formed gold ornaments, which the Indian said came from places on the ocean of which he spoke.

On the 20th of September he continued his march. The surface of the ground was so rough and broken, and there were so many small streams to cross, that in four days, he only covered thirty miles. At the end At the end of this march, he came to the territory of the belligerent chieftain, Cuaracua, who gave him a hard fight. The Indian was finally overcome, and perished in company with 600 of The town of Cuaracua where he now was, laid, he was told, at the foot of the last mountain remaining to be surmounted, before his eyes could rest on the object of his long and tedious march.

his men.

Balboa Discovers the Pacific.

On the 26th of September, a little after ten o'clock in the morning, the Spaniards discovered from the top of the mountain, the mighty waters of the Pacific. The priest of the expedition, Andres de Vara, intoned the Te Deum, and all those in the company fell on their knees around him. They afterwards raised at this point a cross made of the trunk of a tree, braced up by rocks, and upon which they wrote, as well as on various trees in the vicinity, the names of the rulers of Spain. On his descent to the beach, Balboa and his men had to pass through the lands of an Indian warrior named Cheapes, who treated them kindly, and made them a present of 500 pounds of gold. Reaching the water-side, Balboa waded out knee-deep into the sea, and with the banner of Spain waving in his hands, proclaimed the vast ocean, and the coasts adjoining it, the property of his King.

Find Pearls of Fabulous Size.

Shortly after the discovery of the South Sea, as the Pacifie was for a long time afterwards called, Balboa set

about making arrangements to explore the vicinity. The ocean at this point on the coast forms a gulf to which Balboa gave the name of San Miguel in honor of his having arrived there on the day the Catholic church celebrates this saint, which name it bears at the present time. He despatched one of his men named Alonso Martin at the head of a small company of Spaniards and Indians, to explore the coast in a canoe, while he himself embarked and went to an island inhabited by a chief named Tumaco. Martin, leaving first, has the credit of being the first European to navigate the waters of the Pacific. The island Balboa landed on was one of many, and to the. group, he gave the name of the Archiepelago de las Perlas, or the Pearl Archipelago. To the largest island in the group he gave the name of Isla Rica, or Rich Island, on account of the quantities of pearls he found. there, some of which were of great size. Balboa's papers relate how that the canoes of Chief Tumaco had their oars incrusted with pearls, so plentiful were they at this period. Some time after this, an expedition under Pizarro and Morales, two of Balboa's lieutenants, was sent against the Pearl Islands. They crossed the Isthmus by a less difficult route than Balboa had done, and arrived at the islands without incident. After four different battles with the chief whom they found in possession of Isla Rica, the latter finally surrendered, and as peace offering presented Pizarro and Morales with a basket full of very fine pearls, one of which weighed 25 carats, and afterwards sold for 4,000 ducats, equivalent to $9,120.00, veritably a prince's

ransom.

Origin of the "Bloody Shirt."

After collecting all the gold and pearls he could lay hands on, Balboa returned to Darien, the only notable incident of the backward journey being the execution of a native chief named Ponera, together with three of his as

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These men,

sociates, accused of certain vicious practices. Balboa caused to be devoured alive by the savage dogs which he carried with him.

The year following, 1514, there arrived at Antigua, a colonel of infantry named Pedro Arias Davila, commonly called Pedrarias, who had been named by the Spanish Crown as Governor of Darien. It is related that Pedrarias was the father-in-law of Balboa, but history does not appear to be fully clear on this point. He commanded a brilliant expedition consisting of 2,000 picked men, which had originally been raised and equipped for war in Italy, under the orders of Grand Captain Gonzalo de Cordova, Cavalier of Spain. About this time La Antigua had been elevated to a metropolitan city of Castilla del Oro, and Friar Juan de Quevedo was named as the first bishop, while Gaspar de Espinosa was chosen as the first Alcalde. Shortly after the arrival of Pedrarias, Balboa made another and last quest for the mythical temple of gold, resulting in the usual failure. Then followed several months of Indian fighting. Tumanama, one of the most powerful chiefs of the mountains had long been at enmity with the Spanish invaders, and securing allies in a number of other tribes commenced a war of extermination against the Conquistadores. The Indians carried a flag in their fights made out of, the bloody shirts of the Spaniards they had killed, which is the first mention History

makes of that since famous tocsin.

The victories gained by the Indians caused great alarm at La Antigua, and the mint and other public buildings were closed. However, after several desperate engagements, Tumanama and his warriors. were put to rout, and a peace pact was entered into.

Balboa's Last Expedition.

Upon the cessation of Indian hostilities, Pedrarias consented to an expedition planned by Balboa, to explore the South Sea. This involved the construction of the ships necessary for navigating the Pacific, on the Atlantic side of the divide, and their transportation, knocked-down, across the Cordillera to some point on the south coast. The work of cutting trees and preparing the parts of the ships was performed after several months of arduous toil, and then commenced the long and wearisome journey across the Isthmus. The native Indians were utilized as carriers, and History records that upwards of two thousand of them weakened and died under their heavy burdens. In making the passage, Balboa showed poor judgment. Instead of journeying by a known route, he started across an unexplored part of the Isthmus, discovering the Rio Balsas on his way, which stream he utilized as far as he was able. Reaching the south coast, he put his ships together, and after visiting the Pearl Archipelago, navigated across the Gulf of San Miguel, and to a point about, two leagues farther on. Here the crews of his ships became alarmed at a school of whales, whom they took to be reefs in the ocean, and induced Balboa to put about. Reaching the coast again the entire expedition was brought to a sudden stop, by orders received from Pedrarias, the Governor, authorizing Balboa's arrest and imprisonment, under the charge of being a traitor to the Crown. Balboa, a Victim of Jealousy and Hate.

Up to the time of the last ill-planned expedition, fortune had always smiled on Balboa's enterprises. At