ABSTRACT
Looking out over the east parapet of Castillo San Diego de Alcala in the sunshine, any Raleigh pilgrim departing Los Castillos can stand high on the summit of Cerro Padrastro and deeply imbibe one last draught of the ancient beauty of the Orinoco that impressed Captain Truxillo long ago. In the great wide channel below (see Plate 8), the huge stream whelms its massive way towards the sea via the Rio Grande and the multifid delta, cleansing the land mass, bleeding it of filths and muddy contaminants upstream. Raleigh drained dead for posturing, for prevaricating about gold, for being lost in poetical fantasies he knew weren’t real? No, no way. He was certainly innocent of the main charges against him.
