The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1854-09-28

HoIe Gue salue unpIoHulSIHS aspect, du
the Indians whom they occasionally me
in the painless wilderness were fierce AM
unfriendly, and the Spanirds were en-
gagged in perpetual conflict with them
From these they learned that that fruit
full country was to be found down th'
river at the distance of only a few days
journey; and the Spaniards held on thei
weary way, still hoping and still deceived
as the promised land fitted before them
like the rainbow receding as they ad
vanced.
At length, spent with toll and suffer
ing, Pizarro resolved 20 construct bark
large enough to transport the weaker
part of his company and his baggage
The forests furnished him with timber
the shoes of the horses which had died
on the road or been slaughtered for food
were converted into nails, gum distilled
from the trees took the place of pitch and
the tattered garments of the soldiers
served for oakum. At the end of two
months the vessel was ready, and the
command given to Francisco Orellana.-
The troops now moved forward through
the wilderness, following the course OF
the river. the vessel carrying the feebler
soldiers. Every scrap of provisions had
long since been consumed. The last. of
their horses had been devoured, and they
greedily fed upon toads, serpents and e.
ven insects, which that country teeming
with the lower forms of animal life a.
bundantly supplied.
The natives still told of rich district,
inhabited by populous nation. 1t was
as usual at the distance of several days
journey; and Pizarro resolved to halt where
he was, and send Orellana down in his
brigantine to procure stock of provis-
ions, with which he night return, and put
the main body in condition to resume
their march. Orellana with fifty of the
adventures pushed off into the middle of
the river where the stream ran swiftly,
and his bark taken by the current, shot
forward as with the speed of an arrow,
and was soon out of sight.
Days and weeks passed away, yet the
vessel did not return, and no speck was
to be seen on the waters as the Spaniards
strained their eyes to the farthest point,
till the banks closed in and shut the view.
Detachments were sent out, and though
absent several days, came back without
intelligence of their comrades. Weary
of suspense, Pizarro determed to contin-
ue their march down the river, which
they did with incredible suffering for two
months longer, till their doubts were dis
PEELED by the appearance of a white man,
wandering half naked in the woods, in
whose famine-stricken countenance they
recognized the features of one of their
countrymen. Orellana had passed swift
ly down the river to the point of its con-
fuence with the Amazon, where he had
been led to expect that he should find
supplies for the wants of himself and his
companions, but found none. Nor was it
possible to return as he had come, and
make head against the current of the
river In this dilemma thought flashed
across his mind; it was, to leave the par
ty under Pizarro to their fate, and to
pursue his course down the great river
on which be had entered, to explore Ell
dorado for hi mself, and make the best of
his way home to Spain to claim the glo-
ry and reward of discovery. His reck-
less companions readily consented to this
course, with the exception of the individ-
al whom Pizarro found, and him when
he demonstrated they put ashore and left
to shift for himself.
Pizarro and his party, deserted in the
wilderness, unable to advance further,
had no alternative but to remain or re-
trace their miserable way to Quito, the
place they had started from more than a
year before. They chose the latter, and
commenced their return march with heavy
hearts. They took more notherly route
than that by which they had approached
the Amazon, and, though it was attended
with fewer difficulties, they experienced
yet greater distresscs from their greater
to overcome them. Their only
food was such scanty fare as they could
pick up in the forest, or happily meet
with in some forsaken Indian settlement,
or wiring by violence from the natlVes.-
Some sickened and sank down by the
way and perished where they fell, for
there was none to help them. Intense
misery had made them selfish; and many
a poor wretch was abandoned to his fate
to die alone in the wilderness, or more
probably to be devoured, while living, by
he wild animals which roamed over it.
1t took them year to measure back
their way to Quito, and the miseries they
had endured were testified to by their
appearance when they arrived, in sadly
reduced numbers, at the place of their
starting. Their horses gone, their arms
broken and rusted, the skins of wild ami
mails their only clothes, their long and
matted locks streaming wildly down their
shoulders, their faces blackened by the
tropical sun, their bodies wasted by fa-
mine and disfgured by scars, it seemed
as if the charnel- house had given up it's
lead, as with unsteady step they glidcd
slowly onwards. More than half of the
four thousand Indians who had accom-