pilgrimage to a fabulous city, where endless treasure awaited the victorious invader.

El Dorado.

Reports had been spread in Spain of the existence of a city of fabulous wealth in South America to which had been given the Spanish name of 'El Dorado.' Its location was vaguely defined. It was stated to be in the troublous country that we now know as Venezuela, which is itself part of the wider territory called by geographers Guiana. The rumour fired Ralegh's brain. The ambition to investigate its truth proved irresistible. Hurriedly he sent out an agent to enquire into the story on what was thought to be the spot, but the messenger brought him no information of importance. Vicarious enquiry proved of no avail. At length in 1595 Ralegh went out himself. He infected his friends with his own sanguine expectation. He succeeded in enlisting the sympathy or material support of the chief ministers of state. He obtained a commission from the Queen permitting him to wage war if necessary upon the Spaniard and the native American in South America. No risk was too great to be run in such a quest. The exploit which was to provide endless peril and excitement was the turningpoint of Ralegh's career.

Without delay Ralegh reached Trinidad, a Spanish settlement. From the first active hostilities had to be faced. Lit

tle resistance was offered, however, at Trinidad, The and Ralegh took prisoner the Spanish governor, Expedition to Guiana. who proved a most amiable gentleman. The governor freely told Ralegh all he knew of this reputed city or mine of gold on the mainland. A Spanish explorer a few years ago had, it appeared, lived among the natives of Guiana for seven months, and on his death-bed bore witness to a limitless promise of gold near the banks of the great river Orinoco and its tributaries which watered the territory of Guiana.

In April 1595 Ralegh, with a little flotilla of ten boats bearing one hundred men, and provisions for a month, started on his voyage up the river. The equipment was far from adequate for the stirring enterprise. Our vessels,' Ralegh wrote, were no other than wherries, one little barge, a small cockboat, and a bad galliota, which we framed in haste for that purpose at Trinidad, and those little boats had nine or ten men apiece with victuals and arms.' They had to row against the stream, which flowed with extraordinary fury; the banks were often covered with thick wood, and floating timber was an ever present danger. Debarcation for prospecting purposes was attended with the gravest risks. The swiftness of the current often rendered swimming or wading impossible.

The hardships which Ralegh and his companions faced hardly admit of exaggeration. Almost every day they were 'melted with heat in rowing and marching, and suddenly wet again with great showers. They ate of all sorts of corrupt fruit and made meals of fresh fish without season.' They lodged in the open air every night. Not in the filthiest prison in England could be found men in a more

Hardships.

unsavory and loathsome' condition, than were Ralegh and his friends while they ran their race for the golden prize. But their spirits never drooped. Their hopes ran high to the end. Ralegh was able in his most desperate straits to note in detail the aspects of nature and the varied scenery that met his gaze. Despite the inhospitable river banks, nature smiled on much of the country beyond. After climbing one notable hill, there appeared,' Ralegh wrote with attractive vivacity, some ten or twelve waterfalls in sight, every one as high above the other as a church tower, which fell with that fury, that the rebound of waters made it seem as if they had been all covered over with a great shower of rain; and in

The natural

scenery.

some places we took it at the first for a smoke that had risen over some great town. For mine own part, I was well persuaded from thence to have returned, being a very ill footman; but the rest were all so desirous to go near the said strange thunder of waters, as they drew me on by little and little, till we came into the next valley, where we might better discern the same. I never saw a more beautiful country, nor more lively prospects, hills so raised here and there over the valleys, the river winding into divers branches, the plains adjoining without bush or stubble, all fair green grass, the ground of hard sand, easy to march on either for horse or foot, the deer crossing in every path, the birds towards the evening singing on every tree with a thousand several tunes, cranes and herons of white, crimson, and carnation, perching on the river's side, the air fresh, with a gentle easterly wind; and every stone that we stopped to take up promised either gold or silver by his complexion.'

But Ralegh and his friends had mistaken their route, and were bent on what proved a fool's errand. The golden fleece was unattainable. The promise of the stones on the shores was imperfectly fulfilled. After proceeding four hundred and forty miles up the difficult river, further progress was found impossible. Then Ralegh and his companions went down with the current back to the sea. The 'white spar' on the river bank, in which appeared to be signs of gold, was all that the travellers brought home. Metallurgists to whom he submited them, on revisiting London, declared the appearance true.1

1 Scoffers freely asserted that the 'white spar,' many tons of which Ralegh brough home with him, was nothing else than 'marcasite' or iron-pyrites. In the letter to the reader with which he prefaced his Discovery of Guiana Ralegh categorically denied the allegation. He wrote hopefully, 'In London it was first assayed by Master Westwood, a refiner dwelling in Wood Street, and it held after the rate of 12,000 or 13,000 pounds a ton. Another sort was afterwards tried by Master Bulmar and Master Dimoke, assay-master,

Within reach of gold.

There is no doubt that Ralegh came near making a great discovery. Little question exists that a great gold mine lay in Venezuela, not far from the furthest point of his voyage up the river Orinoco. Many years later, during the nineteenth century, a gold mine was discovered within the range of Ralegh's exploration, and has since been worked to great profit. But the El Dorado which Ralegh thought to grasp had eluded him. It remained for him a dream. Not that he ever wavered in his confident belief that the city of gold existed and was yet to be won. He retired for the time with the resolve to make new advances hereafter. He left behind, with a tribe of friendly natives, one Francis Sparrow (a servant of Captain Gifford), who was desirous to tarry, and could describe a country with his pen, and a boy of mine, Hugh Goodwin, to learn the language.'

Affairs at home prevented Ralegh's early return to South America. A new Spanish settlement soon blocked the entrance to the river Orinoco, and the region he had entered was put beyond his reach. A last desperate attempt to force a second passage up the Orinoco brought, as events turned out, Ralegh to the scaffold. He had soared to heights at which he could not sustain his flight.

One result of Ralegh's first experience of the banks of the Orinoco demands a recognition, which requires no apology. His narrative of the expedition-The Discovery of Guiana -ranks with the most vivid pictures of travel. No and it held after the rate of 23,000 pounds a ton. There was some of it again tried by Master Palmer, comptroller of the mint, and Master Dimoke in Goldsmith's hall, and it was held after at the rate of 26,900 pounds a ton. There was also at the same time, and by the same persons, a trial made of the dust of the said mine, which held eight pounds six ounces weight of gold in the hundred; there was likewise at the same time, a trial made of an image of copper made in Guiana which held a third part gold, besides divers trials made in the country, and by others in London.'

reader, be he naturalist or geographer or ethnologist, or mere lover of stirring adventure, will turn to the fascinating pages without delight. Literary faculty in a traveller is always refreshing. Few books of travel are more exhilarating or invigorating than this story by Ralegh of his hazardous voyage.

Further

conflict with Spain.

When Ralegh came back to England from the Orinoco he flung himself with undaunted energy into further conflict with Spain. There were rumours of a new spanish invasion of England, which it was deemed essential to divert by attacking Spain in her own citadels. Two great expeditions were devised, and in both Ralegh took an active part. He was with the fleet which attacked Cadiz in 1596. Again next year he joined in a strenuous effort to intercept Spanish treasure ships off the Azores. Ralegh worked ill under discipline, and chiefly, owing to his quarrels with his fellow-commanders, the attempt on the islands of the Atlantic failed. Fortune had never been liberal in the bestowal of her favours on him. At best she had extended to him a cold neutrality. Little of the glory or the gain that came of the last two challenges to Spain fell to Ralegh. Thenceforth the fickle goddess assumed an attitude of menace, which could not be mistaken. She became his active and persistent foe.

IX

Ralegh's later years were dogged by disaster. With the death of Queen Elizabeth begins the story of his ruin. She had proved no constant mistress and had at times driven him from her presence. His marriage in 1592 had excited more than the usual measure of royal resentment. But Queen Elizabeth was not obdurate in her wrath. Her favour was