delay, but to his surprise they would not hear of it, neither would any
person whatever in the colony. "No, no," they all exclaimed. "You shall
not leave us, Vasco Nunez. You are not alone our governor, but our guide
and leader. You, only, are respected by the soldiers, feared by the
savages, and we cannot do without you. Stay here with us you must; but
we will send deputies to acquaint the king with the condition of the
colony, to entreat the necessary military aid, and to plead your cause
as though it were yourself in person, Vasco Nunez."
They proved their sincerity by electing two deputies, one of them Juan
de Caicedo, who had been inspector on the unfortunate Nicuesa
expedition, and the other Rodrigo de Colmenares, "both men of weight,
expert in negotiation, and held in general esteem." It was believed that
they would satisfactorily execute their commission, and that both would
return, since Caicedo left a wife behind him at Darien, and Colmenares
had acquired much property, including a farm which he tilled with Indian
labor, when not engaged in military operations. Balboa gladly relieved
him from command of the fort at Tichiri, and rejoiced that he could send
one who would so well represent his cause at court. By him he forwarded
letters to the king, containing most extravagant accounts of the
country's riches, not forgetting to mention the famed temple of Dobaybe,
filled with gold, and the tales the Indians told respecting the
gathering of gold in nets. He showed this precious epistle to the
colonists, and they were all so greatly impressed with it that, one and
all, they contributed gold to the extent of their hoardings, which,
added to the amount sent by the government to the king, represented a
goodly sum.
Balboa's commissioners left Darien del Antigua about the end of October,
1512, and arrived in Spain, after a long and tempestuous voyage, in the
early part of 1513. Had they been the only messengers from that isolated
colony on the isthmus, all might have gone well with its governor; but,
unfortunately for him, as we know, his enemies had preceded them and
spread broadcast the most pernicious tales respecting the doings of the
gallant adventurer, Vasco Nunez de Balboa.
Leaving them for a time, while the ferment is working that eventuated in
the downfall of Balboa, let us continue in his company until he has
accomplished that great achievement due to his heroic efforts, and with
which fame has inseparably linked his name--the discovery of the Pacific
Ocean.
By the information conveyed through his friend at court, Zamudio, he was
assured that lawyer Enciso had obtained a judgment against him in which
he was condemned for costs and damages to a large amount. This was not
all, for the king was very much incensed, and had issued a summons for
him to repair to Spain without delay, there to stand trial on criminal
charges respecting the outrageous treatment of Nicuesa, which had
probably caused his death.
It will be admitted that Vasco Nunez was then in a terrible predicament,
and that there seemed no way out of it save by a desperate venture, by
which he might perhaps retrieve his fortunes, win fame, and recover the
lost favor of the king. Fortunately for him, the news conveyed by
Zamudio's letter had been informal, and in advance of tidings direct
from the throne, so there was still time for action. When the
authoritative summons should come, it would be too late; hence he could
not await the reinforcements so anxiously expected from Spain, and must
accomplish whatever he did before their arrival. Thus the intrepid
Balboa was thrown directly upon his own resources, and resolved to set
forth without the assistance from his sovereign which he had every right
to expect in an undertaking so vast and venturesome as his.
Desultory and apparently aimless as had been his doings hitherto, Balboa
had never for a moment lost sight of that grand scheme he had formed for
exploring beyond the mountains and revealing the existence, if possible,
of the great "southern sea." Cacique Comogre's son had assured him that
he would need at least a thousand men to assist him, and acting upon
this sage advice he had waited for reinforcements before attempting the
great adventure. But now, if he waited longer, he might forever lose the
opportunity, for with the reinforcements from Spain would also come the
order for his arrest and transportation, or at least his dismissal from
office. What he did, then, must be done quickly as well as effectually,
and he lost no time in perfecting his plans.
"While another and less intrepid spirit might have been overwhelmed by
the prospects before him, Balboa was animated to new daring, and
impelled to yet higher enterprises. Should he permit another to profit
by his toils, to discover the great South Sea, and to ravish from him
the wealth and glory which were almost within his grasp? No, a thousand
times no! He had won the information at risk of his life; he would
realize the profit of it, even at the risk of his life. At least, no
other man should avail of it, to cheat him of his dues. He did, indeed,
still want the thousand men who were necessary to the projected
expedition; but his enterprise, his experience, and his constancy
impelled him to undertake it, even without them. He would thus, by so
signal a service, blot out the original crime of his primary usurpation,
and if death should overtake him in the midst of his exertions, he would
die laboring for the prosperity and glory of his native land, and freed
from the persecutions which then threatened him."[3]
As he would be obliged to absent himself from the colony for a long
period, he made every effort to weld the various elements into a civic
body that should work harmoniously and resist the disintegrating forces
from within as well as from without. His first step was to set free the
ringleaders of the late insurrection, which done, and assured of their
co-operation, he proceeded to select his soldiers. There was no lack of
volunteers when it became noised about that Balboa was to set out on the
grand expedition to which all the others had been in a sense merely
preliminary, and he was at greater trouble to reject than to accept
those who offered for the service. Desiring none but the most dauntless
spirits, he put every man applying to the severest tests. In the first
place, they must be capable of enduring fatigue and hunger; in the
second, they must be unflinchingly courageous, for the route of march
would lie through regions occupied by hostile Indians who were said to
be cannibals and gave no quarter.
"My men," he said to them one day, when haranguing them for the last
time, assembled on parade, "I shall not attempt to conceal from you the
perils of this enterprise. In truth, they could not, in my opinion, be
greater. And, while I shall always lead, as hitherto, asking no man to
go where I would not venture in advance, yet you may not have the great
incentive that moves me. So far as spoils and captives are concerned, ye
shall share alike with me; but there is a greater motive than mere
spoils. My ambition, as ye all have known for many months, is to achieve
the discovery of that great ocean said to lie beyond the mountains. That
is--that shall be--the object of my endeavors, and to that the getting
of captives and the plundering of natives shall be subordinate. There
will be, doubtless, vast spoil, for the country we are to enter has the
reputation of being rich in gold and gems. There will be danger; there
will be fatigues, deaths, wounds--but, above all, there will be
glory--the _glory_ of accomplishing something of which men have dreamed
for many years, but have never achieved!"
"We will do it! The glory shall be ours!" shouted the men, vociferously.
"Where you lead, Vasco Nunez, we will go!"
They were probably as daring and reckless adventurers as had ever been
gathered together since the New World was discovered, then twenty years
agone, and that is saying much. There were, after Balboa had selected
the most resolute and vigorous of the colony, one hundred and ninety in
the band, all fighting-men of the most desperate type. They were armed
with cross-bows and shields, swords, lances, and arquebuses, and there
was no person in the company, not even the trumpeter or the drummer-boy,
who had not been brought up in the profession of arms. Balboa looked
them over proudly, and he also inspected their equipment carefully, for
they were to accompany him, as he himself believed, not only on a most
desperate venture, but on a veritable forlorn hope, which, if it failed,
must end his campaigning, and perhaps his life.
The king must be placated and his favor recovered by no lesser gift than
sovereignty over a sea which no man of his race had ever seen; and that
was the impelling motive of Vasco Nunez de Balboa in this marvellous
enterprise.
XII
THE QUEST FOR THE AUSTRAL OCEAN
1513
A brigantine and nine large canoes carried the troops up the gulf to the
shores of Chief Careta's territory, where the force was augmented by a
thousand friendly Indians, who served as guides and carriers, on the
march from the coast to the mountains. Finding his Indian father-in-law
well disposed, and no signs of disaffection, the commander left here
nearly half his men, to guard the vessels and keep open a way of
retreat, should it be necessary, and with one hundred picked soldiers
began his perilous journey through the wilderness.
He had left the settlement on September 1st, and on the 8th arrived at
the frontier of Cacique Ponca's territory, but found his village
abandoned and without a sign of life within its limits. Ponca, it will
be remembered, was the inveterate enemy of Careta, and as he knew the
latter was in league with Balboa, he had fled with all his people to the
mountain fastnesses. He was extremely reluctant to emerge from his
retreat, but was at last induced to do so by repeated offers of
friendship, conveyed by the peaceful Indians, and when he finally came
out was won by Balboa's kindness and induced to reveal to him all he
knew.
It was not politic, the governor thought, to leave behind him one so
powerful as Ponca inclined to be hostile, and, moreover, he alone could
furnish guides to the sea that lay beyond the mountains. These he freely
placed at Balboa's disposal, at the same time not only confirming the
truth of the story told by Comogre's people, as to the existence of a
great sea, or ocean, but adding that the country adjacent was rich in
gold. In the excess of his friendship, he presented Balboa with some
golden ornaments--receiving in exchange glass beads and other trifles,
precious in the sight of the Indian--and furnished the army with
provisions for the journey. The golden ornaments, Ponca assured Balboa,
came from the country bordering upon the great sea, to gain a glimpse of
which it would only be necessary to ascend a high peak rising above the
cordilleras, and visible from the village they then occupied. This peak
seemed to pierce the skies, to such an altitude it rose above the
surrounding hills, and its broad shoulders were covered with dense
forests, so that it appeared like an island in an emerald sea.
With the departure from Chief Ponca's country the real labors of the
journey began, for there was no open trail through the mountain
wilderness, white men never having been there before. The Spaniards were
compelled to hew their way with sword and axe, scale rugged precipices,
and ford the torrents of numerous rivers. Friendly Indians carried the
provisions, and the heaviest pieces of armor, but even though lightly
clad and burdened only with their weapons, many of the soldiers were
overcome by the combined effects of fatigue and climate, so that in the
end less than seventy remained with their commander, the others having
fallen by the way. Such as had strength enough returned to Coyba; but
there were some who, unable to endure the journey, sank to the ground
and never rose again.
Steadily climbing, at the rate of two or three leagues a day, about
September 20th the little band of soldiers reached a broad plateau
covered with a tangled forest through which ran deep and rapid streams.
This was the country of a warlike cacique named Quaraqua, who,
discovering this small body of strangers invading his province, and
never having had experience with Europeans, prepared to give them a warm
reception. He was at war with Ponca, and that was enough to provoke his
ire, so he took the field with a swarm of ferocious savages, and thought
to frighten the Spaniards by a display of force. He and his warriors
were armed with spears, bows and arrows, and two-handed battle-axes made
of wood, but almost as hard and as heavy as iron. They thought
themselves invincible, in their ignorance of warfare as conducted by the
Christian, and, yelling furiously, poured upon the Spaniards like a
mountain torrent.
Sturdy Balboa was leading the advance, as usual, with his inseparable
companion Leoncito by his side. This battle-scarred veteran was a hound
of scarce more than medium size, but as strong and fierce as a lion. He
was not only leonine in his majestic bearing, but in color also, for his
hue was tawny, like that of the king of beasts. As he was considered by
the soldiers the equal of any member of the force, he drew pay as one of
them, and during his various campaignings earned for his master upward
of a thousand crowns. The Indians of the coast country knew him well by
reputation, which was so terrible that merely the sight of him would put
a thousand to rout. But these Indians of the mountains knew neither the
dog nor his master--though to their sorrow they were soon to make their
acquaintance.
At sight of the warriors emerging in serried masses from the forest
depths, Leoncito growled ominously, and as they approached within
bow-shot he sprang to meet them with long leaps. A shower of arrows was
sent at him and he was struck by several; but his progress was not
stayed until he met a warrior in the oncoming ranks, whom he seized by
the throat and bore to the ground. A moment later the hapless savage was
a mangled corpse, and his fate was shared by others in swift succession,
as the furious beast tore his way through the barbarian phalanx, leaving
terror and destruction in his wake. The savages were surprised and
alarmed by the advent of this strange animal in their midst, but they
were absolutely terror-stricken when the cross-bows and arquebuses sent
forth their messengers of death. Many were slain as they stood petrified
with astonishment and terror; for this was their first experience with
fire-arms, and they could not conceive whence came the rolling thunder
of the explosions and the sheeted lightning of the flames. After the
first discharge came in ringing tones Balboa's battle-cry, "Santiago,
and at them, companeros!" With bright sword drawn and gleaming in the
air, he sprang towards the foe, followed close by his men.
Then ensued a scene of carnage the like of which has been many times
witnessed in the encounters between Spaniards and the Indians of
America. It is not a pleasant scene to dwell upon, so let it suffice to
state that this "aboriginal Regulus," the rash though gallant Quaraqua,
together with six hundred of his warriors, lay dead upon the field after
the charge was over. Some had been pinned to the earth with lances, some
cut down by swords, and others torn to pieces by the blood-hounds.
Having thus removed the obstacles to their advance, the Spaniards
entered Quaraqua's town, which they quickly spoiled of all the gold and
other valuables it contained. This booty Balboa shared equitably among
his followers, reserving for himself no more than any other got, after
deducting one-fifth the total amount for the king of Spain. By his
eminent fairness to the soldiers, and by his courageous bearing on every
occasion, Balboa wins the admiration of all who become cognizant of his
exploits; but alas! his escutcheon is stained with the blood of many
innocents. Among the prisoners taken in the town were fifty or sixty
male Indians, dressed in robes of white cotton after the manner of
women, and these, their enemies said, were given to unnatural crimes and
followers of the devil. Whether they were or not, the Spaniards did not
pause to inquire, but let loose their blood-hounds, who tore them limb
from limb.
The village which Balboa had won at such cost of blood and suffering was
situated at the very foot of the mountain whence, the Indians told him,
the great sea could be distinctly seen. He had brought woe and
desolation to its homes, but by his harsh measures the Indians had been
thoroughly cowed, and, after sending back the subjects of Chief Ponca,
he selected guides and carriers from the surviving Quaraquanos. As his
men were exhausted by the fatigue of fighting, and in need of all their
energies for what was to come, he ordered them early to rest, after they
had partaken of a bountiful supper supplied from the provisions found in
the village. Some were disabled by their wounds, and these were to
remain behind while he, with the strong and able-bodied, pushed on over
the last stage of their eventful journey.
Having made every preparation for the morrow, after posting sentinels
about the camp, Balboa retired to his hammock, but not to sleep. The
events of the day had been so exciting that he lay awake all night,
thinking, not of what had occurred, however: not of the lives he had
taken, the crimes he had committed; but of what he was to see from that
rock-ribbed mountain-peak, with its head in the stars above the sombre
forest. It stood out black against the sky, provokingly near, yet aloof
and isolate--this peak which he had sought for many months. It had stood
there for uncounted centuries, and during the aeon of its existence it
had never been visited by civilized man. He, Balboa, would be the first
to scale its sides and stand upon its summit, the first to gaze upon the
view it might reveal.
Such thoughts as these kept Vasco Nunez de Balboa awake while his
soldiers slept. So absorbing were they that he hardly heard the groans
of the wounded, the cries of anguish from the poor wretches on the
battlefield. Wives, mothers, and children of the dead warriors were
groping in the darkness for their loved ones, and when they found the
objects of their search they rent the air with piteous lamentations.
At last the dawn dispelled the shades of night. Bounding from his bed in
the ocean, the morning sun sent his rays athwart the vast expanse of
forest and illumined the peak in the sky so that it shone like gold. It
appeared to Balboa like a beacon-flame beckoning him onward, upward, and
with feverish eagerness he spurred his men to activity. It had been his
intention to start in the gray dawn, to avail of the morning coolness
and freshness; but his soldiers were stiff and tired, and moved slowly,
so that it was within two hours of noon when they emerged from the
forest and saw the great peak standing stark before them.
[Illustration: DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC]
"Stay ye here," said Balboa to his men, "while I ascend yon
mountain-top." Leaving them huddled together at the dividing-line
between the rank growth of the forest and the sparse vegetation of the
higher altitude, he pushed onward alone. His heart beat high with
expectation as he clambered over rocks that had been smoothed and
polished by centuries of storm and finally reached the summit. There
before him lay the view he had so long hoped to behold: a wilderness of
forest, gemmed with sparkling streams, and bounded by the watery
horizon. There lay the sea, or ocean, widely extending along the
sky-line, vast, seemingly boundless, glittering like a diamond beneath
the sun.
Thrilled by the sight, the conqueror stood for a moment spellbound, then
sank upon his knees and, extending his arms seaward, gave thanks to the
Almighty for the great privilege which had been vouchsafed him, as the
first European to behold the southern sea. Rising to his feet, he waved
his hands, and shouted to his men, "Come hither, and gaze upon that
glorious ocean which we have so long and so much desired to see!" They
flocked tumultuously over the rocky peak, and after them the Indians,
who were extremely surprised at this outburst of joy and wonder over a
spectacle with which they and their fathers had been familiar for many,
many years.
After his excited companions had gathered around him, Balboa said: "Let
us now give thanks to God, who hath granted us this great honor and
privilege. For we behold before us, friends, the object of all our
desires and the reward of all our labors. Before you roll the waves of
the sea which was announced to us by Comogre's son, and which, no doubt,
encloses the vast riches of which we have heard. We are the first to
gaze upon it and shall be the first to reach its shores. To us belong
their treasures, and ours alone shall be the glory of reducing these
immense dominions to subjection in the name of our king, and of causing
to be shed upon them the light of the only true religion. Follow me,
then, faithful as hitherto, and, I promise you, the world shall not
behold your equals in wealth and glory!"
The companions of Balboa, then reduced to a little company of
sixty-seven, received his words with acclamation, and all embraced him,
while the chaplain of the expedition, one Andres de Vara, chanted in
solemn tones the beautiful anthem beginning: "_Te Deum laudamus_--Thee,
O God, we thank." A great tree, which had been brought from the forest
for the purpose, was shaped into a cross and raised on the spot whence
Balboa first beheld the ocean. Around this was piled a mound of stones,
to keep it in position, and then the company knelt in reverence before
the holy symbol, while the chaplain offered renewed thanks for the
inestimable privilege that had been accorded them.
Wrought upon by the sublimity of the scene, and filled with joy at the
prospect of boundless wealth and conquest opened to them by the
illimitable ocean spread out at their feet, the Spaniards rose to the
dignity of the occasion, and showed themselves capable of elevated
sentiment. Their leader had imbued them with his own enthusiasm, had
invited them to share in the honors and glory of his great discovery,
and they declared they would follow him to the shores of the great sea,
and beyond. After signing a testimonial to the effect that they took
possession of the sea and its shores in the name of the Castilian
sovereign, which was duly attested by a notary, Balboa and his
companions descended the sierras towards the south.
The date of this memorable discovery, as witnessed by the instrument the
Spaniards signed, was September 25, 1513. They had been more than three
weeks in accomplishing the journey from the north coast of the isthmus
to the mountain-top, after fighting their way through difficulties and
dangers which men of iron alone could have confronted and overcome.
Sometimes, says their chronicler, they had to penetrate through thick
and entangled woods, sometimes to cross lakes, where some were lost in
the depths; they had rugged hills and mountains to climb, precipices to
scale, and deep and yawning gulfs to cross, upon frail and trembling
hammock-bridges made of forest vines. From time to time they had to make
their way through opposing bands of Indians, who, though easily
conquered, were always to be dreaded, and upon whom they depended for
their precarious supplies of provisions. Altogether, the toils,
anxieties, and dangers of these Spaniards led by Balboa formed an
aggregate sufficient to break down the strength and depress the mind of
any, indeed, but "men of iron alone."
XIII
ON THE SHORES OF THE PACIFIC
1513
Among the _conquistadores_ of America there is no more heroic figure
than Vasco Nunez de Balboa, who looms large in history, second only to
Columbus, perhaps, in the magnitude of his discovery. The admiral
himself had sought persistently for a passage into the ocean, which he
firmly believed existed beyond the continent by which he was confronted
in 1502; but it remained for Balboa to reveal that ocean seven years
after the great navigator had passed away. Balboa is also the most
picturesque figure in the conquest of America by the Spaniards, and
especially when, at the culmination of his efforts, he stood with sword
in hand, and armor-clad, "silent, upon a peak in Darien."[4]