Chapter XXVIII: 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 Maule, 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 Chiloe, 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 deg. 30' S. and long. 73 deg. 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.