with him in the journey. When they came to the village of these people
the lord of the island offered to lay hands on them, purposing to
have slain them both; yielding for reason that this Indian of ours had
brought a strange nation into their territory to spoil and destroy them.
But the pilot being quick and of a disposed body, slipt their fingers
and ran into the woods, and his brother, being the better footman of the
two, recovered the creek's mouth, where we stayed in our barge, crying
out that his brother was slain. With that we set hands on one of them
that was next us, a very old man, and brought him into the barge,
assuring him that if we had not our pilot again we would presently cut
off his head. This old man, being resolved that he should pay the loss
of the other, cried out to those in the woods to save Ferdinando, our
pilot; but they followed him notwithstanding, and hunted after him upon
the foot with their deer-dogs, and with so main a cry that all the woods
echoed with the shout they made. But at the last this poor chased Indian
recovered the river side and got upon a tree, and, as we were coasting,
leaped down and swam to the barge half dead with fear. But our good hap
was that we kept the other old Indian, which we handfasted to redeem our
pilot withal; for, being natural of those rivers, we assured ourselves
that he knew the way better than any stranger could. And, indeed, but
for this chance, I think we had never found the way either to Guiana or
back to our ships; for Ferdinando after a few days knew nothing at all,
nor which way to turn; yea, and many times the old man himself was
in great doubt which river to take. Those people which dwell in these
broken islands and drowned lands are generally called Tivitivas. There
are of them two sorts; the one called Ciawani, and the other Waraweete.

The great river of Orenoque or Baraquan hath nine branches which fall
out on the north side of his own main mouth. On the south side it hath
seven other fallings into the sea, so it disemboqueth by sixteen arms in