coast for some time, heard again of Peru, visited the Pearl
Islands, and thence returned to Darien, which he entered in triumph with a
great booty on the 18th of January 1514. He at once sent messengers to
Spain bearing presents, to give an account of his discoveries; and the
king, Ferdinand the Catholic, partly reconciled to his daring subject,
named him _Adelantado of the South Sea_, or admiral of the Pacific, and
governor of Panama and Coyba. None the less an expedition sailed from Spain
under Don Pedro Arias de Avila (generally called Pedrarias Davila) to
replace Balboa in the government of the Darien colony itself. Meanwhile the
latter had crossed the isthmus and revisited the Pacific several (some say
more than twenty) times; plans of the conquest of Peru and of the
exploration of the western ocean began to shape themselves in his mind; and
with a view to these projects, materials for shipbuilding were gathered
together upon the Pacific coast, and two light brigantines were built,
launched and armed. With these Vasco Nunez now took possession of the Pearl
Islands, and, had it not been for the weather, would have reached the coast
of Peru. But his career was stopped by the jealousy of Pedrarias, who
pretended that Balboa proposed to throw off his allegiance, and enticed him
to Acla, near Darien, by a crafty message. As soon as he had him in his
power, he threw [v.03 p.0242] him into prison, had him tried for treason,
and forced the judge to condemn him to death. The sentence was carried into
execution on the public square of Acla in 1517. From a reckless adventurer,
Balboa had developed into an able general, an excellent colonial
administrator, and a statesman of mature judgment and brilliant foresight.

See G. F. de Oviedo, _Historia general ... de las Indias_ (1526, bk. xxxix.
chs. 2, 3); D. M. T. Quintana, _Vidas de Espanoles celebres_; M. F. de
Navarrete, _Coleccion de los Viajes y Descubrimientos_ (1825-1837); J.
Acosta, _Compendio historico de la Nueva Granada_ (1848); O. Peschel,
_Geschichte der Erdkunde_ (1865, p. 237), and _Zeitalter der Entdeckungen_,
pp. 442-3 &c.; Washington Irving's _Voyages and Discoveries of the
Companions of Columbus_ (1831), and Varela's notes on the same in
_Biblioteca del Comercio del Plata_ (Monte Video); Ferdinand Denis, art.
"Vasco Nunez de Balboa," in _Nouv. Biog. Gen._

BALBRIGGAN, a market-town and seaport of Co. Dublin, Ireland, in the north
parliamentary division, 21-3/4