Note IX-7 — Chapter IX · DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 1513.
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Again a general difference occurs in an important date, and, according to my custom, I am governed by the authorities I deem most reliable. Oviedo follows the expedition from day to day, noting places and dates; and he says, iii. 10: 'Y un mártes, veynte é cinco de septiembre de aquel año de mill é quinientos y trece, á las diez horas del dia,' at 10 o'clock in the morning. So Gomara also writes, Hist. Ind., 77: 'Vio Valboa ala mar del Sur a los veynte y cinco del Setiembre del año de treze;' and Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iv. 109: 'Llegaron á la cumbre de las más altas sierras á 25 dias de Setiembre de dicho año de 1513;' and Herrera, i. x. i.: 'A veynte y cinco de Setiembre, deste año, de donde la mar se parecia.' Careful writers following these first authorities also name the day correctly, as Humboldt, Exam. Crit., i. 319, who says: 'Vasco Nuñez de Balboa vit la Mer du Sud, le 25 septembre 1513, du haut de la Sierra de Quarequa;' and Acosta, Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada, 50: 'Esto pasó el dia 25 de setiembre del año de 1513 poco antes de medio dia y forma una de las épocas notables en el descubrimiento de la América;' and Quintana, Vidas de Españoles Célebres, 'Balboa,' 20: '25 de setiembre;' and Chevalier, L'Isthme de Panama, 15: 'Le vingt-cinquième jour, le 25 septembre;' and Campbell, Hist. Span. Am., 23: 'the 25th of Septembre;' and Helps, Span. Conq., i. 361: '25th of September;' etc. In the face of which, Irving, Columbus, iii. 198, shows gross carelessness when he writes 'the 26th of September.' To support him he has Ramusio, who, Viaggi, iii. 29, falls into a mistake of Peter Martyr's, 'alli ventisei adunque di Settembre,' and Du Perier, Cen. Hist. Voy., 139, and, to copy his error, Dalton, Conq. Mex. and Peru, 43, and a host of others. Not quite so often mentioned as Columbus' voyages is this discovery of Vasco Nuñez, though nearly so. After Oviedo and Las Casas probably Peter Martyr gives the best original account. Herrera copied from all before him. The following popular accounts are most of them meagre and unreliable:—Nouvelles An. des Voy., cxlviii. 11-12; Goodrich's Man upon the Sea, 201-8; Voyages, New Col., i. 180-6; World Displayed, i. 153-9; Monson's Tracts, in Churchill's Voy., iii. 372; March y Labores, Marina Española, i. 413-50; Dufey, Résumé Hist. Am., i. 75-86; Gottfriedt, Newe Welt, 239-41; Juarros, Guat., 122; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, 66-72; Ogilby's Am., 69-72; Norman's Hist. Cal., 10-11; Patton's Hist. U. S., 11; Pim's Gate of Pacific, 99; Hazlitt's Gold Fields, 3; Roberts' Nar. Voy., xx.; Isth. Panama, 5; Humboldt, Essai Pol., i. 17; Lallement, Geschichte, i. 25; Bidwell's Panamá, 23-7; Andagoya's Nar., 19; Galvano's Discov., 123-4; Cavanilles, Hist. España, v. 290-1; Greenhow's Mem., 22; Farnham's Adv., 119; Fédix, L'Orégon, 67-8; Span. Emp. in Am., 23; Burney's Discov. South Sea, i. 8-9; Niles' S. Am. and Mex., 14-15; Kerr's Col. Voy., ii. 67-8; Colton's Jour. Geog., no. 6, 84; Douglas' Hist. and Pol., 44; Holmes' Annals Am., i. 32-3; Inter-Oceanic Canal and Monroe Doct., 11; Hesperian, ii. 27-33; Lardner's Hist. Discov., ii. 40-1; Harper's Mag., xviii. 469-84; Macgregor's Prog. Am., i. 10-11; Mofras, L'Orégon, i. 88-9; Ovalle, Hist. Rel. Chile, in Pinkerton's Col., xiv. 142-4; Mesa y Leompart, Hist. Am., i. 88-94; Mavor's Am. Hist., xxiv. 52-5; Holinski, Cal., 62-4; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nvovo, 47-8; Morelli, Fasti Novi Orbis, 15; Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, i. 20.