Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

Pedrarias appointed governor of Darien.

Balboa's first care was to fend information to Spain of the important difcovery which he had made; and to demand a reinforcement of a thousand men, in order to attempt the conqueft of that opulent country, concerning which he had received fuch inviting intelligence. The firft account of the discovery of the New World hardly occafioned greater joy, than the unexpected tidings, that a paffage was at laft found to the great fouthern ocean. The communication with the Eaft - Indies, by a course to the weftward of the line of demarcation, drawn by the Pope, feemed now to be certain. The vaft wealth which flowed into Portugal from its fettlements and conquefts in that country, excited the envy and called forth the emulation of other ftates. Ferdinand hoped now to come in for a fhare in this lucrative commerce, and in his eagerness to obtain it, was willing to make an effort beyond what Balboa required. But even in this exertion, his jealous policy, as well as the fatal antipathy of Fonfeca, now bishop of Burgos, to every man of merit who diftinguifhed himself in the New World, were confpicuous. Notwithstanding Balboa's recent fervices, which marked him out as the moft proper perfon to finish that great undertaking which he had begun, Ferdinand was fo ungenerous as to overlook these, and to appoint Pedrarias Davila governor of Darien,

He gave

him the command of fifteen ftout veffels, and twelve hundred foldiers. These were fitted out at the publick expence, with a liberality which Ferdinand had never difplayed in any former armament deftined for the New World; and fuch was the ardour of the Spanish gentlemen to follow a leader who was about to conduct them to a country, where, as fame reported, they had only to throw their nets into the fea and draw out gold, g) that fifteen hundred embarked on board the fleet, and if they had not been restrained, a much greater number would have engaged in the fervice. h)

Pedrarias reached the gulf of Darien without any remarkable accident, and immediately fent fome of his principal officers afhore, to inform Balboa of his arrival, with the king's commiffion, to be governor of the colony. To their aftonishment, they found Balboa, of whofe great exploits they had heard fo much, and of whose opulence they had formed fuch high ideas, clad in a canvas jacket, and wearing coarfe hempen fandals used only by the meanest peasants, employed together with fome Indians, in thatching his own hut with reeds. Even in this fimple garb, which corresponded fo ill with the expectation and wifhes of his new guefts, Balboa received them with dignity.

g) Herrera, dec. 1. lib. x. c. 14.

h) Ibid. dec. 1. lib. x. c. 6, 7. P. Martyr, dec. p. 177. 296. ROBERTSON. Tom. I. S

The fame of his difcoveries had drawn fo many adventurers from the iflands, that he could now mufter four hundred and fifty men. At the head of those daring veterans, he was more than a match for the forces which Pedrarias

brought with him. But though his troops murmured loudly at the injuftice of the king in fuperfeding their commander, and complained that ftrangers would now reap the fruits of their toil and fuccefs, Balboa fubmitted with implicit obedience to the will of his fovereign, and received Pedrarias with all the deference due to his character. i)

Diffenfion between him and Balboa,

Notwithstanding this moderation to which Pedrarias owed the peaceable poffeffion of his government, he appointed a judicial inquiry to be made into Balboa's conduct, while under the command of Nicueffa; and impofed a confiderable fine upon him, on account of the irregularities of which he had then been guilty. Balboa felt fenfibly the mortification of being fubjected to trial and to punishment in a place where he had fo lately occupied the firft ftation. Pedrarias could not conceal his jealoufy of his fuperior merit; fo that the refentment of the one, and the envy of the other, gave rise to diffenfions extremely detrimental to the colony.

i) Herreras, dec. I. lib, x. c. 13. 14.

It was treatened with a calamity ftill more fatal. Pedrarias had landed in Darien at a moft unlucky time of the year, (July 1514.) about the middle of the rainy season, in that part of the torrid zone where the clouds pour down fuch torrents as are unknown in more temperate climates. k) The village of Santa

Maria was feated in a rich plain, environed with marfhes and woods. The conftitution of Europeans was unable to withstand the peftilential influence of fuch a fituation, in a climate naturally fo noxious, and at a feafon fo peculiarly unhealthy. A violent and deftructive malady carried off many of the foldiers who accompanied Pedrarias. An extreme fcarcity of provifions augmented this diftrefs, as it rendered it impoffible to find proper refreshment for the fick, or the neceffary fuftenance for the healthy. 1) In the fpace of a month above fix hundred perfons perifhed in the utmost mifery. Dejection and despair spread through the colony. Many principal perfons folicited their difmiffion, and were glad to relinquifh all their = hopes of wealth, in order to escape from that pernicious region. Pedrarias endeavoured to divert those who remained from brooding over their misfortunes, by finding them employment. With this view, he fent feveral detachments

S 2

k) Richard Hift. Naturelle de l'Air, tom. i. P. 204.
1) Herrera, dec. 1. lib. x. c. 14. P. Martyr, dec. 272.

into the interior parts of the country, to levy gold among the natives, and to fearch for the mines in which it was produced. Thofe rapa

cious adventurers, more attentive to prefent gain than to the means of facilitating their fu ture progrefs, plundered without diftinction wherever they marched. Regardless of the alliances which Balboa had made with feveral of the caziques, they ftripped them of every thing valuable, and treated them, as well as their fubjects, with the utmost infolence and cruelty. By their tyranny and exactions, which Pedrarias, either from want of authority or of inelination, did not reftrain, all the country from the gulf of Darien to the lake of Nicaragua was defolated, and the Spaniards were inconfiderately deprived of the advantages which they might have derived from the friendfhip of the natives, in extending their conquefts to the South Sea. Balboa, who faw with concern that fuch ill-judged proceedings retarded the execution of his favourite scheme, fent violent remonftrances to Spain against the imprudent government of Pedrarias, which had ruined a happy and flourishing colony, Pedrarias, on the other hand, accufed him of having deceived the king, by magnifying his own exploits, as well as by a falfe reprefentation of the opulence and value of the country.m)

[ocr errors]

m) Herrera, dec. 1. lib. x, c. 15, dec. 2. c. 1, &c. Gomara, c. 66. P. Martyr. dec. 3. c. 10. Relacion de B. de las Cafas, p. 12.

« ElőzőTovább »