Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-04-12

no use trying to humbug "a sad sea dog,
! he offered to sell his find to the Cartha
| genians for good round sum.
The money not being forthcoming, he
declined to leave the pulpit and soon sci
sail, intending to carry out his original
| intention of selling it in Europe. But
| hardly had he left the harbor when a most
| frightful gale struck the ship, sending il
! to the bottom with all on board The
miraculous pulpit arose from the wreck,
unharmed, and one fine day it came float
ing into the harbor of Carthagena. And
at last it was safely placed in the sanctuary
for which it was intended, where it now
remains. am solemnly assured that the
above account is absolutely correct, but OF
| course there are no means of proving it,
since all those concerned in the early his
tory of the pulpit have been dust these
two centuries and more.
There is faint prospect that this old
city of Carthagena may retrieve its fallen
fortunes somewhat and become again a
lively metropolis, if two of the enterprises
that are now being agitated do not prove
abortive. One of them is the construc-
ton of a railroad between Barranquilla
and Carthagena, and the other is the re-
opening of the ancient diqlte or ship canal
between the latter place and Calamar,
which formerly connected Carthagena
with the Magdalena river at point many
miles above the delta. When Cartha-
gena's decline began, about the beginning
of the present century, the ship canal fell
into discuse and gradually filled up with
the riotous vegetation of the tropics. The
old city has natural advantages far suDe-
rior to any other in Colombia, and should
either of the aforementioned enterprises
be carried out, it will again become the
foremost city of the northern end of South
America, with easy communication with
the fertile valleys and plateaus of Colom-
bias interior, the gate of commerce in
time of peace, and, when war threatens,
secure alike from siege and successful as
sault.
have been shown the crumbling old
easa wherein
vAsco NUNEz DE BALBOA,
The discoverer of the Pacific, lived in Car
thagena before his short and somewhat
questionable career of fame began. 1t
seems that the gay young nobleman had
quickly gotten rid of all his fortune in
Old CASTLE and soon after the return of
Columbus from his fourth voyage he fol-
lowed the tide Of Spanish emigration to
these shores to escape imprisonment for
debt. In his new home he soon succeeded
in loading himself with other liabilities
and his creditors were on the point of
arresting him to prevent !. his again run
ming away, when he hit upon the plan of
escape with which every schoolboy is
familiar. AS the story is neither long nor
prosy, and as its romance and tragedy is
really part of the history of Colombia
and was enacted right here in the places
We are visiting, shall we review it from the
pages of history?
| think it was in the, year 1910 that
Martin Francisco de Encisco, whose name
is closely inwrought with early colonial
doings in this section, came first to Car
thagena, which even then was a thriving
towa. In its harbor he found a brigan-
tine, which contained the discouraged
remnant of a Spanish colony that had
been driven by the hostility of the Indians
from their settlement a little farther down
the coast. Its leader was no less person
age than Francisco PiZarro, who had not
yet entered upon his career of bloodshed
In Peru. Encisco soon after sailed for ST.
Sebastian and took Pizarro and his brig
antine with him. Just before the vessel
was to leave port some men brought on
board an ordinary cask, supposed to con-
tain provisions, that was lowered into the
hold with the rest OF the cargo, but hardly
had the shore faded from sight before out
popped the head of this cask, followed by
the figure of
SPANISH CAVALIER,
High-ruffed and gauntleted, in gold-em-
broidered satin waistcoat, velvet breeches
and top-boots, no less parsonage than the
spendthrift nobleman, Don Balboa
AT first Encisco was so angry at the de-
ception practiced upon him that he threat
ened to put the stowaway ashore on
desert island, but relented when Balboa
swore eternal allegiance and promised to be
a good soldier in the murderous expedition
then on the tapis-no doubt rejecting that
he could not choose his followers from
among the best society.
On the way TO st. Sebastian Encisco's
ship ran upon the rocks and was lost with
all its cargo, but most Of the crew escaped
to Pizarro's brigantine. iWhile in this
sorry plight Balboa bethought himself of
an Indian village on the banks of a river
called Darien, where he had heard the
land was fertile and the natives possessed
plenty of gold and he offered to conduct
the adventures thereto.
They easily captured the city of Darien
and compelled the inhabitants to deliver
up more than $4,000 worth of golden or
naments, after which Encisco established a
colony there and forbade ANYBODY but
himself to traffic with the natives under
penalty of death. This too arbitrary order
caused a split in the hitherto peaceful
party, for Encisco's followers were quite as
covetous as their leader. Headed by Bal
boa they joined in making, this bone OF
contention the basis of revolt: and SO
well did Balboa manage matters that he
was soon appointed Governor of the
colony, with absolute authority over it.
while Encisco was recalled to Spain in dis
grace.
The new Governor sent Pizarro to ex-
plore the neighboring provinces, and after
that worthy had been driven back by the
Indians, he headed similar expedition
himself. While cruising along these coasts
of Colombia he picked up two Spaniards
in the dress Tor rather the undress) of In
dians, who proved to be deserters from an
other Spanish colony and had long been
living in an interior province under the
protection Of great cacique named Ca
-eta. Though the latter had spared their
worthless lives and treated them with un.
varying kindness they did not hesitate in
offering to pilot Balboa to the Indian vii
lage, which they declared to contain q
great store of the precious metal so ar.
IDENTIFY desired by the adventures.
When the expedition reached
cARETA's CAPITAL,
mouth of the Caledonia river, near the
! present town called CaretO The chief ra