Explorers in the New world before and after Columbus : and the story of the Jesuit missions of Paraguay

Front matter

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INDUSTRIES AND WEALTH OF NATIONS.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Predecessors of Columbus 1

II. Navigators of the Sixteenth Century 13

Chapter II. Navigatobs Of The Sixteenth Century

The first Englishmen who set foot in South America were Sebastian Cabot and George Barlow. The former has often been claimed for a Venetian, but was born in Bristol in 1472, and spent most of his life in British service. Being invited by the King of Spain in 1518 to accept the post of Pilot Mayor, vacant since the death of Solis, he removed the same year to Spain, but it was not until 1525 (thirty-three years after the rediscovery of America) that he sailed up the river discovered by Solis, to which he gave the name of Rio de la Plata, because the Indians on the banks wore silver ornaments.1 Cabot was then in his fifty-fourth year, and his conduct proves him to have been a man of rare courage, energy and prudence. The first fort he built was at San Salvador, near the mouth of the Uruguay, and having constructed a caravel of light draught he proceeded up the Parana as far as the place still called " Cabot's Corner," where he established Fort Holy Ghost, at the mouth of the Carcarana. Leaving Captain Hurtado in command of this fort he fearlessly advanced 500 miles up to the Tres Bocas, where the Paraguay River joins the Parana. The navigation of the former appearing easier, he sailed up to a distance of 100 miles from Tres Bocas.

1 It is generally supposed that the silver came from the mines near Potosi, in Bolivia, which were known in the time of the Incas.

He found the Paraguayans to be an industrious, agricultural people, but at the same time indomitable and warlike, as they have ever since proved. They attacked him so resolutely that he was compelled to retire, after losing twenty-eight men ; he returned to Fort Holy Ghost, and so far conciliated the neighbouring Timbu Indians, that they embraced an agricultural life and lived for some time in harmony with the Spaniards. Seeing the smallness of his force and the importance of establishing a colony in this country Cabot despatched his trusty officer George Barlow and a Spaniard named Calderon with letters and samples of silver to King Ferdinand, urging him to send him an expedition to his support. Barlow and Calderon were presented to the king at Toledo on 15th October, 1527, when his majesty made numerous inquiries about Cabot, taking special interest in the silver ornaments, which promised abundant treasures from the newly-discovered territories. The Spanish finances, however, were not sufficiently flourishing to enable the Crown to respond to Cabot's request; so the king begged the merchants of Seville to take the matter in hand. The merchants, who had already sunk $10,000 in Cabot's expedition, turned an unwilling ear to the proposal. Meantime, Cabot, after two years spent at Fort Holy Ghost, proceeded to visit Fort Salvador. After his departure the Cacique of the Timbus, named Mangora, surprised and destroyed the colony, on account of an unrequited passion for Captain Hurfcado's wife, whom he barbarously caused to be buried alive, her husband being shot with arrows.

While Cabot was anxiously waiting 3uccour from Spain the Charrua Indians made a descent from Fort Salvador and destroyed it, which obliged him to return to Spain, in 1531. The fruits of his daring exploration were to fall

NAVIGATOKS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 15

to subsequent Spanish adventurers, whose lives offer an unfavourable contrast with the moderation and integrity of Cabot. Finding no encouragement at the Spanish court he returned, in 1531, to his native country, and was welcomed by Edward VI. , who conferred on him a life pension of 250 marks, in recognition of his rediscovery of Newfoundland and Labrador under the reign of Henry VII. and subsequent services in opening up a trade with Russia. He seems to have died in London, at an advanced age.1

The Paul of Plymouth, 250 tons, commanded by William Hawkins, was the first English vessel seen in South America : she began to trade with Brazil in 1530, and took home a Brazilian king to present to Henry VIII., "who did not a little marvel at his appearance ". Martin Cockeram of Plymouth was left as hostage in Brazil ; the king remained twelve months in England, and died on the return voyage. Nevertheless his subjects released Cockeram, being convinced of the honest dealing of the English towards the deceased prince. The Paul made a second voyage in 1532. Certain merchants in Southampton, including Robert Reniger and Thomas Borey, made voyages to Brazil in 1540, and two years later we find an Englishman, named Pudsey, trading with Bahia and erecting a fort there. Another Englishman, John Whithall, settled some years later at Santos, where he married; and in 1581 he imported a cargo of English merchandise per the Minion of London, sending back sugar in exchange. This John Whithall in a letter to Mr. Richard Staper, 26th June, 1578, mentions that he is engaged to marry the only daughter of D. Joffo Dore, an Italian settled at Santos, who gives the bride a dowry

1 See Memoirs of Cabot, London, 1831.

of 2,000 ducats, and makes Whithall manager of a sugar factory with seventy slaves.

In 1572 we read of the famous Admiral Drake making an expedition to Central America, in which his most trusty followers were John Oxenham and Thomas Sherwell, with whom he crossed the Isthmus of Panama, returning to England the following year. John Drake, brother of the admiral, was killed in this expedition. It appears that several Englishmen were at this time adventuring in the Pacific. One John Chilton sailed from Panama to Peru in 1572, and we find Thomas Blake an English resident at Mexico so early as 1536 ; a navigator named Henry Hawks has left an account of his travels in South America and the Solomon Islands in 1572.

John Oxenham of Plymouth, above-mentioned, set out again in 1575, this time as commander of a vessel of 120 tons, carrying seventy men. He landed in nearly the same place as before, hid his vessel with the branches of trees, crossed the isthmus, captured some Spanish vessels, plundered the Pearl Islands, and returned towards Panama, but falling into the hands of the Spaniards he and all his men were executed for pirates.

Admiral Drake being commissioned by Queen Elizabeth in 1577 to sail round the globe got ready at Plymouth a squadron of five vessels; the queen presented him with a sword with these words : " He which striketh at thee strike th at us ". The flotilla sailed 15th November counting only 164 men, in the following vessels : Drake's flag-ship Pelican, 100 tons ; Elizabeth, commanded by John Winter, 80 tons ; Marigold, captain John Thomas, 30 tons ; Siuan, captain John Chester, 50 tons ; Christojjhe, captain Thos. Moone, 15 tons. Having captured a Portuguese vessel off Brazil, Drake gave her in command to Mr. Thomas

NAVIGATOES OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTUEY 17

Doughty, a gallant gentleman and officer, with whom he subsequently quarrelled. The Eiver Plate was reached on 14th April, 1578, and Drake proceeded to Patagonia, where he found Indians seven and a half feet high. These seemed at first friendly, and danced and took drink with the sailors, but afterwards killed the master-gunner Oliver. This was during the stay at Port San Julian, and here also occurred the tragic end of Captain Doughty. It seems he was accused of wishing to oblige the admiral to return to England, or an attempt at mutiny. Being condemned by court-martial he was given the option to be shot, sent home to England for trial, or marooned, that is left on the coast with a week's provisions. He preferred to be shot, although all his comrades tried to prevail on him otherwise. The historian tells us1 that he and the admiral dined together the day of his execution, and even drank each other's health. After shooting Doughty the admiral proceeded southwards, reaching Cape Virgin on 2nd August. Here he changed the name of his flagship from the Pelican to the Golden Hind. In the sack of Valparaiso we are told the sailors took all the sacred vessels out of the church (Dec, 1578), and reported only nine Spanish families living in the town. He next sacked Arica and Callao, returning to Plymouth 26th September, 1580, when Queen Elizabeth came aboard his ship and knighted him. A chair made of the planks of the Golden Hind was afterwards presented to the University of Oxford as a memento of the first vessel that circumnavigated the globe.2

1 Fletcher who wrote The World Encompassed by Sir Francis Drake, says that Doughty was not shot but beheaded. Sir Francis Drake held Fletcher in such great favour that he presented him with the sacred vessels taken in sacking the church at Valparaiso.

2 See Drakes' Memoirs, London, 1653.

Respecting Drake's other vessels it would seem that the Swan and Christopher were broken up or abandoned during the voyage. The Marigold parted company near Magellan's Straits and was never more heard of. The Elizabeth returned through the Straits, apparently having deserted, or possibly the result of accident, and reached England fifteen months before Drake. Finally a boat containing eight men of the flag-ship was lost near Cape Virgin, and driven by stress of weather to San Julian, where the men sustained themselves on salted penguins. At last they contrived to reach the River Plate, and ascending the Uruguay were all killed by Indians, except Peter Carden, who escaped to an island (perhaps Martin Garcia) where he was afterwards found by the Spaniards, and sent home to England in 1580.

Edward Fenton, in command of an expedition in 1582, visited Santos, where Whithall presented him and Luke Ward, the vice-admiral, to the governor, who dined with Fenton aboard his vessel. But the recent exploits of Drake had produced so unfavourable an impression that sinister rumours prevailed, and the Spanish squadron (Brazil having recently been annexed to Spain) attacked Fenton's two vessels with such determination that the battle continued by moonlight, till one of the Spaniards was sunk. The Spanish historian adds that Fenton might have sunk another of the enemy's ships, but did not because there were several women aboard. Fenton then proceeded to the River Plate and landed at Martin Garcia, but made no attempt against Buenos Ayres, then governed by Juan de Garay, who had founded it two years before. Besides Fenton's and Ward's vessels there was a smaller one commanded by John Drake,1 who was driven ashore along with his men 1 Not Admiral Drake's brother of the same name.

NAVIGATORS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 19

on the coast of Patagonia. They were all made prisoners and sent to Peru.

The Earl of Cumberland and Sir Walter Raleigh fitted out a joint expedition in 1586, under the command of Robert Withrington, to ravage the Spanish possessions in South America. Near the mouth of the La Plata Withrington overtook a vessel commanded by Abraham Cooke, one of the men left behind by the Minion who was now carrying negro slaves from Bahia to Santa Fe, to be sent overland to Peru, where they fetched £80 sterling each. Withrington, acting on Cooke's information, went back to sack Bahia, but the Jesuit superior called out a large number of Indian archers, who effectually saved the city, although the English remained six weeks burning the factories in the vicinity.

When this expedition left England it comprised four vessels, viz., the flag-ship Clifford, 260 tons and 130 men ; a barque of 130 tons and 70 men, commanded by Christopher Lister ; a small pinnace called the Roe, and Raleigh's ship Dorothy. It seems to have been unsuccessful, as Withrington returned to England the following year.

Thomas Cavendish, a gentleman who had spent his patrimony in court pleasures, resolved to repair his fortunes by robbing the Spanish settlements, and equipped three vessels : — the Desire, 120 tons, master, Thomas Fuller; the Content, 60 tons, and the Hugh Gallant, 40 tons ; with which he sailed, 21st July, 1586, from Plymouth, and reached the River Plate in November.

The annals of Buenos Ayres mention that when this famous privateer appeared off the town, the inhabitants sent their familes inland and prepared for defence. The population must have been small, as it only counted sixty souls when founded by Garay seven years previously. As Cavendish, however, thought better not to attack the place,

2 * he proceeded to Patagonia, and there discovered a harbour which he called Port Desire, 17th December, 1586. At Port Famine he found the remains of Sarmiento's colony, twelve men and three women, survivors of 400 Spaniards ; but he cruelly refused them any assistance.1 He had already had hostilities with the Patagonians of Port Desire, whose arms consisted of bows and arrows. Somewhere on this coast a boat of his was sent ashore to procure fresh water, and six men were captured by the Indians and sent to Santiago, where they were hanged for pirates. Cavendish went through the Straits, sacked and burned Arica, Pisco Payta, Puna, and Guatulco, and then, crossing the Pacific, touched at Java on his return to England, where he arrived 9th September, 1588. A bay in Magellan's Straits is still called after the Hugh Gallant, which vessel he sunk at Puna, being no longer seaworthy. On his return to England he reported his achievements to the queen in these words : " I burned nineteen vessels, and sacked and burned every place that I visited ".

Cavendish made a second expedition three years later, but this was not destined to be so successful as the first. He called his flag- ship the Leicester Galleon, and gave the command of his own old vessel, the Desire, to Captain John Davis, afterwards famous as a discoverer. There were two smaller craft, the Roebuck, commanded by one Cocke : and a barque by Robert Tharlton, this last being equipped by a wealthy citizen named Adrian Gilbert. The flotilla mustered 400 men, and, sailing from Plymouth, 25th August, 1591, surprised and sacked the town of San-

1 Southey incorrectly says he rescued them ; but Burney, in his History of the Buccaneers, says he refused them aid, and adds that the Spaniards hanged some of his men in Chile on account of this fact.

NAVIGATOES OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTUKY 21

tos, while the people were at Mass, a week before Christmas. After this Gilbert's vessel returned to England, and the others proceeded southward to rest for an interval at Port Desire. Here Cavendish changed his flag to the Desire, but some difficulty that arose with Davis soon obliged him to return to the Leicester Galleon. Dissensions and disaster marked the rest of the voyage. Davis separated from him near the Straits of Magellan, and the Boebuck also deserted soon after. A second descent on the Brazilian settlements was so unfortunate that Anthony Knyvet1 was taken prisoner, and several men were killed. Cavendish fell ill, and died of a broken heart on the voyage home, leaving a most affectionate letter to his sister, Anne Cavendish, to whom he bequeaths all his property except the Desire, which he leaves to his old friend Sir George Cary.

Davis discovered the Falkland Islands, 12th August, 1592, and after seal fishing for two years on the Patagonian coast, where he saw as many as a thousand Indians, some of them "sixteen spans high," he explored the Santa Cruz river twenty miles, and then sailed homeward.

At Port Desire he had salted 14,000 penguins for the voyage, but they putrified in the heat of the tropics : the men suffered not only from hunger and thirst, but also from want of sleep. Out of seventy-six men Davis had only fifteen surviving when the Boebuck entered Berehaven (co. Cork) on 11th June, 1593. The narratives of the survivors made a great impression in England, especially what the men suffered from cold in Patagonia, where they pulled off their toes along with their boots, and in some cases the men's noses fell off.

1Knyvet's adventures, afterwards published in London, caused much attention.

Andrew Merrick's voyage was about this time. Five vessels sailed from Plymouth on 5th August, 1589, viz. : the Wildman, 200 tons, 180 men, Captain Chidley; the White Lion, 340 tons, 140 men, Captain Paule Wheele ; the Delight, 91 tons, Captain Merrick, and two small craft of fifteen tons each. It was a most disastrous venture, Merrick's being the only vessel which reached South America, and having lost sixteen men near Port Desire he proceeded to Magellan's Straits, which he entered on New Year's Day, 1590. Here he was reduced to subsist on penguins. A boat with fifteen men was lost, besides which seven others of his little party were killed by Indians.1 At Port Famine he picked up a Spaniard, the last survivor of 400 colonists left there by Sarmiento six years before ; this man gave a fearful account of the sufferings undergone by the colony. Merrick died on the passage home, and so did the Spaniard ; only six men reached England of this ill-fated expedition, in September, 1590.

Sir Eichard Hawkins sailed from Plymouth 12th June, 1593, with three vessels: flag-ship Dainty, 358 tons; the Fanny, commanded by Eobert Tharlton, 60 tons, and a pinnace called the Hawk. He mentions in his memoirs that he distilled fresh water out of sea water for the use of his men, and reached Santos in October. Here he burned the Hawk, and then steered for the Eiver Plate, but Tharlton deserted him, as he had previously deserted Cavendish; leaving

1 Much controversy prevailed among the writers of this time about the size of the Patagonian Indians. The Dutch navigator Schouten asserts that he found graves near Port Desire from which he took out skeletons eleven feet in length ; the skulls being so large as to fit on his men's head like helmets. The author thinks these stories are exaggerations, as she has seen many Patagonian Indians, tall it is true, but nothing like eleven feet, probably more or less seven feet.

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Hawkins to proceed alone in the Dainty. Some land discovered near Magellan's Straits was called Maidenland, doubtless in compliment to Queen Elizabeth. Hawkins proceeded to the West Coast and burned much Spanish shipping at Valparaiso, Coquimbo and Arica. Falling in with a superior force of the enemy he lost forty -four men out of his little band of 120, and was forced to surrender, in June, 1594. The Spaniards were much astonished at his practice of shooting arrows from muskets. They seem to have treated him well and sent him home to England two years later.

Lancaster's expedition was one of the most remarkable and successful of the sixteenth century. In 1594 certain citizens and aldermen of London fitted out three vessels and gave the command to James Lancaster, an Englishman who had served as a Portuguese soldier; the expedition was planned to capture Pernambuco. The three vessels represented an aggregate of 470 tons, the smallest being only 60. Off Cape Blanco he was joined by Barker, who had just captured twenty-four Spanish merchantmen; five of these were fitted up and manned to aid in the expedition. Soon afterwards Lancaster was joined by Captain Venner, another privateer, in command of three vessels, to whom he engaged to give one-fourth of whatever booty was obtained. They arrived off Pernambuco on the night of 29th March, 1595 ; next day, being Good Friday, Lancaster attacked the forts, which were defended by 600 Portuguese soldiers with seven brass guns. Only one Englishman was wounded, the garrison escaping to the woods. The Portuguese merchants offered to treat, but Lancaster said he would hang any bearers of proposals. During twenty days he obliged the Portuguese to convey the booty aboard his vessels, which were eleven in number and mounted forty pieces of cannon. The Portuguese made several attempts to burn the squadron. Barker, the vice-admiral, proceeded with 300 men to chastise the enemy, but was drawn into an ambuscade where he and thirty-four others were slain, including two captains and a lieutenant. Next day Lancaster weighed anchor, and his eleven vessels reached England laden with rich booty.

British adventurers by sea and land were numerous at this period. Lozano in his history mentions a revolution in Paraguay in 1555, which was headed by an Englishman or Irishman, named Nicholas Colman. The viceroy Yrala had sent an expedition from Asuncion which founded the new province of Guayra and town of Ontiveros on the Upper Parana, but Captain Vergara being recalled the settlers declared their independence. Hereupon Yrala sent his son-in-law Segura with fifty Spanish soldiers to reduce the rebels, but Colman attacked them in the middle of the river and sunk one of Segura's boats. Ultimately the viceroy succeeded in restoring his authority ; but Colman made a second revolution in 1570, when Captain Eiquelme was Governor of Guayra. It seems the country about the falls of Guayra abounds in beautiful crystallisations of agate and amethyst of various colours, which the colonists fancied to be of prodigious value. Forty armed men surrounded the governor's house and demanded of him either to accompany them to Spain that they might show their treasures to the king, or provide them with boats and a pilot to reach the nearest port of Brazil that traded with Spain. The governor refused, and the mutineers putting all their " precious " stones into canoes and naming Colman for their leader floated down the Parana, until their boats were capsised by some rapids, probably the falls of Apipe, in Misiones. The viceroy, on hearing of the revolt, sent troops to

NAVIGATORS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 25

bring back the fugitives, and the latter were treated with unusual clemency. Lozano describes Colman as a daring, turbulent buccaneer, who had lost his right hand in some of his previous exploits. During fifteen years he seems to have played an important part in Guayra ; his subsequent fate is unknown.

In 1589 a Dutch flotilla visited the coasts of Patagonia and passed through the straits of Magellan. One of the vessels had for pilot the famous Englishman William Adams, who afterwards became First Lord of the Admiralty in Japan, and died there in 1621, never having been permitted to return to England.

CHAPTEE III.

RALEIGH'S EL DORADO.

English historians are divided as to whether Ealeigh ever really believed in the existence of the golden country supposed to lie between the Orinoco and the Amazon, but the doubt seems unfair to his memory. It cannot be supposed that he equipped four expeditions in search of El Dorado, with the knowledge or conviction that it was only a fable.

The first mention of this land of gold and precious stones was made by Orellana, the discoverer of the Amazon, who floated down that river from the Andes to its mouth in 1531. 1 Three years later the Emperor Charles V. gave a patent to George von Speyer, with the title of Adelantado and full power to seize the natives as slaves, for the work of developing the golden country. The Adelantado marched southwards with 400 men, most of whom gradually perished with hunger in the dreadful hardships which beset their course. Nothing, however, could daunt Von Speyer; he pushed his way through numberless tribes of hostile Indians, across rivers, forests and pestilential swamps, in quest of the region of gold and pearls. At last he had to retrace his steps, at one time assaulted by the Indians ; at another reduced to starvation, to such a degree

1 A detailed account of this voyage is given by Southey in his History of Brazil.

EALEIGH'S EL DOEADO 27

that four of his men entering a deserted village ate an infant that had been left behind by its mother. The return journey occupied a whole year, Von Speyer arriving at Coro in February, 1539, with only ninety survivors, and dying there in the following year.

The next expedition was by Philip von Huton, who set out from Coro in June, 1541, with 150 resolute and well-armed followers. After two years' wandering in search of Macatoa, the capital of the Omeguas, he reached that city, but his little band having dwindled to forty men, he was obliged to retrace his steps in view of the hostile attitude of the Omeguas. He reached the coast with a few followers who had been forced to live on reptiles and paste-balls made of red ants. He described Macatoa as a city so vast that he could not see the end of it, and the people possessing abundance of gold and silver. The streets were straight, the buildings magnificent and in the centre was a superb edifice, the residence of the Prince, who was named Cuarica ; the palace served also as a temple, where the statues of the gods were of solid gold. Von Huton was murdered soon after by a Spanish officer named Carbajal, who was hanged for the crime at Coro.

Several expeditions 1 started from various points during fifty years after Von Huton's death, in search of Macatoa and the Omeguas, but in vain, although we know from modern discoveries that Von Huton must have reached the country of Guiana, where many of the streams are auriferous.

One party of Spaniards under Pizarro from Quito, another under Quesada from Bogota, another under Berrio, kept alive the feverish anxiety to discover El Dorado. This

1 See Life in Venezuela, by D. Ramon Paez, New York, 1869.

name was first applied, not to the country, but to the king, Ouarica, who dwelt in palaces with pillars of solid gold and whose attire was in keeping with the glitter of his dominions ; he wore instead of clothes a coating of balsamic gum, with a sprinkling of gold dust blown upon his person through a hollow tube twice a day, which gave his majesty the look of a golden king. Every night he washed off the gilding, and was re-gilt next morning. It was plain that gold must abound in that country ; some placed it between Guiana and the river Parime, others at the foot of the Andes.

Nor were the stories of prodigious mineral wealth a fable. We know from Von Tschudi that in twenty-five years previous to Raleigh's first expedition the treasure sent home to Spain from Peru exceeded eighty millions sterling. Historians also tell us that 11,000 llama loads of gold, the amount of Atahualpa's ransom, were thrown into Lake Titicaca or Lake Illimani by the carriers when they heard that the Spaniards had treacherously murdered the last of the Incas. Such was the abundance of precious metal that the Temple of the Sun at Cuzco was hung with plates of gold and all the sacred vessels were of the same material. There were 200 palaces of the Incas between Cuzco and Quito, all equally rich in precious metals; the same may be said of the twenty-five convents of Virgins of the Sun, some of which buildings held as many as 1,000 vestal Virgins. Zarate assures us that Huayna Capac, on the birth of his first-born, caused a gold chain to be made as thick as a man's arm and 900 feet long.

No wonder that Raleigh should be dazzled with tales like these, founded on fact as many of them were. The first of his expeditions was chiefly at his own expense, a portion of the cost being borne by the Lord High-Admiral

RALEIGH'S EL DORADO 29

and Sir Robert Cecil. It was under Raleigh's personal command, comprising five vessels, and left Plymouth on 9th February, 1595 ; there were 100 soldiers, besides mariners, officers and a few gentlemen volunteers. Proceeding to Trinidad Raleigh there seized and carried off Antonio Berrio, the governor, who was getting up a rival expedition. The latter furnished Raleigh with the declaration of a soldier named Martinez, who had been some years a prisoner at Manoa, the golden capital of El Dorado, and was afterwards reconducted, blindfold, to the banks of the Orinoco. Reaching the mouth of this river Raleigh put 100 of his people into boats to ascend the stream. Exposed to a burning sun, and without any protection from the tropical rains, the adventurers suffered fearful hardships. At the end of a month they had not ascended quite 200 miles, when the rapid and terrific rise of the waters forced the expedition to descend the river, Raleigh having first exacted from the cacique of the country an oath of allegiance to Queen Elizabeth. On his arrival in England he lost no time in preparing for a second expedition.

Captain Keymis sailed from England about the close of 1595 or the beginning of 1596. He believed quite as firmly as Raleigh in the golden gountry, and the popular belief was strengthened by the details related by the son of the Cacique of Orinoco, whom Raleigh had brought home to be educated in England. Keymis's mission was not only to discover El Dorado but to induce King Cuarica to become an ally of England and allow an establishment of a British trading colony. The failure of Keymis did not yet deter the credulous and indefatigable Raleigh, who equipped a third expedition in 1597 under command of Thomas Masham. Suffice it to say that Masham's expedition proved as unsuccessful as that of Keymis ; and yet the public faith in the existence of El Dorado was hardlyshaken.1

In 1608 we find Sir Robert Harcourt, who had arrived in Guiana, sending some of his followers to look for the city of Manoa and the golden king.2

Another attempt was made by Raleigh while a prisoner in the Tower to send Captain Keymis to pursue his discoveries. Raleigh had incurred the hatred of James I. by proposing in the Council, on Queen Elizabeth's death, to establish a Republic in England, sooner than see the country over-run with "hungry Scotch adventurers". After eight years of captivity he made an agreement with the Cabinet, in 1611, to this effect : —