walk about in six days.

Fort St. Joachim was built about five and forty years ago under the
apprehension, it is said, that the Spaniards were coming from the Rio Negro
to settle there. It has been much neglected; the floods of water have
carried away the gate and destroyed the wall on each side of it, but the
present commander is putting it into thorough repair. When finished it will
mount six nine- and six twelve-pounders.

In a straight line with the fort, and within a few yards of the river,
stand the commander's house, the barracks, the chapel, the father-
confessor's house and two others, all at little intervals from each other;
and these are the only buildings at Fort St. Joachim. The neighbouring
extensive plains afford good pasturage for a fine breed of cattle, and the
Portuguese make enough of butter and cheese for their own consumption.

On asking the old officer if there were such a place as Lake Parima, or El
Dorado, he replied he looked upon it as imaginary altogether. "I have been
above forty years," added he, "in Portuguese Guiana, but have never yet met
with anybody who has seen the lake."

So much for Lake Parima, or El Dorado, or the White Sea. Its existence at
best seems doubtful: some affirm that there is such a place and others deny
it.

Grammatici certant, et adhuc sub judice lis est.

Having now reached the Portuguese inland frontier and collected a
sufficient quantity of the wourali poison, nothing remains but to give a
brief account of its composition, its effects, its uses and its supposed