Seas_, determined to go thither; and being a man of courage,
though strongly dissuaded by several of his company, he marched on the
enterprize with 290 men. Leaving Darien on the first of September, and
taking some Indians along with him as guides, he marched directly across
the isthmus, sometimes without opposition, and having at other times to
fight his way. In a certain place called Careca, he found some negroes
with curled hair, who were captives among the Indians. At length, on the
25th of the same month of September, being the festival of St Michael, he
came in sight of the South Sea: He there embarked in a canoe, much
against the will of _Chiapes_, the cacique of that part of the coast, who
endeavoured to persuade him that the navigation was very dangerous; but
he persisted in his design, that he might be the first who had navigated
this new discovered sea, and came back in safety. He returned thence to
Darien, bringing with him a good store of gold, silver, and pearls, which
he had taken during the march; and for this good service, he was much
honoured and favoured by King Ferdinand.

In February 1513, Alphonsus de Albuquerque went from Goa towards the
Straits of Mecca with twenty ships, and arriving at the city of Aden,
battered it with his cannon, and passing the Straits entered the Red Sea,
and wintered at the island of Camaran. This was the _first_ Portuguese
captain who gave an account of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, which
are of great importance in regard to trade.

In May 1514, Pedro Arias de Avila was sent out from St Lucar, as governor
of Castilia del Oro, or the Golden Castile, for so the Spaniards named
the countries of Darien, Carthagena, and Uraba. He carried with him
fifteen hundred men and seven ships; and Vasco Nunnes de Balboa, who
discovered the South Seas, was sent out at the same time as admiral of
the coasts of that newly discovered sea. In the beginning of the year
1515, de Avila sent Gaspar Morales with 150 men to the Gulf of St Michael,
to discover the islands of Tararequi[27], Chiapes, and Tumaccus. A
cacique, the friend of Balboa, gave him many canoes, or boats made of one
tree, with which they passed to the Isle of Pearls, where they were at
first resisted; but Chiapes and Tumaccus pacified the cacique of that
island, who submitted himself, and received baptism, taking the name of
the governor, Pedro Arias, and presented Morales with a basket of pearls
weighing 110 pounds, some of