El Dorado
“The gilded one”: the legend, born of a Muisca rite at Lake Guatavita, of a ruler covered in gold, which grew into the hunt for a golden land that drew Spaniards and Raleigh into South America.
The Gilded Chief of Lake Guatavita
Juan Rodríguez Freyle, Conquest and Discovery of the New Kingdom of Granada (El Carnero), 1636, chapter 2: the ceremony at Guatavita · written in 1636 (describes a Muisca rite of before 1537, as told to the writer decades later)
En partiendo la balsa de tierra comenzaban los instrumentos, cornetas, fotutos i otros instrumentos, i con esto una gran vocería que atronaba montes i valles; i duraba hasta que la balsa llegaba al medio de la laguna, de donde, con una bandera, se hacia señal para el silencio. Hacia el indio dorado su ofrecimiento echando todo el oro que llevaba a los piés en el medio de la laguna, i los demas caciques que iban con él i le acompañaban, hacian lo propio; lo cual acabado, abatian la bandera, que en todo el tiempo que gastaban en el ofrecimiento la tenian levantada, i partiendo la balsa a tierra comenzaba la grita, gaitas i fotutos con mui largos corros de bailes i danzas a su modo; con la cual ceremonia recibian al nuevo electo, i quedaba reconocido por señor i príncipe.
As the raft pushed off from the shore, the instruments began: horns, fotutos, and others. With them rose a great shouting that thundered over the hills and valleys. It lasted until the raft reached the middle of the lake. There a banner was raised as a signal for silence. The gilded Indian made his offering, throwing all the gold at his feet into the middle of the lake. The other caciques who were with him did the same. When this was done, they lowered the banner, which they had kept raised the whole time the offering lasted. As the raft headed back to shore, the shouting began again, with pipes and fotutos and very long rings of dancers dancing in their own way. With this ceremony they received the newly chosen lord, and he was recognized as lord and prince.
De esta ceremonia se tomó aquel nombre tan celebrado del Dorado, que tantas vidas ha costado i haciendas. En el Perú fué donde sonó primero este nombre dorado; i fué el caso que habiendo ganado a Quito, donde Sebastian de Benalcázar, i andando en aquellas guerras o conquistas, topó con un indio de este Reino de los de Bogotá, el cual le dijo, que cuando querian en su tierra hacer su rei, lo llevaban a una laguna mui grande, i allí lo doraban todo, o le cubrian de oro, i con muchas fiestas lo hacian rei. De aquí vino a decir el Don Sebastian “vamos a buscar este indio dorado.” De aquí corrió la voz a Castilla i a las demas partes de Indias, i a Benalcázar le movió venirlo a buscar, como vino, i se halló en esta conquista i fundacion de esta ciudad, como mas largo lo cuenta el padre frai Pedro Simon en la quinta parte de sus noticias historiales, donde se podrá ver.
From this ceremony came that famous name, El Dorado, the Gilded One, which has cost so many lives and fortunes. It was in Peru that the name was first heard. After Quito had been won, Sebastián de Benalcázar, who was fighting in those wars and conquests, came upon an Indian from this kingdom, one of the people of Bogotá. The Indian told him how they made a king in his land. They took him to a very large lake and gilded him all over, or covered him with gold. Then they made him king with great festivities. That is why Don Sebastián said, “Let us go and look for this gilded Indian.” From there the word spread to Castile and the rest of the Indies. It moved Benalcázar to come looking for him, and so he did, and he took part in the conquest of this kingdom and the founding of this city. Father Fray Pedro Simón tells this at greater length in the fifth part of his Historical Notices, where it can be read.