, which explains why no people live there. A man, sent to
reconnoitre the country, reported however that it was all cultivated
and that the fields were sown, though nowhere were there people or
huts. Our own peasants often go some distance from their homes to sow
their fields. On the western side of the mountain was a large plain.
The Spaniards were well satisfied to drop anchor in such a great
river.[7] As soon as the natives knew of the landing of an unknown
race on their coasts, they collected about the Spaniards anxious to
examine them, and displaying not the slightest fear. It was learned by
signs that that country was called Paria, that it was very extensive,
and that its population was most numerous in its western part. The
Admiral invited four natives to come on board and continued his course
to the west.

[Note 6: See _Orinoco Illustrado_, by Gumilla, 1754, also
Schomburgk's _Reisen in Guiana und Orinoco_. The fresh waters of the
estuary are in fact driven a considerable distance out to sea.]

[Note 7: This was the first landing of the Spaniards on the
American continent, but Columbus, being ill, did not go on shore.
Pedro de Torreros took possession in the Admiral's name (Navarrete,
tom. iii., p. 569). Fernando Columbus states that his father suffered
from inflamed eyes, and that from about this time he was forced to
rely for information upon his sailors and pilots (_Storia_, cap.
lxv.-lxxiii.). He seemed nevertheless to divine the immensity of the
newly discovered land, for he wrote to the sovereigns _y creo
esta tierra que agora, mandaron discrubir vuestras altezzas sea
grandissima_.]

Judging by the agreeable temperature, the attractiveness of the
country, and the number of people they daily saw during their voyage,
the Spaniards concluded that the country is a very important one, and
in this opinion they were not wrong, as we shall demonstrate at the
proper time. One morning at the break of dawn the Spaniards landed,
being attracted by the charm of the country and the sweet odours
wafted to them from the forests. They discovered at that point a
larger number of people than they had thus far seen, and as they were
approaching the shore, messengers came in the name of the caciques
of that country, inviting them to land and to have no fears. When
Columbus refused, the natives urged by curiosity, flocked about the
ships in their barques. Most of them wore about their necks and arms,
collars and bracelets o