8. The Gilded Man

El Dorado is the central figure in a legend told by natives of the Colombian highlands. The Muisca people were said to install their new ruler with great ceremony at a sacred lake, Guatavita. He was stripped to his skin, coated with a sticky clay, and covered entirely with gold dust. Thus gilded, he and four lesser chieftains boarded a raft loaded with gold and emeralds, while the sound of trumpets, flutes, other instruments and singing shook the mountains and valleys. When the raft reached the center of the lake, a banner was raised to signal silence. In this silence, the ruler and his chieftains threw all the gold and jewels into the water as an offering to the gods, and the people on shore did likewise. Then with great singing and dancing, he was recognized as lord and king.