heard there related and indeede not farre remoued from that Continent but poore base and beggarly The glory of which famous action so inticed him that the second time he went to the Sea in the yeare of our Lord 1591. so accommodated with all necessary prouisions both of men munition and victuals that not any Gentleman euer went forth in his owne particular better or more brauely prouided But it pleased God who is the strength and guide of these actions not to marke him out for this great worke for in this Voyage hee sickned and dyed whose greatest directions liuing inclosed in his owne brest the Voyage queld and his ships returned home againe for England but the infinite profit which hath sprung his example may be beheld in our East Indian Trade the like whereof I thinke no Nation in the world can boast being of all other the wealthiest the fruitfullest and the most certaine affording vs not onely a nurcery of Merchants and Sea-men but such an inuincible strength of Shipping and other warlike acoustrements that any Nation vnder the Sunne may tremble to offend vs. To these Discoueries I could adde the Discouery of Virginia by the euer memorable and valiant Knight Sir Richard Grinuile and the Plantation there which doubtlesse promiseth and already restoreth much benefit to our Kingdome hauing continued there almost from the yeare 1585. till this hower and how euen in that Discouery hee both heard and vnderstood of the incomparable and not to be equald wealth which yet lay hidden in the South parts of America But I feare I haue troubled your eares already too much with my tedious digression which is not altogether vaine and impertinent since by it you may see how euen from the infancy of our English trauell every man hath had a noble ambition and most probable assurances of good hope to attaine a height of honour and wealth which yet rests vnattained At which questionlesse our Generall bends his ayme being diuers wayes wooed and induced thereunto more then any Englishman whatsoeuer both in respect of his former experience at this day not to be paralleld his wisdome learning and conference with the experience of places hee hath formerly held that it is impossible any thing of note should be hidden from him Therefore to reconcile those things already written with the Relation I intend to pursue you shall vnderstand that whatsoever hath beene done formerly by any of those already rehearsed or by any other whether English Spanish Dutch French or any other Nation of Christendome all their knowledges and experiences haue liberally beene brought to his remembrance Loue Dutie his place of Authoritie or the chance of Warre tendering the same vnto him as a rent due to his noble minde and actions And aboue all an English Knight Sir Robert Dudley was an especiall man that long since both from his experience at sea hauing consumed infinite wealth and much time in these Discoueries as also by meanes of certaine Letters which he had intercepted from the Spaniards and taken in his trauells gaue our Generall a strong assurance that yet there remained out of the hands of all the Kings and Princes in Christendome in the South parts of America the very Magazine of all rich Mettalls and such an Empire as whosoeuer shall haue the fortune to conquer it shall so darken all the actions either of Cortez or Pescaro that nothing but pouerty will appeare in their deeds neyther Mexico nor Peru bee worthy to be compared with it and what Prince soeuer shall possesse it shall bee Lord of more gold of a more beautifull Empire and of more Citties and people then either the King of Spaine or the great Turke At this questionlesse our hopes promise that his noble ends doe bend for being full as great and hauing beene much greater then any man whatsoeuer of our nation that hath followed the like course to what should his great hart look or what should hee dedicate to so gracious and mercifull a King as hee enioyeth but the very â—oppe and Garland of all Heroyicall actions But in as much as yet nothing is done worthy relation because we are not yet ariued at the hithermost end of our designes all our successe remayning in hope and least my too much loue might make me too saucy in prophesie I will leaue all to his holy will which gouernes all onely I will acquaint you with some particulars touching the generall gouernment of our Fleete which although other men doubtlesse in their Voyages haue in some measure obseru'd yet in all the great Volumes which haue beene written touching Voyages there is no president of so godly seuere and Martiall gouernment which not onely in it selfe is laudable and worthy imitation but also fit to bee written and ingrauen in euery mans Soule that couets to doe honor to his King and Country in these or the like attempts The true Coppy of which Lawes Articles and especiall Commandements are these which heere after follow and at this present we obserue Orders to bee obserued by the Commanders of the Fleete and land Companies vnder the charge and conduct of Sr. Walter Rauleigh Knight bound for the South parts of America or else where Giuen at Plimouth in Deuon the third of May. 1617. FIrst because no action nor Enterprise can prosper be it by Sea or Land without the fauour and assistance of Almighty God the Lord and strength of Hoasts and Armies you shall not fayle to cause Diuine Seruice to be read in your Shippe morning and euening in the morning before Dinner and at night before Supper or at least if there be interruption by soule weather once the day praysing God euery night with singing of a Psalme at the setting of the Watch. Secondly you shall take especiall care that God be not blasphemed in your Ship but that after admonition giuen if the offenders doe not refraine themselues you shall cause them of the better sort to be fined out of their aduentures by which course if no amendment bee found you shall acquaint me with all For if it be threatned in the Scriptures that The Curse shall not depart from the house of the Swearer much lesse from the Ship of the Swearer Thirdly no man shall refuse to obey his Officer in all that he is commaunded for the benefit of the Iourney no man being in health refuse to wayte his turne as he shall be directed the Saylors by the Maister and Boatswaine the Landmen by their Captaine Liefetenant and others You shall make in euery Ship two Captaines of the watch who shall make choyce of two Soldiers euery night to search betweene the Decks that no fire nor candle light be carried about the Ship after the watch set nor that any Candles be burning in any Caben without a Lanthorne and that neither but while they are to make themselues vnready for there is no danger so ineuitable as the Ships firing which may also as well
Treasure will be found in euery Monument which how vnspeakable it is I leaue to iudgement And this doth also witnesse Martines a Spanyard who liued seauen Moneths in the great Citie Manoa which hee called El Dorado the place of gold with the great Emperour Inga and saw with his eyes what Lopez had written And further he did affirme of himselfe that when hee first entred into that Citie which for buildings state and popularitie and all other outward excellencies hee thought the goodliest in the whole world it was neare noone and then they vncouered his face for in his whole trauell hee was led by the Indians blindfold before and hee trauelled all that day till darke night and the next day from Sunne-rise till Sunne-set directly forward within the Citie before hee came to the Emperours Court which expresseth a masse of buildings farre beyond our apprehensions But here it will be obiected by the curious that without all question if this were possible to be so that the Conquest thereof had beene attempted many yeares agoe and that the Spanyard who hath got Peru and Mexico would not haue slept in a Designe of this great consequence Or if he had that then these knowledges would haue inflamed all the great Spirits of Christendome to haue ioyned their forces together in so worthy a Conquest And surely the Obiection is true nor hath eyther the Spanyard or other Princes beene sloathfull in this attempt though it hath please God their labours haue not hitherto taken effect For first the Marquesse of Pescaro imployed Oreliano about the Discouery of this Empire in the yeare 1542. and hee was the first that found out the Riuer of Amazons but failed in his first purpose After him Ordace who was Knight of the order of St. Iago did attempt the same designe vnder whom Martines before mentioned was maister of the Munition this Ordace was slaine by a mutiny vpon the Coast of Guiana with all such as likewise fauoured him by reason whereof the attempt fayled and few or none of the Company returned beeing sixe hundred foote and thirty horse After the death of Ordace Pedro de Osua a Knight vndertooke the attempt and hauing spent much time and search in the Riuer Amazons and wearied his soldiers was also by a mutiny stird vp by one Agiri a man of meane quality put to the sword and with him all such as loued him Then Agiri being chiefe tooke on him the attempt but not being able by that Riuer to finde any passage to Guiana he returned back and committing diuers rebellious outrages was in the end ouerthrowne in Nueuo reigno and finding no way to escape first slew his Children to saue them from defamation and after himselfe After him succeded in this enterprise Ieronimo Ortal de Saragosa but failing of his entrance was cast on a contrary Coast and so proceeded no further Then followed Don Pedro de Siluas but hee also entring by the Riuer Amazons was by those warlike Woemen defeated and but seauen of his Company escaped whereof but two onely returned Then came Pedro Hernandez de Serpa and vndertooke the action but marching by Land to the Riuer Orenoque was met by an Army of the Indians and ouerthrowne so that of his whole power returned but eighteene persons This ouerthrow heard of the Adalantado Don Gonzales Cemenes de Casada vndertooke the action and sought his passage by the Riuer which is called Papamene but he also sayling in the true entrance returned with the losse of much labour and cost This Gonzales gaue his Daughter in marriage to a very braue and stoute Spaniard but a little persidious called Bereo binding him by his oath and honour to pursue the Action to his last substance or the losse of his life which Bereo vndertooke and all be it hee had the experience of all those which had gone before and of diuers others and was well perswaded of their errours and mistakings yet he fayled as much as any other nor euer could come to any true light thereof till hee got conference with an antient King of that Countrey called Carapana This Bereo was after taken Prisoner by Sir VValter Rauleigh our noble Generall at Trinidado from whom he exacted much of that hath beene formerly written in the yeare of our Lord 1595. at which time Sir VValter attempted the discouery of Guiana and proceeded further therein being but himselfe and one hundred followers of all sorts then euer any man had done before he entred by one of the maine branches of Orenoque being nine in number which fall out of the North side and seauen out of the South and passed the Countrey of the Tiuitiuas which are people that in the Sommer dwell in houses on the ground but in the Winter vpon the tops of trees Thence he came into the goodly Riuer of Amana on whose borders he saw grow aboundance of fruit Trees good and pleasant to eat which was a very great reliefe to his Company when their victualls were spent and such strange plants and flowers as was most wonderfull Then hee went to a Towne of the Arwacas where hee found reliefe of victualls and other necessaries and a most delicate and sweet Country and in lesse then fifteene dayes after hee came to descry the mountaines of Guiana thence he went to the Towne of Toparimaca an Indian Casiquy which Towne is called Arwacas and there feasted was refreshed and got a Pilot to bring him to Guiana so that thence hee passed by the Iland Assapano and the Iland Icoana thence to the I le Ocaywita whence hee sent two Guianians to tell the Lord of that Country of his comming so he passed by the plaines of the Samay which reach to Cumana and Caracas thence hee went vp to Aromaia which was the Country of Morequito that was formerly slaine by Bereo where in the Port thereof hee anchored and the King of Aromaia came a foote vnto him being fourteene English miles and brought him all sorts of prouisions with this King beeing a man of an hundred and tenne yeares old Sir Walter discoursed in priuate and vnderstood that Country to bee a part of Guiana and withall he learnd from him the waies passages to Manoa the strength gouernment of the great Empire and lastly the nature disposition of the people and what Nations and Countries were aduerse vnto them After this discourse Sir Walter gaue him leaue to depart the old man promising him vpon his returne all things necessary that hee should want Thence Sir Walter went to view the famous Riuer Caroli and so to to the Iland Caiama thence to Canuria where he had conference with the Cassique thereof and from him learned also more of the state of Guiana and of the great wealth and of certaine Siluer Mynes which were then vpon the borders of that Riuer where hee then
rockes nor sands all which other Voyages are subject vnto Also hee saith the best time to sayle from England thither is in Iuly because the Summer in Guiana is in October Nouember December Ianuary February and March and so shipping may returne from thence in Aprill and arriue at home in England in Iune and by that means neuer be subiect to winter weather eyther comming going or staying which no doubt is an excellent comfort to all men that shall vndertake the Action And thus much touching his worthy and noble Relation who being an eye-witnesse would not for his honour and vertues sake abuse his Soueraigne with vntruths Now let vs see what the Spanyards say of this rich Kingdome First Alonso a chiefe Gouernour in the Grand Canaria saith that there was a Land newly discouered called Nueuo Dorado in which was abundance of Gold and wonderfull riches aboue imagination that the course to fall with it was fifty leagues to the winde-ward to the Marguarita Againe hee saith in another affirmation that in Nueuo Dorado lately found out there was gold in that abundance as the like hath neuer formerly beene heard of nor was any part of the world to be compared with it and the like affirmeth Domingo de Vera who was Campe Maister and Generall for Anthony Bereo in this Discouery and no lesse saith Rodrigo de Caranca Register for the Sea and many others So that to conclude your trouble and the tediousnes of my weary discourse this Empire is that rich Magazany which yet hath her Maidenhead neuer sackt turn'd nor wrought the face of the earth hath not beene turnd nor the vertue and salt of the soyle spent by manurance The graues haue not beene opened for Gold the Mines not broken with the sledge or pickaxe nor their Images puld downe out of their Temples It hath neuer beene entred by any army of strength and neuer conquered or possessed by any Christian Prince Besides by the report of all former Discouerers especially our Generall it is so defensible and easie to bee kept from the assaults of any inuaders that if two Forts bee builded in one of the Prouinces which he beheld and tooke especiall note of the flood setteth in so neere the banke where the channell also lyeth that no Ship can passe vp but within a pikes length of the artillery first of the one and afterwards of the other which two Forts he supposeth will bea sufficient guard both to the Empire of Inga and to one hundred other seuerall Kingdomes all lying within the great Riuer of Orenoque euen to the Citty of Quito in Peru. Of this Empire if it shall please God to make the King our Maister Soueraigne what honor and reward it will bring him and his Subiects may easily bee coniectured by what is before written and since it is or may bee vndertaken by his owne vassaile and one who is bound in extraordinary bonde more then euery common Subiect to spend the vttermost of his life in the same no doubt but hee will effect it with that wisedome diligence and care which shall bee sutable to the greatnes of the action and the trust reposed being thus far forth further encouraged by Anthonio Bereo the Spaniard who in great earnestnes and vpon his Soules health protested that hee had seene amongst diuers most antient Prophesies in Peru at such time as that Empire was reduced to the Spanish obedience one that affirmed that from Inglatierra which is to say England those Ingas should bee againe in time to come restored and deliuered from the seruitude of the former Conquerors and this hee auowed to haue seene in diuers or their most principall and chiefest Temples preserued with great reuerence and care and till this day beleeued of all the Indians Now an entrance in former yeares our Generall did make as you haue read with that successe that not any before or since hath euer equalled displanted the first garrisons if then now he succeed and haue fortune answerable to his rare wisedome industry and direction whether it bee in this nor any other to himselfe onely concealed there is no doubt but God assisting hee will with such honor and high thoughts passe and go thorow the same that his nation shall haue praise his friendes comfort and himselfe the true aduancement of his merits But to giue you a little tast of what hath succeeded in our present Iourney you shall vnderstand that we departed from Plimouth to Corke in Ireland where after some refreshment wee set saile out of the riuer of Corke and thence sailed more then three Moneths before we came to the Coast of Guiana which albeit generally it bee euer run in seauen or eight weekes yet were the windes so strangely crosse vnto vs a thing seldome seene in that passage that in lesse time we could not effect our purpose So that vpon the seaventh day of Nouember last past 1617. wee discouered the Coast of Guiana during which time of our being at Sea we had a great visitation of Sicknesse so that many were sicke and some are dead amongst which the most eminent persons that dyed were these Captaine Iohn Pygot our Lieftenant Generall worthy Captaine Hastings my Lord of Huntington brother a Gentleman of so much foreward hope and goodnes that he was couerd with many tears and much mourning also there died Maister Talbot Scholler which hath been long imployed by our Generall M Newhall the maister Chirurgeon of our Generalls Ship and others with which I will not trouble your eares Vpon the discouering of the Coast we came into the faire Riuer of Caltana being as it appeareth to me a branch of Oerenoque where my Lord our Generall cast Anchor and doth purpose to refresh his sick men and to take in fresh water and other necessary prouisions of which that Coast abounddeth and so to proceed in his enterprise which God in his mercy prosper for our hopes euery day grow stronger and stronger This part of Guiana in which we now are is to me a very Paradise and so excellent in all perfections and beauties that Nature seemes only here to haue her Temple we haue euen now being the Month of Nouember a much more delicate Sommer then is in England at Mid-sommer the Sun and Ayre so wholsome pleasant without offence or scorching the trees ground so brauely flourishing and euery thing in Generall so absolute and full of fruitfull promise that more cannot be by man desired for mine own part I dare assure you that in my life time I neuer saw or tasted more strange more delicate more pleasant fruits then heere we may continually gather in most infinite aboundance being besides so wondrous wholsome and vnoffensiue that I haue not heard any complaine either of surfet or other accidentall sicknes as wormes fluxes such like which commonly follow the much eating of sweet and pleasant fruit To enter into a Description of the beautifull prospect of this Country which wee now see although it be but the out-borders and skirts of the Empire so nearer a neighbour to the maine Ocean that in reason it should promise the least fertilitie yet I say againe to describe the goodlinesse thereof the brauery of the Hils and comlinesse of the vallies both shadowed and adorned with goodly tall green trees the pleasantnesse and coolnesse of the Riuers which runne and mixe themselues in the most conuenientest places plentifully stored with fish of seuerall natures the variety of rare coloured Birds which flie vp and down in euery place about vs no colour almost vnder the Sun but being reuealed in their feathers were to draw a Landskip of that excellent perfection which no Art could better hardly imitate For truely hitherto to mine eye this Country hath appeared a very earthly Paradise and therefore doubtlesse is full of strong promises that our attemptings cannot returne without much honour and reward a rent hopefully due to euery such noble action But since it yet resteth in hope I will leaue it to the will and direction of the great GOD of Heauen To whose protection I refer you with this assurance that as our successe shall happen and the action either decrease or diminish so you shall by writing more amply vnderstand thereof From the Riuer of Caliana on the Coast of Guiana this seauenteenth of Nouember 1617. R.M. FINIS Against Backbiters M. William Haukins his trauell Sr. Iohn Haukins Trauell Sr. Iohns second Voyage Sir Iohns third Voyage Sir Iohns fourth Voyage Sir Francis Drake trauell Sir Francis second Voyage Sir Francis 3. Voyage Sir Hugh Willoughbies trauells to the North. Sir Martin Forbisher to China Sir Martins Second Voyage to Cataya Gold Mynes in Cataya St. Martins third Voyage Mr. Thomas Cauendish Trauell M. Cauendish his second Voyage Sr Richard Grinuile his Discouery of Virginia Sir Walter Rauleigh Sir Robert Dudley Of Guyani and the wealth A very strange custome Martines his testimony aud first Christian that saw Guyana A curious Obiection answered Oreliano the I. attempter for Guyana Ordace the attempter Pedro de Osua the third attemptor Agiri the fourth attemptor Ieronimo Ortal de Saragosa the fift attemptor Don Pedro de Siluas the sixt attemptor Pedro Hernandez the seuenth attemptor Gonzales Cemenes the eight attemptor Anthonio Bereo the ninth attemptor Bereo taken Prisoner Sr. Walter Rauleigh first Discouerer of Guiana Of the Tiuitiuas Of the Riuer Amana Of the Arwacas The Iland Assapano and others Sir Walters conference with the King of Aromaia The great riuer Caroli Discouery of Siluer Mynes The excellencâ— of those bordering Countries The great Lake of Cassipa Of gold mines Of a Mountaine of Christall Attempts by the French for Guiana Hope of good hap Sir Walters protestation touching the welth of Guyana Ensines for Nauigation The testimony of the Spaniards for the wealth of Guina The conclusion A strange Prophesie