X. FIRST FOREIGNERSIT IS said that the Chinese gave to the clove the name "Thengki"--"the sweet-scented nail." When the clove came to Rome, the haughty lovers of spices exclaimed "clavus"--"a nail." The English made a slight change and said "clove." Solomon, the wise, and King Hiram, the Phoenician, sent fleets on voyages of long duration. Their ships returned from these voyages laden with the fragrant products of the spice lands.
Marco Polo rehearsed the abundant aromas of the Orient as well as the gold and jewels and silks. Columbus, in 1492, went west that he might find more ready access to these eastern riches. The spice islands lay somewhere in a great ocean toward the sunset from Spain, provided the world was round, as Columbus argued.
Balboa must have wished for a Nicaraguan or Pa
