after a voyage of one thousand leagues. The river
was named after Orellana, but, from reports he made of the existence
of a tribe of female warriors, was afterwards known as the river
of the Amazons. The author spread reports of another El Dorado to
the north, in which the roofs of the temples were covered with
gold. This report afterwards led to the disastrous expedition of
Sir Walter Raleigh to Guiana. By his voyage Orellana connected the
Spanish and Portuguese "spheres of influence" in the New World of
Amerigo. By the year 1540 the main outlines of Central and South
America and something of the interior had been made known by the
Spanish adventurers within half a century of Columbus' first voyage.
Owing to the papal bull Portugal possessed Brazil, but all the
rest of the huge stretch of country was claimed for Spain. The
Portuguese wisely treated Brazil as an outlet for their overflowing
population, which settled there in large numbers and established
plantations. The Spaniards, on the other hand, only regarded their
huge possessions as exclusive markets to be merely visited by them.
Rich mines of gold, silver, and mercury were discovered in Mexico
and Peru, especially in the far-famed mines of Potosi, and these
were exploited entirely in the interests of Spain, which acted as a
sieve by which the precious metals were poured into Europe, raising
prices throughout the Old World. In return European merchandise was
sent in the return voyages of the Spanish galleons to New Spain,
which could only buy Flemish cloth, for example, through Spanish
intermediaries, who raised its price to three times the original
cost. This short-sighted policy on the part of Spain naturally
encouraged smuggling, and attracted the ships of all nations towards
that pursuit.

We have already seen the first attempts of the French and English
in the exploration of the north-east coast of North America; but
during the sixteenth century very little was done to settle on
such inhospitable shores, which did not offer anything like the
rich prizes that Tropical America afforded. Neither the exploration
of Cartier in 1534, or that of the Cabots much earlier, was followed
by any attempt to possess the land. Breton fishermen visited the
fisheries off Newfoundland, and various explorers attempted to find
openings which would give them a north-west passage, but otherwise
the more northerly part of the continent was left unoccupied till
the beginning of t