In this exercise they did, however, meet with such success, that they made shift to kill one sort of creature or another every day, sufficient to keep them from famishing; sometimes they met with some deer, other times with the guinacoes, or Peruvian sheep, and sometimes with fowls of several kinds, so that they did pretty well for food. At length, viz., the seventh day, they came to a river, which was at first small, but having received another small river or two from the northern part of the country, it began to seem large enough for their purpose; and, as it ran east-south-east, they concluded it would run into the lake, and that they might fleet down this river, if they could make anything to carry them. But their first discouragement was, the country was all open, with very little wood, and no trees, or very few to be found large enough to make canoes, or boats of any sort; but the skill of their carpenters, of which they had four, soon conquered this difficulty; for, coming to a low swampy ground on the side of the river, they found a tree something like a beech, very firm good sort of wood, and yet soft enough to yield to their tools; and they went to work with this, and at first made them some rafts, which they thought might carry them along till the river was bigger. While this was doing, which took up two or three days, the men straggled up and down; some with their guns to shoot fowls, some with contrivances to catch fish, some one thing, some another; when, on a sudden, one of their fishermen, not in the river, but in a little brook, which afterwards ran into the river, found a little bit of shining stuff among the sand or earth, in the bank, and cried, he had found a piece of gold. Now, it seems, all was not gold that glistened, for the lump had no gold in it, whatever it was; but the word being given out at first, it immediately set all our men a-rummaging the shores of every little rill of water they came at, to see if there was any gold; and they had not looked long till they found several little grains, very small and fine, not only in this brook, but in several others; so they spent their time more cheerfully, because they made some advantage. All this while they saw no people, nor any signals of any; except once, on the other side of the river, at a great distance, they saw about thirty together, but whether men or women, or how many of each, they could not tell, nor would they come any nearer, only stood and gazed at our people at a distance. They were now ready to quit their camp and embark, intending to lay all their baggage on the rafts, with three or four sick men, and so the rest to march by the river side, and as many as could, to ride upon the mules; when on a sudden, all their navigation was put to a stop, and their new vessels, such as they were, suffered a wreck.