nce of the natives set it
on fire.

[Illustration: RALEGH IN TRINIDAD.

(_From Gottfried's "Reisen."_)]

Now began a weary voyage up the Orinoco, first through the delta, which
is such a maze that they might have wandered for months without getting
into the main river had they not secured an Indian pilot. Exposed
alternately to burning sun and drenching showers in open boats, they
toiled against the powerful stream. Ralegh everywhere tried his best to
ingratiate himself with the Indians, succeeding so well that his name
became known over the whole of Guiana. He told them that he had been
sent by a great queen, the powerful Cacique of the north, and a virgin,
whose chieftains were more numerous than the trees of the forest. She
was an enemy to the Spaniards, had freed other nations from their
oppression, and had now sent to rescue them. To confirm his statement he
gave each Cacique a coin so that they could possess the queen's
likeness, and these were treasured and even worshipped for a century
afterwards.

Everywhere he heard of El Dorado, but it was always receding farther and
farther, until his men became so disheartened that he had to rouse them
by saying that they would be shamed before their comrades if they gave
up so easily. However, after reaching the mouth of the Caroni and
getting specimens of gold ore, he had to return without doing more than
locating the city of Manoa several hundred miles to the east of his
farthest point. This was done in so exact a manner that the great lake
of Parima, as large as the Caspian Sea, was retained upon the maps of
South America down to the beginning of the present century. His ore was
probably stream quartz, and in representing it as taken from the rock he
probably reported what the Indians had told him. When, therefore, he
said that the assay gave its value as L13,000 a ton, there is no reason
to suppose a mistake or untruth, for pieces quite as valuable may still
be picked up. His "Discoverie of Guiana" is such a mixture of close and
accurate observation with the hearsay of the Indians, that it is
difficult in some cases to separate truth from fiction. Yet, although
historians have charged him with wilful lying, there can be no doubt of
his good faith. It has been left to the present century to prove that
gold-mines exist on the site of the fabled El Dorado, for it is there
that the well-known Caratal diggings are situated.

Ralegh asked the people of England to judge