But, as they mounted the hill which they stood on, to greater height, they discovered farther north, at a distance of five or six miles, according to their account, a much larger river, which looked, compared to the first, rather like a sea than a river, which likewise issued out of the lake, and ran east-by-south towards the sea; which river they supposed to be in the same manner swelled with a land-water to a prodigious degree.
This prospect brought them to a more serious consultation as to the measures they should take to proceed on their journey; and as they could easily see there was little or no use to be made of the rivers for their travelling, while they were thus above the ordinary banks, so that they could not know the proper channels, and also that the currents were exceeding swift, so they resolved to stock themselves with provisions, if possible, and continue their journey by land.
To this purpose they first made it their business to catch some more guinacoes, or large sheep, which they knew would not only feed them, but also carry their luggage, which was still heavy and very troublesome to them, and yet absolutely necessary too. But all their endeavour was in vain, for though they saw several, and found that the country was pretty full of them, and some they killed, yet they could not take one alive by any means they could contrive.
Among other creatures they shot for food were a few wild cows and bulls, and especially on the north side of the river, where they found great plenty.
But the most surprising thing to them that they had yet met with, was still to come. They had descended from the hill where they at first discovered the smaller river, and where they had set up their tent, resolving to march on the lower grounds as near the river as they could, so as to be out of danger of the water, that they might find, if possible, some way over, to come at the great river, which they judged to be the stream most proper for their business.
Here they found a rich pleasant country, level and fruitful, not so low as to be exposed to the overflowing of the river, and not so high as to be dry and barren; several little brooks and streams of water rising on the side of the hill they came from, ran winding this way and that, as if to find out the river, and near the river were some woods of very large trees.
The men, not forgetting the main chance, fell to washing and searching the sand and gravel in these brooks for gold; but the harvest of gold seemed to be over, for here they found none.
They had also an occasion to discover, that till the land-waters were abated, there was no stirring for them, no not so much as to cross the first river; nor if they did, could they find in their hearts to venture, not knowing but the waters might still rise higher, and that the two rivers might swell into one, and so they should be swallowed up, or if not, they might be surrounded in some island, where they should perish for want of provisions; so they resolved to fetch their baggage from the hill as well as they could, and encamp in those pleasant plains, as near the river as they could, till the water should abate.
While they stayed here, they were so far from having hopes that the waters would abate, that it rained violently for almost three days and nights together; and one of those rainy mornings, looking out at their tent-door (for they could not stir abroad for the rain), they were surprised, when looking towards the river, which was just below them, they saw a prodigious number of black creatures in the water, and swimming towards the sh.o.r.e where they were.
They first imagined they were porpoises, or sea-hogs, but could not suggest anything of that kind at such a distance from the sea, when one of the men looking at them through the gla.s.s, cried out they were all black cattle, and that he could perceive their horns and heads; upon this, others looking with their gla.s.ses also, said the same; immediately every man ran to his gun, and, notwithstanding it rained hard, away they marched down to the river"s side with all the speed they could make.
By that time they reached the river bank, their wonder increased, for they found it was a vast mult.i.tude of black cattle, who, finding the waters rise between the two rivers, and, by a natural sagacity, apprehensive of being swept away with the flood, had one and all took the waters, and were swimming over to this side for safety.
It may very well be imagined, the fellows, though they wanted a few such guests as these, yet were terrified with their mult.i.tude, and began to consider what course to take when the creatures should come to land, for there was a great number of them. Upon the whole, after a short consultation, for the creatures came on apace, they resolved to get into a low ground, where they perceived they directed their course, and in which there were a great many trees, and that they would all get up into the trees, and so lie ready to shoot among them as they landed.
Accordingly they did so, excepting five of them, who, by cutting down some large boughs of a tree, had got into a little thicket close to the water, and which they so fortified with the boughs of the trees, that they thought themselves secure within; and there they posted themselves, resolving to wait the coming of the cattle, and take their hazard.
When the creatures came to land, it was wonderful to observe how they lowed and roared, as it were to bid one another welcome on sh.o.r.e; and spreading themselves upon the neighbouring plain, immediately lay down, and rolling and stretching themselves, gave our people notice, that, in short, they had swam a great way and were very much tired.
Our fellows soon laid about them, and the five who had fixed themselves in the thicket had the fairest opportunity, for they killed eleven or twelve of them as soon as they set their foot on sh.o.r.e, and lamed as many.
And now they had a trial of skill, for as they killed as many as they knew what to do with, and had their choice of beef, if they killed a bull they let him lie, as having no use for him, but chose the cows, as what they thought was only fit for eating.
But, I say, now they had a trial of skill, namely, to see if they could maim some of the bulls so as not to kill them, and might bring them to carry their luggage. This was a kind of a fruitless attempt, as we afterwards told them, to make a baggage-horse of a wild bull.
However, they brought it so far to pa.s.s, that, having wounded several young bulls very much, after they had run roaring about with the hurt, they lay down and bled so, as that it was likely they would bleed to death, as several of them really did; but the surgeon observing two of them to be low enough that he might go to them, and do what he would with them, he soon stopped the bleeding, and in a word, healed the wounds. All the while they were under cure he caused gra.s.s and boughs of trees to be brought to them for food, and in four or five days the creatures were very well; then he caused them to be hampered with ropes, and tied together, so that they could neither fight with their heads, or run away with their heels; and having thus brought them to a place just by their tent, he caused them to be kept so hungry, and almost starved, that, when meat was carried them, they were so tame and thankful, that at last, they would eat out of his hand, and stretch out their heads for it, and when they were let a little looser, would follow him about for a handful of gra.s.s, like a dog for a bone.
When he had brought them thus to hand, he, by degrees, loaded them, and taught them to carry; and if they were unruly, as they were at first, he would load them with more than they could well carry, and make them stand under that load two or three hours, and then come himself and bring them meat, and take the load off; and thus in a few days they knew him so well, that they would let him do anything with them.
When our people came to decamp, they tied them both together, with such ropes as they had, and made them carry a very great weight. They tried the same experiment with two more, but they failed; one died, and the other proved untractable, sullen, and outrageous.
The men had now lain here twelve days, having plenty of provision, in which time, the weather proving fair, the land waters ran off, and the rivers came to their old channels, clear and calm. The men would gladly have gone back to the sands and flat sh.o.r.e of the lake, or to some other part, to look for gold; but that was impracticable now, so they marched on, and in about two days they found the first river seemed to turn so much to the south, that they thought it would carry them too far out of their way, for their orders were to keep about the lat.i.tude of 40 to 50 as is said before, so they resolved to get over the first river as soon as they could; they had not gone far, but they found the river so shallow, that they easily forded it, bulls and all, and, being safely landed, they travelled across the country to the great river, which they found also very low, though not like to be forded as the other was.
Now they thought they were in the way of their business, and here they resolved to see if a tree or two might be found, big enough to make a large canoe to carry them down this river, which, as it seemed large, so the current seemed to be less rapid and furious, the channel being deep and full.
They had not searched long but they found three trees that they thought large enough, and they immediately went to work with them, felled and shaped them, and, in four days" time they had three handsome canoes, one larger than the rest, and able to carry in all fifteen or sixteen men; but these were not enough, so they were forced to look out farther, for two trees more, and this took them up more time. However, in about a week, they launched them all; as for days, they had lost their account of time, so that, as they had sometimes no rule to distinguish one day from another, so at last they quite forgot the days, and knew not a Sunday from a working-day any longer.
While these canoes were making, the men, according to the old trade, fell to rummaging the sh.o.r.es of this river, as they had done the other, for gold, nor did they wholly lose their labour, for, in several places, they found some; and here it was that a certain number of them, taking one of the canoes that were first made, took a voyage of their own heads, not only without command, but against command; and, having made a little mast and sail to it, went up towards the lake, resolving to go quite into the lake to find another golden sh.o.r.e, or gold coast, as they called it.
To give a particular account of this wild undertaking, would be too long, nor would the rogues give much account of it themselves; only, in short, that they found a sand pretty rich in gold, worked upon it five days indefatigably, and got a sufficient quant.i.ty, had they brought it back, to have tempted the rest to have gone all away to the same place.
But, at the end of five days, some were for returning and others for staying longer, till the majority prevailed to come back, representing to the rest, that their friends would be gone, and they should be left to starve in that wild country, and should never get home; so they all got into the canoe again, but quarrelled when they were in, and that to such an unreasonable height, that, in short, they fought, overset the boat, lost all their gold and their arms, except three muskets which were lashed under their thouts, or benches of the canoe, spoiled their ammunition and provisions, and drowned one of their company, so they came home to the rest mortified, wet, and almost famished.
This was a balk to them, and put a damp to their new projects; and yet six of the same men were so bold afterwards as to demand to be dismissed, and a canoe given them, and they would go back they said to the golden lake, where, they did not doubt, they should load the canoe with gold; and, if they found when they came back we were gone, they would find their way back through the mountains, and go to the rich Spaniard, who, they did not doubt, would get them license to go back to Europe with the galleons, and perhaps, they said, they might be in England before us.
But the captain quelled this mutiny, though there were four or five more came into it. By showing them the agreement they had made with me, their commander, the obligation they were under, and the madness of their other proposal, he prevailed with them to go forward with the rest, and pursue the voyage, which he now represented to be very easy, being as it were, all the way downhill, that is to say, with the stream, for they all knew the river they were in must go to the sea, and that in or near the lat.i.tude which they knew the ship had appointed to wait for them.
However, to soften them a little, and in some measure to please them, he promised, that if they met with any success in the search after gold in the river they were in, as he did not question but they should, he would consent to any reasonable stop that they should propose, not exceeding five days in a place, and the places to be not less than five leagues off from one another.
Upon these terms they consented, and all embarked and came away, though extremely mortified for the loss of one of their companions, who was a brave stout fellow, very well beloved by all the company, but there was no remedy; so they came on in five canoes, and with a good stock of provisions, such as it was, viz., good fresh beef cured in the sun, and fifteen Peruvian sheep alive; for, when they got into the country between the two rivers, they found it easy to catch those creatures, who before that would not come near them.
And now they came down the river apace, till they came to another golden sh.o.r.e, where, finding some quant.i.ty of gold, they claimed their captain"s promise, and, accordingly, they went all on sh.o.r.e to work, and pretty good success they had, picking up from among the sands a considerable quant.i.ty of gold, and, having stayed four of the five days, they found that they had cleared the place, which was not of a long extent, and so they cheerfully came on.
They proceeded now for eleven days together very willingly, but then found the channel of the river divided itself, and one went away to the left, and the other to the right. They could not judge which was the best to take; but not questioning but that they would meet again soon, they took the southernmost channel, as being most direct in their lat.i.tude; and thus they coursed for three or four days more, when they were obliged to put into the mouth of a little river that fell into the other, and made a good harbour for their little fleet.
Here, I say, they were obliged to put in for want of provisions, for they had eaten up all their guinacoes, and their two tame bulls too, the last of which they soon repented, as will be shown presently.
After they had been a-hunting, and shot a couple of deer and a cow, with a kind of hare, as large as an English fox, they set forward again very merry, and the more, because they had another little piece of a gold coast, where, for two days, they had very good luck again; but judge how they were surprised, and in what a consternation they were, when, coming farther down the same river, they heard a terrible noise in the river, as of a mighty cataract, or waterfall, which increased as they came forward, till it grew so loud that they could not hear themselves speak, much less hear one another.
As they approached, it was the more frightful; so at length, lest they should be hurried into it before they were aware, they went all on sh.o.r.e, doing all by signs and dumb postures, for it was impossible to hear any sound but that of the cataract.
Though the noise was so great, it was near six miles to the place from whence it came, which, when they perceived, some of them went back to bring on the boats, and so brought them as near the place as they durst, and ran them on sh.o.r.e into a little hollow part of the bank, just large enough to hold them. When they had thus secured the boats, they went to view the waterfall; but how were they astonished, when they found that there were no less than five waterfalls, at the distance of about two miles from each other, some more, some less, and that the water fell from a prodigious height; so that it was impossible for any boat to launch down the cataract without being dashed in pieces.
The men now saw there was no remedy but that they must lose the benefit of their five canoes, which had been so comfortable to them, and by which they had come above four hundred miles in a little time, with safety and pleasure.
These cataracts made the river perfectly useless to them for above twenty miles, and it was impossible to drag their canoes that length over land; so, in short, they unloaded them, and, for their own satisfaction, they turned one, the biggest of them, adrift, and let it go to the first cataract, placing themselves so beyond that they might see it come down, which they did, and had the vexation of seeing it dashed all to pieces on the rocks below.
As there was no remedy, they plainly saw they must leave their boats behind them. And now, as I have said, they had time to repent killing their two tamed bulls, who would have done them good service; but it was too late to look back upon what was done and over so many days before.
They had now no means left them, if they would go forward, but to take their baggage upon their shoulders and travel on foot. The only help they had was, that they had got five guinacoes left, which, though they were hungry, and would fain have eaten, yet, as they had carried at least five hundred weight of their luggage, they chose to fast and walk rather than feast and work; so they went on as well as they could till they got past these falls, which, though not above twenty miles, cost them five days" labour; at the end of which, they encamped again to refresh themselves, and consider of what was next to be done. They were thus long upon this short journey for many reasons.
1. Because they were obliged to employ the best part of two days in hunting for their food, in which time, five of them swimming over the river to shoot at some black cattle, extremely fatigued themselves in pursuing them, but did, however, shoot five cows and bulls; but then it was at such a distance, that it was more pains to drag the flesh along to the river"s side than it was worth, only that they were indeed hunger-starved, and must have it.
2. They found still some little quant.i.ty of gold in the water, that is to say, below the falls, where the water, by falling with great force, had made a pit or hole of a vast depth, and had thrown up a shoal again, at perhaps a little distance, where they took up some gold whenever the water was low enough to come at it.
3. The weight of their baggage made them travel heavy, and seldom above five or six miles a day.
Being now come to the open river, they thought of building more floats; but they were discouraged from this consideration by not knowing but in a few days" march there might be more waterfalls, and then all their labour would be lost; so they took up their tent and began to travel again.
But here, as they kept the river close on board, as the seamen call it, they were at a full stop, by the coming in of another river from the south-west, which, when it joined the river they were along by, was above a quarter of a mile broad, and how to get over it they knew not.
They sent two men up the additional river some length, and they brought word that it was indeed narrower by much, but nowhere fordable, but deep and rapid.
At the same time they sent two more nimble fellows down the coast of the great river, to see if there were any more waterfalls, who brought them word that there were none for upwards of sixty miles.
While they lay here, at the point of the influx, expecting the return of their scouts, they used what diligence they could in getting provisions; and among the rest, they killed three cows and a bull on the other side of the largest river; but not knowing how to bring them over, they at last concluded to go, as many as could swim, which was the better half of them, and sit down by it, and roast and broil upon the spot as much as they could eat, and then bring with them, as much as they could for their companions.
For this purpose they got boughs of trees, and bound them together, then wrapped the meat in the hides, and laid it on the wood, and made a number of little contrivances to convey it, so that no part of the meat was lost. What they got on their own side of the river they made better shift with.
On the return of their scouts they found there was no remedy but to build some new vessels, of one kind or other, to take in their baggage and provision, which they made after the manner of their first floats; for they found no trees large enough to make canoes; when, therefore, they had made one great float, they resolved to make two small boats, like yawls or skiffs, with which they might tow their large float or barge; and as this they might do with small timbers, so they found means to line them within and without with the bulls" hides, and that so dexterously joined, and lapped and rolled one over another, that no water came through, or but very little.
With these two boats they ferried over the small rivers with ease, each boat carrying six men, besides two to row; and when they were over the small rivers, the two boats served to tow their great punt or barge close by the sh.o.r.e.