in the thicket had the fairest opportunity, for they killed eleven or
twelve of them as soon as they set their foot on shore, and lamed as
many.
And now they had a trial of skill, for as they killed as many as they
knew what to do with, and had their choice of beef, if they killed a
bull they let him lie, as having no use for him, but chose the cows, as
what they thought was only fit for eating.
But, I say, now they had a trial of skill, namely, to see if they could
maim some of the bulls so as not to kill them, and might bring them to
carry their luggage. This was a kind of a fruitless attempt, as we
afterwards told them, to make a baggage-horse of a wild bull.
However, they brought it so far to pass, that, having wounded several
young bulls very much, after they had run roaring about with the hurt,
they lay down and bled so, as that it was likely they would bleed to
death, as several of them really did; but the surgeon observing two of
them to be low enough that he might go to them, and do what he would
with them, he soon stopped the bleeding, and in a word, healed the
wounds. All the while they were under cure he caused grass and boughs of
trees to be brought to them for food, and in four or five days the
creatures were very well; then he caused them to be hampered with ropes,
and tied together, so that they could neither fight with their heads, or
run away with their heels; and having thus brought them to a place just
by their tent, he caused them to be kept so hungry, and almost starved,
that, when meat was carried them, they were so tame and thankful, that
at last, they would eat out of his hand, and stretch out their heads for
it, and when they were let a little looser, would follow him about for a
handful of grass, like a dog for a bone.
When he had brought them thus to hand, he, by degrees, loaded them, and
taught them to carry; and if they were unruly, as they were at first, he
would load them with more than they could well carry, and make them
stand under that load two or three hours, and then come himself and
bring them meat, and take the load off; and thus in a few days they knew
him so well, that they would let him do anything with them.
When our people came to decamp, they tied them both together, with such
ropes as they had, and made them carry a very great weight. They tried
the same experiment with two more, but they failed; one died, and the
other proved untractable, sullen, and outrageous.
The men had now lain here twelve days, having plenty of provision, in
which time, the weather proving fair, the land waters ran off, and the
rivers came to their old channels, clear and calm. The men would gladly
have gone back to the sands and flat shore of the lake, or to some other
part, to look for gold; but that was impracticable now, so they marched
on, and in about two days they found the first river seemed to turn so
much to the south, that they thought it would carry them too far out of
their way, for their orders were to keep about the latitude of 40 to 50 deg.
as is said before, so they resolved to get over the first river as soon
as they could; they had not gone far, but they found the river so
shallow, that they easily forded it, bulls and all, and, being safely
landed, they travelled across the country to the great river, which they
found also very low, though not like to be forded as the other was.
Now they thought they were in the way of their business, and here they
resolved to see if a tree or two might be found, big enough to make a
large canoe to carry them down this river, which, as it seemed large, so
the current seemed to be less rapid and furious, the channel being deep
and full.
They had not searched long but they found three trees that they thought
large enough, and they immediately went to work with them, felled and
shaped them, and, in four days' time they had three handsome canoes, one
larger than the rest, and able to carry in all fifteen or sixteen men;
but these were not enough, so they were forced to look out farther, for
two trees more, and this took them up more time. However, in about a
week, they launched them all; as for days, they had lost their account
of time, so that, as they had sometimes no rule to distinguish one day
from another, so at last they quite forgot the days, and knew not a
Sunday from a working-day any longer.
While these canoes were making, the men, according to the old trade,
fell to rummaging the shores of this river, as they had done the other,
for gold, nor did they wholly lose their labour, for, in several places,
they found some; and here it was that a certain number of them, taking
one of the canoes that were first made, took a voyage of their own
heads, not only without command, but against command; and, having made a
little mast and sail to it, went up towards the lake, resolving to go
quite into the lake to find another golden shore, or gold coast, as they
called it.
To give a particular account of this wild undertaking, would be too
long, nor would the rogues give much account of it themselves; only, in
short, that they found a sand pretty rich in gold, worked upon it five
days indefatigably, and got a sufficient quantity, had they brought it
back, to have tempted the rest to have gone all away to the same place.
But, at the end of five days, some were for returning and others for
staying longer, till the majority prevailed to come back, representing
to the rest, that their friends would be gone, and they should be left
to starve in that wild country, and should never get home; so they all
got into the canoe again, but quarrelled when they were in, and that to
such an unreasonable height, that, in short, they fought, overset the
boat, lost all their gold and their arms, except three muskets which
were lashed under their thouts, or benches of the canoe, spoiled their
ammunition and provisions, and drowned one of their company, so they
came home to the rest mortified, wet, and almost famished.
This was a balk to them, and put a damp to their new projects; and yet
six of the same men were so bold afterwards as to demand to be
dismissed, and a canoe given them, and they would go back they said to
the golden lake, where, they did not doubt, they should load the canoe
with gold; and, if they found when they came back we were gone, they
would find their way back through the mountains, and go to the rich
Spaniard, who, they did not doubt, would get them license to go back to
Europe with the galleons, and perhaps, they said, they might be in
England before us.
But the captain quelled this mutiny, though there were four or five more
came into it. By showing them the agreement they had made with me, their
commander, the obligation they were under, and the madness of their
other proposal, he prevailed with them to go forward with the rest, and
pursue the voyage, which he now represented to be very easy, being as it
were, all the way downhill, that is to say, with the stream, for they
all knew the river they were in must go to the sea, and that in or near
the latitude which they knew the ship had appointed to wait for them.
However, to soften them a little, and in some measure to please them, he
promised, that if they met with any success in the search after gold in
the river they were in, as he did not question but they should, he would
consent to any reasonable stop that they should propose, not exceeding
five days in a place, and the places to be not less than five leagues
off from one another.
Upon these terms they consented, and all embarked and came away, though
extremely mortified for the loss of one of their companions, who was a
brave stout fellow, very well beloved by all the company, but there was
no remedy; so they came on in five canoes, and with a good stock of
provisions, such as it was, viz., good fresh beef cured in the sun, and
fifteen Peruvian sheep alive; for, when they got into the country
between the two rivers, they found it easy to catch those creatures, who
before that would not come near them.
And now they came down the river apace, till they came to another golden
shore, where, finding some quantity of gold, they claimed their
captain's promise, and, accordingly, they went all on shore to work, and
pretty good success they had, picking up from among the sands a
considerable quantity of gold, and, having stayed four of the five days,
they found that they had cleared the place, which was not of a long
extent, and so they cheerfully came on.
They proceeded now for eleven days together very willingly, but then
found the channel of the river divided itself, and one went away to the
left, and the other to the right. They could not judge which was the
best to take; but not questioning but that they would meet again soon,
they took the southernmost channel, as being most direct in their
latitude; and thus they coursed for three or four days more, when they
were obliged to put into the mouth of a little river that fell into the
other, and made a good harbour for their little fleet.
Here, I say, they were obliged to put in for want of provisions, for
they had eaten up all their guinacoes, and their two tame bulls too, the
last of which they soon repented, as will be shown presently.
After they had been a-hunting, and shot a couple of deer and a cow, with
a kind of hare, as large as an English fox, they set forward again very
merry, and the more, because they had another little piece of a gold
coast, where, for two days, they had very good luck again; but judge how
they were surprised, and in what a consternation they were, when, coming
farther down the same river, they heard a terrible noise in the river,
as of a mighty cataract, or waterfall, which increased as they came
forward, till it grew so loud that they could not hear themselves
speak, much less hear one another.
As they approached, it was the more frightful; so at length, lest they
should be hurried into it before they were aware, they went all on
shore, doing all by signs and dumb postures, for it was impossible to
hear any sound but that of the cataract.
Though the noise was so great, it was near six miles to the place from
whence it came, which, when they perceived, some of them went back to
bring on the boats, and so brought them as near the place as they durst,
and ran them on shore into a little hollow part of the bank, just large
enough to hold them. When they had thus secured the boats, they went to
view the waterfall; but how were they astonished, when they found that
there were no less than five waterfalls, at the distance of about two
miles from each other, some more, some less, and that the water fell
from a prodigious height; so that it was impossible for any boat to
launch down the cataract without being dashed in pieces.
The men now saw there was no remedy but that they must lose the benefit
of their five canoes, which had been so comfortable to them, and by
which they had come above four hundred miles in a little time, with
safety and pleasure.
These cataracts made the river perfectly useless to them for above
twenty miles, and it was impossible to drag their canoes that length
over land; so, in short, they unloaded them, and, for their own
satisfaction, they turned one, the biggest of them, adrift, and let it
go to the first cataract, placing themselves so beyond that they might
see it come down, which they did, and had the vexation of seeing it
dashed all to pieces on the rocks below.
As there was no remedy, they plainly saw they must leave their boats
behind them. And now, as I have said, they had time to repent killing
their two tamed bulls, who would have done them good service; but it was
too late to look back upon what was done and over so many days before.
They had now no means left them, if they would go forward, but to take
their baggage upon their shoulders and travel on foot. The only help
they had was, that they had got five guinacoes left, which, though they
were hungry, and would fain have eaten, yet, as they had carried at
least five hundred weight of their luggage, they chose to fast and walk
rather than feast and work; so they went on as well as they could till
they got past these falls, which, though not above twenty miles, cost
them five days' labour; at the end of which, they encamped again to
refresh themselves, and consider of what was next to be done. They were
thus long upon this short journey for many reasons.
1. Because they were obliged to employ the best part of two days in
hunting for their food, in which time, five of them swimming over the
river to shoot at some black cattle, extremely fatigued themselves in
pursuing them, but did, however, shoot five cows and bulls; but then it
was at such a distance, that it was more pains to drag the flesh along
to the river's side than it was worth, only that they were indeed
hunger-starved, and must have it.
2. They found still some little quantity of gold in the water, that is
to say, below the falls, where the water, by falling with great force,
had made a pit or hole of a vast depth, and had thrown up a shoal again,
at perhaps a little distance, where they took up some gold whenever the
water was low enough to come at it.
3. The weight of their baggage made them travel heavy, and seldom above
five or six miles a day.
Being now come to the open river, they thought of building more floats;
but they were discouraged from this consideration by not knowing but in
a few days' march there might be more waterfalls, and then all their
labour would be lost; so they took up their tent and began to travel
again.
But here, as they kept the river close on board, as the seamen call it,
they were at a full stop, by the coming in of another river from the
south-west, which, when it joined the river they were along by, was
above a quarter of a mile broad, and how to get over it they knew not.
They sent two men up the additional river some length, and they brought
word that it was indeed narrower by much, but nowhere fordable, but deep
and rapid.
At the same time they sent two more nimble fellows down the coast of the
great river, to see if there were any more waterfalls, who brought them
word that there were none for upwards of sixty miles.
While they lay here, at the point of the influx, expecting the return of
their scouts, they used what diligence they could in getting provisions;
and among the rest, they killed three cows and a bull on the other side
of the largest river; but not knowing how to bring them over, they at
last concluded to go, as many as could swim, which was the better half
of them, and sit down by it, and roast and broil upon the spot as much
as they could eat, and then bring with them, as much as they could for
their companions.
For this purpose they got boughs of trees, and bound them together, then
wrapped the meat in the hides, and laid it on the wood, and made a
number of little contrivances to convey it, so that no part of the meat
was lost. What they got on their own side of the river they made better
shift with.
On the return of their scouts they found there was no remedy but to
build some new vessels, of one kind or other, to take in their baggage
and provision, which they made after the manner of their first floats;
for they found no trees large enough to make canoes; when, therefore,
they had made one great float, they resolved to make two small boats,
like yawls or skiffs, with which they might tow their large float or
barge; and as this they might do with small timbers, so they found means
to line them within and without with the bulls' hides, and that so
dexterously joined, and lapped and rolled one over another, that no
water came through, or but very little.
With these two boats they ferried over the small rivers with ease, each
boat carrying six men, besides two to row; and when they were over the
small rivers, the two boats served to tow their great punt or barge
close by the shore.
The greatest difficulty was for tow-lines to draw the boats by, and
those they supplied by twisting a strong tough kind of flag or rush,
which they found in the river, of which, with much application and
labour, they made a kind of rope-yarn, and then twisting it again, made
it very strong.
This was the voiture with which they conveyed themselves quite down to
the sea, and one of these boats it was that we spied, as above, coming
to us in the bay.
They had yet above four hundred and fifty miles to the sea, nor could
they at any time tell or guess how far off it might be. They went on
more or less every day, but it was but slowly, and not without great
labour, both of rowing and towing. Their provisions also cost them much
pains, for they were obliged first to hunt and kill it, and then bring
it to the camp, which, however, was always close to the river's side.
After they had travelled thus some time, following the course of the
river, they came to a place, where, on a sudden, they could see no
farther bank of the river, but it looked all water, like the sea. This
they could not account for; so, the next day, they rowed towards it with
one of their little boats, when they were surprised to find that it was
the northern branch of the river, which they had seen go off before they
came at the waterfalls, which river being now increased with many other
great waters, was now so great, that the mouth of it might be said to be
four or five miles over, and rather received the river they were on,
than ran into that; but, after this, it contracted itself again, though
still it was to be supposed near a mile and a half over.
They were far from being pleased at this conjunction of the waters,
because the great water being thus joined, they found the stream or
current more violent, and the water, upon the least stirring of the
wind, more turbulent than it was before, and as their great float drew
but little water, and swam flat upon the surface, she was ready to
founder upon every occasion. This obliged them almost every night to
seek for some little cove or creek to run her into, as into a harbour,
to preserve her; for, when the wind blew from shore, they had enough to
do to keep her from driving off from the river, and, when there was but
little wind, yet it made a rippling or chopping of the waves, that they
had much difficulty to keep them from filling her.
All the country on the side of this river was a little higher ground
than ordinary, which was its security from land-floods, and their
security too; for sometimes the river was seen to rise, and that so much
as to overflow a great extent of land on the other side. Hence, perhaps,
the other side might be esteemed the most fruitful, and perhaps might be
the better land, if it had but half the art and industry of an European
nation to assist the natural fertility of the soil, by keeping the water
in its bounds, banking and fencing the meadows from the inundations and
freshes, which were frequently sent down from the Andes and from the
country adjoining.
But, as it now was, those lower lands lay great part of the year under
water; whether it was the better or worse for the soil, that no judgment
can be made of, till some people come to settle there to whom it may be
worth while to make experiments of that kind.
This part of the country they were now in resembled, as they hinted, the
county of Dorsetshire and the downs about Salisbury, only not lying so
high from the surface of the water, and the soil being a good fruitful
dark mould, not a chalky solid rock, as in the country about Salisbury,
and some other parts.
Here they found a greater quantity of deer than they had seen in all
their journey, which they often had the good luck to kill for their
supply of food, the creatures not being so shy and wild as they had
found farther within the country.
It may be noted here, and it is very observable, that in all this
journey I could not learn that they saw either wolf or fox, bear or
lion, or, indeed, any other ravenous creature, which they had the least
reason to be shy or afraid of, or which, indeed, were frightful to the
deer; and this, perhaps, may be the reason why the number of the latter
animals is so great, which, as I have said, is greater there than at
other places.
After they had feasted themselves here for some days, they resolved to
begin their new kind of navigation, and to see what they could make of
it; but they went very heavily along, and every now and then, as I have
said, the water was too rough for them, and they were fain to put into
harbour, and sometimes lie there two or three days. However, they plyed
their time as well as they could, and sometimes the current setting over
to their side, and running strong by the shore, they would go at a great
rate, insomuch that one time they said they went about thirty miles in a
day, having, besides the current, a little gale of wind right astern.
They reckoned that they went near two hundred miles in this manner, for
they made the best of it; and at the end of these two hundred miles, it
was, by their reckoning, that our five men who travelled into the
country so far, found them, when they saw the hat swimming down the
stream; which hat, it seems, one of them let fall overboard in the
night.
They had, I say, travelled thus far with great difficulty, the river
being so large; but, as they observed it growing larger and larger the
farther they went, so, they said, they did not doubt, but that, in a
little more, they should come to the sea.
They also observed, that now, as they found the waters larger and the
rivers wider, they killed more fowls than formerly, and, particularly,
more of the duck-foot kind, though they could not perceive any
sea-fowls, or such as they had been used to. They saw a great many wild
swans, and some geese, as also duck, mallard, and teal; and these, I
say, increased as they drew nearer the sea.
They could give very little account of the fish which the rivers
produced, though they sometimes catched a few in the smaller river; but,
as they had neither fishing-hook or nets, which was the only omission in
my fitting them out, they had no opportunity to furnish themselves.
They had, likewise, no salt, neither was it possible to furnish them
with any, so they cured their meat in the sun, and seasoned it with that
excellent sauce called hunger.
The account they gave of discovering our five men was thus. They had
been, for two days, pretty successful in their navigation, as I have
described it, but were obliged to stop, and put in at the mouth of a
little river, which made them a good harbour. The reason of their stay
was, they had no victuals, so by consent they all went a-hunting, and,
at night, having shot two guinacoes and a deer, they went to supper
together in their great tent; and, having fed heartily on such good
provisions, they began to be merry, and the captain and officers, having
a little store left, though not much, they pulled out their bottles, and
drank every one a dram to their good voyage, and to the merry meeting of
their ships, and gave every man the same.
But their mirth was increased beyond expressing, when two of the men,
who were without the tent door, cried out, it lightened. One said he saw
the flash, he was sure, and the other said, he thought he saw it too;
but, as it happened, their backs were towards the east, so that they did
not see the occasion.
This lightning was certainly the first flash of one of our five men's
rockets, or the breaking of it, and the stars that were at the end of
it, up in the air.
When the captain heard the men say it lightened, he jumped from his
seat, and called aloud to them to tell which way; but they foolishly
replied, to the north-west, which was the way their faces were when they
saw it; but the word was no sooner spoken but the two fellows fell
a-hallooing and roaring, as if they were distracted, and said they saw
a rocket rise up in the air to the eastward.
So nimble were the men at this word, that they were all out of the tent
in a moment, and saw the last flash of the rocket with the stars, which,
spreading themselves in the air, shone with the usual bright light that
it is known those fireworks give.
This made them all set up a shout of joy, as if they imagined their
fellows, who were yet many miles from them, should hear them; but the
captain and officers, who knew what they were to do on this occasion,
ran to their baggage, and took out their own rockets, and other
materials, and prepared to answer the signal.