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TITLE: Balboa Discovers The Pacific
AUTHOR: Manuel Jose Quintana
DATE: 1513
SOURCE: America, Great Crisis in our History Told by
its Makers.
[THIS account of Balboa's expedition is taken from the famous "Lives of
Celebrated Spaniards," published in 1807.
Vasco Nunez de Balboa was of a noble but poor Spanish family. He made
his first visit to America in 1500 at twenty-five years of age. Some
years later he settled in Santo Domingo, but was forced to flee to escape
his creditors. He had himself smuggled in a cask on board a ship sailing
for Darien, where he became head of the new colony.
Balboa learned from the Indians of a vast sea lying to the south and
west, and of a land on the shores of this great sea where gold was so
plentiful that the people used it instead of pottery. This was the first
word to reach the Spaniards of the riches of the Incas.
In September, 1513, Balboa started on his search for the great sea. On
the 25th of the month, after an adventurous journey, he looked down from
a mountain top on the vast waters of the Pacific Ocean.]
BALBOA was transported by the prospect of glory and fortune which opened
before him; he believed himself already at the gates of the East Indies,
which was the desired object of the government and the discoverers of
that period; he resolved to return in the first place to the Darien to
raise the spirits of his companions with these brilliant hopes, and to
make all possible preparations for realizing them.
At this time, and after an absence of six months, arrived the magistrate
Valdivia, with a vessel laden with different stores; he brought likewise
great promises of abundant aid in provisions and men. The succors,
however, which Valdivia brought were speedily consumed; their seed,
destroyed in the ground by storms and floods, promised them no resource
whatever; and they returned to their usual necessitous state. Balboa then
consented to their extending their incursions to more distant lands, as
they had already wasted and ruined the immediate environs of Antigua, and
he sent Valdivia to Spain to apprise the admiral of the clew he had
gained to the South Sea, and the reported wealth of these regions. . . .
The tongue of land which divides the two Americas is not, at its utmost
width, above eighteen leagues, and in some parts becomes narrowed a
little more than seven. And, although from the port of Careta to the
point toward which the course of the Spaniards was directed was only
altogether six days' journey, yet they consumed upon it twenty; nor is
this extraordinary. The great cordillera of sierras which from north to
south crosses the new continent, a bulwark against the impetuous assaults
of the Pacific Ocean, crosses also the Isthmus of Darien, or, as may be
more properly said, composes it wholly, from the wrecks of the rocky
summits which have been detached from the adjacent lands; and the
discoverers, therefore, were obliged to open their way through
difficulties and dangers which men of iron alone could have fronted and
overcome. Sometimes they had to penetrate through thick entangled woods,
sometimes to cross lakes, where men and burdens perished miserably; then
a rugged hill presented itself before them; and next, perhaps, a deep and
yawning preci pice to descend; while, at every step, they were opposed by
deep and rapid rivers, passable only by means of frail barks, or slight
and trembling bridges; from time to time they had to make their way
through opposing Indians, who, though always conquered, were always to be
dreaded; and, above all, came the failure of provisions -- which formed
an aggregate, with toil, anxiety, and danger, such as was sufficient to
break down bodily strength and depress the mind. . . .
At length the Quarequanos, who served as guides, showed them, at a
distance, the height from whose summit the desired sea might be
discovered. Balboa immediately commanded his squadron to halt, and
proceeded alone to the top of the mountain; on reaching it he cast an
anxious glance southward, and the Austral Ocean broke upon his sight.
Overcome with joy and wonder, he fell on his knees, extending his arms
toward the sea, and with tears of delight, offered thanks to heaven for
having destined him to this mighty discovery. He immediately made a sign
to his companions to ascend, and, pointing to the magnificent spectacle
extended before them, again prostrated himself in fervent thanksgiving to
God. The rest followed his example, while the astonished Indians were
extremely puzzled to understand so sudden and general an effusion of
wonder and gladness. Hannibal on the summit of the Alps, pointing out to
his soldiers the delicious plains of Italy, did not appear, according to
the ingenious comparison of a contemporary writer, either more
transported or more arrogant than the Spanish chief, when, risen from joy
had deprived him, and thus addressed his Castilians: "You behold before
you, friends, the object of all our desires and the reward of all our
labors. Before you roll the waves of the sea which has been announced to
you, and which no doubt encloses the immense riches we have heard of. You
are the first who have reached these shores and these waves; yours are
their treasures, yours alone the glory of reducing these immense and
unknown regions to the dominion of our King and to the light of the true
religion. Follow me, then, faithful as hitherto, and I promise you that
the world shall not hold your equals in wealth and glory."
All embraced him joyfully and all promised to follow whithersoever he
should lead. They quickly cut down a great tree, and, stripping it of its
branches, formed a cross from it, which they fixt in a heap of stones
found on the spot from whence they first descried the sea. The names of
the monarchs of Castile were engraven on the trunks of the trees, and
with shouts and acclamations they descended the sierra and entered the
plain. . . .
In the meanwhile he sent Francisco Pizarro, Juan de Ezcarag, and Alonzo
Martin to discover the shortest roads by which the sea might be reached.
It was the last of these who arrived first at the coast, and, entering a
canoe which chanced to lie there, and pushing it into the waves, let it
float a little while, and, after pleasing himself with having been the
first Spaniard who entered the South Sea, returned to seek Balboa.
Balboa with twenty-six men descended to the sea, and arrived at the
coast early in the evening of the 29th of that month; they all seated
themselves on the shore and awaited the tide, which was at that time on
the ebb. At length it returned in its violence to cover the spot where
they were; then Balboa, in complete armor, lifting his sword in one hand,
and in the other a banner on which was painted an image of the Virgin
Mary with the arms of Castile at her feet, raised it, and began to march
into the midst of the waves, which reached above his knees, saying in a
loud voice: "Long live the high and mighty sovereigns of Castile! Thus in
their names do I take possession of these seas and regions; and if any
other prince, whether Christian or infidel, pretends any right to them, I
am ready and resolved to oppose him, and to assert the just claims of my
sovereigns."
The whole band replied with acclamations to the vow of their captain,
and expressed themselves determined to defend, even to death, their
acquisition against all the potentates in the world; they caused this act
to be confirmed in writing, by the notary of the expedition, Andres de
Valderrabano; the anchorage in which it was solemnized was called the
Gulf of San Miguel, the event happening on that day.
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