Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/312

266 by the proximity, until they entirely disappear. Thus it happened to Raleigh, and to all those who engaged in the conquest of Dorado.

Far happier would have been the lot of Don Francisco Bohorquez, had his reveries been realized. In the year 1635 he discovered Enim, reached its confines, and ordered his arrival to be announced to the monarch. His lofty stature, his valour, his fine personal qualities, and his discretion, procured him an access to the capital. Its plan, its superb pillars, the order and disposition of its palaces and squares, and the refined policy of its inhabitants, would have terrified any other than Bohorquez. He was, notwithstanding, overpowered by surprize at the sight of the imperial alcazar, or castle. It was built on a multitude of columns of porphyry and alabaster, and had its flooring skirted by a spacious gallery, at the extremities of which the cedar and the ebon were sculptured in a thousand