[In the following essay, Zahm recounts several versions of the El Dorado legend and argues that the main reason so little is known about the expeditions which searched for El Dorado is that few of the original accounts have been translated into English.]

During a year's wanderings in Andean lands and in the valleys of the Amazon and the Orinoco I was frequently reminded of the numerous expeditions that centuries ago went in quest of that extraordinary will-o'-the-wisp, usually known as El Dorado—the Gilded King. Whether gliding down a Peruvian river in a dugout or traversing in the saddle the llanos of Venezuela and the lofty tablelands of Colombia, I found myself following the courses pursued by those intrepid adventurers who while seeking a phantom did so much toward exploring that vast region of mountain and plain which lies between the Equator and the Caribbean. At one time I was in the footsteps of Gonzalo Pizarro and Von Hutten, at another in the wake of Ursua and Orellana. Now I was following the course taken by Belalcazar and his eager band, as they hurried across the Cordilleras in pursuit of the Gilded King; anon I was pushing my way through the dense and tangled forests which had been traversed by Ximenes de Quesada and his sturdy men, when in search of the great and peerless capital of the Omaguas; and still again I was sailing on the tawny waters of the Casanare and the Orinoco, which had witnessed the mad race of the fleets of Antonio de Berrio and Sir Walter Raleigh for the golden city of Manoa—for that

Imperial El Dorado, roofed with gold;
Shadows to which, despite all shocks of change,
All onset of capricious accident,
Men clung with yearning hope which would not die.

And yet, strange as it may seem, little is known about these expeditions that at one time commanded such universal attention in both the New and the Old World, and which for the historian still constitute the most romantic episode of the conquest of South America. One reason for this lies in the fact that the most authentic and elaborate accounts of these stirring enterprises are to be found only in the old Spanish chronicles, some of which are comparatively rare, while others, forgotten or unknown, have for centuries been buried in the dusty archives of Spain and Peru and have only recently been given to the press.

Among the most important of these chronicles are the Noticias Historiales, of Fray Pedro Simon, a learned Franciscan friar, who wrote nearly three centuries ago, while some of the Conquistadores were still living and while the memory of the events connected with the first expeditions in quest of El Dorado was still fresh in the minds of many of the survivors. Of scarcely less value are the Elegias de Varones Ilustres de Indias and the Historia del Nuevo Reino de Granada, by Juan de Castellanos, the poet-priest and historian of the conquest, who had served with distinction under Ximenes de Quesada in his celebrated campaign against the Muiscas and who knew personally many of the most celebrated of the adventurers who had taken part in the search for the Gilded King on the plateau of Cundinamarca and in the sultry lowlands of the Meta and the Guaviare. But the Historia del Nuevo Reino de Granada, of Castellanos, which contains the most graphic account of Ximenes de Quesada's expedition in quest of El Dorado, was not published until 1886. Similarly the manuscript containing the authentic narrative of Ursua's expedition to Omagua and Dorado by Francisco Vasquez, who was one of the participants in the enterprise, remained in manuscript until it was published by the “Society of Spanish Bibliophiles” less than a third of a century ago. What, however, is still more remarkable, is the fact that the original Relacion of Gonzalo Pizarro's expedition in quest of the Gilded King—an expedition which is considered by some as the first of that long series of phantom-chases in which so many lives and so much treasure were sacrificed, was not published until 1894, more than three and a half centuries after it had been penned by its accomplished author, the Dominican, Fray Gaspar de Carvajal, who was at first the chaplain of Pizarro and subsequently that of Orellana, the immortal discoverer of the Amazon.

But although these and similar invaluable works bearing on the expeditions in quest of the Gilded King have appeared in Spanish, comparatively little of the information contained in them has yet made its way into English. This explains the numerous errors that are found in what has hitherto been written on the subject and why many adventurers like Antonio Sedeno, Diego de Ordaz, Nicolas Federmann, and others of their contemporaries are classed among those who sought for El Dorado when, as a matter of fact, these treasure-seekers had not even heard of this mythical personage. To the earlier adventurers, like those just named, the auri sacri fames—the accursed thirst for gold—was indeed as strong a lure as it was to their successors, but they confined their operations chiefly to rifling the temples and cemeteries of the aborigines or to seeking a certain Casa del Sol—temple of the sun—that was supposed to exist somewhere east of the Andes, presumably in the valley of the Meta.

It is a pity that those who love the curious and romantic phases of history have not given more attention to the interesting episode of El Dorado. An exhaustive and authoritative work on the subject, one which shall embody the results of the most recent researches in Spain and Latin America, is certainly a desideratum in the history of the conquest and exploration of the northern portion of our sister continent. For the years devoted to the quest of the Gilded King were not only “years crowded with incident, streaked with tragedy, stained by crime, darkened by intrigue,” but they were also years during which the amazing audacity, the matchless prowess, and the thrilling heroism of the Conquistadores were seen at their best. And the study of these years will show that the prime mover of the Spaniards in their extraordinary adventures was not a thirst for gold, as is so often asserted, but a love of glory and a sense of patriotism which impelled them to make sacrifices and to undertake enterprises before which even the bravest men of our degenerate age would recoil with horror. So marvelous, indeed, were their achievements that, were they not attested by the most unquestionable of documents, we should be disposed to place the old chronicles which describe them in the same category as the Arthurian romances, and to regard the exploits of some of the members of the chief expeditions as no more deserving of credence than the glorifying myths of El Cid Campeador. Even today, as he slowly pursues his lonely course through the dark forests which fringe the Orinoco and the Amazon, or scales the precipitous flanks of the lofty Cordilleras, the traveler feels the spell of romance and can easily dream of the gorgeous capitals and mighty empires, whose glamour in days gone by proved such an attraction to thousands of the most gallant and noble spirits of the Spanish conquest.

.....

It was in 1535 that a roving Indian first told the Spaniards the story of the gilded chieftain to whom they forthwith gave the name El Dorado—the Gilded Man or King—a name which was subsequently applied not only to the gilded chief himself, but also to the city wherein he was supposed to reside, and to the province over which he bore rule, and to the lake on which his capital was said to be located. At that time Sebastian de Belalcazar, the lieutenant of Francisco Pizarro, was in Quito, whither he had gone after his victorious campaign against the generals of Atahualpa, and here it was, according to Castellanos, where—

An alien Indian, hailing from afar,
Who in the town of Quito did abide,
And neighbor claimed to be of Bogatá,
There having come, I know not by what way,
Did with him speak and solemnly announce
A country rich in emeralds and gold.
Also, among the things which them engaged,
A certain king he told of who, disrobed,
Upon a lake was wont, aboard a raft,
To make oblations, as himself had seen,
His regal form o'erspread with fragrant oil
On which was laid a coat of powdered gold
From sole of foot unto his highest brow,
Resplendent as the beaming of the sun.
Arrivals without end, he further said,
Were there to make rich votive offerings
Of golden trinkets and of emeralds rare
And divers other of their ornaments;
And worthy credence these things he affirmed;
The soldiers, light of heart and well content,
Then dubbed him El Dorado, and the name
By countless ways was spread throughout the world.(1)

According to the chronicler, Juan Rodriguez Fresle, who was a son of one of the Conquistadores of New Granada, the lake on which were made these offerings of gold and emeralds, was Guatavitá, a short distance to the northeast of Bogotá. And the source of his information respecting the nature of the ceremonies connected with these offerings was, he assures us, no less than one Don Juan, the cacique of Guatavitá, who was the nephew of the chief who bore sway at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards under Ximenes de Quesada, and who was even then preparing himself by a six years' fast to succeed his uncle as cacique of Guatavitá. After this long fast, which was made under the most trying conditions, the successor to the caciqueship was obliged to go to the Lake of Guatavitá and offer sacrifice to the Devil, who, Fresle informs us, was regarded by the aborigines as their god and master. After being stripped, he was anointed with a viscous earth, which was then overspread with powdered gold in such wise that the chief was covered with this metal from head to foot. He was then placed on a balsa provided with a great quantity of gold and emeralds, which he was to offer to his god. Arriving at the middle of the lake, which was surrounded by a vast multitude of men and women, shouting and playing on musical instruments of various kinds, he made his offering by throwing into the lake all the treasure which he had at his feet. After this ceremony was over, he returned to the shore where, amid acclamations, music and rejoicing, he was received as their legitimate lord and prince.

“From this ceremony,” our author continues, “was derived that name, so celebrated, of ‘El Dorado,’—which has cost so many lives and so much treasure. It was in Peru that this name ‘Dorado’ was first heard. Sebastian de Belalcazar, having met near Quito an Indian from Bogotá, who told him about the Gilded Man just described, exclaimed ‘Let us go in search of that gilded Indian.’”² Hence the report of El Dorado was spread throughout Castile and the Indies, and Belalcazar was moved to go in quest of him as he did, and hence also the cause of that celebrated meeting with Quesada and Federmann, which constitutes one of the most thrilling and dramatic chapters in the history of the conquest of New Granada.³

I am aware that certain recent writers on El Dorado are disposed to give slight credence to Fresle's account of the Gilded Man, and that, following the indications of a specious theory, they attach little, if any, more value to the statements of Castellanos and Padre Simon, who, as a matter of fact, are our chief and best authorities on this interesting topic. The quotation above given from Juan de Castellanos they characterize as a mere poetical fancy. Holding such views, they naturally find fault with Humboldt for having spread broadcast the error, as they regard it, concerning the connection between El Dorado and Lake Guatavitá—an error, they assert, into which the great German savant was led by conceding undue authority to what the historian of Granada, Bishop Piedrahita, writes on the subject.⁴ Plausible as they are, however, the reasons of these writers for rejecting the testimony of such veracious and conscientious chroniclers as Fresle, Padre Simon, Castellanos, and Piedrahita are far from conclusive, and most readers who will take the trouble to consult what these four writers have to say on the matter in question will, I think, agree with Humboldt and be satisfied that the accounts given of El Dorado by the early chroniclers named are founded on facts that can not be gainsaid.

The fact that only a few years after the arrival of Belalcazar at Bogotá, the Spaniards began to make efforts to secure the gold and precious stones which, according to tradition, had been cast into the sacred Lake of Guatavitá by the Gilded King, is evidence that the statements of Fresle and other contemporary writers regarding the connection between this lake and El Dorado are substantially true. For more than three centuries many attempts were made to drain the lake, with a view to securing the priceless treasures which were supposed to be spread over its bottom, but the success which attended the efforts of those who had the matter in charge was only partial. There were never sufficient funds available to complete the work of drainage until a few years ago, when the attempt was again made by some Englishmen, who are still engaged in the undertaking. But a number of gold objects were found, among them some interesting figurines, which confirmed many people in the belief which they had before entertained regarding the existence of untold amounts of gold and precious stones at the bottom of the lake, the offerings of El Dorado to his god before the Spanish Conquest, and which convinced them of the accuracy of the accounts of the early chroniclers regarding the ceremonies performed here centuries ago, in which the Gilded Man was the chief actor.⁵

According to Padre Gumilla the word “Dorado” had a different origin from that assigned by Fresle and Castellanos. It originated, declares this writer, on the Caribbean Coast near Cartagena and Santa Marta, whence it passed to Velez and thence to Bogotá. When the Spaniards reached the elevated plain of Cundinamarca, they learned that “El Dorado was in the pleasant and fertile valley of Sogamoso.” On reaching this place they found that the priest who made his oblation in the great temple there was wont to anoint at least his hands and face with a certain kind of resin over which powdered gold was blown through a hollow reed or cane. From this circumstance the famous “Dorado” took his name.⁶

Those who reject the accounts above given regarding El Dorado declare that the first authentic information we have of him is contained in a letter, dated January 20, 1543, of Gonzalo Fernando de Oviedo y Valdes to Cardinal Bembo, in Venice. This letter refers to the celebrated expedition of Gonzalo Pizarro to the land of Canela—cinnamon—which was on the eastern versant of the Cordilleras and but a few days' journey from Quito. The ostensible object of the expedition, as announced by Pizarro, was to find the region which was reputed to be as rich in aromatic shrubs and trees as the spice islands of the Orient. If this could be found the fortunes of the leader and his companions would be assured, and Spain would be independent of her hated rival, Portugal, which then had a monopoly of cinnamon and other precious spices. But the real object was not so much the discovery and conquest of the land of Canela⁷ as the quest of a great and powerful prince who was called El Dorado.⁸

“When I ask, [writes Oviedo] why they call this prince the Gilded Cacique or King, the Spaniards who have been in Quito or have come to Santo Domingo—and there are at present more than ten of them in this city—make reply that from what they hear respecting this from the Indians, this great lord or prince goes about continually covered with gold as finely pulverized as fine salt. For it seemeth to him that to wear any other kind of apparel is less beautiful, and that to put on pieces or arms of gold stamped or fashioned by a hammer or otherwise is to use something plain or common, like that which is worn by other rich lords and princes when they wish; but that to powder oneself with gold is something strange, unusual, and new and more costly, because that which one puts on in the morning is removed and washed off in the evening and falls to the ground and is lost. And this he does every day in the year. While walking clothed and covered in this manner his movements are unimpeded, and the graceful proportions of his person, on which he greatly prides himself, are seen in beauty unadorned. I would rather have the chamber besom of this prince than the large gold smelters in Peru, or in any other part of the world. Thus it is that the Indians say that this cacique, or king, is very rich and a great lord, and anoints himself every morning with a very fragrant gum or liquor and over this ointment he sprinkles powdered gold of the requisite fineness, and his entire person from the sole of his foot to his head remains covered with gold, and as resplendent as a piece of gold polished by the hand of a great artificer. And I believe, if this cacique uses this, that he must have very rich mines of a similar quality of gold, because I have seen much in tierra firme of the kind called by the Spaniards volador, and so fine that one could easily do with it what is above stated.”⁹

From the foregoing it is seen that there were at the time of the arrival of the Conquistadores in South America three different reports in circulation among the Indians regarding the mysterious personage whom the Spaniards, from the descriptions given of him by their informants, agreed in calling El Dorado, an abbreviation for El Hombre o Rey Dorado—the Gilded Man or King.

That they should have heard of him in different places widely separated from one another is not surprising when we remember that the Indians of Darien and Costa Rica, long before Francisco Pizarro's advent in Peru, were aware of the wealth and the power of the Incas in the remote south. And that there should have been different accounts regarding the character and place of abode of this marvelous savage is what might have been expected by one who knows how prone Indians are to exaggerate, or to modify what they have heard so as to suit their own fancy.

It was not, then, surprising that the Spaniards should have been misled by these divers and alluring reports. After the successes achieved by their countrymen in Mexico and Peru, and after the millions of treasure which had been found in the lands of the Aztecs, Chibchas, and Incas, they were prepared for anything. Nothing seemed impossible, and no tale about gilded men or golden palaces was so extravagant as to be rejected by them as false. They were ready to give full credence to even greater fictions than the Golden Fleece or the Apples of the Hesperides, and would not have been surprised to find Ophir or Tarshish in the valleys of the Orinoco or the Amazon. The spirit of adventure and romance dominated everyone not only in the Indies but in the mother country as well.

“For all this Spanish nation [writes an old chronicler] is so desirous of novelties that what way soever they bee called with a becke only or soft whispering voyce, to anything arising above water, they speedily prepare themselves to flie and forsake certainties, under hope of an higher degree, to follow incertainties, which we may gather by that which is past.”

It was a vague and fantastic rumor like this that lured Belalcazar from Quito to the Sabana of distant Bogotá, where he met Quesada and Federmann. According to the Indian from whom the Spanish chieftain received his information, the Province of El Dorado was called Cundirumarca, and was not more than 12 days' distant from Quito. This distance, if the Indian's statement was true, would preclude the plain of Bogotá as the home of the Gilded Man, for it was impossible to reach this place in so limited a time. Besides, Cundirumarca is a Quichua word, and could not, it is asserted, have been the name of a province in New Granada, where the language of the Incas was unknown. Despite, therefore, the positive statement of Piedrahita that the motive of Belalcazar's expedition to the north was the discovery of El Dorado and the House of the Sun, it may be that the real reason was the desire on the part of Pizarro's lieutenant to cut loose from his chief and find a country of which he might himself become the adelantado. Subsequent events and the realization of his desire to be appointed governor of Popayan give color to this surmise.

Whether, however, Belalcazar misunderstood his informant regarding the location of the Province of Cundirumarca, or whether he was merely looking for a pretext for escaping from Peru, where he was overshadowed by Pizarro, it is certain that the next expedition in search of El Dorado, by some considered the first genuine expedition in quest of the Gilded King, was headed for the eastern slopes of the Andes instead of for the northern plateau of New Granada. The country of the Gilded King, it was now thought, was in the vicinity of the “Land of Cinnamon,” and preparations were forthwith made to add these rich lands to the possessions of the Spanish Crown.

Notes

1. Elejias de Varones Ilustres de Indias, Parte III, Canto II, Madrid (1850).

2. Conquista i Descubrimiento del Nuevo Reino de Granada de las Indias Occidentales del Mar Oceano i Fundacion de la Ciudad de Santa Fé de Bogotá. Cap. II, Bogotá (1859.)

3. See the Author's Up the Orinoco and Down the Magdalena, p. 294 et seq. New York (1909).

4. Cf. El Dorado, Aus der Geschichte der ersten Amerikanischen Endeckungs-Reisen. Separat-Ausdruck aus den Mittleilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft in Hamburg (1889); Historia General de las Conquistas del Nuevo Reino de Granada, Lib. VI, Cap. III, por D. Lucas Piedrahita, Antwerp (1688); The Gilded Man, by A. F. Bandelier, New York (1893); Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America during the Years 1799-1804, by Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland, Vol. III, Chap. XXV, Bohn edition.

5. Special mention should here be made of a most interesting find made in 1856 in Lake Siecha, a small body of water near Lake Guatavitá. It consists of a small group of figures of men on a raft, all of gold, and weighing 268 grams, which, in the opinion of competent archeologists, represents El Dorado on a rush balsa surrounded by his priests as he proceeded to the center of Lake Guatavitá to offer sacrifice to his god. See El Dorado—Estudio Historico, Etnografico y Arqueologico de los Chibchas, Habitantes de la Antigua Cundinamarca, p. 11, por Dr. Liborio Zerda, Bogotá (1883).

6. Historia Natural, Civil y Geografica de las Naciones Situadas en las Riveras del Rio Orinoco, Tom. I, Cap. XXV, 3, Barcelona (1791).

7. Cinnamon is actually found in this and other parts of tropical America, but it belongs to a different genus from that of Ceylon, which supplies the well-known article of commerce.

8. Gonçalo Piçarro, determinó de yr á buscar la canela é á un gran principe, que llaman El Dorado, de la requeça del qual hay mucha fama in aquellas partes. Historia General y Natural de las Indias, Islas Y Tierra Firme del Mar Oceano, Tom. IV, Lib. XLIX, Cap. II, Madrid (1851).

9. Historia General y Natural de las Indias, Tom. IV, p. 183.

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