he
country among the neighbouring mountains, where they found houses
replenished with a great deal of cotton, both spun and unspun, plates
of gold in all to the value of ten thousand pieces of fine gold."

A trade in gold was set up by Balboa, who became governor of the new
colony formed by the Spaniards; but the greed of these foreigners quite
disgusted the native prince of these parts.

"What is this, Christians? Is it for such a little thing that you
quarrel? If you have such a love of gold, I will show you a country
where you may fulfil your desires. You will have to fight your way
with great kings whose country is distant from our country six suns."

So saying, he pointed away to the south, where he said lay a great
sea. Balboa resolved to find this great sea. It might be the ocean
sought by Columbus in vain, beyond which was the land of great riches
where people drank out of golden cups. So he collected some two hundred
men and started forth on an expedition full of doubt and danger. He
had to lead his troops, worn with fatigue and disease, through deep
marshes rendered impassable with heavy rains, over mountains covered
with trackless forest, and through defiles from which the Indians
showered down poisoned arrows.

At last, led by native guides, Balboa and his men struggled up the
side of a high mountain. When near the top he bade his men stop. He
alone must be the first to see the great sight that no European had
yet beheld. With "transports of delight" he gained the top and, "silent
upon a peak in Darien," he looked down on the boundless ocean, bathed
in tropical sunshine. Falling on his knees, he thanked God for his
discovery of the Southern Sea. Then he called up his men. "You see
here, gentlemen and children mine, the end of our labours."

The notes of the "Te Deum" then rang out on the still summer air, and,
having made a cross of stones, the little party hurried to the shore.
Finding two canoes, they sprang in, crying aloud joyously that they
were the first Europeans to sail on the new sea, whilst Balboa himself
plunged in, sword in hand, and claimed possession of the Southern Ocean
for the King of Spain. The natives told him that the land to the south
was _without end_, and that it was possessed by powerful nations who
had abundance of gold. And Balboa thought this referred to the Indies,
knowing nothing as yet of the riches of Peru.

[Illustration: ONE OF THE FIRST MAPS OF THE PACIFIC. From Diego