would take the air of the sea, which had all kinds of garden-herbs,
flowers, and trees of gold and silver, an invention and magnificence
till then never seen. Besides all this, he had an infinite quantity of
silver and gold unwrought in Cuzco.' The counterpart of all these
marvels Raleigh hoped to find, when he had sailed up the Orinoco to
its watershed.

"So, when he had gathered all the information which he could from
Berreo, he departed and rowed up the river in the galego boat of the
Lion's Whelp, till on the fourth day he dropped into the waters of the
Great Amana. Up the Great Amana he travelled, always getting news of
his city, always being told that it was farther inland. On the banks
of this river grew diverse sorts of fruit good to eat, flowers and
trees of such variety as were 'sufficient to make ten books of
herbals.' And everywhere he saw multitudes of birds of all colours,
some carnation, some crimson, some orange-tawny, purple, watchet, and
of all other sorts, so that, as he himself has said, 'It was unto us a
great good passing of the time to behold them, besides the relief we
found in killing some store of them; and still as we rowed, the deer
came down feeding by the water's side, as if they had been used to the
keeper's call.'

"Lured on by these delights, he journeyed farther inland until at last
he came to the first great silver mine; but here the Orinoco and all
the other rivers had risen from four to five feet in height, so that
it was not possible by the strength of man or with any boat whatsoever
to row into the river against the stream. However, before his return,
one day as it drew towards sunset, he had sight of a crystal mountain,
which was said to be studded with diamonds and precious stones, which
shone afar off, the appearance of which was like to that of a white
church tower of exceeding height. Over the summit rushed a mighty
river, which touched no part of the mountainside, and fell with a
great clamour as if a thousand bells were knocked together; so, though
he did not find El Dorado, he was somewhat comforted by the marvel of
this sight. Also, before he left he saw _El Madre del Oro_, the mother
of gold, which proved that treasure lay not far underground."

So, hour after hour, and night after night, the old man had told his
magic story of the search for El Dorado to the little boy. And
sometimes he would vary it with other tales and legends of men who had
gone upon quests equal