BALBOA HEARS OF THE PACIFIC. 



229 



«3rink out of golden vessels. Gold, in fact, is as common there 

 as iron among you Spaniards." 



Fired by this discourse, Balboa inquired whether it would be 

 difficult to penetrate to this sea and its golden shores. "The 

 task," the prince replied, a 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 AND THE INDIAN. 



accomplish your enterprise, you will require at least a thousand 

 men, armed like those you have with you now." To prove his 

 sincerity, 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 of 

 water which was so soon to receive the name of Pacific. It 

 exerted an immediate and radical change upon the character 

 and conduct of Balboa. The soldier of fortune became ani- 

 mated by an honorable and controlling ambition ; the restless 

 and reckless desperado saw before him a glorious path to immor- 

 tality. He baptized the prince who had given him information 



