noon
By the grace of God he floated down stream and was captured by certain Indians , who , never having seen a European before or anyone of that colour , carried him into a land to be wondered at , and so from town to town , until he came to the golden city of Manoa of which Inca was emperor . Now the emperor , when he beheld him , knew him to be a Christian , for not long since his brethren had been vanquished by the Spaniards in Peru ; therefore he had him lodged in his palace and ordered that he should be respectfully entertained . There Martinez lived for seven months , and all that while was not allowed to wander beyond the city 's walls lest he should discover the country 's secrets , for he had been brought thither blindfold and had been fifteen days in the passage . When , years later , he came to die , he confessed to a priest that he had entered Manoa at high noon and that then his captors had uncovered his eyes , and that he had travelled all that day till nightfall through its streets and all the next , from the rising to the setting of the sun , of so great extent was it , until he arrived at the palace . It was Martinez who had given to Manoa its name of El Dorado , because its roadways were paved with gold , and there was so great an abundance of that metal there that , before the emperor would carouse with his captains , all those who were to pledge him were stripped naked , and their bodies anointed with white balsam , over which through hollow canes was blown by slaves the dust of fine gold , so that when his guests sat down to drink with him , they glistened yellow in the sun like gilded statues . `` When Martinez had obtained his freedom and returned to Trinidad , and told his story , many other adventurers set out in quest of Manoa ; but none so much as saw it save only Pedro de Urra . He , after incredible labours , at length arrived at a mountain peak whence , looking down , far away in the distance he could just descry the shining roofs of palaces and golden domes of Inca temples , wherein , he was told , were stored gold images of women and children more beautiful than God had yet wrought into flesh and blood .