Chapter 5

Indicative, _Elulan_, I do not give _Elulaimi_, thou doest not give Imperative, _Eluquili_, let me not give, &c. Subjunctive, _Elunoli_, if I do not give, &c. Infinitive, _Elunou_, not to give, &c.

NUMERALS OF THE CHILESE LANGUAGE.

_Cardinals._

1. _Quigne_ 11. _Mari-guigne_ 21. _Epumari quigne_ 2. _Epu_ 12. _Mari-epu_. &c. 3. _Cula_ 4. _Meli_ 5. _Quechu_ 6. _Cayu_ 7. _Relghe_ 8. _Para_ 9. _Aylla_ 10. _Masi_ 20. _Epumari_ 30. _Culamari_ 40. _Melimari_, &c. 100. _Pataca_ 102. _Pataca epu_ 200. _Epupataca_, &c. 1000. _Huaranca_ 2000. _Epuhuaranca_ 2003. _Epuhuaranca cula_, &c.

_Ordinals._

_Unen, Unelelu, Quignelelu, Quignegetu, Quignegentu, Quigmentu, once Epulelu, epugelu, epugentun, epuntu,_ twice, &c.[55]

[Footnote 55: The translator seems here to have misunderstood the author, as these ordinal numbers ought surely to signify _first_ and _second_.--E.]

_Numeral Adverbs._

_Quignechi, guignemel, quignemita,_ once _Epuchi, epumal, epumeta,_ twice, &c.

_Distributives._

_Calique, mallquigne,_ one by one _Epuque, mollepu,_ two by two, &c.

_Numeral Verbs._

_Quignen_, to be one. _Quignelian_, to join. _Epun_, to be two; &c.

_Abstracts._

_Quignegen_, unity. _Epugen_, duality. _Culagen_, trinity, &c.

_Indefinites._

_Quignelque_, several. _Epulgen_, about two. _Culalque_, about three.

* * * * *

It has not been deemed necessary to repeat a great number of minute observations given by Molina on this singular language, nor to report the shades of difference in its dialects. But it has been thought proper to give a short list of words from the Moluches, a tribe inhabiting Patagonia, but speaking a nearly related dialect of the Chilese language with that of the Araucanians.

Vocabulary.

_P'llu_, the soul or a spirit _Autuigh_, the sun, a day _Lonco_, the head or the hair _Voso_, the teeth or bones _Az_, the face _Anca_, the body _N'ge_, the eyes _Pue_, the belly _Wun_, or _huun_, the mouth _Cuugh_, the hand _Gehuun_, the tongue _Namon_, the foot _Yu_, the nose _Pinque_, the heart _Nahue_, a daughter _P'nen_, a child _Peni_, a brother _Con'n_, to enter _Penihuen_, own brothers _Tipan_, to go out _Huinca_, a Spaniard _Cupaln_, to bring _Seche_, an Indian _Entun_, to take away _Huenuy_, a friend _Aseln_, to be adverse _Cainie_, an enemy _Aselgen_, to hate _Huincha_, a head fillet _M'len_, to be, to possess _Makun_, a mantle _Mongen_, life to live _Lancattu_, glass beads _Mongetun_, to revive _Cosque_, bread _Swam_, the will _Ipe_, food _Swamtun_, to will _In_, or _ipen_ to eat _Pepi_, power _Ilo_, flesh _Pepilan_, to be able _Ilon_, to eat flesh _Quimn_, knowledge, to know _Putun_, to drink _Quimeln_, to learn _Putumum_, a cup _Quimelcan_, to teach _Chilca_, writing _Pangi_, a lion _Chilcan_, to write _Choique_, an ostrich _Sengu_, a word, language, or _Achahual_, a cock or hen a thing _Huayqui_, a lance _Malu_, a large lizard _Huay-quitun_, to lance _Cusa_, a stone an egg _Chinu_, a knife or sword _Saiguen_, a flower _Chinogoscun_, to wound _Milya_, gold _Chinogosquen_, to be wounded _Lien_, silver _Conan_, a soldier _Cullyin_, money payment _Conangean_, one who is to be _Cullingen_, to be rich. a soldier _Amon_, to walk _Cunnubal_, poor, miserable, an orphan _Anun_, to sit _Cum panilhue_, red metal, copper _Anupeum_, a stool or seat _Chos panilhue_, yellow metal, brass _Anunmahuun_, to feel inwardly _Gepun_, colour, painting _Poyquelhuun_, to feel or perceive _Cuyem, Kiyem_ a mouth, the moon _Saman_, a trade an artificer _Tissantu_, a year _Mamel_, a tree _K'tal_, fire _Mamel-Saman_, a carpenter _Asee_, hot _Suca_, a house _Chosee_, cold _Sucu-Saman_, a house builder _Atutuy_, it is shivering cold.

_The beginning of the Lord's Prayer_.

_Inchin in Chao, huenumenta m' leymi, ufchingepe mi wi;_ Our Father, in heaven thou that art, hallowed be thy name; _eymi mi toguin inchinmo cupape; eymi mi piel, chumgechi_ thy kingdom to us may it come; thy will, as it is _vemgey huenu-mapumo, vemgechi cay vemengepe_ done in heaven, so likewise may it be done _tue-mapumo, &c._ on earth, &c.

SECTION III.

_State of Chili, and Conquests made in that Country by the Peruvians, before the arrival of the Spaniards._

The History of Chili and its inhabitants does not precede the middle of the fifteenth century, and what little is known respecting it is contained in the traditionary accounts of the Peruvians, who first invaded the northern province of Chili about the middle of that century, not an hundred years before the overthrow of the Peruvian empire by Pizarro, and the first Spanish invasion of Chili under Almagro.

About the year 1450, while the Inca Yupanqui reigned over the Peruvian empire which had then extended its limits from Cuzco northwards to the equator and southwards to the tropic of Capricorn, the ambition of the Peruvian government was attracted to the acquisition of the important country of Chili, a rich and delightful region of great extent, immediately adjacent to the southern extremity of Peru. Favoured by the fertility of the country and the salubrity of the climate, the population of Chili may be readily supposed to have then been considerable, as we know that the whole extent of its territory was occupied by fifteen independent tribes or communities, each of which was governed by its respective chiefs, or _Ulmens_. These, tribes, beginning at the north on the confines of the desert of Atacama, were called Copaipins, Coquimbans, Quillotans, Mapochians, Promaucians, Cures, Cauques, Pencones, Araucanians, Cunches, Chilotes, Chiquilanian, Pehuenches, Puelches, and Huilliches; which last tribe inhabited the south of Chili, adjoining the archipelago of Chiloé.

Informed of the natural advantages possessed by the inhabitants of this delightful region, the Inca Yupanqui resolved to attempt the annexation of Chili to his extensive empire. He accordingly marched with a powerful army to the frontiers of the country: But, either from apprehensions of his personal safety, or to be in a favourable situation for reinforcing the invading army and directing its operations, he established himself with a splendid court in the province of Atacama, the most southerly district of Peru, and confided the command of the invading army to Sinchiruca, a prince of the blood royal of Peru. Preceded, according to the specious custom of the Peruvians, by several ambassadors, and attended by a considerable military force, this general reduced under the Peruvian government, more by persuasion than force, the four most northerly tribes of the Chilese, named Copaipins, Coquimbans, Quillotans, and Mapochians. After this, not being able by his ambassadors to persuade the Promaucians into submission, who inhabit the delightful country between the river Rapel on the north and Maule on the south, he passed the river Rapel with his army to reduce them by force of arms. The name of the Promaucians, which signifies _free-dancers_[56], had been given them on account of their fondness for every kind of amusement, and their peculiar attachment to dancing; yet the love of pleasure had not rendered them effeminate. With the assistance of their allies, they drew together a formidable army and fought the Peruvians with such heroic valour as to defeat them in a battle, which, according to Garcilasso, was continued during three successive days.

[Footnote 56: On a former occasion their name is explained as signifying _the people of delight_, owing to the beauty, fertility, and charming climate of their country.--E.]

On learning the defeat of his army and the invincible valour of the Promaucians, the Inca gave orders that the river Rapel should remain the southern boundary of his dominions, and all attempts to reduce the rest of Chili were laid aside. According to Garcilasso, the river Maule was established as the frontier of the Peruvian conquests: But this is by no means probable; as in this case the country of the conquerors would have been included within the territories of the vanquished. In fact, not far from the river Cachapoal, which with the Tinguiririca forms the Rapel, the remains of a Peruvian fortress are still to be seen on the top of a steep hill, which was undoubtedly built to protect that part of the frontier against the unconquered Promaucians. By this conquest of its four northern provinces, Chili became divided into two distinct portions; all to the south of the Rapel remaining free, while the districts to the north of that river were subjected to the dominion of the Incas. These four tribes, who had so readily submitted to the Inca Yupanqui, were subjected to an annual tribute in gold; but the conquerors never introduced their peculiar form of government into these provinces, the inhabitants of which remained subject to their own native _ulmens_, and preserved their original manners until the arrival of the Spaniards.

When first known to the Spaniards, the Chilese were an agricultural people, dependent for their subsistence on the cultivation of such nutritious plants as accident or necessity had made them acquainted with. The plants chiefly cultivated by them for subsistence were maize, _magu, guegen, tuca, quinoa, pulse_ of various kinds, the potatoe, _oxalis tuberosa_, common and yellow pumpkin or gourd, guinea pepper, _madi_, and the great strawberry; of each of which it may be proper to give a short account[57].

[Footnote 57: The following account of the plants cultivated by the Chilese for food, is extracted from the natural history of Chili by Molina; but the enumeration from the text of his civil history will be found to differ materially from that given from the natural history of the same author.--E.]

Maize or Turkey wheat, the _Zea mais_ of botanists, is called _gua_ by the Chilese. It grows extremely well in Chili, where the inhabitants cultivate eight or nine distinct varieties. The kind in highest repute is called _uminta_, from which the natives prepare a dish by bruising the corn, while in a green unripe state, between two stones into a kind of paste, which they season with salt, sugar, and butter. This paste is then divided into small portions, which are separately inclosed in the skin or husk of the corn, and boiled for use. When ripe, the maize is prepared for winter use, either by slightly roasting, or by drying in the sun. From the former, named _chuchoca_, a kind of soup is prepared by boiling with water: From the latter they make a very pleasant beer or fermented liquor. The maize is sometimes reduced to meal by grinding between two stones, being previously parched or roasted by means of heated sand. For this purpose they prefer a variety of maize named _curagua_, which is smaller than the other, and produces a lighter and whiter meal, and in larger quantity. With this meal, mixed with sugar and water, they make two different beverages, named _ulpo_ and _cherchan_.

_Magu_ a species of rye, and _tuca_, a species of barley, were cultivated by the Chilese before the coming of the Spaniards to that country; but have been entirely neglected since the introduction of European wheat. They are still used however by the Araucanians, who make from them a kind of bread called _couvue_, which name they likewise give to bread made from maize or wheat.

_Quinua_ is a species of _Chenopodium/_, having a black twisted grain of a lenticular form, from which they prepare a stomachic beverage of a pleasant taste. A variety of this plant, named _dahue_, produces white seeds, which lengthen out when boiled like worms, and are excellent in soup. The leaves of the _quinoa_ have an agreeable taste, and are eaten by the natives.

_Degul_ is a species of bean, of which the Chilese cultivated thirteen or fourteen kinds before the arrival of the Spaniards, differing but little from the common European bean or _Phaseolus vulgaris_, one of them having a straight stalk, and all the rest climbers[58].

[Footnote 58: These beans are obviously what are called kidney-beans in this country.--E.]

Chili is considered by naturalists as the native country of that valuable esculent the potato, or _Solanun tuberosum_, which is known there by the names of _papa_ and _pogny_. It is found indeed wild all over the country; but those wild plants, named _maglia_, produce only small roots of a bitterish taste. It is distinguished into two species, and more than thirty varieties are cultivated with much care. Besides the common species, the second is the _cari, Solanum cari_, which bears white flowers having a large central nectary like the narcissus. The roots of this species are cylindrical and very sweet, and are usually roasted under the ashes.

The _Oca_, or _Oxalis tuberosa_, produces five or six tuberosities on each root, three or four inches in length covered by a thin smooth skin. It is eaten boiled or roasted, and has a pleasant subacid taste. Like the potato, it is multiplied by means of its bulbs cut in pieces. There are several species of this plant; one of which called _red culle_, is much used in dyeing, and Is considered as a specific remedy for inflammatory fevers.

Two species of gourds are known in Chili. The first species, with a white flower, called _quada_, has twenty-six varieties, several of which produce sweet and edible fruit, while that of the others is bitter. With one of these last, after extracting the seeds, the Chilese give a pleasant perfume or flavour to their cyder. The yellow-flowering gourd, called _penca_, has two kinds or varieties, the common and mamillary, owing to the fruit of the latter having a large nipple-shaped process at the end. Its pulp is sweet, and resembles in taste a kind of potato named _camote._

The _quelghen,_ or Chili strawberry has rough and succulent leaves, and its fruit is sometimes as large as a hens egg. This fruit is generally red and white; but in the provinces of Puchacay and Huilquilemeu, where they attain the greatest perfection, the fruit is yellow. "The Chili strawberry is _dioecial_, and has degenerated much in Europe by the want of male plants, and the females producing hybrid fruit by impregnation from the ordinary strawberries growing in the neighbourhood; in consequence of which circumstance the cultivation of this kind has been abandoned in Europe."

The _madi,_ a new genus of plants peculiar to Chili, has two species, one wild and the other cultivated. From the seeds of the latter an excellent oil is procured, either by expression, or by boiling in water, of an agreeable mild taste, and as clear as the best olive oil. This plant, hitherto unknown in Europe, would be a most valuable acquisition to those countries in which the olive cannot be raised.

Many species of the capsicum, or guinea pepper, are cultivated in Chili, under the name of _thapi_, and are used as seasonings in the food of the natives.

The _illmu,_ or Bermudiana bulbosa, produces bulbous roots, which are excellent food either boiled or roasted, and are very pleasant in soups. The _liuto_ produces a bulbous root, which yields a very white, light, and nutritious flour, which is much used as food for the sick.

To these enumerated provisions from the vegetable kingdom, may be added the _cuy_ or little rabbit, _Lepus minimus,_ and the Chilihueque, or Araucanian camel; the flesh of which last affords an excellent food, and its wool furnishes clothing for the natives. If tradition may be credited, they had also the hog and the domestic fowl before the Spanish invasion. Besides these, the country produced the _guanaco,_ and the _pudu,_ a species of wild goat, and a great variety of birds. With these productions, which required only a moderate degree of industry, they subsisted with a sufficient abundance considering their situation and numbers; insomuch that, when Almagro invaded Chili, his army found abundance of provisions to recruit after the famine they had endured in their imprudent march through the deserts intervening between Peru and that country. With these advantages of abundant provisions in a fertile soil and mild climate, it appears that the first writers who treated of Chili cannot have greatly exaggerated in saying that it was filled with inhabitants at the first arrival of the Spaniards. Even the circumstance of one language being spoken through the whole country, is a proof that all the tribes were in the habit of continual intercourse, and that they were not isolated by vast unpeopled deserts, as is the case in many other parts of America.

Agriculture appears to have made no inconsiderable progress among the Chilese, who cultivated a great variety of alimentary plants, all distinguished by peculiar and appropriate names, which could not have been the case except in consequence of an extensive and varied cultivation. They even had aqueducts in many parts of the country for watering or irrigating their fields; and, among these, the canal which runs for many miles along the rough skirts of the mountains near the capital, and waters the lands to the north of that city, remains a remarkably solid and extensive monument of their ingenious industry. They were likewise acquainted with the use of manure, called _vunalti_ in their language; but, from the great fertility of the soil, little attention was paid to that subject. They used a kind of spade or breast-plough of hard wood for turning the soil, which was pushed forwards by their breasts. At present the native Chilese use a very simple plough, called _chetague_, made of the branch of a tree crooked at one end, having a wooden share and a single handle by which it is guided. Whether this simple implement has been taught them by the Spaniards, or is of their own invention I know not; but should believe it original, as Admiral Spilsberg observed a plough of this kind, drawn by two Chilihueques, used by the natives of the Isle of Mocha in the Araucanian Sea, where the Spaniards never had a settlement. The Fathers Bry add, that the Chilese tilled their lands by means of these animals before the arrival of any European cattle. However this may have been, it is certain that this Araucanian camel was employed by the natives as a beast of burden before the arrival of the Spaniards, and the transition from burden to draught is not difficult.

The Chilese cooked their grain for food in various ways, by boiling in earthen pots, or roasting it in hot sand, and by grinding it into meal, which they prepared in the form of gruel, of cakes, and of bread. Meal made of parched grain was called _murque_, and when made from grain merely dried in the sun _rugo_. Of the first they made gruels, and a kind of beverage still used for breakfast. Of the second they made cakes, and a kind of bread called _covque_, which was baked in holes dug in the sides of hills or the banks of rivers, in the form of ovens, many of which are still to be seen. They had even invented a kind of sieve, called _chignigue_, to separate the bran from the flour, and employed leaven in baking their bread. From the grains already mentioned, and the fruits or berries of different trees, they made nine or ten different kinds of fermented liquors, which they made and kept in jars of earthen-ware.

Having adopted the settled mode of life indispensable to an agricultural people, the Chilese were collected into families or septs more or less numerous, in those situations which were best suited for procuring subsistence, where they established themselves in large villages, called _cara_, or in small ones called _lov_. These villages consisted only of a number of huts irregularly dispersed within sight of each other, and some of them still subsist in several parts of Spanish Chili. The most considerable of these are _Lampa_ in the province of St Jago, and _Lora_ in the province of Maule. In each village or hamlet they had a chief named _Ulmen_, who was subject in certain points, to the supreme ruler of the tribe, or _apo-ulmen_. The succession of these chiefs was by hereditary descent; and from their title of office, which signifies a rich man, it would appear that wealth had been the original means of raising these families to the rank they now occupy, contrary to the usages of other savage nations in which strength, skill in hunting, or martial prowess appear to have been the steps by which individuals have risen to rank and power. The authority of these chiefs or _ulmens_ appears to have been extremely limited, being merely of a directive nature and not absolute. The right of private property was fully established among the Chilese, as every individual was the absolute master of the land he cultivated, and of the produce of his industry, both of which descended to his posterity by hereditary succession.

The houses or huts of the Chilese were built in a quadrangular form, of wood covered with clay, and the roof covered with rushes; though in some instances the walls were of brick, the use of which they seem to have learned from the Peruvians, as they used the Peruvian term _tica_ for that material. From the wool of the Chilihueques they manufactured cloth for their apparel, using the spindle and distaff for spinning this wool into yarn, and two different kinds of looms for weaving the yarn into cloth. One of these, called _guregue_, is not very unlike the ordinary loom of Europe; but the other is vertical or upright, and called _uthalgue_, from the verb _uthalen_, signifying to stand upright. From a verb in their language, _nudaven_, which signifies to sew, they must have used some kind of needle to sew their garments; but I know not of what substance it was composed. They seem even to have been acquainted with the art of embroidery, called _dumican_ in their language. From excellent clay which is found abundantly in Chili, they made pots, plates, cups, and large jars to hold their fermented liquors, baking these vessels in holes or ovens made in the declivities of hills; and they even used a kind of mineral earth called _colo_, for varnishing these vessels. Besides these vessels of clay, they made others of hard wood, and even of marble; some vases of which excellently polished have been dug out from under a large heap of stones in the mountains of Arauco. From the earth they extracted gold, silver, copper, tin, and lead, and employed these metals in a variety of useful and curious works. Particularly from their native copper, which is a kind of bell-metal and very hard, they made axes, hatchets, and other edged tools, but in small quantities, as these are very rarely met with in their ancient sepulchres; where, on the contrary, hatchets made of a species of basalt or very hard stone are very often found. They seem even to have known the use of iron, as it is called _panilgue_ in their language, and weapons made of it are termed _chiuquel_, while those made of other materials are called _nulin_. A smith likewise is called _ruthavé_, from _ruthan_, signifying to work in iron.

The ancient Chilese had discovered the art of making salt, both from sea water and from inland salt springs; calling the former _chiadi_, and the latter _lilco-chiadi_, or salt from the water of rocks. They procured dyes of various colours for their clothes, both from the juice of plants and from mineral earths, and had discovered the art of fixing them by means of the _polcura_, an aluminous or astringent mineral. Instead of soap, they used the back of the _quillai_, which is an excellent substitute. In their language there are many words discriminative of various kinds of baskets and mats, which they manufactured from various vegetables. From a plant called _gnocchia_, they procured a strong fibrous substance resembling hemp, of which they made ropes and fishing nets of different kinds; and the inhabitants on the coast used canoes of different kinds and sizes, and floats or rafts of wood, or of inflated seal skins. Though not peculiarly addicted to hunting, they were accustomed to kill the wild animals and birds of the country, both for amusement and subsistence; for which purpose they used bows and arrows, and the _laque_ or running noose which is employed with so much ingenuity by many of the South American natives. It is a singular fact that they had the same device as the Chinese, for catching wild ducks in their lakes and rivers, covering their heads with perforated gourds, and wading among the flocks.

They had advanced so far in the knowledge of numbers, as to have distinctive names for the ten units, and for an hundred and a thousand, with all the intermediate numbers compounded of decimal terms. To preserve the memory of their transactions, they used a bunch of threads of several colours called _pron_, similar to the _quippo_ of the Peruvians, oh which they cast a number of knots according to circumstances. The subject was indicated by the colour of the threads, and the knots designated the number or quantity, but I have not been able to discover any other purpose to which this species of register could be applied. The _quippo_ is still used by the shepherds in Peru, to keep an account of the number in their flocks, to mark the day and hour when the different ewes yeaned, or when any of their lambs are lost.

The religious system of the Araucanians, formerly that of all the native tribes of Chili, resembles in a great measure the freedom of their modes of life and government. They acknowledge a Supreme Being, the creator of all things, whom they name _Pillan_, a word derived from _pulli_ or _pilli_, the soul. He is likewise named _Guenu-pillan_, the soul or spirit of heaven; _Buta-gen_, the great being; _Thalcove_[59], the thunderer; _Vilvemvoe_, the creator of all things; _Vilpepilvoe_, the omnipotent; _Mollgelu_, the eternal; _Avnolu_, the omnipotent; and is designed by many other similar epithets. Their ideas of the government of heaven form in a great measure a prototype of the Araucanian system of civil polity; Pillan is considered as the great _Toqui_ of the invisible world of Spirits[60], and is supposed to have his _Apo-ulmens_ and _Ulmens_, or subordinate deities of two different ranks, to whom he entrusts the administration of lesser affairs. In the first class of these inferior deities, are _Epunamun_, or the god of war; _Meulen_, a benevolent being, the friend of the human race; and _Guecubu_, a malignant being, the author of all evil, who is likewise called _Algue_. Hence they appear to entertain the doctrine of two adverse principles, improperly called Manicheism. _Guecubu_, or _Huecuvu_, is named _Mavari_ by the natives on the Orinoco, and is the same with the _Aherman_ of the ancient Persians. To him every evil is attributed. If a horse tire, he has been ridden by _Guecubu_. In an earthquake, _Guecubu_ has given the world a shock; and the like in all things. The _Ulmens_, or subaltern deities of their celestial hierarchy, resemble the genii, and are supposed to have the charge of earthly things, and to form, in concert with the benevolent Meulen, a counterpoise to the prodigious power of the malignant Guecuba. These _ulmens_ of the spiritual world are conceived to be of both sexes, who always continue pure and chaste without propagation. The males are called _Gen_, or lords; the females _Amei-malghen_, or spiritual nymphs, and are supposed to perform the same friendly offices to men which were anciently attributed to the _lares_, and every Araucanian imagines he has one of these attendant spirits in his service. _Nien cai gni Amchi-malghen_, I keep my nymph still, is a common expression when any one succeeds in an undertaking. Pursuant to the analogy of their own earthly government, as their _Ulmens_ have no right to impose any service or contribution on the people whom they govern, so they conceive the celestial race require no services from man, having occasion for none. Hence they have neither idols nor temples, and offer no sacrifices, except in case of some severe calamity, or on the conclusion of a peace, when they sacrifice animals, and burn tobacco as a grateful incense to their deities. Yet they invoke them and implore their aid on urgent occasions, chiefly addressing _Pillan_ and _Meulen_.

[Footnote 59: _Pillan_, according to Dobrizhoffer, is likewise the word for thunder. In a similar manner, _Tupa_ or _Tupi_, among all the Tupi tribes of Brazil, and the Guaranies of Paraguay, signifies both God and thunder.--E.]

[Footnote 60: Among the Moluches, the general name of the Supreme Being, according to Falkner, is _Toqui-chen_, or the supreme ruler of the people.--E.]

Notwithstanding the small regard which they pay to their deities, they are extremely superstitious in matters of less importance, and are firm believers in divination, paying the utmost attention to favourable and unfavourable omens, to dreams, the singing and flight of birds, and the like, which they believe to denote the pleasure of the gods. They have accordingly jugglers or diviners, who pretend to a knowledge of futurity, who are called _Gligua_ and _Dugol_, some of them call themselves _Guenguenu_ or masters of heaven, _Guenpugnu_ or masters of disease, _Guen-piru_, or masters of worms, and the like. These diviners pretend to the power of producing rain, of curing diseases, of preventing the ravages of the worms which destroy the grain, and so on. They are in perpetual dread of imaginary beings, called _Calcus_ or sorcerers, who in their opinion remain concealed in caverns by day, along with their disciples or servants, called _lvunches_ or man-animals, who transform themselves at night into owls and shoot invisible arrows at their enemies.

They all believe in the immortality of the soul, which they call _am_ or _pulli_, and which they say is _aneanolu_ or incorporeal, and _mugealu_, or existing for ever; but they are not agreed as to the state of the soul after this life. All say that it goes after death to the west beyond the sea, to a place called _Gulcheman_, or the dwelling of the men beyond the mountains. Some believe this country is divided into two provinces; one that is pleasant and filled with every thing delightful, the abode of the good; the other desolate and devoid of every comfort, the dwelling of the wicked. Others again conceive that all enjoy eternal pleasure after this life, and that the deeds done in the body have no influence on the future lot. They believe the soul retains its original attachments and dislikes, and that the spirits of their departed countrymen frequently return and fight furiously with those of their former enemies, when they meet in the air; and to these combats they attribute the origin of tempests and of thunder and lightning. When a storm happens on the Andes or the ocean, they ascribe it to a battle between the spirits of their departed countrymen and those of the Spaniards. If the storm take its course towards the Spanish territory, they exclaim triumphantly, _Inavimen, inavimen, puen, laguvimen!_ Pursue them friends, pursue them, kill them! If the storm tends towards their own country, they cry out in consternation, _Yavulumen, puen, namuntumen_! Courage friends, be firm!

They have a tradition of a great deluge, in which only a few persons were saved by taking refuge on a high mountain, named _Thegtheg_, the thundering or sparkling, which had three points, and had the property of floating on the waters. On the occurrence of violent earthquakes, they fly for refuge to the mountains, fearful that the sea may again deluge the world; and on these occasions, every one takes a good supply of provisions, and a large wooden platter to protect the head, in case the _Thegtheg_ when raised by the waters should approach the sun.

The year of the Araucanians is solar, and begins on the 22d of December, or immediately after the southern solstice, which they call _Thaumathipantu_, or the head and tail of the year, and are able to ascertain this period with tolerable precision by means of watching the shadows. The 22d of June is called _Udanthipantu_, the divider of the year, as dividing it into two equal parts. The whole year is called _Tipantu_, or the course of the sun, and is divided into twelve months of thirty days each, to which they add five intercallary days to complete the tropical year, but in what way I have not been able to determine. The months are called _cujen_, or moons, and have the following names:

Avun-cujen, the month of fruit, -------------January Coji-cujen the month of harvest, ------------February Glor-cujen, the month of maize, ---------------March Rimu-cujen, the 1st month of rimu, ---------------April Inarimu-cujen, the 2d month of rimu, -----------------May Thor-cujen, the 1st month of foam, ----------------June Inanthor-cujen, the 2d month of foam, ----------------July Huin-cujen, the unpleasant month, --------------August Pillal-cujen, the treacherous month, ---------- September Hueul-cujen, 1st month of new winds, -------------October Inan-hueul-cujen, 2d month of new winds, ------------November Hueviru-cujen, the month of new fruits, ----------- December

The year is divided into four seasons; the spring being called _Peughen_, the summer _Ucan_, the autumn _Gualug_, and the winter _Pucham_. The natural day is divided into twelve parts or hours, called _gliaganiu_, six of which belong to the day and six to the night, all of which have particular names. Commencing at midnight, there are Puliuen, Ueun, Thipanantu, Maleu, Vutamaleu, Ragiantu, Culunantu, Gullantu, Conantu, Guvquenantu, Puni, Ragipun. The stars in general are named _huaglen_, which they distribute into constellations called _pal_ or _ritha_. The pleiades are named _Cajupal_, or the constellation of six; the antarctic cross _Meleritho_, the Constellation of four, and so on. The milky-way is named _Rupuepen_, the fabulous road. The planets are called _gau_, a word derived from _gaun_ to wash, as they suppose them to dip into the sea when they set; and some conceive them to be other earths inhabited like our own. The sky is called _Guenu-mapu_, or the heavenly country; the moon _Cuyenmapu_, or the country of the moon. Comets are called _Cheruvoc_, as believed to be terrestrial exhalations inflamed in the upper region of the air. The eclipses of the sun and moon are called _Lay-antu_ and _Lay-cujen_, or the deaths of the sun and moon.

Their measures of length are the _nela_ or palm, the _duche_ or foot, _namun_ the pace, _the can_ the ell, and _tupu_ the league, which answers to the marine league or the pharasang of the Persians: But they estimate long distances by mornings, corresponding to our days journeys. The liquid measures are the _guampar_, about a quart; _can_ about a pint; and the _mencu_, which is still smaller. The dry measures are the _chiaique, about six pints; and the _gliepu_, which is double that quantity.

Oratory is held in high estimation, and is the road to honour and the management of public affairs; insomuch that the eldest son of an _Ulmen_, if deficient in that talent, is excluded from the right of succession, which devolves upon a younger son, or the nearest male relative who happens to be an able speaker. On this account, parents accustom their sons to speak in public from their early youth, and carry them to the national assemblies, where the best orators of the nation display their eloquence. Hence the universal attention to speak the language correctly and to preserve its purity. They are so careful to avoid the introduction of any foreign words into their language, that when any stranger settles among them he is obliged to adopt a new name in the _Chili-dugu_ or language of the country, and even the missionaries must conform to this singular regulation, if they would obtain favour; and so fastidious are they in attention to the purity of their language, that the audience will interrupt a missionary while preaching, to correct the mistakes in language or pronunciation. Many of them are well acquainted with the Spanish language; and, from being accustomed to a soft regular and varied language, they are able easily to learn the pronunciation of the different European dialects, as was observed by Captain Wallis of the Patagonians, who are real Chilese. They are so unwilling however to use the Spanish, that they never use it in any of the assemblies or congresses between the two nations, and rather choose to listen to a tiresome interpretation than to degrade the dignity of their native tongue by using another on such occasions. Their style of oratory is highly figurative, elevated, allegorical, and replete with peculiar phrases and expressions that are only used on such occasions; whence it is called _coyag-tucan_ or the style of public harangues. They commonly divide their subject into regular heads, called _thoy_, and usually specify the number they mean to enlarge upon; saying _Epu thoygei tamen piavin_, "what I am going to say is divided into two heads." Their speeches are not deficient in a suitable exordium, a clear narrative, a well-founded argument, and a pathetic peroration; and usually abound in parables and apologues; which sometimes furnish the main substance of the discourse.

Their poets are called _gempin_, or lords of speech; and their poetry generally contains strong and lively images, bold figures, frequent allusions and similitudes, new and forcible expressions, and possesses the power of exciting sensibility. It is every where animated and metaphorical, and allegory is its very soul and essence. Their verses are mostly composed in stanzas of eight or eleven syllables, and are for the most part blank, yet rhyme is occasionally introduced, according to the taste or caprice of the poet.

They have three kinds of physicians. Of these the _ampives_, who are skilful herbalists, are the best, and have even some skill in the pulse and other diagnostics of disease. The _vileus_ pretend that all contagious diseases are produced by insects or worms, and are therefore often called _cutampiru_, which signifies vermiculous diseases, or diseases proceeding from worms. The _machis_ are a superstitious class, or pretenders to sorcery, and allege that all diseases proceed from witchcraft, and pretend therefore to cure them by supernatural means, for which reason they are employed in desperate cases, when the exertions of the _ampives_ and _vileus_ have proved ineffectual; They have likewise a kind of surgeons, called _gutarve_; who are skilful in replacing luxations, setting fractured bones, and curing wounds and ulcers. Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the Chilese doctors used bleeding, blistering, emetics, cathartics, sudorifics, and even glysters. They let blood by means of a sharp flint fixed in a small stick; and for giving glysters they employ a bladder and pipe. Their emetics, cathartics, and sudorifics are all obtained from the vegetable kingdom.

Their commerce, both internal and external, is all carried on by barter, as they have not adopted the use of money; and this is regulated by a conventional tariff according to which the values of all articles in commerce are appraised under the name of _cullen_, or payment. Their external trade is with the Spaniards, with whom they exchange _ponchos_, or Chilese cloaks, and animals, for wine or European articles. The Spaniards of the province of Maulé supply the Araucanians with iron ware, bits for bridles, cutlery, grain, and wine; and are paid in _ponchos_ of which they receive above 40,000 yearly, in horned cattle, horses, ostrich feathers, curious baskets, and other trifles; for it has never been possible to induce them to open their gold mines. The Spanish merchant has in the first place to obtain permission from the ulmens or heads of families of a district, after which he proceeds to all the houses, distributing his merchandize indiscriminately to all, who present themselves. When he has completed his sale, he gives notice of his departure, and all the purchasers hasten to an appointed village, where they deliver the articles agreed for with the utmost punctuality.

SECTION IV.

_First Expedition of the Spaniards into Chili under Almagro_.

After the death of Atahualpa and the subjection of the Peruvian empire by Pizarro and Almagro, Pizarro persuaded his companion Almagro to undertake the conquest of Chili then celebrated for its niches, being desirous to enjoy the sole command in Peru. Filled with sanguine expectations of a rich booty, Almagro began his march for Chili in the end[61] of the year 1535, with an army of 570 Spaniards, and accompanied by 15,000 Peruvians, under the command of Paullu[62], the brother of the Inca _Manco_, the nominal emperor of Peru, who had succeeded to Atahualpa and Huasear. Two roads lead from Peru to Chili; one of which by the maritime plain, is the arid desert of Atacama, destitute of water and provisions; while the other passes for about 120 miles over the immense ridge of the Andes, and is attended by excessive inconveniences and almost insurmountable difficulties Almagro chose this road because it was the shortest from Cuzco; and in this march his army had to endure infinite fatigue, and almost incessant conflicts with the barbarous tribes in the several districts through which he had to pass. He at length reached the eastern side of the vast chain of the Andes at the commencement of winter, almost destitute of provisions, and ill supplied with clothing to protect his people under the inclemencies of the region he had still to penetrate. At the season of the year which he unfortunately chose, snow falls almost continually among the Andes, and completely fills and obliterates the narrow paths that are even difficultly passable in summer. The soldiers, however, animated by their general, and ignorant of the dangers they had to encounter, advanced with inconceivable toil to the summit of the rugged ascent. But by the severity of the weather, and the want of provisions, 150 of the Spaniards perished by the way; and 10,000 of the Peruvians, less able to endure the rigours of that frozen region, were destroyed. Not one of all the army would have escaped, had not Almagro pushed resolutely forward with a small party of horse to Copaipo, whence he sent back succours and provisions to his army still engaged in the defiles of the mountains. By these means, those of the most robust constitutions, who had been able to resist the inclemency of the weather, were enabled to extricate themselves from the snow, and at length reached the plains of Copaipo, the most northerly province in Chili, where they were kindly received and entertained by the inhabitants, through respect for the Peruvians.

[Footnote 61: The beginning of that year according to Ovale.--E.]

[Footnote 62: By Orale this Peruvian prince is called Paullo Topo, and the high priest of the Peruvians, Villacumu, is said to have been likewise sent in company with Almagro.--E.]

As the Inca Paullu was well acquainted with the object of this expedition, he obliged the inhabitants of Copaipo to deliver up to him all the gold in their possession, which he immediately presented to Almagro, to the value of 500,000 ducats. Almagro was highly pleased with this first fruit of his labours, and immediately distributed the whole among his soldiers, to whom also he remitted immense debts which they owed him, as he had advanced them all the funds which were necessary to fit them out for the expedition. Almagro soon learnt that the reigning Ulmen of Copaipo had usurped the government of that province in prejudice of his nephew and ward, who had fled to the woods. Calling the lawful heir into his presence, he arrested the guilty chief, and reinstated the lawful heir in the government, with the universal applause of the natives, who attributed this conduct entirely to motives of justice and a wish to redress the injured.

When the Spaniards were recovered from their fatigues, through the hospitable assistance of the Copaipins, and were reinforced by an additional number of soldiers brought by Rodrigo Orgonez from Peru, Almagro and his troops commenced their march towards the more southerly provinces of Chili, full of the most flattering hopes of acquiring vast riches and splendid establishments in a fine country, which was interspersed on all sides with numerous villages, evincing an extensive population and fertile soil. The natives every where crowded round them on the march, to examine the wonderful strangers, and to present them with such things as they thought might prove agreeable to beings whom they conceived of a superior order to other men. In the mean time, two soldiers who had separated from the army, proceeded to the river Huasco which forms the boundary between the provinces of Copaipo and Coquimbo, where they were well received at first by the inhabitants; but, in consequence of some acts of violence, they were afterwards put to death, being the first European blood spilt in Chili, which has since been so copiously watered with the blood of the Spaniards. On being informed of this unfortunate accident, calculated to weaken the exalted notion which he wished to inspire into the natives of the character of his soldiers, Almagro hastened his march for Coquimbo, where he immediately ordered _Marcando_ the head _ulmen_ of the province, his brother, and twenty others of the principal inhabitants to be brought before him; all of whom he committed to the flames; This act of cruelty appeared extraordinary and unjust to every one; for even among these adventurers, inured to rapine and bloodshed, there still were some men of humanity and justice. The majority of the army openly disapproved the severity of the general on this occasion, and from this time his affairs ceased to be prosperous.

Some time in the year 1537, Almagro received a considerable reinforcement from Peru under the command of Juan de Rada; who likewise brought him letters patent from the king of Spain, by which he was appointed governor of 200 leagues of territory to the southward of the government which had been granted to Francisco Pizarro. By the same conveyance Almagro received letters from his friends in Peru, urging him to return to that country and to take possession of Cuzco, which they asserted was within the limits of the jurisdiction confided to him by his patent. But, as he entertained very sanguine ideas of the value of the conquest in which he was now engaged, he pursued his march towards the south, and passed the fatal _Cachapoal_ or _Rapel_, regardless of the remonstrances of his Peruvian allies, who urged him to refrain from attempting to invade the country of the valiant Promaucians[63]. At the first appearance of the Spaniards, these brave Indians were astonished and terrified by the horses and thundering arms of the strangers; but soon recovering from the effects of their first surprise, they intrepidly opposed their new enemies on the banks of the Rio-claro. Despising their force, and ignorant of their bravery, Almagro placed his Peruvian allies in the first line, now considerably increased by an additional number whom Paullu had drawn from the Peruvian garrisons in Chili. But these troops were soon defeated by the Promaucians, and fell back in confusion on the line of Spaniards in the rear. The Spaniards, instead of remaining spectators of the battle, were now compelled to sustain the vigorous attack of the enemy; and, advancing with their horse, a furious battle was fought with considerable loss on both sides, and continued till night separated the combatants without either party having gained the victory.

[Footnote 63: Called _Puramaucans_ by Garcilasso and _Promocaes_ by Ovale, who names the _Cauquenes_ and _Peneos_ as their allies.--E.]

Although the Promaucians had sustained a heavy loss in this battle, they courageously encamped within sight of the Spaniards, determined to renew the fight next morning. Though the Spaniards had kept possession of the field, and considered themselves victorious according to the customs of Europe, they were very differently inclined from their valiant enemies. Hitherto they had been accustomed to subdue extensive provinces with little or no resistance, and became disgusted with an enterprise which could not be accomplished without much fatigue and danger, and the loss of much blood, having to contend against a bold and independent nation, by whom they were not considered as immortal or as a superior order of beings. It was therefore resolved by common consent to abandon the present expedition, yet they differed materially as to the conduct of their retreat; some being desirous to return into Peru entirely, while others wished to form a settlement in the northern provinces of Chili, where they had already received so much hospitality, and had acquired considerable riches. The first opinion was supported by Almagro, now strongly impressed by the suggestions of his friends in Peru to take possession of Cuzco. He represented to his soldiers the dangers to which a settlement would be exposed in so warlike a country, and persuaded them to follow him to Cuzco, where he expected to be able to establish his authority either by persuasion or force, pursuant to his royal patent.

Having determined to return into Peru, and having fatally experienced the dangers of the mountain road, Almagro resolved to march by the desert of Atacama in the maritime plain, by which he conducted his troops into Peru with very little loss in 1538. He took possession of Cuzco by surprise; and, after ineffectual negociations, he fought a battle with the brother of Pizarro, by whom he was taken prisoner, and beheaded as a disturber of the public peace. Such was the fate of the first expedition of the Spaniards against Chili, undertaken by the best body of European troops that had hitherto been collected in those distant regions. The thirst of riches was the moving spring of this expedition, and the disappointment of their hopes the cause of its abandonment.

SECTION V.

_Second Expedition into Chili, under Pedro de Valdivia, to the commencement of the War between the Spaniards and Araucanians_.

Having obtained absolute command of the Spanish possessions on the southern side of South America, by the defeat and death of his rival Almagro. Pizarro resolved to resume the conquest of Chili, which he conceived might become an important acquisition. Among the adventurers who had come from Spain to Chili, were two officers who held royal commissions to attempt this conquest, named Pedro Sanchez de Hoz, and Camargo. To Hoz had been confided the conquest of the country from the confines of Peru to the river Maulé; and to Camargo the remainder of the country beyond that river to the archipelago of Chiloé. Jealous of the interference of these officers in the country which he considered as his by right of discovery, Pizarro refused under frivolous pretences to confirm the royal nomination, and chose for the conduct of the expedition Pedro de Valdivia, his quarter-master, a prudent active and brave officer, who had acquired military experience in the wars of Italy, and who had already evinced a strong attachment to his party. On this occasion, Valdivia was directed to take Hoz along with him to Chili, and to allow him every advantage he could possibly desire in the allotment or repartition of lands and Indians in the expected conquest.

Valdivia accordingly set out from Cuzco in 1540, with a force of 200 Spaniards, and accompanied by a numerous body of Peruvian auxiliaries, taking likewise along with him some monks, several Spanish women, and a great number of European quadrupeds, with every requisite for settling a new colony in the country. On his march for Chili he pursued the same route with Almagro; but instructed by the misfortunes of his predecessor, he did not attempt to pass the Andes till the middle of summer, by which precaution he was enabled to enter Chili without incurring any loss. His reception there however, even in the northern provinces, was very different from that which had been experienced by Almagro. Informed of the conquest of Peru by the Spaniards, owing to which they were freed from the submission they had come under to the Incas, they did not consider themselves bound to transfer their obedience to the present invaders. The Copaipans accordingly began to attack Valdivia immediately on entering their country, assailing him at every step with much valour, but with very little conduct. Like barbarians in general, they were incapable of making a common cause with each other; and having been long accustomed to servitude under the Peruvians, during which all union among the northern tribes had been dissolved, they attacked their invaders in separate hordes as they advanced into the country, and without that steady and firm courage which stamps the valour of a free people in the defence of their liberties. In spite of this desultory and uncombined opposition from the natives, Valdivia traversed the provinces of Copaipo, Coquimbo, Quillota, and Melipilla, with Very little loss though much harassed, and arrived in the province of Mapocho, now called St Jago.

This province, which is more than 600 miles from the confines of Peru, is one of the pleasantest and most fertile in the kingdom. Its name of Mapocho signifies in the Chilese language, _the land of many people_; and according to the earliest writers respecting Chili, its population was then extremely numerous. This province, which borders on the Andes, is 140 miles in circumference, and is watered by the rivers Maypo, Colina, Lampa, and Mapocho, which last divides it into two nearly equal parts. In one place this river sinks into the earth, and after a subterraneous course of five miles, emerges again with an increase of its waters, and finally joins the river Maypo. The mountains of Caren, which terminate this province on the north, abound in gold, and in that part of the Andes which forms the eastern boundary, there are several rich mines of silver. Valdivia had penetrated thus far into the country on purpose to render it difficult for his soldiers to return into Peru, and he now determined to form a settlement in this province, which from its remote situation and natural advantages, seemed excellently calculated to become the centre of his intended conquests. Having selected with this view a convenient situation on the left shore of the Mapocho, he laid the foundation of the intended capital of the kingdom of Chili, on the 24th of February 1541, naming this new city St Jago, in honour of the tutelary saint of Spain. In laying out the ground plan of the intended city, he divided the whole into plots or squares of 4095 toises each[64], and allotted a quarter of each square as the scite of a house for each citizen, which plan has been followed in laying out all the other cities in Chili. One of these areas situated on one side of the great square was destined for the cathedral and bishops palace, and another for the house of the governor and the public offices. He then appointed a cabildo or magistracy, according to the usual forms in Spanish cities, from those persons in his small army that were best qualified for the purpose; and, for the protection of the new settlement, in case of attack from the Chilese, he built a fort on a hill in the centre of the city, which has since received the name of St Lucia.

[Footnote 64: Though not distinctly so expressed, this must be considered as square toises, making each side of the square 64 toises, or 384 feet. In a former account of the city of St Jago, the public square is described as being 450 feet on each side.--E.]

Though many have applauded the sagacity of Valdivia in the choice of a situation for the capital of the new colony, it would in my opinion have been much better placed on the banks of the river Maypo, about fifteen miles farther south; as that river is much larger than the Mapocho, has a direct communication with the sea, and might easily be made navigable for ships of considerable burden. In the year 1787, this city contained more than 40,000 inhabitants, and was rapidly increasing in population, owing to its being the seat of government, and the residence of many wealthy and luxurious families, by which it attracts considerable commerce.

The natives observed the progress of this new settlement with much jealousy, and concerted measures for freeing themselves from such unwelcome intruders; but, as Valdivia discovered their intentions, he confined the chiefs of the conspiracy in his new fortress; and having intimation of a secret intelligence being carried on between the Mapochians and their neighbours, the Promancians, he repaired with a body of sixty horse to the river Cachapoal or Rapel to watch the motions of that brave and enterprising nation. This precaution was however altogether unnecessary, as that fearless people had not sufficient policy or foresight to think of uniting with their neighbours in order to secure themselves from the impending danger. Taking advantage of the absence of Valdivia, the Mapochians fell upon the new settlement with desperate fury, burnt all the half-built houses, and assailed the citadel on all sides, in which the inhabitants had taken refuge. While the Spaniards were valiantly defending their imperfect fortifications, a woman named Inez Suarez, beat out the brains of all the captive chiefs with an axe, under the apprehension that they were endeavouring to regain their liberty, and might assist the assailants in gaining possession of the fort. The attack began at day-break, and was continued without intermission till night, fresh assailants continually occupying the places of those who were, slain or disabled.

The commandant of the Spaniards, Alonzo de Monroy, found means to send a messenger to inform Valdivia of his situation; and the governor accordingly hastened to the aid of the besieged with all possible expedition, and found the ditch almost filled with dead bodies, while the enemy, notwithstanding the heavy loss they had sustained, were preparing to renew the assault. Drawing out its infantry from the fort to join the cavalry he had along with him, Valdivia advanced in order of battle against the forces of the enemy, who were posted on the bank of the Mapocho. The battle was again renewed in this place, and obstinately contested with equal valour on both sides; but with great disadvantage on the part of the natives, who were far inferior in arms and discipline to the Spaniards. The musquetry and the horse made a dreadful slaughter among Mapochians, who were only armed with bows and slings; yet obstinately bent upon preserving their independence, and regardless of their own importance, they rushed on to inevitable destruction; till having lost the flower of their valiant warriors, and reduced to a small number, they at length fled and dispersed over the plain. Notwithstanding this memorable defeat, and others of not less importance which they sustained afterwards, the Mapochians did not cease for the space of six years to keep the Spaniards closely blockaded in St Jago, continually attacking them on every opportunity, and cutting off their provisions so effectually, that they were often reduced to great straits, having to subsist upon unwholesome and loathsome viands, and what little grain they were able to raise under protection of the cannon from the ramparts. At length, worn out and brought to utter ruin by this incessant warfare, the remnant of the Mapochians destroyed their own crops and retired to the mountains, leaving the fertile plains around the new city utterly deserted and uncultivated.

The soldiers under Valdivia became wearied and disgusted by this continual war, so different from what they had expected; and as they believed him obstinately bent upon adherence to his own plan, and resolved to continue the settlement in spite of every opposition from the natives, they entered into a conspiracy to kill their general and to return into Peru, where they expected to enjoy more ease and tranquillity. Having fortunately got notice of this conspiracy, Valdivia, who possessed great prudence and an insinuating address, soon conciliated those who were least implicated. After this, as he only had the title of general which did not confer any civil and judicial power, he assembled the Cabildo of the city, and persuaded them to invest him in the office of governor of the city and kingdom. In this imposing capacity, he tried and capitally punished some of the ringleaders of the conspiracy, and then prudently exerted himself to soothe the turbulent and seditious spirits of the remainder, by buoying up their hopes with the most flattering promises of future wealth. He had often heard in Peru, that the valley of Quillota abounded in mines of gold, and was hopeful therefore of being able to obtain a sufficient quantity from thence to satisfy the avidity of his soldiers. Notwithstanding the difficulties with which he was surrounded, he sent a party of soldiers into the valley of Quillota, with orders to superintend and protect a number of labourers in digging for the precious metal said to be abound in that place. The mine which was opened upon this occasion proved remarkably rich and productive, surpassing their most sanguine hopes; so that all their past sufferings and present difficulties were soon buried in oblivion, and henceforwards no one had the remotest wish to leave the country. Valdivia, encouraged by this success to new enterprises, ordered a carrack or ship of some considerable size to be built at the mouth of the river Chillan, which traverses the valley of Quillota, for the purpose of more readily obtaining succours from Peru, without which he was fully sensible he could not possibly succeed in the vast enterprise he had in view, which was no less than to accomplish the entire reduction of Chili.

In the mean time, considering the urgent state of his affairs, Valdivia resolved to dispatch two of his principal officers, Alonzo Monroy, and Pedro Miranda by land to Peru, with an escort of six horsemen, whose spurs, bits, and stirrups he directed to be made of solid gold, hoping thereby to entice a sufficient number of recruits to come to his assistance, by this obvious proof of the riches of the country. Although these messengers were escorted to the confines of Chili by thirty additional horsemen, they were attacked and defeated in the province of Copaipo by a hundred archers, commanded by Coteo, an officer of the _Ulmen_ of that province. Of the whole party none escaped with life but the two officers, Monroy and Miranda, who were made prisoners and carried before the _ulmen_ covered with wounds. The prince had resolved on putting them both to death; but, while deliberating on the mode of execution, his wife, the _ulmena_ or princess of Copaipo, moved by compassion for their unhappy situation, successfully interceded with her husband to spare their lives, unbound them with her own hands, tenderly dressed their wounds, and treated them as if they had been her brothers. When they were entirely recovered, she desired them to teach her son the art of riding, as several of the Spanish horses had been taken in the late defeat. The two Spaniards readily consented to her request, hoping to avail themselves of this circumstance to give them an opportunity of recovering their liberty, which they did in effect; but the means they employed was marked by a cruel act of ingratitude to their compassionate benefactress, of so much deeper turpitude that it was unnecessary for their purpose. As the young prince was one day riding between them, escorted by a party of archers and preceded by an officer carrying a lance, Monroy suddenly dispatched him with two or three mortal wounds of a poniard. At the same time Miranda wrested the lance from the officer of the guard, who were thrown into confusion by this unexpected event, and the two Spaniards readily accomplished their escape. Being well mounted, they easily eluded pursuit, and made their way through the desert into Peru, whence they continued their way to Cuzco, where Vaca de Castro then resided, who had succeeded to the government after the cruel assassination of Francisco Pizarro by the Almagrian faction.

When De Castro was informed of the critical situation of affairs in Chili, he immediately sent off a considerable reinforcement by land under the command of Monroy, who had the good fortune to conceal his march from the Copaipans, and to join Valdivia in safety. At the same time the president of Peru dispatched by sea Juan Batista Pastene, a noble Genoese, with a more considerable reinforcement for Valdivia. On receiving these two reinforcements, which arrived about the same time, Valdivia began to carry his great designs into execution. Being solicitous to have a complete knowledge of the sea-coast, he ordered Pastene to explore the whole as far to the southwards as possible, noting the most important places all along the coast; and, on his return from this maritime survey, he sent him back to Peru for additional reinforcements, as the natives had become every day bolder and more enterprising, ever since their victory in Copaipo over Monroy and Miranda. Only a little before this, the Quillotans had contrived to massacre all the soldiers employed at the gold mines in their country, by the following stratagem. One day a neighbouring Indian brought a pot full of gold to Gonzalo Rios, the commandant at the mines, and told him that he had found a great quantity in a certain district of the country which he offered to point out. On this information, all were eager to proceed immediately to the place, that they might participate in the imaginary treasure. As they arrived at the place described in a tumultuary manner and entirely off their guard, they fell into an ambush, by which the whole party was slain, except their imprudent commander and one negro, both of whom saved their lives by the speed of their horses. About the same time the vessel which Valdivia had ordered to be built at the mouth of the river Chillan was burnt by the natives, together with the store-houses or arsenal which he had established in that place.

On receiving notice of the disaster which had taken place at the mines, Valdivia hastened to Quillota with a strong body of troops, and took revenge as far as he could on the Quillotans for the death of his soldiers; after which, he constructed a fort in their country in which he left a garrison for the protection of the people employed in the gold mines. Being soon afterwards reinforced by three hundred men from Peru, under the command of Francisco Villagran and Christoval Escobar, he made choice of a beautiful plain near the mouth of the river Coquimbo, at which place there is a very convenient natural harbour, near which he erected in 1544: a city which he named _Serena_, to serve as a place of arms to protect the northern part of Chili, and to secure the convoys and reinforcements which might come from Peru in that direction. This place is still known in geography by the name of Serena; but in Chili the native name of Coquimbo prevails, as is the case with most of the Spanish cities and towns in Chili.

In the ensuing year, 1545, Valdivia marched into the country of the Promaucians, with the view of extending his conquests to the southwards. Contemporary historians have not left an account of the events of this year, nor of any battles having been fought on this occasion; yet it is hardly to be supposed that this valiant tribe, who had so gloriously repulsed the armies of the Inca and of Almagro, would allow Valdivia to reduce their territory to subjection without a struggle. However this may have been, it is certain that he had the art to persuade the Promaucians to enter into an alliance with him against the other tribes of Chili; as ever since the Spanish armies in Chili have been assisted by Promaucian auxiliaries, owing to which the most rooted antipathy has been constantly entertained by the Araucanians against the remnant of the Promaucians. In the year 1546, Valdivia passed the river Maulé, and reduced the natives to obedience from that river to the Itata. While encamped at a place named Quilacura, near the latter river, he was attacked one night by the natives, who destroyed many of his horses, and put him into imminent danger of a total defeat. His loss on this occasion must have been considerable; as he found it necessary to relinquish his plan of farther conquest, and to return to St Jago to wait reinforcements from Peru. As the expected reinforcements did not arrive, and Pastene, who had been sent into Peru to endeavour to procure recruits, brought news in 1547 of the civil war which then raged in Peru, Valdivia determined to go thither in person, expecting to reap some advantages from these revolutionary movements.

Valdivia sailed therefore with Pastene for Peru, taking with him a great quantity of gold, and left Francisco Villagran in charge of the government of Chili during his absence. Valdivia accordingly arrived in Peru, where he offered his services to the president De la Gasca, and acted with great reputation as quarter-master-general of his army in the war against Gonzalo Pizarro. The president was so much satisfied with the services which were rendered by Valdivia on this occasion, that, after the insurrection of Gonzalo was entirely subdued, he confirmed him in the office of governor of Chili, and sent him back to that kingdom with abundance of military stores, and with two ships filled with the soldiers who had served under Gonzalo in the late insurrection, glad of an opportunity of getting rid of so many seditious people for whom there was then no fit employment in Peru.

During the absence of Valdivia from Chili, Pedro de Hoz, who had been deprived of that share in the conquest and government which had been granted him by the court of Spain, and who had imprudently put himself under the power of his more successful rival, was accused of entering into secret practices for usurping the government. It is now unknown whether this accusation was well-founded, or if it were merely a pretence for getting rid of him; but, however this may have been, Villagran condemned him to be beheaded in 1548, either to please Valdivia by ridding him of a dangerous competitor, or perhaps in consequence of secret instructions for that purpose. About this time, the Copaipans killed forty Spaniards, who were proceeding in several separate detachments from Peru to Chili; and the Coquimbans, at the instigation of these northern neighbours, massacred all the inhabitants of the new city of Serena, and razed that place to the foundations. On this occasion Francisco Aguirre was sent into this part of Chili with a military force, to chastise the natives, and had several encounters with them with various success. In 1549, he rebuilt the city of Serena in a more commodious situation, and the inhabitants have ever since considered him as the founder of their city, many of the most distinguished inhabitants of which still boast of being his descendants.

After an incessant contest of nine years, attended by incredible fatigues, numerous dangers, and many reverses, Valdivia considered himself as solidly established in the dominion of that portion of Chili which had formerly been under the authority of the Incas. He accordingly distributed the territory among his followers in repartimientos, assigning a considerable portion of land with all its native inhabitants to each of his followers in proportion to their rank and services, under the denomination of commanderies, according to the baneful system of feudalism then prevalent in Europe. Having thus quieted the restless ambition and mutinous spirit of his soldiers, he advanced towards the south to extend his conquests, accompanied by a respectable force both of Spanish and Promaucians. After a march of 250 miles, during which he encountered few obstacles of any moment, he arrived at the Bay of Penco, now generally called the Bay of Conception, which had been already explored by Pastene during his voyage of discovery formerly mentioned; and near that excellent bay he laid the foundation of the third city in Chili, on the 5th of October 1550, to which he gave the name of Conception.

The situation of this place was admirably adapted for commerce, from the excellence of its harbour; as the bay extends six miles from east to west and nine miles from north to south, defended at its entrance from the sea by the pleasant island of Quiriquina. The passage into the bay on the north side of this island, called the _bocca grande_, is about half a league broad, and has sufficient water for the largest ships. That on the other side of the island, or _bocca chica_, is very narrow, and is only navigable by small vessels. The soil around this place, under the influence of an admirable climate, produces abundance of timber, excellent wine, and all the necessaries of life, and is not deficient in the valuable minerals; and both the sea and the adjoining rivers afford great quantities of fine fish. But owing to the lowness of the situation which was chosen for this city, it was much exposed to inundations of the sea during earthquakes, which are frequent in Chili. On the 8th of July 1730, this city was nearly destroyed by an earthquake and inundation; and experienced a similar calamity on the 24th of May 1751. In consequence of these repeated calamities, the inhabitants established themselves on the 24th of November 1764 in the valley of Mocha, nine miles south from Penco, between the rivers Andalian and Biobio, where they founded a city to which they gave the name of New Conception. The harbour named Talgacuano, situated at the south-east extremity of the bottom of the bay, is between six and seven miles from the new city; and a fort is all that now remains of the old city, now called Penco.

SECTION VI.

_Narrative of the War between the Spaniards and Araucanians, from the year 1550, to the Defeat and Death of Pedro de Valdivia on the 3d of December 1553._

Perceiving the intentions of Valdivia to occupy the important post of Penco by a permanent settlement, the adjacent tribes of the Pencones gave notice of this invasion to the great nation of the Araucanians, their neighbours and friends, whose territories began on the southern shore of the Biobio; who, foreseeing that the strangers would soon endeavour to reduce their own country to subjection, determined to succour their distressed allies for their own security. Accordingly, in a _butacoyog_, or general assembly of the Araucanian confederacy, _Aillavalu_ was nominated supreme _toqui_, and was instructed to march immediately with an army to the assistance of the Pencones. In the year 1550, pursuant to the resolutions of the Araucanian confederacy, Aillavalu passed the great river Biobio, at the head of 4000 men, and boldly offered battle to Valdivia, who had advanced to meet him on the banks of the Andalian. The brave Araucanians sustained the first discharges of musquetry from the Spaniards with wonderful resolution, and even made a rapid evolution under its direful effects, by which they assailed at once the front and flank of the Spanish army. By this unexpected courageous assault, and even judicious tactical manoeuvre, the Spaniards were thrown into some disorder, and Valdivia was exposed to imminent danger, having his horse killed under him; but the Spaniards replaced their firm array, forming themselves into a hollow square supported by their cavalry, and successfully resisted every effort of their valiant enemies, of whom they slew great numbers by the superiority of their arms, yet lost at the same time a considerable number of their own men. The battle remained undecided for several hours; when at length, rashly pressing forwards with impetuous bravery, Aillavalu received a mortal wound[65], and many of the most valiant officers and soldiers of the Araucanians being slain, they retired in good order, leaving the field of battle to the Spaniards, who felt no inclination to pursue them after a so dear-bought victory.

[Footnote 65: In Ovalle, this general is named Anabillo, and is said to have been made prisoner in the battle.--E.]

Valdivia, though he had been present in many battles, both in Europe and America, was astonished at the valour and military skill of this new enemy, and declared he had never been exposed to such imminent danger in the whole course of his military service. As he expected to be soon attacked again, he immediately proceeded to construct a strong fortification for the protection of his new city; and in fact, the Araucanian confederacy was no sooner informed of the defeat and death of their general Aillavalu, than a new and more numerous army was ordered against the Spaniards, under the command of _Lincoyan_, who was elected to the vacant office of supreme toqui. From his gigantic stature, and frequent displays of courage, this officer had acquired great reputation among his countrymen; but, though well suited for a subaltern officer, he was timid and irresolute in the supreme military command, and greatly disappointed the expectations which had been formed from his former behaviour.

Having marshalled his army in three divisions, Lincoyan marched in 1551 to attack the Spaniards under Valdivia, who still remained at Conception, occupied in building and fortifying the new city. The Spaniards were so much alarmed by the approach of the Araucanian army, that after confessing themselves, they took shelter under the cannon of their fortifications, where the Araucanians boldly assailed them. But, finding the first assault unsuccessful, Lincoyan became apprehensive of losing the army which had been committed to his charge, and ordered a precipitate retreat, to the great surprise of Valdivia, who was apprehensive of some stratagem, and did not venture upon attempting a pursuit. When it was discovered that the enemy had actually retreated, the Spaniards considered their flight as a special favour from heaven, and some even alleged that they had seen the apostle St James, mounted on a white horse, waving a flaming sword and striking terror into their enemies. But the only miracle on this occasion proceeded from the timid circumspection of Lincoyan.

Being now in some measure freed from the restraint imposed upon him by the Araucanians, Valdivia applied himself diligently to the building of the city of Conception, for which place he entertained a strong predilection, as he considered that it would become the centre of maritime communication between Chili and the ports of Peru and Spain. Although he had fixed upon St Jago for the capital of the kingdom of Chili, he determined upon establishing his own family at Conception; for which purpose he selected a pleasant situation for his own dwelling, reserving for himself the fertile peninsula between the rivers Andalian and Biobio, and resolved to ask as a reward for his services the two adjoining districts of Arauco and Tucapel, with the title of marquis: For, although these districts still remained in the possession of the Araucanians, he fully expected to be able to subjugate that valiant people in a short time.

Having speedily reared the new city, in which he established a colony of his followers, he employed the remainder of the year 1551 in regulating its internal policy; for which purpose, after having established a Cabildo or body of magistrates, in imitation of those in Spain, as usual in all the cities of Spanish America, he promulgated a body of fundamental regulations, comprised in forty-two articles or statutes, some of which respecting the treatment of the natives within its territory and jurisdiction evinced much prudent humanity; yet, as in all the other subjected countries of America, he left them in a great measure subject to the control and caprice of the citizens to whom they were allotted.

After the settlement of his new city, and having received a reinforcement of soldiers from Peru, he resolved to attack the Araucanians in their own territories, believing that their courage was now entirely subdued, as they had made no attempt to molest him since their late repulse under Lincoyan. With these views, he passed the Biobio in 1552, and proceeding rapidly through the provinces of Encol and Puren, unopposed by the tardy and timid operations of Lincoyan, he arrived at the river Cauten, which divides the country of the Araucanians nearly into two equal parts. Near the confluence of this river with the Damas, he founded a new city which he named _Imperial_[66], in honour of the Emperor Don Carlos; though some say that it received this name in consequence of finding some wooden figures of eagles with two heads, fixed on some of the native huts. This city was placed in a beautiful situation, abounding in all the conveniences of life; and, during the short period of its existence became one of the most flourishing in Chili. Being placed on the shore of a large and deep river, capable of allowing large ships to lie close to the walls, it was excellently situated for commerce, and had free access to receive succours of all kinds by sea in case of being besieged. By modern geographers, this place is still spoken of as an existing city, strongly fortified, and the seat of a bishopric; but it has been in ruins for considerably more than two hundred years.

[Footnote 66: The place where Imperial once stood is marked on our maps on the right or north shore of the conjoined streams of the Ouisa and Cauten, immediately above the junction of a small river which is probably the Damas of the text.--E.]

Intoxicated with his present prosperity, and the apparent submission of the Araucanians, he assigned extensive districts in the surrounding country among his officers. To Francisco Villagran, his lieutenant-general, he gave the warlike province of _Maquegua_, considered by the Araucanians as the key of their country, with about thirty thousand inhabitants. The other officers obtained grants of lands and Indians proportionate to their rank, and the degree in which they possessed his favour, some getting as far as eight or even ten thousand Indians. He likewise dispatched Alderte, with a detachment of sixty men, with orders to establish a settlement on the shore of a lake called _Lauquen_, to which he gave the name of _Villarica_, or the rich city, owing to the great quantity of gold that was procured in the environs.

It may be here mentioned that the province of _Maquegua_ was partitioned anew among the conquerors after the death of Villagran; the principal part of it being assigned to Juan de Ocampo, and another large share to Andreas Matencio. But, in consequence of its recapture by the Araucanians, they reaped very little advantage from their commanderies. Ocampo was afterwards rewarded for his distinguished services by being appointed to the office of corregidore of the cities of Serena Mendoza and St Juan, the two last in the province of Cujo; in which province he had likewise the grant of a considerable commandery of Indians, which he afterwards ceded to the crown.

Receiving additional reinforcements from Peru, Valdivia resumed his march for the south of Chili, still followed but at a considerable distance by Lincoyan, who pretended continually to seek a favourable opportunity to attack the Spaniards, but whose timid and cautious procedure could never find one of which he dared to avail himself. In this manner Valdivia traversed the whole territory of the Araucunians from north to south, with exceedingly little opposition and hardly any loss. But on his arrival at the river Callacalla, which separates the Araucanians from the _Cunches_, he found that nation in arms on the opposite bank of the river, ready to dispute the passage. The Cunches are one of the most valiant of the tribes inhabiting Chili, and possess the maritime country from the river Callacalla, called Valdivia by the Spaniards, to the gulf of Chiloé. They are divided into several subordinate tribes or clans, each of which, as in the other parts of Chili, are governed by their respective _ulmens_. They are in strict alliance with the Araucanians, and have ever continued bitter enemies to the Spaniards.

While Valdivia was deliberating upon the adoption of proper measures for crossing this river, a woman of the country, named _Recloma_, addressed the general of the Cunches with so much eloquence in behalf of the strangers, that he withdrew his army and allowed them to pass the river unmolested. Immediately after this unexpected event, the Spanish general founded a sixth city on the southern shore of the Callacalla, near its junction with the sea, giving it his own name of Valdivia; being the first of the conquerors in America who sought in this manner to perpetuate his name. This settlement, of which the fortress only now remains, attained in a few years a considerable degree of prosperity; owing to the superior fineness of the gold procured from its neighbouring mines, which obtained it the privilege of a mint, and because its harbour is one of the most convenient and secure of any on the shore of the Pacific Ocean. The river is here very broad, and so deep that ships of the line may be moored in safety within a few feet of the shore; and it has several other safe harbours and creeks in the vicinity.

Satisfied with the extent of the conquests he had made, or rather with the incursions he had been able to make in the Araucanian territory, Valdivia now retraced his steps towards the north; and in his progress during the year 1553, he built fortresses in each of the three Araucanian provinces of Paren Tucapel and Arauco. From the warlike inhabitants of these provinces especially, he apprehended any attempt that might prove fatal to his more southerly settlements of Imperial Villarica and Valdivia, and he left garrisons in these more northern fortresses to preserve the communication, and to be in readiness to afford succours to the others in the south. According to the poet Breilla, the Spaniards had to sustain many battles and encounters with the natives in the course of this expedition in Araucania, but the particulars of none of these are recorded. This is however very probable; as it is not easy to account for the continuance of Lincoyan in the command on any other principles. It may be concluded, however, that, owing to the caution, or cowardice rather of the Araucanian toqui, these actions were so ill conducted and so inconclusive, as to give very little interruption to Valdivia in his triumphant progress through these provinces, between the Biobio and Callacalla, or from Conception to Valdivia.

On his return to St Jago, the seat of government, Valdivia received a considerable body of recruits to his army from Peru, together with 350 horses; on which he dispatched Francisco de Aguirre with two hundred men, to reduce the provinces of Tucuman and Cajo on the eastern side of the Andes; not considering how inadequate was even his whole undiminished military force to retain so large an extent of country as that he had now occupied, and a so numerous and warlike people under subjection. Indefatigable in the execution of his extensive plans of conquest, Valdivia returned into Araucania, where he founded in the province of Encol, a city to which he gave the name of La Frontera, being the seventh and last of his foundation. This name, from events which could not then have been in the consideration of Valdivia, has become strictly applicable to its present situation, as its ruins are actually situated on the southern confines of the Spanish settlements in Chili. Though long ago destroyed, it is still mentioned by geographers as an existing city under the name of Angol, by which native denomination it was long known to the Spaniards. It was situated in a fertile district, excellently adapted for the cultivation of vines, and for some time was in a rich and flourishing condition, principally owing to its wines, which were in great repute at Buenos Ayres, to which place they were transported by a road across the Andes and through the plains of La Plata.

After making suitable regulations for the security of this new colony, Valdivia returned to his favourite city of Conception, where he instituted three principal military officers for commanding the royal army of Chili, consisting of a quartermaster-general, a serjeant-major, and a commissary. In the present times only two of these subsist, the quarter-master-general and the serjeant-major; which latter office is now divided into two, one for the cavalry, and the other for the infantry; while the office of commissary is only now known in the militia. At this time he sent Alderte into Spain, with a large sum of money, and a particular relation of his transactions and conquests; and commissioned him to employ his utmost exertions to obtain for him the perpetual government of the country which he had conquered, together with the title of Marquis of Aranco. He dispatched likewise Francisco de Ulloa by sea, with directions to explore the Straits of Magellan, by means of which he hoped to open a direct communication with Spain, without being obliged to depend upon Peru for supplies.

While occupied in the contemplation of these extensive plans for the amelioration of the extensive kingdom which he had subdued, and the advancement of his own rank and fortune, Valdivia had no suspicion of an extensive and determined system of warfare which was planning among the Araucanians, and which soon burst forth with irresistible violence, to the ultimate destruction of all the Spanish conquests beyond the Biobio, and to which Valdivia himself fell an early victim. _Colocolo_, an aged _Ulmen_ of the province of Arauco, animated by love for his country, quitted the retirement in which he had long indulged, and traversed the provinces of the Araucanian confederacy, exciting with indefatigable zeal the dormant spirit of his countrymen, which had sunk after their late disasters, and eagerly solicited them to make choice of a new supreme _toqui_ capable of directing their arms for the recovery of those parts of their country which had been subjugated by the Spaniards, through the timid conduct of Lincoyan. Colocolo was well versed in the principles of government which subsisted among the Araucanians, and had long enjoyed the reputation of wisdom throughout the whole country, in which he was so universally esteemed and respected, that his councils and opinion were always solicited and listened to on every subject of importance. Roused from their torpidity by his animating exhortations, the whole body of Araucanian ulmens assembled according to their custom in a _Butacayog_, or national council, in an open plain; and, after the usual feast, they proceeded to consult upon the situation of their national affairs, and the election of a new toqui to wipe off the disgraces which they had suffered under the direction of Lincoyan.

Many chiefs aspired to the glorious situation of avenger of their oppressed country, the most distinguished among whom were Andalican, Elicura, Ongolmo, Renco, and Tucapel. The last of these was so highly celebrated by his martial prowess that the province of which he was _Apo-ulmen_ has ever since retained his name. He was besides supported in his pretensions by a powerful party; but his elevation to the supreme command was opposed by the more prudent members of the assembly, who dreaded lest the impetuosity of his character might hasten the entire ruin of the nation, instead of retrieving their honour and independence. Dissensions arose so high that the opposite parties were on the point of turning their arms against each other, when the venerable Colocolo rose to speak, and obtained a patient and attentive hearing. By a judicious and energetic address, he pacified their factious irritation so completely, that the assembly unanimously submitted the nomination of a supreme _toqui_ to his choice. The wise old man, on whom every eye was now fixed in anxious expectation, immediately named Caupolican, the ulmen of Pilmaquen a subordinate district of the province of Tucapel, and the whole assembly applauded and confirmed the choice. Caupolican was of a lofty stature and uncommon bodily strength; and though he had lost an eye, the majesty of his countenance evinced great endowments of mind. He was of a serious, patient, and sagacious disposition; and besides great personal bravery, had every requisite to constitute him an able general of the peculiar troops over whom he was now appointed to command. On being invested with the battle-axe, as the badge of his supreme authority, he immediately selected the officers who were to bear command under him in the army of the state, among whom were all the late competitors, and even Lincoyan the former _toqui_. The office of vice-toqui, or lieutenant-general, he conferred on Marientu, a person in whom he reposed entire confidence. Even the violent Tucapel, who had nearly involved his country in civil war for the attainment of the supreme command, did not disdain to serve under the orders of his own vassal, manifesting by this submission his eager wish to sacrifice his personal ambition to the service of his country.

As the Araucanians believed themselves invincible under the command of their new toqui, they were desirous of going immediately from the place of assembly to attack the Spaniards. But Caupolican, no less prudent in council than valiant in the field, repressed this rash ardour, and persuaded them to disperse to their several places of abode, to provide themselves with good arms in order to be in readiness at the first summons to the field, and to leave the direction of the war to his management. Shortly afterwards, he collected and reviewed his army[67], and resolved to commence his operations by a stratagem suggested by an accident. He had that morning taken eighty Indian prisoners, who were conducting forage to the Spanish garrison in the neighbouring fort of Arauco. In place of these men, he substituted an equal number of his own bravest soldiers, under the command of Cajuguenu and Alcatipay, whom he directed to conceal their arms among the bundles of grass, and to maintain possession of the gate of the fortress until he could come to their assistance with the rest of his army. The pretended foragers conducted themselves with so much judgment that they were admitted into the fortress without any suspicion on the part of the garrison, and immediately seizing their arms, they attacked the guard at the gate, killing all that came in their way. The alarm however soon spread, and the rest of the garrison hastened in arms to the spot, under Francisco Reynoso the commandant, and drove the Araucanians from the gate after an obstinate contest, at the very moment when Caupolican came up with his army, so that the Spaniards had just sufficient time to raise the draw-bridge and hasten to defend their ramparts. Though disappointed in his expectation of gaining admittance by the gate, Caupolican was still in hope of profiting from the confusion of the garrison, and encouraged his soldiers to assail the fortress on all sides, notwithstanding the continual fire kept up by the Spaniards from two cannon and six small field-pieces. After losing a great number of men in this unequal contest, Caupolican drew off from the assault, and determined to attempt the reduction of Arauco by a strict blockade, in hopes that the Spaniards would be soon constrained by famine into a surrender.

[Footnote 67: Ovalle carries the number of the Araucanian array on this occasion to the inconceivable amount of 67,000 combatants in the field, besides a large body of reserve.--E.]

After the blockade had continued for some time, during which the Spaniards made several unsuccesful sallies with considerable loss, Reynoso determined to abandon the fort and to retire with his remaining garrison to Puren, as provisions began to fail, and there was no prospect of being relieved. Accordingly the whole garrison mounted their horses at midnight, and rushing suddenly from the gate, made their escape through the middle of their enemies. As the Araucanians supposed this to have been one of the ordinary sallies, they took no measures to obstruct their flight, and Reynoso got off with his men. Having destroyed the fort of Arauco, Caupolican led his army to attack that of Tucapel, which was commanded by Martin Erizar with a garrison of forty men. Erizar defended himself gallantly for several days; but as provisions began to fail, and his small force was continually diminishing by the perpetually renewed assaults of the enemy, he likewise determined upon withdrawing to Puren, which he successfully executed, either by similar means as those pursued by Reynoso, or in consequence of a capitulation with Caupolican. Having destroyed this fortress, Caupolican encamped with his army in the neighbourhood, to wait the approach of the Spaniards, who he supposed would not be long of coming against him with an army.

Valdivia, who then resided in the city of Conception, no sooner learnt that the Araucanians had besieged Arauco, than he began his march for that place with such forces as he was able to collect at a short notice; though contrary to the advice of his most experienced officers, who urged him to wait till he could collect a more formidable army, and seemed to have a presentiment of the fatal consequences which were to result from the present expedition. The historians of the times differ materially in their accounts of the force under Valdivia on this occasion. According to some of these his army consisted of two hundred Spaniards and five thousand Promaucian auxiliaries, while others reduce the number to a half. The same uncertainty is to be found respecting the number of the enemy, some estimating them at nine and others at ten thousand men[68]. On approaching the encampment of Caupolican, Valdivia sent forwards a detachment of ten horsemen under Diego del Oro to reconnoitre, all of whom were slain by the enemy, and their heads cut off and hung upon trees by the way in which the Spanish army had to advance. On arriving at this place, the Spaniards were filled with horror at this miserable spectacle, and many of them, in spite of their usual intrepidity, were eager to retreat till a greater force could be collected. Even Valdivia regretted that he had not conformed to the advice of his older officers; but encouraged by the boasting confidence of others, who proudly declared that ten Spaniards were sufficient to put the whole Araucanian army to flight, he continued his march and came in sight of the enemy on the 3d of December 1553. The prospect of the ruins of Tucapel and the well regulated array of the adverse army, with the insulting taunts of the enemy, who upbraided them as robbers and impostors, filled the minds of the Spaniards, hitherto accustomed to respect and submission from the Indians, with mingled sentiments of dread and indignation.

[Footnote 68: Ovalle does not mention the amount of the army under Valdivia on this occasion, but extends the force of the Araucanians to twenty thousand men.--E.]

The two armies continued for some time to observe each other from a small distance. At length the vice-toqui Marientu, who commanded the right wing of the Araucanians, began the engagement by an attack against the left wing of the Spaniards. Bovadilla who commanded in that wing, moved forwards with a detachment to encounter Marientu; but was immediately surrounded, and he and all his men cut to pieces. The serjeant-major, who was dispatched by Valdivia to his succour with another detachment, experienced the same fate. In the mean time, Tucapel, the Apo-ulmen of Arauco, who commanded the left wing of the Araucanians, made a violent attack on the Spanish right wing with his accustomed impetuosity. The battle now became general, and the hostile armies joined in close fight from wing to wing. Animated by the commands and example of Valdivia, who performed at the same time the duty of a valiant soldier and experienced general, the Spaniards by the superiority of their arms overthrew and destroyed whole ranks of the enemy. But, notwithstanding the horrible slaughter produced by the cannon and musquetry of the enemy, the Araucanians continually supplied the places of those who were slain by fresh troops. Three times they retired in good order beyond the reach of the musquetry; and as often, resuming new courage, they returned vigorously to the charge, which they urged with the most determined and persevering valour. At length, after losing a vast number of their men, the Araucanians were thrown into disorder and began to give way; and in spite of every effort of Caupolican, Tucapel, and even of the aged and intrepid Colocolo, to reanimate their courage and rally their disordered ranks, they took to flight. The Spaniards shouted victory! and pressed ardently upon the fugitives, and the battle seemed decidedly won.

In this critical moment, a young Araucanian only sixteen years of age, named Lautaro, who had been made prisoner by Valdivia, and baptized and employed as his page, went over from the ranks of the victorious Spaniards, loudly reproached his countrymen for their opprobious cowardice, and eagerly exhorted them to return to the contest, assuring them, that the Spaniards, being all wounded and spent with fatigue, were no longer able to bear up against a fresh attack. Having succeeded in stopping the flight of a considerable number of the Araucanians, Lautaro grasped a lance which he tunned against his late master, crying out, "Follow me my countrymen to certain victory." Ashamed at being surpassed in courage by a boy, the Araucanians turned with fury against their enemies, whose ranks were somewhat disordered by the pursuit, and put them completly to rout at the first shock, cutting the Spaniards and their allies to pieces, insomuch that only two Promaucians of the whole army had the good fortune to escape, by fleeing to a neighbouring wood, whence they withdrew during the night to Conception. When all hope was lost by the entire rout of his army. Valdivia withdrew from the massacre attended by his chaplain, to prepare himself for inevitable death by confession and absolution. He was pursued and made prisoner by the victors; and on being brought before Caupolican, is said to have humbly implored mercy from the victorious toqui, and to have solicited the intercession of his former page, solemnly engaging to withdraw from Chili with all the Spaniards if his life were spared. Naturally of a compassionate disposition, and desirous of obliging Lautaro to whom he owed this important victory, and who now interceded for Valdivia, Caupolican was disposed to have shewn mercy to his vanquished foe; but while deliberating on the subject, an old ulmen of great authority among the Araucanians, indignant at the idea of sparing the life of their most dangerous enemy, dispatched the prisoner with a blow of his war club, saying that it would be madness to trust the promises of an ambitious enemy, who would laugh at his oaths when once he escaped the present danger. Caupolican was much exasperated at this interference with his supreme authority, and was disposed to have punished it severely; but most of his officers opposed themselves to his just resentment[69].

[Footnote 69: According to Ovalle, Caupolican was forced by his officers to pronounce condemnation against Valdivia, which was executed immediately, but different accounts were given of the manner in which this was performed: some saying that it was done in the way related in the text, while others allege that they poured melted gold down his throat; that they preserved his head as a monument of victory, to animate their youth to a valorous defence of their country, and that they converted the bones of his legs and arms into flutes and trumpets.--E.]

Thus fell Pedro de Valdivia, the conqueror of Chili; a man of superior genius and of great political and military talents, but who, seduced by the romantic spirit of his age and country, had not sufficient prudence to employ them to the best advantage. His undertakings had been more fortunate, if he had properly estimated his own strength, and had less despised the courage and skill of the Araucanians, presuming on the dastardly example of the Peruvians, and the want of concert in the more northern tribes of Chili, against whom he had hitherto been accustomed to contend. Historians do not impute to him any of those cruelties with which the contemporary conquerors of America have been accused. It is true that, in the records of the Franciscans, two monks of that order are mentioned with applause, as having dissuaded him from exercising those cruelties which had been usual with other conquerors upon the natives of America. By some he has been accused of avarice, and they pretend that the Araucanians put him to death by pouring melted gold down his throat, in punishment of his inordinate search for that metal: But this is a mere fiction, copied from a similar story in ancient authors.

* * * * *

Garcilasso de la Vega, Part I. Book vii. Chap. xxi. gives the following account of the battle in which Valdivia was defeated by the Araucanians.

"In many skirmishes Valdivia always defeated the Araucanians and put them to flight, as they were in such dread of the Spanish horse that they never dared to adventure into the open plains, where ten Spaniards were able to beat a thousand Indians, for which reason they always kept lurking in the woods and mountains, where the Spanish cavalry could not get at them; whence they often sallied out, doing all the injury they were able against the Spaniards. The war continued in this manner for a long time; till at length an old captain of the Araucanians, who had been long famous in their wars, began to consider the reason why so small a number as only 150 Spaniards should be able to subdue and enslave twelve or thirteen thousand Araucanian warriors. After mature deliberation, he divided the Araucanian force into thirteen battalions each of a thousand men, which he drew up in successive lines at some distance, so as to act as a series of reserves one after the other, and marched in this new order of battle against the Spaniards one morning at day-break, ordering them to give louder shouts than usual, and to make a great noise with their drums and trumpets. Alarmed by the noise and shouts of the Indians, the Spaniards sallied forth to battle, and seeing the many divisions of the enemy, they imagined it would be much easier to break through and defeat these smaller battalions than if united in one body."

"So soon as the Araucanian captain saw the Spaniards advancing, he exhorted the foremost battalion of his army to do their best; 'not, said he, that I expect you to overcome them; but you must do your utmost in defence of your country, and when you are worsted, then betake yourselves to flight, taking care not to break into and disorder the other battalions; and when you get into the rear of all, you must there rally and renew your ranks.' He gave similar orders to all the successive battalions, and appointed another officer to remain in the rear to restore the order of those who should retreat, and to make them eat and refresh themselves while the others continued the fight successively. Accordingly the foremost battalion fought for some time against the Spaniards, and when no longer able to withstand the impetuosity of their charge, they retired as ordered into the rear. The second, third, fourth, and fifth battalions did the same in succession, and were all successively defeated by the Spaniards, all retiring according to orders when their array was broken; yet in these reiterated combats the Spaniards sustained some loss both in men and horses. The Spaniards, having already defeated and put to flight five successive bodies of the enemy, and having fought three long hours, were astonished still to observe ten or twelve similar successive battalions before them in firm array, yet they gallantly attacked the sixth body which they likewise overthrew, and in like manner the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth. Having now fought seven hours without intermission, both the Spanish men and horses began to fail from long fatigue, and were unable to charge with the same vigour as in the beginning of the action, yet they exerted their utmost efforts not to shew any appearance of failure to the Indians. Yet the Indians could clearly perceive a material relaxation in the exertions of their enemies, to whom they did not allow a moment of repose, but plied them as at first with new and fresh battalions."

"At length, seeing there was likely to be no end of this new way of fighting, as there were still eight or nine battalions of the enemy in view, and it being now drawing towards evening, Valdivia determined upon making a retreat before his men and horses should be entirely worn out and disabled by incessant action. He accordingly gave orders to his men to retreat, that they might reach a narrow pass about a league and a half from the field of battle, where they would be secure against attack, as in that place two Spaniards on foot were able to keep off the whole army of the Araucanians. He accordingly issued orders to his soldiers to retreat to that narrow defile, passing the word from rank to rank, with directions to turn and make head occasionally against the enemy. At this time Valdivia was attended by an Araucanian, youth named _Lautaro_, the son of an ulmen, who had been bred up in his family from a boy, and baptized by the name of Philip. Knowing both languages, and being more biassed by affection to his country than love to God or fidelity to his master, on hearing the orders given to retreat, he called out to the Araucanians not to be satisfied with the retreat of the Spaniards, but immediately to take possession of the narrow pass, by which they would ensure the entire destruction of their enemies. To encourage his countrymen by his example as well as his words, Lautaro took up a lance from the ground, with which he joined the foremost rank of the Araucanians, and assisted them to fight against his former master."

"When the Araucanian captain observed the Spaniards preparing to retire, he immediately followed the advice of Lautaro, and ordered two fresh battalions of his troops to hasten in good order to occupy the narrow pass, and to use their utmost efforts to defend it till the rest of the army could get up to their assistance. With the remainder of his troops he pressed on against the retreating Spaniards, still plying them as from the first with fresh bodies of his men, and not allowing a moments respite to the enemy. On coming to the entrance of the narrow pass, where they expected to have been in safety, the Spaniards found it already occupied by the enemy, and began to despair of being able to escape. At this time, perceiving that both the Spanish men and horses were completely tired, the Araucanians broke in among them, fifteen or twenty of them seizing upon one horse, some catching him by the legs, others by the tail, and others by the mane; while others knocked down both men and horses with their great war-clubs, killing them with the greatest rage and fury."

"Pedro de Valdivia, and a priest who accompanied him, were taken alive and tied to trees, until the Indians had dispatched all the rest, only three Indian auxiliaries of the Spaniards making their escape by favour of the night into a thicket, whence, being well acquainted with the ways and more faithful to their masters than Lautaro, they carried the fatal news to the Spaniards in Chili. The manner in which Valdivia was afterwards put to death has been differently related. Some say that Lautaro, finding him tied to a tree, killed him after reviling and reproaching him as a robber and a tyrant. The most certain intelligence is, that an old captain beat out his brains with a club. Others again say that the Araucanians passed the night after their victory in dances and mirth; and that at the end of every dance, they cut off a piece of flesh from Valdivia and another from the priest, both yet alive, which they broiled and eat before their faces. During which horrid repast, Valdivia confessed to the priest and they both expired."

* * * * *

SECTION VII.

_Continuation of the War between the Spaniards and Araucanians, from the death of Valdivia, to that of Caupolican._

This important victory, which was gained in the evening of the 3d December 1553, was celebrated next day by the Araucanians with all kinds of games and diversions, which were exhibited in a meadow surrounded by high trees, on which the heads of the slaughtered enemies were suspended as trophies of the victory. An immense concourse of inhabitants from all the surrounding country flocked to Tucapel to enjoy the triumph obtained over an enemy hitherto considered as invincible, and to join in the festivities on this joyful occasion. In token of triumph, the Araucanian officers dressed themselves in the clothes and armour of their slain enemies, and Caupolican decorated himself with the armour and surcoat of Valdivia, which was magnificently embroidered with gold. After the conclusion of the rejoicings, Caupolican presented Lautaro to the national assembly or Butacayog, which had met to deliberate upon the proper measures to be pursued in farther prosecution of the war; and, after a speech in which he attributed the whole success of the late glorious battle to the young warrior, he appointed him extraordinary vice-toqui, and to enjoy the command of a second army which was to be raised for protecting the frontiers against invasion from the Spaniards. In consideration of the inappreciable service he had rendered to his country, the advancement of Lautaro to this new dignity was approved and applauded by all the chiefs of the confederacy. Besides the nobility of his origin, as he belonged to the order of ulmens, Lautaro was singularly beautiful in his appearance, and conciliating in his manners, and possessed talents far surpassing his years, so that in the sequel he fully confirmed the sentiments now entertained of him by Caupolican and the rest of his countrymen.

The sentiments of the assembled chiefs in respect to the farther prosecution of the war, were various and discordant. Colocolo and most of the Ulmens were of opinion, that they ought in the first place to endeavour to free their country from the remaining Spanish establishments within its bounds, before attempting to carry their incursions to the north of the Biobio. Tucapel and some others of the most daring officers, insisted that they ought to take advantage of the present circumstances to attack the Spaniards even in the city of St Jago, the centre of their colonies, while in a state of consternation and dismay, and to drive them entirely from the whole kingdom of Chili. Caupolican applauded the heroic sentiments of Tucapel, yet adopted the council of the elder chiefs, as the most prudent and beneficial for the interests of the nation.

About this time Lincoyan, the former toqui, who was at the head of a detached body of troops engaged in harassing the dispersed settlements of the Spaniards in Araucania, fell in with a party of fifteen Spaniards, on their march from Imperial to join Valdivia, of whose total defeat they had not yet received intelligence. Before engaging with the enemy, whom they confidently expected to defeat with the utmost facility, these Spaniards vainly regretted that their number exceeded twelve, in hope that the event of the day would stamp upon their names the chivalrous title of _the twelve of fame_. Their wishes were soon more than gratified, as seven of them fell at the first encounter with the enemy, and the remaining seven, taking advantage of the swiftness of their horses, escaped severely wounded to the fortress of Puren, carrying with them the melancholy intelligence of the total destruction of Valdivia and his army. On this distressing news the Spanish inhabitants of Puren, and Frontera or Angol, retired to Imperial, where they considered themselves in greater security than in these other more inland fortresses, which were entirely surrounded by the country of the victorious enemy. About the same time the inhabitants of Villarica abandoned that settlement and took refuge in Valdivia; so that two Spanish establishments only now remained in the Araucanian country, and both of them at a great distance from reinforcements or assistance. As Caupolican determined upon besieging these two cities, he committed to Lautaro the charge of defending the northern frontier against invasion, and set out for the south to reduce the cities of Imperial and Valdivia.

The young and gallant vice-toqui, Lautaro, accordingly took post on the lofty mountain of Mariguenu, which intervenes between Conception and Arauco, and which he fortified with extraordinary care, rightly judging that the Spaniards would take that road in search of Caupolican on purpose to revenge the defeat and death of their general Valdivia. This mountain, which has proved fatal to the Spaniards on several occasions in their wars with the Araucanians, has a large plain on its summit interspersed with shady trees. Its steep sides are full of rude precipices and deep clefts or ravines, its western end being rendered inaccessible by the sea, while on the east it is secured by an impenetrable forest. The north side only was accessible to the Spaniards, and even in that way it was only possible to reach the top by a narrow and winding path.

The two Promaucians who alone had escaped from the fatal battle of Tucapel, by favour of the darkness and under covert of a thick wood, reached Conception, which they filled with grief and consternation, by relating the total overthrow and massacre of the army of Valdivia. When the general terror and dismay had a little subsided, the magistrates proceeded to open the sealed instructions which had been left with them by Valdivia, when he departed on his late fatal expedition. In these he named Alderte, Aguirre, and Villagran successively to the vacant government in case of his own decease. Alderte being gone to Europe, and Aguirre absent on his expedition into the distant province of Cujo, the command devolved on Villagran. After such preparations as appeared necessary under the present emergency, Villagran crossed the Biobio with a considerable army of Spaniards and Promaucian auxiliaries, intending to march for Arauco in the first place. In a narrow pass at no great distance to the south of the Biobio, he was vigorously opposed by a body of Araucanian warriors, who withstood the utmost efforts of his army for three hours, and then withdrew continually fighting, towards the top of the mountain where Lautaro awaited the approach of the Spaniards with the main body of his army, in a well chosen post defended by a strong palisade. Villagran ordered the squadrons of cavalry to force their way up the difficult passage of the mountain, which they effected with infinite difficulty and severe fatigue, and were received at a short distance from the summit by showers of stones, arrows, and other missiles, which were incessantly discharged against them by the vigilant and brave Araucanians. Villagran, who followed his cavalry at the head of all the infantry of his army, with six pieces of artillery, seeing the determined opposition of the enemy, several detachments of whom were endeavouring to gain his flanks and rear, ordered his musquetry to advance, and the artillery to take a favourable position for annoying the enemy.

The mountain was enveloped in smoke, and resounded on all sides with the thunder of the Spanish cannon and musquets, while the balls were heard whistling in every direction, and dealing destruction among the ranks of the valiant Araucanians, who continued vigorously to defend their post, undismayed at the numbers who fell amid their thick array. Perceiving that his principal loss was occasioned by the cannon, Lautaro gave orders to one of his bravest officers, named Leucoton, to sally from the camp with a select detachment of troops, and to gain possession of the cannon at all events, or never more to appear in his presence. Leucoton executed his orders with the utmost bravery, and after a furious and bloody contest with the guard of the guns, carried them off in triumph; while Lautaro, to prevent the Spaniards from sending succours to their artillery, made a furious general attack on the whole line with all his troops. Astonished by this bold and general attack, and dismayed by the loss of their cannon, the Spanish horse and foot fell into confusion and disorder, and were so furiously pressed upon by the valiant Lautaro and his troops, that they dispersed and fled with the utmost precipitation. Three thousand of the Spaniards and their Promaucian allies were slain in this decisive battle, Villagran himself, having fallen in the retreat, was on the point of being taken prisoner, when he was rescued by the almost incredible efforts of three of his soldiers, and remounted on his horse. The remaining Spaniards urged on their almost exhausted horses to regain the narrow defile where the engagement had commenced, and were closely pursued by the Araucanians; but on arriving at the pass, they found it blocked up with trees, which had been felled across by orders of Lautaro. The engagement was renewed at this place with the utmost fury, and not a man of the broken army would have escaped, had not Villagran opened the pass at the utmost hazard of his life. Though the Araucanians had lost above seven hundred men in the course of this eventful battle, they continued the pursuit a long way; but at length, unable to keep up with the horses, and exhausted with excessive fatigue, they gave up the pursuit, and Lautaro encamped for the night to refresh his men, determined upon passing the Biobio next day to follow up the consequences of his glorious and decisive victory.

On the arrival of the few Spaniards at Conception who had been able to escape from the slaughter at Mariguenu, the city of Conception was filled with indescribable grief and dismay, not a family but had to deplore the loss of some near relation; and the alarm was greatly increased by learning that Lautaro was fast approaching with his victorious army. As Villagran considered it to be impossible to defend the city under the present dismay of his small remaining force, he hastily embarked all the old men, women, and children on board two ships that happened to be then in the harbour, one of which he ordered to proceed to Imperial, and the other to Valparaiso, while he proceeded by land for St Jago with all the rest of the inhabitants who were able to carry arms. Lautaro entered the city next day without opposition, which he found entirely deserted of its inhabitants, but filled with much valuable booty, as by its mines and commerce it had already attained considerable opulence, and the inhabitants were in such haste to escape with their lives, that they only took what provisions they could procure along with them, and abandoned their riches. After removing every thing that was valuable, Lautaro burnt all the houses, and razed the citadel and other fortifications; after which he returned with his army to Arauco, to celebrate his triumph after the manner usual in his country.

While Lautaro thus bravely asserted the independence of his country on the frontiers, Caupolican marched into the south, as has been already mentioned, to invest the cities of Imperial and Valdivia, both of which he held closely blockaded. In this emergency, the governors of these two cities demanded succours from Villagran; who, notwithstanding his late terrible defeat, sent a sufficient number of troops for their defence with all possible speed; and both places being accessible by sea, these succours were able to arrive in time to prevent Caupolican from gaining possession of either.

"When the army of Caupolican drew near to the city of Imperial, the air was suddenly enveloped in black clouds, whence arose a mighty storm of hail and rain. In the midst of the tempest the _epumanon_ or war god of the Araucanians, made his appearance in form of a terrible dragon, casting out fire at his mouth and nostrils, and desired them to hasten their march as he would deliver the city into their hands, on which occasion he enjoined them to put all the Christians to the sword. The _epumanon_ then disappeared, and they pursued their way joyfully, being animated by this oracle. On a sudden the heavens cleared up, and a most beautiful woman was seen, seated on a bright cloud, and having a charming yet severe and majestic countenance, which much abated the pride and haughtiness inspired by the former vision. This was the _queen of heaven_, who commanded them to return to their own homes, for God was resolved to favour the Christians; and they immediately obeyed[70]."

[Footnote 70: This paragraph, within inverted commas, is literally copied from Ovalle, as an instance of the puerile conceits indulged in by the true Catholic writers of the seventeenth century. The brave and faithful Bernal Diaz at the beginning of the sixteenth century saw no miracles during the conquest of Mexico, and the judicious Molina at the close of the eighteenth, modestly refrains from copying any such incredible absurdities into his history of Chili.--E.]

On abandoning the sieges of Imperial and Valdivia, Caupolican went to join Lautaro at Conception, in order to attempt some enterprise against the Spaniards more practicable than the attack of fortifications, for the assault of which the Araucanians possessed no sufficient arts or arms. Availing himself of the absence of his redoubted enemy; Villagran, who appears to have gone along with the succours to Imperial, ravaged the whole Araucanian territory around that city, burning and destroying the houses and crops, and carrying off all the provisions that were not destroyed to the town. Though of a humane and generous disposition, averse from the exercise of violence, Villagran endeavoured to vindicate the employment of these rigorous measures by the necessity of circumstances, and the pretended rights of war: But on this occasion they were of no real service to the Spanish cause, which they contributed to render more odious to the Araucanians; and in general the only effect which such barbarous conduct produces, is to heap distress on the weak and helpless. To the other terrible calamities inseparable from war, especially when carried on in this barbarous manner, a pestilential disease was superadded which committed dreadful ravages in Chili, especially among the natives. During the incursions of Villagran into the Araucanian territory, some Spanish soldiers, who were either infected at the time or had recently recovered from the small pox, communicated that fatal disease for the first time to the Araucanians, among whom it spread with the more direful and rapid destruction, as they were utterly unacquainted with its nature. So universal and dreadful was the mortality on this occasion in several provinces, that, in one district containing a population of twelve thousand persons, not more than a hundred escaped with life. This pestilential disorder, which has been more destructive than any other to the human race, had been introduced a few years before into the northern parts of Chili, where it then occasioned great mortality among the natives, and where it has since frequently reappeared at uncertain intervals, and has greatly diminished the aboriginal population. For more than a century, counting from the present times, 1787, the southern provinces of Chili forming the Araucanian confederacy, have been exempted from the ravages of this cruel disease, in consequence of the most rigorous precautions being employed by the inhabitants to prevent all communication with the infected countries, similar to those used in Europe to prevent the introduction of the plague.

"The following anecdote will shew what horror the small-pox has inspired into the natives of Araucania. Some considerable time ago[71], the viceroy of Peru sent as a present to the governor of Chili, several jars of honey, wine, olives, and different seeds. One of these jars happened to break while landing, and some Indians who were employed as labourers on this occasion, imagined that the contents of the jar were the purulent matter of the small-pox, imported by the governor for the purpose of being disseminated among the Araucanian provinces, to exterminate their inhabitants. They immediately gave notice to their countrymen, who stopped all intercourse with the Spanish provinces and flew to arms, killing above forty Spaniards who were then among them in the full security of peace. To revenge this outrage, the governor marched with an army into the Araucanian territory, and a new war was excited which continued for some time to the great injury of both nations."

[Footnote 71: The passage within commas is a note in the original English publication of Molina; and from subsequent parts of the history, the event here related appears to have occurred about the commencement of the seventeenth century, or more than two hundred years ago.--E.]

While Villagran was using every possible exertion to maintain the Spanish power in the south of Chili, by combating the brave and victorious Araucanians, he found himself on the point of being compelled to turn his arms against his own countrymen. It has been already mentioned that Valdivia, in the instructions he left with the magistrates of Conception before his fatal expedition into Araucania, had nominated Francisco Aguirre in the second place as his own successor in the government, and that Villagran, only third in nomination, had succeeded to the command in consequence of the absence of the other two who were prior to himself. When Aguirre, who was then in Cujo, where he does not appear to have effected any thing of importance, was informed of the death of Valdivia, and his own destination to the government of Chili, he considered the assumption of the vacant command by Villagran as prejudicial to his own just rights, and immediately returned into Chili with sixty men who remained of his detachment, determined to acquire possession of the government by force or favour. His pretensions and those of Villagran must infallibly have kindled a civil war among the Spaniards in Chili, to the ruin or vast detriment of the Spanish interest, had not the competitors agreed to submit the decision of their respective claims to the royal audience at Lima, which at that time, 1555, held the supreme legal jurisdiction over all the Spanish dominions in South America. On this appeal, the court of audience thought proper to set aside the pretensions of both competitors, and issued an edict authorizing the corregidors of the different cities to command each in their respective districts, till farther orders. Perceiving the extreme inconvenience that must have necessarily resulted to the interests of the colony, from this divided government, especially during so important a war, the principal inhabitants remonstrated against the impolicy of this decree. The royal audience listened to the representations of the colonists, and appointed Villagran to resume the command, but only granted him the title of corregidor, and gave him orders to rebuild the city of Conception. Although convinced of the inutility of this measure in the present conjuncture, Villagran, in obedience to the orders, proceeded immediately to that place with eighty-five families, whom he established there, and erected a strong fortification for their defence.

The native inhabitants of that part of the country which formed the territory of Conception, were indignant at being again subjected to the intolerable yoke of the Spaniards, and had recourse to the Araucanians for protection. Caupolican, who seems at this time to have remained in almost entire inaction, either ignorant of the proceedings of the Spaniards, or from some other cause of which we are not informed, immediately sent Lautaro at the head of two thousand warriors to the assistance of the distressed natives on the north side of the Biobio. The young vice-toqui, exasperated at what he called the obstinacy of the Spaniards in rebuilding the city which he had destroyed, immediately passed the Biobio, and the Spaniards imprudently awaited him in the open plain, confiding in their own valour and arms, despising the superior numbers of the barbarians. The Spaniards, however, were panic struck at the furious energy of the first encounter, and fled with precipitation to take shelter behind their ramparts; but were so closely pursued by Lautaro and his valiant followers, that they were unable to close the gate. The Araucanians entered the city along with the fugitives, many of whom were slain; and the small remnant made a precipitate retreat, part of them by embarking in a ship then in the port, and others by taking refuge in the woods, whence they returned through bye-paths to St Jago.

Lautaro immediately plundered and burnt the city, and returned loaded with spoils to his usual station on the mountain of Mariguenu. The successful issue of this enterprise excited Caupolican to resume the sieges or blockades of Imperial and Valdivia, during which Lautaro undertook to make a diversion of the Spanish forces, by marching against St Jago, by which he expected to prevent them from sending reinforcements into the south, and he even conceived that it might be possible to gain possession of that capital of the Spanish dominions in Chili, notwithstanding its great distance; as the successes he had already obtained so filled his mind with confidence that no difficulty appeared too great to be overcome. In order to execute this hazardous enterprise, which appears to have been concerted with Caupolican, he only required five hundred men to be selected by himself from the Araucanian army; but so many pressed to serve under his victorious standard, that he was obliged to admit an additional hundred. With this determined band of six hundred warriors, he traversed all the provinces between the rivers Biobio and Maulé, without doing any injury to the natives, who hailed him as their deliverer from the Spanish tyranny. But on crossing the latter river, he immediately proceeded to lay waste the lands of the Promaucians, who were detested by the Araucanians for acting as auxiliaries to the Spaniards. Had he treated them with kindness, he might in all probability have detached them from the Spanish interest and united them in alliance with his own nation. But impelled by eagerness for revenge, he did not appreciate the good effects which might have flowed from a reconciliation with that numerous and warlike nation, whom he considered as traitors to the common cause. Having satiated his revenge, he fortified himself in an advantageous post in their territory on the banks of the Rio-claro, probably on purpose to gain more correct information respecting the state of the city he intended to attack.

This ill-judged delay was of great importance to the inhabitants of St Jago, by giving them time to prepare for their defence. They could not at first believe it possible that Lautaro would have the audacity to undertake a march of three hundred miles beyond the Araucanian frontiers to attack their city; but undeceived by the refugees from Conception, and the daily reports of the ravages of the enemy in the territories of the Promaucians, they dispatched Juan Godinez with an escort of twenty-five horse into the Promaucian country to watch the motions of the enemy, and to send intelligence of his proceedings and designs. Godinez was unexpectedly attacked by a detachment of the Araucanians, and obliged to make a precipitate retreat to St Jago, with his numbers considerably diminished, and filled the capital with consternation and dismay at the intelligence of the near approach of their redoubted enemy. On this occasion the Araucanians took ten horses and some arms from the Spaniards, both of which were used by them in the succeeding actions.

Villagran, who was at this time unable to take the field in consequence of illness, sent his son Pedro against Lautaro with such troops as could be procured, and immediately proceeded to fortify all the approaches to the city of St Jago with strong entrenchments. In the mean time, young Villagran attacked the Araucanians in their fortified post. Instructed by their intrepid yet wary commander, the Araucanians pretended to take flight after a short resistance; but the Spaniards were no sooner entered into the abandoned inclosure, than they returned upon them with such impetuosity, that Pedro and his men were completely routed, and only the cavalry was able to escape by flight, all the infantry who had penetrated the Araucanian camp being put to death. After procuring reinforcements, young Villagran returned three several times to attack the camp of Lautaro, in all of which attempts he was repulsed with considerable loss. He now encamped his force in a low meadow on the banks of the river Mataquito, at no great distance from the entrenched post of Lautaro. The Araucanian general formed a plan for inundating the camp of the Spaniards during night, by turning upon them a branch of the river; but the Spaniards being informed of this design by a spy, withdrew to St Jago.

Having recovered from his illness, Villagran was solicited by the citizens of St Jago to exert himself to dislodge the Araucanians from their neighbourhood, as they every moment expected to see them at their gates. He accordingly, some time in the year 1556, set out from the city at the head of 196 Spaniards and 1000 Indian auxiliaries, in search of Lautaro. Instructed by his severe defeat at Mariguenu, Villagran resolved to attack the enemy by surprise; and quitting the direct road, he secretly directed his march towards the Araucanian encampment in the night by a private path under the guidance of a spy, and reached their entrenchments undiscovered at day-break. Lautaro, who had been on guard all night according to his usual custom, had just retired to rest when the alarm was given of the attack from the Spaniards. He hastened immediately to the spot, to observe the enemy and to issue his orders for defence; but at the moment of his arrival, a dart from the hand of one of the Indian auxiliaries pierced him to the heart. Encouraged by this fortunate event, which was soon known to the Spaniards, Villagran urged the assault of the entrenchments, and soon forced an entrance in spite of the Araucanians, who made an obstinate defence. Finding their post carried, the Araucanians retired to an angle of their works, determined rather to allow themselves to be cut in pieces than to surrender. In vain the Spanish commander repeatedly offered quarter; they continued fighting with the utmost obstinacy till every man of them was cut off, many of them even throwing themselves on the lances of the Spaniards, as if courting death in preference to submission. This victory, which was not obtained without considerable loss on the part of the Spaniards and their allies, was celebrated in St Jago and the other Spanish settlements with every demonstration of joy. The Spaniards felicitated themselves on being freed from a redoubted enemy, who at the early age of nineteen had already obtained so many victories over them, and who threatened to destroy their settlements in Chili, and even to harass them in Peru.

When the terror which this young hero had inspired was removed by his death, even his enemies extolled his valour and military talents, and compared him to the greatest generals who had figured in ancient times, calling him the Chilese Hannibal. To use the words of the abbe Olivarez:--"It is not just to depreciate the merit of one, who, had he been of our nation, we should have vaunted as a hero. If we celebrate the martial prowess of the Spanish Viriatus, we ought not to obscure the fame of the American Lautaro, as both valorously contended in arms for the liberties of their country."

For a long time the Araucanians lamented the untimely fate of the valiant Lautaro, to whom they owed all the success which their arms had hitherto atchieved, and on whose conduct and bravery they entirely relied for the preservation of their independence. His name is still celebrated in their heroic songs, and his actions are still proposed as the most glorious model for the imitation of their youth. Above all others, Caupolican felt and lamented the loss of his valiant associate. Far from thinking he had got free from a rival of his fame, he considered that he had lost his chief coadjutor in the glorious cause of restoring their nation to independence. Immediately on receiving the mournful intelligence, he quitted the siege of Imperial, though reduced to the last extremity, and returned with his army to defend the northern frontiers of Araucania, and to protect his country from the incursions of the Spaniards, as he learnt by his spies that they soon expected a large reinforcement of men and warlike stores from Peru under a new commander.

On learning the death of Valdivia, as formerly related, Philip II. gave charge of the government and conquest of Chili to Alderete, the agent who had been sent by Valdivia into Spain, and furnished him for this purpose with six hundred regular troops. During the voyage to the Tierra Firma, the ship was set on fire by accident, by his sister who was accustomed to read in bed; and of the whole number on board, Alderete and three soldiers alone escaped to Porto Bello. Overcome with grief and disappointment at this melancholy catastrophe, Alderete died soon after in the small island of Taboga in the gulf of Panama. When informed of this disaster, and of the threatening aspect of affairs in Chili in consequence of the untoward events in the Araucanian war, the marquis of Canete, then viceroy of Peru, appointed his son Don Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, to the vacant government. As this charge had become both important and dangerous, the marquis resolved that his son should be accompanied by such a body of forces as might be able to support his authority, and might enable him successfully to terminate the war against the Araucanians. As the civil dissensions in Peru were now at an end, and that country abounded in military adventurers eager for employment, he was soon able to levy a respectable force of horse and foot for this expedition. The infantry, all well equipped and appointed, with a great quantity of military stores; embarked in ten ships under the command of Don Garcia in person; and the cavalry marched by land under the orders of Garcia Ramon, who was appointed quarter-master-general of Chili.

Don Garcia arrived with his fleet in safety in the Bay of Conception, in the month of April 1557, and came to anchor near the island of Quiriquina, which was chosen as the headquarters as a place of great security. The scanty population of the island attempted to oppose the disembarkation of the troops, but being soon dispersed by the artillery, they retired in their piraguas to the continent. A small number being made prisoners, the governor sent two or three of them with a message to the Araucanians, to inform them of his arrival, and that he was desirous to settle a lasting peace with them on fair terms. In an assembly of the Ulmens to deliberate upon this message, the general opinion was that no propositions ought to be listened to from an enemy who had returned in greater force than ever, under the idea that any terms they might propose would necessarily be treacherous and unfair. Old Colocolo observed, however, that no injury could arise from listening to the proposals of the Spanish governor; and that they even had now a favourable opportunity for obtaining a knowledge of the amount of his force, and for discovering his designs. For this purpose, therefore, he thought it advisable that they should send an intelligent person, under pretence of congratulating the new governor on his arrival, and thanking him for his offer of amicable terms of peace, who might at the same time gain information of whatever he should consider important to regulate their future conduct. Caupolican and most of the older officers adopted this judicious proposal, and the important commission was confided to Millalauco, a person who possessed every requisite for the business confided to his charge.

Millalauco accordingly crossed the narrow strait which separates the island of Quiriquina from the continent, and presented himself to the Spaniards with all the pride which characterises the Araucanian nation. In their turn, the Spaniards were willing to give him a high idea of their military power, and drew out their troops in order of battle for his reception, conducting him to the tent of the governor amidst repeated discharges of their artillery. Not in the least disconcerted by this military parade, Millalauco complimented the governor in the name of Caupolican and the Araucanian chiefs, declaring that they would all be happy in the establishment of an honourable peace, advantageous to both nations, in their desire for which they were solely actuated by motives of humanity, and not by any dread of the Spanish power. Don Garcia, though much disappointed by these vague offers, replied in the same general terms respecting peace; and, after regaling the ambassador in a magnificent manner, he ordered some of his officers to conduct him over the whole encampment, in expectation of intimidating him by displaying the immense military preparations which accompanied him to Chili. This was exactly suited to the wishes of Millalauco, who observed every thing with the utmost attention, though with apparent indifference; and, having taken leave of the Spaniards, he returned to make his report to the assembled chiefs. On receiving an exact report of all that had been seen by their envoy, the Araucanian chiefs gave orders for the establishment of centinels along the coast of their country, to observe and communicate notice of the movements of the Spaniards, and commanded the warriors to prepare for taking the field at the first summons, as they believed a renewal of the war was near and inevitable.

Don Garcia continued inactive almost the whole of the winter in the island of Quiriquina, waiting the arrival of his cavalry from Peru, and for reinforcements which he had required from the cities of Chili. At length, on the night of the 6th August 1557 he privately landed 130 men and several engineers on the plain of Conception, and immediately took possession of Mount Pinto which commands the harbour, where he constructed a fort well garnished with cannon, and surrounded by a deep ditch. This event was immediately communicated to Caupolican, who hastily collected his forces, and passed the Biobio on the 9th of August, and next morning at day-break, a day remarkable in Europe by the defeat of the French at St Quintin, he assailed the new fortress on three sides at once, having sent on in front a body of pioneers to fill up the ditch with fascines and trunks of trees. The assault was long urged with all the furious and obstinate bravery which distinguishes the Araucanians. Numbers mounted the parapet, and some even leapt within the walls, destroying many of the defendants. But the cannon and musquetry of the Spaniards were so skilfully directed, and the slaughter of the assailants so prodigious, that the ditch was filled with dead bodies, serving as bridges for the new combatants who pressed on to replace their slain comrades. Tucapel, impelled by his rash and unparalleled valour, threw himself into the fort, where he slew four of the enemy with his formidable mace, and then made his escape by leaping from a precipice amidst a shower of balls.

While the assault of the fortress was pushed with the utmost fury and was seen from the island of Quiriquina, the remainder of the Spanish army came over to the aid of the garrison, and formed in order of battle. The debarkation was observed by Caupolican who immediately sent a part of his troops to meet this new enemy. After a severe conflict of several hours, this detachment was driven back to the mountain with heavy loss, so that the Araucanians were now placed between two fires; yet they did not lose courage, and continued fighting till mid-day. At length, worn out with the length of the combat, the Araucanian general drew off to the Biobio, determined to collect a new army and to return to the attack. Having in a short time reinforced his army, Caupolican began his march towards Conception; but, learning on his way that the governor had received a numerous reinforcement, he halted on the banks of the Biobio, deeply chagrined at not being able to effect the destruction of the new fortress of Conception, which had been twice performed by Lautaro with the universal applause of the nation.

In fact, on the preceding day the Spanish cavalry from Peru, consisting of 1000 well armed men, had arrived at Conception, together with another squadron of Spanish horse from Imperial, and 2000 Promaucian auxiliaries. Being now at the head of a numerous and well-appointed army, Don Garcia determined to invade the Araucanian territory. For this purpose he crossed the Biobio in boats, six miles above its mouth, where the river is about 1500 paces broad. As the Spanish cannon in the boats commanded the opposite bank of the river, Caupolican made no attempt to obstruct the passage, but drew up his army at no great distance in a position flanked by thick woods, by which his retreat would be secured in case of being defeated. The battle began by several skirmishes, which ended in favour of the Araucanians; several advanced parties of the Spaniards being repulsed by the enemy with loss, though reinforced by order of Ramon the quarter-master-general. Alonzo Reynoso likewise, who was dispatched to their aid with fifty horse, was defeated in his turn, and obliged to retreat leaving several of his men dead on the field. At length the two armies met and joined battle. Encouraged by the advantages they had already gained, the Araucanians used every effort to come to close quarters with the Spaniards, notwithstanding the heavy fire of eight pieces of artillery which played incessantly from the front of the enemy. But when they came within reach of the musquetry, they were quite unable to resist the close and well directed fire continually kept up by the veteran troops of Peru. After many ineffectual attempts to close in with the Spaniards, and losing a vast number of their bravest warriors, they fell into confusion from the vacancies in their ranks, and began to give ground. By a well timed charge, the cavalry put them completely to the rout, and made a prodigious slaughter among them in their flight to the woods.

Either from innate cruelty of disposition, or on mistaken principles of policy, Don Garcia pursued the most rigorous measures against the enemy. Contrary to the opinion and advice of most of his officers, he was the first who introduced the barbarous practice of mutilating and putting to death the prisoners; a system which may intimidate and restrain a base people accustomed to servitude, but cruelty is detestable in the estimation of a generous nation, and serves only to exasperate and render them irreconcileable[72]. Among the prisoners taken on this occasion was one named Galvarino, whose hands were cut off by order of Don Garcia, and was then set free. He returned to his countrymen, to whom he displayed his bloody and mutilated stumps, which so inflamed them with rage against the Spaniards, that they all swore never to make peace with them, and even denounced the punishment of death against any one who should have the baseness to propose such a measure. Even the women, excited by desire of revenge, offered to take up arms and fight along with their husbands, which was actually done by many of them in the subsequent battles. From thence originated the fable of Amazons in Chili, placed by some authors in the southern districts of that country.

[Footnote 72: In a note of the original translation, it is said that "the Indian allies of the Spaniards cut off the calves from the Araucanian prisoners, which they roasted and eat. And, by means of certain leaves applied to the wounds, prevented the effusion of a single drop of blood."--E.]

After the victory, Don Garcia proceeded with his army into the province of Arauco, constantly harassed by flying detachments of the enemy, who never ceased doing them every possible injury. On his arrival at Melipuru[73], Don Garcia caused several native prisoners to be tortured, in order to obtain information of the situation of Caupolican, but none of them would discover the place of his retreat. On being informed of this barbarous procedure, Caupolican sent notice by a messenger that he was not far off, and meant to meet the Spaniards the next day. Don Garcia and his army, being alarmed by this intelligence, passed the whole night under arms, and accordingly the Araucanian army made its appearance next morning at day-break, advancing in regular array in three several lines. The Spanish cavalry made a furious charge upon the front line, commanded by Caupolican in person, who made his pikemen receive the charge with levelled spears, while the alternate mace-bearers were directed to strike at the horses heads. By this unexpected reception, the Spanish cavalry were obliged to retreat in confusion; upon which the Araucanian general and his division broke into the centre of the Spanish infantry with great slaughter, Caupolican killing five of them with his own hand. Tucapel advanced with his division in another quarter with equal success, and at the first attack broke his lance in the body of a Spaniard, and then drawing his sword slew seven others. He received several wounds at this time, yet seeing the valiant Rencu, formerly his rival for the office of toqui, surrounded by a crowd of enemies, he fell upon them with such fury that he killed a considerable number of them, and rescued Rencu from imminent danger. Victory, for a long time undecided, was on the point of declaring for the Araucanians, as the Spaniards were ready to give way; when Don Garcia gave orders to a body of reserve, hitherto unengaged, to attack that division of the enemy which was commanded by Lincoyan and Ongolmo. This order, which was executed with promptitude and success, preserved the Spanish army from total destruction. This line or division of the Araucanians being broken and routed, fell back tumultuously upon the other two divisions, then nearly victorious, and threw them into such inextricable confusion, that being utterly unable to restore his troops to order, after repeated ineffectual efforts, Caupolican was reluctantly constrained to sound a retreat, and yielded the victory to his enemies which he had fondly imagined was already secured to himself. In their retreat, the Araucanian army would have been utterly cut to pieces, had not Rencu, by posting himself in a neighbouring wood with a party of warriors whom he rallied, called off the attention of the victors from the pursuit, which they urged with the most deadly rancour. After sustaining the violence of the Spanish assault till such time as he judged his dispersed countrymen had ensured their safety, Rencu and his companions retired through the wood by a secret path and rejoined his countrymen.

[Footnote 73: Called Millapoa, perhaps by mistake in Pinkerton's map of Chili, a place very near the southern shore of the Biobio, and marked _arruinada_ probably meaning in ruins.--E.]

Before leaving Melipuru, Don Garcia caused twelve ulmens who were found among the prisoners, to be hanged on the trees that surrounded the field of battle, and Galvarino, now again a prisoner, was condemned to the same fate. That unfortunate youth, notwithstanding the loss of his hands, had accompanied the Araucanian army, and had never ceased during the late battle to excite his countrymen to fight valiantly, exhibiting his mutilated stumps to inspire them with fury and revenge, and even using his teeth to do all the injury he was able to the enemy. One of the captive ulmens, overcome with terror, abjectly petitioned for his life; but Galvarino reproached him in such severe terms for his cowardice, and inspired him with so great contempt for death, that he at length rejected a proffered pardon, and even entreated to die the first, as an expiation of his weakness, and the scandal he had brought upon the character of his nation. After this barbarous execution, by which he sullied the glory of his victory, Don Garcia proceeded into the province of Tucapel to the place where Valdivia had been defeated and slain, where he built, as if in contempt of the Araucanians, a city which he named _Canete_[74] from the titular appellation of his family. Being in the centre of the enemies country, he strengthened this new city or fortress with a good palisade, a deep ditch, and strong rampart, mounted with a number of cannon, and left a select garrison for its defence under the command of Alonzo Reynoso.

[Footnote 74: Probably the place distinguished in modern maps by the name of Tucapel-viejo, about 40 miles south from the Biobio.--E.]

Believing that the Araucanians, whom he had now defeated in three successive battles, were no longer in condition to oppose his victorious arms, he went with his army to Imperial, where he was received in triumph. Soon after his arrival at that place, he sent off a plentiful supply of provisions for the garrison of his new city under a strong escort, which was attacked and routed in a narrow pass called Cayucupil by a body of Araucanians, and had certainly been entirely destroyed if the enemy had not given them an opportunity of escaping to Canete with little loss, by eagerness to seize the baggage. The fugitives were received in Canete with much joy, as Reynoso had learnt that Caupolican intended to attack him. In fact, only a few days afterwards, that indefatigable general, whom misfortune seemed to inspire with fresh courage, made a furious assault upon the place, in which his valiant troops, with arms so extremely inferior to their enemies, endured a continual fire of cannon and musquetry for five hours with the most heroic firmness, pulling up and burning the palisades, filling the ditch, and endeavouring to scale the ramparts. But valour alone was unable to prevail in this difficult enterprise, and Caupolican was constrained to desist from the attempt by open force, and to try some more secure expedient for attaining his end. With this view he persuaded one of his officers, named _Pran_, who was of an artful character, to introduce himself into the garrison as a deserter, in order to fall upon some device for delivering it up. Pran accordingly obtained admission in that character, and conducted himself with the most profound dissimulation. He soon formed a strict friendship with a Promaucian named Andrew, in the service of the Spaniards, who seemed a fit instrument for his purpose. One day, either artfully to sound or flatter him, Andrew pretended to sympathize with his new friend on the misfortunes of his country; and Pran eagerly took advantage of this favourable opportunity, as he thought, to carry his designs into execution, and revealed to Andrew the motive of his pretended desertion, earnestly entreating him to assist in the execution of his plan, which was to introduce some Araucanian soldiers into the place, during the time when the Spaniards were accustomed to indulge in their _siesta_ or afternoon sleep. Andrew readily engaged to give every assistance in his power, and even offered to keep one of the gates open on the day assigned for executing the enterprise. Pran, elated with joy at the supposed acquisition of a so useful associate, hastened to Caupolican, who was only at a short distance from Canete, to whom he related the success of his endeavours. On his side, Andrew gave immediate notice of the intended plot to Reynoso, the commander of the fort, who desired him to keep up the deception by appearing to concur in its execution, in order to entrap the enemy in their own snare.

Entirely occupied with an ardent desire of accomplishing this enterprise against Canete, Caupolican lost sight of his wonted prudence, and too easily reposed confidence in this ill concerted scheme. The better to arrange his measures on this occasion, he procured an interview with Andrew by means of Pran, and the artful Promaucian appeared before Caupolican with that flattering show of respect and attachment which villains know so well to assume. He broke out into virulent invectives against the Spaniards, whom he pretended to have always detested, and declared his readiness to perform the promise he had made to Pran, asserting that the execution of the plot would be perfectly easy. Caupolican applauded his partriotism, and engaged, if the plot succeeded, to raise him to the office of ulmen, and to appoint him first captain in the Araucanian army in reward of his services. He then shewed him the troops which he had along with him, appointing next day for executing the plot, and dismissed him with the strongest assurances of favour and esteem. Andrew immediately communicated the intelligence to Reynoso, and the Spaniards employed the whole of that night in making every preparation to obtain the greatest possible advantage from this double act of perfidy. When the particulars of this plot were communicated to the principal officers of the Araucanian army, they openly disapproved of it, as disgraceful to the national honour, and refused to accompany Caupolican in the expedition. But he obstinately adhered to his design, and began his march at day-break for Canete with three thousand men, with whom he posted himself in concealment near the place, till Pran came to inform him from Andrew that every thing was in readiness to deliver the place into his hands. The Araucanians immediately proceeded in silence towards the city, and finding the gate open according to promise began to enter it. When a sufficient number were got in, the Spaniards suddenly closed the gate upon them, and immediately opened a fire of grape-shot on those without who were crowding to the gate, making a dreadful slaughter. The cavalry belonging to the garrison, being all in readiness, issued from another gate, and completed the destruction of all who had escaped from the fire of the cannon, so that hardly one of all the Araucanians escaped. Caupolican escaped the general slaughter of his men with a small number of attendants, and retired to the mountains, whence he hoped to be soon able to return with a new army sufficiently numerous to keep the field. While the cavalry gave a loose to their fury on the Araucanians without the walls, the infantry were employed within the fort in putting to death all that had got through the gate; who, finding all chance of escape utterly hopeless, chose rather to be cut in pieces than surrender. Pran, discovering his error when too late, rushed among the thickest of the foe, and escaped by an honourable death from the well merited reproaches of his imprudent and fatal credulity. Among a few prisoners taken on this occasion were three ulmens, who were all blown from the mouths of cannon.

As Don Garcia believed the Araucanian war was terminated by this destructive enterprise, he gave orders to rebuild the city of Conception, and desirous of adding fresh laurels to the victories he had already obtained, he marched in 1558 with a numerous army against the Cunches in the south of Chili, a nation which had not yet been assailed by the Spanish arms. On first hearing of the approach of the Spaniards, the chiefs of the Cunches met in council to deliberate whether they should submit or resist the invasion of these formidable strangers. On this occasion, one Tunconobal, an Araucanian exile, who was present in the assembly, was desired to give his opinion, which he did in the following terms. "Be cautious how you adopt either of these measures. If you submit, you will be despised as vassals and compelled to labour; if you resist in arms, you will be exterminated. If you desire to get free of these dangerous visitors, make them believe that you are miserably poor. Hide your property, particularly your gold; and be assured the Spaniards will not remain in your country if they have no expectation of procuring that sole object of all their wishes. Send them such a present as may impress them with an opinion of your extreme poverty, and in the mean time retire into the woods."

The Cunches approved the wise council of the Araucanian, and deputed him with nine natives of the country to carry a present to the Spanish general, such as he had recommended. He clothed himself and his companions accordingly in wretched rags, and made his appearance with every mark of fear before Don Garcia. After complimenting him in rude terms, he presented him with a basket containing some roasted lizards and wild fruits, as all that the poverty of the country could supply. The Spaniards could not refrain from laughter at the wretched appearance of the ambassadors and their miserable present, and endeavoured to dissuade the governor from pursuing the expedition into so unpromising a region. Unwilling to relinquish his plan with too much facility, he exhorted his troops to persevere; assuring them that, according to information he had received, they would find a country abounding in the precious metals. This was indeed by no means improbable, as it was usual in America to meet with the richest countries after passing through frightful deserts. He then inquired of the Cunches which was the best road into the south. Tunconobal directed him towards the west, which was the roughest and most mountainous; and on being asked for a guide, left one of his companions, whom he directed to lead the Spanish army by the most difficult and desolate roads near the coast. The guide followed the instructions of Tunconobal with so much judgment, that although the Spaniards had been accustomed to surmount the severest fatigues in their pursuit of conquests, they declared they had never encountered such difficulties in any of their former marches. On the fourth day of this terrible march, their guide quitted them, and they found themselves in the middle of a frightful desert surrounded by rugged precipices, whence they could perceive no way by which to extricate themselves. But Don Garcia encouraged them to persevere, by the flattering assurance of soon reaching a happy country which would amply repay all their present fatigues and privations.

Having at length overcome all the obstacles in their way, the Spaniards arrived at the top of a high mountain, whence they discovered the great archipelago of _Ancud_, more commonly named of Chiloé, the channels among the islands being covered by innumerable boats or canoes navigated by sails and oars. They were filled with joy at this unexpected prospect; and as they had suffered many days from hunger, they hastened to the shore, and were delighted by seeing a boat making towards them, in which were fifteen persons handsomely clothed. These natives immediately leaped on shore without evincing the smallest apprehension of the Spaniards, whom they cordially saluted, inquiring who they were, whence they came, whether they were going, and it they were in want of any thing. The Spaniards asked for provisions, and the chief of these strangers immediately gave them all the provisions in his boat, refusing to accept any thing in return, and promised to send them a large immediate supply from the neighbouring islands. Indeed the famished Spaniards had scarcely completed their encampment, when numerous piraguas arrived from the different islands, loaded with maize, fruit, and fish, all of which the natives distributed gratuitously among them. Constantly and liberally supplied by these friendly islanders, the Spaniards marched along the shore of the continent opposite the archipelago, all the way to the Bay of Reloncavi. Some of them went over to the neighbouring islands, where they found the land well cultivated, and the women employed in spinning wool, mixed with the feathers of sea-birds, which they manufactured into cloth for garments. The celebrated poet Ercilla was one of the party; and as he was solicitous of the reputation of having proceeded farther south than any other European, he crossed the gulf to the opposite shore, where he inscribed some verses on the bark of a tree, containing his own name and the date of the discovery, being the 31st January 1559.

Satisfied with this discovery of the archipelago of Chiloe, Don Garcia returned towards the north, having one of the islanders as a guide, who conducted him safely to Imperial through the inland country of the Huilliches, which is for the most part level and abounds in provisions. The inhabitants, who are similar in all respects to their western neighbours the Cunches, made no opposition to his march through their country; and Don Garcia on this occasion founded the city of Osorno in their country at the western extremity of a great lake, though according to some authors he only rebuilt that town. For some time this place increased rapidly in population and wealth, in consequence of great abundance of fine gold being found in its neighbourhood, and of extensive manufactures of woollen and linen carried on by its inhabitants; but it was afterwards destroyed by the toqui Paillamacu[75].

[Footnote 75: The ruins of Osorno are in lat. 40° 30' S. and long. 73° 20' W. The lake, or _Desaguodero de Osorno_, extends 50 or 60 miles from east to west, by a breadth of 6 or 7 miles.--E.]

While Don Garcia was engaged in this expedition into the south of Chili, Alonzo Reynoso the commandant of Canete used every effort to discover the place in which Caupolican lay concealed, both offering rewards for information and even employing torture to extort intelligence from the natives. He at length found a person who engaged to point out the place in which the Araucanian general had concealed himself ever since his last defeat. A detachment of cavalry was accordingly sent under the guidance of this traitor, and coming upon him by surprise one morning at day-break, succeeded in taking that great and heroic champion a prisoner, after a gallant resistance from ten faithful followers who continued to adhere to him under his misfortunes. During this combat, his wife incessantly exhorted him to die rather than surrender; and on seeing him made prisoner, she indignantly threw towards him her infant son, saying she would retain nothing that belonged to a coward. The detachment returned to Canete with their prisoner, amidst the rejoicings of the inhabitants, and Reynoso immediately ordered the redoubted toqui to be impaled and shot to death with arrows. On hearing his sentence, Caupolican addressed Reynoso as follows, without the smallest change of countenance, and preserving all his wonted dignity. "My death, can answer no possible end, except that of inflaming the inveterate hatred already entertained by my countrymen against the Spaniards. Far from being discouraged by the loss of an unfortunate leader, other Caupolicans will arise from my ashes, who will prosecute the war against you with better fortune. If however you spare my life, from the great influence I possess in Araucania, I may be of great service to the interests of your sovereign, and in aiding the propagation of your religion, which you say is the chief object of the destructive war you wage against us. But, if you are determined that I must die, send me into Spain; where, if your king thinks proper to condemn me, I may end my days without occasioning new disturbances to my unhappy country."

This attempt of the unfortunate toqui to prevail on Reynoso to spare his life was in vain, as the sentence was ordered to be carried into immediate execution. A priest, who had been employed to converse with Caupolican, pretending to have converted him to the Christian faith, hastily administered the sacrament of baptism; after which the prisoner was conducted to the scaffold erected for his public execution. When he saw the instrument of punishment, which till then he did not clearly comprehend, and noticed a negro who was ready to execute the cruel sentence, he became exasperated, and hurled the executioner from the scaffold with a furious kick, indignantly exclaiming, "Is there no sword and some less unworthy hand to put a man like me to death? In this punishment there is no semblance of justice: It is base revenge!" He was however overpowered by numbers, and compelled to undergo the cruel and ignominious punishment to which he had been condemned. The name of Reynoso is still held in detestation, not only by the Araucanians, but even by the Spaniards themselves, who have ever reprobated his conduct, as cruel, unnecessary, and impolitic, and contrary to those principles of generosity on which they pride themselves as a nation.

SECTION VIII.

_Continuation of the Araucanian War, after the Death of Caupolican, to the Reduction of the Archipelago of Chiloé by the Spaniards._

The prediction of the great and unfortunate Caupolican was soon fulfilled, by the succession of new heroes to defend the liberties of the Araucanians against the Spaniards. Instigated by the most unbounded rage, that nation immediately proceeded to elect a new toqui, capable of taking ample revenge for the ignominious death of their late unfortunate general. On this occasion, a majority of the electors were disposed to have conferred the vacant office on the brave and impetuous Tucapel; but the old and sagacious Colocolo prevailed on the assembled Butacayog to elect the younger Caupolican, eldest son of the late toqui, who possessed the talents of his celebrated and lamented father. Tucapel a second time magnanimously submitted to the choice of the ulmens, and only required to be nominated vice-toqui, which was accordingly granted. The new toqui immediately assembled an army, with which he crossed the Biobio, intending to attack the city of Conception, which according to his information was only defended by a small number of soldiers. Having learned the intention of the Araucanian general, Reynoso followed him with five hundred men, and coming up with him at Talcaguano[76], a place not far from Conception, offered him battle. The young toqui unhesitatingly accepted the challenge, and, animating his soldiers both by his exhortations and example, fell with such fury upon the Spaniards, that he entirely defeated them. Pursued and wounded by the fierce Tucapel, Reynoso made his escape across the Biobio with a small party of cavalry; and, having collected fresh troops, returned to attack the Araucanians in their camp with no better success than before, and was again compelled to retire with loss and disgrace.

[Footnote 76: In modern maps, a town called Tolcamando is situated on the north of the Biobio, not far from Conception, and is probably the place indicated in the text.--E.]

After this second action, Millalauco was sent with a message from the toqui to the Spaniards in the island of Quiriquina, whence he brought back intelligence that Don Garcia, with a large body of troops from Imperial, was laying waste the neighbouring provinces belonging to the Araucanian confederacy. On this information, and influenced by the advice of the aged Colocolo, young Caupolican deferred his proposed enterprise against Conception, and hastened into the south to oppose Don Garcia, leaving a respectable force under Millalauco to make head against Reynoso. Don Garcia however, on being informed of the march of the Araucanian array against him, withdrew to Imperial, leaving a body of two hundred of his cavalry in ambush on the road by which Caupolican had to pass. Though unexpectedly attacked by the Spaniards, Caupolican defended himself with admirable courage and presence of mind, and not only repelled the Spaniards with very little loss on his own side, but cut in pieces a great number of his assailants, and pursued the rest to the gates of Imperial, to which he immediately laid close siege. In the mean time, Reynoso and Millalauco, after several severe yet inconclusive encounters, agreed to fight a single combat, a practice not unfrequent during the Araucanian war. They fought accordingly a long while without either being able to obtain the advantage; and at length, fatigued by their combat, they separated by mutual consent, and resumed their former mode of warfare.

Caupolican prosecuted the siege of Imperial with much vigour, but possessed no means of making any impression on its fortifications. After several violent but unsuccessful assaults, he made an attempt to gain over the Promaucian auxiliaries of the Spaniards by means similar to what had been unsuccessfully employed by his father on a former occasion. Two of his officers, named Tulcamaru and Torquin, were employed on this hazardous service and detected by the Spaniards, by whom they were both impaled in sight of the Araucanian army, whom they exhorted in their last moments to die valiantly in defending the liberties of their country. At the same time, an hundred and twenty of the Promaucians, who had been seduced to favour the Araucanians, were hung on the ramparts, all of whom exhorted their countrymen to aid the Araucanians. Caupolican was anxious to siglize himself by the capture of a place which his heroic father had twice attempted in vain, and made a violent effort to carry the place by assault. He several times scaled the walls of the town in person, exposing his life to the most imminent danger, and even one night effected an entrance into the city, followed by Tucapel and a number of brave companions, but was repulsed by Don Garcia, whose vigilance was incessant. On this occasion, Caupolican withdrew, constantly fighting and covered by the blood of his enemies, to a bastion of the fortress, whence he escaped by an adventurous leap and rejoined his troops, who were in much apprehension for the safety of their brave and beloved commander. Wearied out by the length of the siege, which he saw no reasonable prospect of bringing to a favourable conclusion, and impatient of the inactivity of a blockade, Caupolican abandoned this ineffectual attempt upon Imperial, and turned his arms against Reynoso in hope of being able to take revenge upon him for the death of his father. But Don Garcia, by going to the assistance of that officer, rendered all his efforts ineffectual.

In the campaign of the following year, 1559, numerous battles were fought between the two armies, with various successes; but as these produced no material change in the state of affairs, it is unnecessary to give any particular account of them. Though several of these encounters ended in favour of the Araucanians, yet Caupolican resolved to protract the war, as his troops were daily diminishing in numbers from being continually exposed to the fire arms of their enemies, while the Spaniards were constantly receiving recruits from Peru and Europe. With this intention, therefore, he took possession of a strong situation between Canete and Conception, in a place called Quipeo or Cuyapu, which he fortified so strongly as to be defensible by a few men against any number of enemies unprovided with artillery. On being informed of this measure, Don Garcia marched thither immediately with his army in order to dislodge the Araucanian general, but observing the strength of the position, he delayed for some time making an attack, in hope of drawing the enemy from their strong ground, so that his cavalry might have an opportunity of acting to advantage. In the mean time, frequent skirmishes took place between the two armies, in one of which the celebrated Millalauco was taken prisoner, and who reproached Don Garcia so severely for his cruel manner of making war, that he ordered him instantly to be impaled. While the Araucanians were thus blockaded in their intrenched camp, the traitor Andrew had the temerity to go one day with a message from Don Garcia to Caupolican, threatening him with the most cruel punishment if he did not immediately submit to the authority of the Spaniards. Caupolican, though much enraged at seeing before him the man who had betrayed his father, ordered him immediately to retire, saying that he would assuredly have put him to death by the most cruel tortures, if he had not been invested with the character of an ambassador. Yet Andrew ventured next day to come into the Araucanian camp as a spy, when he was taken prisoner, suspended by his feet from a tree, and suffocated with smoke.

At length Don Garcia commenced his attack upon the camp of the Araucanians, by a violent cannonade from all his artillery. Caupolican and his valiant followers made a vigorous sally, and attacked the Spaniards with so much fury as to kill about forty of them at the first charge, and continued the battle for some time with much success. After a short time, Don Garcia, by a skilful evolution, cut off the retreat of the Araucanians and surrounded them on every side. Yet Caupolican and his intrepid soldiers fought with such desperate valour that the issue of the engagement remained doubtful for six hours; till, seeing Tucapel, Colocolo, Rencu, Lincoyan, Mariantu, Ongolmo, and several others of his most valiant officers slain, Caupolican attempted to retreat with the small remnant of his army: But, being overtaken by a party of horse from which he could not possibly escape, he slew himself to avoid a similar, cruel fate as that which his father had endured.

Though Don Garcia had already been mistaken in supposing that the spirit of the Araucanians was entirely broken after their terrible overthrow at Canete, he now again thought he had good reason to believe the war wholly at an end. This victory of Quipeo seemed to him completely decisive, as the nation was now left without chiefs or troops, all their principal officers, and those who chiefly supported the courage of the Araucanians, having perished, with the flower of their soldiers, so that he believed the nation would henceforwards be entirely submissive to the will of the conquerors. Impressed with these hopes, he now devoted his whole attention to repair the losses occasioned by the war, rebuilding the fortifications which had been destroyed, particularly Arauco, Angol, and Villarica, all of which he repeopled and provided with competent garrisons. He caused all the mines which had been abandoned to be reopened, and others to be explored: And obtained the establishment of a bishopric in the capital of Chili, to which place he went in person to receive the first bishop, Fernando Barrionuevo, a Franciscan monk. Having a considerable number of veteran troops under his command, for most of whom he believed there was no longer occasion in Chili, he sent off a part of them under Pedro Castillo to complete the conquest of Cujo, formerly commenced by Francisco de Aguirre. Castillo subjected the Guarpes, the ancient inhabitants of that province, to the Spanish dominion, and founded two cities on the eastern skirts of the Andes, which he named San Juan and Mendoza, the latter in compliment to the family name of the governor Don Garcia. The extensive and fertile province of Cujo remained for a considerable time dependent on the government of Chili, but has been since transferred to the vice-royalty of Buenos Ayres, to which it seems more properly to appertain from its situation and natural boundaries.

While Don Garcia thus took advantage of the apparent calm which prevailed in Chili, he received information that Francisco Villagran had arrived from Spain at Buenos Ayres, appointed to succeed him in the government of Chili, and that the king had promoted himself to the viceroyalty of Peru in reward for his services in his present government. In consequence of this information, he confided the interim government of Chili to the care of Rodrigo de Quiroga, and withdrew into Peru, to take possession of the exalted situation of viceroy which his father had formerly occupied.

Villagran, who had been governor of Chid previous to Don Garcia, had gone to Europe when deprived of that government, and had procured his reinstatement from the court of Spain. Believing, from the information of Don Garcia and Quiroga, that the Araucanians were in no condition to give any future trouble, Villagran turned his whole attention after his arrival in Chili, to the reaquisition of the province of Tucuman, which had been annexed by himself to the government of Chili in 1549, and had been since attached to the viceroyalty of Peru. Gregorio Castaneda, whom he employed on this occasion, defeated the Peruvian commander, Juan Zurita, the author of the dismemberment, and restored that country to the authority of the governor of Chili. It continued however only a short time under their government, as, before the close of that century, they were again obliged by order from Spain to surrender it to the viceroy of Peru.

Though Don Garcia and Quiroga had been long experienced in the character of the Araucanians, they had formed a very erroneous opinion of their temper and public spirit, when they deemed them finally subdued in consequence of the victories gained in the late war. Such is the invincible spirit of that brave nation, that even the severest reverses of fortunes are insufficient to induce them to submit. Even the heaviest losses, so far from filling them with dejection and dismay, served to inspire them with increased valour. Their heroic constancy under repeated defeats is perfectly wonderful, and the successful and determined perseverance with which they have ever defended their liberties and independence against the superior arms and power of the Spaniards, is without parallel in the history of the world. The scanty remains of the ulmens or Araucanian chiefs who had escaped from the late sanguinary conflicts against Don Garcia, were more resolved than ever to continue the war. Immediately after their late entire defeat at Quipeo, the ulmens assembled in a wood, where they unanimously elected an inferior officer named Antiguenu, who had signalized himself in the last unfortunate battle, to the vacant office of supreme toqui. Antiguenu readily accepted the honourable but hazardous command; but represented to the assembled chiefs, that as almost all the valiant youth of the nation had perished, he deemed it expedient for them to retire to some secure situation, until a new army could be collected of sufficient strength to keep the field. This prudent advice was approved by all, and accordingly Antiguenu retired with the small remains, of the Araucanian army to the inaccessible marshes of Lumaco, called Rochela by the Spaniards, where he caused high scaffolds to be erected to secure his men from the extreme and noxious moisture of that gloomy retreat. The young men who enlisted from time to time into the national army, went to that place to be instructed in the use of their arms, and the Araucanians still considered themselves free since they had a toqui who did not despair of vindicating the independence of their country.

As soon as Antiguenu saw himself at the head of a respectable force, he issued from his retreat, and began to make incursions into the territory which was occupied by the Spaniards, both to inure his troops to discipline, and to subsist them at the expence of the enemy. When this unexpected intelligence was brought to St Jago, it gave great uneasiness to Villagran, who foresaw all the fatal consequences which might result from this new war, having already had long experience of the daring and invincible spirit of the Araucanians. In order if possible to stifle the threatening flame at its commencement, he immediately dispatched his son Pedro into the south, with as many troops as could be collected in haste, and soon after took the same direction himself with a more considerable force. The first skirmishes between the hostile armies were unfavourable to Antiguenu, and an attempt which he made to besiege Canete was equally unsuccessful. Antiguenu attributed his failure on these occasions to the inexperience of his troops, and sought on every occasion for opportunities of accustoming them to the use of arms. At length he had the satisfaction of convincing them that the Spaniards were not invincible, by defeating a body of Spaniards on the hills of Millapoa, commanded by Arias Pardo. To keep up the ardour and confidence which this success had excited in his soldiers, he now took possession of the strong post on the top of Mount Mariguenu, a place of fortunate omen for his country. Being either so much afflicted with the gout, or averse from exposing himself to the hazard of attacking that strong post, which had formerly proved so unfortunate to him, Villagran gave it in charge to one of his sons to dislodge the enemy from that formidable position. The rash yet enterprising young man attacked the Araucanian entrenchments with so little precaution that almost all his army was cut in pieces, and himself killed at the entrance of the encampment, and on this occasion the flower of the Spanish troops and a great number of their auxiliaries were cut off.

Immediately after this signal victory, Antiguenu marched against the fortress of Canete, rightly judging that it would not be in a condition to resist him in the present circumstances. Villagran was likewise convinced of the impossibility of defending that place, and anticipating the design of the Araucanian general, ordered all the inhabitants to withdraw, part of whom retired to Imperial and the rest to Conception. Antiguenu, therefore, on his arrival at that place, so fatal to his nation, had only the trouble of destroying the fortifications and setting fire to the houses, all of which he completely destroyed.

Overcome with grief and anxiety, Villagran died soon after the disastrous battle of Mariguenu, universally regretted by the Spanish inhabitants of Chili, who lost in him a wise humane and valiant governor, to whose prudent conduct on several trying occasions they had been much beholden for the preservation of their conquests. Before his death, in virtue of special powers vested in him by his commission from the court of Spain, he appointed his eldest son Pedro to succeed him in the government, whose endowments of mind were in no respect inferior to those of his father. By the death of the governor, Antiguenu conceived that he had a favourable opportunity for undertaking some important enterprise. He divided his army, which now consisted of 4000 men, into two bodies, one of which he ordered to lay siege to Conception under the command of his vice-toqui Antunecul, to attract the attention of the Spaniards in that quarter, while he marched with the other division to invest the fort of Arauco, which was defended by a strong garrison under the command of Lorenzo Bernal.

Antunecul accordingly crossed the Biobio and encamped in a place called Leokethal, where he was twice attacked by the governor of Conception, against whom he defended himself so vigorously that he repulsed him with considerable loss, and followed him after the second attack to the city which he closely invested, by disposing his troops in six divisions around its walls. He continued the siege for two months, almost every day of which period was distinguished by some gallant assault or successful skirmish; but finding all his attempts to gain possession of the place unavailing, and being unable to prevent the introduction of frequent succours by sea to the besieged, he at length withdrew with the intention of making a new attempt at a more favourable opportunity.

In the mean time Antignenu pressed the siege of Arauco with the greatest vigour, but was resisted by the Spanish garrison with determined bravery. Observing that in all his attacks his bravest officers were pointed out to the Spaniards by their Indian auxiliaries, and made a mark for their artillery, he contrived by menus of emissaries to persuade the Spanish commander that the auxiliaries had plotted to deliver up the fort to the Arancanians. Bernal gave such credit to this false report, that he immediately ordered these unfortunate men to quit the place, and turned them out in spite of their remonstrances and entreaties. This was the very object aimed at by the politic toqui, who immediately caused them all to be seized and put to a cruel death in sight of the Spaniards, who were exceedingly exasperated at seeing themselves so grossly imposed upon by one whom they counted an ignorant barbarian. As the siege was protracted to a considerable length and Antiguenu was impatient for its conclusion, he challenged the governor to single combat, in hope of becoming master of the place by the death of Bernal; who, deeming himself secure of the victory, accepted the challenge in spite of the remonstrances of his soldiers. The battle between these champions continued for two hours, without either being able to obtain any advantage, or even to give his antagonist a single wound; when at length they were separated by their men. What Antiguenu had been unable to attain by force, was performed for him by famine. Several boats loaded with provisions had repeatedly attempted in vain to relieve the besieged, as the vigilance of the besiegers opposed an invincible obstacle to their introduction. At length Bernal found himself compelled to abandon the place for want of provisions, and the Araucanians permitted him and the garrison to retire without molestation, contenting themselves with burning the houses and demolishing the fortifications. The capture of Angol, after that of Caneto and Arauco, appeared so easy to Antiguenu, that he gave it in charge to one of his subalterns; who defeated a body of Spaniards commanded by Zurita, while on his march to invest Angol: But the Araucanian officer was defeated in his turn near Mulchen[77] by Diego Carranza, who had been sent against him by the inhabitants of that city.

[Footnote 77: No such name occurs in the modern maps of Chili, but a town called Millaqui is situated about 20 miles to the north of Angol.--E.]

Solicitous to maintain the reputation of his arms, Antiguenu marched in person at the head of two thousand men to resume the attack upon Angol. Before proceeding to attack that place, he encamped at the confluence of the river Vergosa with the Biobio, where he was attacked by a Spanish army under the command of Bernal. In this engagement the Araucanians made use of some Spanish musquets which they had taken at their late victory of Mariguenu, which they employed with much skill, and bravely sustained the assault for three hours. At length, when four hundred of the auxiliaries and a considerable number of Spaniards had fallen, the infantry began to give way, upon which Bernal gave orders to his cavalry to put to death every one who attempted flight. This severe order brought back the Spanish infantry to their duty, and they attacked the entrenchments of the enemy with so much vigour that at length they forced their way into the camp of the Araucanians. Antiguenu exerted his utmost efforts to oppose the assailants; but he was at length forced along by the crowd of his soldiers, who were thrown into irretrievable confusion and fled. During the flight, he fell from a high bank into the river and was drowned. The Araucanians were defeated with prodigious slaughter, many of them perishing in the river in their attempt to escape by swimming. In this battle, which was fought in the year 1564, almost the whole of the victorious army was wounded, and a considerable number slain; but they recovered forty-one musquets, twenty-one cuirasses, fifteen helmets, and a great number of lances and other weapons which the Araucanians had obtained in their late victories, and had used against their former proprietors.

While these events were passing on the banks of the Biobio, an Araucanian officer named Lillemu, who had been detached by Antiguenu to lay waste the provinces of Chillan and Itata, defeated a Spanish detachment of eighty men commanded by Pedro Balsa. To repress these ravages, the governor of Conception marched against Lillemu with an hundred and fifty men, and cut off a party of Araucanians who were desolating the province of Chillan. Lillemu hastened to their succour, but finding them defeated and dispersed, he was only able to save the remainder of his troops by making a gallant stand in a narrow pass with a small select band, by which he checked the advance of the enemy, and gave time to his army to effect their escape; but he and his brave companions sacrificed their lives in this gallant effort of patriotism.

On the death of the valiant Antiguenu, the Araucanians elected as his successor in the toquiate a person named Paillataru, who was brother or cousin to the celebrated Lautaro, but of a very different character and disposition. Slow and circumspect in all his operations, the new toqui contented himself during the first years of his command in endeavouring to keep up the love of liberty among his countrymen, whom he led from time to time to ravage and plunder the possessions of the Spaniards, always avoiding any decisive conflict. About this time likewise the royal audience of Lima appointed Rodrigo de Quiroga to succeed the younger Villagran in the government of Chili; and Quiroga began his administration by arresting his predecessor in office, whom he sent prisoner into Peru.

Having received a reinforcement of three hundred soldiers in 1565, Quiroga invaded the Araucanian territory, where he rebuilt the fort of Arauco and the city of Canete, constructed a new fortress at the celebrated post of Quipeo, and ravaged all the neighbouring provinces. Towards the end of the year 1566, he sent Ruiz Gamboa with a detachment of sixty men to reduce the archipelago of Chiloé to subjection. Gamboa met with no resistance in this enterprise, and founded in the large island of Ancud or Chiloé, the small city of Castro, and the sea-port of Chacao. The islands of this archipelago are about eighty in number, having been produced by earthquakes, owing to the great number of volcanoes with which that country formerly abounded, and indeed every part of them exhibits the most unequivocal marks of fire. Several mountains in the great island of Chiloé, which has given name to the archipelago, are composed of basaltic columns, which could have only been produced by the operation of subterranean fire[78]. Though descended from the Chilese of the continent, as is evident from their appearance, manners, and language, the natives of these islands are quite of a different character, being of a pacific and rather timid disposition; insomuch that, although their population is said to have exceeded seventy thousand, they made no opposition to the handful of Spaniards sent on this occasion to reduce them, nor have they ever attempted to shake off the yoke until the beginning of the eighteenth century, when an insurrection of no great importance was excited, and very soon quelled[79].

[Footnote 78: These are the opinions of Molina, not of the editor, who takes no part in the discussion between the Huttonians and Wemerians; neither indeed are there any data in the text on which to ground any opinion, were he even disposed by inclination or geognostic knowledge to become a party on either side.--E.]

[Footnote 79: In the text, Molina gives here some account of the natives of Chiloé, which is postponed to the close of this chapter.--E.]

SECTION IX.

_Continuation of the Araucanian war to the Destruction of all the Spanish settlements in the territories of that Nation_.

The long continuance of the Araucanian war, and the great importance of the kingdom of Chili, at length determined Philip II. to erect a court of Royal Audience in Chili, independent upon that which had long subsisted in Peru. To this court, which was composed of four oydors or judges and a fiscal, the civil and military administration of the kingdom was confided; and its members made a solemn entry into the city of Conception, where they fixed their residence, on the 13th of August 1567. Immediately on assuming their functions, the judges removed Quiroga from the government, and appointed Ruiz Gamboa to the command of the army with the title of general. Learning that Paillataru, the toqui of the Araucanians, was preparing to besiege the city of Canete, Gamboa hastened to that place with a respectable force, and finding the toqui encamped not far from the threatened city, he attacked his fortified post, and defeated him after a long and obstinate contest. After this victory, Gamboa overran and laid waste the Araucanian territories for a whole year without opposition, and carried off great numbers of women and children into slavery. He employed every effort however, repeatedly to induce the Araucanians to enter into negotiations for peace, but to no purpose, as they preferred the endurance of every possible evil before the loss of their national liberty, and continually refused to listen to his proposals.

As peace, so necessary to the well being of the Spanish settlements in Chili, seemed every day more remote, in spite of every effort for its attainment, it at length, appeared to the court of Spain that the government of a country in a continual state of war was improperly placed in the hands of a court of justice: Accordingly it was again confided to the management of a single chief, under the new titles of President, Governor, and Captain-general. Don Melchior Bravo de Saravia was invested with this triple character in 1568; a man well qualified to act as president of the court of audience and civil governor of the kingdom, but utterly incompetent to sustain the charge of captain-general; yet he was anxious to signalize the commencement of his government by the attainment of a splendid victory over the redoubtable Araucanians, for which an opportunity soon offered, but which redounded to his own disgrace.

Paillataru had collected a new army, with which he occupied the strong position of Mariguenu, so fatal to the Spaniards, and which for some unaccountable reason they had neglected to fortify. Immediately on learning this circumstance, the governor marched against the toqui at the head of three hundred Spanish soldiers and a large auxiliary force. Like several of his predecessors, Paillataru had the glory of rendering this mountain famous by the total defeat of the Spanish army. The governor had the good fortune to make his escape from this battle, and precipitately withdrew with a small remnant of his troops to Angol, where he resigned the command of the army, appointing Gamboa major-general and Velasco[80] quarter-master. He was at this time so intimidated by his defeat, that he ordered these officers to evacuate the fortress of Arauco, so often already destroyed and rebuilt. While escorting the inhabitants of that place to Canete, these officers fell in with a division of the Araucanians, which they attacked and defeated. Yet Paillataru, who had removed from Mariguenu to the post of Quipeo, marched two days afterwards against Canete, which he proposed to besiege; but Gamboa advanced to meet him with all the troops he could collect, and gave him battle. The engagement continued more than two hours, and was one of the bloodiest and hardest contested ever fought in Chili. Though severely handled, the Spaniards remained masters of the field, and the Araucanians were compelled to retreat. Gamboa now invaded the Araucanian territory, intending to ravage it as formerly; but Paillataru, having repaired his losses in a short time by fresh levies, returning to defend his country, and compelled Gamboa to retreat with loss.

[Footnote 80: In a subsequent passage Molina names this officer Benal. --E.]

From this time, till the death of Paillataru, about four years afterwards, a suspension of arms or tacit truce was observed between the Spaniards and Araucanians. This was probably owing in a great measure to the general consternation occasioned by a dreadful earthquake which was felt throughout the whole country, and did great injury to the Spanish settlements, particularly to the city of Conception, which was entirely destroyed. Ever anxious to consolidate and give importance to their conquests, the court of Spain erected in 1570, a new bishopric in the city of Imperial, to which the vast extent of country between the river Maulé and the southern confines of Chili was assigned as a diocese[81].

[Footnote 81: Since the loss of Imperial, Conception has been the residence of this bishop--E.]

About this time the _Mestees_, or descendents of Spaniards by Indian women had multiplied greatly in Chili, and perceiving the great advantage that might be derived from their assistance against the Spaniards, and to attach them to their cause by a strong acknowledgement that they were their countrymen, the Araucanians conferred the office of toqui upon one of these men named Alonzo Diaz, who had assumed the Chilese name of Paynenancu, and had distinguished himself for ten years by his valour and abilities, continually fighting in their armies. If his predecessor Paillataru had the fault of being too cautious in conducting the operations of the war, the new toqui was on the contrary so rash and daring, to avoid that imputation, that he constantly attacked the Spaniards with far inferior numbers, whence all his enterprises were unfortunate as might naturally have been expected.

Immediately on receiving the investiture of the toquiate, he crossed the river Biobio, probably intending to have attacked Conception; but, before reaching that place, he was attacked and defeated by the quarter-master, notwithstanding the great valour with which he defended himself for a long time. Among the prisoners taken by the Spaniards on this occasion were several Araucanian women, all of whom killed themselves the same night. Paynenancu, having escaped from the carnage, raised a new army and marched against Villarica, but was again defeated by Rodrigo Bastidas, the military commandant of that city.

While the war continued to rage in 1575, the licentiate Calderon arrived in Chili from Spain, with a commission to examine and regulate the government of that kingdom. His first step was to suppress the court of audience, on the sole principle of economy, and instead of the president Melchior Bravo, Rodrigo Quiroga, who had been formerly appointed governor by the audience of Lima, was reinstated in that office. Having assembled all the troops he could raise, the new governor proceeded in 1576 to the frontiers, to oppose the ravages of Paynenancu, who, though twice defeated, continued to harass the Spanish settlements by frequent inroads. But, as the toqui carefully avoided any rencounter, the governor contented himself with ravaging the Araucanian territories in revenge. Having afterwards received a reinforcement of two thousand men from Spain, he gave directions to his father-in-law[82] Gamboa to found a new city at the foot of the Cordellieras[83], between the cities of St Jago and Conception, which has since received the appellation of Chillan from the river on which it stands, and has become the capital of the fertile province of the same name. Shortly after the foundation of this new city, the governor died in 1580 at a very advanced age, having previously nominated Gamboa to succeed him in the government of the kingdom. Gamboa continued three years in the command, continually occupied in opposing the Araucanians in the south under their toqui Paynenancu, and in defending the kingdom on the east against the Pehuenches and Chiquillanians, who now began to molest the Spaniards at the instigation of the Araucanians.

[Footnote 82: Thus in the original, though probably his son-in-law, as Quiroga died soon after at an advanced age.--E.]

[Footnote 83: The city of Chillan, instead of being at the foot of the Andes, is in the plain country more than half way between that great chain and the sea.--E.]

The Pehuenches are a numerous tribe who inhabit that portion of the Andes of Chili which lies between the latitudes of 34° and 37° S. to the eastwards of the Spanish provinces of Calchagua, Maule, Chillan, and Huilquilemu. Their dress resembles that of the Araucanians, except that they wear a piece of cloth like the Japenese round the waist which hangs down to the knees[84], instead of drawers or breeches. Their boots or shoes are all of one piece of skin, being that of the hind leg of an ox taken off at the knee, which is fitted to the foot of the wearer while green, turning the hair side inmost, and sewing up one of the ends, the skin of the knee serving for the heel. By being constantly worn and frequently rubbed with tallow, these shoes become as soft and pliant as the best dressed leather[85]. Though these mountaineers are valiant and hardy soldiers, yet are they fond of adorning themselves like women, decorating themselves with ear-rings and bracelets of glass-beads, with which also they ornament their hair, and hang small bells around their heads. Although possessed of numerous herds of cattle and sheep, their usual food is horse flesh, which like the Tartars they prefer to all other kinds, and always eat cooked, either by boiling or roasting. Like the Bedowin Arabs, the Pehuenches dwell in tents made of skins, disposed in a circular form around a spacious area, in which their cattle feed while the herbage lasts; and when that begins to fail they remove their camp to a fresh pasture, continually traversing in this manner the valleys among the Andes. Each village or encampment is governed by a hereditary ulmen. Their language and religion resemble those of the Araucanians. They are extremely fond of hunting, and often traverse the immense plains which stretch from the great Rio Plata to the Straits of Magellan in pursuit of game, sometimes extending their excursions as far as Buenos Ayres, and even occasionally indulge in plundering the vicinity of that city. They frequently attack the caravans which pass between Buenos Ayres and Chili, and have been so successful in these predatory enterprises as almost to have stopped that commerce entirely.

[Footnote 84: A comparison more familiar to the British reader might be made to the _philabeg_ or short petticoat worn by the Scots Highlanders--E.]

[Footnote 85: In this part of dress they likewise resemble the Scots Highlanders of old, who wore a kind of shoes made of raw hides with the hair on, called _rough rullions_. In both of course using the most obvious and easiest means of decency and protection. Before the introduction of European cattle into Chili, the natives must have employed the skins of the original animals of the country, probably of the _guemul_ or _huemul_, the equus bisulcus of Molina and other naturalists, an animal having some resemblance to a horse but with cloven hoofs--E.]

It may be proper to relate what I noticed on a journey in that country, having set out from Mendoza in the province of Cujo, on the 27th of April 1783, with post horses for Buenos Ayres. We soon learnt, from some people whom we met, that the Pehuenches were out upon predatory excursions, and soon afterwards received the melancholy intelligence that they had committed horrible massacres in the _Portion of Magdalena_. In consequence of this, all the post-houses where we stopped were in a state of alarm, and some of them were entirely deserted. During the year before, three hundred of these Indians appeared suddenly before the post of Gutierrez, all lying back upon their horses and trailing their lances, in order to make it appear that it was only a drove of mares which is a very common sight in those _Pampas_ or almost unlimited plains. Although they saw but one man who patroled the wall with his musquet, and was indeed the only person in the post, they were deterred from making any attack, supposing it to be strongly guarded. This man knew well that the horses were guided, by the exact order they pursued, though he could see nothing of the riders till they were very near. He had the prudence likewise to refrain from firing his musquet, which probably led them to believe there was a greater force within the place, and induced them to abandon the enterprise, venting their rage on the other unprotected inhabitants of the plains. The commander of the post of Amatrain was not so fortunate, as he was killed that same year along with a negro who accompanied him. These posts are fortified with palisades, or with a mud wall, and have a ditch and draw-bridge.

Although the Pehuenches frequently commit depredations in these eastern plains, they have many years refrained from any hostilities within the boundaries of Chili, unless in times of actual war between the nations; induced to this either from fear of the military population of Chili, or by the advantages which they derive from trading with the inhabitants of that kingdom. Their favourite weapon is the _laque_ or leathern thong with a stone at each end, which they always carry fastened to their girdles. It is highly probable that the ten Americans in the ship commanded by Orellana, of whose amazing and desperate courage, mention is made in Ansons voyage, were of this tribe. Notwithstanding their wandering and restless mode of life, they are more addicted to industrious and even commercial habits than any of the savage natives of South America. When in their tents, they are never idle. The women weave cloths of various colours, and the men occupy themselves in making baskets, and a variety of beautiful articles of wood, leather, skins, or feathers, which are much prized by the Spaniards. Every year they assemble in large numbers on the Spanish frontiers, where they hold a kind of fair which generally lasts fifteen or twenty days. On these occasions they bring for sale, besides horses and cattle, fossil salt, gypsum, pitch, bed-coverings, ponchos, skins, wool, bridle-reins beautifully wrought of plaited leather, baskets, wooden vessels, feathers, ostrich-eggs, and a variety of other articles; and receive in return wheat, wine, and European manufactures. In the conduct of this barter they are very skilful, and can with difficulty be overreached. Lest they should be cheated or plundered by the Christian merchants, who think every thing lawful against unbelievers, they never drink all at one time; but separate themselves into several companies, some of whom keep guard while the rest indulge in wine. They are generally humane, courteous, just in their dealings, and possessed of many estimable qualities.

The Chiquillanians, whom some persons have supposed a tribe of the Pehueaches, live to the north-east of that nation, on the eastern borders, of the Andes[86]. These are the most savage, and consequently the least numerous of any of the tribes of the Chilese; for it is an established fact, that the ruder the state of savage life the less favourable it is to population. They go almost naked, merely wrapping the skins of the _Guanaco_ round their bodies, and they speak a corrupted and guttural dialect of the Chili-dugu or Chilese language. It is observable that all the Chilese tribes which inhabit the elevated valleys of the Andes, both Pehuenches, Puelches, Huilliches, and Chiquillanians, are much redder than those of their countrymen who dwell in the lower country to the west of these mountains. All these mountaineers dress themselves in skins, paint their laces, subsist in a great measure by hunting, and lead a wandering and unsettled life. They are in fact the so much celebrated Patagonians, who have been occasionally seen near the Straits of Magellan, and who have sometimes been described as giants, and at other times as not much beyond the ordinary stature of mankind. Generally speaking however, they are of lofty stature and have great muscular strength.

[Footnote 86: In the map accompanying the English translation of Molina, the Penuenches and Chiquillanians are placed under the same parallel between lat. 33° SO' and 36° S. The former on the western and the latter on the eastern side of the Andes.--E.]

On information being sent to Spain of the death of Quiroga, as formerly mentioned, Don Alonzo Sotomayor Marquis of Villa-hermoso was sent out as governor with six hundred regular troops. He landed at Buenos Ayres in 1583, from whence he proceeded to St Jago. On taking possession of his government, he appointed his brother Don Luis to the new office of Colonel of the Kingdom, and sent him with a military force to relieve the cities of Villarica and Valdivia, which were both besieged by the Araucanians. After twice defeating the toqui, Paynenancu, who opposed his march, he raised the sieges and supplied both places with reinforcements. The indefatigable but unfortunate toqui, after two defeats from Don Luis, turned his arms against Tiburcio Heredia and Antonio Galleguilios, who were ravaging the country with separate strong detachments of cavalry, and was successively defeated by both of these officers, yet the victors paid dear for their successes.

While these events were going on in the south, the governor had to oppose the Pehuenches who had invaded the new settlement of Chilian, and whom he defeated and constrained to retire into their mountains. He then marched into Araucania at the head of seven hundred Spaniards and a great number of auxiliaries, resolved to pursue the cruel and rigorous system of warfare which had formerly been adopted by Don Garcia, in preference to the humane procedure of his immediate predecessors. The province of Encol was the first to experience the effects of this severity, as he laid it entirely waste with fire and sword, and either hanged his prisoners, or sent them away with their hands cut off to intimidate their countrymen. The adjoining provinces of Puren, Ilicura, and Tucapel would have experienced a similar fate, if the inhabitants had not ensured their personal safety by flight, after setting their houses and crops on fire, and destroying every thing they could not carry off. Only three prisoners were taken in these provinces, who were impaled. Notwithstanding these severities, many mestees and mulatoes joined the Araucanians, and even some Spaniards, among who was Juan Sanchez, who acquired great reputation among them.

Impelled either by his natural rash valour, or by despair on finding that he had fallen in the estimation of the Araucanians by his want of success, Paynenancu gave battle to the whole Spanish army on the confines of the province of Arauco with only eight hundred men; yet such was the resolute valour with which they fought that the Spaniards were unable to break their firm array, till after a hard contested battle of several hours, in which they lost a considerable number of men. Almost the whole of the Araucanian troops engaged in this unequal contest were slain; but Paynenancu was made prisoner and immediately executed. The victorious governor encamped with his army on the banks of the Carampangui river, and caused the fortress of Arauco to be rebuilt, of which he gave the command to Garcia Ramon the quarter-master.

The Araucanian valour, which had been repressed by the imprudent conduct of Paynenancu, was revived in 1585, by the elevation of Cayancura to the dignity of toqui, an ulmen of the province or district of Mariguenu. Immediately on his election, he dispatched an hundred and fifty messengers to every corner of the country, with the symbolical arrows to summon the martial youth of Araucania to the national army. Having by these means assembled a respectable force, the new toqui determined upon making an attack at midnight on the Spanish camp, which was still on the banks of the Carampangui, and of the exact situation of which he had procured information by means of a spy. For this purpose, he formed his army in three divisions, of which he gave the command to three valiant officers, Lonconobal, Antulevu, and Tarochina. The divisions proceeded by three several roads which led to the camp, and coming upon it by surprise, cut the auxiliaries to pieces who were the first to oppose their progress. Fortunately for the Spaniards, the moon rose about the middle of the assualt, and enabled them, after a short period of confusion, and the loss of several men, to form themselves in good order, and to make head against the assailants, who at length began to give way after suffering severely from the fire of the Spanish musquetry. Just at this critical time, the governor charged the Araucanians and forced them to give way, after both sides had suffered considerable loss. Cayancura, who had halted with a body of reserve at the entrance of the Spanish camp for the purpose of supporting the attack, on finding his troops retiring exhausted and dispirited, drew off the whole to some distance where he permitted them to take rest and refreshment during the remainder of the night, and returned at day-break next morning to the attack. The Spanish army marched out to meet them in the open field, and a most obstinate and bloody battle ensued. After a brave contest, the Araucanians were overpowered by the artillery and cavalry of the Spaniards, and constrained to quit the field with great loss, though the Spaniards paid dear for their victory; insomuch that, immediately after the action, the governor raised his camp and retired to the frontiers, where he built two forts named Trinidad and Spiritu Santo on the northern shore of the Biobio. He also sent orders to the major-general to raise as many recruits as possible throughout the kingdom of Chili, which officer brought him accordingly a reinforcement of two thousand[87] horse and a considerable number of infantry.

[Footnote 87: From the original army of the governor having only seven hundred men, I am apt to believe the number of horse in the text ought only to have been two _hundred_.--E.]

Undismayed by his recent losses, the Araucanian general determined to take advantage of the governors retreat to lay siege to the fort of Arauco; and in order to secure the success of this enterprise, he endeavoured to occupy the Spanish arms in other quarters. For this purpose, he ordered one of his officers named Guepotan to make incursions on the territory of Villarica from the fortified post of Liben, where he had supported himself for several years. To Cadiguala, another officer who afterwards became toqui, he gave it in charge to harass the district of Angol; appointed Tarochina to guard the passage of the Biobio, and sent Melilauca and Catipillan to keep the garrison of Imperial in check. These officers had several encounters with the Spaniards attended with various success. Guepotan lost the fortified post of Liben, which was taken by the governors brother. Tarochina made himself master of a great number of boats on the Biobio, which were conveying supplies of men and warlike stores to the recently erected forts on that river.

In the year 1586, the toqui Cayancura began the siege of Arauco, which he surrounded with strong lines, so as not only to intercept all succours, but to prevent the retreat of the garrison[88]. Perceiving from these preparations, that they must finally be compelled to surrender or perish by famine, the garrison thought it better to die at once with arms in their hands than to be reduced to such extremity. They attacked therefore the works of the enemy with such vigour, that after an obstinate and sanguinary combat of four hours, they succeeded in forcing them, and put the Araucanians to flight. Cayancura was so exceedingly mortified by this defeat, that he retired to his ulmenate, leaving the command of the army to his son, Nangoniel, a young man of great hopes and much beloved by the nation. This young commander immediately collected a new army, in which were an hundred and fifty horse, which from this time forwards became a regular part of the Araucanian military force. With these troops he returned to invest the fortress of Arauco, and guarded all its environs so closely that the garrison were unable to procure a supply of provisions, and were at length compelled to evacuate it, probably on capitulation. Encouraged by this good fortune, Nangoniel proceeded towards the Biobio, intending to attack the fort of Trinidad, which protected the passage of supplies in that direction from Spanish Chili to the forts on the south of that river. But while on his march, he was encountered by a detachment of Spanish troops commanded by Francisco Hernandez, by whom he was defeated. In this action he lost an arm and received several other dangerous wounds. Being obliged by this misfortune to take refuge on a neighbouring mountain, where he was drawn into an ambush by the sergeant-major[89] of the Spanish army, he and fifty of his soldiers were slain, after defending themselves valiantly for a long time. On the same day, an officer named Cadeguala, who had obtained great reputation in the Arancanian army for his courage and military skill, was proclaimed toqui by the officers.

[Footnote 88: Lines, it would appear of circumvallation and contravallation, probably suggested by some of the Spaniards who had joined the Araucanians.--E.]

[Footnote 89: This officer in the Spanish service seems somewhat equivalent to our adjutant; and the sergeant-major of the array in Chili, may be considered as a kind of adjutant-general.--E.]

About this time, while the Araucanians were valiantly endeavouring to oppose the Spanish arms, the English also planned an expedition against them in that remote quarter of the world. Sir Thomas Cavendish sailed with this view from Plymouth on the 21st of July 1586 with three ships, and arrived on the coast of Chili in the following year. He landed at the desert port of Quintero[90], and endeavoured to enter into a negociation with the natives of the country; but he was attacked by Alonzo Molina, the corregidor of St Jago, and compelled to reimbark with the loss of several soldiers and seamen, and quitted the coast after a very short stay.

[Footnote 90: The port of Quintero, in about lat. 32° 45' S. is about 8 or 10 miles to the north of the river Quillota in Spanish Chili. The voyage of Sir Thomas Cavendish will appear in an after division of this work.--E.]

Cadeguala, the new toqui, signalized the commencement of his administration by several successful inroads into the Spanish possessions, the particulars of which are not recorded. Having notice of the alarm in Spanish Chili occasioned by the English squadron, he resolved to avail himself of that diversion of the Spanish forces to make an effort against the city of Angol by surprise. He maintained a secret intelligence with some of the inhabitants of that place, by whose means he prevailed upon a number of native Chilese, who were in the service of the Spanish citizens, to set fire to their masters houses at a certain hour of an appointed night, when he was to be ready with his army at the gates to assault the place. His plan was accordingly executed; and entering the city during the confusion occasioned by the fires, he divided his force, consisting of a thousand foot and an hundred horse, into several detachments, which made a horrible carnage of the citizens, who flying from the flames fell into the hands of the Araucanians. The garrison attempted in vain to dislodge the enemy, and the whole population of the place had been assuredly put to the sword, but for the courage and conduct of the governor, who had fortunately arrived at the city only two hours before the attack. He immediately hastened with his guards to the different quarters which were occupied by the enemy, where with wonderful presence of mind he collected the dispersed inhabitants who had escaped the sword of the enemy, and conducted them to the citadel. Having armed and marshalled all the most resolute of the inhabitants, he sallied out from the citadel at their head against the enemy, whom he compelled to evacuate the city at break of day. It would appear that the Araucanians had now become less scrupulous than formerly in their mode of making war; for Cadeguala was not abandoned by any of his officers on this occasion, as Caupolican had formerly been in his attempt to surprise Canete by similar means.

Although the Arancanian general had not succeeded in this daring enterprise according to his expectations, he was so little discouraged by its failure that he immediately undertook the siege of Puren, which appeared more easy to be taken as it was situated at some distance from the Spanish frontiers. He accordingly invested it regularly with four thousand men in four separate divisions, under the respective commands of Guanoalca, Caniotaru, Relmuantu, and Curilemu, the most valiant officers of his army. On receiving notice of the investiture of Puren, the governor hastened to its relief with a strong reinforcement, but was opposed on his march by Cadeguala at the head of an hundred and fifty Araucanian horse armed with lances, and compelled to retreat after a long and obstinate combat, in which several fell on both sides. Elated by this success, the toqui made proposals to the besieged, either to enter into his service or to allow them to retire unmolested. These terms, which he pretended were very advantageous for men in their situation, were disdainfully rejected; yet one man of the garrison, named Juan Tapia, went over to the Araucanians by whom he was well received, and even got advancement in their army. As these terms were rejected, Cadeguala determined to endeavour to shorten the siege in a different manner. He presented himself one day before the walls mounted on a fine horse which he had taken from the governor, and boldly defied Garcia Ramon the commander of the garrison to single combat at the end of three days. The challenge was accepted, and the intrepid toqui appeared in the field at the time appointed, with a small number of attendants, whom he placed apart. Ramon likewise came out from the fort to meet him, attended by an escort of forty men, whom he ordered to remain at some distance. The two champions, having taken their distance set spurs to their horses and ran their course with such fury that Cadeguala fell at the first rencounter, pierced through the body by the lance of his adversary. He refused however to acknowledge himself vanquished, and even endeavoured to remount his horse to renew the combat, but died in the attempt. His attendants hastened to raise him, and even carried off his body after a sharp contest with the Spaniards.

After the death of their commander, the Araucanians retired from the blockade for a short time; but soon returned to the siege, after having elected Guanoalca to the vacant toquiate, having been informed by the Spanish deserter Tapia, that the garrison was ill supplied with provisions, and divided into parties. Cut off from all hopes of relief, and dissatisfied with the conduct of their officers, the besieged soon determined upon evacuating the place; and the Araucanians allowed them to march off unmolested, according to their usual policy. Guanoalca immediately marched against another fort which the Spaniards had recently erected in the neighbourhood of Mount Mariguenu; but finding that it had been recently and considerably reinforced, he proceeded against the forts of Trinidad and Spiritu Santo on the banks of the Biobio. As the governor of Chili was apprehensive that he might not be able to defend these forts, or perhaps considered them of too little importance to hazard the safety of their garrisons, he evacuated them in 1589, and transferred their garrisons to another fortress which he directed to be constructed on the river Puchanqui as a protection for the city of Angol, so that the operations of the war consisted mostly in the construction and demolition of fortifications.

The toquiate of Guanoalca was more remarkable for the exploits of a heroine named Janequeo than by his own. This famous woman was wife of Guepotan, a valiant officer who had long defended the fortified post of Liben near Villarica. After the loss of that important place he retired to the Andes, where he used every effort to stimulate the Puelches inhabiting that mountainous region to rise in defence of the country against the Spanish invaders. Being desirous of having his wife along with him, he descended into the plains in search of her, but was surprised by a party of Spaniards, and preferring to be cut in pieces rather than yield himself a prisoner, he was slain in the unequal combat. Janequeo, inflamed by an ardent desire to revenge the death of her husband, put herself at the head of an army of Puelches in 1590, assisted by Guechiuntereo her brother, with which she made inroads into the Spanish settlements, killing all of that nation who fell into her hands. Reinforced by a regiment of veteran soldiers which had been sent him from Peru, the governor Don Alonza Sotomayor, marched against the heroine; but, by constantly occupying the high grounds, attacking sometimes the van, sometimes the rear of the Spaniards, and harassing them in every possible way, she at last obliged the governor to retire, after having lost much time and a considerable number of men to no purpose. As the governor was of opinion that rigorous measures were best calculated to quell the pride of the Araucanians, he ordered all the prisoners taken in this incursion to be hung before his retreat. On this occasion, one of these men requested to be hanged on a higher tree than the rest, that the sacrifice he had made of himself for his country might be the more conspicuous, and inspire his surviving countrymen with the more ardent determination to defend their liberties.

Having thus foiled all the endeavours of a general who had gained high reputation in the wars of Italy, Germany, and Flanders, Janequeo proceeded to attack the recently constructed fortress of Puchanqui, not far from which she defeated and slew the commandant, Aranda, who had advanced to meet her with a part of the garrison. Not being able to gain possession of this fort, she retired at the commencement of the rainy season to the mountains near Villarica, where she fortified herself in a place surrounded by precipices, from whence she continually infested the environs of that city in such a manner that no one dared to venture beyond the walls. Moved by the distresses of the citizens, the governor sent his brother Don Luis to their aid, with the greater part of two reinforcements which he had recently received from Peru, under the command of Castillejo and Penalosa. The intrepid Janequeo awaited him in her fortified post, which she deemed secure, and repelled for a long time the various assaults of the Spaniards with great presence of mind. At length, her soldiers being dispersed by the fire of the artillery, she had to seek for safety in flight. Her brother was made prisoner, and obtained his life on condition of promising to keep his sister quiet, and to secure the friendship of his vassals and adherents to the Spaniards. But, while proposing this measure in a national council, he was killed by the ulmen Catipiuque, who abhorred every species of reconciliation with the enemy.

The old toqui, Guanoalca, died about the close of 1590, and a young and enterprising warrior, named Quintuguenu, was elected in his stead in the year following. Being ambitious of acquiring military glory, the new toqui assaulted and took the fort of Mariguenu by assault, and established himself on the top of that famous mountain with two thousand men, hoping to render himself as celebrated there as Lautaro had been formerly, by gaining an important victory over the Spaniards. Not dismayed by the misfortunes which had befallen his countrymen in that ill-omened place, the governor put himself at the head of a thousand Spaniards and a large auxiliary force of Indians, and marched without delay for Mariguenu, determined upon dislodging the Araucanians or of besieging them in their post. Having disposed his troops in order, and given the necessary directions, he began at daybreak to ascend the difficult and steep defile, leading the advanced guard in person, directly before which was a forlorn hope of twenty half-pay officers much experienced in similar warfare. He had scarcely got half way up the mountain when he was attacked with the utmost fury by Quintuguenu; but animating his troops by his voice and example, he sustained for more than an hour the utmost efforts of the enemy, and gained the top of the defile by persevering bravery. On reaching the level summit of the mountain, the Araucanians were forced to take refuge within their entrenchments, which they did however in excellent order. The Araucanians, exhorting each other to conquer or die for their country, defended their camp with incredible valour against the utmost efforts of the Spaniards till mid-day; when, after a most obstinate resistance, Don Carlos Irrazabel forced the lines on the left with his company, while at the same time the quarter-master and Rodolphus Lisperger, a valiant German officer, penetrated with their companies on the front and the right of the encampment. Though surrounded on every side, Quintuguenu maintained his troops in good order, earnestly exhorting them not to dishonour themselves by suffering an ignominious defeat in a place which had so often been the theatre of victory to their nation, and by his efforts and bravery long kept the fate of the battle in suspense. While he flew from rank to rank, animating his men and constantly making head against the enemy, he fell pierced with three mortal wounds given by the governor, who had taken aim at him. His last words were an enthusiastic exclamation in favour of liberty. On the death of the toqui, part of the Araucanian troops allowed themselves to be cut in pieces, and the rest sought their safety in flight. Almost all the auxiliaries on the side of the Spaniards fell in this successful battle, but only twenty of the Spaniards were slain, among whom was a Portuguese knight of the order of Christ, who was killed at the commencement of the action.

Highly gratified with being the first who had defeated the Araucanians on the formidable heights of Mariguenu, the governor conducted his victorious army to the sea-shore, where he was saluted by repeated discharges of cannon from the fleet of Peru, then scouring the coast in search of the English squadron, and which had witnessed the victory. These were answered by the army with repeated vollies of musquetry, and the customary demonstrations of joy on so glorious an occasion. Availing himself of the opportunity afforded by the presence of the fleet, the governor sent the quarter-master-general into Peru to solicit the greatest possible reinforcement of troops without delay, to enable him to prosecute the war to advantage in the ensuing campaign. In the mean time, he abandoned the ancient scite of the fort of Arauco, and rebuilt it in a more convenient situation on the sea-shore. Colocolo, son of the celebrated ulmen of that name, but of a very different disposition from that of his father, was lord of that district, and being indignant at seeing his country occupied by the Spaniards endeavoured to drive them off; but being defeated and made prisoner, he solicited for his life, which he obtained on condition of persuading his subjects to return from the mountains and to submit to the authority of the Spaniards. On being urged by his wife Millayene, to fulfil the promise made by their chief, they replied that he ought to endure his misfortunes with the firmness that became his rank and lineage; that they were willing to encounter every danger under his command, and according to his example, or to revenge the outrages he might be subjected to, but could never consent to betray their country by submitting to obey its bitterest enemies. Irritated by this patriotic resolution of his subjects, Colocolo devoted himself in future to the service of the Spaniards, and even served them as a guide in the pursuit of his own people among the fastnesses in which they had taken refuge.

In the year 1592 there happened to be a Spanish prisoner among the Araucanians, who by his ingratiating manners had acquired the confidence and esteem of the principal people of that high-spirited nation. Either by secret instructions from the governor, or from gratitude for the kind treatment he had received while prisoner, this man exerted himself to effectuate a treaty of peace between the nations, and had at one time a fair prospect of bringing it about. But the preliminaries which he proposed as the ground work of a reconciliation did not prove satisfactory to either party, and all his endeavours were abortive. The governor, being irritated at the rejection of his proposals, marched into the province of Tucapel which he laid waste on every side with fire and sword. As Paillaeco, who had been elected toqui in place of Quintuguenu, did not think his force sufficient to oppose the enemy in the open field, he endeavoured to draw them into an ambush. With this view, he placed an hundred horsemen at the entrance of a wood, within which he had concealed the remainder of his troops, giving orders to the horse to counterfeit flight on the coming up of the enemy to draw them within reach of the ambushment. This scheme seemed at first to promise success, but in the end turned against its contriver. The Araucanians took to flight and were pursued by the Spaniards, who soon discovered that it was only a stratagem, and turned back accordingly as if struck with a panic, in hopes of decoying the enemy to quit the wood and attack them in the open field. Not aware of this repetition of their own trick, the Araucanians fell into the snare they had laid for their enemies; and being surrounded on every side, were mostly cut in pieces together with their commander, after selling their lives at a dear rate, a small remnant taking refuge in the marshes from the pursuit of the victors.

These repeated victories certainly cost much blood to the Spaniards, as the governor after this last action withdrew to St Jago to await the reinforcements he expected from Peru, and to raise as many recruits as possible in the northern provinces of Chili. As the reinforcements did not appear to him sufficient for continuing the war with a reasonable prospect of ultimate success, he even went into Peru in person to solicit more effectual succours, leaving the charge of the civil government daring his absence to the licentiate Pedro Viscarra, and the command of the army to the quarter-master. On his arrival at Lima, Sotomayor met with a successor who had been appointed to the government of Chili, by the court of Spain. This was Don Martin Loyola, nephew of St Ignatius, the celebrated founder of the order of the Jesuits, who had acquired the favour of the viceroy of Peru by taking prisoner Tupac Amuru the last Inca of Peru. In requital for this service, he was not only gratified by being appointed to the government of Chili, but was rewarded by obtaining in marriage the princess or _coya_ Donna Clara Beatrix, the only daughter and sole heiress of the former Inca Sayri Tupac. Loyola arrived at Valparaiso, in 1593, with a respectable body of troops, and immediately proceeded to St Jago, where he was received with every demonstration of joy by the citizens; but during his administration the Spaniards experienced the severest disaster that had ever happened to them in Chili.

After the defeat and death of Paillaeco, the Araucanians elected Paillamachu to the supreme command, who was hereditary toqui or prince of the second Uthulmapu. This military dictator was already much advanced in years, yet a man of wonderful activity and resources, and was so fortunate in his enterprises that he far surpassed all his predecessors in military glory, and had the singular felicity of restoring his country to its ancient independence by the entire expulsion of the Spaniards from its territories. Immediately on his elevation to the supreme dignity of toqui, he appointed two officers of great valour and merit, Pelantaru and Millacalquin to the important employments of vice-toqui, deviating from the usual custom of the nation, which allowed only of one lieutenant-general. And, as the military force of the confederacy had been greatly diminished by the late unfortunate incidents in the war, he followed the example of Antiguenu, a former toqui, by withdrawing into the almost inaccessible marshes of Lumaco, where he used his utmost efforts to collect and discipline an army for the execution of the extensive plans he had formed for the entire liberation of his country.

After having regulated the police of the capital and the civil government of the kingdom of Chili, Loyola proceeded to the city of Conception, where he established his headquarters in order to be at hand for conducting the operations of the war. The toqui of the Araucanians, on hearing of his arrival, sent an intelligent and sagacious officer named Antipillan to compliment him, but charged at the same time to obtain information of his character and designs. In frequent conferences with this person, the new governor endeavoured to impress him with an idea of the vast power and immense resources of the Spanish monarchy, against which it was impossible as he said for the Araucanians to contend successfully, and insinuated therefore the necessity of their submitting to an accommodation. Pretending to be convinced by the reasoning of Loyola, the ambassador acknowledged the prodigious power of the Spanish monarchy in comparison with the Araucanian state; which, notwithstanding the vast disproportion, had hitherto been able to resist every effort of the Spaniards. He acknowledged even the propriety of his nation entering into negotiations for peace, but alleged that the Spaniards affixed wrong ideas to that word; as, under the semblance of peace, they sought to subject the Araucanians to their authority, which they would never agree to while one of them remained alive. And finally, that the only peace to which they would consent, must consist of an entire cessation of hostilities, a complete restoration of all the lands which were occupied by the Spaniards within the Araucanian territory, and an explicit renunciation of every pretence to controul or interfere with their independent rights.

As Loyola was of a generous disposition, he could not avoid admiring the noble and enlightened sentiments of the barbarian ambassador, and dismissed him with the strongest demonstrations of esteem. Yet so far was he from any idea of abandoning the posts already established in the Araucanian territory, that he crossed the Biobio in 1594, and founded a new city at a short distance from that river, giving it the name of Coya in honour of his wife a Peruvian princess. This place was intended to protect the rich gold mines of Kilacoyan, and to serve as a place of retreat for the inhabitants of Angol in case of need; and in order to render it more secure, he constructed two castles in its immediate neighbourhood, named Jesus and Chivecura, on either shore of the Biobio. Solicitous to destroy this new settlement, which he considered as a disgrace to his administration, Paillamachu sent in 1595, one of his officers named Loncothequa, with orders to destroy the fort of Jesus. After twice penetrating within the works, and even burning a part of the interior buildings of this place, Loncothequa lost his life without being able to accomplish the enterprise.

In 1596, the toqui made frequent incursions into all the Spanish districts, both within and adjoining the Araucanian territory, on purpose to subsist his troops and to inure them to a military life. The Spanish army attempted in vain to prevent or pursue these predatory detachments, as the wary Paillamachu took the utmost care to avoid any encounter, determined to reserve his force for some favourable occasion. On purpose to restrain these incursions Loyola erected two additional forts in the neighbourhood of the encampment or head-quarters of the toqui, one on the scite of the old fort of Puren, and the other on the borders of the marshes of Lumaco, which he garrisoned with the greater part of a reinforcement of troops which he had just received from Peru. He sent the remainder of these in 1597 to the province of Cujo, where they founded a new city, called San Luis de Loyola, which still subsists in a miserable condition, though placed in a very advantageous situation.

The fort of Lumaco was soon afterwards taken by storm, by the toqui in person, who gave orders to two of his officers to reduce that of Puren. In ten days they reduced the garrison to the last extremity, but had to desist from the enterprise by the approach of a reinforcement under the command of Pedro Cortes, a Spanish officer who acquired great reputation in the Araucanian war. The governor Loyola arrived there soon afterwards with his army, and gave orders to demolish the fortifications and to remove the garrison to Angol, lest it might experience a similar fate with what had so recently happened to the fort of Lumaco. He then proceeded to Imperial, Villarica and Valdivia, the fortifications of which places he carefully repaired, to secure them against the increasing strength of the enemy, and then returned towards the Biobio under the security of an escort of three hundred men. As soon as he thought himself in a place of security, he ordered back the escort, retaining only along with himself and family sixty-two half-pay officers and three Franciscan friars. Paillamachu had secretly followed and watched all the motions of the governor, and concluded that he had now found a favourable opportunity to attack him. Finding him accordingly encamped in the pleasant valley of Caralava, he attacked him with a select band of two hundred Araucanians, on the night of the 22d November 1598, and slew Loyola and all his retinue.

It would appear that Paillamachu had formed confident hopes in the successful issue of this bold enterprise, and that it had been long concerted: as, in consequence of his instructions, the whole provinces of the Araucanian confederacy, and their allies the Cunches and Huilliches, were in arms in less than forty-eight hours after the slaughter of Loyola. In the whole of that country, from the Biobio to the archipelago of Chiloé, every Spaniard who had the misfortune to be found without the garrisons was put to death; and the cities and fortresses of Osorno, Valdivia, Villarica, Imperial, Canete, Angol, and Arauco, were all invested at the same time by close blockades. Paillamachu had even the boldness to cross the Biobio, burned the cities of Conception and Chillan, laid waste the provinces under their dependence, and returned into Araucania loaded with spoil.

On the first intelligence of these melancholy events, the inhabitants of St Jago were filled with consternation and despair, and were almost unanimously of opinion to abandon Chili and take refuge in Peru. Yet, having some confidence in Pedro de Viscara, an officer of reputation then beyond seventy years of age, they assembled in council and prevailed on him to assume the government of the kingdom till the court might appoint a successor to Loyola. Viscara, having collected all the troops that could be procured, began his march for the frontiers in 1599, and had even the courage to cross the Biobio in the face of the enemy, and withdrew the inhabitants from Angol and Coya, with whom he repeopled the cities of Conception and Chilian. The government of Viscara only continued for six months; as on learning the perilous situation of Chili, the viceroy of Peru sent Don Francisco Quinones thither as governor, with a numerous reinforcement of soldiers and a large supply of military stores. The new governor had several indecisive actions with the toqui to the north of the river Biobio, to which the Araucanians had gone on purpose to ravage the southern provinces of Spanish Chili. The most important of these was in the plain of Yumbal. The toqui was on his return into the south from a successful inroad at the head of two thousand men, and with a great number of cattle of all kinds which he had taken in the province of Chillan, and Quinones attempted to intercept his retreat with an equal force, the greater part of which consisted of Spanish troops. The two armies advanced with equal resolution, and the Spaniards attempted in vain to keep the Araucanians at a distance by a constant fire from eight field pieces and all their musquetry. They soon came to close quarters, and the battle continued with incredible fury for more than two hours, till night parted them; when Paillamachu took advantage of the darkness and repassed the Biobio. On this occasion, the governor made an improper display of severity, by ordering all his prisoners to be quartered and hung upon trees, which was much disapproved of by his officers, who, either from humanity or a motive of self-interest, urged him not to give the enemy a pretence for retaliating by similar cruelties. But Quinones obstinately adhered to an old maxim of endeavouring to conquer by means of terror, and was deaf to all their remonstrances. We are ignorant of the loss sustained by the Spaniards in this battle, but it must have been considerable, as Arauco and Canete were both immediately abandoned, and their inhabitants withdrawn to the city of Conception.

Paillmachu does not seem to have been at all disconcerted by the issue of the late battle, as he continued the sieges of the Spanish cities, and was himself in constant motion; sometimes encouraging by his presence the forces that were employed in blockading the cities, and at other times ravaging the Spanish provinces to the north of the Biobio, where he did infinite mischief. Having learnt that the siege of Valdivia had been raised by the officer whom he had entrusted with that enterprise, he hastened to that place with four thousand men, part cavalry, seventy of his infantry being armed with musquets which he had taken from the Spaniards in the late engagements. On the night of the 14th of November[91] he crossed the broad river of Calacala by swimming, unsuspected by the garrison, stormed the city at day-break, killed a great number of the inhabitants, and burnt the houses. He even attempted to gain possession of some vessels in the harbour, on board of which many of the inhabitants had taken refuge, but these escaped his fury by immediately setting sail. After this notable exploit, he returned in triumph into the north of Araucania with a booty of two millions of dollars, upwards of four hundred prisoners, and a considerable number of cannon; and rejoined Millacalquin, an officer to whom he had entrusted the defence of the Biobio during his absence.

[Footnote 91: According to Garcilasso, Valdivia was taken on the 24th of November 1599. In a letter from St Jago in Chili, dated in March 1600, and inserted in the Royal Commentaries of Peru, P.I.B. vii. Ch. xxv. the Araucanian army on this occasion is said to have amounted to 5000 men, 3000 of whom were horse. Of the foot, 200 were armed with coats of mail, and 70 with fire-arms, _as was said_. They surprised the city at daybreak without the smallest alarm, there being only four men on guard, two of whom went the rounds, the Spaniards being lulled into security by some recent successes in two different incursions they had lately made into the country, which they had laid waste for eight leagues all around during twenty days.--E.]

Ten days after the destruction of Valdivia, Francisco del Campo arrived there by sea from Peru with a reinforcement of three hundred men; and finding it in ashes, he ineffectually endeavoured to introduce these succours into Osorno, Villarica, and Imperial[92]. Amid so many misfortunes, an expedition of five ships from Holland arrived on the coast of Chili in 1660, which plundered the island of Chiloé and put the Spanish garrison to the sword. But on a part of their people landing in the island of Talca or Santa Maria[93], inhabited by the Araucanians, they were repulsed with the loss of twenty-three men, being probably mistaken for Spaniards.

[Footnote 92: In the letter quoted from Garcilasso in the preceding note, Del Campo is said to have raised the siege of Osorno and to have performed other actions of happy consequence.--E.]

[Footnote 93: St Mary's island is on the coast of Araucania, in lat. 37° S.--E.]

Disgusted with a war which threatened such unfortunate consequences, Quinones solicited and obtained leave to resign the government of Chili, and was succeeded by Garcia Ramon who had long been quarter-master of the army in that kingdom. Great expectations were formed of success in the war against the Araucanians under his direction, from his long experience and thorough acquaintance with the manner in which the enemy carried on their warlike operations. But that experience induced him to conduct the war on prudent principles of defence, rather than to hazard the loss of that part of Chili which was subject to Spain. Although he received a reinforcement consisting of an entire regiment of veterans, under the command of Don Francisco de Ovalle, father to the historian of that name, he confined himself almost entirely to the defence of the frontier line upon the Biobio. Garcia Ramon was however soon superseded in the government by the appointment of Alonzo Rivera, an officer who had acquired considerable reputation in the wars in the low countries, and who now brought out a farther reinforcement of a regiment of veteran troops. On assuming the government, he established a number of additional forts on the river Biobio, to defend the frontiers, by which he greatly encouraged the Spanish colonists, who still entertained an idea of abandoning Chili to the enemy.

The populous and opulent city of Villarica, fell into the hands of the Araucanians in 1692, after a siege or blockade of two years and eleven months; and soon afterwards Imperial, the capital of the Spanish settlements beyond the Biobio, experienced a similar fate. The defence of this city was protracted for some months by the courage of a Spanish lady, named Donna Innes de Aguilera. Seeing the garrison quite dispirited by the long continuance of the siege, and ready to capitulate, she encouraged them to persist in its defence, and even directed all the operations in person; until at last, on a favourable opportunity offering, she escaped by sea with the bishop and most of the inhabitants. During this siege, she lost her husband and brothers, and her heroism was rewarded by the king with a pension of two thousand dollars.

Osorno, likewise a rich and populous city, soon followed; as the enemy, now freed from the attention they had hitherto given to Valdivia, Villarica and Imperial, were able to bring their whole force against that last possession of the Spaniards within the territories of the Araucanian confederacy. The sufferings endured by the garrison and inhabitants of Osorno are scarcely to be exceeded by those endured in the most celebrated sieges recorded in history. They were long obliged to subsist on the most loathsome food, having no other sustenance than the carcasses of dead horses; and when these failed on cats and dogs and the skins of beasts. Thus in little more than three years, all the settlements which had been established by Valdivia and his successors, between the river Biobio and the archipelago of Chiloé, and preserved at the expence of so much blood, were destroyed, and so effectually that hardly any vestiges of them now remain. None of them have been since rebuilt, as what is at present called Valdivia is nothing more than a garrison or fortified post. Though great numbers of the inhabitants of these cities perished in the defence of their walls, by famine or by the sword of the enemy, yet Spanish prisoners of all ranks were so numerous among the Araucanians, that almost every family had at least one to its share. The married Spaniards were mostly allowed to retain their wives, and the unmarried men were supplied with wives from among the women of the country; but the unmarried Spanish women were distributed among the chiefs of the Araucanians, who by their customs were permitted a plurality of wives. It is not a little remarkable that the mestees, or offspring of these marriages, became in the subsequent wars the most inveterate enemies of the Spaniards.

On this occasion likewise, the ransom and exchange of prisoners were permitted, by which means many of the Spaniards escaped from captivity. Yet some were induced, by love for the children they had by the native women, to remain captives during their lives. Some even of the Spaniards acquired the confidence and affection of the natives, by their pleasing manners, or by their skill in useful arts, and acquired advantageous establishments in the country. Among these, Don Basilio Roxas and Don Antonio Bascugnano, both of noble birth, acquired high reputation with the Araucanians, and both of them left interesting memoirs of the transactions of their times. Such of the Spaniards as happened to fall to the share of brutal masters, had much to suffer.

Paillamachu did not long continue to enjoy the applause of his countrymen, for having so successfully expelled the Spaniards from Araucania: He died about the end of the year 1603, and was succeeded by Huenecura, who had been bred to arms under his direction and example in the celebrated military school of Lumaco.

* * * * *

"Modern as is the History of America, it has had its full share of fable, and the city of Osorno has furnished the subject of one not less extraordinary than any of the rest, which is thus related in the twentieth volume of the _Seminario Erudito_[94]."

[Footnote 94: This fabulous story of the new Osorno is contained in a note to Molina by the English Editor.--E.]

"During the great effort of the Araucanians to recover their country from the Spaniards, Osorno resisted their arms with extraordinary vigour for six months. At the end of this period, the Spaniards repelled a general assault of the besiegers, and compelled them to abandon the blockade. Being afraid of another attack, the Spaniards retired about three or four leagues, to a peninsula at the foot of the Andes, formed by the lake from which the river Bueno issues. They there built a new city on the isthmus, which they secured with walls, bulwarks, moats and draw-bridges; and multiplied in process of time so as to be obliged to build another city on the opposite side of the lake, and their descendents still continue to occupy the same place. This people, called _Alcahuncas_ by the Indians, are armed with lances, swords and daggers, but whether these are of iron or not, the person who discovered the existence of these cities had not been able to learn. They also use the _laque_ or thong and ball with great dexterity, on which account they are much dreaded by their neighbours. They have also cannon, but no musquets. They retain the dress, complexion and beard of their Spanish ancestors. They used formerly to purchase salt from the Pehuenches, and even from the Indians who live under the Spanish government, which they paid for in silver, which occasioned so great a demand for that article in the Spanish settlements, that a loaf of salt used to sell at the price of an ox. Of late this demand has ceased, as they have found salt in abundance in their own country."

"A year only before this account was written, or in 1773, a man from Chiloé got to the city gates one morning before the drawbridge was lifted, and knocked for admittance. The soldier who was on guard told him to hasten back as fast as possible, as their king was a cruel tyrant, and would certainly put him to death if taken; and even seemed astonished that the Indians had permitted him to arrive at the gate. This man was killed on his way back; but the news of his adventure reached Valdivia, where it was fully believed. It is said that the people of these two cities live under a grievous tyranny, and are therefore desirous of making their situation known to the Spaniards; but that their chiefs use every possible precaution to prevent this, and the Indians of the intervening country are equally solicitous to prevent any intelligence respecting this state being conveyed to the Spaniards, lest it might induce them to make new attempts to penetrate into the interior."

"This account is said to have been written in 1774, by Don Ignacio Pinuer, captain of infantry and interpreter general at Valdivia, in a letter addressed to the president of Chili. The writer states that his thorough knowledge of the language of the natives, and his great intimacy with them, had enabled him to collect this information, by means of the artful and persevering inquiries of twenty-eight years[95]."

[Footnote 95: This absurd story evidently belongs to the same class with the _Seven cities_ formerly mentioned, and the _El Dorado_ and _Welsh_ colony, which will both occur in the sequel of this work. Though not exactly connected in point of time with this fabled city of Osorno, a similar fable respecting a supposed white nation in the interior of Chili, may be noticed in this place, the reflections on which, in the paragraphs subjoined, give a clear explanation of the origin of several of these tales.--E.]

"In the reign of the Emperor Charles V. the bishop of Placentia is said to have sent four ships to the Moluccas. When they had advanced about twenty leagues within the Straits of Magellan, three of them were wrecked, and the fourth was driven back into the southern Atlantic. When the storm abated, this fourth ship again attempted the passage, and reached the place where the others were lost where they found the men still on shore, who entreated to be taken on board; but as there was neither room nor provision for so great a number, they were necessarily left. An opinion long prevailed that they had penetrated into the interior of Chili, where they settled and became a nation called the _Cesares_, whose very ploughshares were said to be of gold. Adventurers reported that they had been near enough to hear the sound of their bells; and it was even said that men of a fair complexion had been made prisoners, who were supposed to belong to this nation. The existence of this city of the Cesares was long believed, and even about the year 1620, Don Geronimo Luis de Cabrera, then governor of Peru, made an expedition in search of this _El Dorado_ of Chili. Even after Feyjo had attempted to disprove its existence, the jesuit Mascardi went in search of it with a large party of Puelches, but was killed by the Poy-yas on his return from the fruitless quest[96]."

[Footnote 96: Dobrizhoffer, III. 407.]

"The groundwork of this and other similar fables is thus satisfactorily explained by Falkner[97].--'I am satisfied that the reports concerning a nation in the interior of South America descended from Europeans, or the remains of shipwrecks, are entirely false and groundless, and occasioned by misunderstanding the accounts given by the Indians. When asked in Chili respecting any settlement of the Spaniards in the inland country, they certainly give accounts of towns and white people, meaning Buenos Ayres, and other places to the eastwards of the Andes. And _vice versa_, on being asked in the east the same question, their answers refer to Chili or Peru; not having the least idea that the inhabitants of these distant countries are known to each other. Upon questioning some Indians on this subject, I found my conjecture perfectly right; and they acknowledged, when I named Chiloe, Valdivia, and other places in Chili, that these were the places they alluded to under the description of European settlements, and seemed amazed that I should know that such places existed.'"

[Footnote 97: Falkner, Ch. iv. p. 112.]

SECTION X.

_Farther Narrative of the War, to the Conclusion of Peace with the Araucanians_.

While Alonzo Rivera applied himself with every possible energy to check the progress of the Araucanians and to guard the frontier of the Biobio, he was removed, from the government of Chili to that of Tucuman, as a punishment for having presumed to marry the daughter of the celebrated heroine Innes Águilera, without having obtained the royal permission. On this occasion Garcia Ramon was reinstated in the government, and received at the same time with his commission a reinforcement of a thousand men from Europe and two hundred and fifty from Mexico. Being now at the head of three thousand regular troops, besides a considerable auxiliary force, he invaded Araucania and penetrated without opposition into the province of Boroa[98] where he erected a fort, which he furnished with a considerable number of cannon, and in which he left a garrison of three hundred men under the command of Lisperger, a German officer formerly mentioned.

[Footnote 98: The province of Boroa, formerly mentioned as the residence of a tribe much whiter in their colour than the other natives of South America, lies at the foot of the Andes between the heads of the rivers Hueco and Tolten, to the eastward of the ruins of Villarica.--E.]

Immediately after the return of the invading army into Spanish Chili, the new toqui Huenecura proceeded to attack this new establishment. While on his march he fell in with Lisperger, who had gone out from the fort at the head of an hundred and sixty of his men to protect a convoy; and immediately attacked the Spaniards with such fury that he cut the whole detachment in pieces, and the commander among the rest. After this first successful essay of his arms, he proceeded without delay against the fort, which he made three several attempts to take by storm; but was repelled with so much skill and valour by Gil Negrete who had succeeded Lisperger in the command, that after an obstinate combat of two hours he was obliged to desist from the attempt to storm, and established a close blockade. This was continued till the governor Ramon sent orders for the garrison to evacuate the place. The Spanish army was now divided into two separate bodies, one under the command of Alvaro Pineda the quarter-master of Chili, and the other under the orders of Don Diego Saravia, who proceeded to lay waste the Araucanian territory without mercy. Watching his opportunity however, Huenecura attacked and defeated them in succession, and with such complete success that not even a single person of either detachment escaped death or captivity. By these unexpected misfortunes, that fine army on which such flattering hopes of security at least, if not conquest, had been founded, was entirely annihilated. In consequence of these repeated and heavy disasters, orders were given by the court of Spain, that a body of two thousand regular troops should be continually maintained on the Araucanian frontier; for the support of which force, an annual appropriation of 292,279 dollars was made from the royal treasury of Peru. At the same time the court of royal audience was re-established in the city of St Jago on the 8th of September 1609, after having been thirty-four years suppressed. This measure gave universal satisfaction to the inhabitants, and the court has continued there ever since with high reputation for justice and integrity.

By this new regulation, Ramon added the title of president to those of governor and captain-general of Chili. Having received considerable reinforcements, to replace the army so lately destroyed, Ramon ventured to recross the Biobio at the head of about two thousand men. Huenecura advanced to meet him, and a sanguinary and obstinate battle took place in the defiles of the marshes of Lumaco. The Spaniards were for some time in imminent danger of being completely defeated; but the valiant governor, taking his station in the front line, so animated his soldiers by his presence and example that they at length succeeded in breaking and defeating the enemy. Shortly after this victory, Ramon died in the city of Conception, on the 10th of August 1610, universally regretted by the Spanish inhabitants of Chili, to whom he was much endeared by his excellent qualities and his long residence among them. He was even highly esteemed by the Araucanians, whom he had always treated, when prisoners, with a humane attention which did him much honour. According to the royal decree for establishing the court of audience, the government of Chili now devolved upon Don Luis Merlo de la Fuente, the eldest oydor or judge.

Much about the same time with Ramon, the toqui Huenecura likewise died, either from disease or in consequence of wounds received in the late battle. He was succeeded in the toquiate by Aillavilu the second, who is represented by Don Basilio Rosas, a contemporary writer, as one of the greatest of the Araucanian generals, and as having fought many battles against Merlo and his successor Don Juan Xaraquemada; but he does not particularize either their dates, the places where they were fought, or any circumstances concerning them.

Among the missionaries who were at that time employed for the conversion of the natives in Chili, was a Jesuit named Luis Valdivia, who, finding it impossible to preach to the Araucanians during the continuance of war, went to Spain and represented in strong terms to Philip III. the great injury suffered by the cause of religion in consequence of this long and cruel war. That weak prince was more devoted to the advancement of religion than to the augmentation of his territories, and sent immediate orders to the government of Chili to discontinue the war, and to settle a permanent peace with the Araucanians, by establishing the river Biobio as the frontier between the two nations. On purpose to secure the punctual execution of these orders, the king offered to exalt Valdivia to the episcopal dignity, and to appoint him governor of Chili. He refused both of these high offers, and only stipulated for the restoration of Alonzo Rivera to the government, whose views were conformable with his own, and who had been exiled to Tucuman as formerly mentioned.

Much gratified with the prosperous issue of his voyage, the zealous missionary returned to Chili in 1612, carrying a letter written by the king of Spain to the national assembly of the Araucanian chiefs, recommending the establishment of peace between the nations, and that they should promote the propagation of Christianity among their dependents. Immediately on his arrival in Chili, Valdivia hastened to the frontiers, and communicated the nature of the commission with which he was entrusted to the Araucanians, by means of some prisoners of that nation whom he had purposely brought with him from Peru. Aillavilu the toqui gave little attention to the proposed negociation, which he deemed a feint for deceiving and surprising him. But, as he died or resigned the command soon after, his successor Ancanamon thought proper to inquire into the reality of the pacific proposals, and directed the ulmen Carampangui to converse with Valdivia, that his offers might be laid before a general assembly of the ulmens. Accordingly, on the invitation of Carampangui, Valdivia repaired to Nancu in the province of Catiray, where, in an assembly of fifty Araucanian chiefs, he made known the substance of the proposed pacific negociations, read and expounded the royal letter to the Araucanian confederacy, and made a long oration on the motives of his interference and on the important concerns of their immortal souls. The assembly thanked him for his exertions, and promised to make a favourable report to the toqui. On his return to Conception, Valdivia was accompanied by Carampangui, where he was honourably received by the governor; who dispatched Pedro Melendez one of his ensigns, under the safeguard of the ulmen, on a message to the toqui, carrying with him the letter of the king of Spain, and a request that Ancanamon would meet him at Paicavi, a place near the frontiers, that they might confer together upon the preliminaries of peace.

The toqui soon afterwards came to the place appointed, with a small guard of forty soldiers, and accompanied by several ulmens, bringing likewise along with him a number of Spanish prisoners of the first families, whom he set at liberty. The governor, with Valdivia and the principal officers of the government, received Ancanamon with every demonstration of respect, and conducted him to the lodgings appointed for his reception amid the repeated discharges of artillery. The governor then proposed, as preliminary articles of peace, that the river Biobio should serve hereafter as the common boundary between the Spanish and Araucanian nations, beyond which neither should be permitted to pass with an army: That all deserters should in future be mutually returned: And that missionaries should be allowed to preach the doctrines of Christianity in the Araucanian territories. Ancanamon required as a preliminary, that the forts of Paicavi and Arauco, which had been lately erected upon the sea coast to the south of the Biobio, should be evacuated. The governor immediately abandoned Paicavi, and agreed to give up the other immediately after the conclusion of peace. Being so far agreed, and as the consent of the four toquis of the uthalmapus was requisite to ratify the treaty, Ancanamon proposed to seek for them in person, and to bring them to the Spanish camp.

While the negociation was in this state of forwardness, an unlooked for event rendered all these pacific measures abortive. Ancanamon had a Spanish lady among his wives, who, taking advantage of his absence, fled for refuge to the governor, accompanied by four other women who were wives to the toqui, and two young girls his daughters. The toqui was extremely indignant on this occasion, though less exasperated by the flight of his wives, than by the kind reception they had experienced among the Spaniards. Relinquishing every thought of peace, he immediately returned to the governor, from whom he demanded the restitution of the fugitives. His demand was taken into consideration by a council of the officers; but the majority of these, many of whom were averse to peace, refused to surrender the women to the toqui, alleging that they were unwilling to expose them to the danger of relapsing from the Christian faith which they had embraced. After many ineffectual propositions, Ancanamon consented to limit his demands to the restitution of his daughters, whom he tenderly loved. To this it was answered, that as the eldest had not yet embraced the Christian faith, his request respecting her would be complied with, but as the younger had been already baptised, they could not think of delivering her into his hands.

At this time the almost extinguished hopes of peace were revived for a time by an unexpected incident. _Utiflame_, the apo-ulmen of Ilicura near Imperial, had always been among the most inveterate enemies of the Spaniards, and to avoid all intercourse with them, had constantly refused to ransom his sons or relations who happened to be made prisoners. He prided himself on having so successfully opposed all the Spanish governors of Chili, from the elder Villagran to Rivera, that the enemy had never been able to acquire a footing in his province, though near the city of Imperial. One of his sons who had been taken in the late war, was about this time sent back to him by Valdivia, in consequence of which he was so highly gratified, that he went immediately to visit the missionary at the fort of Arauco, where in return for the civilities he experienced from the governor and Valdivia, he engaged to receive the missionaries into his province, and to use his influence with Ancanamon to conclude a peace with the Spaniards. He observed, however, that it was necessary in the first place to restore his women, which could be done with safety by obtaining in the first place a safe conduct from the toqui, and undertook to manage the business. He accordingly departed from Arauco for Ilicura, accompanied by three missionaries, one of whom was Horatio Vecchio, the cousin of Pope Alexander VII. The exasperated toqui no sooner learnt the arrival of the missionaries at Ilicura, than he hastened to that place with two hundred horse, and slew them all with their defender Utiflame. Thus were all the plans of pacification rendered abortive, though Valdivia used repeated attempts to revive the negociation. All his schemes were disconcerted by the contrivances of the officers and soldiers, who were interested in the continuance of the war, and loudly demanded that vengeance should be taken for the blood of the slaughtered priests. Notwithstanding his anxious desire for peace and the pious intentions of the king, the governor found himself compelled to prosecute the war, which was renewed with more fury than ever. Ancanamon the toqui, being eager to revenge the affront he had received in regard to his women, incessantly harassed the southern provinces of Spanish Chili, and his successor Loncothegua continued hostilities with equal obstinacy; but only very imperfect accounts of this period of the war have been given by the contemporary historians. The governor Rivera died at Conception in 1617, having appointed as his successor Fernando Talaverano the senior oydor of the royal court; who was succeeded ten months afterwards by Lope de Ulloa.

The toqui Loncothegua resigned in 1618, and was succeeded in the supreme command of the Araucanian armies by an officer named Lientur, whose military expeditions were always so rapid and unexpected, that the Spaniards used to call him the wizard. All his designs were perfectly seconded by Levipillan, his vice toqui. Though the line of the Biobio was amply secured by fortresses and centinels, these indefatigable enemies always contrived to pass and repass without experiencing any material loss. The first enterprise of Lientur was the capture of a convoy of four hundred horses, which were intended to remount the Spanish cavalry. He next ravaged the province of Chilian, and slew the corregidor with two of his sons and several of the magistrates, who had attempted to resist him in the field. Five days afterwards, he proceeded towards St. Philip of Austria, otherwise called Yumbel, a place about sixty miles to the east of Conception, with six hundred infantry and four hundred horse, all of whom he sent out in various detachments to ravage the surrounding country, leaving only two hundred men to guard the narrow defile of Congrejeras. Provoked at this daring enterprise, Robolledo, the commandant of Yumbel, sent seventy horse to take possession of the pass and cut off the retreat of the toqui; but they were received with such bravery by the Araucanian detachment, that they were compelled to retire for security to a neighbouring hill, after losing their captain and eighteen of their number. Robolledo sent three companies of infantry and all the rest of his cavalry to their aid; but Lientur who had by this time collected all his troops together, fell upon the Spaniards, notwithstanding the continual fire of their musquetry, and put their cavalry to flight at the first charge. The infantry, thus left exposed, were almost all cut to pieces, thirty-six of them only being made prisoners, who were distributed among the several provinces of the Arancanian confederacy. If Lientur had then invested Yumbel it must have fallen into his hands; but he deferred the siege till the following year, when his attempt was rendered unsuccessful by the valiant defence of Ximenes who then had the command. On his repulse however, he assaulted and took a fort named Neculgueno, the garrison of which was put to the sword, and all the auxiliaries who dwelt in that neighbourhood were made prisoners. Lientur followed up these successful exploits with others equally fortunate, which are not particularized by contemporary writers, who have given him the title of the _darling of fortune_.

Ulloa the-governor, more a prey to anxiety and mortification than disease, died on the 20th of November 1620, and was succeeded in the government of Chili by Christoval de la Cerda, a native of Mexico, the eldest oydor, according to the established rule on such occasions. For the more effectual defence of the frontiers on the Biobio, he caused an additional fortress to be constructed, named San Christoval, which still remains. This oydor continued only a year in the government, during which he was continually occupied in defending the Spanish settlements against the enterprises of Lientur, with whom he had many encounters. His successor, Pedro Suarez de Ulloa, continued the war in a similar manner, contenting himself with acting principally on the defensive, till his death on the 11th of December 1624; when he was succeeded by Francisco Alava, his brother-in-law, who retained the office only for six months, being succeeded by Don Luis de Cordova, in March 1625.

Lientar being advanced in years and worn out by continual exertions, resigned his office in 1625, and was succeeded as toqui by Putapichion, a young man whose courage and conduct much resembled his predecessor in office. The new governor of Chili was a commander of extraordinary skill and courage, and being nephew to the viceroy of Peru, was abundantly supplied with troops and warlike stores, being likewise directed by his instructions not to confine himself to defensive operations, but to carry the war into the Araucanian territory. His first care on his arrival at Conception, was to restore the military discipline, and to discharge all arrears that were due to the troops. He at the same time preferred a number of Creoles to the vacant offices, by which he acquired the esteem of all the inhabitants, and gratified many of the descendants of the original conquerors who had been hitherto much neglected. Having established good order in the government, he directed Alonzo de Cordova, whom he had appointed quarter-master, to make an incursion with six hundred men into the provinces of Arauco and Tucapel. In this expedition only an hundred and fifteen prisoners were taken and a small number of cattle, as most of the inhabitants took refuge in the mountains with their families and effects.

In the mean time the new toqui, Putapichion, endeavoured to signalize the commencement of his administration by the capture of the fort of Nativity, one of the strongest places on the Biobio, which was constructed on the top of a high and steep mountain, well furnished with troops and artillery, and both from its natural and artificial strength was deemed impregnable. Putapichion came unexpectedly against this place, and soon scaling the difficult ascent, got possession of the ditch, set fire to the palisades and houses of the place with fire arrows, and very nearly succeeded in its capture. But the garrison collected in the only bastion which had escaped the flames, whence they kept up so severe a fire against the assailants, that Putapichion was constrained to abandon the enterprise, carrying away with him twelve prisoners and several horses. The toqui then crossed the Biobio and made an attempt upon the fort of Quinel, which was occupied by six hundred men; but failing also in this enterprise, he made an inroad into the province of Chillan, whence he brought off a great number of peasants and cattle, in spite of the exertions of the serjeant-major to stop his rapid march. Eager for retaliation, the governor resolved in 1628, to invade. Araucania in three directions, assigning the maritime country to the quarter-master, the Andes to the serjeant-major, and reserving the intermediate country to himself. Accordingly, at the head of twelve hundred regulars and a strong body of auxiliaries, he traversed the provinces of Encol and Puren, where he captured a great number of men and cattle; and, having crossed the river Cauten, he ravaged in a similar manner to the rich province of Maguegua. On his return from this successful expedition, Putapichion opposed him at the head of three thousand men in order of battle. In the first encounter, the Spanish army was thrown into confusion and suffered a severe loss; but, being rallied by the exertions of their officers, they renewed the battle, which was severely contested for some time, with considerable loss on both sides. As the Araucanians had recovered most of the spoil, and taken some prisoners while the Spanish army was in disorder, the toqui did not think proper to risk too much on the event of battle, and sounded a retreat. On his return to Conception, the governor was rejoined by the serjeant-major and quarter-master. The former had not been able to effect any thing of importance, as the enemy had taken refuge in the mountains. The latter reported that he had made two hundred prisoners, and had acquired a booty of seven thousand horses and a thousand head of cattle, but had the misfortune to lose most of them during, a violent tempest while on his return.

Don Francisco Lasso, an officer who had gained high reputation in the wars of the low countries, arrived soon afterwards with a commission to supersede Cordova in the government of Chili. At the commencement of his administration, he endeavoured to come to an accommodation with the Araucanians, with which view he set at liberty all the prisoners of that nation who were confined in the different garrisons. But the minds of that high-spirited people were not yet disposed towards peace, and the glory of bringing about that desirable event was reserved for his successor; yet Lasso certainly contributed to prepare the way for peace, by the ten years of uninterrupted war which he waged against the Araucanians, in consequence of their rejecting his pacific overtures, during which he gained many victories over that valiant people. At the commencement however of his military operations, Lasso was by no means fortunate. The quarter-master, Cordova, while advancing by his orders to invade the maritime provinces of Araucania, was completely routed by Putapichion in the small district of Piculgue near Arauco. The toqui placed a part of his army in ambush, and contrived with much skill to induce Cordova to give battle in an unfavourable situation. In this action, the Spanish horse, forming the van of the army, was unable to withstand the charge of the Araucanian cavalry, now become exceedingly expert, and was put to flight; and the infantry being thus left exposed and surrounded on all sides, was entirely destroyed after a combat of five hours, during which they performed prodigies of valour, and gallantly resisted many furious assaults of the enemy. In this action Cordova was slain, with five captains, and several other officers of merit.

On receiving intelligence of this disastrous action, the governor marched in person against Putapichion with a considerable body of troops, leaving Robolledo the serjeant-major to defend the passage of the Biobio against the enterprises of the toqui; who yet eluded the vigilance of the serjeant-major, passed the Biobio with a detachment of two hundred men, and laid waste the neighbouring provinces of Chili in the absence of the Spanish army. Lasso immediately returned with all his troops to the Biobio, occupied all the known fords of that river, in hope of cutting off the retreat of the invaders, and then went in search of Putapichion with a select detachment equal in number to the enemy. In this expedition, he was attacked at a place called Robleria on the banks of the Itata by the toqui with such determined resolution, that the Spaniards gave way at the first encounter, forty of them with several officers being slain. The remainder owed their safety to the skill and valour of the governor, who restored their order with wonderful coolness and intrepidity, and even repulsed the enemy with considerable loss. Satisfied with the success he had already obtained, and proud of having taken the scarlet cloak of the governor, Putapichion now conducted his retreat to the Biobio with great skill, and got over that river unopposed.

On his return from this expedition, the toqui was received by his army with lively demonstrations of joy, and resolved to gratify his troops by reviving the almost forgotten festival called _pruloncon_, or the dance of death. A Spanish soldier, who had been made prisoner in one of the preceding battles, was selected for the victim of this barbarous spectacle [99]. "The officers surrounded by the soldiers form a circle, in the centre of which is placed the official axe of the toqui, with four poniards representing the four Uthalmapus of the confederacy. The unfortunate prisoner is then led in on a sorry horse deprived of his ears and tail, and is placed near the axe, having his face turned towards his own country. He is then ordered to dig a hole in the ground with a sharp stake, and is given a handful of small sticks, which he is ordered to throw one by one into the hole, naming one of the principal warriors of his nation at each stick, while the surrounding soldiers load these detested names with bitter execrations. He is then, ordered to cover up the hole, as if to bury the valour and reputation of the persons whom he has named. After this, the toqui, or one of his bravest companions to whom he relinquishes the honour of being executioner, dashes out the brains of the prisoner with a war-club. The heart is immediately taken out by two attendants and presented still palpitating to the toqui, who sucks a little of the blood and passes it to his officers, who successively repeat the same ceremony. The toqui then fumigates the four cardinal points of the circle with tobacco smoke from his pipe. The soldiers strip the flesh from the bones of the victim, and convert the bones into flutes. The head is cut off and carried round on the point of a pike, amid the acclamations of the multitude, while stamping in measured pace, they thunder out their dreadful war-song accompanied by the mournful sound of their horrible instruments of music. The mangled body is fitted with the head of a sheep, and the barbarous festival is terminated by riot and intoxication. If the skull of the victim has not been broken by the stroke of death, it is made into a drinking cup, called _ralilonco_, which is used in their banquets in the manner of the ancient Scythians and Goths."

[Footnote 99: The particulars of this ceremony are here inserted from a different part of the work of Molina, B.I. Ch. iv. containing an account of the manners and customs of the Araucanians.--E.]

On the present occasion, the honour of dispatching the victim was conferred upon the ulmen Maulican. This cruel spectacle, which some have attempted to excuse on the principle of retaliation, has dishonoured the fame of Putapichion, and was not even pleasing to all the Araucanians[100]. According to Don Francisco Bascagnan, who was an eye witness, many of the spectators compassionated the fate of the unfortunate soldier; and Maulican, to whom the office of dispatching him was assigned as a mark of honour, is said to have declared that he accepted of it with extreme reluctance, and merely to avoid offending his commander the toqui. The torture of an innocent prisoner, upon whatever motive or pretence, is certainly a crime against humanity of the deepest dye, and can never be justified on any principle whatever.

[Footnote 100: It certainly was not more cruel or more dishonourable than the empalements and mutilations ordered by the Christian enemies of the Araucanians: But the latter were unbelievers, and were rebels against the authority of the Catholic king and the grant of the holy father of the Christian world.--E.]

Having received a reinforcement of five hundred veteran soldiers from Peru, and raised two companies of infantry and a troop of cavalry at St Jago, the governor with these new troops, added to thirteen hundred Spaniards and six hundred auxiliaries composing the army on the frontiers, marched to relieve the fort of Arauco which was menaced by the toqui. Putapichion had in reality commenced his march for that place at the head of seven thousand chosen men, whose valour he thought nothing was able to resist. But in consequence of some superstitious auguries of the ex-toqui Lientur, who had resolved to share the glory of this enterprise, the greater part of the Araucanian troops were intimidated, and deserted to their homes during the march. Putapichion was not discouraged by this defection, and observing that there could be no better omen in war than an eager desire to conquer, he continued his march with three thousand two hundred of his most determined followers, and encamped at a short distance from the fort of Arauco. Some of his officers advised him to assault the fort that same night; but he declined this to give his troops time for rest and refreshment, and that the Spaniards might not reproach him with always taking advantage of the darkness, like a robber, to favour his enterprises.

The governor, who was close at hand with his army, having resolved to offer battle to the enemy next day, ordered his men to prepare themselves for battle, and had a skirmish that night with an advanced party of the Araucanians, who had advanced so near the fort of Arauco as to burn the huts of the auxiliaries on the outside of the fortifications. At daybreak, Lasso took possession with his army of a strong position called Alvarrada, which was defended on either flank by a deep torrent, so that it could not be turned. He placed all his cavalry on the right, under the command of the quartermaster _Sea_, while the infantry on the left were under the orders of Rebolledo the serjeant-major. Putapichion advanced with his army in such excellent order, that the governor who had been all his life inured to arms, could not avoid openly expressing his admiration of the excellent disposition of the enemy. The Araucanian soldiers, whose heads were adorned with beautiful plumes of feathers, seemed as if going to a banquet, instead of the doubtful chance of battle. For some time the two armies remained motionless, as if observing each other; when at length the signal of attack was sounded by Quepuantu, the vice-toqui, by order of Putapichion. The governor then gave orders to the Spanish horse to charge that belonging to the enemy; but it met with so warm a reception, that it was broken and put to flight, and obliged to take shelter in the rear of the infantry. Upon this event, the Araucanian infantry made so violent a charge upon the Spanish foot as to throw them into confusion, insomuch that the governor gave up all for lost. At this critical moment Putapichion was slain; and the governor availed himself so effectually of the confusion which this circumstance produced among the Araucanians, that he was able to rally his troops, and led them up anew to the charge, while the Araucanians were solely intent upon carrying off the dead body of their toqui. They even effected this, but were completely defeated and driven in disorder from the field. Quepuantu, the vice-toqui, exerted himself in vain to restore order and to bring back his troops to the charge, even killing several of the fugitives with his own hand; but all his efforts were fruitless, and the Araucanians suffered prodigiously in their flight, being pursued for more than six miles in all directions. Many of the Spaniards fell in this battle, the most decisive that had been fought for a long time against the Araucanians.

From the death of Putapichion to the termination of the government of Lasso, the successive toquis of the Araucanians continued the war with more rashness than skill; none of them, like Antiguenu and Paillamachu, having sufficient judgment to repair the losses sustained by the nation, and to counterbalance the power and arms of the Spaniards by skill and conduct. Quepuantu, who was advanced to the rank of toqui after the defeat at Alvarrada, retired to a sequestered vale under the covert of thick woods, where he built a house with four opposite doors, to facilitate his escape in case of being attacked. The place of his retirement having been discovered to the governor, he sent the quarter-master to surprise him with four hundred light armed troops. As these came upon him by surprise, Quepuantu took refuge in the wood; but soon returned at the head of fifty men who had come to his assistance, and attacked the Spaniards with great courage. After a desperate engagement of half an hour, in which the toqui lost almost all his men, he accepted a challenge from Loncomallu, chief of the auxiliaries attached to the Spaniards, and was slain after a long combat. In 1634, a similar fate befel his successor Loncamilla, in an engagement with a small number of Araucanian troops against a strong detachment of Spaniards. Guenucalquin, his successor, after making some successful inroads into the Spanish provinces, lost his life in an engagement with six hundred Spaniards in the province of Ilicura. Curanteo, who was created toqui in the heat of this action, had the glory of terminating it by the rout of the enemy; but was killed soon afterwards in another conflict. Curimilla, the next toqui, more daring than several of his predecessors, repeatedly ravaged the provinces to the north of the Biobio, and undertook the siege of Arauco and the other forts on the frontiers; but was slain at length by Sea in Calcoimo.

During the government of this toqui, the Dutch made another attempt to form an alliance with the Araucanians, in order to obtain possession of Chili, but with no better fortune than on the former occasion. Their squadron, consisting of four ships, was dispersed in a storm on its arrival on the coast in 1638. A boat well manned and armed, being afterwards dispatched to the island of Mocha, to enter into a parley with the Araucanians, was attacked by the inhabitants, who put all the crew to death and took possession of the boat. Another boat experienced a similar misfortune in the small island of Talca or Santa Maria, and the Dutch were obliged to retire without being able to establish any intercourse with the Araucanians, who were equally jealous of all the European nations, and not without reason. Some years afterwards, notwithstanding the ill success of the Dutch, a similar enterprise was undertaken by Sir John Narborough, an English naval commander, by order of Charles II. In passing through the Straits of Magellan, this whole fleet was lost.

In the mean time, taking advantage of the imprudence and unskilfulness of the Araucanian commanders, the governor continued constantly to lay waste their territories. He had at first given orders that every prisoner capable of bearing arms should be put to death; but afterwards, recurring to more humane measures, he ordered them to be transported to Peru, a sentence to them more intolerable even than death. Whenever these unhappy exiles came in sight of land, which often happened in that navigation, they used to throw themselves overboard in hopes to escape by swimming, that they might return to their country. Many had the good fortune to save themselves in that manner; but such as were unable to elude the vigilance of the sailors, as soon as they were landed on the island or at the port of Callao, exposed themselves to every toil and danger to regain their beloved country, travelling with incredible perseverance and fatigue the immense extent of coast between that port and the Biobio. When the relations of the prisoners, more anxious to deliver them from the miseries of exile than even from death, frequently sent messages to the governor to negociate the ransom of such as were condemned to be sent to Peru, he always refused his consent, unless the nation would lay down their arms and submit to his authority. Laso was exceedingly anxious to perform a promise which he had made like several of his predecessors, of putting an end to the war, and used every possible effort for that purpose, for which no one was better fitted to succeed; but he had to contend against an invincible people, enthusiastically bent upon the preservation of their liberties. He employed every means that could be suggested by wise policy and profound military skill to effect their subjugation; now endeavouring to humble their, pride by his victories, at other times ravaging their country with fire and sword, and endeavouring to restrain them by the establishment of fortresses in different parts of their territory. Among these, he founded a city not far from the ruins of Angol, to which he gave the name of San Francisco de la Vega, and left in it a garrison of four troops of horse and two companies of foot. But it was taken and destroyed in the same year in which it was built by the toqui Curimilla. A great number of men were necessarily expended in the prosecution of this obstinate war, so that the Spanish army, though annually reinforced with numerous recruits from Peru, was diminished to less than a half of its force at the commencement of the government of Laso. On this account he sent over Don Francisco Ayendano to Spain to solicit new reinforcements, and with a promise of bringing the war to a conclusion in the course of two years. But, judging from the past that so successful an issue was little to be expected, the court sent out Don Francisco de Zuniga, Marquis of Baydes, as his successor, who had given unquestionable proofs of his political and military talents, both in Italy and Flanders, where he had executed the charge of quarter-master-general. On his arrival in Chili in 1640, either in consequence of private instructions from the prime minister, or of his own accord, Zuniga procured a personal conference with Lincopichion, who had been elected toqui on the death of Curimilla. Fortunately for the interests of humanity, both commanders were of the same disposition in wishing for peace, and equally averse from the continuance of the destructive war which had so long raged between their hostile nations. They readily agreed upon the most difficult articles in settling the preliminaries, and a day was appointed at the commencement of the following year for ratifying the conditions of a definitive peace between the nations.

Accordingly, on the 6th of January 1641, the marquis came to Quillin, the place of meeting, a village in the province of Puren, attended by a retinue of about ten thousand persons collected from all parts of Chili, who insisted to accompany him on this joyful occasion. Lincopichion came there likewise at the time appointed, accompanied by the four hereditary toquis of the Araucanians, and a great number of ulmens and other natives. Lincopichion opened the conference with an eloquent speech; and then, according to the customs of his nation, he killed a _chilihueque_ or Araucanian camel, and sprinkling a branch of the _boighe_ or Chilese cinnamon tree with its blood, he presented it to the governor in token of peace. The articles of the treaty of peace were next proposed, agreed to, and ratified, being similar to those formerly mentioned which had been accepted by Ancanamon, with the addition of one insisted upon by the marquis, that the Araucanians should not permit the landing of any strangers on their coast, nor furnish supplies to any foreign nation whatever. As this was entirely conformable to the political maxims of the Araucanian nation, it was readily agreed to, and the peace finally ratified and confirmed. Thus was an end put to a destructive and sanguinary war, which had desolated the possessions of the two nations for ninety years. This, important negociation was closed by the sacrifice of twenty-eight chilihueques, and by an eloquent harangue from Antiguenu, the ulmen of the district where it was concluded, in which he enlarged on the advantages which both nations would reap from the establishment of peace. After this, the two chiefs cordially embraced, and congratulated each other on the happy termination of their joint endeavours. They then dined together, and made mutual presents to each other, and the three succeeding days were spent by both nations in festivities and rejoicing.

In consequence of this pacification, all prisoners were released on both sides, and the Spaniards had the satisfaction of receiving, among many others, forty-two of their countrymen who had been in captivity ever since the time of the toqui Paillamachu. Commerce, the inseparable concomitant of a good understanding among neighbouring nations, was established between the Spaniards and Araucanians. The lands near the frontiers on both sides, which had been deserted and laid waste by the mutual hostile incursions, were repeopled, and a new activity was excerted in their cultivation by the proprietors, who could now enjoy the produce in tranquillity and safety. The hopes of disseminating the truths of Christianity among the infidels were again revived, and the missionaries began freely to exercise their beneficent functions among the inhabitants of Araucania. Notwithstanding the manifold advantages of peace to both nations, there were some unquiet spirits, both among the Araucanians and Spaniards who used their endeavours on specious pretences to prevent its ratification. The Araucanian malecontents alleged that it was merely a trick to deceive their nation, in order to conquer them at a future opportunity with the more facility, when they had become unaccustomed to the use of arms. Those of the Spaniards, on the contrary, who were adverse to peace, pretended that by the establishment of peace, the population of the Araucanians would increase so fast that they would soon be able to destroy all the Spanish establishments in Chili. Some of these had even the audacity to cry _to arms_, and endeavoured to instigate the auxiliaries to commence hostilities, while the conferences were going on. But the marquis had the wisdom and good fortune to prevent the renewal of the war, by justifying the purity and good faith of his intentions to the evil disposed among the Araucanians, and by reprimanding and keeping in awe the malecontent Spaniards, and finally accomplished this glorious measure, which was approved and ratified by the court of Spain.

Two years after the peace, in 1643, the importance of the article which the marquis procured to be inserted into this treaty was rendered very apparent to the Spaniards, by its contributing materially to the failure of a third and last attempt by the Dutch to acquire possession of Chili. On this occasion their measures were so well taken, that if they had been seconded by the Araucanians they must have infallibly succeeded. They fitted out a numerous fleet, well provided with men, artillery, and military stores from Brasil, and took possession of Valdivia which had been deserted by the Spaniards for more than forty years, and at which place they intended to form an establishment from whence to conquer the rest of the kingdom. With this view, they immediately began to build strong forts at the entrance of the river, in order to secure possession of that important port, and invited the Araucanians to join them by the most flattering promises. But that gallant nation steadily refused to listen to the proposals, and adhering honourably to the stipulations in the treaty of Quillin, absolutely refused to supply them with provisions, of which they were much in want. The Cunchese, in whose territories Valdivia was situated, in consequence of the counsels of their Araucanian allies, likewise refused to enter into any connection or correspondence with the Dutch, or to supply them with provisions. In consequence of this refusal, being pressed by famine, and hearing that a combined army of Spaniards and Araucanians was in full march against them, the Dutch were compelled to abandon Valdivia in three months after taking possession. Soon after their retreat, the Marquis de Mancura, son to the viceroy of Peru, arrived at Valdivia in search of the Dutch with ten ships of war. To prevent the recurrence of a similar attempt, he fortified the harbour, and particularly the island at its entrance, which has ever since borne the name of his family title.

On the termination of the sixth year of his pacific government, the Marquis de Baydes was recalled from Chili, and Don Martin Muxica appointed governor in his place. He likewise succeeded in preserving the kingdom in a state of tranquillity; and the only unfortunate circumstance that occurred during his government was a violent earthquake, by which part of the city of St Jago was destroyed on the 8th of May 1647. His successor, Don Antonio de Acugna, had a very different fortune, as during his government the war was excited anew between the Spaniards and Araucanians; as will fall to be mentioned in the following section.

SECTION XI.

_Renewal of the War with the Araucanians, and succinct Narrative of the History of Chili, from 1655 to 1787_.

I regret much the want of materials for this part of my work, as all the memoirs of which I have hitherto availed myself terminate at this period. In the year 1655, the war recommenced after a peace of between fourteen and fifteen years endurance, but contemporary writers have left us no account of the causes which interrupted the good understanding which had been so happily established by the Marquis de Baydes. All we know is that Clentaru, the hereditary toqui of the Lauquenmapu, was unanimously elevated to the supreme command in 1655, and signalized the commencement of his administration by totally defeating the Spanish army commanded by the serjeant-major of the kingdom, who fell in the action. This victory was followed by the capture of the fortresses of Arauco, Colcura, San Pedro, Talcamavida, and San Rosendo. In 1656, the toqui crossed the Biobio, completely defeated the governor Acugna in the plains of Yumbel, destroyed the forts of San Christoval and Estancia del Rey, and burned the city of Chillan. We can only add, that this war continued with great violence for ten years, during the governments of Don Pedro Portel de Cassanate, and Don Francisco de Meneses, as the successes of Clentaru are only incidentally mentioned in any of the writers belonging to this period.

Don Francisco de Meneses, a Portuguese by birth, had the glory to terminate this new war in 1665 by a peace, which proved more permanent than that concluded by Baydes. After freeing himself from the Araucanians, he had the misfortune of being involved in a contest with the members of the royal audience, who opposed his marriage with the daughter of the Marquis de la Pica, as contrary to the royal regulations. This difference proceeded to such a length, that the Marquis de Navamorquende was sent out from Spain to Chili with full powers to arrange matters; who, after due inquiry, sent Meneses to Peru and assumed the government himself. After Navamorquende, the government of Chili was administered successively to the end of the seventeenth century, by Don Miguel de Silva, Don Jose de Carrera, and Don Thomas Marin de Proveda, by all of whom a good understanding appears to have been kept up with the Araucanians: But in 1686, war had nearly been again occasioned with that nation, in consequence of removing the inhabitants of the island of Mocho to the north shore of the Biobio, in order to prevent any intercourse with foreign ships.

The commencement of the eighteenth century was remarkable in Chili by three events: The deposition of the governor Don Francisco Ibanez, the rebellion of the inhabitants of Chiloé, and the establishment of trade with the French. Ibanez was accused of having espoused the Austrian party in the succession war, and was banished to Peru; and after him, the government was successively administered until the year 1720, by Don Juan Henriquez, Don Andres Uztariz, and Don Martin Concha. The rebellion of the islanders of Chiloé was soon suppressed, and the inhabitants reduced to obedience, by the prudent management of Don Pedro Molina, the quarter-master-general of Chili, who was sent against them with a considerable body of troops, but who succeeded in restoring them to good order more by mild and conciliatory measures than by useless victories. In consequence of the succession war, by which a prince of the house of Bourbon was placed on the throne of Spain, the French acquired for a time the whole external commerce of Chili. From 1707 to 1717, the ports of that kingdom were filled with French ships, which carried from thence incredible sums in gold and silver; and many Frenchmen settled at this time in the country, who have left numerous descendants. During this period the learned Feuillé resided three years in Chili, and made his well known botanical researches and many profound metereological observations.

For some time the Araucanians had been much dissatisfied with several articles in the peace, under colour of which the Spaniards availed themselves of forming establishments in their country. They also were exceedingly impatient of the insolent behaviour of certain persons, called _captains of the friends_, who had been introduced under the pretence of protecting the missionaries, and now arrogated a considerable degree of authority over the natives which they submitted to with extreme reluctance. Stimulated by resentment for these grievances, the Araucanians resolved in 1722 to have recourse to arms, and in this view they proceeded to the election of a toqui or military dictator. On this occasion they chose a person named Vilumilla, a man of low rank, but who had acquired a high character with his countrymen for judgment, courage, and extensive views, entertaining no less an object than the entire expulsion of the Spaniards from Chili. To succeed in this arduous undertaking, he deemed it necessary to obtain the support and assistance of all the native Chilese, from the confines of Peru to the Biobio, and vast as was the extent of his plan, he conceived it might be easily executed. Having slain three or four Spaniards in a skirmish, among whom was one of the captains of friends, as they were called, he dispatched messengers with the symbolical arrows, each of whom carried a finger of the slain Spaniards, to the various Chilese tribes in the Spanish provinces, inviting them to take up arms on the exhibition of a signal, to be given by kindling fires on the tops of the highest mountains all over the country. Accordingly, on the 9th of March 1723, the day previously fixed upon for the commencement of hostilities, fires were lighted up on the mountains of Copaipo, Coquimbo, Quillota, Rancagua, Maule, and Itata. But either owing to the smallness of their number, their apprehension of the issue of the war, or their long habitude of submission, the native Chilese in the Spanish provinces remained quiet, and this vast project of the toqui was entirely disconcerted.

Having declared war against the Spaniards, Vilumilla set out immediately at the head of an army to attack the Spanish settlements: Yet before commencing hostilities, he requested the missionaries to quit the country, that they might not be injured by his detached parties. Vilumilla signalized the commencement of this new war by taking the fort of Tucapel by storm. Being apprehensive of a similar fate, the garrison of Arauco abandoned that place. After destroying these two forts, Villumilla directed his march for Puren, of which he expected to gain possession without resistance. But the commander made so vigorous a defence that he was under the necessity of besieging it in form. In a short time the garrison was reduced to extreme distress, both from scarcity of provisions and want of water, the aqueduct which brought water to the fort being destroyed by the enemy. During a sally made by the commander to obtain supplies, he and all his followers were slain. In this critical situation, Don Gabriel Cano, who had succeeded Concha in the government, arrived with an army of five thousand men. As Vilumilla expected an immediate attack, he chose a strong position for his army which he drew up in order of battle behind the deep bed of a torrent: But, though repeatedly challenged to battle by the enemy, Cano thought it more prudent to abandon the place, and accordingly withdrew the remainder of the garrison. The war was afterwards reduced to skirmishes of small importance, and was soon terminated by a peace concluded at Negrete, a place situated at the confluence of the Biobio and the Laxa, by which the provisions of the treaty of Quillan were renewed, and the odious title of captains of the friends abolished.

After a mild and harmonious government of fifteen years, Don Gabriel Cano died at St Jago, and was succeeded by his nephew Don Manuel de Salamanca, who was appointed by the viceroy of Peru, and who conducted the government in conformity with the excellent maxims of his uncle. Don Joseph Manso, who was sent from Spain as his successor, brought orders to collect the Spanish inhabitants who were dispersed over the country into cities. For this purpose, in 1742, the new governor founded the cities of Copaipo, Aconcagua, Melipilla, Rancagua, San Fernando, Curico, Talca, Tutaben, and Angeles. In reward for this service, he was promoted to the high dignity of viceroy of Peru. His successors continued to form new establishments, and in 1753, Santa Rosa, Guasco-alto, Casablanca, Bellaisla, Florida, Coulemu, and Quirigua were founded by Don Domingo Rosas; but these have never flourished like the former. This governor likewise sent a colony to occupy the larger island of Juan Fernandez, or Isola de Tierra, which had remained uninhabited till that time, to the great injury of commerce, as the pirates found there a secure retreat whence they could easily annoy the trade of Peru and Chili. In 1759, Don Manuel Amat, who was afterwards Viceroy of Peru, founded the cities of Santa Barbara, Talcamavida, and Gualqui on the Araucanian frontier.

Tranquillity was again disturbed about the year 1770, under the government of Don Antonio Gil Gonzago, who absurdly endeavoured to compel the Araucanians to live in cities. Many councils were held to devise the most suitable means for carrying this chimerical scheme into execution, which was much ridiculed by those who were best acquainted with the dispositions of the Araucanians, while others sided with the governor in supposing it practicable. The Araucanians were informed of these intentions of the governor by their spies; and being apprehensive of danger to their liberties from the proposed innovation, their chiefs met secretly to deliberate upon the best measures for eluding the designs of the governor without having recourse to arms. On this occasion the following resolutions were entered into by the Butacoyog, or national assembly of the ulmens. 1st, To delay the business as long as possible, by equivocal replies and delusive promises. 2d, When pressed to commence building, to require tools and other necessary aids from the Spaniards. 3d, To have recourse to war, when they found themselves no longer able to elude the demands of the governor; but that only the provinces that were compelled to build should declare war, while the others remained neutral on purpose to mediate a peace. 4th, When the mediation of these should be refused, the whole confederacy to join in the war. 5th, To allow the missionaries to depart in safety, as they had nothing to accuse them of but being Spaniards. 6th, To elect a supreme toqui, who should have the charge of executing these resolutions, and was to have every thing in readiness for taking the field when necessary.--Accordingly Antivilu, apo-ulmen of Maquegua, was unanimously elected toqui; but as his province was one of those which were to remain neutral, he declined to accept the office, and Curignancu, brother to the ulmen of Encol was elected in his stead.

At the first conference, the governor proposed his plan to the Araucanians under every aspect that he thought might render it acceptable and agreeable. In pursuance of their previous agreement, the Araucanians objected, equivocated, and at length appeared to consent, but ended by requesting the necessary assistance for beginning the work. Accordingly, having pointed out the situations which he thought most eligible for the new cities, the governor sent them a great quantity of wrought iron, together with provisions for the labourers, and cattle for transporting the timber. As the work made no progress, the quarter-master Cabrito repaired to the frontiers with several companies of soldiers, to stimulate the tardy operations, and placed for this purpose superintendents in different quarters. The serjeant-major Rivera, was entrusted with the building of Nininco, and Captain Bargoa with that of another city on the banks of the Biobio, while Cabrito directed all the operations from his head-quarters at Angol.

Finding all their acts of equivocation and delay ineffectual, the Araucanians flew to arms, and having united to the number of five hundred men under the toqui Curignancu, they proceeded to besiege Cabrito in his camp. Burgoa, who had been made prisoner and very roughly treated, was set at liberty in consequence of being represented as inimical to the quarter-master. Rivera crossed the Biobio in sight of the enemy who were seeking to slay him, but he got away in safety under the protection of a missionary, and afterwards returned with four hundred men to relieve Cabrito. Another missionary requested the Araucanian officer who escorted him, to forgive a Spaniard by whom he had been grievously offended: The Araucanian answered that he had nothing to fear while in company with the missionary; and that it was now no time to think of revenging private injuries. Such was the attention paid to the sanctity of the missionaries, that not a single Spaniard was slain who had the good fortune of getting under their protection.

In order to attack the Araucanians in several places at once, the governor formed an alliance with the Pehuenches, who inhabit the western slopes of the Andes between the latitudes of 33° 30' and 36° S. and between the heads of the rivers Maypo and Chillan. They accordingly sent an army through the defiles of the mountains to invade Araucania: But Curignancu, being informed of their approach, fell upon them by surprise while descending from the Andes and completely routed them, taking their general Coligura and his son, both of whom he put to death. Though this event might have been supposed calculated to occasion eternal enmity between the Pehuenches and Araucanians, it yet so effectually reconciled them, that the Pehuenches have been ever since faithful allies to the Araucanians, and implacable enemies to the Spaniards. Even in this war, Curignancu availed himself of the assistance of these mountaineers to harass the Spanish possessions in the neighbourhood of St Jago. Since that time, the Pehuenches frequently attack the Spanish caravans between Buenos Ayres and Chili, and almost every year furnishes some melancholy events of that kind.

The mortification of seeing his grand project completely overthrown preyed on the mind of Gonzago, already afflicted by a severe chronic illness, which was so much aggravated by this disappointment as to cut him off in the second year of the war; and Don Francisco Xavier de Morales was appointed his successor by the viceroy of Peru. As formerly concerted, the neutral provinces of Araucania now declared in favour of those who had first begun hostilities, and the war was prosecuted with vigour by the whole confederacy. Curignancu and his brave vice-toqui Leviantu, kept the Spanish troops in constant motion and alarm, though reinforced by several divisions from Spain. Having no materials for giving an account of the events of this war, it can only be mentioned that a bloody battle was fought in the beginning of the, year 1773, by which period the expences of the war had exceeded 1,700,000 dollars. In the same year an accommodation was agreed upon, and Curignancu was invested by the Butacayog with full powers to settle the articles of peace. He required as a preliminary, that the conferences should be held in the city of St Jago, which was conceded by the Spanish governor though contrary to the usual custom. During the negociations in that city, he made another demand still more extraordinary, "That his nation should be allowed to keep a resident agent in the capital of Chili." This was warmly opposed by the Spanish officers; but the governor thought proper to grant this likewise, as an excellent expedient for readily adjusting any differences that might arise between the two nations. The other articles of the peace were adjusted with all manner of facility, as the treaties of Quillan and Negrete were revived by mutual consent.

On the death of Gonzago being known in Spain, Don Augustino Jauregui was sent out to assume the government of Chili, who has since filled the important office of viceroy of Peru with universal approbation. He was succeeded by Don Ambrosio Benarides, who rendered the country happy by his wise and beneficent administration. "On the 21st of November 1787, Don Ambrosio Higgins a native of Ireland, formerly brigadier-general of the cavalry in Chili, was appointed president, governor, and captain-general of the kingdom, a gentleman of an enlightened mind and excellent disposition, who has gained the love and esteem of all the inhabitants. In 1792 he continued to discharge the duties of his high station with all the vigilance and fidelity which belong to his estimable character, and which are required in so important, a situation. On his first accession to the government, he visited all the northern provinces, for the purpose of dispensing justice, encouraging agriculture, opening the mines, and improving the commerce and fisheries of the kingdom. He has also established schools, repaired the roads throughout the country, and has built several new cities[101]."

[Footnote 101: This last passage within inverted commas, is an addition to the text of Molina by the original translator.--E.]

SECTION XII.

_State of Chili towards the end of the Eighteenth Century_[102].

[Footnote 102: The information of Molina appears to have closed about 1787; but in some notes by the translator, interwoven here into the text, a few short notices to the year 1792 occur.--E.]

From the short deduction of the occurrences in Chili since its discovery, which has been attempted in the foregoing pages, it will be seen that the acquisition and maintenance of that interesting and important colony has cost more expenditure of blood and treasure to Spain than all the rest of her American possessions. The Araucanians, though only occupying a small extent of territory, and with far inferior arms, have not only been able to resist the military power of Spain, till then reckoned invincible, but have endangered the loss of her best established possessions. Though most of the Spanish officers employed in the early period of the Araucanian war had been bred in the low countries, that excellent school of military knowledge, and her soldiers were armed with those destructive weapons before which the most extensive empires of America had so early fallen, and were considered as the best disciplined and bravest troops in the world; yet has this brave people been able to resist their utmost efforts, and still maintain their independence unimpaired. This will appear wonderful, especially when we consider the decided superiority which European military discipline and skill have given to its troops in all parts of the world. The rapidity of the Spanish conquests in America excited universal astonishment; and a small number of Portuguese gained with almost incredible facility an extensive territory in the east, even although the natives were extremely numerous and accustomed to the use of fire-arms. Yet, in spite of every effort of force and skill, the Araucanians have valiantly defended their country, evincing that a free people, however inconsiderable in point of numbers, can perform wonders.

Since losing their possessions in Arancania, the Spaniards have prudently confined their views to the preservation and improvement of that part of Chili which lies between the southern confines of Peru and the river Biobio, extending between the latitudes of 24° and 36° 30' S. As formerly mentioned this kingdom is divided into _thirteen_ provinces. Of late years two other provinces have been formed by the disjunction of Maule, and the provinces of Cauquenes and Cunco are nominally added to the former number, but without any addition of territory. Besides these, they possess the fortress and port of Valdivia in the country of the Cunches, the archipelago of Chiloe, and the island of Juan Fernandez. This colony or kingdom of Chili is governed by an officer, who combines the titles and functions of civil governor, president of the court of audience, and captain-general, and usually holds the rank of lieutenant-general in the Spanish army. He resides in the city of St Jago, and is solely dependent upon the king, except that in time of war he is subject in some points to receive orders from the viceroy of Peru. In quality of captain-general, he is commander-in-chief of the army, having under his immediate orders the three principal military officers of the kingdom, the quarter-master-general, the serjeant-major, and the commissary-general, besides the four commandants of Chiloe, Valdivia, Valparaiso, and Juan Fernandez. As president and governor, he has the supreme administration of justice, and presides in the superior tribunals established in the capital, whose jurisdiction extends over all the provinces and dependencies of Chili. The chief of these is the royal audience, whose decisions are final in all causes both civil and criminal, and which is divided into two chambers, one for civil and the other for criminal causes. Both are composed of several respectable oydors or judges, a regent, fiscal, royal procurator, and protector of the Indians, all of which officers have high salaries from the crown. In civil causes where the sum at issue exceeds the value of 10,000 dollars, an appeal lies from their sentence to the supreme council of the Indies. The other supreme courts are those of Finance, of the _Cruzada_, of Vacant lands, and the Consulate or tribunal of commerce.

The provinces of Chili are governed by officers who were formerly called corregidors, but are now known by the title of sub-delegates, which ought to be nominated by the crown, but are generally appointed by the governor, owing to the distance from Spain. These, as lieutenants of the governor, have jurisdiction both in civil and military affairs, and as their emoluments are entirely derived from fees, their amount is by no means regular. In each capital of a province, there is or ought to be a municipal magistracy denominated the Cabildo, composed of several regidors appointed for life, of a standard-bearer, a procurator, a forensic judge called the provincial alcalde, a high sheriff called, alguazil-mayor, and two alcaldes. These latter officers are nominated annually by the cabildo from the most respectable inhabitants, and have jurisdiction both in civil and criminal causes in the first instance.

All the inhabitants able to carry arms are divided into regiments, which are bound to march to the sea-coast or the frontiers in case of war. In 1792, the militia amounted to 15,856 men, in the two bishoprics of St Jago and Conception; 10,218 in the former, and 5,638 in the latter. This force which was established in 1777, during the government of Don Augustino Jaregui, is only called out on great occasions, and is seldom obliged to perform the duty of centinels and patroles; but is obliged to hold itself always in readiness for war, and frequently to exercise in the use of arms. Besides this regular militia, there are a great number of city corps, who are commanded by officers named commissaries instead of Colonels. These are divided into several companies, according to the extent and population of their respective districts; and the companies have no fixed numbers, sometimes exceeding a hundred men, and at other times falling short of that number. This city militia supplies guards for the prisons and for the escort of prisoners, and performs the duties required by the police, without being exempted from military service when occasion requires; and from these companies recruits are drawn to supply vacancies in the regular militia. Every one capable of bearing arms is thus enrolled either in these companies or in the regular militia, except such as are indispensably necessary for cultivating the land and taking care of the cattle. Besides this militia, the crown maintains a regular force of veteran troops part at St Jago and part at Conception for the protection of the Araucanian frontier. In 1792, all the veteran troops in Chili amounted to 1976 men, divided into two companies of artillery, nine troops of horse, including a regiment of dragoons at St Jago, and the rest infantry. The cavalry is commanded by a brigadier-general, who is quarter-master-general of the kingdom, and intendant of Conception. The infantry and artillery are under the command of two lieutenant-colonels. Besides these royal troops, the city of St Jago keeps several troops of dragoons in constant pay for its particular protection.

In regard to ecclesiastical polity, Chili is divided into two extensive bishoprics, those of St Jago and of Conception, the bishops of these dioceses being suffragans to the archbishop of Lima. The bishopric of St Jago extends from the confines of Peru to the river Maule, and includes the province of Cujo on the east side of the Andes. The bishopric of Conception comprises all the rest of Chili and the islands; but the greater part of this extent is inhabited by pagans, being the confederacy of Araucania and its auxiliaries. The two cathedrals have a competent number of canons or prebendaries, whose revenues as well as those of the bishops depend upon the tythes. The _holy_ tribunal of the inquisition at Lima, has a commissary and several subaltern officers or familiars resident at St Jago. Upon his first coming into Chili, Valdivia brought with him several monks of the order of Mercy. About the year 1553, the Dominicans and Franciscans were established in the country, the Augustins in 1593, and the Hospitallers of St John of God in 1615. These orders all have a number of convents, and the three first form distinct jurisdictions under their respective provincials. The brothers of St John have the charge of the hospitals, under the direction of a commissary, dependent on the provincial of their order in Peru. The Jesuits came likewise into Chili in 1593, along with Don Martin Loyola, nephew to their founder, and formed a separate province, but were afterwards suppressed along with the rest of their order in all parts of christendom. Other orders have several times attempted to form establishments in Chili, but have always been resisted by the inhabitants. There are several convents of nuns in the cities of St Jago and Conception, but none are contained in the other cities of the kingdom.

Though the cities are in general built in the most fertile districts of the kingdom, many of them might have been more conveniently situated for trade upon the banks of the navigable rivers; as is more particularly the case with those of recent erection. The streets in all the cities are laid out in straight lines, intersecting each other at right angles, and are generally about forty feet wide. The houses are mostly of one storey, yet are very commodious, are all whitewashed on the outside, and handsomely painted within, each being accommodated with a pleasant garden, irrigated by means of an aqueduct or canal, which likewise furnishes water for the use of the family. Those houses which belong to the wealthier classes, particularly the nobility, are splendidly and tastefully furnished. Noticing that old buildings of two stories had resisted the most violent earthquakes, many of the inhabitants have of late years ventured to construct their houses in the European manner, and to reside in upper rooms; employing bricks and stone in the construction of their new buildings, instead of clay hardened in the sun which was formerly supposed less liable to injury. By this change the cities have a much handsomer appearance than formerly. Cellars, sewers, and wells, were of old much more common than now; and the want of these may have contributed to render the buildings more secure from the effects of earthquakes.

The churches in Chili are in general more remarkable for their wealth than their architecture; but the cathedral and the church of the Dominicans in St Jago are both built of stone and in a handsome style. The cathedral was recently constructed at the royal expence, under the direction of the bishop Don Manuel Alday. The plan was drawn by two _English_ architects, who superintended the work. It is built in a masterly style, and extends 384 French feet in length. When about half finished, the architects refused to proceed unless their wages were augmented; but two Indians who had worked under the _Englishmen_ had privately made themselves acquainted with every branch of the art, and offered to complete the fabric, which they did with as much skill as their masters. The following edifices in the capital are also deserving of notice. The barracks for the dragoons; the mint, lately built by a Roman architect; and the hospital for orphans, founded by the Marquis of Monte-pio, and endowed by the crown.

In consequence of the free trade lately granted to Chili, it is increasing in population with a rapidity proportional to the salubrity of its climate and the fertility of its soil. The Europeans mostly consist of emigrants from the southern provinces of Spain, with a few French, English, and Italians. The Creoles, or descendents of European settlers are still more numerous. The character of that race, with some slight differences owing to climate and government, is similar to that of other American Creoles descended from Europeans. "The Creoles are generally well made, and are rarely found with those deformities which are so common in other countries. Their courage has frequently signalized itself in war, by a series of brilliant exploits, nor would there be better soldiers in the world if less averse from submission to discipline. Their history furnishes no examples of that cowardice, treachery, and baseness which dishonour the annals of all nations, and scarcely can an instance be adduced of a Creole having committed a disgraceful action. Untainted by the mean vices of dissimulation, artifice, and suspicion, they possess great frankness and vivacity of character, joined to a high opinion of themselves, and their intercourse with the world is not stained by that mysterious reserve so common in Europe, which obscures the most amiable characters, depresses the social spirit, and chills sensibility of disposition. Possessed of an ardent imagination and impatient of restraint, they are prone to independence yet inconstant in their inclinations and pursuits. By the warmth of their temperature, they are impelled to the pursuit of pleasure with an eagerness to which they sacrifice their fortunes and often their lives. They possess keen penetration, and a remarkable facility of conceiving and expressing their ideas with force and clearness, together with a happy talent of observation, combined with all those qualities of mind and character, which render men capable of conceiving and executing the greatest enterprises, especially when stimulated by oppression[103]."

[Footnote 103: This character of the Creoles is inserted by the original translator, in a note, from the Abbe Raynal.--E.]

Whatever intelligent and unprejudiced travellers have observed respecting the characters of the French and English Creoles, will perfectly apply to those of Chili. The same modes of thinking and the same moral qualities are discernible in them all. They generally have respectable talents, and succeed in all the arts to which they apply. Had they the same motives to stimulate them as are found in Europe, they would make as great progress in the useful sciences as they have already made in metaphysics. They do not readily imbibe prejudices, and are not tenacious in retaining them. As however, scientific books and philosophical instruments are very scarce and difficultly attainable in Chili, their talents have no opportunity of being developed, and are mostly employed in trifling pursuits; and as the expence of printing is enormous, they are discouraged from literary exertion, so that few among them aspire to the reputation of becoming authors. The knowledge of the civil and canon law is held in high estimation, so that many of the youth of Chili, after completing their academical education in their own country, proceed to Lima to study law. The fine arts are in a low state in Chili, and even the mechanical arts are far from perfection. The arts of carpentry, of working in iron, and in the precious metals, are however to be excepted, in which they have made considerable progress, in consequence of the information and example of some German artists, who were introduced into Chili by that worthy ecclesiastic Father Carlos, a native of Hainhausen in Bavaria. The important changes which the beneficence of an enlightened administration in Spain have lately introduced into the American colonies, by directing the attention of the subjects to useful improvements, have extended their influence even to Chili. Arts and sciences, formerly unknown or but very imperfectly, now engage the attention of the inhabitants, and there is reason to hope that the country will soon assume a better aspect.

The peasantry of Spanish Chili, though for much the greater part of Spanish descent, dress after the manner of the Araucanians. Thinly dispersed over an extensive country, and unincumbered by restraint, they enjoy complete liberty, and lead a tranquil and happy life, amidst the enjoyment of abundance, in a delightful climate and fertile soil. The principal part of these healthy and vigorous men live dispersedly upon their respective possessions, and cultivate with their own hands a greater or less extent of ground. They are naturally gay, and fond of all kinds of diversion. They have likewise a strong taste for music, and even compose verses, which, though rude and inelegant, possess much pleasing native simplicity, often more interesting than the laboured compositions of cultivated poets. Extemporary rhymers are common among them, like the _improvisatori_ of Italy, and are called _Palladores_, who are held in great estimation, and devote themselves entirely to that occupation. In the Spanish provinces of Chili, no other language than Spanish is spoken, except upon the frontiers, where the peasants speak both Araucanian and Spanish. The men dress in the fashion of Spain, and the women in that of Peru; only that the women in Chili wear their garments longer than is usual in Peru. Lima prescribes the fashions for Chili, as is done by Paris for the rest of Europe; and the inhabitants of Chili and Peru are equally luxurious, as in both countries the wealthy make a splendid display in their dress, titles, coaches, and servants. Chili enjoys alone of all the American colonies, the high honour of having two of its citizens exalted to the dignity of grandees of Spain: Don Fernando Irrazabel, Marquis of Valparaiso, born in St Jago, who was viceroy of Navarre, and generalissimo of the Spanish army in the reign of Philip IV. and Don Fermin Caravajal, Duke of San Carlos, a native of Conception, who resides at present[104] at the court of Madrid. Don Juan de Covarrubias, a native of St Jago, who went into the service of France in the beginning of the eighteenth century, was rewarded with the title of marquis, the order of the Holy Ghost, and the rank of Marshal in the French army.

[Footnote 104: This refers to 1787, when Molina published his work.--E.]

The salubrity of the climate, and the constant exercise on horseback to which the natives of Chili are accustomed from their infancy, render them strong and active, and preserve them from many diseases. The small-pox is not so common as in Europe, but makes terrible ravages when it appears[105]. In the year 1766, it was first introduced into the province of Maule, where it proved exceedingly fatal. At this time, a countryman who had recovered from this loathsome disease, conceived the idea of curing those unhappy persons who were deemed in a desperate situation, by means of cows milk, which he gave to his patients to drink, or administered in clysters. By this simple remedy, he cured all whom he attended; while the physicians saved very few by their complicated prescriptions. I mention this circumstance, as it strongly confirms the practice of M. Lassone, physician to the queen of France, published in the Medical Transactions of Paris for 1779, who was successful in curing the small-pox with cows milk, mixed with a decoction of parsley roots. From these instances it would appear, that, milk has the power of lessening the virulence of this terrible disease.

[Footnote 105: Several years ago, before that terrible French eruption which now desolates Spain, the Spanish government communicated to all her colonies, however distant, the inestimable benefit of vaccination. It may be here mentioned that it has been long known among the illiterate cow-herds in the mountains of Peru, all either native Peruvians or Negroes, that a disease of the hands which they are liable to be infected with on handling diseased cow udders, the _cow-pox_, effectually arms all who have been subjected to it against the infection of the _small-pox_.--E.]

The Creole inhabitants of Chili are in general generous and benevolent. Contented with a comfortable subsistence, so easily acquired in that country, they are rarely infected with the vice of avarice, and even scarcely know what parsimony is. Their houses are universally open to all travellers, whom they entertain with much hospitality, without any idea of being paid; and this virtue is even exercised in the cities. Hence, they have not hitherto attended to the erection of inns and public lodging-houses, or hotels, which will become necessary when the commerce of the interior becomes more active. The inhabitants of Chili are very dexterous in using the _laqui_, which they constantly carry with them on their excursions. It consists of a strap of leather several fathoms in length, twisted like a cord, one end of which is fastened to the girth under the horses belly, and the other end terminates in a strong noose, which they throw over any animal they wish to catch with so much dexterity as hardly ever to miss their aim[106]. It is used likewise on foot, in which case one end is fixed to the girdle. The peasants of Chili employed this singular weapon with success against certain English pirates who landed on their coast. Herodotus makes mention of the employment of a similar noose in battle by the Sagartii, a nation of Persian descent, who used no offensive weapons except daggers, depending principally upon cords of twisted leather, with a noose at one extremity, with which they used in battle to entangle their enemies, and then easily put them to death with their daggers. The inhabitants of Chili are likewise very expert in the management of horses; and, in the opinion of travellers who have seen and admired their dexterity and courage on horseback, they might soon be formed into the best body of cavalry in the world. From their attachment to horses, they are particularly fond of horse-races, which they conduct in the English manner.

[Footnote 106: The _laqui_ in use to the east of the Andes, at least so far as employed in war, has either a ball or stone at one or both ends.--E.]

The negroes, who have been introduced into Chili by contraband means, are subjected to a much more tolerable servitude than in other parts of America, where the interested motives of the planters have stifled every sentiment of humanity. As the cultivation of sugar and other West Indian produce has not been introduced into Chili, the negro slaves are employed only in domestic services, where by attention and diligence they acquire the favour of their masters. Those most esteemed are either born in the country, or mulattoes, as they become attached to the families to which they belong. By the humanity of government, excellent regulations have been introduced in favour of this unfortunate race. Such as have been able by their industry to save a sum of money sufficient to purchase a slave, are entitled to ransom themselves by paying it to their masters, who are obliged to receive it and grant them their liberty; by which means many of them have obtained their freedom. Those who are ill treated by their masters, can demand _a letter of sale_, which entitles them to seek for a purchaser; and if the master refuses, they apply to the judge of the town or district, who examines into their complaint, and grants the required permission, if well founded. Such instances are however rare, as the masters are careful not to reduce their slaves to this necessity on account of their own reputation, and because the slaves are generally so much attached to their masters, that the greatest punishment which could be inflicted on them were to sell them to others. It even frequently happens that those who have received their freedom in reward of good conduct, do not avail themselves of it, that they may not lose the protection of the family they belong to, from which they are always sure of subsistence. Masters however have the right to correct their slaves, and the kind and degree of punishment is left with them, except in capital crimes.

The internal commerce of Chili has hitherto been of small importance, notwithstanding the many advantages possessed by this fertile country. Its principal source, industry, or necessity rather, is still wanting. An extensive commerce requires a large population, and in proportion as the one increases, the other will necessarily advance. A communication by water, which greatly facilitates the progress of commerce, has already been opened. In several of the Chilese ports, barks are now employed in the transportation of merchandise, which had formerly to be carried by land on the backs of mules, with great trouble and expence; and this beneficial alteration will probably be followed with others of greater importance. Several large ships have been already built in the harbour of Conception, and at the mouth of the river Maule, in the port of Huachapure; by which the external commerce of the kingdom is carried on with Peru and Spain. In the trade with Peru, twenty-three or twenty-four ships are employed, of five or six hundred tons each, part of which belong to Chili and part to Peru. These usually make three voyages yearly, and carry from Chili wheat, wine, pulse, almonds, nuts, cocoa-nuts, conserves, dried meat, tallow, lard, cheese, bend-leather, timber for building, copper, and a variety of other articles; and bring back return cargoes of silver, sugar, rice, and cotton. The ships which trade directly from Spain to Chili, receive gold, silver, copper, Vicugna wool, and hides, in exchange for European commodities. A permission to trade to the East Indies would be very profitable to the Chilese, as their most valuable articles are either scarce or not produced in these wealthy regions of Asia, and the passage across the Pacific Ocean would be easy and expeditious, in consequence of the prevalence of southerly winds. The only money current in Chili is of gold and silver, which is considerably embarrassing to internal commerce, as the smallest silver coin is the sixteenth of a dollar, or 4-1/4d. The weights and measures are the same with those of Madrid.

"Of the two great sources of commerce, agriculture and manufacturing industry, the former alone hitherto animates the internal trade of Chili, or even the commercial intercourse between that country and Peru[107]. The working of mines also occupies the attention of many of the colonists, especially in the provinces of Copaipo, Coquimbo, and Quillota. Manufacturing industry is hitherto so trifling as not to deserve notice. Notwithstanding the abundance of raw materials for this purpose, such as flax, wool, hemp, skins, and metals, which might give employment to a flourishing manufacturing industry, it is still in a languid condition. The inhabitants however manufacture _ponchos_, stockings, carpets, blankets, skin-coats, saddles, hats, and other small articles, chiefly for the use of the poorer people, as those used by the middle and higher ranks are from the manufactures of Europe. These enumerated articles, with the sale of hides and leather, grain and wine, form the whole internal commerce of Chili. The external commerce is principally with the ports of Peru, and particulary with that of Callao, the port of Lima. To the amount of about 700,000 dollars is yearly sent to Peru in the productions of Chili, serving not only to counterbalance the importations from that country, but leaving an annual balance of 200,000 dollars in favour of Chili. The trade between Chili and Buenos Ayres is on the contrary in favour of the latter, as Chili has to pay about 300,000 dollars yearly in cash for the herb _Paraguay_ alone. The other articles received from Buenos Ayres are probably paid for by those which are sent to that place. In the trade with Spain, the productions of Chili go but a short way in payment of the European goods which are annually imported to the value of more than a million of dollars. Gold, silver, and copper, form the whole of the articles sent from Chili to Spain, as the hides and Vicugna wool are of too little importance to be considered."

[Footnote 107: These observations on the trade of Chili, distinguished by inverted commas, are inserted into the text from a long note in this part of the work of Molina--E.]

"Gold to the extent of 5200 marks[108], and as the amounts which are coined and shipped are nearly equal, there does not appear to be any clandestine extraction. But a considerable quantity is expended in bullion, in works of use or ornament. The silver extracted from the mines of Chili is estimated at 30,000 marks yearly[109]. Of this about 25,000 marks are coined annually, and the residue is employed in the fabrication of plate. Yet a considerably larger amount is shipped every year, arising from the coined silver, which is transmitted from Lima. The remittances of gold and silver from Chili to Spain passes usually through Buenos Ayres. The gold, being less bulky, is carried by land, by the monthly packets, in sums of two or three thousand ounces. The silver is sent by two ships every summer, which likewise carry a part of the gold. The remittances of gold amount annually to 656,000 dollars[110], the silver to 244,000[111]; and the copper annually extracted from the mines of Chili is estimated at from eight to ten thousand quintals[112]. From these data it will not be difficult to form a general estimate of the value of yearly produce from Chili[113]."

[Footnote 108: The mark being eight ounces may be valued at L.4; hence the yearly production of gold in Chili is equal to about L.166,400 sterling.--E.]

[Footnote 109: At eight ounces the mark, and 6s. _per_ ounce, this amounts only to the yearly value of L.72,000 sterling.--E.]

[Footnote 110: At 4s. 6d. the dollar, equal to L.147,600 sterling.--E.]

[Footnote 111: Or L.54,900 sterling.--E.]

[Footnote 112: The quintal of 100 pounds, at 1s. 6d. a pound, gives an average value of L.67,500 sterling for the yearly produce of copper.--E.]

[Footnote 113: The entire value of the three enumerated articles amounts to L.270,000 sterling; but the other articles of export from Chili, formerly enumerated, are not here included.--E.]

SECTION XIII.

Account of the Archipelago of Chiloé [114].

[Footnote 114: This is appended to the English translation of Molina, and is said to be chiefly extracted from a work on that subject by Pedro Gonzalis de Agueros, published at Madrid in 1791.--E.]

The Archipelago of Chiloé, extends from Cape Capitanes to Quillan, from lat. 41° 50' to 44° S. long. 302° to 303° 25' E, from the meridian of Teneriffe[115]. On the north it is bounded by the continent, where the Juncos and Rancos [116], two independent and unconverted nations, possess the country from thence to Valdivia: on the east by the Andes, which separate it from Patagonia; on the south by the archipelago of Guaitecas; and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. The islands of this archipelago amount to about eighty, and appear to have been produced by earthquakes, owing to the great number of volcanoes, with which that country formerly abounded. Every part of them exhibits the most unquestionable marks of the operation of volcanic fire. Several mountains in the great island of Chiloé, which gives name to the archipelago, are composed of basaltic columns, which have been certainly produced by volcanic fire, whatever may be alleged to the contrary. The inhabited part of this province, extends from Maullin to Huilad, comprising forty leagues from north to south, and eighteen or twenty from east to west, and comprises twenty-five islands. There are Isla Grande, Ancud, or Chiloe Proper; Achao, Lemui, Quegui, Chelin, Tanqui, Linlin, Llignua, Quenai, Meulin, Caguach, Alau, Apeau, Chaulinec, Vuta-Chauquis, Anigue, Chegniau, Caucague, Calbuco, Llaicha, Quenu, Tabon, Abtau, Chiduapi, and Kaur.--Chiloe Ancud, or _Isla Grande_, being the largest island as its name imports, is the most populous, and the seat of government. Its capital, Castro, which is the only city in the province, was founded in 1566 by Don Martin Ruiz de Gamboa, during the viceroyalty of Lope Garcia de Castro in Peru, and was honoured with the name of his family.

[Footnote 115: Or from long. 75° to 74° 20'W. from Greenwich.--E.]

[Footnote 116: Called Cunches and Huilliches by Molina. Several circumstances in this account are interwoven from the text of Molina, Vol. II. Book iv. ch. ii. This circumstance will account for occasional repetitions, and perhaps some apparent contradictions, which may appear.--E.]

The inhabitants of these islands are descended from the continental aborigines of Chili, as is evident from their manners, appearance, and language; yet are they very different in character, being of a pacific and rather timid disposition. They accordingly made no opposition against the handful of Spaniards who were sent to subjugate them under Gamboa, though their population is said to have then exceeded seventy thousand. Neither have they ever attempted to shake off the yoke, except once at the beginning of last century, when a very unimportant insurrection was speedily quelled. The number of inhabitants at present amounts to upwards of eleven thousand, which are distributed into seventy-six districts, each of which is governed by a native _ulmen_. The greatest part of this population is subject to the Spanish commanders, and are obliged to give personal service fifty days in every year, pursuant to the feudal laws, which are rigorously enforced in this province, though they have been long abolished in the rest of the kingdom of Chili.

These islanders in general possess great quickness of capacity, and readily learn any thing that is taught them. They have an apt genius for all mechanical arts, and excel in carpentry, cabinet-making, turnery, and the like, and are very expert in the construction of wooden-houses, as indeed all the habitations and even the churches are of timber. They are likewise good manufacturers in linen and woollen, of which last mixed with the feathers of sea-birds they make very beautiful bed-coverings. They also manufacture _ponchos_ or cloaks of various kinds, many of which are striped, or embroidered with coloured silk or worsted.

These islands abound in wood, of which they supply large quantities yearly. As it rains almost incessantly, the cultivated lands are commonly wet the whole year. Though they have abundance of cattle, these are not employed for ploughing the ground, which is tilled, or cultivated in the following singular manner. About three months before seed-time, their sheep are turned upon the lands intended for a crop, changing their situation every three or four nights, in the manner called folding in Europe, by which the land is sufficiently manured. The field is then strewed over with the seed corn, and a strong man scratches or slightly turns over the soil to cover the seed, by means of a rude implement composed of two crooked sticks of hard wood fastened together and made sharp, which he forces into the ground with his breast. Notwithstanding this very imperfect tillage, the subsequent crop of wheat generally yields ten or twelve for one. They likewise grow large quantities of barley, beans, peas, _guinoa_, which is a species of chenopodium used in making a pleasant species of drink, and the largest and best potatoes that are to be found in all Chili. Owing to the moisture of the climate, the grape never comes to sufficient maturity for making wine; but its want is supplied by various kinds of cyder, made from apples and other wild fruits which abound in the country.

Owing to their habitude of frequently going from one island to another, where the sea is far from being pacific, the Chilotans are all excellent sailors, and being active, docile, and industrious, they are very much employed in navigating the shipping of the South Sea. Their native barks or piraguas are formed of from three to five planks, sewed together, and caulked with a species of moss which grows on a particular shrub. There are vast numbers of these barks all through the archipelago, which they manage very dexterously both with sails and oars, and the natives often venture as far as Conception in these frail vessels. They are much addicted to fishing, and procure vast quantities and many kinds of excellent fish on the sea around their shores. Of these they dry large quantities, which they export to Chili and Peru, and the other countries on the Pacific Ocean. They likewise cure considerable quantities of testaceous fishes, such as conchs, clams, and _piures_, in the following manner. These shell fish are laid in a long trench, covered over with the large leaves of the _panke tinctoria_, over which a layer of stones is laid, on which a hot fire is kindled and kept up for several hours. The roasted fish are then taken out of the shells, strung upon lines, and hung up for some time in the smoke of wood fires. Cured in this manner they keep well for a considerable time, and are carried for sale to Cujo and other inland districts.

The Christian religion was very readily embraced by the Chilotans after their subjugation, and they have ever since continued stedfast in its observance. Their spiritual concerns are under the direction of the bishop of Conception. Formerly the government was administered by a lieutenant-governor appointed by the governor of Chili, but that officer is now nominated by the viceroy of Peru. The whole external trade of these islands is carried on by three or four ships which come there annually from Peru and Chili, by which they receive wine, brandy, tobacco, sugar, herb of Paraguay, salt, and European goods, for which they give in exchange red cedar boards, timber of different kinds, ponchos of various qualities, hams, pilchards, dried shell-fish, white-cedar boxes, embroidered girdles, and a small quantity of ambergris which is found on their shores.

The navigation in this archipelago is difficult and even dangerous owing to the strength and number of the currents, and nothing can appear worse adapted for so perilous a sea than the piraguas or boats which are used by the islanders. They are without keel or deck, and the planks of which they are composed are sewed or laced together by means of strong withies, the seams being caulked or stuffed with a kind of moss, or with pounded cane leaves, over which the withies are passed. The cross timbers or thwarts are fixed by means of pegs or tree-nails. In these frail barks, which are very easily overset, the Chilotans venture with a fearlessness proceeding entirely from being accustomed to danger, not from skill in avoiding it. Their main source of food is from the sea, which is general most bountiful in those parts of the world where the earth is least so. Their mode of fishing is singular and ingenious. At low water, they inclose a large extent of the flat shore with stakes interwoven with boughs of trees, forming a kind of basket-work; which pens or _corrales_ are covered by every flood and left dry by the ebb tide, at which time they generally find abundance of fish. They likewise employ as food a species of sea-weed, called _luche_, which they form into a kind of loaves or cakes which are greatly esteemed even by the wealthy inhabitants of Lima. Seals are more numerous in the archipelagos of Guaitecas and Guayneco, still farther to the south, where they are eaten by the natives, who are said to acquire so rank an odour from the use of this food that it is necessary to keep them to leeward. Whales sometimes run aground among these islands but are greatly more numerous farther to the south. They have probably retired from this part of the coast in consequence of being persecuted, as ambergris was formerly found in great abundance on these shores, but is now very rare.

All the islands are very mountainous and craggy, so that only a few vallies among the hills and the flat grounds near the shore are susceptible of cultivation. On this scanty cultivable ground, there are forty-one settlements, called _pueblas_ or townships, in the _isla grande_, or large island of Chiloé. There is one road indeed across the mountains, but the whole interior of the island is uninhabited. The isle of Quinchau has six pueblas; Lemui and Llaicha each four, Calbuco three, all the other inhabited islands only one each, and there are three on the continent, in all eighty-one. In these pueblas or townships, the houses are much scattered, each being placed upon its attached property. The church stands near the beach, having a few huts erected in the neighbourhood, which serve to accommodate the parishioners when they come to church on Sundays or any festival to attend mass. In the whole archipelago there are but four places where the houses are placed so near together as to assume the appearance of a town or village. These are the city of Castro as it is called, Chacao, Calbuco, and the port of San Carlos. This last is the largest and most flourishing. In 1774 it contained sixty houses, with 462 inhabitants. In 1791, it had increased to two hundred houses and eleven hundred inhabitants; but its prosperity arose on the ruin of Chacao, which was the only port in the whole archipelago till 1768. The harbour of Chacao is rendered very dangerous by reason of many rocks and shoals, and is much exposed to winds from the north and north-east; on which account Don Carlos de Berenger, when governor, recommended that a town should be built at _Gacui del Ingles_, or English harbour, which was accordingly ordered by the court of Spain in 1767. The bay was then named Bahia del Rey; or Kings Bay, and the town and harbour San Carlos. It is in lat. 41° 57' S. and long. 73° 58' W. The port is good, but ships are often wrecked at the entrance, in consequence of tremendous hurricanes which come on suddenly, at which time the land cannot be seen. Since the erection of this town, the seat of government has been removed to it from Castro.

It is difficult to understand what motives could have induced the Spaniards to settle in this miserable country, when the whole extent of this western side of South America was open to them. Where gold and silver are to be found, or where wealth is to be acquired by commerce, men will readily settle, however barren and unfavourable the country, or however pestilential the climate. But Chiloé offers no incitements to avarice, and only a bare and comfortless subsistence to perpetual industry. Perhaps the principal part of the original settlers were people who escaped from the fury of the Araucanians, unable to remove to Peru, or to subsist if they got there, and who were therefore glad of getting any place of rest and security. There is perhaps no other colony in the world to which Europeans have carried so few of their arts and comforts, or where they have attempted to colonize under so many natural disadvantages. Two instances indeed may be excepted; the project of Philip II. to fortify the Straits of Magellan, and the unaccountable settlements of the Norwegians in Greenland. In Chiloé it often rains for a whole month without intermission, and these rains are frequently accompanied by such tremendous hurricanes that the largest trees are torn up by the roots, and the inhabitants do not feel safe in their houses. Even in January, their mid-summer, they have often long-continued heavy rain. If during the height of a storm the smallest opening be perceived in the clouds towards the south, fine weather soon succeeds; but first the wind changes suddenly to the south, with even greater violence than it blew before from the opposite quarter, and comes on with a crash as loud and sudden as the discharge of a cannon. The storm then passes away with a rapidity proportional to its violence, and the weather clears up. But at this critical change of the wind, vessels are exposed to the utmost danger. Thunder and lightning are rare, but earthquakes are frequent. In 1737 these islands suffered severely by an earthquake; a few days after which a cloud or exhalation of fire, coming from the north, passed over the whole archipelago, and, as is said, set fire to the woods in many of the islands in the group of the Guaitecas. It is said also that these islands were then covered over with ashes, and that vegetation did not again appear upon them till 1750, thirteen years afterwards.

Though excessively rainy, the climate is not unhealthy; but no people on earth ever had more cause to believe that the ground was cursed to bring forth thorns and thistles, and that man is condemned to eat bread with the sweat of his brow, as there are none who labour so hard and procure so little. They are so poor as to have no iron, or so very little that a family which has an axe guards it like a treasure. Their substitute for a plough has been already described as made of two crooked branches of a tree, with a sharp point at one end and a round ball at the other, which they force into the ground by means of their breast, protected by a sheeps skin during this rude operation of tillage. Laborious as this mode must be even in a free soil, it is rendered still more so in Chiloe by the myrtle roots which everywhere infest their cultivated land. The little corn they raise can never be left to ripen in the field, on account of the heavy and frequent rains. It must be cut before it ripens, and its sheaves hung up to dry in the sun-shine, if the sun happens then to shine; and otherwise it has to be dried within doors[117]. Bread is consequently a luxury which is reserved for great occasions; and the want of which is supplied by means of excellent potatoes, far better than any that are produced in Peru or Chili.

[Footnote 117: In many parts of Norway, the peasants have to win, or dry, their corn sheaves spitted on wooden spars set upon stakes in the open air; and a nobleman in the western Scots Highlands, has shades in which to dry his corn and hay, where the sheaves are hung upon pegs like herrings in a curing house. Yet bad as is the climate of Chiloe, Iceland and Kamtshatka can grow no corn at all.--E.]

Apples and strawberries are their only fruit, both of which are good and plentiful. The woods produce a plant called _quilineja_, much resembling the _esparto_ or broom of Spain, from which they manufacture their cables; and they make smaller ropes from several leafless parasitical plants which twine round the larger trees like vines or bindwood. A species of wild cane or reed serves to roof their houses, and its leaves serve as hay or fodder for the few horses which are kept in this inhospitable country. In that part of the continent which belongs to this province, there is a tree, called _alerse_ by the Spaniards and _lahual_ by the Indians, which supplies the principal part of their exports, as from 50,000 to 60,000 planks of its wood are sent yearly to Lima. It grows to a large size, and has so even and regular a grain as to admit of being cleft by wedges into boards or planks of any desired thickness, even smoother than could be done by a saw. Neither Agueros nor Falkner had ever seen the tree; but the latter supposed it of the fir tribe from description, and supposes it might thrive in England if its seeds could be brought over, as the country in which it grows is as cold as Britain, and it is reckoned the most valuable timber of that country both for beauty and duration. The bark of this tree makes excellent oakum for that part of ships which is under water, but does not answer when exposed to the sun and air. They export also the wood of a tree named _luma_, for axle-trees and the poles of carriages; of a particular kind of hazle for ship-building, which answers excellently for oars; they likewise make chests and boxes of a species of cypress, and of a tree named _ciruelillo_.

Hams are a principle article among their exports, as hogs are the most numerous animals in Chiloé, where they find their own food in the woods. Few sheep are kept, yet there are sufficient to furnish wool to give employment to the women. From this they manufacture _ponchos_, two of which, give sufficient work to a woman for a whole year, as they work without a loom. The warp is stretched between a set of pegs, and they weave in the woof with their fingers, yet make the work remarkably fine, strong, and beautiful. They make also a smaller kind, called _bordillos_, which are the ordinary dress of the negroes at Lima. Besides these, they manufacture blankets and rugs, or coverlets for beds, and linen cloth; which last is woven in looms.

In summer, when the vessels arrive from Callao, San Carlos is like a fair, as this is the only opportunity enjoyed by the Chilotans to get supplied with any thing which is not the produce of their own country, or to dispose of any portion of their surplus produce. As they have no money or circulating medium of commerce, the whole trade is carried on by means of barter, which would leave the islanders at the mercy of the merchants from Lima, but for the interference of the government. On the arrival of the first ship of the season, the cabildo or municipal magistracy of San Carlos, fixes a money price at which every thing is to be rated on both sides; which means of regulating the market seems absolutely necessary, as otherwise the Chilotans in buying would be obliged to give any price demanded by the seller, and in selling would have to take any price offered. Still it would be much for their advantage to export their own commodities; but the whole archipelago does not contain a single vessel large enough to make a voyage to Peru or even to Chili. Formerly the soldiers who were in garrison in this province used to receive their pay in clothes and other articles of which they might be in want; but they were ordered by a late regulation to be paid in specie; and if this be continued it must occasion an important change in the commercial situation of Chiloé, by introducing a circulating medium. In San Carlos there is a garrison of regular troops, consisting of 33 artillerymen, 58 dragoons, and 53 infantry. The militia of the archipelago consists of 1569 men, including officers; which have to do garrison duty, but receive no pay or rations, having to serve entirely at their own expence.

The inhabitants of Chiloé consists only of two classes of people, Spaniards and Indians, there being no negroes and no mixed breed or mestees. The want of negroes is easily explained by the poverty of the islanders; but we are not told how it happens that the other two races have not intermixed[118]. This is the more remarkable, as a most extraordinary change has taken place in the language of these islands during the latter half of the eighteenth century; insomuch that the language of the Indian inhabitants consists entirely of Spanish words, but all the inflexions, the syntax, and the idiomatic manner of expression are Chilese, that is to say exactly corresponding to the Moluchese dialect of the Chilidugu.

[Footnote 118: Probably the gradations have not been attended to, because the nice discrimination of ranks has not been deemed worth while in so poor a country. Perhaps the mestees and their gradations are all elevated to the rank of Spaniards, or all depressed to that of vassal Chilotans.--E.]

Both men and women of the Spanish population in Chiloé go barefooted, except a few of the principal families who sacrifice convenience to pride; as in a country so continually wet it is safer to go about with naked feet than to have them in wet coverings. The men universally wear the _poncho_. The houses, or hovels rather, are all built of wood, and the crevices are stopped with sheep-skin or rags. The roofs are all thatched; and the climate is so rainy that this soon rots and must be frequently renewed. These dwellings consist of a single room, in which the family, the cattle, and the poultry, are all accommodated. A few of the inhabitants who can afford superior accommodation, have houses divided into several apartments, wainscoted within, and roofed with deal. Being all of wood, fires are frequent occurrences; but as the houses are scattered, the mischief does not extend. Owing to the inclemency of the weather, and the miserable state of the roads, a family in the scattered and solitary situation in which the houses are placed, is often weeks, and sometimes months without any communication with their neighbours. There is neither hospital, physician, nor surgeon in the whole province. A sick person is laid in a bed or a heap of skins near a large fire, and remains there till recovery or death supervene. The missionaries who visited these islands could find no books from which to teach the children to read, and when they wished them to write there was no paper. Necessity produced a substitute, and they used wooden boards or tablets, on which they wrote with a substance which could be washed out. Such is the miserable situation of the Spanish inhabitants of the archipelago of Chiloe: yet they dare not leave their wretched birth-place in the hope of bettering their fortunes. The small-pox is hitherto unknown among them, and those, who have attempted to go elsewhere have been cut off by that loathsome disease. In 1783, the entire population of this dreary province amounted to 23,477, of whom 11,985 were of Spanish descent, and 11,492 Indians.

SECTION XIV.

_Account of the Native Tribes inhabiting the southern extremity of South America [119]._

[Footnote 119: This supplementary section or appendix is added to the second volume of Molina, apparently by the English translator, and is said to be chiefly extracted from the description of Patagonia by Falkner. As the subject is new and interesting, we have been induced to extend somewhat beyond the rigid letter of a collection of voyages and travels. The picture of man in varied circumstances of savage life, is one of the most important pieces of information to be derived from a collection such as that we have undertaken and where direct means of communicating that intelligence are unattainable, it is surely better to employ such as on be procured than none.--E.]

The poet Ercilla has made the name of the _Araucanians_ so famous that it were improper now to change the appellation. But that denomination properly belongs only to these tribes of the _Picunches_ who inhabit the country of Aranco[120]. The nations or tribes who inhabit the southern extremity of South America are known among themselves by the general names of _Moluches_ and _Puelches_; the former signifying the warlike people, and the latter the eastern people.

[Footnote 120: It will easily be seen in the immediate sequel, that Falkner very improperly uses Picunches as a generic term, as it signifies in a limited manner the northern people. Molina most properly denominates the whole aborigines of Chili on both sides of the Andes, Chilese, as speaking one language, the Chili-dugu; names the tribes of Arauco and those in the same republican confederacy Araucanians; and gives distinct names like Falkner to the allied tribes: the Puelches, Cunchese, Huilliches, Pehuenches, and others. Falkner appears to have chosen to denominate the whole from the tribe whose dialect he first became acquainted with; and some others seem to select the Moluches as the parent tribe.--E.]

The _Moluches_ or warlike people, are divided into the _Picunches_, or people of the north, the _Pehuenches_ or people of the fine country, and _Huilliches_ or people of the south. The Picunches inhabit the mountains from Coquimbo to somewhat below St Jago in Spanish Chili. The Pehuenches border on these to the north, and extend to the parallel of Valdivia. Both of these are included in history under the name of Araucanians[121]. Their long and obstinate wars with the Spaniards, with the Puelches and with each other, have greatly diminished their numbers; but they have been still more diminished by the havoc which has been made among them by brandy, that curse of the American Indians, for which they have often been known to sell their wives and children, and to engage in savage scenes of civil bloodshed, entailing wide and endless deadly feuds. The small-pox has nearly completed the work of war and drunkenness, and when Falkner left the country they could hardly muster four thousand men among them all.

[Footnote 121: This account differs essentially from the history we have just given from the writings of Molina, an intelligent native of Chili, which cannot be repeated in the short compass of a note.--E.]

The Huilliches possess the country from Valdivia to the Straits of Magellan. They are divided into four tribes, who are improperly classed together as one nation, since three of them are evidently of a different race from the fourth. That branch which reaches to the sea of Chiloé and beyond the lake of Nahuelhuaupi speaks the general language of Chili, differing only from the Pehuenches and Picunches in pronunciation. The others speak a mixed language, composed of the Moluche and Tehuel tongue, which latter is the Patagon; and these tribes, from their great stature, are evidently of Patagonian origin. Collectively these three tribes are called the Vuta-Huilliches, or great southern-people; separately they are named Chonos, Poy-yes, and Key-yes. The Chonos inhabit the archipelago of Chili, and the adjoining shores of the continent. The Poy-yes or Peyes possess the coast from lat. 48° to something more than 51° S. The Key-yes or Keyes extend from thence to the Straits of Magellan. The Moluches maintain some flocks of sheep, principally for the sake of their wool, and cultivate a small quantity of corn.

The Puelches or eastern people, which name they receive from the natives of Chili, are bounded on the west by the Moluches, on the south by the Straits of Magellan, on the east by the sea, and on the north by the Spaniards. They are subdivided into four tribes, the Taluhets, Diuihets, Chechehets, and Tehuelhets. The _first_ of these or _Taluhets,_ are a wandering race who prowl over the country, from the eastern side of the first _desaguadero_ as far as the lakes of Guanacache in the jurisdiction of San Juan and San Luiz de la Punta. Some of them are also to be found in the jurisdiction of Cordova, on the rivers Segundo Terzo and Quarto. When the Jesuits were expelled from the missions, this tribe could scarcely raise two hundred fighting men, and even in conjunction with all their allies not above five hundred. The _second_ of these tribes, called the _Diuihets,_ is, also a wandering race, which borders westwardly on the Pehuenches, between the latitudes of 35° and 38° S. They extend along the rivers Sanguel Colorado and Hueyque, and nearly to the Casuhati on the east. This nation and that of the Taluhets are collectively called Pampas by the Spaniards, whose settlements in Tacuman and on the southern shore of the La Plata they have always infested, and sometimes even endangered. The _third_ tribe of the Puelches is named the Chechehets, or eastern-people. The country which they chiefly frequent is situated between the rivers Hueyque and the first desaguadero or Rio Colorado, and from thence to the second desaguadero or Rio Negro. They are a tall and stout wandering race resembling the Patagonians, but speak a quite different language. Their dispositions are friendly and inoffensive, but they are a bold and active enemy when provoked. They are now reduced to a small number by the ravages of the small-pox. The fourth race, called the _Tehuelhets,_ or in their own language the Tehuel-kunnees or southern-men, are the real Patagonians. These are again subdivided into many tribes, all of which and the Chechehets also are called _Serranos_ or mountaineers by the Spaniards. The _Leuvuches,_ who seem to be the head tribe of all the Serranos, live on the Rio Negro. They speak the same language with the Chechehets, but with a small mixture of the Tehuel. This tribe used to keep on good terms with the Spaniards, that they might hunt in security in the pampas or immense plains of Buenos Ayres. About the year 1740, however, they were provoked to war by a most wanton and treacherous attack, and Buenos Ayres would in all probability have been destroyed, had not these injured people been appeased by the Jesuit missionaries. The Tehuelhets are more numerous than all the other tribes of these parts together, and are the perpetual enemies of the Moluches who are so terrible to the Spaniards, whom they would have long since destroyed if they had been equally well supplied with horses.

To the south of these are the Chulilau-Kunnees, and the Sehuan-Kunnees, who are the most southerly of the equestrian tribes. The country beyond them, all the way to the Straits of Magellan, is possessed by the last of the Tehuel tribes, called Yacana-Kunnees or foot-people, as they have no horses. These are an inoffensive race, who are very swift runners, and subsist mostly on fish. The other Tehuelhets and the Huilliches sometimes attack this tribe for the purpose of making slaves of the prisoners. The ordinary stature of all the Tehuel tribes is from six to seven feet. None of the Puelches either keep sheep or cultivate the ground, but depend altogether on hunting, for which purpose they keep a great number of dogs.

The belief in an infinite number of spirits, good and evil, is common to all the native tribes south of the Rio Plata. From the north of that river to the Orinoco a different language prevails, accompanied by a different form of superstition The Puelches do not appear to acknowledge any of those numerous spirits as supreme over the rest. The Taluhets and Diuihets call a good spirit _Soychu,_ or he who presides in the land of strong drink. The Tehuelhets call an evil spirit Atskanna Kanatz, the other Puelches denominate the same being Valichu. Huecuvu must be another name for the evil spirit; as the Chechehets give the name of Huecuvu-mapu or the devils-country to a great sandy desert, into which they never venture lest they should be overwhelmed.

Among the northern Indians, each cast or small tribe is distinguished by the name of some animal; as the tribe of the tyger, the lion, the guanaco, the ostrich, and the like. They believe that each tribe had its own particular creator, who resided in some huge cavern under a lake or bill, to which all of that tribe will go after death, to enjoy the felicity of eternal inebriation. These good creative spirits, according to their opinion, having first created the world, made the different races of men and animals, each in their respective cave. To the Indians, they gave the spear, the bow and arrow, and the _lague_ or ball and thong: to the Spaniards fire arms. Animals they allege were likewise created in these subterranean abodes of the spirits, such as were nimblest coming first out. When bulls and cows were coming out last of all, the Indians were frightened at the sight of their horns, and stopped up the mouth of their cavern; but the Spaniards were wiser and let them out. Thus they explain the reason why they had no cattle till after the coming of the Spaniards. In. their opinion, all the animals who have been created in these hidden caverns have not yet emerged. They attribute all the misfortunes or diseases which happen to men or animals to the agency of the evil spirits, who are continually wandering about the world in search of mischief. Their priests or jugglers rather, are each supposed to be attended by two familiar evil spirits, to whom the souls of these jugglers are associated after death, and with whom they go about to do mischief. The jugglers are of both sexes; but it seems as if it were thought an occupation beneath the dignity of a man, as the male wizards are compelled to dress like women and are not permitted to marry. The female jugglers are under no such restriction. They are generally chosen while children to be initiated in the mysteries of this profession, from among those who are most effeminate, and such as happen to be subject to epilepsy or St Vitus' dance are considered as especially marked out for the service of the jugglers. It is a very dangerous profession, as these jugglers are frequently put to death when any calamity happens to befal either the chiefs or the people.

No ceremonies are performed in honour of the good spirits. That which is addressed to the evil ones is performed in the following manner. The assistants assemble in the hut or tent of the wizard, who is concealed in a corner of the tent, where he has a drum, one or two round calabashes with a few small sea shells in them to make a noise, like the _maraca_ or rattle of the Brazilian sorcerers, and some square bags of painted hide in which he keeps his spells. He begins the ceremony by making a strange noise with his drum and rattle, after which he feigns to fall into a fit, which is supposed to be occasioned by a struggle with the evil spirit who then enters into him. During this fit, he keeps his eye-lids lifted up, distorts his features, foams at the mouth, seems to dislocate his joints, and after many violent and unnatural motions remains stiff and motionless, like a person in a fit of epilepsy. After some time he comes to himself, as if having gained the victory over the evil spirit. He next causes a faint shrill mournful voice to be heard within his tabernacle, as of the evil spirit, who is supposed to acknowledge himself vanquished; after which the wizard, from a kind of tripod, answers all questions that are put to him. It is of little consequence whether these answers turn out true or false, as on all sinister events the fault is laid on the spirit. On these conjuring occasions, the juggler is well paid by those who consult the destinies.

These southern nations make skeletons of their dead, as is done likewise by the native tribes on the Orinoco; but it is singular that this practice does not prevail among the intermediate tribes, that inhabit between the Maranon and Rio Plata. On such occasions, one of the most distinguished women of the tribe performs the ceremony of dissection. The entrails are burnt, and the bones, after the flesh has been cut off as clean as possible, are buried till the remaining fibres decay. This is the custom of the Molnuches and Pampas, but the Serranos place the bones on a high frame-work of canes or twigs to bleach in the sun and rain. While the dissector is at work on the skeleton, the Indians walk incessantly round the tent, having their faces blackened with soot, dressed in long skin mantles, singing in a mournful voice, and striking the ground with their long spears, to drive away the evil spirits. Some go to condole with the widow and relations of the dead, if these are wealthy enough to reward them for their mourning with bells, beads, and other trinkets; as their customary condolence is not of a nature to be offered gratuitously, for they prick their arms and legs with thorns, and feel pain at least if not sorrow. The horses belonging to the deceased are slain, that he may ride upon them in the _alhue-mapu,_ or country of the dead; but a few of these are reserved to carry his bones to the place of sepulchre, which is done in grand ceremony within a year after his death. They are then packed up in a hide, and laid on the favourite horse of the deceased, which is adorned with mantles, feathers, and other ornaments and trinkets. In this manner the cavalcade moves to the family burial-place, often three hundred leagues from the place of death, so wide and distant are their wanderings in the boundless plains to the south of the Rio Plata.

The Moluches and Pampas bury in large square pits about six feet deep, the bones being first accurately put into their proper places and tied together, clothed in the best robes of the deceased, and ornamented with beads and feathers, all of which are cleaned or changed once a-year. These skeletons are placed in a sitting posture in a row, with all the weapons and other valuables belong to each laid beside him. The pit is then covered over with beams or twigs, on which the earth is spread. An old matron of each tribe is appointed to the care of these sepulchres, who has to open them once a-year, to clean and new clothe the skeletons, for which service she is held in great estimation. The bodies of the slain horses are placed round the sepulchre, raised on their feet and supported by stakes. These sepulchres are generally at a small distance from the ordinary habitations of the tribe. Every year they pour upon them some bowls of their first made _chica,_ or fermented liquor, and drink to the happiness of the dead. The Tehuelhets and other southern tribes carry their dead to a great distance from their ordinary dwellings, into the desert near the sea-coast, where they arrange them above ground surrounded by their horses. It is probable that only those Indians who carry their dead to considerable distances reduce them to skeletons, from the following circumstance. In the voyage of discovery made in 1746 in the St Antonio from Buenos Ayres to the Straits of Magellan, the Jesuits who accompanied the expedition found one of these tents or houses of the dead. On one side six banners of cloth of various colours, each about half a yard square, were set up on high poles fixed in the ground; and on the other side five dead horses stuffed with straw and supported, on stakes. Within the house, there were two _ponchos_ extended, on which lay the bodies of two men and a woman, having the flesh and hair still remaining. On the top of the house was another _poncho,_ rolled up and tied with a coloured woolen band, in which a pole was fixed, from which eight tassels of wool were suspended.

Widows are obliged to observe a long and rigorous mourning. During a whole year after the death of their husbands, they must keep themselves secluded in the tents, never going out except on the most necessary avocations, and having no communication with any one. In all this time, they must abstain from eating the flesh of horses, cows, ostriches, or guanacos, must never wash their faces which are constantly smeared with soot, and any breach of chastity during this year of mourning is punished with the death of both parties by the relations of the husband.

The office of _ya,_ or chief, is hereditary, and all the sons of a ya may be chiefs likewise if they can procure followers; but the dignity is of so little consequence that nobody almost covets the office. To him belongs the office of protecting his followers, of composing differences, and of delivering up any offender who is to be capitally punished; in all which, cases his will is the sole law. These petty despots are prone to bribery, and will readily sacrifice their vassals and even their kindred for a good bribe. They are esteemed in proportion to their eloquence, and any chief who is not himself eloquent employs an orator to harangue the tribe in his place. When two or more tribes form an alliance against a common enemy, they elect an _apo,_ or commander-in-chief, from the ablest or most celebrated of the _yas,_ or hereditary chiefs. But this office, though nominally elective, has been long hereditary among the southern tribes in the family of Cangapol. The hereditary chiefs, named _yas, elmens_, or _ulmens,_ have no power to take any thing from their vassals, neither can they oblige them to perform any work without payment. On the contrary they must treat them kindly and relieve their wants, or their vassals will put themselves under the protection of a more generous chief. Many of them therefore wave the privilege of their birth, and decline having any vassals, because they are expensive appendages, which yield little profit. But every-one must attach themselves to some chief, or they would undoubtedly be put to death or reduced to slavery.

Every man buys his wife from her relations, with or without her consent, and then takes possession of her as his property. But if the woman happens to have fixed her affections on another, she contrives to wear out the patience of her purchaser, who either turns her away or sells her to the man of her choice, but seldom uses her ill. Widows, and orphan girls are at their own disposal. The yas or ulmens have generally two or three wives; and even the common people may have as many as they please, but wives are dear and they are generally contented with one. The lives of the women are one continued series of labour. They fetch wood and water; dress the victuals; make, mend, and clean the tents; cure the skins; make them into mantles; spin and manufacture ponchos; pack up every thing for a journey, even the tent poles; load, unload, and arrange the baggage; straiten the girths of the horses; carry the lance before their husbands; and at the end of the journey set up the tents. Sickness or even the most advanced pregnancy give no relief from these labours, and it would be reckoned ignominious in the husbands to give them any assistance. The women of noble families may have slaves to relieve them of these labours; but when in want of these, must undergo the same fatigues as the rest. Yet the tribes of the southern extremity of America are not brutal to their women like those in the north, and the marriages only endure during pleasure, though those who have children seldom separate. The husband invariably protects his wife, even when in the wrong; and if detected in any criminal intercourse, all his anger falls upon the paramour, who is cruelly beaten, unless he can atone for the injury by payment. Their jugglers sometimes persuade them to send their wives into the woods, to prostitute themselves to the first person they meet, which is obviously a device for consoling themselves from the celibacy to which they are condemned. The husbands readily obey these directions; but there are women in whom native modesty overpowers superstition, who refuse obedience to their husbands on such occasions, and bid defiance to the wizard.

The dresses of all these tribes are formed of skins; but all except the _serranos_ or mountaineers, weave mantles or ponchos of woollen yarn, beautifully died of various colours, which when wrapped round the body reach from the neck to the calf of the legs. A similar mantle is tied round the waist and reaches to the ankles. Besides these they have a three-cornered piece of dressed hide, of which two of the corners are tied round the waist, and the third, being passed between the legs is fastened behind. The hair is tied up from behind with the points upwards, by means of a woollen band bound many times round the head; but they are fond of wearing hats when they can get them from the Spaniards. They paint their faces red or black, and wear necklaces and bracelets of sky-blue beads. When on horseback they wear a particular kind of cloaks, having a slit in the middle through which they put their heads, and the skirts hang down to the knees or even sometimes to the feet. Their stockings or boots consist of the skin of a horses thigh and leg, flayed off whole, dried and softened with grease, and rendered supple by wringing. The women wear straw hats in shape like those used by the Chinese. Their defensive armour consists of a helmet of double bulls hide shaped like a broad-brimmed hat; a tunic or bodice of hardened skin three or four fold, which is very heavy, but effectually resists the arrow and spear, and is even said to be musquet proof. When on foot, they have likewise a large unwieldy shield of bulls hide. The Tehuelhets and Huilliches sometimes poison their arrows. Their spears are of cane, four or five yards long, and are pointed with iron; and they use swords when they can procure them from the Spaniards. They use the _laqui_ both in war and hunting; but that used in war has a ball, or weight fastened to one or both ends of the leathern thong instead of a noose. The ball weighs about a pound. When used single, or with only one ball, it is aimed at the head of the enemy, to knock out his brains. With the double _laqui_, having a ball at each end, they can fasten a man to his horse, and effectually entangle both man and beast.

END OF THE HISTORY OF CHILI.

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