Man upon the sea : or, a history of maritime adventure, exploration, and discovery, from the earliest ages to the present time ... . to the disputants asfollows : Why should you quarrel for such a trifle ? If gold is to youso precious that you abandon your homes for it and invade thepeaceful lands of others, I will tell you of a region where youmay gratify your wishes to the utmost. Beyond those lofty moun-tains lies a mighty sea, which from their summits may be It is navigated by people who have vessels almostas large as yours, and, like them, furnished with sails and
Man upon the sea : or, a history of maritime adventure, exploration, and discovery, from the earliest ages to the present time ... . to the disputants asfollows : Why should you quarrel for such a trifle ? If gold is to youso precious that you abandon your homes for it and invade thepeaceful lands of others, I will tell you of a region where youmay gratify your wishes to the utmost. Beyond those lofty moun-tains lies a mighty sea, which from their summits may be It is navigated by people who have vessels almostas large as yours, and, like them, furnished with sails and the streams which flow from these mountains into the seaabound in gold: the kings who reign upon its borders eat and MAN UPON THE SEA. 203 drink out of golden vessels. Gold, in fact, is as common thereas iron among you Spaniards. Fired by this discourse, Balboa inquired whether it would bedifficult to penetrate to this sea and its golden shores. Thetask, the prince replied, is arduous and dangerous. Power-ful caciques will oppose you with their warriors; fierce canni-bals will attack you, and devour those whom they kill. To. BALBOA ANOTHE INDIAN. accomplish your enterprise, you will require at least a thousandmen, armed like those you have with you now. To prove hissincerity, the prince offered to accompany Balboa upon the ex-pedition, at the head of his warriors. This was the first in-timation received by a European of the splendid expanse ofwater which was so soon to receive the name of Pacific. Itexerted an immediate and radical change upon the characterand conduct of Balboa. The soldier of fortune became ani-mated by an honorable and controlling ambition; the restlessand reckless desperado saw before him a glorious path to immor-tality. He baptized the prince who had given him information 204 MAN UPON THE SEA. so priceless, and proceeded to Darien to obtain the means ofaccomplishing his scheme. For a long time he was baffled. A terrific tempest laid wastethe fields and d
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