; and the carpenters having made
three more floats, like flat-bottomed barges, which they brought to be
able to carry their baggage and themselves too, if they thought fit,
they began to embark and fall down the river; but they grew sick of
their navigation in a very few days, for before they got to the lake,
which was but three days' going, they ran several times on ground, and
were obliged to lighten their floats to get them off again, then load
again, and lighten again, and so off and on, till they were so tired of
them that they would much rather have carried all their baggage, and
have travelled by land; and, at last, they were forced to cast off two
of them, and put all their baggage on board the other two, which, at
best, though large, were but poor crazy things.
At length they came in sight of their beloved lake, and the next day
they entered into the open part, or sea of it, which they found was very
large, and in some places very deep.
Their floats, or by what other name they might be called, were by no
means fit to carry them upon this inland sea; for if the water had been
agitated by the least gust of wind, it would presently have washed over
them, and have spoiled, if not sunk, their baggage; so they had no way
to steer or guide them whenever they came into deep water, where they
could not reach the ground with their poles.
This obliged them, as soon as they came into the open lake, to keep
close under one shore, that is to say, to the right hand, where the land
falling away to the south and the south-by-east, seemed to carry them
still forward on their way; the other side widening to the north, made
the lake seem there to be really a sea, for they could not look over
it, unless they went on shore and got upon some rising ground.
Here, at first, they found the shore steep too, and a great depth of
water close to land, which made them very uneasy; for, if the least gale
of wind had disturbed the water, especially blowing from off the lake,
they would have been shipwrecked close to the shore. However, after they
had gone for two days along the side, by the help of towing and setting
as well as they could, they came to a flatter shore and a fair strand,
to their great joy and satisfaction.
But, if the shore proved to their satisfaction for its safety, it was
much more so on another account; for they had not been long here before
they found the sands or shore infinitely rich in gold, beyond all that
they had seen, or thought of seeing before. They had no sooner made the
discovery, than they resolved to possess themselves of a treasure that
was to enrich them all for ever; accordingly, they went to work with
such an avaricious spirit, that they seemed to be as if they were
plundering an enemy's camp, and that there was an army at hand to drive
them from the place; and, as it proved, they were in the right to do so;
for, in this gust of their greedy appetite, they considered not where
they were, and upon what tender and ticklish terms their navigation
stood.
They had, indeed, drawn their two floats to the shore as well as they
could, and with pieces of wood like piles, stuck in on every side,
brought them to ride easy, but had not taken the least thought about
change of weather, though they knew they had neither anchor or cable,
nor so much as a rope large enough to fasten them with on the shore.
But they were taught more wit, to their cost, in two or three days; for,
the very second night they felt a little unusual rising of the water, as
they thought, though without any wind; and the next morning they found
the water of the lake was swelled about two feet perpendicular, and that
their floats, by that means, lay a great way farther from the shore than
they did at first, and the water still increasing.
This made them imagine there was a tide in the lake, and that after a
little time it would abate again, but they soon found their mistake; for
after some time, they perceived the water, which was perfectly fine and
clear before, grew by degrees of a paler colour, thick and whitish, till
at last it was quite white and muddy, as is usual in land floods; and
as it still continued rising, so they continued thrusting in their
floats farther and farther towards the shore, till they had, in short,
lost all the fine golden sands they were at work upon before, and found
the lake overflowed the land so far beyond them, that, in short, they
seemed to be in the middle of the lake, for they could scarce see to the
end of the water, even on that very side where, but a few hours before,
their floats were fast on the sands.
It may be easily judged that this put them into great consternation, and
they might well conclude that they should be all drowned and lost; for
they were now, as it were, in the middle of the sea upon two open floats
or rafts, fenced nowhere from the least surge or swell of the water,
except by a kind of waste board, about two feet high, built up on the
sides, without any calking or pitching, or anything to keep out the
water.
They had neither mast or sail, anchor or cable, head or stern, no bows
to fence off the waves, or rudder to steer any course, or oars to give
any motion to their floats, whose bottoms were flat like a punt, so that
they were obliged to thrust them along with such poles as they had, some
of which were about eight or ten feet long, which gained them a little
way, though very slowly.
All the remedy they had in this case was, to set on with their poles
towards the shore, and to observe, by their pocket compasses, which way
it lay; and this they laboured hard at, lest they should be lost in the
night, and not know which way to go.
Their carpenters, in the mean time, with some spare boards which they
had, or rather made, raised their sides as well as they could, to keep
off the wash of the sea, if any wind should rise so as to make the water
rough; and thus they fenced against every danger as well as they could,
though, all put together, they were but in a very sorry condition.
Now they had time to reflect upon their voracious fury, in ranging the
shore to pick up gold, without considering where and in what condition
they were, and without looking out on shore for a place of safety: nay,
they might now have reflected on the madness of venturing out into a
lake or inland sea of that vast extent, in such pitiful bottoms as they
had under them. Their business, doubtless, had been to have stopped
within the mouth of the river, and found a convenient place to land
their goods and secure their lives; and when they had pitched their camp
upon any safe high ground, where they might be sure they could neither
be overflowed nor surrounded with water, they might have searched the
shores of the lake as far as they thought fit; but thus to launch into
an unknown water, and in such a condition, as to their vessels, as is
described above, was most unaccountably rash and inconsiderate.
Never were a crew of fifty men, all able and experienced sailors, so
embarked, nor drawn into such a snare; for they were surrounded with
water for three or four miles in breadth on the nearest shore, and this
all on a sudden, the country lying low and flat for such a breadth, all
which appeared dry land and green, like the fields, the day before; and,
without question, the men were sufficiently surprised.
Now they would have given all the gold they had got, which was very
considerable too, to have been on shore on the wildest and most barren
part of the country, and would have trusted to their own diligence to
get food; but here, besides the imminent danger of drowning, they might
also be in danger of starving; for had their floats grounded but upon
any little hillock, they might have stuck there till they had starved
and perished for hunger. Then they were in the utmost anxiety too for
fear of wetting their powder, which, if it had happened, they could
never have made serviceable again, and without it, they could not have
killed anything for food, if they had got to the shore.
They had, in this exigence, some comforts, however, which might a little
uphold their spirits; and without which, indeed, their condition must
have been deplorable and desperate.
1. It was hot weather, so that as they had no shelter against the cold,
if it had come, they had no cold to afflict them; but they rather wanted
awnings to keep off the sun, than houses to keep off the cold.
2. The water of the lake was fresh and good; even when it looked white
and thick, yet it was very sweet, wholesome, and good tasted; had it
been salt water, and they thus in the middle of it, they must have
perished with thirst.
3. They being now floating over the drowned lands only, the water was
not very deep, so that they could reach ground, and set along their
rafts with their poles, and this, to be sure, they failed not to do with
the utmost diligence.
They had also the satisfaction to observe, though it was not without
toiling in an inexpressible manner, that they gained upon the shore, and
that there was a high land before them, which they were making for,
though very slowly, and at a distance they hoped to overcome.
But soon after, they had another discouragement, namely, that they saw
the day declining, and night coming on apace, and, in short, that it was
impossible they could reach the high land, which they saw by daylight,
nor did they know what to do or how to go on in the night.
At length two bold fellows offered themselves to strip and go off,
either to wade or swim to the shore, which they had daylight to do,
being, as they judged, about three miles, though they found it above
four, and from thence to find means to make a fire or light to guide
them to the shore in the dark.
This was, indeed, a desperate attempt, but the two fellows being good
swimmers, and willing to venture, it was not impracticable. They had
light linen drawers on, with pockets, and open at the knees, and their
shirts; each of them took a little bottle with some gunpowder, close
stopped, with other materials for kindling fire; weapons they had none,
but each man a knife and a hatchet fastened round his waist in a little
belt, and a light pole in his hands to help him when he waded, which it
was expected they must do part of the way. They had no provisions with
them, but a bottle with some good brandy in their pockets above
mentioned.
When they went off, it was supposed the water to be about four feet to
five feet deep, so they chose to swim rather than wade, and it was very
seldom much deeper; they had often opportunity to stand on the firm
ground to rest themselves.
In this posture they went on directly towards the land, and after they
had, by swimming and wading together, advanced about a mile, they found
the water grew shallower, which was a signal to them that they should
reach the hard ground in a little time; so they walked cheerfully on in
about three feet water, for near a mile more.
Their companions on board the rafts soon lost sight of them, for they
being in white, and the water white too, and the light declining, they
could not see them at a mile distance.
After this they found the ground falling lower, so that they had deeper
water for half a mile more all the way; after which, they came to a flat
ground again, for near two miles more, and at length to the dry land, to
their great satisfaction, though it was then quite night.
They had been near an hour in the dark, that is to say, with only a
dusky light, and began to be greatly at a loss, not being able to see
the compass. They had made shift to get over the half mile of deeper
water pretty well; for, though it was too deep for the two men to wade,
as above, yet they could reach the bottom with their poles, and, at that
time, they happened to feel a little breeze of wind fair in their way,
which not only refreshed them, but gave them a kind of a jog on their
way towards the shore.
At length, to their great joy, they saw a light; and it was the more to
their joy, because they saw it just before them, or, as the seamen call
it, right ahead; by which they had the satisfaction to know they had not
varied their course in the dark. It seems their two men had landed upon
a fair rising ground, where they found some low bushes and trees, and
where they had good hard dry standing; and they soon found means to pick
out a few withered dry sticks, with which they made a blaze for the
present, having struck fire with the tools they were furnished with, as
mentioned above.
By the light of this blaze, they gave the first notice to their comrades
that they were landed; and they in return, as was agreed as before,
fired two guns as a signal that they saw it, and were all safe.
By the light of this fire, the two men also gave themselves so much
light as to find more dry wood; and, afterwards, their fire was so
strong and good, that they made the green wood burn as well as the dry.
Their companions on the floats were now come into the shoal water, in
which, as I said, these men waded, but, as their floats did not draw
above a foot or eighteen inches water at most, they went on still; but,
at length, being within about half a mile of the hillock where the two
men were, they found the water so shallow that their floats would not
swim. Upon this, more of the men went overboard with poles in their
hands, sounding, as we call it, for a deeper water, and, with long
paddling about, they found the ground fall off a little in one place, by
which they got their floats about a quarter of a mile farther; but then
the water was shallow again, not above a foot of water: so, in a word,
they were fain to be content, and, running fast aground, they
immediately began, though dark, and themselves very much fatigued, to
unload their floats and carry all on shore on their backs.
The first thing they took care to land, was their ammunition, their
gunpowder and arms, not forgetting the ammunition de bouche, as the
French call it, I mean their victuals; and, with great joy, got to their
comrades. Then they fetched their proper materials for their tent, and
set it up, and having refreshed themselves, they went all to sleep, as
they said, without so much as a sentinel placed for their guard; for, as
they saw no inhabitants, so they feared no enemies; and, it may be
supposed, they were weary enough to make them want rest, even in the
extremest manner.
In the morning they had time enough to reflect upon the madness of such
rash adventures. Their floats, indeed, remained as they had left them,
and the water was ebbed away from them for more than two miles, that is
to say, almost to the deep half mile mentioned above; but they heard a
surprising noise and roaring of the water on the lake itself, the body
of which was now above seven miles from them.
They could not imagine what this roaring should mean, for they felt no
wind, nor could they perceive any clouds at a distance that looked as if
they brought any squalls of wind with them, as they are often observed
to do; but, when they came nearer the water, they found it had a kind of
a swell, and that there was certainly some more violent motion at the
farther distance; and, in a little while, looking behind them towards
the shore where their comrades were, they found the water began to
spread over the flat ground again; upon which, they hastened back, but
having a good way to go, they were obliged to wade knee deep before they
reached to the hillock where their tent stood.
They had not been many hours on shore before they found the wind began
to rise, and the roaring, which before they heard at a distance, grew
louder and nearer, till at length the floats were lifted up, and driven
on shore by the wind, which increased to a storm, and the water swelled
and grew rough; and, as they were upon the lee shore, the floats were
soon broken in pieces, and went some one way and some another.
In the evening it overcast and grew cloudy, and, about midnight, they
had their share of a violent rain, which yet, they could see was more
violent towards the mountains of the Andes, and towards the course of
the river which they came down in the floats.
The consequence of this was, that the third day, the waters of the lake
swelled again to a frightful height; that is to say, it would have been
frightful to them if they had been up in it, for they supposed it rose
about two fathoms perpendicularly, and the wind continuing fresh, the
water was all a white foam of froth; so that, had they been favoured
with even a good large boat under them, she would scarce have lived
there.
Their tent was a sufficient shelter from the rain, and, as they were on
dry land, and too high to be reached by any inundation, they had no
concern upon them about their safety, but took this for sufficient
notice, not to come up the lake again in haste, unless they were better
provided with boats to ride out a storm.
Our men began now to think they had taken their leave of the golden
lake, and yet they knew not how to think of leaving it so soon. They
were now fourteen or fifteen leagues from the shore where they had found
so much gold, nor did they know the way to it by land; and as for going
by water, that they were unprovided for several ways; besides, the
waters kept up to a considerable height, and the winds blew fresh for
six or eight days, without intermission.
All these obstructions joined together, put them upon considering of
pursuing their march by land, in which, however, they resolved to coast
the lake as near as they could to the eastward, till, if possible, they
should find that the waters had some outlet, that is to say, that the
lake emptied itself by some river towards the sea, as they concluded it
certainly must.
They had not yet seen any inhabitants, or any sign of them, at least,
not near them; they saw, or fancied they saw, some on the other side of
the river, but, as none came within reach of them, it is doubtful
whether they really saw them or not.
Before they decamped for a march, it was needful to get some provisions,
if possible, and this made them the more desirous of finding out some
conversible creatures, but it was in vain. They killed a wild cow and a
deer, and this was all they could get for some time; and with this they
set forward, taking their course east, and rather northerly, in order to
come into the same latitude they set out in, at their first embarking on
the river.
After they had marched thus for about three days, keeping the lake on
the north side of them, and always in view, at length, on the third day,
in the evening, coming to a little hill, which gave them the prospect of
the country for some length north-east, they saw plainly a river issuing
out of the lake, and running first east, then bending to the south; it
was also easy to perceive that this river, was at that time, much
broader than its usual course, for that they could see a great many
trees, which probably grew on the banks of the river, standing as it
were, in the middle of the water, the banks being overflowed both ways
very considerably.
But, as they mounted the hill which they stood on, to greater height,
they discovered farther north, at a distance of five or six miles,
according to their account, a much larger river, which looked, compared
to the first, rather like a sea than a river, which likewise issued out
of the lake, and ran east-by-south towards the sea; which river they
supposed to be in the same manner swelled with a land-water to a
prodigious degree.
This prospect brought them to a more serious consultation as to the
measures they should take to proceed on their journey; and as they could
easily see there was little or no use to be made of the rivers for their
travelling, while they were thus above the ordinary banks, so that they
could not know the proper channels, and also that the currents were
exceeding swift, so they resolved to stock themselves with provisions,
if possible, and continue their journey by land.
To this purpose they first made it their business to catch some more
guinacoes, or large sheep, which they knew would not only feed them, but
also carry their luggage, which was still heavy and very troublesome to
them, and yet absolutely necessary too. But all their endeavour was in
vain, for though they saw several, and found that the country was pretty
full of them, and some they killed, yet they could not take one alive by
any means they could contrive.
Among other creatures they shot for food were a few wild cows and
bulls, and especially on the north side of the river, where they found
great plenty.
But the most surprising thing to them that they had yet met with, was
still to come. They had descended from the hill where they at first
discovered the smaller river, and where they had set up their tent,
resolving to march on the lower grounds as near the river as they could,
so as to be out of danger of the water, that they might find, if
possible, some way over, to come at the great river, which they judged
to be the stream most proper for their business.
Here they found a rich pleasant country, level and fruitful, not so low
as to be exposed to the overflowing of the river, and not so high as to
be dry and barren; several little brooks and streams of water rising on
the side of the hill they came from, ran winding this way and that, as
if to find out the river, and near the river were some woods of very
large trees.
The men, not forgetting the main chance, fell to washing and searching
the sand and gravel in these brooks for gold; but the harvest of gold
seemed to be over, for here they found none.
They had also an occasion to discover, that till the land-waters were
abated, there was no stirring for them, no not so much as to cross the
first river; nor if they did, could they find in their hearts to
venture, not knowing but the waters might still rise higher, and that
the two rivers might swell into one, and so they should be swallowed up,
or if not, they might be surrounded in some island, where they should
perish for want of provisions; so they resolved to fetch their baggage
from the hill as well as they could, and encamp in those pleasant
plains, as near the river as they could, till the water should abate.
While they stayed here, they were so far from having hopes that the
waters would abate, that it rained violently for almost three days and
nights together; and one of those rainy mornings, looking out at their
tent-door (for they could not stir abroad for the rain), they were
surprised, when looking towards the river, which was just below them,
they saw a prodigious number of black creatures in the water, and
swimming towards the shore where they were.
They first imagined they were porpoises, or sea-hogs, but could not
suggest anything of that kind at such a distance from the sea, when one
of the men looking at them through the glass, cried out they were all
black cattle, and that he could perceive their horns and heads; upon
this, others looking with their glasses also, said the same; immediately
every man ran to his gun, and, notwithstanding it rained hard, away they
marched down to the river's side with all the speed they could make.
By that time they reached the river bank, their wonder increased, for
they found it was a vast multitude of black cattle, who, finding the
waters rise between the two rivers, and, by a natural sagacity,
apprehensive of being swept away with the flood, had one and all took
the waters, and were swimming over to this side for safety.
It may very well be imagined, the fellows, though they wanted a few such
guests as these, yet were terrified with their multitude, and began to
consider what course to take when the creatures should come to land, for
there was a great number of them. Upon the whole, after a short
consultation, for the creatures came on apace, they resolved to get into
a low ground, where they perceived they directed their course, and in
which there were a great many trees, and that they would all get up into
the trees, and so lie ready to shoot among them as they landed.
Accordingly they did so, excepting five of them, who, by cutting down
some large boughs of a tree, had got into a little thicket close to the
water, and which they so fortified with the boughs of the trees, that
they thought themselves secure within; and there they posted themselves,
resolving to wait the coming of the cattle, and take their hazard.
When the creatures came to land, it was wonderful to observe how they
lowed and roared, as it were to bid one another welcome on shore; and
spreading themselves upon the neighbouring plain, immediately lay down,
and rolling and stretching themselves, gave our people notice, that, in
short, they had swam a great way and were very much tired.