Wiapoco, or Guiana, properly so call’d, taketh up the middle part of this Province, being divided, as the other, almost into two equal parts, by the River Wiapoco, which runs through the midst of it. The Countrey on both sides of the River is very rich and fertile, and so naturally apt, both for Sugar-Canes, Cotton-Wooll, and Tobacco, that they are said to grow here (all of them very good) without Planting, or any art of Husbandry. In this Countrey likewise should be the famous Dorada, as the Spaniards call it, or City of Gold (if it could be found) with the reports and hopes whereof some of our own Nation seem to have been not a little possess’d as well as the Spaniards: nor can we much blame them; for if the Stories of it had prov’d true, it must have been one of the goodliest and fairest Cities in the World (not to speak of the Wealth.) Diego de Ordas, the Spaniard of whom we have lately had occasion to make frequent mention of, being reported by some to have travell’d one whole day, and half another in it, before he could arrive at the King’s Palace; which yet must be suppos’d to have stood but in the midst of the City. Places of less Magnificence, but more Certainty, are 1. Caripo, which was once a Colony of English, setled there by Captain Robert Harcourt, Anno 1608. upon the Banks of Wiapoco, and not far from the Mouth of it; being a place, by the advantage of a Rock, which it hath on the one side of it, of great strength and very difficult access; the Air about it sound, and said to be very agreeable to English Bodies. 2. Gomaribo, a Colony formerly of the Dutch, on the North-West side of the Bay of Wiapoco, but since deserted by them. 3. Woyemon. 4. Crewinay, both of them Towns of the Natives, not far distant from the other.
Orinoque.
Orinoque, or the third Division of this Province, comprehendeth the most Northerly parts of Guiana, lying upon, or towards the Banks of this famous River: a Countrey likewise reported to be very rich, and comparable to Peru it self for hidden Treasure, which, they say, is not yet discover’d, onely for want of diligent and industrious searching. The Places in it already known are onely 1. Coniolaba, as they call it, which seems to be some Town of the Natives, lying a few Leagues distant from the Orinoque, towards the South. 2. Morequito, a known Port or Haven-Town upon a Branch of the Orinoque, much frequented, and of great use to the English when they discover’d these Coasts. 3. Wenicapora: and 4. St Thomas, the onely Town which the Spaniards hold upon this part of the Continent, situate upon the principal Channel of the Orinoque, and consisting of two hundred Families, or thereabouts: It is now a fortifi’d Place, and was taken by Sir Walter Raleigh, in that unfortunate Action of 1617. above related more at large.
Islands belonging to Guiana.
The Islands that belong to, and are commonly reckon’d as parts of Guiana, are either such as lie scatter’d about the Shore of the Province, or such as are found at the Mouth, and sometime far within the Channel of those great Rivers, which empty themselves at several parts of this Countrey into the Sea, viz. Orinoque, Wiapoco, Rio de las Amazones, &c. There are many of them, but of any great name or esteem, onely two, viz. Trinidado and Tabago, the Description whereof we shall here omit, as having already taken notice of them amongst the Sotaventi and Caribbee Islands.
CHAP. IX.
Paria, or New Andalusia.
Situation and Description of Nova Andalusia.
VVestward of Guiana lieth the Countrey of Paria, so call’d from its chief River: It hath also the Denomination of New Andalusia, but for what resemblance with Andalusia of Old Spain, they do not tell us.
This Countrey lying as it doth, brings us back again by the Eastern Coast to the Isthmus or Strait, which, as we have often said, joyns the two parts of the Continent of America together, at least to those Countreys that lie next upon it to the South, viz. the Kingdom of Granada, &c. It hath on the East Guiana, and those Islands which lie about the Mouth of Orinoque; on the West, the Gulf or Bay of Venezuela, with some part of the new Kingdom abovesaid; on the North it is wash’d with the Atlantick Ocean; and on the South hath some Countreys yet undiscover’d, toward the Andes. The whole consisteth partly of Continent, and partly of Islands near adjoyning to it, and is commonly divided into five several Precincts or Parts, which are 1. Cumana. 2: Venezuela, being upon the Continent, 3. Margareta. 4. Cubagua, two Islands above-mention’d, famous for Pearl-fishing; and lastly, some lesser islands.