I think no
nation can compare with them; and at the times of their solemn feasts
when the emperor carouseth with his captains, tributaries, and
governors the manner is thus:

"All those that pledge him are first stripped naked, and their bodies
anointed all over with a kind of white balsam (by them called _curca_)
of which there is great plenty, and yet very dear amongst them, and it
is of all other the most precious, whereof we have had good experience.
When they are anointed all over, certain servants of the emperor,
having prepared gold made into fine powder, blow it through hollow
canes upon their naked bodies, until they be all shining from the foot
to the head: and in this sort they sit drinking by twenties, and
hundreds, and continue in drunkenness sometimes six or seven days
together.

"The same is also confirmed by a letter written into Spain, which was
intercepted, which Mr. Robert Dudley told me he had seen. Upon this
sight, and for the abundance of gold which he saw in the city, the
images of gold in their temples, the plates, armors, and shields of
gold which they used in the wars, he called it El Dorado."

After mentioning in detail the several ill-fated expeditions of the
Spanish to find the El Dorado, Raleigh reviews the mass of evidence in
favor of the existence of the hidden and magnificent city, and as
gravely relates the current reports of other wonders as prodigious as
this. He it was who carried back to Europe the story of the Amazons,
"being very desirous to understand the truth of those warlike women,
because of some it is believed, of others not. And although I digress
from my purpose, yet I will set down that which hath been delivered me
for truth of those women, and I spake with a caique or lord of the
people, that told me he had been in the river and beyond it.... They
are said to be very cruel and bloodthirsty, especially to such as offer
to invade their territories. These Amazons have likewise great stores
of these plates of gold which they recover chiefly by exchange for a
kind of green stones." That the natures of these stern ladies had a
softer side is prettily indicated by Raleigh in the statement that in
the month of April "all kings of the border assemble, and queens of the
Amazons; and after the queens have chosen, the rest cast lots for their
Valentines. This one month they feast, dance, and drink of their wines
in abundance; and the moon being done, they all depart to