In a word, they came to the river where they said they found this Aarah; and the first thing our men observed there, was an Indian sitting on the ground, and beating something upon a great stone, with another stone in his hand for his hammer: they went to see what he was doing, and found he had got a lump of gold from the sand, as big as a swan-shot, of no regular shape, but full of corners, neither round nor square; and the man was beating it flat as well as he could. One of our men, who had a hatchet in his hand, made signs to him to let him flatten it for him; and so turning the back part of the hatchet, which served the purpose of a hammer, he beat the piece of gold flat in an instant; and then turning it upon the edge, beat it that way until he brought it to be round also. This was so surprising to the man who had been beating, that he stood looking on with all the tokens of joy and amazement; and, desiring to see the hatchet, looked this way and that way, upon those of his countrymen who came with us, as if asking them if ever they saw the like. When our man had done, he made signs to know if he had any more Aarah; the man said nothing, but went down to the brink of the river, and, putting his hand into a hole, he brought out three little lumps of gold, and a great many smaller, some of them about as big as a large pin's head; all which he had laid up there, in the hollow of a stone. Our man thought it was too much, to take all that for the hatchet; and therefore pulled out some beads, and pieces of glass, and such toys; and, in short, bought all this cargo of gold, which in the whole weighed near five ounces, for about the value of two shillings. Though these bargains were very agreeable to us, yet the discovery of such a place, and of such a fund of treasure, in a part of the world, which it is very probable, was never before seen by any European eyes, nor so much as inquired after, was the greatest satisfaction imaginable to me; knowing the adventurous temper of the gentleman who was our principal employer. Upon this account, while my men busied themselves in their daily search after gold, and in finding out the rivers from whence it came, or rather where it was found, I employed myself to be fully informed where this place was; whether it was an island or a continent; and having found a tolerable good road for our ships to ride in, I caused my two shallops, well manned, to run along the coast, both east and west, to find which way it lay, and whether they could find any end of it; as also to see what rivers, what people, and what provisions they could meet with.