Taking some Indians as guides, Balboa pushed on through the mountains, and on September 25, 1513, from one of the highest peaks, looked down upon the Pacific Ocean.
With his Spaniards he descended the mountain, and in four days reached the shore of that magnificent body of water. Balboa waded out into it with his sword in his hand, and formally took possession of it for the King of Spain. He called it the South Sea, because he was looking toward the south when he first saw it; and the Pacific Ocean was known by this name for many years afterward.
On this shore he met an Indian who repeated to him the same story that the Indian boy had told about the rich country on the border of this sea and farther to the south.
Balboa then made up his mind to find this country. Accordingly he returned to Darien, and sent word to the Spanish king of his great discovery of the South Sea.
He then began to take his ships apart, and to send them, piece by piece, across the mountains to the Pacific coast.
This was an enormous undertaking. The journey was a very difficult one, and hundreds of the poor Indians who carried the burdens dropped dead from exhaustion.
At length, after long months of labor, four ships were thus carried across the mountains and rebuilt on the Pacific coast. These were the first European vessels ever launched on the great South Sea. Three hundred men were in readiness to go with Balboa on his voyage in search of the rich country of the South.
A little iron and a little pitch were still needed for the ships, and Balboa delayed his departure in order to get these articles.
The delay gave his enemies, who were jealous because of his success, time to carry out a plot against him. They accused him of plotting to set up an independent government of his own, and caused him to be arrested for treason. In less than twenty-four hours this brave and high-spirited leader was tried, found guilty, and beheaded. So ended all his ambitious plans.