after Raleigh had gone with Essex and Howard of Effingham on that
world-renowned expedition against Cadiz. Sir Walter appears to have left
his affairs in the hands of his ever faithful Hariot, and hence this
sensible and timely letter in the absence of his patron. There appears
to have been no complaint against Keymis; but the master of his ship,
Samuel Mace, seems to have been less discreet. The letter tells its own
story, and gives a vivid picture of the intelligent earnestness of Sir
Walter respecting Guiana, and at the same time the earnest intelligence
of Hariot during Raleigh's absence in Spain.

It has been denied that Raleigh really expected to find the El Dorado in
either his first expedition of 1595 or last in 1617, but this letter
goes to show that both he and Hariot had firm faith in the scheme.
Indeed in a German book of travels just published, entitled ' Aus den
Llanos. Schildenung einer naturwisscn-schaftlichen Reise nach Venezuela,
Von Carl Sachs, Leipzig, 1879,' the writer states that the export of
gold from Spanish Guiana in 1875 was 79,496 ounces. He says that the
richest mine, that of Callao, has of late years returned as much as 500
per centum. After briefly narrating the expeditions of Raleigh, which
had been preceded by various Spanish expeditions, he adds: 'Now at this
day, after nearly three centuries, the riches sought for have been
actually found In the very country where these unfortunate efforts were
made.' Hariot's letter is as follows:

LETTER OF THOMAS HARIOT TO MR. SECRETARY

SIR ROBERT CECIL.

_From the original holograph in the Cecil Papers at Hatfield, vol. xliii,
At first printed in Edward Edward's Life of