[IX-5] A strategy which continues through the centuries. 'The Indians, although offering no direct hostility, abandoned their villages at our approach.' Gisborne's Survey of Darien, London Geog. Soc., Jour., xxvii. 193.
[IX-6] Among the dogs which accompanied the expedition was one, the property of the commander, whose pedigree and physical and metaphysical traits and mighty deeds are minutely recorded by contemporary historians. His name was Leoncico, little lion, descendant of Becerrico, of the Island of San Juan. He was in color red with black snout, of medium size and extraordinary strength. In their foragings Leoncico counted as one man, and drew captain's pay and share of spoils. Upon these conditions his master frequently loaned him; and during the wars of Darien he gained for Vasco Nuñez more than one thousand pesos de oro. He was considered more efficient than the best soldier, and the savages stood in the greatest terror of him. He readily discriminated between wild and tame Indians. When a captive was missing from the fields, and Leoncico was told, 'He is gone; seek him!' the dog tracked the poor fugitive, and did not harm him if he returned quietly, but if the Indian resisted, the dog would destroy him. The hero of many a conflict, he was covered with wounds; but like Cæsar he escaped the wars to meet his death by treacherous hands. He was poisoned. See Oviedo, iii. 9-10.
[IX-7] Again a general difference occurs in an important date, and, according to my custom, I am governed by the authorities I deem most reliable. Oviedo follows the expedition from day to day, noting places and dates; and he says, iii. 10: 'Y un mártes, veynte é cinco de septiembre de aquel año de mill é quinientos y trece, á las diez horas del dia,' at 10 o'clock in the morning. So Gomara also writes, Hist. Ind., 77: 'Vio Valboa ala mar del Sur a los veynte y cinco del Setiembre del año de treze;' and Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iv. 109: 'Llegaron á la cumbre de las más altas sierras á 25 dias de Setiembre de dicho año de 1513;' and Herrera, i. x. i.: 'A veynte y cinco de Setiembre, deste año, de donde la mar se parecia.' Careful writers following these first authorities also name the day correctly, as Humboldt, Exam. Crit., i. 319, who says: 'Vasco Nuñez de Balboa vit la Mer du Sud, le 25 septembre 1513, du haut de la Sierra de Quarequa;' and Acosta, Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada, 50: 'Esto pasó el dia 25 de setiembre del año de 1513 poco antes de medio dia y forma una de las épocas notables en el descubrimiento de la América;' and Quintana, Vidas de Españoles Célebres, 'Balboa,' 20: '25 de setiembre;' and Chevalier, L'Isthme de Panama, 15: 'Le vingt-cinquième jour, le 25 septembre;' and Campbell, Hist. Span. Am., 23: 'the 25th of Septembre;' and Helps, Span. Conq., i. 361: '25th of September;' etc. In the face of which, Irving, Columbus, iii. 198, shows gross carelessness when he writes 'the 26th of September.' To support him he has Ramusio, who, Viaggi, iii. 29, falls into a mistake of Peter Martyr's, 'alli ventisei adunque di Settembre,' and Du Perier, Cen. Hist. Voy., 139, and, to copy his error, Dalton, Conq. Mex. and Peru, 43, and a host of others. Not quite so often mentioned as Columbus' voyages is this discovery of Vasco Nuñez, though nearly so. After Oviedo and Las Casas probably Peter Martyr gives the best original account. Herrera copied from all before him. The following popular accounts are most of them meagre and unreliable:—Nouvelles An. des Voy., cxlviii. 11-12; Goodrich's Man upon the Sea, 201-8; Voyages, New Col., i. 180-6; World Displayed, i. 153-9; Monson's Tracts, in Churchill's Voy., iii. 372; March y Labores, Marina Española, i. 413-50; Dufey, Résumé Hist. Am., i. 75-86; Gottfriedt, Newe Welt, 239-41; Juarros, Guat., 122; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, 66-72; Ogilby's Am., 69-72; Norman's Hist. Cal., 10-11; Patton's Hist. U. S., 11; Pim's Gate of Pacific, 99; Hazlitt's Gold Fields, 3; Roberts' Nar. Voy., xx.; Isth. Panama, 5; Humboldt, Essai Pol., i. 17; Lallement, Geschichte, i. 25; Bidwell's Panamá, 23-7; Andagoya's Nar., 19; Galvano's Discov., 123-4; Cavanilles, Hist. España, v. 290-1; Greenhow's Mem., 22; Farnham's Adv., 119; Fédix, L'Orégon, 67-8; Span. Emp. in Am., 23; Burney's Discov. South Sea, i. 8-9; Niles' S. Am. and Mex., 14-15; Kerr's Col. Voy., ii. 67-8; Colton's Jour. Geog., no. 6, 84; Douglas' Hist. and Pol., 44; Holmes' Annals Am., i. 32-3; Inter-Oceanic Canal and Monroe Doct., 11; Hesperian, ii. 27-33; Lardner's Hist. Discov., ii. 40-1; Harper's Mag., xviii. 469-84; Macgregor's Prog. Am., i. 10-11; Mofras, L'Orégon, i. 88-9; Ovalle, Hist. Rel. Chile, in Pinkerton's Col., xiv. 142-4; Mesa y Leompart, Hist. Am., i. 88-94; Mavor's Am. Hist., xxiv. 52-5; Holinski, Cal., 62-4; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nvovo, 47-8; Morelli, Fasti Novi Orbis, 15; Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, i. 20.
[IX-8] The testimonial with the sixty-seven names attached, as given by Oviedo, iii. 11-12, is as follows:—'Diré aqui quién fueron los que se hallaron en este descubrimiento con el capitan Vasco Nuñez, porque fué servicio muy señalado, y es passo muy notable para estas historias, pues que fueron los chripstianos que primero vieron aquella mar, segund daba fée de ello Andrés de Valderrábano, que allí se halló, escribano real é natural de la villa de Sanct Martin de Valdeiglesias, el qual testimonio yo vi é lei, y el mismo escribano me lo enseñó. Y despues quando murió Vasco Nuñez, murió aqueste con él, y tambien vinieron sus escripturas á mi poder y aquesta decia desta manera:' Los cavalleros é hidalgos y hombres de bien que se hallaron en el descubrimiento de la mar del Sur, con el magnífico y muy noble señor el capitan Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, gobernador por Sus Altezas en la Tierra Firme, son los siguientes: 'Primeramente el señor Vasco Nuñez, y él fué el que primero de todos vido aquella mar é la enseñó á los infrascriptos. Andrés de Vera, clérigo; Françisco Piçarro; Diego Albitez; Fabian Perez; Bernardino de Morales; Diego de Texerina; Chripstóbal de Valdebuso; Bernardino de Cienfuegos; Sebastian de Grijalba; Françisco de Ávila; Johan de Espinosa; Johan de Velasco; Benito Buran; Andrés de Molina; Antonio de Baracaldo; Pedro de Escobar; Chripstóbal Daça; Françisco Pesado; Alonso de Guadalupe; Hernando Muñoz; Hernando Hidalgo; Johan Rubio de Malpartida; Álvaro de Bolaños; Alonso Ruiz; Françisco de Luçena; Martin Ruiz; Pasqual Rubio de Malpartida; Françisco Gonçalez de Guadalcama; Françisco Martin; Pedro Martin de Palos; Hernando Diaz; Andrés Garçia de Jaen; Luis Gutierrez; Alonso Sebastian; Johan Vegines; Rodrigo Velasquez; Johan Camacho; Diego de Montehermoso; Johan Matheos; Maestre Alonso de Sanctiago; Gregorio Ponçe; Françisco de la Tova; Miguel Crespo; Miguel Sanchez; Martin Garçia; Chripstóbal de Robledo; Chripstóbal de Leon, platero; Johan Martinez; Valdenebro; Johan de Beas Loro; Johan Ferrol; Johan Gutierrez de Toledo; Johan de Portillo; Johan Garçia de Jaen; Matheo Loçano; Johan de Medellin; Alonso Martin, asturiano; Johan Garçia Marinero; Johan Gallego; Françisco de Lentin, siciliano; Johan del Puerto; Françisco de Arias; Pedro de Orduña; Nuflo de Olano, de color negro; Pedro Fernandez de Aroche.' Andrés de Valderrábano, escribano de Sus Alteças en la su córte y en todos sus reynos é señorios, estuve pressente é doy fée dello, é digo que son por todos sessenta y siete hombres estos primeros chripstianos que vieron la mar del Sur, con las quales yo me hallé é cuento por uno dellos; y este era de Sanct Martin de Valdeiglesias.
[IX-9] Herrera calls the second Blas de Atiença, but that name is not in Oviedo's list. Irving refers to Herrera, but fails to reproduce him correctly in his text. Compare Oviedo, iii. 11-12; Herrera, i. x. ii.
[IX-10] The form of taking possession, or the declaration of proprietary rights to the lands seized by Europeans, as we have seen, differs with different discoverers, and with the same discoverer at different times. Sometimes mass was said; sometimes a cross was erected; sometimes prayer was offered, of which the following is said to have been the prescribed form used by Columbus, Vasco Nuñez, Cortés, and Pizarro: Domine Deus æterne et omnipotens, sacro tuo verbo cœlum, et terram, et mare creâsti; benedicatur et glorificetur nomen tuum, laudetur tua majestas, quæ dignita est per humilem servum tuum, ut ejus sacrum nomen agnoscatur, et prædicetur in hac altera mundi parte. But always this seizure, whether by Spanish, English, French, or Dutch, and by whatsoever other formalities attended, was accompanied by a loud proclamation, before God and man, of the deed then and there consummated. This proclamation was made with drawn sword, by the commander of the party taking possession, and sometimes attended by the throwing of earth toward the four cardinal points, as was common, and is now in Spanish America, in giving judicial possession in granting lands, and planting the royal standard. All present were called upon to witness the act, which was done for and in the name of the sovereign authority recognized by the party. Then the notary, or, if none were present, a clerk, or a person or persons appointed to act as such, took down in writing what had been done, and each member of the party signed it. Examples might be multiplied indefinitely. We have seen what Columbus did in one or two instances, and how Vasco Nuñez conducted himself on the mountain overlooking Panamá Bay. That which I have just given in the text is a literal translation of Balboa's address to the four corners of the Pacific Ocean as reported by Oviedo, iii. 11-12. At the beginning the meaning of the orator is clear enough, but toward the latter part he lapses into verbiage. It is likely that he had in view, while taking possession of that sea or so much of it as his sovereigns should at any future time please to claim, the papal bull which divided the heathen world between Spain and Portugal, and a desire to avoid all words and acts which might prejudice the Spanish claim. A lengthy account is given of the taking possession of the province of Paque, on the Pacific shore of the Isthmus, west of Panamá, in 1519, by Pedrarias Dávila. The party was standing at the head of an inlet, two notaries, a clergyman, several captains, soldiers, and seamen, beside the commander, being present. First, Pedrarias called on the notaries and all present to witness the acts he was about to perform. Then he took in his right hand a white silk flag, on which was represented the image of the Virgin Mary, and holding it aloft all knelt; the trumpet sounded, and in loud tones the commander offered the following prayer: 'Oh! mother of God, quiet the sea, and render us worthy of being and of moving under thy protection. May it please thee that under it we may discover these seas, and lands of the southern sea, and convert the people thereof to our holy Catholic faith.' Following the prayer was a long speech by Pedrarias, declaring possession after the usual form, similar to that employed by Vasco Nuñez, interspersed with divers acts in consummation of what he said. He declared the possession previously taken renewed, especially the 'possession vel casi of all the coast of the new land and of the southern sea, and of all the ports and inlets and coves and roadsteads ... being as I am, in the name of their highnesses and as their lieutenant-general in the said coast of the said southern sea, from the stones of the rivers to the leaves of the forests, eating the grass and drinking the waters, and razing, devastating, and cutting the woods of the said coast, upon the said site and province of Paque.' As a token of possession and seizure thereof, civilly, naturally, and bodily, he continued: 'I raise this royal standard of the said Queen Doña Juana and King Don Cárlos, her son, our lords, which is of red damask having thereon painted and stamped the royal arms of their highnesses the said kings, our lords;' the trumpeters were then ordered to sound; after which, in concert with Pedrarias, all said, 'Castilla del Oro and Tierra Firme, and new land, and southern sea, and coasts thereof, and island and islands, and all land and provinces that may be therein, for the most high and most illustrious Queen Doña Juana, our lady, and the King Don Cárlos, her son, our lord; and after them for their successors to Castile.' 'All of which new lands and southern sea and coast thereof and the whole Tierra Firme and kingdoms of Castilla del Oro, and all thereunto annexed and appertaining, and all that has been or may be hereafter discovered therein, is and must be of the royal crown of Castile, and you must testify how I, Pedrarias Dávila, in the name of the said kings, our lords, and of their successors to the royal crown of Castile, cut trees, and mow the grass in said land, and enter the water of the said southern sea, corporeally and standing on my feet therein, and stamp the new land and waters of the said southern sea.' Again the trumpets were sounded, and again Pedrarias reiterated in a loud voice his claims; and he called upon the notaries to witness as further proof of their possession that four ships had been built and navigated on the southern sea. Another flourish of trumpets, and by way of doxology three times repeated, 'Viva la muy alta é muy poderosa reyna doña Juana,' etc., concluded the ceremony. Testimonio de un acto de posesion que tomó el Gobernador Pedrárias Dávila, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ii. 549-56. Although the custom was universal from the beginning, Philip II. deemed best to decree, in 1568, that all captains or others discovering any island or mainland should, on landing, take possession in the king's name. Recop. de Indias, ii. 7.
[IX-11] Colon gives g. de san migel; Agnese, G. de S. miguell; Vaz Dourado, Saö migell; Mercator, S. Miguel; Hondius, in Drake's World Encompassed, Michael; Ogilby's Am., G. S. Miguel; Jacob Colom, G. del S. Miguel; Jefferys, G. de St. Miguel, and emptying into it R. Canty, R. Savanas, R. Congo.
[IX-12] It was not for some years after this discovery that the name Pacific was applied to any part of the ocean; and for a long time after parts only of it were so termed, this part of it retained the original name of South Sea, so called because it lay to the south of its discoverer. The lettering of the early maps is here significant. All along from this time to the middle of the seventeenth century, the larger part of the Pacific was labeled Oceanus Indicus Orientalis, or Mar del Sur, the Atlantic, opposite the Isthmus, being called Mar del Norte. Sometimes the reporters called the South Sea La Otra Mar, in contradistinction to the Mare Oceanus of Juan de la Cosa, or the Oceanus Occidentalis of Ptolemy, as the Atlantic was then called. Indeed, the Atlantic was not generally known by that name for some time yet. Schöner, in 1520, terms it, as does Ptolemy in 1513, Oceanus Occidentalis; Grynæus, in 1532, Oceanus Magnus; Apianus, appearing in the Cosmography of 1575, although thought to have been drawn in 1520, Mar Atlicum. Robert Thorne, 1527, in Hakluyt's Voy., writes Oceanus Occiden.; Bordone, 1528, Mare Occidentale; Ptolemy, 1530, Occean Occidentalis; Ramusio, 1565, Viaggi, iii. 455, off Central America, Mar del Nort, and in the great ocean, both north and south, Mar Ociano; Mercator, 1569, north of the tropic of cancer, Oceanius Atlanticvs; Hondius, 1595, Mar del Nort; West-Indische Spieghel, 1624, Mar del Nort; De Laet, 1633, Mar del Norte; Jacob Colon, 1663, Mar del Nort; Ogilby, 1671, Oceanus Atlanticum, Mar del Norte, and Oceanus Æthiopicus; Dampier, 1699, the North or Atlantick Sea. The Portuguese map of 1518, Munich Atlas, iv., is the first upon which I have seen a name applied to the Pacific; and there it is given, as I have elsewhere remarked, as Mar visto pelos Castelhanos, Sea seen by the Spaniards. On the maps of Baptiste Agnese, Vallard de Dieppe, Diego Homem, and others, is the name Mar del Sur, but the lettering is small, and seems applied only to the waters between Peru and Guatemala. We have noticed on the globe of Martin Behaim, 1492, a multitude of islands, scattered and in groups, situated between the coast lines of western Europe and eastern Asia. In that part of the globe where the north Pacific Ocean should be represented, are the words Oceanus orientalis Indie. On the globe of Johann Schöner, 1520, the two continents of America are represented with a strait dividing them at the Isthmus. The great island of Zipangri, or Japan, lies about midway between North America and Asia. North of this island, and in about the same locality as on the globe of Behaim, are the words Orientalis Oceanus, and to the same ocean south of the equator the words Oceanus Orientalis Indicus are applied. Diego Homem, in 1558, marks out upon his map a large body of water to the north-west of Terra de Florida, and west of Canada, and labels it Mare leparamantium. Neither Maiollo nor Vaz Dourado gives a name to either ocean. Colon and Ribero call the South Sea Mar del Svr. In Hakluyt's Voy. we find that Robert Thorne, in 1527, wrote Mare Australe. Ptolemy, in 1530, places near the Straits of Magellan Mare pacificum. Ramusio, 1565, Viaggi, iii. 455, off Central America, places Mar del Sur, and off the Straits of Magellan, Mar Oceano. Mercator places in his atlas of 1569 plainly, near the Straits of Magellan, El Mar Pacifico, and in the great sea off Central America Mar del Zur. On the map of Hondius, about 1595, in Drake's World Encompassed, the general term Mare Pacificvm is applied to the Pacific Ocean, the words being in large letters extending across the ocean opposite Central America, while under it in smaller letters is Mar del Sur. This clearly restricts the name South Sea to a narrow locality, even at this date. In Hondius' Map, Purchas, His Pilgrimes, iv. 857, the south Pacific is called Mare Pacificum, and the central Pacific Mar del Sur.
[IX-13] In his Novus Orbis, i., De Laet inserts a map on which he places Tumaco to the north of Chiapes. North of Tumaco is Quareca. The northern cape of G. de S. Miguel he calls Pta de Garachine. Debouching here is the R. de Congos. See Goldschmidt's Cartography Pac. Coast, MS. ii. 5.
[IX-14] Colon and Ribero mark the group y: de perlas and y∴a de plas; Vaz Dourado, I∴ de perollas; West-Indische Spieghel, I Perles; De Laet, Ias de Perlas; Jacob Colom, I de Perlas; Jefferys, I del Rey or Perlas, Toboga, I. Keipert in 1858 calls the group Archipielago de las Perlas, and the largest, that which Balboa called Isla Rica, I. S. Miguel; others of the group he calls I. St. Elmo, I. Galera, I. Pajaros, I. Chapera, I. Contradora, I. Pacheca, I. Saboga, I. Bayoneta, I. Pedro Gonzales, and I. S. José. 'Da die Haupt-Insel mehrere guten Schutz gewährende Ankerplätze hatte, so wurde sie bald das Rendezvous und der Ausgangs-Punkt der Flotten, die vom Golfe von Panama zur Entdeckung des Westens (Nicaragua) und des Südens (Peru) ausliefen. Auch war ihre Anhöhe stets für alle von Panama auslaufenden Flotten ein Merkzeichen zur Orientirung.' Kohl, Beiden ältesten karten, 104.