Vasco Nuñez de Balboa

by Frederick A. Ober

"Go back to your settlement," continued the young cacique, "there to prepare for a journey of many days. Select your stoutest and bravest soldiers, and provide them well with food and weapons. Then return to us, and we will furnish you guides. My father's warriors will go with you; but of yourselves, as I said, you should be a thousand strong—no less than that—for we shall meet hosts of warriors, some of them cannibals, who eat the flesh of men, and all of them fierce fighters, such as those of the cacique Tubanamá, in whose province is gold beyond measure. Stay, I will send for one of my men who was once a captive to Tubanamá, and he will tell you the same."

The quick-witted cacique had seen distrust lurking in Balboa's eyes, and, indeed, the Spanish commander conceived this might be but a scheme to get him out of Comogre's country and into the mountains, where he might be swallowed up in the wilderness and never return to the colony, which would be attacked by the Indians and destroyed. But the former captive of Tubanamá, who was questioned separately from the young cacique, confirmed the latter's story in every particular, and verified his account of gold which might be found in all the streams, as well as accumulated in the cacique's treasuries.

Then Balboa, says one who was near him and saw the journal he wrote with his own hand, was transported by the prospect of glory and fortune which opened before him. He believed himself already at the gates of the East Indies, which was the desired object of the government and the discoverers of that period. He resolved to return, in the first place, to Darien, to raise the spirits of his companions there with these brilliant hopes, and to make all possible preparations for realizing them. He remained, nevertheless, yet a few days with the caciques, and so warm was the friendship he contracted with them that they and their families were baptized, Careta taking in baptism the name of Fernando, and Comogre that of Carlos. Balboa then returned to Darien, rich in the spoils of Ponca, rich in the presents of his friends, and still richer in the golden hopes which the future offered him.

Darien was in sore straits when, elated with his several victories, Balboa marched into the settlement at the head of his little army. Notoriously improvident as they were, the Spaniards had planted, notwithstanding, a large tract with maize, or Indian-corn, and were looking forward to gathering a harvest, when down from the mountains swept a torrent, accompanied by a tempest with thunder and lightning, and in an hour their fields were totally ruined. Starvation stared them in the face, but about this time the regidor, Valdivia, who had been sent to Santo Domingo by Balboa, with gold for Diego Columbus, returned in a small vessel well laden with provisions.

These stores were soon consumed, and Valdivia returned to the island, bearing a rich present for Don Diego and fifteen thousand crowns in gold for King Ferdinand. This amount of gold, it was estimated, was due the sovereign as the royal fifth, which was exacted from all treasure obtained in America. As there was frequent communication between Santo Domingo and Spain, and as, moreover, Don Diego Columbus was viceroy over the islands, and Terra Firma as well, it was proper and politic to send the treasure by the hands of the admiral. The latter had sent abundant promises of aid, but, though Balboa represented that it was necessary for him to have at least a thousand men as a reinforcement, it is not on record that he ever got them. He had in mind the invasion of the country contiguous to the great sea, which, Comogre's son had told him, would demand more than a thousand soldiers, fully armed and equipped. Failing to interest Don Diego in the scheme, Valdivia was instructed to sail from Santo Domingo for Spain and lay it before the king, who, in view of the large amount of gold remitted, might feel inclined to accede to his modest request.

Valdivia sailed from Antigua del Darien, bearing with him the king's fifth, and charged with Balboa's message, which was emphasized by a startling statement that unless the needed troops were despatched without delay, he should be obliged, in self-defence, to exterminate all the caciques on the isthmus. He had already, he wrote, slain thirty caciques, mainly with his own hand, and "must in like manner destroy every one he should capture, as the small number of his troops left him no alternative." We may probably take this message as evidence, rather, of Balboa's skill with the "long bow," already alluded to, than of the slaughter he committed with more potent weapons, for he certainly possessed a vivid imagination.

Valdivia, the regidor, sailed for the island and Spain, but was never heard of more, and it is probable that his ship went down with all on board. With him, also, went the fifteen thousand pieces of gold, besides other sums, sent by Balboa and his men to satisfy their creditors in Santo Domingo. Truly, an evil genius pursued him, he was prone to say, for, labor as he might, he could not make head against his adverse fortune. Greater opportunities were given him, perhaps, than to any man then living since the days of Columbus, and it cannot be truly said that he did not improve them to the utmost; but every great endeavor of his came to naught. He was ardent and generous, and he was sane, save where his passions were concerned. His command over men was a marvel to all who knew him, and there was not a soldier in his command who would hesitate to follow him anywhere. He never told his men to go, but always asked them to come, for he was ever in the forefront of battle, and the more desperate the enterprise, the more anxious was he to take part in it and assume the leadership.

Life in the settlement irked him greatly, says his Spanish biographer, and although it was essential to its peace and prosperity that he should stay in it a certain length of time, in order to place the town in a posture of defence and encourage the waning spirits of the settlers, his active and enterprising disposition would allow him no rest. He had desired to go in person to present his cause to the court, but his fellow-settlers would not hear of it. They were already sadly distressed by their losses, through the inimical effects of the climate and the repeated attacks of the Indians, and there seemed to be no one but Balboa who could hold them where they were. What they had really gained was very little, since their harvests were washed away by the floods, and the gold they had acquired was useless, without marts in which to purchase the things they most required to sustain life.

In order to keep them from seizing a vessel and departing for more attractive regions, Balboa conceived the plan of invading the dominions of Dobaybe, which lay around the head of the gulf, and contiguous to the cannibal country on its eastern boundary. He was obliged to await the return of Valdivia with reinforcements, if he would invade the great and opulent region beyond the mountains, but meanwhile there came to him information of a character that fanned to a flame the slumbering desire to achieve a great discovery. An Indian was brought to him one morning, who said he was the subject of a great cacique living in a golden realm of the interior about one hundred miles from Darien. Its capital was situated on the bank of the very river that emptied itself, by many mouths, into the Gulf of Urabá. Its riches were prodigious, and it derived its name from a wondrous goddess of most ancient times, who, according to Indian tradition, was the mother of the god who had created the sun, the moon, and the stars. She also controlled the elements, he said, sending great storms, with thunder and lightning, which destroyed the habitations of those who did not worship her fervently, but rewarding those who did with abundant crops and success in battle. According to some, this goddess had been at one time an Indian princess, whose capital was in the mountains of Dobaybe, and in whose memory, after her death, a temple had been erected containing a golden idol, which was still worshipped by the natives. Both temple and idol were made of gold, and to the holy shrine it was the wont of Indians far and near to make annual pilgrimages, for the purpose of making offerings of their wealth. Thus, in the course of centuries, the golden temple had become filled with treasure of inestimable value. Its walls were adorned with plates of gold, and its vaults filled with the precious metal, veins of which radiated from them to the various mines with which the region abounded.

The idol and the temple were of themselves sufficient to arouse the predatory instinct of the Spaniards; but not alone was their cupidity appealed to, for Balboa was informed that his old enemy Zemaco had retreated to the province of Dobaybe, and was engaged in arousing its cacique to resistance. Inflamed, then, by a lust for gold and their desire for revenge, the followers of Balboa volunteered so readily for the desperate enterprise that he had difficulty in retaining any able-bodied soldiers for the defence of the settlement. One hundred and seventy were finally selected, and embarking them in two brigantines, under command of himself and Colmenares, Balboa sailed up the gulf to the mouth of the river draining the golden country.