VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA, DISCOVERER OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. In 1501 he followed Rodrigo de Bastidas on a voyage of discovery into the Western seas. He became a farmer; his debts accumulated, and to escape his creditors he was placed inside an empty cask and carried on board a ship outfitted to help a settlement. When the adventurers arrived, the place was in ruins. The captain was in a quandary. Balboa suggested to him to sail to Darien. Arrived there, quarrels ensued; the captain was thrown into prison and Balboa took command. He proved successful, and was the first Spaniard to hear of the gold to be had in Peru. He learned that his enemies had complained to the King, and that he had been condemned and summoned to Spain. In his despair he resolved to attempt some great enterprise which should absolve his sentence. September 1, 1513, he set out with 190 Spaniards (Pizzaro among them), and 25 days later, on a barren peak, he gazed upon the Pacific Ocean. He at once sent large presents and the report of his great discovery to Spain. Ferdinand was appeased, and named him Admiral of the Pacific and Governor of Panama. Balboa projected a great expedition for the conquest of the Pacific. Meanwhile, his enemies in America had been plotting. They lured him to Acla, near Darien; he was thrown into prison and hastily executed, 1517. $3$3833333333x3x3x3x3X BRET HARTE at the time he became editor of Overland Monthly. -From a photograph loaned by Ina D. Coolbrith.. Cover of Montalvo's Famous Novel Wherein was Originated the Fabled "Island of California." LIBRO PRIMERO DELAS SERGAS DEL MVY ESFORCADO CAVALLERO ESPLANDIAN AORANVEVA MENTE EMENDADAS EN ESTA FACSIMILE OF THE COVER of the romantic Spanish novel, "The Life and Adventures of Las Sergas de Esplandian," published in Spain in 1510, which for the first time in print the word California was used. Montalvo's famous romance was the "best seller" of his day, and went through eight editions. Don Quixote mentions it among the books he read. -Courtesy of Otto von Geldern. Romance of the Word "California" T By William Greer Harrison HE origin of the word California is an interesting study that has occupied many minds. Not only is California a land of romance; its name is of romantic origin. It is to be found in one of the most romantic books ever published-the "Life and Adventures of Las Sergas de Esplandian," son of Amadis of Gaul, the gallant knight whom Cervantes took for the prototype of his hero, Don Quixote. The book was written by Vasco de Lobeyra, a Portuguese, and it was translated into Spanish by Garcia Ordognez de Montalvo, who published it in 1510. From the Spanish it was translated into English by Robert Southey. Long before the discovery of California all Spain was familiar with the entrancing romances of Montalvo. In these works is to be found the origin of the belief of all the early Spanish navigators, including Columbus, that in the Indian Ocean they would find the Isle of Sweet ContentParadise. Montalvo makes his hero lead an expedition in search of this isle. Instead, he discovered the Isle of the Amazons-women, women everywhere, and not a man to mate. This island was called by its Queen, California (spelled in 1510 just as we spell it to-day.) Its Queen was named Califia (beautiful.) She had quite a fleet and an army of Griffens and Amazons. She received the expedition most courteously and was persuaded by the hero to join forces against the Turks who were at war with Spain. On her arrival in Europe, Califia elected to join the Turks rather than the Spaniards. This offended Amadis of Gaul and Explandian, both of whom were challenged to mortal combat by the heroic Queen. Explandian ac cepted the challenge, which read as follows: "I, Califia, Queen of California, a region rich in gold and silver and precious stones, challenge you, Amadis of Gaul, and Explandian, your son, Knight of the Serpent, to combat." The duel took place and Explandian conquered the Sultan of a Turkish island and Amadis subdued the queen. To soften her defeat, Amadis bestowed upon the queen his nephew, and these two returned to California, the Isle of the Amazons. In the challenge made by Califia, the word California is for the first time presented to the world. The question naturally arises, where did Montalvo get the word? The answer is that he coined it. He was a native of Medino del Campo. He had a relative who died some twenty miles distant. This gentleman's name was Calahorra or Calaforro (the letter h and f being interchangeable in Spanish.) It is more than a guess that Calaforra was used by Montalvo as the basis for California. It is a matter of history that for perhaps two hundred years after the discovery of California it was believed to be an island. Cortez and Diaz (his historian) were quite familiar with Montalvo's romance. When they visited the peninsula of Lower California, believing it to be an island, it is quite likely that they recognized a likeness to the Isle of Amazons, and that Cortez applied the name California to Lower California, the name formally given to the State as it was and is. Diaz, in describing the scenes witnessed by Cortez and himself, says that the scenes described in reference to Califia's California established a degree of comparison. The point he made is that Diaz and Cortez were familiar with Montalvo's legend; hence the island and hence "California." Of course there was much speculation in reference to the word California. Calida Fornax, the Latin for a hot furnace-a guess with nothing to sustain it. Another writer presents the theory that the Indians of California were descendants of Coreans, who had made their way to California, and that the Coreans called themselves Caoli, hence California. The Rev. E. C. Hale disposes of all the guesses by reminding his readers that the word California was in print and in use twenty-five years before the discovery of California; referring his readers to Montalvo's works, where the name of our State is first presented. It is a beautiful State, has a beautiful name, and we can't, even if we wanted to, help loving it. Montalvo's Famous Story of "California " WHEN Ordonez de Montalvo wrote his astonishing yarn all the world of that time believed that the variously located California was a land of "romantic wonders and fabulous riches, splendid cities and vast magazines of wealth. Montalvo begins his assurance to a credulous world in this wise: "Be it known unto you that at the right hand of the Indies (sic) there was an island formed of the largest rocks known and called California, very near to the terrestrial Paradise. This island was inhabited by robust dark women of great strength and great warm hearts, who lived almost as Amazons, and no man lived among them. Their weapons and the trappings of the wild beasts which they rode after taming them were entirely of gold, and no other metal existed on the island. The people lived in wellhewn caves. They had many ships in which they made excursions to other countries, where they caught men whom they carried away and subsequently killed. During periods of of peace with their neighbors they commingled with them without restraint. When children were born the females were preserved, but the males were killed at once, saving only those required to guard against depopulation, so that their domination over the land would be securely maintained. "There were many griffins on the island, and they were a great torment. There were also an infinite number of wild beasts which are found in no other part of the world. When these animals had young, the women went to fetch them and carried them, covered with heavy skins, to their caves, and there bred them and fed them with the men and male children. The women brought up these animals with such skill that they knew them well and did them no harm, and they attacked and killed any man who entered the island and ate him; and when their appetite was sated, they would take them up flying into the air and let them fall from great heights, killing them instantly." . . . |