CHAPTER V

THE FOUNDING OF PANAMA-THE EXPLORATION OF COSTA RICA AND NICARAGUA

It was in the year 1517 that Vasco Nuñez de Balboa was ignominiously put to death by order of Pedrarias. When certain news of the appointment of his successor reached Darien, the old governor began to tremble in his shoes, and took every precaution to avoid responsibility for his past deeds. His wife had been with him from the first; she was now hurried off to Spain with all the gold and pearls he had been able to collect. But still, Lope de Sosa, the new governor, delayed partly by the confusion in Spain between the death of Ferdinand in 1516 and the accession of Charles V, and partly by the fact that he was governor of the Canaries, failed to appear. In fact he did not arrive until May, 1520, and scarcely had he landed when he was seized with a sudden illness and died. Concealing his satisfaction as well as he could, Pedrarias gave him a splendid funeral and continued to exercise the functions of governor.

Before this event, however, Pedrarias had rewarded the services of Espinosa by giving him the place and title of Balboa on the southern coast, and had decided to do himself what he had punished Balboa for, namely, establish himself on that coast in defiance of the authority of Lope de Sosa. Here riches and power were to be obtained; De Sosa might have the rest.

In pursuance of this plan, he proposed to the Council at Antigua to abandon that site and come with him. When

this was refused, he and Espinosa gathered together all the men and provisions possible, and crossing the Isthmus, and choosing a site six miles east of the present city, they founded the city of Panama, August 15, 1519. The land around it was divided among the settlers, and each received a number of Indian slaves. In the same year Diego de Albites founded the town of Nombre de Dios, and with infinite labor and expense a way was made through the Isthmus from town to town. Two carts could pass each other upon this road. It was built, says Peter Martyr, "to the intent that they might pass over with ease to search ye secrets of either spacious sea," and he adds that it passed "through the mountains overgrown with the thick woods, never touched from all eternity."

Making Panama the base of his operations, Espinosa fitted out several plundering expeditions. One, marching a few leagues to the west, brought him a rich treasure of gold, while another, sailing one hundred and eighty leagues to the northwest, reached the present Puerto de Culebra, in Costa Rica (named for the variously colored snakes he found there), and brought back a quantity of maize and gold.

After the departure of Pedrarias, Antigua would have been left without any government save that of the council, had not the historian Oviedo returned from Spain with the titles of veedor or inspector and regidor perpetuo of Antigua. He was already writing his famous General History of the Indies. Between him and Pedrarias there was, of course, bitter enmity, and the latter, hoping to ruin him by giving him power, placed him in charge of affairs at Antigua in 1521. For a time all went well. Oviedo corrected the morals of the town, opened mines in the neighborhood, and conciliated the Indians. One incident related of him shows that, for a man of letters, he was extraordinarily practical. Gathering up the scrap iron about the town, he made five hundred hatchets and sold them to the Indians. When these became dull and the savages failed to find any means of sharpening them, the historian fitted up some grind-stones

on a vessel, and carefully covering them so as to conceal the secret, he sailed along the coast, sharpening hatchets at the price originally paid for the implements. In this manner, it is claimed, says Bancroft, that in one voyage he gained seven thousand castellanos. Finally Pedrarias decided to give Oviedo's place to one of his friends, and the quarrel between them having become very bitter, Oviedo thought it wise to sail for Spain.

There is now a change of scene in our story of Central America. The point of interest is transferred to the regions of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, now to be explored from the southern side.

The inspiration for this expedition seems to have been given by Andrés Niño, a pilot of great energy and great ambition, who had been in the service of Balboa. Dreaming of reaching the Moluccas or Spice Islands by a voyage on the South Sea, this Niño, a typical Spanish adventurer of that day, went to Spain and petitioned the court to be allowed to use the ships of his former Captain Balboa for a search after these rich islands. Having interested in his cause Gil Gonzalez Dávila, a trusted agent of the government, and a man of high courage and excellent judgment, Niño finally found favor at court, and his prayer was granted.

An expedition was fitted out by a royal order, with Gil Gonzalez as captain-general and Niño as pilot. The expense was to be borne partly by the government and partly by the entrepreneurs. The governor of Castilla del Oro (Costa Rica and Panama) was ordered to deliver up the vessels built by Balboa.

This expedition reached Darien in the early part of 1520, and as Lope de Sosa had not arrived, Gonzalez had to deal with Pedrarias. This functionary, enraged at this interference with his cherished schemes, pretended compliance with the royal order, but threw every possible obstacle in the way of the explorers. Above all, he was determined not to give