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[1509-1516 A.D.]

adventurer who had coveted immeasurable wealth and had hoped for perpetual youth. The discoverer of Florida had desired immortality on earth, and gained its shadow.

LATER EXPLORERS OF THE COAST

Meantime, commerce may have discovered a path to Florida; and Diego Miruelo, a careless sea-captain, sailing from Havana in 1516, is said to have approached the coast, and trafficked with the natives. He could not tell distinctly in what harbour he had anchored1; he brought home specimens of gold, obtained in exchange for toys; and his report swelled the rumours, already credited, of the wealth of the country. Florida had at once obtained a governor; it now constituted a part of a bishopric.

BALBOA DISCOVERER OF THE PACIFIC (1513 A.D.)

Attempts were made, at this period, to conquer and settle on the coast of Carthagena and Darien. In 1509, John de Esquibel had been sent by Diego Columbus from Santo Domingo to form the first settlement in Jamaica, to which Alonzo de Ojeda laid a claim, and threatened to hang Esquibel.

During the following year, Ojeda and John de la Cosa, who had received a licence to capture and take possession of Veragua, Carthagena, and other western countries, sailed from Santo Domingo, landed on the continent, and had several conflicts with the natives, who were a bolder and more advanced race than the aborigines of Hayti. In one attack seventy Spaniards were killed, and the remainder wounded with poisoned arrows. Ojeda and Cosas were saved by the arrival of another adventurer, Nicuesa, with four ships. The latter attacked the natives, burned their town, in which they found a large store of gold, and taking a number of prisoners sent them as slaves to work in the mines of Hayti. Among the commanders of these vessels was Francis Pizarro, whom Ojeda left at St. Sebastian, the place where he fixed upon for a settlement. The latter entered into an agreement with an outlaw, or pirate, to take him in his vessel to Santo Domingo. The pirate's vessel was wrecked on the coast of Cuba, from whence they escaped to Jamaica in a canoe. The pirate was there apprehended and hanged. Pizarro was obliged to leave St. Sebastian, and escaped with a few men to Carthagena - where Enciso, with two ships, arrived from Santo Domingo. Pizarro and Enciso then proceeded to St. Sebastian, where they were shipwrecked, and, on landing, found the place entirely destroyed by the natives. They saved, from the wrecks, provisions, arms, and various articles, and proceeded to re-establish themselves at St. Sebastian, but they were reduced to great extremities by the attacks of the natives, and by the scanty supply of food.

One of the most remarkable men among the explorers of America accompanied this expedition. This person was Vasquez [or Vasco] Nuñez de Balboa, [a bankrupt farmer], who had formerly sailed with Bastidas on his voyage of discovery. He had obtained a settlement at Hayti; but having been accused of some excesses, for which he was to have been executed, he escaped by being concealed on board Enciso's ship in a bread cask. He ventured after a day to make his appearance. Enciso was enraged, as he had been warned not to take any one but those on his muster-roll, from Hayti; but the principal persons on board interceded for Nuñez, and he was consequently

['It was probably Pensacola Bay.]

[1513 A.D.] protected. He was afterwards almost the only person at St. Sebastian who had not absolutely given himself up to despair. Enciso was rallied and encouraged by Nuñez, by whose energy the stranded vessels were at last got afloat, and they sailed, according to the advice of Nuñez, to where he had seen a town, when he had made the voyage with Bastidas. They, accordingly, steered for the river Darien, and found the place and country such as both were described by Nuñez. They marched against the cacique and his people, attacked and put them to flight - found in the town, which was immediately deserted, abundance of provisions, also cotton, spun and unspun, household goods of various kinds, and more than the value of $10,000 in gold plates. The success of this adventure being justly attributed to Nuñez, his reputation became great. He deprived Enciso, who bore him no good will from the first, of all authority; gained, by his boldness, the confidence of the Spaniards, and founded the settlement of Santa Maria. Nuñez established his authority and retained his power in Darien, and the country then called Castell d'Oro, by gaining over, or defeating, the chi fs of the country, by buying, with the gold he sent to Santo Domingo, the authorities there over to his interest, and by his superior fertility of resources under the most difficult circumstances.

In the middle of September, 1513, having been informed of rich and vast regions to the southwest, stretching along a great ocean which was not far distant, he departed from Santa Maria, accompanied by the afterwards celebrated Francis Pizarro,1 on an expedition in which, after some desperate conflicts with the natives, he advanced so far, on the 25th of September, as to behold, lying broad in view, the great Pacific Ocean [which he named the South Sea, or Mar del Sur - it was Magellan who gave it its name of Pacific Ocean].

Nuñez possessed the manner and ability of making himself beloved by his companions and followers. He was kind to the sick and the wounded, and shared the same fatigues and the same food as the humblest soldier. Before reaching the shores of the Pacific, he was opposed by Chiapes, the cacique of the country; who, however, was soon routed, and several of the natives killed by fire-arms, or torn by blood-hounds, those powerful auxiliaries of the Spanish conquerors in America. Nuñez then made peace with them — exchanging trinkets of little cost for gold to the value of four thousand pieces. Pizarro was then sent in advance to view the coast, and two others proceeded, on different routes, to find the nearest way from the heights to the sea. Nuñez followed as soon as he could bring up the sick and wounded. On reaching the shore, he walked, with his armour on, into the sea, until the water reached his middle, and then performed solemnly the ceremony of taking possession, in the name of the crown of Castile, of the ocean which he had discovered.

Before attempting further discoveries, he considered it prudent to return from the Pacific, and arrived at Santa Maria about the end of January, 1513, with the gold and pearls he had collected, and which he distributed fairly among the soldiers, deducting one fifth for the king. IIe immediately sent the king's share of gold and pearls and all his own to Spain by an agent. On arriving at Seville, this agent applied first to the bishop of Burgos, who was delighted at the sight of the gold and pearls. The bishop sent him to the king, and used all his influence with Ferdinand, who entertained a strong aversion to Nuñez de Balboa.

The bishop of Burgos had, previous to the arrival of the agent with treasures from Nuñez, counselled the king to supersede him by one of the worst characters in Spain. Instead of confirming Nuñez de Balboa in the govern

['Pizarro's conquest of Peru will be found treated in our history of that country.]

[1514-1517 A.D.]

ment of the countries he discovered and annexed to the crown of Castile, Ferdinand appointed Pedro Arias d'Avila, or, as the Spanish writers, by contracting the first name, call him, Pedrarias, governor of Castell d'Oro. Haughty and ignorant, he was a master of the arts of oppression, violence, and fraud. He left Spain in April, 1514, with a fleet of fifteen ships, two thousand troops, a bishop, John de Quevedo, and numerous greedy and rapacious followers of noble birth; among others, Enciso, the enemy of Nuñez. On their arrival at Santa Maria, they were received by Nuñez with great respect. They found the latter inhabiting a small house, in simple attire, living on the most frugal diet, and drinking no other liquid than water; while he had, at the same time, a strong fort with four hundred and fifty brave soldiers faithfully attached to him. That he was ambitious, and did severe things to obtain that power which he was never known to abuse, is admitted. His accounts and statements were clear, and he had annexed the country, between the Atlantic and the sea which he had discovered, to the crown of Spain. Pedrarias imprisoned this great man, and sent strong representations against him to Spain.

There were, however, some honest men among those brought over by Pedrarias, who sent a true account of Nuñez to the king; and the latter formally expressed his approbation of the conduct of the late governor, and appointed him lord-lieutenant of the countries of the South Seas, directing also that Pedrarias should act by the advice of his predecessor.

On the king's letters arriving from Spain, they were suppressed by Pedrarias, who, in the meantime, by his perfidy and cruel exactions, brought the whole native population into hostility and revolt against the Spaniards. The bishop Quevedo then interfered, Nuñez was liberated, and, by his skill and demeanour, established tranquillity, and proceeded to the South Sea to build a town, which he in a short time accomplished, and was then recalled by Pedrarias. To the astonishment and horror of all the Spaniards, Nuñez was charged with treason1 by Pedrarias, and publicly beheaded, on the charge that he had invaded the domains of the crown, merely by cutting down, without the governor's licence, the trees used in erecting the town which he built.

His execution was declared a murder by the royal audienza of Santo Domingo; yet Pedrarias, whom the bishop of Chiapa described as the most wicked monster who was ever sent to America, continued for many years, by the king's will, to exercise his cruelty and injustice. Thus perished Nuñez de Balboa, in 1517, at the age of forty-four years, for having served his king with more fidelity than any of the Spanish conquerors; of whom, if we may except Cortes, he was the ablest; and whose character stands far higher than any of those who added new territories to the dominions of Spain.

Pedrarias removed to Panama, where he erected a palace. In his hostilities and cruelties to the caciques and the native tribes, he caused great destruction of life; and so ill-judged and planned were his enterprises that, in subduing one cacique, Uracca of the mountains, more Spanish lives were lost than during the whole conquest of Mexico by Cortes. The only important conquest made under Pedrarias was by Francis Hernandez of the territory of Nicaragua, to which the governor immediately repaired to take possession for himself. Jealous of Hernandez, as he was of Nuñez, he charged the former

['The charge of treason was not entirely false, as Balboa had planned to secede from the government and go on an independent voyage. He was also now re-accused of complicity in the murder of Nicuesa, who had been forced to go to sea in a rotten ship in 1511, and was never heard of again.]

[1517-1520 A.D.] with a design to revolt; which the latter, confident in his innocence, boldly denied. Pedrarias immediately ordered him to be executed: power was to be upheld by the immediate death, according to the maxim of this tyrant, of conquerors who were suspected. For this murder, equally barbarous as that of Nuñez, Pedrarias was not called to account.9

HERNANDEZ, GRIJALVA, GARAY, GOMEZ, AND NARVAEZ

Hernandez [or Fernandez] de Cordova had discovered the province of Yucatan and the bay of Campeachy, in 1517. At a place where he had landed for supplies of water, his company was suddenly assailed, and he himself mortally wounded. The pilot whom Fernandez had employed conducted another squadron to the same shores in 1518. The knowledge already acquired was extended, and under happier auspices; and Grijalva, the commander of the fleet, explored the coast from Yucatan towards Panuco. The masses of gold which he collected, the rumours of the empire of Montezuma, its magnificence and its extent, heedlessly confirmed by the costly presents of the unsuspecting natives, were sufficient to inflame the coldest imagination, and excited the enterprise of Cortes. The voyage did not reach the shores of Florida.1

But while Grijalva was opening the way to the conquest of Mexico, the line of the American coast, from the Tortugas to Panuco, is said to have been examined, yet not with care, by an expedition which was planned, if not conducted, by Francisco Garay, the governor of Jamaica. The general outline of the gulf of Mexico now became known. Garay encountered the determined hostility of the natives; a danger which eventually proved less disastrous to him than the rivalry of his own countrymen. The adventurers in New Spain would endure no independent neighbour: the governor of Jamaica became involved in a career which, as it ultimately tempted him to dispute the possession of a province with Cortes, led him to the loss of fortune and an inglorious death. The progress of discovery along the southern boundary of the United States was but little advanced by the expedition, of which the circumstances have been variously related.

A voyage for slaves brought the Spaniards still farther upon the northern coast. A company of seven, of whom the most distinguished was Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, fitted out two slave ships from Santo Domingo, in 1520, in quest of labourers for their plantations and mines. From the Bahama Islands they passed to the coast of South Carolina, a country which was called Chicora. The Combahee river received the name of the Jordan: the name of St. Helena, given to a cape, now belongs to the sound. The natives of this region had not yet had cause to fear Europeans; they were invited to visit the ships; they came in cheerful throngs; the decks were covered. Immediately the ships weighed anchor; the sails were unfurled, and the prows turned towards Santo Domingo. Husbands were torn from their wives, and children from their parents. The crime was unprofitable, and was finally avenged. One of the returning ships foundered at sea, and the guilty and guiltless perished; many of the captives in the other sickened and died.

The events that followed mark the character of the times. Vasquez, repairing to Spain, boasted of his expedition, as if it entitled him to reward, and the emperor, Charles V, acknowledged his claim. In those days the

The account of Cortes in Mexico will be found in our history of that country.] Garay's lieutenant Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda was in command, and in 1519 discovered the mouth of a great river, which is by many believed to be the Mississippi. It was at first called the Espiritu Santo on Garay's map of his province.]

[1523-1526 A.D.]

Spanish monarch conferred a kind of appointment [a cedula] which, however strange its character may appear, still has its parallel in history. Not only were provinces granted countries were distributed to be subdued; and Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon begged to be appointed to the conquest of Chicora. After long entreaty, he obtained his suit, June 12th, 1523.

The issue of the new and bolder enterprise was disastrous to the undertaker. He wasted his fortune in preparations; his largest ship was stranded in the river Jordan; many of his men were killed by the natives, whom wrongs had quickened to active resistance; he himself escaped only to suffer from wounded pride; and, conscious of having done nothing worthy of being remembered,' the sense of humiliation is said to have hastened his death, October 18th, 1526.

The love of adventure did not wholly extinguish the desire for maritime discovery. When Cortes was able to pause from his success in Mexico, and devise further schemes for ingratiating himself with the Spanish monarch, he proposed to solve the problem of a northwest passage- the secret which has so long baffled the enterprise of the most courageous and persevering navigators. He deemed the existence of the passage unquestionable, and, by simultaneous voyages along the American coast, on the Pacific, and on the Atlantic, he hoped to complete the discovery to which Sebastian Cabot had pointed the way.

The design of Cortes remained but the offer of loyalty. A voyage to the northwest was really undertaken in 1525 by Stephen Gomez, an experienced Portuguese naval officer, who had been with Magellan in the first memorable passage into the Pacific Ocean.2 The expedition was decreed by the council for the Indies, in the hope of discovering the northern route to India, which, notwithstanding it had been sought, for in vain, was yet universally believed to exist. His ship entered the bays of New York and New England; on old Spanish maps, that portion is marked as the land of Gomez. Failing to discover a passage, and fearful to return without success and without a freight, he filled his vessel with robust Indians, to be sold as slaves. Brilliant expectations had been raised; and the conclusion was esteemed despicably ludicrous. The Spaniards scorned to repeat their voyages to the cold and frozen north; in the south, and in the south only, they looked for, as Peter Martyr 9 said, "great and exceeding riches." The adventure of Gomez had no political results. It had been furthered by the enemies of Sebastian Cabot, who was, at that time, in the service of Spain; and it established the reputation of the Bristol mariner.

But neither the fondness of the Spanish monarch for extensive domains, nor the desire of the nobility for new governments, nor the passion of adventurers for undiscovered wealth would permit the abandonment of the conquest of Florida. Permission to invade that territory was next sought for and obtained by Pamphilo de Narvaez, the same person who had been sent by the jealous governor of Cuba to take Cortes prisoner, and who, after having declared him an outlaw, was himself easily defeated.

The territory, placed at the mercy of Narvaez, extended to the river of Palms; farther, therefore, to the west, than the territory which was afterwards included in Louisiana. His expedition was as unsuccessful as his

[His settlement of San Miguel was attempted in the region where the English later established Jamestown.]

[In our history of Portugal we have already described the first circumnavigation of the globe in 1519-21 by the companions of Fernão de Magelhães or Magellan, whose exploit belongs to Spanish glory as it was made by commission from the Spanish king.]

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