h intervenes between
America and Asia. At the same time he was informed there was a country
to the southward where gold was in common use, and of as little value
among the people as iron among the Spaniards. As gold was what the
Spaniards most desired, we can imagine how they rejoiced over such
information.

The rich country of which Balboa was thus informed was later known as
Peru. Balboa himself did not attempt its discovery. There was no lack,
however, of those who wished to achieve fame and fortune by so doing.
Among other restless spirits who had been attracted to the New World,
was Francisco Pizarro. He had been associated with Balboa in founding
the settlement of Darien, and, of course, he was among the first to hear
of the marvelous country farther south. In 1518, Panama, on the Pacific
coast, was made the seat of government for the Spaniards in that section
of the country. Pizarro was one of the first there--his services had
been rewarded by the grant of an estate. The historian of his expedition
speaks of him as "one of the principal men of the land, possessing his
house, his farm, and his Indians."<1> We need not doubt but what he
often pondered over his knowledge of the rich country south. He was well
acquainted with Indian character, and knew that a small band of resolute
Europeans, possessed of fire-arms, could sweep every thing before them.

He could not endure the quiet life on his estate, and so he obtained
from the governor permission to explore the coast of the South Sea to
the eastward. He spent a large part of his fortune on a good ship and
the necessary supplies for the voyage, and finally set sail from Panama
in November of 1524. It needed a man of no common spirits to withstand
the disappointments of the next few years. In less than a year this ship
returned to Panama for reinforcements. Pizarro himself and a few of his
men remained at a place not very far from Panama. Here he was joined
by reinforcements under Almagro. Undismayed by his first experience,
he again sailed southward along the coast. Xeres's brief account is as
follows: "When they thought they saw signs of habitations, they went
on shore in their canoes they had with them, rowed by sixty men, and so
they sought for provisions. They continued to sail in this way for three
years, suffering great hardships from hunger and cold. The greater
part of the crew died of hunger, insomuch that there were not fifty
surviving. During all these