Some while afterwards Nunez de Balboa took charge of Uraba. On his
arrival he found that matters on the Gulf of Darien had reached a
desperate pitch. As the fortunes of the Spaniards had waned, the
confidence of the Indians had increased. There is no doubt that the
majority of men would have recoiled from the task which faced Balboa
when he found himself at the head of a number of starving Spaniards,
scarcely able to maintain their precarious foothold in a hostile
country.
Balboa gathered together the despairing remnants, and contrived to put
fresh heart into his men. He then turned to the Indians, and won their
esteem by his considerate treatment. He proved himself, in fact, in
every respect an able and successful leader. It was in 1512 that he set
out on his famous expedition across the Isthmus, and won his way to the
shores of the Pacific Ocean. It was certainly not the least dramatic
moment in the history of early America when Balboa, in a frenzy of joy,
seized the flag of Castile, and, holding it aloft, plunged his body into
the waters of the ocean, claiming it for his King. As was the fate of so
many able men of that period, it was not long before Balboa was
superseded.
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