s voyage of discovery to
the western seas. He appears to have settled in Hispaniola, and took to
cultivating land in the neighbourhood of Salvatierra, but with no great
success, as his debts soon became oppressive. In 1509 the famous Ojeda
(Hojeda) sailed from San Domingo with an expedition and founded the
settlement of San Sebastian. He had left orders with Enciso, an adventurous
lawyer of the town, to fit out two ships and convey provisions to the new
settlement. Enciso set sail in 1510, and Balboa, whose debts made the town
unpleasant to him, managed to accompany him by concealing himself, it is
said, in a cask of "victuals for the voyage," which was conveyed from his
farm to the ship. The expedition reached San Sebastian to find Ojeda gone
and the settlement in ruins. While Enciso was undecided how to act, Balboa
proposed that they should sail for Darien, on the Gulf of Uraba, where he
had touched when with Bastidas. His proposal was accepted and a new town
was founded, named Sta Maria de la Antigua del Darien; but quarrels soon
broke out among the adventurers, and Enciso was deposed, thrown into prison
and finally sent off to Spain with Balboa's ally, the alcalde Zamudio.
Being thus left in authority, Balboa began to conquer the surrounding
country, and by his bravery, courtesy, kindness of heart and just dealing
gained the friendship of several native chiefs. On one of these excursions
he heard for the first time, from the cacique Comogre, of the ocean on the
other side of the mountains and of the gold of Peru. Soon after his return
to Darien he received letters from Zamudio, informing him that Enciso had
complained to the king, and had obtained a sentence condemning Balboa and
summoning him to Spain. In his despair at this message Vasco Nunez resolved
to attempt some great enterprise, the success of which he trusted would
conciliate his sovereign. On the 1st of September 1513 he set out with one
hundred and ninety Spaniards (Francisco Pizarro among them) and one
thousand natives; on the 25th or 26th of September he reached the summit of
the range, and sighted the Pacific. Pizarro and two others were sent on to
reconnoitre; one of these scouts, Alonzo Martin, was the first European
actually to embark upon the new-found ocean, in St Michael's Gulf. On the
29th of September Balboa himself arrived upon the shore, and formally took
possession of the "Great South Sea" in the name of the Spanish monarch. He
remained on the