From the summit of the mountain Vasco Nuñez cheerfully pursued his journey to the coast; when he tasted the water and found it salt, he felt assured that he had indeed discovered an ocean; he again returned thanks to God, and drawing his dagger from his girdle, marked three trees with crosses in honour of the Trinity and in token of possession.
He remained on the shore of the Pacific ocean till the 3d of November. In the interval, he conciliated by his good management the kind feelings of the natives; he visited some of the neighbouring islands; he was shown the valuable pearl fisheries; and was loaded when he left there with pearls and gold. On his return he had several hostile rencounters with the natives, and reached Darien on the 19th of January, 1514.
"Thus ended one of the most remarkable expeditions of the early discoverers. The intrepidity of Vasco Nuñez in penetrating, with a handful of men, far into the interior of a wild and mountainous country, peopled by warlike tribes; his skill in managing his band of rough adventurers, stimulating their valour, enforcing their obedience, and attaching their affections, show him to have possessed great qualities as a general. We are told that he was always foremost in peril, and the last to quit the field. He shared the toils and dangers of the meanest of his followers, treating them with frank affability; watching, fighting, fasting and labouring with them; visiting and consoling such as were sick or infirm, and dividing all his gains with fairness and liberality. He was chargeable at times with acts of bloodshed and injustice, but it is probable that these were often called for as measures of safety and precaution; he certainly offended less against humanity than most of the early discoverers; and the unbounded amity and confidence reposed in him by the natives, when they became intimately acquainted with his character, speak strongly in favour of his kind treatment of them.
"The character of Vasco Nuñez had, in fact, risen with his circumstances, and now assumed a nobleness and grandeur from the discovery he had made, and the important charge it had devolved upon him. He no longer felt himself a mere soldier of fortune, at the head of a band of adventurers, but a great commander conducting an immortal enterprise. 'Behold,' says old Peter Martyr, 'Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, at once transformed from a rash royster to a politic and discreet captain:' and thus it is that men are often made by their fortunes; that is to say, their latent qualities are brought out, and shaped and strengthened by events, and by the necessity of every exertion to cope with the greatness of their destiny."
While Vasco Nuñez was thus exulting in his successful expedition, fortune was preparing for him a sad reverse. The bachelor Enciso had arrived in Spain, and notwithstanding the statements of Zamudio, had made an unfavourable impression in regard to Vasco Nuñez. The result was, that a new governor of Darien was appointed, in the person of Pedro Arias Davila, commonly called Pedrarias, a brave warrior, but little fitted to command in a colony such as that to which he was sent. A number of young Spanish nobles and gentlemen determined to accompany him, having heard wild stories of the wealth and adventures which the new world offered. Pedrarias was also attended by his heroic wife, Doña Isabella de Bobadilla, and by the bishop Quevedo, a just and benevolent priest. Scarcely had the new expedition left the shores of Spain, when news arrived there of the splendid discoveries of Vasco Nuñez, and the king repented that he had so hastily superseded him.
In the month of June, the squadron of Pedrarias anchored before Darien. When the hardy veterans of the colony heard that their beloved commander was to be thus removed, they were loud in their murmurs, and eagerly desired to resist the newly arrived governor. Not so Vasco Nuñez; he bowed at once to the mandates of the king, and acknowledged the authority of Pedrarias. This frank and honourable conduct was ill repaid by the new chief; he took advantage of the unsuspecting confidence of Vasco Nuñez, and directed him to be prosecuted for usurpation and tyrannical abuse of power. Fortunately, the bishop was opposed to the conduct of the governor, and even his wife ventured to express her respect and sympathy for the discoverer. This alone saved him from being sent in irons to Spain. In the mean time, the gallant Spanish cavaliers sunk beneath the fatal climate, to which they were unaccustomed, and the affairs of the colony became distracted. Pedrarias, to engage them, fitted out an expedition for the Pacific, but it ended in disappointment and disaster, and had little result but to change some of the friendly Indian tribes into implacable enemies.
While things were in this state, despatches arrived from Spain. In a letter addressed to Vasco Nuñez, the king expressed his high sense of his merits and services, and constituted him adelantado of the South Sea, though subordinate to the general command of Pedrarias. That governor, still envious of the renown of his rival, refused to confer on him the powers belonging to his new office, and all that Vasco Nuñez could obtain was the recognition of the title. Still further to thwart the honourable plans of the discoverer, he determined to explore, under his own auspices, the pearl fisheries and islands discovered by Vasco Nuñez on the Pacific, and for this purpose fitted out an expedition under the command of his own relative Morales; he sent with him, however, Francisco Pizarro, who had accompanied Vasco Nuñez on his first expedition. These explorers were kindly received by the caciques, who willingly gave them pearls for hatchets, beads, and hawks' bills, which they valued much more. An incident occurred on their visit to Isla Rica, which, connected with the future history of Pizarro, was singularly interesting.
"Finding that pearls were so precious in the eyes of the Spaniards, the cacique took Morales and Pizarro to the summit of a wooden tower, commanding an unbounded prospect. 'Behold before you,' said he, 'the infinite sea, which extends even beyond the sun-beams. As to these islands which lie to the right and left, they are all subject to my sway. They possess but little gold, but the deep places of the sea around them are full of pearls. Continue to be my friends, and you shall have as many as you desire; for I value your friendship more than pearls, and, as far as in me lies, will never forfeit it.'
"He then pointed to the main land, where it stretched away towards the east, mountain beyond mountain, until the summit of the last faded in the distance, and was scarcely seen above the watery horizon. In that direction, he said, there lay a vast country of inexhaustible riches, inhabited by a mighty nation. He went on to repeat the vague but wonderful rumours which the Spaniards had frequently heard about the great kingdom of Peru. Pizarro listened greedily to his words, and while his eye followed the finger of the cacique, as it ranged along the line of shadowy coast, his daring mind kindled with the thought of seeking this golden empire beyond the waters."
On their way back through the mountains, the Spaniards were attacked by the savages with great ferocity; and when they reached Darien their party was greatly diminished, though the spoil they brought with them was great.