Vasco Nuñez de BalboaOber, Frederick A. (Frederick Albion)
History
Vasco Nuñez de Balboa
Ober, Frederick A. (Frederick Albion)
Balboa, Vasco Nuñez de (17475-1519)
The Spaniards of those days had a deep reverence for royal authority and
fear of their king; but when it was casually discovered that Enciso had
unwittingly settled upon territory which had been granted to Nicuesa,
and over which neither Ojeda nor himself had any jurisdiction, he was
promptly deposed by the soldiers, who refused him further allegiance. He
was beaten by his own weapons--those of the law--which were turned
against him by his chief opponent, Balboa, who had never forgotten
Enciso's threat to throw him into the sea, or land him on a desert
island, when he had first made his appearance on shipboard. The line of
demarcation between the territories granted to Ojeda and Nicuesa
respectively ran through the centre of the Gulf of Urabá, the eastern
shores of which pertained to the former and the western to the latter.
As Antigua had been founded on the western shore, it undoubtedly lay
within the limits of Nicuesa's grant, and hence the unfortunate Enciso
was without a legal leg to stand on. "This miser who would deprive us of
our gold," said Balboa, "and who covets for himself all the fruits of
our efforts, would use to our prejudice an authority to which he has no
just claim. Placed as we are, beyond the limits assigned to Ojeda's
jurisdiction, his command as alcalde mayor is become null, together with
our obligation to obedience."
Enciso could not refute this argument, and was set aside, in his place
being elected as alcaldes, or magistrates, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa and a
man named Zamudio. Though the majority of the company had chosen these
two as their chiefs, there were still some discontented ones, and
finally the altercations became so violent as to threaten the disruption
of the little colony. In the midst of it, one day, as the disputants
were hotly engaged in the market-place, they heard the sound of cannon
and saw signal-smokes arising from the hills across the gulf from
Antigua. They replied in like manner, with cannon and smoke-signals, and
soon two ships were seen sailing from the eastward, which, on arrival in
the river, proved to be in command of one Diego de Colmenares, who had
come from Spain in search of Nicuesa, the long absence of whom without
tidings had excited alarm.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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