GUIANA

of Amariocapana which had buried with him, a little before our arrival, a chair of gold most curiously wrought, which was made either in Macureguarai adjoining, or in Manoa. But if we should have grieved them in their religion at the first, before they had been taught better, and have digged up their graves, we had lost them all; and therefore I held my first resolution, that her Majesty should either accept or refuse the enterpriso ere anything should be done that might in any sort hinder the same. And if Peru had so many heaps of gold, whereof those Ingas were princes, and that they delighteth so much therein, no doubt but this which now liveth and reigneth in Manoa hath the same humour, and I am assured hath more abundance of gold within his territory than all Peru and the West Indies.

For the rest, which myself have seen, I will promise these things that follow and know to be true. Those that are desirous to discover and to see many nations, may be satisfied within this river, which bringeth forth so many arms and branches leading to several countries and provinces, above 2,000 miles east and west, and 800 miles south

and north; and of these, the most either rich in gold or in other merchandises. The common soldier

shall here fight for gold, and pay himself instead of pence with plates of half a foot broad, whereas he breaketh his bones in other wars for provant and penury. Those commanders and chieftains, that shoot at honour and abundance, shall find there more rich and beautiful cities, more temples adorned with golden images, more sepulchres filled with treasure, than either Cortez found in Mexico, or Pizzaro in Peru; and the shining glory of this conquest will eclipse all those so far extended beams of the Spanish nation. There is no country which yieldeth more pleasure to the inhabitants, either for these common delights of hunting, hawking, fishing, fowling, and the rest, than Guiana doth. It hath so many plains, clear rivers, abundance of pheasants, partridges, quails, rails, cranes, herons, and all other fowl: deer of all sorts, porks, hares, lions, tigers, leopards, and divers other sorts of beasts, either for chase or food. It hath a kind of beast called Cama, or Anta, as big as an English beef, and in great plenty.

To speak of the several sorts of every kind I fear

would be troublesome to the reader, and therefore I will omit them, and conclude that both for health, good air, pleasure and riches, I am resolved it cannot be equalled by any region either in the east or west. Moreover the country is so healthful, as 100 persons and more, which lay (without shift most sluttishly, and were every day almost melted with heat in rowing and marching, and suddenly wet again with great showers, and did eat of all sorts of corrupt fruits, and made meals of fresh fish without seasoning, of tortugas, of lagartos, and of all sorts good and bad, without either order or measure, and besides lodged in the open air every night) we lost not any one, nor had one ill disposed to my knowledge, nor found any callentura, or other of those pestilent diseases which dwell in all hot regions, and so near the equinootial line.

Where there is store of gold, it is in effect needless to remember other commodities for trade : but it hath, towards the south part of the river, great quantities of Brazil wood, and of divers berries, that dye a most perfect crimson and carnation. And for painting, all France, Italy, or the east Indies yield none such; for the more the

skin is washed the fairer the colour appeareth, and with which, even those brown and tawny women spot themselves and colour their cheeks. All places yield abundance of cotton, of silk, of balsamum, and of those kinds most excellent, and never known in Europe; of all sorts of gums, of Indian pepper and what else the countries may afford within the land we know not, neither had we time to abide the trial and search. The soil besides is so excellent, and so full of rivers, as it will carry sugar, ginger, and all those other commodities which the West Indies hath.

The navigation is short, for it may be sailed with an ordinary wind in six weeks, and in the like time back again, and by the way neither lee shore, enemy's coast, rocks, nor sands, all which in the voyages to the West Indies, and all other places, we are subject unto: as the channel of Bahama, coming from the West Indies, cannot be passed in the winter, and when it is at the best, it is a perilous and a fearful place; the rest of the Indies for calms, and diseases very troublesome; and the Bermudas a hellish sea for thunder, lightning, and storms.

This very year there were seventeen sail of Spanish ships lost in the channel of Bahama, and the great Philip like to have sunk at the Bermudas, was put back to Saint Juan de Puerto Rico. And so it falleth out in that navigation every year for the most part, which in this voyage are not to be feared; for the time of the year to leave England is best in July, and the summer in Guiana is in October, November, December, January, February, and March, and then the ships may depart thence in April, and so return again into England in June, so as they shall never be subject to winter weather, either coming, going, or staying there, which, for my part, I take to be one of the greatest comforts and encouragements that can be thought on, having (as I have done) tasted in this voyage by the West Indies so many calms, so much heat, such outrageous gusts, foul weather, and contrary winds.

To conclude, Guiana is a country that hath yet her maidenhead, never sacked, turned, nor wrought, the face of the earth hath not been torn, nor the virtue and salt of the soil spent by manuring, the graves have not been opened for gold, the mines not broken with sledges, nor their images pulled

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