Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

D

[merged small][ocr errors]

O YOU WANT YOUR WATCH REPAIRED?

O YOU WANT A WEDDING RING?

O YOU WANT A FINE FOB CHAIN?

O YOU WANT Jewelry of any Description? ARE YOU a FOREIGN COIN COLLECTOR?

IF SO

J. A. Calorie

can fit you out.

NUMBER 284, CENTRAL AVENUE.

sociates, accused of certain vicious practices. These men, Balboa caused to be devoured alive by the savage dogs which he carried with him.

The year following, 1514, there arrived at Antigua, a colonel of infantry named Pedro Arias Davila, commonly called Pedrarias, who had been named by the Spanish Crown as Governor of Darien. It is related that Pedrarias was the father-in-law of Balboa, but history does not appear to be fully clear on this point. He commanded a brilliant expedition consisting of 2,000 picked men, which had originally been raised and equipped for war in Italy, under the orders of Grand Captain Gonzalo de Cordova, Cavalier of Spain. About this time La Antigua had been elevated to a metropolitan city of Castilla del Oro, and Friar Juan de Quevedo was named as the first bishop, while Gaspar de Espinosa was chosen as the first Alcalde. Shortly after the arrival of Pedrarias, Balboa made another and last quest for the mythical temple of gold, resulting in the usual failure. Then followed several months of Indian fighting. Tumanama, one of the most powerful chiefs of the mountains had long been at enmity with the Spanish invaders, and securing allies in a number of other tribes commenced a war of extermination against the Conquistadores. The Indians carried a flag in their fights made out of the bloody shirts of the Spaniards they had killed, which is the first mention History

makes of that since famous tocsin.

The victories gained by the Indians caused great alarm at La Antigua, and the mint and other public buildings were closed. However, after several desperate engagements, Tumanama and his warriors were put to rout, and a peace pact was entered into.

Balboa's Last Expedition.

Upon the cessation of Indran hostilities, Pedrarias consented to an expedition planned by Balboa, to explore the South Sea. This involved the construction of the ships necessary for navigating the Pacific. on the Atlantic side of the divide, and their transportation, knocked-down, across the Cordillera to some point on, the south coast. The work of cutting trees and preparing the parts of the ships was performed after several months of arduous toil, and then commenced the long and wearisome journey across the Isthmus. The native Indians were utilized as carriers, and History records that upwards of two thousand of them weakened and died under their heavy burdens. In making the passage, Balboa showed poor judgment. Instead of journeying by a known route, he started across an unexplored part of the Isthmus, discovering the Rio Balsas on his way, which stream he utilized as far as he was able. Reaching the south coast, he put his ships together, and after visiting the Pearl Archipelago, navigated across the Gulf of San Miguel, and to a point about two leagues farther on. Here the crews of his ships became alarmed at a school of whales, whom they took to be reefs in the ocean, and induced Balboa to put about. Reaching the coast again the entire expedition was brought to a sudden stop, by orders received from Pedrarias, the Governor, authorizing Balboa's arrest and imprisonment, under the charge of being a traitor to the Crown. Balboa, a Victim of Jealousy and Hate.

Up to the time of the last ill-planned expedition, fortune had always smiled on Balboa's enterprises. At

Balboa, a victim of Jealousy and Hate.

13 this period of his life, however, the fickle goddess turned her back upon him forever. Pedrarias, the Governor of Darien, had long been jealous of Balboa's successes, and this feeling culminated into one of intense hate. While fearing to withhold his consent to the South Sea expedi tion, he was busy planning the while how to frustrate it, The news of a great Indian empire far to the south shad filtered through to the Spanish camp, and stirred Balboa to accomplish what his able but unprincipled lieutenant, Francisco Pizarro, later carried out. Pedrarias was well aware of Balboa's ambitious plans, and this knowledge did but serve to put an edge to his jealousy and hate..

With but a farce of a trial, and condemned of being a traitor to the Crown on evidence of purely an erparte character, Balboa, in the year 1517, in the forty-second year of his age, met death by the headsman's axe, thus ended the life of one of the greatest explorers of the New World. Balboa maintained his innocence to the very last, defying his accuser and murderer, Pedrarias who occupied a window only ten feet distant from the scaffold where the execution took place.

In view of Balboa's great achievement, history has passed lightly over his faults, among which avarice and cruelty were the most prominent; but taking into account the general customs of the age in which he lived, the difficult and exasperating circumstances and emergencies

[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors]

We Make a Specialty of Cleansing and Pressing...

Give us a Call. No. 286, Central Ave. A

he had to contend with and overcome, it cannot be gainsaid but that he was an exceptional man; an intrepid, cunning and resourceful warrior whose ultimate success and wonderful discovery conquered for him a lasting place in the world's history. Besides, his latter sufferings, imprisonment and death on the scaffold on an unjust charge, were, no doubt, ample atonement for his sins.

Founding of Old Panama.

Pedrarias, incompetent, treacherous, and cruel, continued in high favor with the king whose coffers he kept well supplied with gold and treasure wrung from the enslaved and oppressed natives who died by the thousands on accoumt of not being physically adapted to the work. It was this terrible decimation of the Indians that prompted some time later a prominent Catholic bishop to suggest the importation of negroes from Africa, thus saving the Indian from complete extermination, but at the same time inaugurating the system of slavery that afterwards spread over the greatest part of two continents.

In 1515, Diego de Albites and Tello de Guzman formed part of an expedition that crossed to the Pacific side of the Isthmus and arrived at a hut of a poor fisher, at a point called by the Indians Panama, from the abundance of fish and sea shells found there. Here in 1519, Pedrarias founded the city of Old Panama, giving it the Indian name. In 1521, by order of Emperor Charles V., the title of "Muy noble y muy leal" was bestowed on the place, and the government, bishopric and colonists of Santa Maria la Antigua del Darien removed thereto. This was only accomplished after great privation and suffering, it being estimated that no fewer than 40,000 Spaniards perished in this trans-Isthmian hegira during the ensuing thirty years. The court-of-arms given to the new city consisted of a yoke, a bunch of arrows on a gilded field, with two ships underneath, a star, castle and lions. The

[blocks in formation]

A LA VILLE DE PARIS.

NO DULL SEASON WITH US.

BECAUSE:

WHY?

FIRST.--.We have always stood, and shall always stand, without a single deviation, behind our ironclad guarantee based upon RELIABLE GOODS, MODERATE PRICES and OUR OWN CONFIDENCE IN THEIR WORTH.

SECOND.---We constantly endeavor to provide our customers with the VERY BEST MERCHANDISE MANUFACTURED, using special care in the selection of our stock. THIRD.---We have in our Ladies' Department, the latest, best and most extensive variety of DRESS GOODS, SHIRT WAISTS, SKIRTS, UNDERWEAR, HOSIERY, LACES, EMBROIDERIES, GLOVES, FANCY ARTICLES and a complete line of corsets-WARNER'S, ROYAL WORCESTER, BON TON and W. B.

FOURTH.---We cater to the most correct tastes in gentlemen's
wear, and we can truthfully say that there are no bet-
ter dressed men in Panama, or the Canal Zone, than
those that HAVE BEEN OUTFITTED IN OUR GENTS' DE-
PARTMENT. They are advertising us every time they
appear on the street.

FIFTH.-We have won and now hold the most discriminat-
ing clientele in Panama and the Canal Zone for THE
EMERSON SHOE, (a castle for the foot), the ELDREDGE
SILENT SEWING HAND AND FOOT SEWING MACHINES,
and the HALL SAFE CO's. FIRE PROOF SAFES.

Qoesn't these five reasons answer wHY?
ONE PRICE, AND THIS TO ALL.

H. de SOLA & Co.

No. 55, Central Avenue, Opp. Cathedral.

« AnteriorContinuar »