planted it on the spot from which he had first beheld the sea. He also
made a mound by heaping up large stones upon which he carved the names
of the king of Spain.

The Indians saw all this done, and while they helped to pile the stones
and set up the cross, they little thought that they were assisting to
deprive themselves of their homes and their country.

You remember the noble reproof of Canute in the "History of England," to
his flatterers, when they assured him that even the waves of the sea
would obey him: but this arrogant and weak minded Spaniard waded into
the waves of the great Pacific Ocean, up to his knees, and absurdly took
possession of it in the name of the Spanish monarch.

[Illustration]

Balboa was some time employed in fighting with the Indian tribes that
inhabited the sea-coast, and in hunting them with blood-hounds.

He soon made these helpless people submit. From them he got some
further accounts of the rich country which the Indian prince had
mentioned, and which proved afterwards to be Peru.

He now quitted the shores of the Pacific Ocean on his return across the
mountains of Darien. His route homewards was different from that which
he had before pursued, and the sufferings of his troops much greater.

Often they could find no water, the heat having dried up the pools and
brooks. Many died from thirst, and those who survived, although loaded
with gold, were exhausted for want of food; for the poor Indians brought