ry of late, in reaction against the defamation of
Raleigh in the eighteenth century, to protest that gold was not his
chief aim in the Guiana enterprise, but that his main wish, under cover
of the search for gold, was to form a South American colony for England,
and to open out the west to general commerce. With every wish to hold
this view, I am unable to do so in the face of the existing evidence.
More humane, more intelligent than any of the adventurers who had
preceded him, it yet does not seem that Raleigh was less insanely bitten
with the gold fever than any of them. He saw the fleets of Spain return
to Europe year after year laden with precious metals from Mexico, and he
exaggerated, as all men of his age did, the power of this tide of gold.
He conceived that no one would stem the dangerous influence of Spain
until the stream of wealth was diverted or divided. He says in the most
direct language that it is not the trade of Spain, her exports of wines
and Seville oranges and other legitimate produce, that threatens
shipwreck to us all; 'it is his Indian gold that endangereth and
disturbeth all the nations of Europe; it purchased intelligence,
creepeth into councils, and setteth bound loyalty at liberty in the
greatest monarchies of Europe.' In Raleigh's exploration of Guiana, his
steadfast hope, the hope which led him patiently through so many
hardships, was that he might secure for Elizabeth a vast auriferous
colony, the proceeds of which might rival the revenues of Mexico and
Peru. But we must not make the mistake of supposing him to have been so
wise before his time as to perceive that the real wealth which might
paralyse a selfish power like that of Spain would consist in the cereals
and other products which such a colony might learn to export.

Resting among the friendly Indians in the heart of the strange country
to which he had penetrated, Raleigh became in many ways the victim of
his ignorance and his pardonable credulity. Not only was he gulled with
diamonds and sapphires that were really rock-crystals, but he was made
to believe that there existed west of the Orinoco a tribe of Indians
whose eyes were in their shoulders, and their mouths in the middle of
their breasts. He does not pretend that he saw such folks, however, or
that he enjoyed the advantage of conversing with any of the Ewaipanoma,
or men without heads, or of that other tribe, 'who have eminent heads
like dogs, and live all the day-time in th