After the departure of the _caravel_ with his predecessor on board, Balboa set about organising an expedition into the interior, to discover and obtain as much of the precious metal as he could, for he wisely foresaw that if he provided the royal treasury at home with an abundance of the much-coveted gold, any irregularities in his late proceedings would be overlooked by the avaricious Ferdinand. He sent Pizarro and a band on one such errand into a province called Coyba, but on their setting out they were assailed by the Indians of Darien led by their native lord or cacique, Zemaco, and after a fierce encounter the Spaniards were forced to retreat. Balboa despatched two vessels to Nombre de Dios to bring away the remnant of Nicuesa’s followers who had been left there. While coasting the shores of the isthmus these vessels picked up two Spaniards, painted like the Indians with whom they had been living. These men had been well treated by Careta the cacique of Coyba and repaid his kindness by instigating their countrymen to attack this friendly native and rob him of his wealth and treasure. They carried back to Balboa the news of their discovery at Careta, and he, pleased with the intelligence, set out with a strongly armed force to carry out this base design. On his arrival the unsuspecting chief received him with all the hospitality his savage customs could supply, but even this was not sufficient to deter Balboa from using strategy to overcome resistance and plunder the village, making captives of Careta, his wives and children and many of his people, and taking them back as prisoners to Santa Maria. The poor outraged chieftain pleaded with his captor to be released, offering to become his ally and show him the realms where gold and riches abounded, and as a pledge of his good faith to give his daughter as a wife to the Spanish Governor, who, seeing all the advantages that would accrue from the friendship of the natives, and not unmoved by the youth and beauty of the proffered wife, accepted the alliance. After impressing his new allies with the power of the Spanish armaments, and astonishing them with the sight of the war horses which were strange to them, he allowed them to depart loaded with presents, but leaving the chief’s daughter, who willingly remained as the so-called wife of the future discoverer of the Pacific. [Illustration: GOLD NOSE RING.] [Illustration: ANCIENT GOLD NOSE RING.]