BALBOA SEES THE PACIFIC OCEAN
It is said that Ferdinand Magellan, the hero of all geographical
discovery, with his circumnavigation of the whole round world, had
cruised about the Spice Islands, but what he really knew of them from
personal experience no one knows. He had served under Almeida, and
with Albuquerque had helped in the conquest of Malacca. After seven
years of a "vivid life of adventure by sea and land, a life of siege
and shipwreck, of war and wandering," inaction became impossible. He
busied himself with charts and the art of navigation. He dreamt of
reaching the Spice Islands by sailing _west_, and after a time he laid
his schemes before the King of Portugal. Whether he was laughed at
as a dreamer or a fool we know not. His plans were received with cold
refusal. History repeats itself. Like Christopher Columbus twenty
years before, Magellan now said good-bye to Portugal and made his way
to Spain.
Since the first discovery of the New World by Spain, that country had
been busy sending out explorer after explorer to discover and annex
new portions of America. Bold navigators, Pinzon, Mendoza, Bastidas,
Juan de la Cosa, and Solis--these and others had almost completed the
discovery of the east coast, indeed, Solis might have been the first
to see the great Pacific Ocean had he not been killed and eaten at
the mouth of the river La Plata. This great discovery was left to Vasco
Nunez de Balboa, who first saw beyond the strange New World from the
Peak of Darien. Now his discovery threw a lurid light on to the
limitation of land that made up the new country and illuminated the
scheme of Magellan.
Balboa was "a gentleman of good family, great parts, liberal education,
of a fine person, and in the flower of his age." He had emigrated to
the new Spanish colony of Hayti, where he had got into debt. No debtor
was allowed to leave the island, but Balboa, the gentleman of good
family, yearned for further exploration; he "yearned beyond the
sky-line where the strange roads go down." And one day the yearning
grew so great that he concealed himself in a bread cask on board a
ship leaving the shores of Hayti. For some days he remained hidden.
When the ship was well out to sea he made his appearance. Angry, indeed,
was the captain--so angry that he threatened to land the stowaway on
a desert island. He was, however, touched by the entreaties of the
crew, and Balboa was allowed to sail on in the ship. It was a fortunate
decision, for when, soon after, the ship ran heavily upon a rock, it
was the Spanish stowaway Balboa who saved the party from destruction.
He led the shipwrecked crew to a river of which he knew, named Darien
by the Indians. He did _not_ know that they stood on the narrow neck
of land--the isthmus of Panama--which connects North and South America.
The account of the Spanish intrusion is typical: "After having
performed their devotions, the Spaniards fell resolutely on the
Indians, whom they soon routed, and then went to the town, which they
found full of provisions to their wish. Next day they marched up the
country among the neighbouring mountains, where they found houses
replenished with a great deal of cotton, both spun and unspun, plates
of gold in all to the value of ten thousand pieces of fine gold."
A trade in gold was set up by Balboa, who became governor of the new
colony formed by the Spaniards; but the greed of these foreigners quite
disgusted the native prince of these parts.
"What is this, Christians? Is it for such a little thing that you
quarrel? If you have such a love of gold, I will show you a country
where you may fulfil your desires. You will have to fight your way
with great kings whose country is distant from our country six suns."
So saying, he pointed away to the south, where he said lay a great
sea. Balboa resolved to find this great sea. It might be the ocean
sought by Columbus in vain, beyond which was the land of great riches
where people drank out of golden cups. So he collected some two hundred
men and started forth on an expedition full of doubt and danger. He
had to lead his troops, worn with fatigue and disease, through deep
marshes rendered impassable with heavy rains, over mountains covered
with trackless forest, and through defiles from which the Indians
showered down poisoned arrows.
At last, led by native guides, Balboa and his men struggled up the
side of a high mountain. When near the top he bade his men stop. He
alone must be the first to see the great sight that no European had
yet beheld. With "transports of delight" he gained the top and, "silent
upon a peak in Darien," he looked down on the boundless ocean, bathed
in tropical sunshine. Falling on his knees, he thanked God for his
discovery of the Southern Sea. Then he called up his men. "You see
here, gentlemen and children mine, the end of our labours."
The notes of the "Te Deum" then rang out on the still summer air, and,
having made a cross of stones, the little party hurried to the shore.
Finding two canoes, they sprang in, crying aloud joyously that they
were the first Europeans to sail on the new sea, whilst Balboa himself
plunged in, sword in hand, and claimed possession of the Southern Ocean
for the King of Spain. The natives told him that the land to the south
was _without end_, and that it was possessed by powerful nations who
had abundance of gold. And Balboa thought this referred to the Indies,
knowing nothing as yet of the riches of Peru.
[Illustration: ONE OF THE FIRST MAPS OF THE PACIFIC. From Diego
Ribero's map, 1529.]
It is melancholy to learn that the man who made this really great
discovery was publicly hanged four years later in Darien. But his news
had reached Magellan. There was then a great Southern Ocean beyond
the New World. He was more certain than ever now that by this sea he
could reach the Spice Islands. Moreover, he persuaded the young King
of Spain that his country had a right to these valuable islands, and
promised that he would conduct a fleet round the south of the great
new continent westward to these islands. His proposal was accepted
by Charles V., and the youthful Spanish monarch provided Spanish ships
for the great enterprise. The voyage was not popular, the pay was low,
the way unknown, and in the streets of Seville the public crier called
for volunteers. Hence it was a motley crew of some two hundred and
eighty men, composed of Spaniards, Portuguese, Genoese, French,
Germans, Greeks, Malays, and one Englishman only. There were five
ships. "They are very old and patched," says a letter addressed to
the King of Portugal, "and I would be sorry to sail even for the Canaries
in them, for their ribs are soft as butter."
Magellan hoisted his flag on board the _Trinidad_ of one hundred and
ten tons' burden. The largest ship, _S. Antonio_, was captained by
a Spaniard--Cartagena; the _Conception_, ninety tons, by Gaspar
Quesada; the _Victoria_ of eighty-five tons, who alone bore home the
news of the circumnavigation of the world, was at first commanded by
the traitor Mendoza; and the little _Santiago_, seventy-five tons,
under the brother of Magellan's old friend Serrano.
What if the commander himself left a young wife and a son of six months
old? The fever of discovery was upon him, and, flying the Spanish flag
for the first time in his life, Magellan, on board the _Trinidad_,
led his little fleet away from the shores of Spain. He never saw wife
or child again. Before three years had passed all three were dead.
Carrying a torch or faggot of burning wood on the poop, so that the
ships should never lose sight of it, the _Trinidad_ sailed onwards.
"Follow the flagship and ask no questions."
Such were his instructions to his not too loyal captains.