TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNI AS. 119 
Venice, Genoa and Florence are bringing overland, from 
the East Indies, so much wealth, that kings are tributary to 
them. The palaces of the merchant princes outvie those of 
the cut-throats Royal by the Grace of God. And the lead¬ 
ing cord of events now is, to find a shorter route to the silks of 
Hindostan. For in this lies the possibility that these Grace 
of God gentlemen may rid themselves of their unpleasant 
dependence upon the coffers, navies and armies, of these free 
States. Portugal, Spain, France, England, enter the lists of 
this great Tournament of El Dorado. The prize sought to 
be wrested from the hand of Dame Fortune is, a water pas¬ 
sage through the American Continent, by which the ships of 
the discovering nation may reach the East Indies. Columbus, 
Balboa and Cortez on the part of Spain, seek it along the 
shores of the Gulf of Mexico; but the Continent spreads 
itself an everywhere present barrier to their hopes. This 
Vasco Nunnez de Balboa in 1513 is in the Gulf of Uraba; 
and an Indian chief called Panquiaca conducts him over 
the Cordilleras range of the Isthmus Darien, to Michaelmas 
Gulf on the Pacific. The Great Pacific Ocean is first seen 
by this man. His name is written among the heroes of those 
benighted years. It is dyed in the blood of many thousand 
slaughtered Indians. He leads Pizarro to the foul murder of 
the Incas! He opens the arteries of Guatimala ! In 1519, 
Fernando Magellano, in the service of Portugal, discovers 
the Strait which bears his name, sails across the South Pacific, 
and touches at the Ladrone and Philippine islands. Among 
the latter group himself and many of his companions perish. 
Juan Sebastian del Cano succeeds to the command, traverses 
the Indian Ocean, doubles the Cape of Good Hope, and 
moors safely on his native shore. Two passages to the East 
Indies have now been discovered, and the earth for the first 
time circumnavigated in 1522. The Pacific has been seen at 
Darien, and ploughed in the Antarctic latitude. But its north¬ 
ern parts are yet unexplored. Hernando Cortez, the student 
of Salamanca, the magistrate of San Diego de Cuba, the 
