Little food was yielded by the
forest, and such toads, serpents, and other reptiles as they found were
greedily devoured.
Still the story of a rich country, inhabited by a populous nation, was
told by the wandering Indians, but it was always several days ahead.
Pizarro at length decided to stop where he was and feed on the scanty
forest spoil, while Orellana went down the stream in his brigantine to
where, as the Indians said, the Napo flowed into a greater river. Here the
nation they sought was to be found, and Orellana was bidden to get a
supply of provisions and bring them back to the half-starved company.
Taking fifty of the adventurers in the vessel, he pushed off into the
swift channel of the river and shot onward in a speedy voyage which
quickly took him and his comrades out of sight.
Days and weeks passed, and no sign of the return of the voyagers appeared.
In vain the waiting men strained their eyes down the stream and sent out
detachments to look for the vessel farther down. Finally, deeming it
useless to wait longer, they resumed their journey down the river,
spending two months in advancing five or six hundred miles--those of them
who did not die by the way.
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