ta taking in baptism the name of
Fernando, and Comogre that of Carlos. Balboa then returned to the
Darien, rich in the spoils of Ponca, rich in the presents of his
friends, and still richer in the golden hopes which the future offered
him.

At this time, and after an absence of six months, arrived the
magistrate Valdivia, with a vessel laden with different stores; he
brought likewise great promises of abundant aid in provisions and men.
The succors, however, which Valdivia brought were speedily consumed;
their seed, destroyed in the ground by storms and floods, promised
them no resource whatever; and they returned to their usual
necessitous state. Balboa then consented to their extending their
incursions to more distant lands, as they had already wasted and
ruined the immediate environs of Antigua, and he sent Valdivia to
Spain to apprize the admiral of the clew he had gained to the South
Sea, and the reported wealth of these regions.

He discoursed with and animated his companions, selected 190 of the
best armed, and disposed, and, with a thousand Indians of labor, a few
bloodhounds, and sufficient provisions, took his way by the sierras
toward the dominion of Ponca. That chief had fled, but Balboa, who had
adopted the policy most convenient to him, desired to bring him to an
amicable agreement, and, to that end, dispatched after him some
Indians of peace, who advised him to return to his capital and to fear
nothing from the Spaniards. He was persuaded, and met with a kind
reception; he presented some gold, and received in return some glass
beads and other toys and trifles. The Spanish captains then solicited
guides and men of labor for his journey over the sierras, which the
cacique bestowed willingly, adding provisions in great abundance, and
they parted friends.

His passage into the domain of Quarequa was less pacific; whose chief,
Torecha, jealous of this invasion, and terrified by the events which
had occurred to his neighbors, was disposed and prepared to receive
the Castilians with a warlike aspect. A swarm of ferocious Indians,
armed in their usual manner, rushed into the road and began a wordy
attack upon the strangers, asking them what brought them there, what
they sought for, and threatening him with perdition if they advanced.
The Spaniards, reckless of their bravados, proceeded, nevertheless,
and then the chief placed himself in front of his tribe, drest in a
cotton mantle and followed by the principa