B 3 
 

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 
 
 VOLUME 66, NUMBER 4 
 
 The Ordaz and Dortal Expeditions in 
 
 Search of El-Dorado, as Described 
 
 on Sixteenth Century Maps 
 
 (WITH Two MAPS) 
 
 BY 
 
 RUDOLFJ5CHULLER 
 Corresponding Member, Inst. Hist, e Geogr. do Brazil, etc. 
 
 CITY OF WASHINGTON 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 APRIL, 1916 
 
SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 
 
 VOLUME 66, NUMBER 4 
 
 The Ordaz and Dortal Expeditions in 
 
 Search of El- Dorado, as Described 
 
 on Sixteenth Century Maps 
 
 (WITH Two MAPS) 
 
 RUDOLF SCHULLER 
 
 Corresponding Member, Inst. Hist, e Geogr. do Brazil, etc. 
 
 
 DOCUMENTS DEPARTMENT 
 DEC 2 71961 
 
 LIBRAKY 
 UNtVERSJTY OF CAIIFOKNIA 
 
 (PUBLICATION 2411) 
 
 CITY OF WASHINGTON 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 APRIL, 1916 
 
(press 
 
 BALTIMORE, MD., U. S. 
 
THE ORDAZ AND DORTAL EXPEDITIONS IN SEARCH 
 
 OF EL-DORADO, AS DESCRIBED ON SIXTEENTH 
 
 CENTURY MAPS 
 
 BY RUDOLF SCHULLER 
 
 (WITH Two MAPS) 
 I. OVIEDO S HUYAPARI MAP 
 
 In the second volume of Oviedo s " Historia General y Natural 
 de las Indias," 1 there is a facsimile of a small map illustrating several 
 early explorations of the Orinoco or Huyapari 2 River (see fig. i). 
 
 This map is Oviedo s own work, 3 and is plainly drawn but bears no 
 date. It contains, however, various historical and descriptive legends, 
 which enable us to establish the year when it must have been made. 
 
 1 Madrid : Imprenta de la Real Academia de la Historia. 1852. 
 
 " No doubt the names Orinoco and Huyapari, or Juyapari and Oya-pari, 
 are of Indian origin ; cf. Oviedo, II, lib. XXIV, cap. Ill, p. 2i6 a . Orin-oco 
 plainly contains the Betoya word "oco" ("water," "river"). Humboldt says 
 it is a Tamanaco word; cf., for example, Oyap-oc(o), Sinar-uco (oco), Guar- 
 ico, Orit-uco, Tin-oco, Guarit-oco, Urit-uco, and many other similar names 
 of rivers in the great Orinoco basin. 
 
 3 Loc. cit., cap. XV, p. 26s b , " Porque la pintura califica mucho y dexa 
 mejor entender las cosas de la geographia, juntamente con la verdadera relation 
 dellas, quise poncr aqui la figjura del rio de Huyapari, y los rios que en el 
 entrari." " Because a drawing enables us to understand more clearly the 
 geography of a region I have here inserted a map." 
 
 This was written at the close of the year 1541, or, perhaps, in 1542; cf. 
 loc. cit., cap. XVI ; and cap. XV, where Oviedo states explicitly : " The 
 governor Dortal himself told me . ..." [and a few lines below] " where six 
 years ago this governor had ordered his lieutenant, Alonso de Herrera, with 
 200 men .... to sail up the river Huyapari." 
 
 See also,." Historia coro-graphica, natural y evangelica de la Nueva Anda- 
 lucia, provincias de Cumana, Guayana y Vertientes del Rio Orinoco ; dedicada 
 al Rei N. S. D. Carlos III." For el M. R. P. fr. Antonio Caulin dos vezes 
 Provincial de los observantes de Granada, etc., Madrid, 1779, p. i5O b . 
 
 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS, VOL. 66, No. 4 
 
 139 
 
SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 66 
 
NO. 4 THE ORDAZ AND DORTAL EXPEDITIONS SCHULLER 3 
 
 Two of these inscriptions refer to the exploring expedition of the 
 famous conqueror Diego de Ordaz 1 which set out from Paria on 
 June 23, 1532. With 280 men, 18 horses, and one mule he arrived 
 at the Indian village of Huyapari. 2 
 
 The first legend, on the right of the Indian village depicted on the 
 map, runs thus: "El pueblo grande de huyapari E a dos leguas a 
 tierra adentro q(ue) do En seco la canoa gra(n)de de ordas " (" The 
 large village of Huyapari is situated two leagues inland from the 
 Orinoco River " to which Oviedo added mention of the accident to 
 Ordaz s large canoe after his return from the expedition in search 
 of the Meta-El Dorado 3 " Ordaz s large canoe remained [here] on 
 dry [land] "). 
 
 The second legend, above the mountains in the upper right-hand 
 part of the map, reads : " Esta sierra no la pudo pasar ordas por El 
 foE yndisposicion del agua E se torno por El mismo rio abajo a la 
 mar desde aquesta montafia." (" Ordaz could not pass this chain of 
 mountains 4 [by the river, on account of] the bad condition of the 
 water 5 and from this mountain he returned down the same river to 
 the sea.") 
 
 And, to the west of the mountains on the map, we read : " A Esta 
 parte o del otro cabo desta pena no an pasado xpianos " (" To this 
 side, or the other end of this rock, Christians had not [yet] come ") . 
 
 These two inscriptions unquestionably refer to the disastrous 
 expedition up the River Orinoco to the " rapids," near the mouth 
 of the Meta, undertaken by Ordaz in the second half of the year 
 1532, and this evidently led Harrisse 8 to believe that the map was 
 
 1 Native of Castro Verde in the Kingdom of Leon. Herrera : Historia 
 General, etc., Madrid, 1601, Dec. IV, libro X, cap. IX, p. 275. We see him 
 as early as 1515 in Cuba; cf. " Probanza hecha a peticion del almirante D. 
 Diego Colon." etc. Villa de San Salvador, Febrero 16, 1515 ; in " Colecc. 
 Docs. Ineditos " [" De los Pleitos de Colon," II], 2d serie, T. num. 8. Madrid, 
 1894, pp. 61-87. 
 
 Herrera: Dec. II, libro VI, cap. XVIII, ". . . . i que Diego de Ordas 
 reconocio el Bolcan de Tlascala [Popocatepetl], cosa para los Indies mui 
 admirable" (edit, of 1726) (".... and that Diego de Ordas explored the 
 Tlascala volcano, a feat greatly admired by the Indians"). 
 
 2 Properly termed Aruacay, according to Oviedo, loc. cit. 
 8 Oviedo, loc. cit., pp. 217-218; especially p. 2i8 b . 
 
 4 It means that they could not overcome the powerful and rapid currents 
 produced by the narrowing of the river-bed between the mountains. 
 
 5 The low level during July and August. 
 
 1 " Cartographia Vetustissima," No. 200 (sic), instead of 202; in "Dis 
 covery of North America," etc., London, 1892, pp. 588-589. 
 
4 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 66 
 
 made in that same year. But it can easily be shown that this date is 
 irreconcilable with all known historical events. 
 
 Above all, I would observe that the author of the sketch-map could 
 not have learned all those details of Ordaz s eventful exploring 
 expedition before early in the spring of 1533, as it was not until that 
 time that Oviedo met at Santo Domingo Geronimo Dortal, the treas 
 urer, and several other members of the Ordaz expedition, from whom, 
 according to his own statement, 1 he obtained information concerning 
 the vain attempt to reach the Meta-El Dorado. Therefore, even if 
 the map bore no further indication as to the time when it was made 
 by Oviedo, the only acceptable date, from this fact alone, would be 
 the year 1533. 
 
 Fortunately, however, there are other legends on the map relating 
 to several expeditions up the River Orinoco after the ill-fated voyage 
 by Ordaz, which prove that Oviedo s map must have been made ten 
 or twelve years after the date suggested by Harrisse, the foremost 
 authority on American cartography. 
 
 Students of early American history cannot help wondering how it 
 was possible that Harrisse took no notice at all of the inscriptions 
 connected with the expeditions of Alonso de Herrera and Governor 3 
 Geronimo Dortal, the former treasurer of Ordaz s enterprise. 
 
 After the unsuccessful attempt to discover the long sought Meta- 
 El Dorado by sailing up the Orinoco, Ordaz was compelled to leave 
 the village of Huyapari for Cariaco, where he established a small 
 fort, 4 whieh he named Sant Miguel de Paria. Thence he went to 
 Cumana, a province on the mainland opposite the pearl island, or 
 " Cubagua," where he expected to meet Herrera, his lieutenant, with 
 the rest of the expedition. Finally Ordaz and Dortal reached the 
 town of Nueva Caliz in Cubagua, where they found Alonso de 
 
 1 Loc. cit., cap. IV, p. 224^, " Despues vino a esta cibdad de S. Domingo el 
 thesorero Hieronimo Dortal, del qual y de otros que en todo lo que es dicho 
 se hallaron fui informado . . . ." ("Afterwards came to this city of Santo 
 Domingo the treasurer Heronimo Dortal, by whom, and by others who were 
 present at all that is said, I was informed . . . ."). 
 
 2 This assertion is corroborated also by the following statement : " . . . . 
 cansados [companions of Ordaz] de sus trabaxos se passaron con los otros 
 de Cubagua, porque avia dos anos que padescjan desde que salieron de 
 Espafia . . . ." (".... Tired of these troubles, they went with these others 
 of Cubagua, because two years of suffering had passed since they left 
 Spain . . . ."). Loc. cit. 
 
 Ordaz set sail from San Lucar de Barrameda on October 20, 1531 ; loc. cit., 
 cap. II, p. 2i2 a . 
 
 3 Only after 1533. 
 
 4 Perhaps on September 28, 1532. 
 
NO. 4 THE ORDAZ AND DORTAL EXPEDITIONS SCHULLER 5 
 
 Herrera imprisoned by order of Governor Antonio Sedefio. The 
 same fate met Dortal, and Ordaz, weak in health, weary and power 
 less, sailed in May, 1533, for Santo Domingo and thence to Spain, 
 where he intended to protest at court against Sedeno s illegal inter 
 ference with the projected settlement on the coast of Cumana, which 
 Sedeno arbitrarily claimed was within his jurisdiction. Ordaz died 
 during the voyage across the ocean. 1 
 
 Geronimo Dortal, after being released from prison, addressed a 
 letter to the Emperor, " giving him an account of his services ren 
 dered in the government of Cubagua and asking him for mercy. : 
 
 Early in the summer of 1533 Dortal was in the town of Santo 
 Domingo, where he met Oviedo ; and in the following autumn he was 
 in Spain " asking for the same position formerly held by Ordaz." 
 That he was most successful in his " claim," is proved by the letters 
 patent entered into between him and the Crown, on October 25, 
 I 533- 4 By virtue of this land-grant, or "capitulation," he was 
 appointed governor of Paria. Early in 1534 he organized the new 
 expedition, and on August 18, 1534, set sail from San Lucar de 
 Barrameda. In the autumn of the same year he was again in Paria. 
 
 Alonso de Herrera, after his release from prison by order of the 
 royal Audiencia of Santo Domingo, was in charge of the fort of San 
 Miguel of Paria, and immediately recognized Dortal as governor and 
 superior, notwithstanding his solemn pledge of faith to Antonio 
 Sedeno. 
 
 Shortly after his arrival, Dortal equipped a new expedition for 
 the purpose of searching for the famous Meta-El Dorado, under the 
 
 1 Oviedo, cap. IV, p. 224" Herrera, Dec. V, libro I, cap. XI, p. 24 (ed. of 
 1728), ". . . . and other people said he died in Castile . . . ." 
 
 2 Dated from the pearl island (Cubagua), January 28, 1533; in " Colecc. 
 Docs. Ineditos," Tomo XII. Madrid, 1869, pp. 46-48. 
 
 A further proof that Oviedo could not have learned before February, 1533, 
 what happened to the expedition. 
 
 3 Oviedo, loc. cit. 
 
 4 Archivo General de Indias, 139-1-2, Tomo III , ff. 59-61 r. 
 
 5 Oviedo, at that time also in Spain, met him again in Seville, cf. loc. cit., 
 cap. VII, p. 236% " . . . . yba por procurador desta nuestra cibdad de Sancto 
 Domingo y desta Isla Espanola . . . ." ("I have been there as procurator 
 cf this our city of Santo Domingo and of this island of Hispaniola "). 
 
 6 ". . . . con quien quedo congertado en Cubagua, .... porque le prometio 
 de la hazer alcayde de la fortalec.a que avia de hager en la isla de la Trinidad 
 . . . ." (".... with him he had made arrangements .... because he prom 
 ised to appoint him alcaide of the fort which he intended to establish on the 
 island of Trinidad"). Oviedo, loc. cit., p. 232". 
 
6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 66 
 
 command of the intrepid but unscrupulous Alonso de Herrera. The 
 itinerary of Herrera s ill-fated voyage is described on Oviedo s map 
 as follows : 
 
 " Este Es vn estero por donde entro alonso de herrera El qual 
 Entra En Elrio de Huyapari E hazenle Estos rios q(ue)s dicho." 
 ("This is a swamp where Alonso de Herrera entered and* which 
 empties into the River Huyapari ; it is formed by the aforesaid 
 
 rivers.") 1 
 
 Further, in the angle formed by the Huyapari and Carranaca 
 rivers, we read : " Rio de carranaca por El qual Entro alonso de 
 herrera" E passo adelante E deste( !) Este rio hasta El estero de 
 Meta por El grande huyapari ay XXXVII leguas " (" River Carra 
 naca where Alonso de Herrera entered and went farther on and 
 from this river to the Meta swamps, up the great river Huyapari, it is 
 37 leagues"). 3 
 
 Facing the mouth of the swamp there is the following legend: 
 " Rio de meta por donde Entro alonso de herrera con la armada de 
 geromi (sic) no( !) dortal E le mata ron " ("River Meta, where 
 Alonso de Herrera entered with the fleet of Geronimo Dortal ; and 
 they killed him"). 4 
 
 Finally, the last legend to be considered in connection with this 
 disastrous exploring expedition appears at the left of the Tinoco 
 River on the map. The legend reads: " Aqui mataro[n] a al de 
 herrera 5 teniente del gou or dortal y has ta aqui llego despues El dicho 
 dortal y hallo yndicios veros de la muerte del dicho he rera E se hallo 
 
 1 The affluents are as follows : " R. de tinoco, R. de Nirua, R. de pao, R. dela 
 portuguesa, Rio vininio, R. gunaguanari. 
 
 2 The elegia IX, canto I, of Juan de Castellanos " Elegias de varones ilustres 
 de Indias," does not at all refer to Herrera s expedition in 1535, as is 
 erroneously asserted by the untrustworthy Chilean writer Jose Torfbio 
 Medina, " Notas " to " El Descubrimiento del rio de las Amazonas," pp. 273-274. 
 
 3 Oviedo, II, cap. IX, p. 245", from the Gulf of Paria to the village of 
 Caburutu, 150 leagues; from San Miguel de Neveri, a small town founded 
 by Dortal in 1536, on the coast of Maracapana, to the said village, 40 leagues ; 
 and from San Miguel to the mouth of the river Huyapari, 120 leagues of 
 sea-coast." 
 
 4 Loc. cit, libro XXIV, cap. VII, p. 240". 
 
 Medina, 1. c., settles the matter in a very summary manner, saying flatly: 
 " Verificada en 1535, fue dirigida a las regiones que se extienden al norte 
 del Amazonas" (sic ! !) ("Organized in 1535, [the expedition] was directed 
 to the regions situated to the north of the Amazon River"). 
 
 6 He was wounded with a poisoned arrow, cf . loc. cit., and see p. 247, where 
 is given a detailed account of the preparation of urari, or curari, by the Carib 
 Indians. 
 
NO. 4 THE ORDAZ AND DORTAL EXPEDITIONS SCHULLER 7 
 
 vna cam panilla E otras cosas E vn jarro de estano " (" Here they 
 killed Alonso de Herrera, lieutenant of Governor Dortal ; and to this 
 place came afterwards the said Dortal and found true marks of the 
 death of the aforesaid Herrera ; and there were found among other 
 things, a little bell and a tin-cup ").* 
 
 This legend, of course, refers, as will be shown later, to two 
 chronologically distinct expeditions into the interior of the country. 
 
 In 1536, about a year after Herrera s death, Governor Dortal 
 organized a second exploring expedition, 2 in the course of which he 
 discovered the domain of the female cacique Orocomay, an inde 
 pendent community of Indian women, similar to those described by 
 Father Caspar de Carvaxal in the narrative of the discovery of the 
 River Amazonas by Francisco de Orellana in I542. 3 
 
 This social phenomenon, not always correctly interpreted by 
 writers, 4 has not yet been observed in South America, but in the 
 " Kulturkreis " of the Carib-aruaque. 
 
 The domain of Queen Orocomay is located on Oviedo s map 
 between the Huyapari and the Barrancas, an affluent of the Carra- 
 naca River, and is given the following legend: " P[or] aqui Estan 
 los pueblo [s] E sefiorio de la Reyna ( !) orocomay la qual no se 
 sirue 5 sino de mugeres " ("Here are the villages and domain of 
 Queen Orocomay, who employs only females"). 6 
 
 During this voyage Dortal had to contend with a mutiny led by 
 Alderete and Aguilar, two of his officers ; and he was finally com 
 pelled to return to the coast, where a new danger threatened him. 7 
 
 1 Oviedo, loc. cit. 
 
 2 "Y segund el mismo Hieronimo Dortal me dixo . . . ." (".... and 
 according to what I was told by H. Dortal himself . . . ."), loc. cit.; cap. X, 
 p. 247 a . 
 
 3 " Descubrimiento del Rio de las Amazonas, segun la relacion hasta ahora 
 inedita," etc., de Fray Caspar de Carbajal. Sevilla, MDCCCXCIV, pp. 66-67. 
 
 4 " Zur sudamerikanischen Amazonensage." Von Dr. R. Lasch ; in " Mitteil. 
 der K. u. K. Geogr. Gesellsch. in Wien." 190, pp. 278-289. Dr. G. Friederici 
 " Die Amazonen Amerikas." Leipzig, 1910. 
 
 5 The verb has in this combination a double meaning. 
 c Oviedo, II, libro XXIV, cap. X, p. 247". 
 
 "El mismo ano [I5J36, venido Ortal a quejarse de los suyos que se le 
 alzaron, e de 170 leguas tierra adentro le mandaron con los oficiales Reales 
 a la costa de la mar . . . ." ("The same year, 1536, Ortal came to complain 
 about his men who had revolted against him and obliged him, together with 
 the Royal officers, to return 170 leagues from inland to the coast") ; cf. "A 
 la Sacra Real Magestad del Emperador nuestro Sefior, los oidores de su Real 
 Audiencia de Santo Domingo a 31 de Diciembre de 1538," in " Coleccion de 
 Docs. Ineditos." Tomo I. Madrid, 1864, p. 553. * 
 
8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 66 
 
 Antonio Sedeno, as we have already seen, hostile ever since the 
 time of Ordaz to any attempt at colonizing on the opposite shores of 
 the mainland, had unexpectedly landed on the coast of Maracapana, 
 with the unmistakable intention of seizing Dortal, his hated rival. 
 Dortal, however, having been informed in time, by some friends, of 
 Sedeiio s presence at the town of San Miguel, fled to Cubagua ; and 
 shortly after to Santo Domingo, where he notified the " Audiencia " 
 of the armed invasion of that peaceful colony. The Royal Court 
 ordered him, accompanied by Johan de Frias, " juez de comision," 
 to return to his settlement, November, I536. 1 
 
 Sedeno died in the meantime near the River Tiznados. 2 
 
 At the beginning of the year 1540, Dortal led his second recon- 
 noitering expedition into the interior of Venezuela. s 
 
 The two legends relating to his last expedition are as follows : 
 " De aqui partio El gou or hieronimo dortal E atra ueso todos Estos 
 rios hasta q[ue] llego al rio grande de huyapari E fue adonde 
 mataron a alonso de herrera su teniente al qual El avia Enviado por 
 El rio de Huyapari y fue Entre El estero de garranaca y Meta y se 
 voluio a la mar " (" From here Governor H. Dortal started and 
 crossed all these rivers until he reached the great river Huyapari ; and 
 he went to the place where A. de Herrera, his lieutenant, was killed, 
 whom he had ordered [to go | by the river Huyapari ; and it hap 
 pened [Herrera s death] between the swamp of (Jarranaca and Meta ; 
 and he (Dortal) returned to the sea "). 
 
 The second inscription relates the capture of Juan de Arguello. 
 one of the principal instigators of the above mentioned seditious 
 movement against Dortal. It reads : " Junto a este rio En el pueblo 
 de Catalina prendio geronimo dortal a Ju a de arguello E lo hizo 
 ahorcar por sus meritos " (" Near that river (the Guarico), in the 
 village of Catalina, G. Dortal seized Juan de Arguello, and had him 
 hanged according to his merits "). 
 
 1 Oviedo, II, libro XXIV, cap. X, p. 249" ; and cap. XII, p. 253 ss ; cap. XIII. 
 p. 259 a . ". . . . Dortal .... me certifico en presengia de algunos hombres 
 prengipales . . . ." (" Dortal .... told me in the presence of some leading 
 men . . . ."). 
 
 - Caulin, op. cit, p. 159. Rio de los Tiznados means : " river where they 
 found tattooed Indians." Carbajal, p. 70 "they came painted black all over 
 (tiznados), for this reason we called that place province of the negroes." 
 
 3 Oviedo, cap. XIV, p. 262** ". ... en el mes de junio de 1541, avia mas 
 de un ano que no se sabia del gobernador Dortal" (". ... in June, 1541, it 
 was more than a year since they had had news of Governor Dortal"). 
 
NO. 4 THE ORDAZ AND DORTAL EXPEDITIONS SCHULLER 9 
 
 This act of summary justice, notwithstanding the fact that Argiiello 
 was a notorious thief, 1 was, however, considered as exceeding the 
 power of the governor, and Dortal was dismissed shortly afterward. 
 He married in the town of Santo Domingo in 1546." 
 
 Finally, special mention should be made of the inscription concern 
 ing El-Dorado, which is, of course, also on Oviedo s map, connected 
 with the Inca Empire : " Detras destas sierras d[e]l Rio de Huyapari 
 Esta[n] muy grandes llanos lo qual se tiene por gierto q[ue]s la 
 tierra del peru E los yndios dizen q[ue] detras destas sierras ay 
 grandes Riquezas. E mucho oro " (" Beyond these chains of moun 
 tains of the river Huyapari, there are vast plains which are believed 
 to be the land of Peru, and the Indians say that beyond these chains 
 of mountains there are great treasures, and much gold "). 
 
 The influence of El-Dorado 3 and other similar traditions of genuine 
 Indian origin, 4 on the cartography of South America during the 
 second half of the sixteenth century, has not yet been studied with 
 the care and attention which such an important historical and geo 
 graphical question deserves. 5 
 
 On the map, generally ascribed to Sir Walter Raleigh, 6 and made 
 about 1595, we can see El-Dorado, Epuremei, 8 and that wonder-city 
 of Great-Manoa placed in the very vicinity of the legendary " Lake 
 
 1 Loc. cit., p. 263. 
 
 2 Loc. cit., cap. XVI. 
 
 3 Synonymous with which are : Machifaro, or Machipalo ; Epuremei, Eupana, 
 La gran ciudad de la Manoa, which presumably gave origin to the legend 
 of the lost Inca cities somewhere in the virgin forests beyond the Andes. 
 
 4 Notwithstanding the corrupt and often exaggerated form in which most of 
 these traditions came to us, the principal elements are, after all, more or less 
 identical in the different versions. 
 
 5 A special chapter will be reserved for this most interesting question in my 
 work on the " Origin and Development of the Early Cartography of America." 
 
 "Reproduced by Paul Vidal de la Blache, "La Riviere Vincent Pinzon," 
 Paris, 1902. 
 
 7 The map mentioned in the " officio " of the Duque is Raleigh s chart, but 
 not that of capitao Andre Pereira, as is erroneously believed by several 
 Brazilian historians ; cf. " Annales da Bibl. Nac. do Rio de Janeiro," Vol. 26. 
 Rio de Janeiro, 1905 ; " Documentos para a historia da Conquista e Colonisagao 
 da costa de leste oeste do Brazil" (separate), pp. 179-183. 
 
 8 Very often named also Evpana ; cf. the planisphere of Bartholomeu Velho, 
 1561, on parchment, 4 sheets. Florence, Reale Institute de Bellas Artes. Re 
 produced by Barao de Rio Branco (Jose da Silva Paranhos), " Frontieres 
 entre le Bresil et la Guyane Franchise." " Atlas/ Paris, Lahure, 1900, No. 14. 
 
IO SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 66 
 
 of Manoa." The latter is undoubtedly identical with the mythological 
 " Lake of Parima " J in the Carib-aruaque traditions. 
 
 Notwithstanding its roughly sketched character, Oviedo s map of 
 the Huyapari River is a very important historical document, which, 
 for that early time, shows fairly exact knowledge of the hydrographic 
 conditions in the interior of the present Republic of Venezuela, espe 
 cially in the western region, between longitude 67 and 69. Most of 
 the names given to rivers and places on his map are still in use, 
 particularly those along the coast, and also the names given to the 
 islands by the first discoverers between 1498 and I5oo. 2 
 
 In conclusion, there can be not the slightest doubt, I believe, that 
 Oviedo s Huyapari map was drawn after 1542. 
 
 II. THE SPANISH ANONYMOUS MAP, ABOUT 1560 
 
 The map shown in figure 2 was first reproduced in facsimile by the 
 editor of the " Cartas de Indias," with the following title : " Mapa de 
 los rios Amazonas, Esequibo 6 Dulce y Orinoco y de las comarcas 
 adyacentes " ("Map of the rivers Amazon, Esequibo or Dulce 
 (sweet water river) and Orinoco; and the adjoining parts "). We 
 need not take up the question as to whether or not it is reproduced 
 in the original size or whether the original contains the title given 
 above. 
 
 The map bears neither name of the author nor date. Judging from 
 the handwriting and from some of the inscriptions relating to differ 
 ent historical events, it was doubtless made in the second half of the 
 sixteenth century. And therefore, I think, the year 1560, ascribed 
 to the map by the editors of the " British Guyana Boundary Arbitra 
 tion," 3 was accepted also by the learned Brazilian historians Barao 
 de Rio Branco 4 and Dr. Joaquim Nabuco. 5 
 
 1 The great Paro, meaning a powerful Indian chief, and sometimes " great 
 river," or " lake," also plays an important part in the Indian traditions of 
 Northwestern Bolivia and Eastern Peru ; and it is, of course, etymologically, 
 related to Pan- (i) ma; Huya-pari, Machi-paro, and others. 
 
 Ima, or ema, in Aruaque signifies " mouth of a river " ; cf. Abur-ema 
 (Chiriqui) discovered by Columbus on his fourth voyage (1502-1504). 
 
 A river termed Aburema is mentioned also by Henri Coudreau " La France 
 Equinoxiale," etc. II. Paris, 1887, p. 63. 
 
 2 Third voyage of Columbus, 1498. 
 
 First voyage of Hojeda (-Cosa-Vespucci), 1499-1500. 
 First voyage of Guerra-Peralonso Nino, 1499-1500. 
 
 3 " Venezuela." Baltimore, 1898. Atlas, No. 76. 
 4 Loc. cit., No. 13. 
 
 5 " Frontieres entre le Bresil et la Guyane Anglaise." " Atlas." Paris, 
 1903, No. 4. 
 
NO. 4 THE ORDAZ AND DORTAL EXPEDITIONS SCHULLER II 
 
12 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 66 
 
 The author, surely a Spanish professional chart-maker, used for 
 the compilation of the map, at lea%t as far as concerned the rivers 
 Esequibo and Orinoco, data which he must either have obtained 
 direct from explorers of these rivers, or else he may have simply 
 copied an original chart to which, presumably, he afterwards added 
 several of the inscriptions. 
 
 The fancy representation of the course of the Amazon River, on 
 the contrary, was, ostensibly, depicted from one of the numerous 
 derivatives of the Sebastian Cabot Mappa Mundi of 1544.* 
 
 Two of the legends relate to the Ordaz expedition in 1532. The 
 first is placed, approximately, in the region which on Oviedo s map 
 is occupied by the Indian village Huyapari, and runs as follows : 
 " esto q[ue] mo Ordas. ario. 1536 " (" This was burned [by order of] 
 Ordaz in 1536 "). This refers to that shameless outrage committed 
 by Ordaz before he started up the Orinoco, in the village of the 
 Indian chief Baratu-baro. 2 For some trifling reason the cruel dis 
 coverer ordered the village to be burned, and over 120 of the defence 
 less Indians perished in the flames. 3 
 
 The second legend, at the foot of the chain of mountains in the 
 interior, and to the left of the rapids, where Ordaz was compelled 
 to abandon his project, reads : " Aqui llego ordas co[n] sus naujos y 
 no pudo passar por vn salto q[ue] el rio haze e[n] la sierra y volujose 
 ano 1536" murio en la mar camjno de Castilla ("Ordaz reached 
 this place with his vessels and was unable to sail farther, on account 
 of a fall formed by the river in the mountains, and he returned, 1536. 
 He died at sea on the voyage to Castille "). 
 
 That the dates of the historical events are the chart-maker s weak 
 point, can be seen also in the following inscription which refers to 
 Orellana s memorable voyage down the Amazon River in 1 542 : 
 " Aiio de I546 4 baxo este rio abaxo Orillana. mas q[ue] mjll leguas 
 y fue a esparia y bolujo co[n] la gouernacio[n] do[n]de se p|er] dio 
 co[n] todos los qu[e] co[n] el yua[n] por entrar por el rio a riba( !) 
 q[ue] es gra[n] parte anegadizos e auja salido este del peru cofn] 
 
 1 Diego Homen, 1558. British Museum, Add. MSS. 54I5A, reprod. by Rio 
 Branco, loc. cit., No. n. Diego Homen; 1568, ibid. No. 17"; Atlas of Bartolome 
 Olives, Vatican, Codex Urbinas, 283; ibid. No. 15. 
 
 2 It is a very interesting fact that names of Indian chiefs and of rivers are 
 often identical, as f. i., Baratu-baro, Juan-ico, Tari-pari, or Turi-pari, 
 and so on. 
 
 3 Oviedo, II, p. 216. 
 
 4 Originally, " 1536! " See the emendation on the accompanying photograph 
 of this map. 
 
NO. 4 THE ORDAZ AND DORTAL EXPEDITIONS SCHULLER 13 
 
 go|njcalo pk;arro q[ua]n|do] descubrio la canela 1 y muriero[n| 
 de ha[m]bre la mayor p[ar]te de los q[ue] co[n] el fuero[n] " 
 ("In the year 1546 [instead of 1542] Orellana sailed down this 
 river 2 over 1,000 leagues, and went to Spain; and having been 
 appointed governor he returned to this river, where he, with all his 
 companions, almost perished in sailing up the river, which in great 
 part is marshy ; and he had started from Peru with Gonzalo Pizarro, 
 when the latter discovered the province of cinnamon ; and most of 
 those who went with him died of hunger "). 
 
 Gonzalo Pizarro left Quito at the close of February, 1541, for the 
 " pais de la canela." : On February 2, 1542, Orellana and his com 
 panions reached the Curaray, an affluent of the River Napo, and on 
 Sunday, February n, began the voyage down the river at present 
 called " de las Amazonas." 
 
 The latest geographical datum in the anonymous map is the legend 
 on the coast of the present Brazilian Guyana, which briefly relates 
 the fate of the Portuguese colonizing expedition led by Luis de Mello 
 in 1554: " Ano ( !) de 1554. dia de S. Martin. 4 Se perdio. en esta 
 costa al est. ala boca del maranon. Luis de Mello. portugues co[n]. 
 600. ho[mlbres q[ue] lleuaua en. 6. naujos sin torm[ent]a sino q[ue] 
 surgiero[n] a la noche en. 7. bragas. y de noche baxo el agua y q[ue]- 
 daro[n]*en seco " (" In the year 1554, on St. Martin s day, Luiz de 
 Mello, a Portuguese, was lost on this coast, westward of the mouth 
 of the Maranon, and with him 600 men in six vessels ; [they were 
 lost] not in a gale, but on account of anchoring at night in seven 
 * bragas (each of 2.20 m. of water), which on the following night 
 ebbed, leaving them on dry land "). 5 
 
 1 " El Pais de la Canela." For D. Marcos Jimenez de la Espada ; in " El 
 Centenario." Revista Ilustrada, etc. T. III. Madrid, 1892, pp. 437-457 
 (illustr.). 
 
 2 Carbaxal, op. cit., p. 55, ". . . . y nos dijo como entre ellos habian dos 
 mujeres blancas, y que otros tenian indias y hijos en ellas : estos son los que 
 se perdieron de Diego de Ordas . . . ." ("And told us that there were two 
 white women among them (Indians) ; and that others (Spaniards) have 
 Indian women and children with them. They are those who were lost on 
 the Ordaz expedition") ; cf. Castellanos, 1. c., where he relates the shipwreck 
 of J. Cornejo. 
 
 3 Another version of the " El-Dorado." 
 
 4 Probably November n. 
 
 5 For further details, see F. A. de Varnhagen (Vizconde de Porto Seguro), 
 " Historia Geral do Brasil." Second ed. (Wien, s. d.), tomo I, p. 261; and 
 cf. also " Tractado Historico," etc., by Gabriel Soares de Souza, whose 
 account, in part, differs from that of the former. 
 
14 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 66 
 
 Interesting observations on the topography of the coast northward 
 of the mouth of the Amazon, or Maranon, are contained in the legend 
 placed on the coast of the " tierra de paragotos * amigos de Arua- 
 cas " : 2 " toda esta costa hasta la ysla dela trinjdad como corre es 
 baxos de arena y lama, y anegadi zos. 20 leguas la tierra adetro. q[ue] 
 no ay puerto 3 p[ar]a nauio grande. ni au[n] p[ar]a verga[n]tin 
 sino co[n] gra[n] difficultad " (" Along this coast as far as the island 
 of Trinidad, there are shallows of sand and mud, and swamps, 
 extending over twenty leagues inland; there are no seaports for 
 large vessels, and even small ones can enter only with great diffi 
 culty")- 
 
 " Guyana, ay oro guanj " (" Guyane. There is gold guani [low 
 carat] "), reads a legend placed in the valley formed by two short 
 chains of mountains situated between the rivers Cuyramo and Caroni, 
 two southern tributaries of the Orinoco. 
 
 About four degrees north a long chain of mountains runs from the 
 Orinoco uninterrupted, in a southeasterly direction across the inte 
 rior, almost to the northern mouth of the Amazon. 
 
 The region where on other maps is generally shown the legendary 
 lake of Manoa, is here occupied by the following inscription : 
 
 " esta sierra viene del reyno y del peru es alia en el peru rica de 
 plata en el reyno de oro. y por aqui esta lo q[ue] dice[n] el dorado " 
 (" This chain of mountains extends from the kingdom [of New 
 Granada] and from Peru; in Peru it is rich in silver; and in the 
 kingdom it is rich in gold ; and this is what they call El-Dorado "). 
 
 This strange geographical conception, a result of the influence of 
 the Indian legend on early American cartography, prevails on most 
 maps made in the second half of the sixteenth century. 4 
 
 1 Oto is the typical termination of Carib clan-names ; cf . Cumanag-oto ; 
 Puruc-oto and many others. 
 
 " Arruans," as quoted by Goeldi, is incorrect ; cf . " Memorias do Museu 
 Paraense de Historia Nat. e Ethnographia." I. " Escavagoes archeologicas em 
 1895." [Para] 1900, p. 34, 2d ed., Para, 1905, 1. c. 
 
 Goeldi is a genuine representative of the Tupi-mania. 
 
 3 Therefore the stereotyped observations of " anegadizos " " no visto " " visto 
 de lexos " on the early American maps. 
 
 4 And even on several original charts of the seventeenth century, as on those 
 made by the brothers Joao and Pedro Teixeira. The most interesting graphic 
 representation of El-Dorado appears on a manuscript chart of the lower 
 course of the Amazon River, drawn by one of the Teixeira, about 1625 to 
 1630. The photographs in original size of that as yet unpublished chart are 
 preserved in the Schuller Collection at the Library of Congress, Washington. 
 Neither of the modern bibliographers furnishes exact data on these two 
 Portuguese cartographers. 
 
NO. 4 THE ORDAZ AND DORTAL EXPEDITIONS SCHULLER 15 
 
 Finally, there is a legend concerning early communication between 
 the Amazon and Esequibo rivers, probably by the headwaters of the 
 latter and those of the Rio Branco, an affluent of the Rio Negro: 
 " Yayua caciq[ue] Aruaca Ano. 1553, subio por el rio de es[e]quibo 
 arriba co[n] 4. piraguas, y las passo a cues tas la sierra y dio a la 
 otra v[er]tie[n]te en otro Rio y por el fue a dar en el rio gra[n]de 
 de las amazonas. y hallo ta[n]ta ge[n]te q[ue] se bolujo " (" Yayua, 
 Aruaque chief, in the year 1553 went up the Esequibo with four 
 piragua, 1 and carried them over the mountains ; and on the other 
 side he reached another river, by which he went down to the great 
 Amazon ; and he found [there] so many people, that he returned "). 
 
 The geographical nomenclature, especially the names of the rivers 
 between the Amazon and Orinoco, differs materially from that of 
 other maps, of the same period. 
 
 Starting from the northern mouth of the " Amazonas," or Mara 
 non, we find there the following rivers : R. [io] Cureti (Corrent-ine) ; 2 
 R. Beruisca (Berbisce?) ; R. Magnay .... ( ?) ; R. Mirari ; R. 
 Capaname; R. duce (!) (Esequibo); R. Baruma, cacique cagu- 
 rama) ; 3 R. Monica, cacique gumapSyma y Aruare cacique ; R. 
 Guaynj (Wa-ini, We-ene), cacique Jeraya coyma; R. Guayanepe; 
 and R. Barimea (Bari-ma), cacique orejon (=long ear). 
 
 The Aruaque there occupy the shores, and the interior of the 
 country is inhabited by the Carib(es). The line traced from the 
 mouth of the river Barima to the Berbisce seems to indicate the 
 border of their respective habitats. 
 
 So many details on a relatively early map strengthen the belief 
 that the anonymous author must have had before him original infor 
 mation, probably obtained from one of the El-Dorado expeditions, 4 
 undertaken in the second half of the sixteenth century. 
 
 1 Canoa and piragua are two genuine Carib-aruaque words, notwithstand 
 ing all said against this view by Professor Leo Wiener, of Harvard University. 
 
 2 Ine, ene, in Aruaque, " water," " river " ; papam-ene is the Aruaque name 
 for the Amazonas. Pinzon in 1500 learned the name " Maria- (Paria)," or 
 " Marina- (Parina)-tam-balo (=palo =falo paro =faro), which seems to 
 be the Carib designation for that river. 
 
 The origin of the name Maranon from the Portuguese Maranhao is un 
 supported. 
 
 3 On that river probably was situated the village of the chief mentioned 
 above. 
 
 4 Archive General de Indias, Sevilla; 139-1-2, Tomo III : " De oficio. 
 Rio Maranon Desde 20 de Maio de 1530 hasta 21 de Febrero de 1539"; and 
 especially: 139-1-1, Tomo i and Tomo 11; cf. also the pen sketch map, of 
 about 1550, 145-7-7. Ramo 5. 
 

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