strangers. There Vasco Nuñez sent away the Quarequanos, and ordered
that the sick, who had been left in their land, should come and join
him. In the meanwhile he sent Francisco Pizarro, Juan de Ezcarag, and
Alonzo Martin to discover the shortest roads by which the sea might be
reached. It was the last of these who arrived first at the coast, and,
entering a canoe which chanced to lie there, and pushing it into the
waves, let it float a little while, and, after pleasing himself with
having been the first Spaniard who entered the South Sea, returned to
seek Balboa.

Balboa with twenty-six men descended to the sea, and arrived at the
coast early in the evening of the 29th of that month; they all seated
themselves on the shore and awaited the tide, which was at that time
on the ebb. At length it returned in its violence to cover the spot
where they were; then Balboa, in complete armor, lifting his sword in
one hand, and in the other a banner on which was painted an image of
the Virgin Mary with the arms of Castile at her feet, raised it, and
began to march into the midst of the waves, which reached above his
knees, saying in a loud voice: "Long live the high and mighty
sovereigns of Castile! Thus in their names do I take possession of
these seas and regions; and if any other prince, whether Christian or
infidel, pretends any right to them, I am ready and resolved to oppose
him, and to assert the just claims of my sovereigns."

The whole band replied with acclamations to the vow of their captain,
and exprest themselves determined to defend, even to death, their
acquisition against all the potentates in the world; they caused this
act to be confirmed in writing, by the notary of the expedition,
Andres de Valderrabano; the anchorage in which it was solemnized was
called the Gulf of San Miguel, the event happening on that day.