The place where we stood, though we had come down hill for a great way, yet seemed very high from the ordinary surface of the country, and gave us therefore an exceeding fine prospect of it, the country declining gradually for near ten miles; and we thought, as well as the distance of the place would allow us, we saw a great river, but, as I learned afterwards, it was rather a great lake than a river, which was supplied by the smaller rivers, or rivulets, from the mountains, which met there as in a great receptacle of waters, and out of this lake they all issued again in one river, of which I shall have occasion to give a farther account hereafter.

While we were at dinner, I ordered my midshipmen to take their observations of every distant object, and to look at everything with their gla.s.ses, which they did, and told me of this lake; but my patron could give no account of it, having never been, as he said before, one step farther that way than where we were.

However, my men showed me plainly that it was a great lake, and that there went a large river from it towards the east-south-east, and this was enough for me, for that way lay all the schemes I had laid.

I took this opportunity to ask my midshipmen, first, if they had taken such observations in their pa.s.sage of the mountains as that they were sure they could find their way through to this place again without guides? And they a.s.sured me they could.

Then I put it to them whether they thought it might not be practicable to travel over that vast level country to the North Seas? and to make a sufficient discovery of the country, so as that hereafter Englishmen coming to the coast on the side of those seas, might penetrate to these golden mountains, and reap the benefit of the treasure without going a prodigious length above Cape Horn and the Terra del Fuego, which was always attended with innumerable dangers, and without breaking through the kingdom of Chili and the Spaniards' settlements, which, perhaps, we might soon be at peace with, and so be shut out that way by our own consents?

One of my men began to speak of the difficulties of such an attempt, the want of provisions, and other dangers which we should be exposed to on the way; but the other, a bold, brisk fellow, told me he made no question but it might be easily done, and especially because all the rivers they should meet with would, of course, run along with us, so that we should be sure to have the tide with us, as he called it; and, at last, he added, that he would be content to be one of those men who should undertake it, provided he should be a.s.sured that the ships in the mean time would not go away, and pretend that they could not be found.

I told him, we would talk farther about it; that I had such a thought in my head, and a strong inclination to undertake it myself, but that I could not answer it to leave the ships, which depended so much upon my care of the voyage.

After some talk of the reasonableness of such an undertaking, and the methods of performing it, my second midshipman began to come into it, and to think it was practicable enough, and added, that though he used some cautions in his first hearing proposals, yet, if he undertook that enterprise, I should find that he would do as much of his duty in it as another man; and so he did at last, as will appear in its proper place.

We were, by this time, preparing to be satisfied with our journey, and my patron coming to me and asking if I was for returning, I told him I could not say how many days it would be before I should say I had enough of that prospect, but that I would return when he pleased, only I had one question to ask him, which was, whether the mountains were as full of gold on this side as they were on the side of Chili?

As to that, seignior, says he, the best way to be certain is to make a trial, that you may be sure we do not speak without proof; so he called his gentleman, and another servant that was with him, and desired me to call my two midshipmen, and, speaking something to his own servants first, in the language of the country, as I supposed, he turned to me, and said, Come, let us sit down and rest ourselves, while they go together, and see what they can do.

Accordingly, they went away, and, as my men told me afterwards, they searched in the small streams of water which they found running, and in some larger gulleys or channels, where they found little or no water running, but where, upon hasty rains, great shoots of water had been used to run, and where water stood still in the holes and falls, as I have described once before on the like occasion.

They had not been gone above an hour, when I plainly heard my two Englishmen halloo, which I could easily distinguish from the voices of any other nation, and immediately I ran out of the tent, Captain Merlotte followed, and then I saw one of my midshipmen running towards us, so we went to meet him, and, what with hallooing and running, he could hardly speak; but, recovering his breath, said, he came to desire me to come to them, if I would behold a sight which I never saw in my life.

I was eager enough to go, so I went with him, and left Captain Merlotte to go back to the tent to my patron, the Spaniard, and the Spanish doctor, who had not so much share in the curiosity; he did so, and they followed soon after.

When we came to the place, we saw such a wonder as indeed I never saw before, for there they were sitting down round a little puddle, or hole, as I might call it, of water, where, in the time of rain, the water running hastily from a piece of the rock, about two foot higher than the rest, had made a pit under it with the fall, like the tail of a mill, only much less.

Here they took up the sand or gravel with their hands, and every handful brought up with it such a quant.i.ty of gold as was surprising; for there they sat picking it out, just as the boys in London, who go with a broom and a hat, pick out old iron, nails, and pins from the channels, and it lay as thick.

I stood and looked at them awhile, and it must be confessed, it was a pleasant sight enough; but, reflecting immediately that there was no end of this, and that we were only upon the enquiry, Come away, said I, laughing to my men, and do not stand picking up of trash there all day; do you know how far we have to go to our lodgings?

I can make no guess what quant.i.ty might have been found here in places which had, for hundreds of years, washed gold from the hills, and, perhaps, never had a man come to pick any of it up before; but I was soon satisfied that here was enough, even to make all the world say they had enough; and so I called off my people, and came away.

It seems, the quant.i.ty of gold which is thus washed down is not small, since my men, inquiring afterwards among the Chilians, heard them talk of the great lake of water which I mentioned just now that we saw at a distance, which they call the Golden Lake, and where was, as they said, prodigious quant.i.ties of it; not that our men supposed any gold was there in mines, or in the ordinary soil, but that the waters from the hills, running with very rapid currents at certain times in the rainy seasons, and after the melting of the snows, had carried the gold so far as that lake; and, as it has been so, perhaps, from the days of the general deluge, no people ever applying themselves to gather the least grain of it up again, it might well be increased to such a quant.i.ty as might ent.i.tle that water to the name of the Golden Lake, and all the little streams and sluices of water that run into it deserved the name of Golden Rivers, as much as that of the Golden Lake.

But my present business was to know only if the gold was here, but not to trouble myself to pick it up; my views lay another way, and my end was fully answered, so I came back to my patron, and brought all my men with me.

You live in a golden country, seignior, says I; my men are stark mad to see so much gold, and n.o.body to take it.

Should the world know what treasure you have here, I would not answer for it that they should not flock hither in armies, and drive you all away. They need not do that, seignior, says he, for here is enough for them, and for us too.

We now packed up, and began our return; but it was not without regret that I turned my back upon this pleasant country, the most agreeable place of its kind that ever I was at in all my life, or ever shall be in again, a country rich, pleasant, fruitful, wholesome, and capable of everything for the life of man that the heart could entertain a wish for.

But my present work was to return; so we mounted our mules, and had, in the meantime, the pleasure of contemplating what we had seen, and applying ourselves to such farther measures as we had concerted among us. In about four hours we returned to our camp, as I called it, and, by the way, we found, to our no little pain, that though we had come down hill easily and insensibly to the opening for some miles, yet we had a hard pull uphill to go back again.

However, we reached to our tents in good time, and made our first encampment with pleasure enough, for we were very weary with the fatigue of a hard day's journey.

The next day we reached our good Chilian's mansion-house, or palace, for such it might be called, considering the place, and considering the entertainment; for now he had some time to provide for us, knowing we would come back again.

He met us with three mules, and two servants, about a mile before we came to the descent going down to his house, of which I took notice before, and this he did to guide us a way round to his house without going down those uneasy steps; so we came on our mules to his door, that is to say, on his mules, for he would have my patron, the Spaniard, to whom I observed he showed an extraordinary respect, and Captain Merlotte and myself, mount his fresh mules to carry us to his house.

When we came thither, I observed he wanted the a.s.sistance of my patron's servants for his cookery; for, though he had provided abundance of food, he owned he knew not how to prepare it to our liking, so they a.s.sisted him, and one of my midshipmen pretending to cook too, made them roast a piece of venison, and a piece of kid, or young goat, admirable well, and putting no garlick or onions into the sauce, but their own juices, with a little wine, it pleased the Spaniard so well, that my man pa.s.sed for an extraordinary cook, and had the favour asked of him to dress some more after the same manner, when we came back to the Spaniard's house.

We had here several sorts of wildfowl, which the Chilian had shot while we were gone, but I knew none of them by any of the kinds we have in England, except some teal. However, they were very good.

The day was agreeable and pleasant, but the night dreadful, as before, being all fire and flame again, and though we understood both what it was, and where, yet I could not make it familiar to me, for my life. The Chilian persuaded us to stay all the next day, and did his endeavour to divert us as much as possible; my two midshipmen went out with him a-hunting, as he called it, that is, a-shooting; but, though he was a man of fifty years of age, he would have killed ten of them at his sport, running up the hills, and leaping from rock to rock like a boy of seventeen. At his gun he was so sure a marksman, that he seldom missed anything he shot at, whether running, flying, or sitting.

They brought home with them several fowls, two fawns, and a full-grown deer, and we had nothing but boiling, stewing, and broiling, all that evening. In the afternoon we walked out to view the hills, and to see the stupendous precipices which surrounded us. As for looking for gold, we saw the places where there was enough to be had, but that was become now so familiar to us, that we troubled not ourselves about it, as a business not worth our while; but the two midshipmen, I think, got about the quant.i.ty of five or six ounces apiece, while we were chatting or reposing in the Chilian's house.

Here it was that I entered into a confidence with my patron, the Spaniard, concerning my grand design. I told him, in the first place, that my view of the open country beyond these hills, and the particular account he had given me of it also, had raised a curiosity in me that I could scarce withstand; and that I had thereupon formed a design, which, if he would farther me with his a.s.sistance, I had a very great mind to put in practice, and that, though I was to hazard perishing in the attempt.

He told me very readily, nothing should be wanting on his part to give me any a.s.sistance he could, either by himself or any of his servants; but, smiling, and with abundance of good humour, Seignior, says he, I believe I guess at the design you speak of; you are fired now with a desire to traverse this great country to the Coasta Deserta and the North Seas; that is a very great undertaking, and you will be well advised before you undertake it.

True, Seignior, said I, you have guessed my design, and, were it not that I have two ships under my care, and some cargo of value on board, I would bring my whole ship's company on sh.o.r.e, and make the adventure, and, perhaps, we might be strong enough to defend ourselves against whatever might happen by the way.

As to that, seignior, says he, you would be in no danger that would require so many men; for you will find but few inhabitants anywhere, and those not in numbers sufficient to give you any trouble; fifty men would be as many as you would either want or desire, and, perhaps, as you would find provisions for; and, for fifty men, we might be able to carry provisions with us to keep them from distress. But, if you will accept of my advice, as well as a.s.sistance, seignior, says he, choose a faithful strong fellow out of your ship on whom you can depend, and give him fifty men with him, or thereabouts, and such instructions as you may find needful, as to the place on the coast where you would have them fix their stay, and let them take the first hazards of the adventure; and, as you are going round by sea, you will, if success follows, meet them on the sh.o.r.e, and if the account they give of their journey encourage you, you may come afterwards yourself up to these very mountains, and take a farther view; in which case, he added, with a solemn protestation, cost me what it will, I will come and meet you one hundred miles beyond the hills, with supplies of provisions and mules for your a.s.sistance.

This was such wholesome and friendly advice, and he offered it so sincerely, that though it was very little differing from my own design, yet I would not be seen so to lessen his prudence in the measures of his friendship in advising it, as to say that I had resolved to do so; but making all possible acknowledgment to him for his kind offers, I told him I would take his advice, and act just according to the measures he had prescribed; and, at the same time I a.s.sured him, that if I found a convenient port to settle and fortify in, I would not fail to come again from France (for we pa.s.sed always as acting from France, whatever nation we were of) to relieve and supply them; and that, if ever I returned safe, I would not fail to correspond with him, by the pa.s.sages of the mountains, and make a better acknowledgment for his kindness than I had been able to do yet.

He was going to break off the discourse upon the occasion of the Chilian's returning, who was just come in from his hunting, telling me, he would talk farther of it by the way; but I told him I could not quite dismiss the subject, because I must bespeak him to make some mention of it to the Chilian, that he might, on his account, be an a.s.sistant to our men, as we saw he was capable of being, in their pa.s.sing by those difficult ways, and for their supply of provisions, &c. Trouble not yourself with that, seignior, said he, for when your men come, the care shall be mine; I will come myself as far as this wealthy Chilian's, and procure them all the a.s.sistance this place can afford them, and do anything that offers to forward them in the undertaking.

This was so generous, and so extraordinary, that I had nothing to say more, but to please myself with the apparent success of my attempt, and acknowledge the happiness of having an opportunity to oblige so generous, spirited, and grateful a person.

I would, however, have made some farther acknowledgment to our Chilian benefactor, but I had nothing left, except a couple of hats, and three pair of English stockings, one pair silk and the other two worsted, and those I gave him, and made him a great many acknowledgments for the favours he had shown us, and the next morning came away.

We made little stay anywhere else in our return; but, making much such stages back as we did forward, we came the fourteenth day to our patron's house, having made the pa.s.sage through in something less than sixteen days, and the like back in fifteen days, including our stay at the Chilian's, one day.

The length of the way, according to the best of my calculations, I reckoned to be about one hundred and seventy-five English miles, taking it with all its windings and turnings, which were not a few, but which had this conveniency with them, that they gave a more easy and agreeable pa.s.sage, and made the English proverb abundantly good, namely, that the farthest way about is the nearest way home.

The civilities I received after this from my generous Spaniard were agreeable to the rest of his usage of me; but we, that had so great a charge upon us at the sea-side, could not spare long time in those ceremonies, any more than I do now for relating them.

It is enough to mention, that he would not be excused, at parting, from going back with us quite to the ships, and when I would have excused it, he said, Nay, seignior, give me leave to go and fetch my hostages. In short, there was no resisting him, so we went all together, after staying two days more at his house, and came all safe to our ships, having been gone forty-six days from them.

We found the ship in very good condition, all safe on board, and well, except that the men seemed to have contracted something of the scurvy, which our Spanish doctor, however, soon recovered them from.

Here we found the two Spanish youths, our patron's hostages, very well also, and very well pleased with their entertainment; one of our lieutenants had been teaching them navigation, and something of the mathematics, and they made very good improvement in those studies, considering the time they had been there; and the Spaniard, their father, was so pleased with it, that not having gold enough to offer the lieutenant, as an acknowledgment for his teaching them, he gave him a very good ring from his finger, having a fine large emerald in it of some value, and made him a long Spanish compliment for having nothing of greater consequence to offer him.

We now made preparations for sailing, and our men, in my absence, had laid in a very considerable supply of provisions, particularly excellent pork, and tolerable good beef, with a great number of goats and hogs alive, as many as we could stow.

But I had now my princ.i.p.al undertaking to manage, I mean that of sending out my little army for discovery, and, having communicated my design to the supercargo, and the person whom I intrusted with him in the command of the ships, they unanimously approved of the scheme. My next business was to resolve upon whom to confer the command of the expedition; and this, by general consent, fell upon the lieutenant of the Madagascar ship, who had taught the young Spaniards navigation, and this the rather, because he was naturally a bold enterprising man, and also an excellent geographer; indeed, he was a general artist, and a man faithful and vigilant in whatever he undertook, nor was it a little consideration with me, that he was so agreeable to the Spaniard and his sons, of whose aid we knew he would stand in so much need.

When I had communicated to him the design, and he had both approved of the undertaking itself, and accepted the command, we const.i.tuted him captain, and the two midshipmen we made lieutenants for the expedition, promising each of them 500_l._ if they performed it. As for the captain, we came to a good agreement with him for his reward; for I engaged to give him a thousand pounds in gold as soon as we met, if the journey was performed effectually.

We then laid open the design to the men, and left it to every one's choice to go, or not to go, as they pleased; but, instead of wanting men to go volunteers, we were fain to decide it by lot among some of them, they were all so eager to undertake it.

Then I gave them articles and conditions, which they who ventured should engage themselves to comply with, and particularly, that they should not mutiny, upon pain of being shot to death when we met, or upon the spot, if the captain thought it necessary; that they should not straggle from their company, nor be tempted by the view of picking up gold to stay behind, when the company beat to march; that all the gold they found in the way should be common, should be put together in a bulk every night, and be divided faithfully and equally at the end of the journey, allowing only five shares to each ship, to be divided as I should direct. Besides which, upon condition that every man behaved himself faithfully and quietly, and did his duty, I promised, that besides the gold he might get by the way, I would give to all one hundred pounds each at our meeting; and, if any man was sick, or maimed by the way, the rest were to engage not to forsake and leave him on any account whatsoever, death only excepted. And if any man died, except by any violence from the rest, his share of the gold which was gotten should be faithfully kept for his family, if he had any; but his reward of one hundred pounds, which was not due, because he did not live to demand it, should be divided among the rest; so that by this agreement, the undertaking was not so dear to me as I had expected, for the pay of the men amounted to no more than the sum following, viz.--