Note 54 — Part III. (continued 4)

These quotations show the riches of Peru, not of El Dorado. This was the name given by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century to an imaginary region somewhere in the interior of South America, between the Orinoco and the Amazon, where gold and precious stones were supposed to be in such abundance as to be had for merely picking them up. This story was communicated by an Indian cacique to Gonzalo Pizarro, brother of the conquerer, who sent Francisco Orellana down the Amazon River to discover this wonderful land. Orellana followed the course of the Amazon down to the sea, but he did not find El Dorado. The story, however, continued to be credited for many years afterwards.