An agreeable surprise now awaited Pizarro in the arrival of Manco, the brother of Huascar, and who was the rightful heir to the Peruvian crown. No event could have happened better suited to the Spanish interests. The prince’s petition for protection was at once accorded, and he accompanied the invaders to Cuzco, which city was entered on the 15th of November. It had already been to a considerable extent denuded of its treasures, which had gone to form part of the ransom of Atahualpa, but it still formed a prize well worth the grasping, containing as it did, together with its suburbs, some five-and-twenty thousand houses. Cuzco was a populous, well-built and well-regulated city, with houses of stone, wholly or in part, and with long, regular streets, crossing one another at right angles, and meeting in the great square, which through them communicated with the high-roads of the empire. Through the capital ran a river of pure water, the banks of which for twenty leagues were faced with stone, and which was crossed at intervals by bridges.

Here, as usual, almost the first care of the Spaniards, after their arrival, was to collect the treasure, which was computed to amount to about six hundred pesos of gold and two hundred and fifteen marks of silver. Pizarro’s next object was to set up a civil government, and with this view the young Inca was crowned, with the formalities which would have been observed had he really been destined to power, whilst at the same time Spanish alcaldes and regidores were appointed, two of the latter being Pizarro’s brothers. But all was not tranquil in Peru, and Almagro had soon to take the field to reduce one of the two generals of the late Inca, who, when defeated by him on this occasion, retreated to Quito, where he defied the Spaniards until he was assassinated by his troops. Soon afterwards Pizarro had the good fortune to purchase from the governor of Guatemala, for the consideration of a hundred thousand gold pieces, a fleet of twelve vessels, great and small, with forces, stores and ammunition.

Peru was now, in all seeming, conquered, and the governor’s next concern was to select a suitable situation for the future capital of this vast colony. After much consideration, he decided on a spot about six miles from the mouth of the river Rimac, almost in the latitude of Cuzco, and on which, with wonderful rapidity, arose the beautiful city of Lima. Pizarro was now somewhat advanced in years, and the development of the new city in its delightful situation formed the immediate interest of the remainder of his life, he throwing into this object the same vigour by which he had been ever distinguished in exploration or in war.

It will be remembered that Pizarro’s elder brother, Hernando, had been despatched to Spain to announce the progress of his countrymen and the capture of the Inca. He was graciously received by the emperor, who manifested great interest as well in the fabrics and other products which he had brought with him as in the gold and silver, for which he had more immediate occasion. The adventurers who had returned with him had likewise such a tale to tell that he was at no loss for volunteers to return with him to Peru. He likewise brought back for his brother a patent for the rank of marquis, with the permission to extend his government seventy leagues to the south; and for Almagro the permission to discover and occupy the country for two hundred leagues still further, he himself having been named a knight of St. Iago. It so happened that no one could tell at this time the exact latitude of Cuzco, and consequently it was an open point whether it fell within the dominions allotted to Pizarro or within the grant of Almagro, a point which was not long in producing civil war amongst the conquerors. This was, however, for a time deferred, and Almagro consented to set out for the conquest of Chili.

Notwithstanding occasional hostile encounters at different points, the success of the Spaniards had been so uniform that almost the last occurrence which they looked for was a general rising of the inhabitants of Peru. They were, consequently, correspondingly astonished when, the Inca Manco having made his escape from Cuzco, his subjects rose at his orders as one man to resist the Spanish yoke and, if possible, to exterminate the invaders. In all directions the Spaniards were assailed, and many of them, who, in full belief of their security, had settled upon isolated properties throughout the country, were without difficulty cut off by the natives. But their grand effort was directed to the reduction of Cuzco, where the Spaniards under Hernando Pizarro were besieged for months. Although the numbers of the latter did not exceed two hundred besides a thousand native auxiliaries, they had, in the course of the siege, to undergo the trials of famine; besides which they were to be deemed fortunate in that they were not enveloped in the flames to which the city was consigned by the stratagem of the besiegers. They were reduced to terrible straits, and being cut off from all communication from outside the walls, were alike without the hope of succour and the knowledge of a place of refuge. Pizarro indeed had sent no fewer than four expeditions to their assistance, but these had been either repulsed or annihilated.

From this desperate position they were at length relieved by the necessities of the besiegers. It was now the month of August—six months from the commencement of the siege,—and the Inca Manco, whose multitudinous host was already straitened for provisions, saw that if his followers should not return to their fields at the sowing season, a famine would be the result. He accordingly gave orders that the greater part of his troops should return to their homes, to re-assemble when their agricultural labours were over. This measure, which was perhaps necessary for the Peruvians, was to the Spaniards a reprieve from death. With energy sharpened by apprehension and hunger, their foraging parties now scoured the neighbourhood for provisions, and, with the buoyancy naturally following such depression and long inaction, Hernando Pizarro was not slow in assuming the offensive. He even made a bold attempt, by a vigorous attack in the dead of night, to secure the Inca’s person. This was defeated, and he was pursued by the Peruvians to before the walls of Cuzco; but with the necessity which compelled him to order his warriors to exchange their swords for the ploughshare, the Inca lost the latest hope which remained to his countrymen of expelling the Spanish invaders.

Almagro’s march, undertaken with the object of taking possession of his future government of Chili, was of the most arduous that could be conceived. The cold which he and his men encountered in the passes of the Andes was intense, whilst the straits to which both Spaniards and their attendant Indians were reduced by hunger were so great that the former were glad of the carcases of the horses which fell victims to the climate, whilst the latter were forced to feed on the bodies of their comrades who fell. The accounts, too, received from the exploring expedition which had been sent on in advance, held out no immediate prospect of plunder; so that under these circumstances it was not difficult for his advisers to persuade Almagro to retrace his way to Cuzco. With the remembrance of his recent passage through the mountain defiles, he this time determined to follow the coast; but he had avoided one set of difficulties to encounter another, perhaps as great, for his route led across the great desert of Atacama. On reaching the town of Arequipa, Almagro learned for the first time the revolt of the Peruvians, and he was so fortunate, whilst on his way to Cuzco, as to inflict on the Inca a final defeat.

But before he could obtain possession of that city he had to encounter yet another foe. It was too important a prize to be yielded up without a struggle. Negotiations, it is true, took place between Almagro and the brothers of Pizarro who were in command; but in the end recourse was had to arms, with the result that the former remained master of the city of the Incas, whilst Hernando Pizarro and his brother were his prisoners.

These successes of Almagro did not fail to rouse the jealousy of Pizarro, but in the end mediation between them was listened to, and Hernando was liberated on a solemn agreement that there should be no more strife between them. Scarcely, however, had Hernando reached his brother’s camp than they at once set on foot a hostile expedition against Almagro, of which Hernando Pizarro was to take command. Almagro was too weak to place himself at the head of his own troops, the command of whom he deputed to Orgoñez. A fierce engagement took place between them and those of his rival within sight of Cuzco. Pizarro was victorious, and after the battle, in which Orgoñez, after performing prodigies of valour, fell, Almagro himself became a prisoner. He had injured too deeply the pride of Hernando Pizarro to be forgiven; the same farce of a mock trial which had been played in the case of Atahualpa now took place upon Pizarro’s confederate. The trial was a waste of time, as the sentence was a foregone conclusion, and the veteran Almagro had to submit to the same traitor’s death which had been inflicted on the Inca. But he was not to be unavenged. His position had been too prominent to make it possible that the circumstances of his fate should escape inquiry, and Hernando Pizarro, who took an abrupt departure for Spain, where his riches might avail him, had to undergo an imprisonment of twenty years.

The civil war which had occurred in Peru drew the attention of the Spanish Government to that country, and a member of the Royal Audience of Valladolid was sent out in the capacity of a royal judge, holding certain co-ordinate powers with Pizarro, and with a warrant to assume the government in the case of his death. He reached Peru at the close of 1541. The affairs of the colony urgently demanded his presence, for the Inca Manco meanwhile kept up a desultory war from the fastnesses of the Cordilleras, from which the Spaniards found it impossible to dislodge him, whilst the natives throughout the country, seeing the Spaniards engaged in war amongst themselves, were more unsettled than ever. The governor now attempted to remedy this state of things by establishing provincial settlements. One of these sprang up at Guamanga and another in the mining district of Charcas, called the Villa de la Plata, whilst the city of Arequipa was founded by the sea. Pizarro continued to display his wonted energy as a governor, encouraging commerce with the colonies north of Peru, and facilitating measures for internal intercourse. Husbandry was stimulated by the importation of European grains, which he had the satisfaction to see thrive in a country whose soil and climate were so productive and varied. But the chief object of attention was the development of the mines, the produce of which very soon attracted European immigrants in numbers. Their arrival enabled Pizarro to send out two important expeditions in opposite directions—the one to Chili under Valdivia, the other under his brother Gonzalo, from his government of Quito, which region had been conquered by Benalcazar, towards the unknown country to the east. The latter expedition was destined to lead to results which those who sent it out were far from foreseeing.

Gonzalo Pizarro proceeded on his mission with ardour, and in a short time mustered three hundred and fifty Spaniards and four thousand Indians, one hundred and fifty of the former being mounted. At the commencement few difficulties presented themselves, but they had no sooner become involved in the ranges of the Andes than dearth, hunger, intense cold, and hardships and incessant toil awaited them at every stage. As they descended the eastern slopes the cold of the mountains was exchanged for tropical heat and a deluge of tropical rains. Some months of this depressing labour brought them at length to the land of cinnamon-trees (Canelas), of which they were in search. The precious bark lay before them covering forests of trees; but in the absence of the means of transport it was useless. They were lured onwards by fabulous accounts of a land of gold before them; but the rumours proved illusive, and they found themselves at every step still further entangled in primeval forests of stupendous growth, the exuberance of the vegetation being such as to defy the imagination of any but those who have witnessed it. Their condition was now pitiable in the extreme. Their provisions and livestock were consumed, and they were reduced to feed upon the carcases of the thousand dogs which they had brought with them, many of them destined for hunting the natives. When this source of food too was gone, they had to content themselves with such herbs and roots as the forest afforded.

If anything can mitigate the horror with which we look on the cruelties exercised by the Spanish conquerors of America, it is the fact that if they never spared others, they were equally unsparing of themselves. They shrank from no exposure, fatigue, or danger, and were as enterprising as they were remorseless.

Gonzalo Pizarro, setting out once more from a valley where he had halted, came to a deep river, the Napo, which it was necessary for him to cross. Its narrowest breadth was twenty feet, and the banks were precipitous, and some two hundred fathoms in height. His men succeeded in laying a beam across, and in traversing this bridge of Al Sirath, one soldier fell into the hell beneath. The others proceeded, through marshes and by swamps and lakes, until their provisions were expended. On the river’s banks they determined to construct a raft which might support the sick and convey the whole party from the one bank to the other as occasion might seem to render prudent. The bits and stirrups of the horses’ harness supplied nails for the raft; the forest furnished gum in place of pitch, and the garments of the soldiers were used instead of oakum. The vessel thus constructed conveyed the sick and the stores, while the main body of the expedition followed on foot the course of the stream, through thickets, caves, plantations, and inundated fields. Gonzalo Pizarro would have belied his name had he not strewed his track with mementoes of his cruelty. Whether or not the chiefs of the tribes by which he passed received him well, their inevitable fate was to be carried along with him, although he observed a distinction between such as had given him a friendly welcome and such as had not, by placing only the latter in chains. But one day these caciques—the chained as well as the unchained—took the opportunity of leaping into the river, thinking the risk of death preferable to the tender mercies of a Pizarro. By this time more than one thousand Peruvians of the party had perished, and as by the native accounts they were not more than eighty leagues from the junction between the stream and a great river, Orellana was ordered to proceed in the vessel to the point of meeting, taking with him fifty men. In the course of three days Orellana reached the point where the Coca joins the Napo, where, finding no provisions, he urged upon his men the necessity of proceeding down the river, leaving Pizarro to his fate. A youthful knight of Badajoz, whose chivalrous ideas revolted against this act of treachery, was left alone by the water’s side, to subsist as best he might until the arrival of Pizarro.

On the last day of the year 1541 this voyage was commenced, and to such straits were the explorers reduced ere it ended, that they had recourse to boiling their leathern girdles and their shoes, to eat with the herbs upon which they had to subsist. At length the sound of a drum was heard, and four canoes were seen, when Orellana, landing his men, attacked the Indians with the impetuosity of wolves. The plunder of their property supplied the explorers for the present with food, and a further stock was obtained for the voyage. By means of an Indian language some verbal intercourse took place between Orellana and his hosts, and from this arose the name by which the river they were descending was destined to be ever afterwards known. Further down the stream—so the Indians said—there was a country inhabited by a tribe of female warriors. The Spaniards made themselves another boat and descended the river, passing by the mouths of numerous affluents and through the territories of many caciques. They landed at several places, and formally took possession of them for their monarch. They had at length to fight a battle, in which, it was affirmed, ten or twelve females took part. These women, of whom, according to the priest of the explorers, the Spaniards slew seven or eight, were tall and well formed; they were of fair complexion; they wore but a girdle; and they fought with desperation.

This voyage extended until the 26th of August 1542, when the triumphant Spaniards emerged at the mouth of the river, and courageously committed their frail barques to the currents and waves of the sea. Steering northwards, they desired to reach the island of Cubagua. The newly discovered river was at first named after Orellana, but soon afterwards took its enduring name from the real or imaginary female warriors,—“The Amazons.”

To return to Gonzalo Pizarro: After in vain awaiting during several miserable weeks the return of Orellana, Gonzalo determined to set out on the same journey by land; but two months were expended in toiling through the forest ere they reached the spot of the junction of the Napo with the Coca, which distance had been accomplished by Orellana by water in three days. There they found Vargas, who had been set on shore, and from him they learned that they had been deserted by their comrades. Their situation was now indeed deplorable, but they did not give way to despair, and after a toilsome return march, which occupied more than a year, a portion of the wayworn band arrived again at Quito. Their absence had extended over two years and a half. Their horses were no more; their clothing was replaced by the skins of wild animals; and they themselves from civilized beings had become transformed into wild men of the woods, with wasted frames, blackened faces, and tangled locks. Of the four thousand Indians who had accompanied them, one-half of the number alone returned, whilst the three hundred and fifty Spaniards were now represented by eighty.

There is but one more event to be recorded in order to complete this sketch of the origin of Spanish Peru. Among men of such hot blood and of such lawless manners as were the conquerors, it was scarcely probable that the followers of Almagro would await tamely whatever retribution for his death might be exacted in Spain; and in order that Almagro’s youthful son might be the more harmless, he was deprived by Pizarro in great part of his property, and likewise of the government of Chili. A conspiracy against the life of the marquis was the result, and the news of an appointment of a colleague with Pizarro in the government gave confidence to his enemies. The arrival of this officer being delayed by severe weather, the conspirators resolved no longer to await for public justice, but to take the law into their own hands. A band of eighteen formed themselves into a committee for its execution. They attacked Pizarro in his palace, and, after a desperate defence on his part and on that of the friends who surrounded him, consigned him to the fate which formed the appropriate close of his stormy career.

CHAPTER VIII.

CHILI.

1535-1550.

According to the author above quoted, the Chilians at the date of the Spaniards’ arrival were by no means so rude in manners as is usually supposed. They had long since passed from the state of the hunter, which is that of the Patagonian of to-day, to the more advanced state of the shepherd. This second stage in civilization, too, they had surmounted, and were now a race of husbandmen; they had not attained to the more advanced condition of merchants. In a country where game was not abundant, and where domestic animals were likewise rare, the transition to the condition of cultivators of the soil was probably of necessity rapid. It will be remembered that when Hernando Pizarro proceeded to Spain after the capture of the Inca Atahualpa, the territory for two hundred leagues to the south of his brother’s government had been assigned to Almagro, who had undertaken the march across the Andes to Chili.

When the difficulties of this terrible passage had been surmounted, Almagro and his men found themselves in a country supplied with abundance of provisions. The Chilians in fact, we are told, possessed maize, pulse of various kinds, the potato, the pumpkin, the pepper plant, the strawberry, and numerous other elements of vegetable food. Of animals they possessed the rabbit and the Araucanian camel, and, as tradition relates, the hog and the domestic fowl. The country may be assumed to have been well peopled, from the fact that one language prevailed throughout it, rather than the various dialects of several separate tribes. It possessed, in many parts, skilfully constructed aqueducts for watering the fields. Of these one remains in the vicinity of the capital, remarkable alike for its extent and solidity. The Chilians ate their grain cooked, either using earthen pots for the purpose of cooking it, or roasting it in hot sand. They likewise made of it two distinct kinds of meal,—the parched, which was used for gruel; and the raw, from which bread and cakes were baked in small holes formed like ovens. They made use of a kind of sieve, and they were so far civilized as to employ leaven. They were also in possession of several kinds of spirituous liquors derived from grain or berries.

The Chilians, having adopted a settled mode of life, collected themselves into families in the districts best adapted for agriculture, where they established themselves in large villages. These settlements consisted of a number of huts irregularly distributed. In each village there was a chief called Ulmen, subject to the supreme ruler of the tribe. This dignity was hereditary, which argues a certain antiquity and likewise a peaceful rather than a warlike mode of living, since in the latter state military ascendancy is apt to overrule the hereditary principle. The right of private property was fully recognized. Each man was absolute proprietor of the field which he cultivated and of the product of his industry, which he could transmit to his children. The houses, which were quadrangular and roofed with rushes, were enclosed by walls of wood plastered with clay, and sometimes with walls of bricks, the art of making which they had acquired from Peru. From the wool of the camel they manufactured cloth for garments, using the distaff and spindle. They were familiar with the use of the needle, and were so far advanced in taste as to admire embroidery.

The clay of the country lent itself to arts of another description,—to the production of plates, cups, jars, &c., for varnishing which a certain mineral earth was employed. The Chilians likewise possessed vessels of hard wood and of marble. The earth yielded gold, silver, copper, tin, and lead. From their bell-metal they constructed axes, hatchets, and other edged tools; and they alone of all the races or nations of America possessed a word for iron, although it is to be added that no iron implements have as yet been discovered in Chili. The natives likewise were familiar with the art of extracting salt. They possessed dyes of all colours, not only from plants but likewise from minerals; whilst in lieu of soap they employed the bark of the quillai, and obtained oil from the seeds of the madi. From various vegetables they manufactured baskets and mats, and from others thread for ropes and fishing-nets. In fishing they employed baskets and hooks, and on the sea-coast used floats of wood or of inflated seal-skins.

Hunting was to them, as to us, an amusement. In this pursuit they employed the arrow, the sling, and the noose, together with snares of several kinds. It is a singular fact that two races, living so far apart as those inhabiting China and Chili, should have employed the same artifice for entrapping wild-fowl on the water, namely, for a man to glide amongst them, his head being concealed in a perforated gourd. They were familiar with the use of numbers, their language possessing the words signifying ten, a hundred, and a thousand respectively, and, like that of the Romans, stopping at that number. Their transactions were noted by skeins of thread of various colours, with a number of knots. They had not attained to the art of writing, although their language contains a word signifying to sketch or to paint. In the latter art, however, they were exceedingly primitive. But their chief progress was in the sciences of physic and astronomy. Such was the people who had been handed over by Charles V. to the tender mercies of Almagro and his followers, whose presence came on them and their promising civilization as the frost on the blossoms of spring.

The history of Chili, in so far as the connection of that country with Europe is concerned, begins at the close of the year 1535, when Almagro set out from Peru with a force composed of five hundred and seventy Spaniards and some fifteen thousand Peruvians, the latter being under the command of the brother of the Inca Manco. His march has been already briefly described in the preceding chapter. His army, after many conflicts with the natives, became entangled in the Cordilleras at the beginning of winter, being destitute of provisions and ill-supplied with clothing. The few mountain paths were obliterated by the snow. With their accustomed intrepidity, the Spaniards surmounted the perilous heights; but a hundred and fifty of their number, and, it is said, some ten thousand Peruvians, perished from the cold. It is, indeed, computed that none would have escaped but for the energy of Almagro, who, pushing on with a few horsemen, sent back to his followers a timely supply of provisions, which he found in abundance at Copiapo. The survivors of his army reached the plains of that fertile province, where they were well received by the inhabitants.

The Inca’s brother, Paullu, who seems to have had the Spaniards’ interests at heart as being identical with his own, was the first to point out to them the importance of their conquest. He obliged the peasants to deliver up to him all the gold in their possession, by which means he collected a sum equivalent to 500,000 ducats, which he presented to Almagro. The Spanish leader, imagining he had another Peru before him, made over this sum to his followers. He was naturally of a generous disposition, and has been lauded for his action on this occasion;[L] but if we reflect on the source from which his largesse sprung, we are reminded of the old saying respecting generosity at the expense of others. As, in addition to the plunder with which he was already gorged, he had the prospect of ample riches before him, his conduct may be compared to that of the chief of a foreign force which we may imagine to be in possession of London, and who, having shared in the spoil of the Bank of England, should liberally make over the treasure at Messrs. Coutts’ to his followers, with the intention of emptying the tills of Messrs. Drummond’s and other banks into their own coffers.

At Copiapo Almagro imitated the conduct of Pizarro in Peru in assuming the office of umpire between contending native authorities. The reigning Ulmen, it appears, had usurped the government of his nephew. Shocked at this instance of high-handed conduct, the worthy Spanish freebooter caused the guilty chief to be arrested; and the natives were simple enough to impute the re-settlement of their hereditary ruler to a sense of abstract justice on the part of the heaven-sent newcomer. Almagro’s followers soon recovered from their fatigues amongst the beautiful villages of Copiapo, and being strengthened by reinforcements brought up by Orgoñez, were soon in a condition to resume their march towards the south. Meanwhile an incident occurred which showed the confiding people that there were two sides to the character of the liberal and just Almagro.

Two soldiers having left the army had proceeded to Goasco, where they were at first well received by the inhabitants, but where they afterwards met their death, which they had in all probability provoked, if they had not richly deserved it. Their fate, however, showed the Chilians that the invaders were mortal, and therefore caused concern to the latter’s chief. Almagro, on learning it, proceeded to Coquimbo, where he summoned before him the Ulmen of the district, as well as his brother and twenty of the principal inhabitants, and the ex-usurping Ulmen of Copiapo. It was no doubt right and reasonable on his part to institute an inquiry into the circumstances attending the death of his two soldiers, and no one could blame him for exacting due punishment on any persons who should be shown to have deserved it in the matter; but it would be hopeless to look for any considerations of justice in one so above all law as Almagro. The twenty-three innocent men, who had had nothing whatsoever to do with the soldiers’ death, were one and all committed to the flames. Such was the Chilians’ first experience of the gratitude of their Christian invaders for the hospitable reception they had met with. It is right to add that the greater part of his army openly disapproved of this savage proceeding on the part of their chief Almagro, who in his subsequent fate must be held to be beyond the pale of sympathy.

In 1537 Almagro received a further reinforcement under Juan de Rada, and he was at the same time urged by letters from his friends in Peru to return to that country and to take possession of Cuzco. He, however, pursued his march and passed the river Cachapoal, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his Peruvian followers, who dreaded to enter the country of the warlike Promaucians. As usually happened, the aspect of the Spaniards, with their horses and firearms, struck terror into their opponents. These, however, recovering from their surprise, regained at the same time their wonted intrepidity. A battle took place on the Rio-Claro. The Peruvians, who were in the front, were soon routed; and although the Spaniards, after a furious struggle, which lasted until nightfall, remained masters of the field, the enemy were in no degree dismayed. They were prepared to renew the attack next morning; but the Spaniards had had enough of fighting for the present, and resolved by common consent to retreat rather than face a campaign before so warlike a people. A portion of Almagro’s force would have formed a settlement in northern Chili; but it was their leader’s object not to lessen his strength, and he accordingly retreated with his whole band towards Cuzco.

Three years after the above-mentioned occurrences, when the Pizarros, by the death of Almagro, were undisputed lords of Peru, Francisco determined to renew an attempt on Chili. The enterprise had been confided by the court of Spain to two adventurers, named respectively Hoz and Carmargo. The former was to undertake the conquest of the country to the north of the river Maule; the latter was to reduce the territory southward of that stream as far as to the archipelago of Chiloë. But Pizarro, for some undivulged reason, declined to confirm the royal nomination, and appointed in his own name to the expedition Pedro de Valdivia, an able and well-tried officer, and one devoted to his party. Valdivia, however, was directed to take Hoz with him, and to satisfy him with a liberal distribution of land.

Valdivia determined to establish a permanent settlement in the country to which he was to proceed, and made preparation accordingly, taking with him not only two hundred Spanish fighting-men and a large body of Peruvians, but likewise several women, some monks, and a great number of European quadrupeds. Instructed by the experience of Almagro in the Cordilleras, although he pursued the same route, he took care to choose the summer for his passage. He thus incurred no loss on his way; but he met with a very different reception from that which had been accorded to his precursor. The inhabitants of northern Chili were by this time aware that the empire of the Incas was no more, and they accordingly no longer owed subjection to their Peruvian conquerors. They attacked the invaders on all sides, but with more valour than method. The Spaniards were accordingly enabled to overcome them in detail, and traversed the provinces of Copiapo, Coquimbo, Quillota, and Melipilla, and arrived with but little loss at that of Mapocho, now named Santiago.

In this fertile province, which lies upon the confines of the Andes, Valdivia determined to make a settlement, and with this view he laid the foundations of the fair city of Santiago on the 24th of February 1541. He laid out the city on the general Spanish colonial plan of dividing it into squares of uniform size; and in order to protect the settlement from attack, he constructed a fort upon a hill in the centre, which has since received the name of S. Lucia. His proceedings were watched by the natives with a jealous eye, and measures were concerted for getting rid of the unwelcome intruders. Valdivia, however, discovered the plot against him in time, and imprisoned the chief conspirators in his fortress, whilst he repaired with sixty horsemen to the river Cachapoal in order to watch the Promaucians, whom he suspected of being in league with the conspirators.

The natives of Mapocho, taking advantage of the absence of Valdivia, fell upon the colony with inconceivable fury, burning the half-built houses and assailing the citadel wherein the inhabitants had taken refuge. Whilst these defended themselves bravely, a woman named Iñez Suarez, taking an axe, beat out the brains of the captive chiefs, who had attempted to escape. The battle, which began at daybreak, lasted until night, fresh assailants constantly filling the places of those who fell. Meanwhile a messenger had been despatched to inform Valdivia of what had occurred. He lost no time in hastening back, when he found the ditch filled with dead bodies, and the enemy preparing to renew the attack. Joining the besieged, he at once advanced upon the main force of the Chilians, who were posted upon the bank of the river Mapocho. There the struggle was renewed with equal fury and valour on either side, but with the advantage of skill and arms on that of the Spaniards. The natives, having at length lost the flower of their youth, dispersed over the plain.

Notwithstanding this defeat and others which followed, this brave people never ceased during six years (by which time they were almost utterly annihilated) to attack the Spaniards upon every occasion that presented itself, cutting off their provisions and compelling them to subsist on unwholesome food and on the small amount of grain which they could raise under the fire from the walls of Santiago. The once fertile plains in the neighbourhood were now a desert, such inhabitants as survived having retired to the mountains.

This prolonged and profitless fighting naturally disgusted the Spanish soldiery, and at length a conspiracy was organized amongst them against the life of Valdivia. That officer, however, having obtained information of what was passing, took his measures accordingly. Some of the conspirators were punished with death, and the soldiers in general were diverted by an expedition to the valley of Quillota, which was said to abound in mines of gold. The result surpassed their most sanguine expectations. Past sufferings and present dangers were forgotten, and the longing to return to Peru no longer existed. All were anxious to remain in the new El Dorado, and the governor lost no time in constructing a frigate at the mouth of the river Chile, which was to bear to Peru the news of his discovery, and to bring him the necessary aid to enable him to prosecute it with success.

Meanwhile, however, the state of his affairs being urgent, Valdivia likewise despatched to Peru two of his officers by land, who should take with them six companions, whose spurs, bits, and stirrups he directed to be made of gold, which he knew would speak more eloquently than any words with a view to gaining him recruits. These messengers, although escorted by thirty horsemen, were attacked by the archers of Copiapo, and of the whole band only two escaped with life. These were the two officers Monroy and Miranda, who were brought before the Ulmen, covered with wounds. That prince resolved to put them to death, but was dissuaded from doing so by his wife, who pitied their deplorable condition. Several of the horses had been taken alive, and the Ulmena who had saved the Spaniards requested from them in return the slight favour of teaching her son to ride. This naturally suggested the idea of escape, which no one could blame the prisoners for attempting. But it would not have been in harmony with all Spanish conduct towards natives of the New World had they simply contented themselves with escaping. One day whilst the young prince was riding, escorted by his archers, and preceded by an officer armed with a lance, Monroy suddenly attacked him with a poniard, inflicting mortal wounds, whilst Miranda at the same time wrested the lance from the officer. The pair having thus rewarded the kindness of the Ulmena, put spurs to their horses and made their escape, in due time reaching Cuzco.

Vaca de Castro, who on the death of Pizarro was now governor of Peru, on being informed of the critical situation of his countrymen in Chili, at once despatched to their aid a considerable detachment of troops under Monroy, who on his return had the good fortune to escape the notice of the Copiapins. At the same time De Castro despatched by sea a still greater reinforcement under Juan Pastene, a Genoese. Both reinforcements reached Valdivia about the same time, thus enabling him to carry his vast designs into execution. Taking advantage of Pastene’s nautical acquirements, he ordered him to make a complete survey of the sea-coast as far as to the Straits of Magellan. On his return from this service Pastene was despatched to Peru for further recruits, which were more than ever wanted, for since the successful affair in Copiapo the natives had become even more aggressive than before.

The inhabitants of the valley of Quillota had, by means of a stratagem, massacred all the Spanish soldiers employed at the mines. One of the neighbouring natives had brought to the commander a vessel filled with gold, telling him that he had found a large quantity of the precious metal in a neighbouring district. On this, all were impatient to proceed thither to secure their share of the treasure, and falling into an ambuscade were all cut off, with the exception of the commander and a negro, who owed their safety to their horses. At the same time the frigate, which had now been completed, was destroyed. On receiving news of this disaster, Valdivia hastened to Quillota with his troops, and there built a fort for the protection of the miners. Being reinforced with three hundred men, he thought fit to establish a settlement in the north of Chili to serve as a depôt and a protection for convoys. For this purpose he selected Coquimbo, which was founded by him in 1544.

Two years later, Valdivia, having passed the Maule, proceeded to the river Itata. Whilst there encamped at night, at a place called Quilacura, he was attacked by the natives, who inflicted on him such a loss that he thought it prudent to renounce his intended expedition and to return to Santiago. Being disappointed by the non-arrival of the succours which he expected from Peru, he now resolved to proceed thither in person. As he was on the point of starting [1547], Pastene returned, but alone, and bringing news of the civil war. This did not deter Valdivia from his purpose, and the two set sail together for Peru. The part which was played in the final struggle in that country by the conqueror of Chili is detailed elsewhere. As a reward, he was confirmed by the President Gasca in the office of governor of Chili, and was furnished with an abundance of military stores. The president further put at his disposal two ships, in which he might take away with him many of the turbulent spirits who could be well spared from Peru.

During the absence of Valdivia, affairs in the south were by no means at a standstill. In the first place, Pedro de Hoz, who, it will be remembered, had been designated by the court of Spain for the conquest of Chili, was accused, rightly or wrongly, of endeavouring to supplant Valdivia, and was accordingly beheaded by order of the acting governor. In the next place, the inhabitants of Copiapo, eager to avenge the treacherous murder of their prince’s son, cut off some forty Spaniards who were proceeding from Peru to Chili, whilst, at their instigation, the people of Coquimbo massacred the whole colony which had been recently founded in their territory, razing the city to its foundation. Aguirre was immediately sent thither, and after various encounters rebuilt the settlement on a more advantageous situation. Aguirre is considered by the inhabitants of Coquimbo as the founder of their city, and many of the patricians of the place claim him as their ancestor.

After a toilsome contest of nine years, Valdivia considered himself to be so firmly established in that part of Chili which had been under the dominion of the Peruvians as to warrant his partitioning the land amongst his soldiers. Having by these means satisfied the ambition of his companions, he set out anew for the southern provinces with a respectable army of Spaniards and of Promaucian allies. After a march of eighty leagues he at length arrived at the bay of Panco—already reached by Pastene—where, on the 5th of October 1550, he founded the city of Conception. This place, the situation of which is so advantageous for commerce on account of its excellent harbour, is exposed to earthquakes, by which, and by the simultaneous inundations of the sea, it has been twice destroyed.[M] Its occupation by the Spaniards excited alarm amongst the neighbouring warlike Araucanians, who, foreseeing that their turn would come next, resolved to succour the tribes near Conception. Thus was produced a fresh war, the details of which may be preceded in a future chapter by some account of the remarkable people who have hitherto, even to the present day, by their obstinate valour, alone amongst the native inhabitants of South America, withstood the tide of Spanish invasion, and maintained themselves independent in their mountain strongholds.

CHAPTER IX.

BRAZIL; FAILURE OF THE FRENCH AT RIO DE JANEIRO.

1510-1570.