One of the stories that is very queer was that about the Amazon Queens. Columbus wrote of them, and this is what he said:
"On the first island discovered on the voyage from Spain to the Indies, no men are allowed to live. The female warriors do not follow any womanly occupations, but use bows and arrows of cane, and cover as well as arm themselves with brazen plates, of which they have many."
He says nothing of their having great wealth, but Cortez also heard of them, and wrote to the King of Spain that the island was ten days distance from a province in Mexico, and that many persons had gone there and seen the women warriors. He concludes his letter by saying:
"I am told that these fighting women are rich in pearls and gold."
This news was quite enough to start the Spaniards on a search for the island, and, as usual, the Indians gave them much contradictory information about its location. Some said it was north and some said it was south, so exploring parties were sent in both directions. A man by the name of Guzman came up into Mexico as far north as Sinaloa, looking for this wonderful island, and his march was one of devastation and murder. He not only compelled the Indians to accompany him as slaves to do all the drudgery, but tortured such chiefs as he thought had gold, and in many cases killed them because they either did not give it to him quickly enough, or in as large quantities as he wanted. The farther north he went the poorer the natives were.
"Instead of a rich island inhabited by soldierly women," he exclaimed, in disgust, "I find a few insignificant villages occupied by women and children, because the men have all fled to the mountains. In the whole country there is not a trace of gold, pearls or treasures of any kind."
Along the way he found very scant supplies of gold, and this made him furious, for he returned to the city of Mexico poorer than when he left it.
Pizarro and his followers in Peru heard of the Amazon Queens, and so did Sir Walter Raleigh and the German adventurers, but their country was said to be along the banks of a very wide river in South America. The Indians called them the Great Ladies, and the river has since been named the Amazon in their honor.
"If the Great Ladies do not invite you to visit them, it is a very dangerous thing to attempt," said the Indian guides to Orellana, the man who discovered the Amazon river, and was the first to sail its entire length.
"Why do you say that?" asked Orellana.