SOURCE: Zahm, J. A. “Chief Sources of Information Respecting El Dorado” and “Expedition of Sebastian de Belalcazar: Conflicting Reports Regarding El Dorado.” In The Quest of El Dorado: The Most Romantic Episode in the History of South American Conquest, pp. 1-8; 9-36. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1917.

In the following essay, Zahm recounts several versions of the El Dorado legend and argues that the main reason so little is known about the expeditions which searched for El Dorado is that few of the original accounts have been translated into English.

During a year's wanderings in Andean lands and in the valleys of the Amazon and the Orinoco I was frequently reminded of the numerous expeditions that centuries ago went in quest of that extraordinary will-o'-the-wisp, usually known as El Dorado—the Gilded King. Whether gliding down a Peruvian river in a dugout or traversing in the saddle...