But then they discovered that, though there was less in the higher part of the rivers, there was more farther down, and they found it so well worth while, that they went looking along for gold all the way towards the lake, and left their fellows and the boat to come after.

At last, when nothing else would do, hunger called them off, and so once more all the company were got together again; and now they began to load the float, indeed it might be called a luggage-boat; however, it answered very well, and was a great relief to our men; but when they came to load it, they found it would not carry near so much as they had to put in it. Besides that, they would be all obliged to march on foot by sh.o.r.e, which had this particular inconvenience in it, that whenever they came to any small river or brook which ran into the other, as was very often the case, they would be forced to march up a great way to get over it, or unload the great float to make a ferry-boat of it to waft them over.

Upon this they were resolved, that the first place they came at where timber was to be had for building, they would go to work again and make two or three more floats, not so big as the other, that so they might embark themselves, their baggage, and their provisions too, all together, and take the full benefit of the river, where it would afford them help; and not some sail on the water, and some go on foot upon the land, which would be very fatiguing.

Therefore, as soon as they found timber, as I have said, and a convenient place, they went all hands to work to build more floats or boats, and, while this was doing, all the spare men spent their time and pains in searching about for gold in the brooks and small streams, as well those they had been at before as others, and that after they had, as it were, plundered them at the first discovery; for, as they had found some gold after the hasty rain, they were loath to give it over, though they had been a.s.sured there was more to be found in the lake, where they were yet to come, than in the brooks.

All this while their making the floats went slowly on; for the men thought it a great hardship to keep chopping of blocks, as they called it, while their fellows were picking up gold, though they knew they were to have their share of what they found, as much as if they had been all the while with them; but it seems there is a kind of satisfaction in the work of picking up gold, besides the mere gain.

However, at length the gold failing, they began to think of their more immediate work, which was, going forward; and the carpenters having made three more floats, like flat-bottomed barges, which they brought to be able to carry their baggage and themselves too, if they thought fit, they began to embark and fall down the river; but they grew sick of their navigation in a very few days, for before they got to the lake, which was but three days' going, they ran several times on ground, and were obliged to lighten their floats to get them off again, then load again, and lighten again, and so off and on, till they were so tired of them that they would much rather have carried all their baggage, and have travelled by land; and, at last, they were forced to cast off two of them, and put all their baggage on board the other two, which, at best, though large, were but poor crazy things.

At length they came in sight of their beloved lake, and the next day they entered into the open part, or sea of it, which they found was very large, and in some places very deep.

Their floats, or by what other name they might be called, were by no means fit to carry them upon this inland sea; for if the water had been agitated by the least gust of wind, it would presently have washed over them, and have spoiled, if not sunk, their baggage; so they had no way to steer or guide them whenever they came into deep water, where they could not reach the ground with their poles.

This obliged them, as soon as they came into the open lake, to keep close under one sh.o.r.e, that is to say, to the right hand, where the land falling away to the south and the south-by-east, seemed to carry them still forward on their way; the other side widening to the north, made the lake seem there to be really a sea, for they could not look over it, unless they went on sh.o.r.e and got upon some rising ground.

Here, at first, they found the sh.o.r.e steep too, and a great depth of water close to land, which made them very uneasy; for, if the least gale of wind had disturbed the water, especially blowing from off the lake, they would have been shipwrecked close to the sh.o.r.e. However, after they had gone for two days along the side, by the help of towing and setting as well as they could, they came to a flatter sh.o.r.e and a fair strand, to their great joy and satisfaction.

But, if the sh.o.r.e proved to their satisfaction for its safety, it was much more so on another account; for they had not been long here before they found the sands or sh.o.r.e infinitely rich in gold, beyond all that they had seen, or thought of seeing before. They had no sooner made the discovery, than they resolved to possess themselves of a treasure that was to enrich them all for ever; accordingly, they went to work with such an avaricious spirit, that they seemed to be as if they were plundering an enemy's camp, and that there was an army at hand to drive them from the place; and, as it proved, they were in the right to do so; for, in this gust of their greedy appet.i.te, they considered not where they were, and upon what tender and ticklish terms their navigation stood.

They had, indeed, drawn their two floats to the sh.o.r.e as well as they could, and with pieces of wood like piles, stuck in on every side, brought them to ride easy, but had not taken the least thought about change of weather, though they knew they had neither anchor or cable, nor so much as a rope large enough to fasten them with on the sh.o.r.e.

But they were taught more wit, to their cost, in two or three days; for, the very second night they felt a little unusual rising of the water, as they thought, though without any wind; and the next morning they found the water of the lake was swelled about two feet perpendicular, and that their floats, by that means, lay a great way farther from the sh.o.r.e than they did at first, and the water still increasing.

This made them imagine there was a tide in the lake, and that after a little time it would abate again, but they soon found their mistake; for after some time, they perceived the water, which was perfectly fine and clear before, grew by degrees of a paler colour, thick and whitish, till at last it was quite white and muddy, as is usual in land floods; and as it still continued rising, so they continued thrusting in their floats farther and farther towards the sh.o.r.e, till they had, in short, lost all the fine golden sands they were at work upon before, and found the lake overflowed the land so far beyond them, that, in short, they seemed to be in the middle of the lake, for they could scarce see to the end of the water, even on that very side where, but a few hours before, their floats were fast on the sands.

It may be easily judged that this put them into great consternation, and they might well conclude that they should be all drowned and lost; for they were now, as it were, in the middle of the sea upon two open floats or rafts, fenced nowhere from the least surge or swell of the water, except by a kind of waste board, about two feet high, built up on the sides, without any calking or pitching, or anything to keep out the water.

They had neither mast or sail, anchor or cable, head or stern, no bows to fence off the waves, or rudder to steer any course, or oars to give any motion to their floats, whose bottoms were flat like a punt, so that they were obliged to thrust them along with such poles as they had, some of which were about eight or ten feet long, which gained them a little way, though very slowly.

All the remedy they had in this case was, to set on with their poles towards the sh.o.r.e, and to observe, by their pocket compa.s.ses, which way it lay; and this they laboured hard at, lest they should be lost in the night, and not know which way to go.

Their carpenters, in the mean time, with some spare boards which they had, or rather made, raised their sides as well as they could, to keep off the wash of the sea, if any wind should rise so as to make the water rough; and thus they fenced against every danger as well as they could, though, all put together, they were but in a very sorry condition.

Now they had time to reflect upon their voracious fury, in ranging the sh.o.r.e to pick up gold, without considering where and in what condition they were, and without looking out on sh.o.r.e for a place of safety: nay, they might now have reflected on the madness of venturing out into a lake or inland sea of that vast extent, in such pitiful bottoms as they had under them. Their business, doubtless, had been to have stopped within the mouth of the river, and found a convenient place to land their goods and secure their lives; and when they had pitched their camp upon any safe high ground, where they might be sure they could neither be overflowed nor surrounded with water, they might have searched the sh.o.r.es of the lake as far as they thought fit; but thus to launch into an unknown water, and in such a condition, as to their vessels, as is described above, was most unaccountably rash and inconsiderate.

Never were a crew of fifty men, all able and experienced sailors, so embarked, nor drawn into such a snare; for they were surrounded with water for three or four miles in breadth on the nearest sh.o.r.e, and this all on a sudden, the country lying low and flat for such a breadth, all which appeared dry land and green, like the fields, the day before; and, without question, the men were sufficiently surprised.

Now they would have given all the gold they had got, which was very considerable too, to have been on sh.o.r.e on the wildest and most barren part of the country, and would have trusted to their own diligence to get food; but here, besides the imminent danger of drowning, they might also be in danger of starving; for had their floats grounded but upon any little hillock, they might have stuck there till they had starved and perished for hunger. Then they were in the utmost anxiety too for fear of wetting their powder, which, if it had happened, they could never have made serviceable again, and without it, they could not have killed anything for food, if they had got to the sh.o.r.e.

They had, in this exigence, some comforts, however, which might a little uphold their spirits; and without which, indeed, their condition must have been deplorable and desperate.

1. It was hot weather, so that as they had no shelter against the cold, if it had come, they had no cold to afflict them; but they rather wanted awnings to keep off the sun, than houses to keep off the cold.

2. The water of the lake was fresh and good; even when it looked white and thick, yet it was very sweet, wholesome, and good tasted; had it been salt water, and they thus in the middle of it, they must have perished with thirst.

3. They being now floating over the drowned lands only, the water was not very deep, so that they could reach ground, and set along their rafts with their poles, and this, to be sure, they failed not to do with the utmost diligence.

They had also the satisfaction to observe, though it was not without toiling in an inexpressible manner, that they gained upon the sh.o.r.e, and that there was a high land before them, which they were making for, though very slowly, and at a distance they hoped to overcome.

But soon after, they had another discouragement, namely, that they saw the day declining, and night coming on apace, and, in short, that it was impossible they could reach the high land, which they saw by daylight, nor did they know what to do or how to go on in the night.

At length two bold fellows offered themselves to strip and go off, either to wade or swim to the sh.o.r.e, which they had daylight to do, being, as they judged, about three miles, though they found it above four, and from thence to find means to make a fire or light to guide them to the sh.o.r.e in the dark.

This was, indeed, a desperate attempt, but the two fellows being good swimmers, and willing to venture, it was not impracticable. They had light linen drawers on, with pockets, and open at the knees, and their shirts; each of them took a little bottle with some gunpowder, close stopped, with other materials for kindling fire; weapons they had none, but each man a knife and a hatchet fastened round his waist in a little belt, and a light pole in his hands to help him when he waded, which it was expected they must do part of the way. They had no provisions with them, but a bottle with some good brandy in their pockets above mentioned.

When they went off, it was supposed the water to be about four feet to five feet deep, so they chose to swim rather than wade, and it was very seldom much deeper; they had often opportunity to stand on the firm ground to rest themselves.

In this posture they went on directly towards the land, and after they had, by swimming and wading together, advanced about a mile, they found the water grew shallower, which was a signal to them that they should reach the hard ground in a little time; so they walked cheerfully on in about three feet water, for near a mile more.

Their companions on board the rafts soon lost sight of them, for they being in white, and the water white too, and the light declining, they could not see them at a mile distance.

After this they found the ground falling lower, so that they had deeper water for half a mile more all the way; after which, they came to a flat ground again, for near two miles more, and at length to the dry land, to their great satisfaction, though it was then quite night.

They had been near an hour in the dark, that is to say, with only a dusky light, and began to be greatly at a loss, not being able to see the compa.s.s. They had made shift to get over the half mile of deeper water pretty well; for, though it was too deep for the two men to wade, as above, yet they could reach the bottom with their poles, and, at that time, they happened to feel a little breeze of wind fair in their way, which not only refreshed them, but gave them a kind of a jog on their way towards the sh.o.r.e.

At length, to their great joy, they saw a light; and it was the more to their joy, because they saw it just before them, or, as the seamen call it, right ahead; by which they had the satisfaction to know they had not varied their course in the dark. It seems their two men had landed upon a fair rising ground, where they found some low bushes and trees, and where they had good hard dry standing; and they soon found means to pick out a few withered dry sticks, with which they made a blaze for the present, having struck fire with the tools they were furnished with, as mentioned above.

By the light of this blaze, they gave the first notice to their comrades that they were landed; and they in return, as was agreed as before, fired two guns as a signal that they saw it, and were all safe.

By the light of this fire, the two men also gave themselves so much light as to find more dry wood; and, afterwards, their fire was so strong and good, that they made the green wood burn as well as the dry.

Their companions on the floats were now come into the shoal water, in which, as I said, these men waded, but, as their floats did not draw above a foot or eighteen inches water at most, they went on still; but, at length, being within about half a mile of the hillock where the two men were, they found the water so shallow that their floats would not swim. Upon this, more of the men went overboard with poles in their hands, sounding, as we call it, for a deeper water, and, with long paddling about, they found the ground fall off a little in one place, by which they got their floats about a quarter of a mile farther; but then the water was shallow again, not above a foot of water: so, in a word, they were fain to be content, and, running fast aground, they immediately began, though dark, and themselves very much fatigued, to unload their floats and carry all on sh.o.r.e on their backs.

The first thing they took care to land, was their ammunition, their gunpowder and arms, not forgetting the ammunition de bouche, as the French call it, I mean their victuals; and, with great joy, got to their comrades. Then they fetched their proper materials for their tent, and set it up, and having refreshed themselves, they went all to sleep, as they said, without so much as a sentinel placed for their guard; for, as they saw no inhabitants, so they feared no enemies; and, it may be supposed, they were weary enough to make them want rest, even in the extremest manner.

In the morning they had time enough to reflect upon the madness of such rash adventures. Their floats, indeed, remained as they had left them, and the water was ebbed away from them for more than two miles, that is to say, almost to the deep half mile mentioned above; but they heard a surprising noise and roaring of the water on the lake itself, the body of which was now above seven miles from them.

They could not imagine what this roaring should mean, for they felt no wind, nor could they perceive any clouds at a distance that looked as if they brought any squalls of wind with them, as they are often observed to do; but, when they came nearer the water, they found it had a kind of a swell, and that there was certainly some more violent motion at the farther distance; and, in a little while, looking behind them towards the sh.o.r.e where their comrades were, they found the water began to spread over the flat ground again; upon which, they hastened back, but having a good way to go, they were obliged to wade knee deep before they reached to the hillock where their tent stood.

They had not been many hours on sh.o.r.e before they found the wind began to rise, and the roaring, which before they heard at a distance, grew louder and nearer, till at length the floats were lifted up, and driven on sh.o.r.e by the wind, which increased to a storm, and the water swelled and grew rough; and, as they were upon the lee sh.o.r.e, the floats were soon broken in pieces, and went some one way and some another.

In the evening it overcast and grew cloudy, and, about midnight, they had their share of a violent rain, which yet, they could see was more violent towards the mountains of the Andes, and towards the course of the river which they came down in the floats.

The consequence of this was, that the third day, the waters of the lake swelled again to a frightful height; that is to say, it would have been frightful to them if they had been up in it, for they supposed it rose about two fathoms perpendicularly, and the wind continuing fresh, the water was all a white foam of froth; so that, had they been favoured with even a good large boat under them, she would scarce have lived there.

Their tent was a sufficient shelter from the rain, and, as they were on dry land, and too high to be reached by any inundation, they had no concern upon them about their safety, but took this for sufficient notice, not to come up the lake again in haste, unless they were better provided with boats to ride out a storm.

Our men began now to think they had taken their leave of the golden lake, and yet they knew not how to think of leaving it so soon. They were now fourteen or fifteen leagues from the sh.o.r.e where they had found so much gold, nor did they know the way to it by land; and as for going by water, that they were unprovided for several ways; besides, the waters kept up to a considerable height, and the winds blew fresh for six or eight days, without intermission.

All these obstructions joined together, put them upon considering of pursuing their march by land, in which, however, they resolved to coast the lake as near as they could to the eastward, till, if possible, they should find that the waters had some outlet, that is to say, that the lake emptied itself by some river towards the sea, as they concluded it certainly must.

They had not yet seen any inhabitants, or any sign of them, at least, not near them; they saw, or fancied they saw, some on the other side of the river, but, as none came within reach of them, it is doubtful whether they really saw them or not.

Before they decamped for a march, it was needful to get some provisions, if possible, and this made them the more desirous of finding out some conversible creatures, but it was in vain. They killed a wild cow and a deer, and this was all they could get for some time; and with this they set forward, taking their course east, and rather northerly, in order to come into the same lat.i.tude they set out in, at their first embarking on the river.

After they had marched thus for about three days, keeping the lake on the north side of them, and always in view, at length, on the third day, in the evening, coming to a little hill, which gave them the prospect of the country for some length north-east, they saw plainly a river issuing out of the lake, and running first east, then bending to the south; it was also easy to perceive that this river, was at that time, much broader than its usual course, for that they could see a great many trees, which probably grew on the banks of the river, standing as it were, in the middle of the water, the banks being overflowed both ways very considerably.