Yet the daring
Spaniards accomplished it safely. Many times their vessel narrowly escaped
being dashed to pieces on the rocks or in the rapids of the stream. Still
greater was the danger of the voyagers from the warlike forest tribes, who
followed them for miles in canoes and fiercely attacked them whenever they
landed in search of food.
At length the extraordinary voyage was safely completed, and the
brigantine, built on the Napo, several thousand miles in the interior,
emerged on the Atlantic. Here Orellana proceeded to the island of Cubagna,
from which he made his way, with his companions, to Spain. He had a
wonderful story to tell, of nations of Amazons dwelling on the banks of
the great river, of an El Dorado said to exist in its vicinity, and other
romances, gathered from the uncertain stories of the savages.
He found no difficulty, in that age of marvels and credulity, in gaining
belief, and was sent out at the head of five hundred followers to conquer
and colonize the realms he had seen. But he died on the outward voyage,
and Spain got no profit from his discovery, the lands of the Amazon
falling within the territory assigned by the Pope to Portugal.
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