called Warismero, on the Orinoco, Antonio de Berreo,
the Governor of Trinidad, had annexed Guiana to the dominions of his
Catholic Majesty, under the name of El Nuevo Dorado. In these same
letters various reports of the country and its inhabitants were
repeated, that the chiefs danced with their naked bodies gleaming with
gold dust, and with golden eagles dangling from their breasts and great
pearls from their ears, that there were rich mines of diamonds and of
gold, that the innocent people were longing to exchange their jewels for
jews-harps. Raleigh was aroused at once, less by the splendours of the
description than by the fact that this unknown country, with its
mysterious possibilities, had been impudently added to the plunder of
Spain. He immediately fitted out a ship, and sent Captain Jacob Whiddon,
an old servant of his, to act as a pioneer, and get what knowledge he
could of Guiana. Whiddon went to Trinidad, saw Berreo, was put off by
him with various treacherous excuses, and returned to England in the
winter of 1594 with but a scanty stock of fresh information. It was
enough, however, to encourage Raleigh to start for Guiana without delay.

On December 26 he writes: 'This wind breaks my heart. That which should
carry me hence now stays me here, and holds seven ships in the river of
Thames. As soon as God sends them hither I will not lose one hour of
time.' On January 2, 1595, he is still at Sherborne, 'only gazing for a
wind to carry me to my destiny.' At last, on February 6 he sailed away
from Plymouth, not with seven, but with five ships, together with small
craft for ascending rivers. What the number of his crew was, he nowhere
states. The section of them which he took up to the Orinoco he describes
as 'a handful of men, being in all about a hundred gentlemen; soldiers,
rowers, boat-keepers, boys, and all sorts.' Sir Robert Cecil was to have
adventured his own ship, the 'Lion's Whelp,' and for her Raleigh waited
seven or eight days among the Canaries, but she did not arrive. On the
17th they captured at Fuerteventura two ships, Spanish and Flemish, and
stocked their own vessels with wine from the latter.

They then sailed on into the west, and on March 22 arrived on the south
side of Trinidad, casting anchor on the north shore of the Serpent's
Mouth. Raleigh personally explored the southern and western coasts of
the island in a small boat, while the ships kept to the channel. He was
amazed to find oysters