t we have in
Spanish literature. It forms part of his "Lives of Celebrated
Spaniards" (1807-1833), a standard work of the encyclopedia class.
Vasco Nunez de Balboa was born at Xerxes, in Spain, in 1475, and
died in Panama about 1517. His first visit to America was made in
1500. Ten years later he went to Darien, where he became alcalde
of a new settlement. In 1512 he was made governor of San Domingo.

While Governor of San Domingo Balboa learned from the Indians that
there was a great sea lying to the south and west, and in
September, 1513, set out from Darien to discover it. After an
adventurous journey he reached, on September 25th, a mountain top
from which he first saw the Pacific. After building some ships for
use on the Pacific and transporting them with immense labor across
the Isthmus, launching two of them, Balboa was arrested by the
governor of the colony on a charge of contemplated revolt and
beheaded.

[2] Careta was an Indian chief whose friendship Balboa secured.

[3] The date of this view of the Pacific by Balboa was September
25, 1513. Readers of the poems of Keats are familiar with the
error in his sonnet "On First Looking Into Chapman's 'Homer,'"
where, by a curious error, never corrected, he makes Cortez,
instead of Balboa, the Spaniard who stood "silent upon a peak in
Darien."

THE VOYAGE OF MAGELLAN TO THE PACIFIC

(1520)

JOHN FISKE'S ACCOUNT[1]

Our chief source of information for the events of the voyage is the
journal kept by a gentleman from Vicenza, the Chevalier Antonio
Pigafetta, who obtained permission to accompany the expedition, "for
to see the marvels of the ocean." After leaving the Canaries on the 3d
of October, the armada ran down toward Sierra Leone, and was becalmed,
making only three leagues in three weeks. Then "the upper air burst
into life" and the frail ships were driven along under bare poles, now
and then dipping their yard-arms. During a month of this dreadful
weather, the food and water grew scarce, and the rations were
diminished. The spirit of mutiny began to show itself. The Spanish
captains whispered among the crews that this man from Portugal had not
their interests at heart, and was not loyal to the Emperor. Toward the
captain-general their demeanor grew more and more insubordinate; and
Cartagena one day, having come on board the flag-ship, faced him with
threats