as on one of
Enciso's ships, too, that his friend Vasco Nunez de Balboa, concealed in
a cask to avoid his creditors, escaped from Hispaniola and was conveyed
to Darien, thus getting his opportunity to cross the isthmus and to
discover the Pacific Ocean.

Enciso relates that a Spanish vessel, cruising off the southern coast of
Cuba, somewhere near Cape de la Cruz, put ashore a young mariner who had
fallen ill, so that he might have a better chance to recover from his
illness than he would on shipboard. The identity of this young man is
not assured, though it has been strongly suggested that he was no other
than Ojeda himself. However that may be, he found himself in his
convalescence the guest of a native chieftain or Cacique who professed
Christianity. The chief had presumably been visited by Ocampo's
expedition. He had been much impressed by the prowess and culture of the
Spaniards, and had desired to become affiliated with the religion which
they professed and to which he attributed their superiority to the
natives of Cuba. Hearing from them that they had been sent thither by
the Comendador Ovando--the Governor of Hispaniola was a Comendador of
the Order of Knights of Alcantara--he chose that title for his own
baptismal name, and was thenceforth known as the Cacique Comendador.

Pleased to find a Christian chief, and grateful for his own restoration
to health, Ojeda--if it was indeed he--erected in Comendador's house an
altar and placed thereon an image of the Holy Virgin, and instructed the
people to bow before it every evening and to repeat the "Ave, Maria!"
and "Salve, Regina!" This was pleasing to Comendador, but offensive to
the neighboring Caciques, who worshipped an idol which they called Cemi.
In consequence a primitive religious war arose among the natives, in
which, according to Enciso, Comendador and his followers were pretty
uniformly successful. His victories were attributed to the intervention
and aid of "a beautiful woman, clad in white, and carrying a wand."
Finally a test was agreed upon which reminds us of Elijah's Battle of
the Gods on the scathed crest of Mount Carmel. A representative warrior
of each party was to be bound securely, hand and foot, and be placed in
an open field for the night, and if one of them was set free from his
bonds, that would be proof of the superiority of his God. "The God who
looses his servant's bonds, let him be the Lord!" This was done, and
guards of both parties were