the Northmen had found it five hundred years before. In
the seas into which the Cabots sailed, great fish were so plentiful that
the ships could hardly sail through them, and bears swam out in the
water and caught the fish in their mouths. That was certainly a queer
way of fishing.

When the Cabots came back and told what they had seen, you may be sure
the daring fishermen of Europe did not stay long at home. Soon numbers
of their stout little vessels were crossing the ocean, and most of them
came back so full of great codfish that the water almost ran over their
decks.

Do you not think these fishermen were wiser than the Spaniards, who went
everywhere seeking for gold, and finding very little of it? Gold is only
good to buy food and other things; but if these can be had without
buying they are better still. At any rate, the hardy fishermen thought
so, and they were more lucky in finding fish than the Spaniards were in
finding gold.

Thus the years passed on, and more and more Spaniards came to the
islands of Cuba and Hispaniola (which is now known as Hayti or San
Domingo). And some of them soon began to sail farther west in search of
new lands. Columbus, in his last voyage, reached the coasts of South
America and Central America and other Spanish ships followed to those
new shores.

I might tell you many wonderful things about these daring men. One of
them was named Balboa, whose story you will be glad to hear, for it is
full of strange events. This man had gone to the island of Hispaniola to
make his fortune, but he found there only bad fortune. He had to work on
a farm, and in time he became so poor and owed so much money that it
seemed as if he could never get out of debt. In fact he was in sad
straits.

No doubt the people who had lent him money often asked him to pay it
back again, and Balboa, who got into a worse state every day, at length
took an odd way to rid himself of his troubles. A ship was about to set
sail for the west, and the poor debtor managed to get carried aboard it
in a barrel. This barrel came from his farm and was supposed to contain
provisions, and it was not till they were far away from land that it was
opened and a living man was found in it instead of salt beef or pork.

When the captain saw him he was much astonished. He had paid for a
barrel of provisions, and he found something which he could not well
eat. He grew so angry at being cheated that he threatened to leave
Balboa on a