Graceful deer would
come down to the water's edge and gaze fearlessly on the travellers with
their big, soft eyes. "On the banks of these rivers," says Raleigh, "were
divers sorts of fruits good to eat; flowers, too, and trees of such
variety as were sufficient to make two volumes of travels. We refreshed
ourselves many times with the fruits of the country, and sometimes with
fowls and fish. We saw birds of all colors: some carnation, some crimson,
orange, tawny, purple, and so on; and it was unto us a great good passing
time to behold them, besides the relief we found by killing some store of
them with our fowling-pieces."
The adventurers at length reached an Indian village of which their old
guide had told them, and here, after the natives had got over their fright
and learned that the strangers meant them no harm, they were very
hospitably entertained. Thence they went onward, day after day, seeing
many canoes on the river and landing at various villages. One of the
canoes contained three Spaniards, who escaped from the effort to capture
them, and Raleigh soon learned that the Spaniards had told the natives
that the English were robbers and cannibals.
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