f
venison, and other viands. Among these were sweet and delicious pineapples
of enormous size, "the prince of fruits," as Raleigh called them.

Finally, after they had gone about one hundred and fifty miles up the
Orinoco, they reached the point where another great river, the Caroni,
empties into it. The country here was more beautiful than they had yet
seen, and prosperous Indian villages were numerous on the bordering
plains. The natives had heard of the amicable character of the new-comers,
and greeted them with great friendliness, doing all they could to show how
they trusted and admired them. With one old chief, named Topiawara,
Raleigh held many interesting talks and learned from him much about the
country and the people. In return he told him about his own country and
its great queen, and one day showed him a portrait of Queen Elizabeth,
before which the simple natives bowed themselves as if it were the figure
of a goddess they saw.

Many days were spent with these people, in hunting, fishing, and
exploring, but, ask as they would, they could learn nothing about the land
of gold and the marvellous city they had come so far to seek. The old
chief told him that Guiana had many fertile plains and valleys and had
mines of silver and gold, but the gold-dust king he knew nothing about.
Finally, Raleigh decided to go up the Caroni, three parties being sent to
explore its vicinity, while he with a fourth rowed up the stream. He had
been told of a mighty cataract, which he was very anxious to see, and this
was at length reached, after a long struggle with the strong current of
the river.

The cataract proved to be a series of giant cascades, ten or twelve in
number, in the words of Raleigh, "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 it had been all covered over with a great shower of rain. And
in some places we took it at first for a smoke that had risen over some
great town.

"I never saw a more beautiful country," he continues, "or more lively
prospects; hills so raised, here and there, over the valleys; the river
winding into divers branches; the plains adjoining all green grass without
bush or stubble; the ground of hard sand, easy to march on, either for
horses or foot; the birds, towards evening, singing on every tree with a
thousand sweet tunes; cranes and herons of white, crimson, and carnation,
perching on the river's side; the