WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 743 



35 harquebussiers. putting them at the center of the triangle formed 

 by these forts, hidden in a small grove of some 30 filbert trees. He 

 stayed there with his force all that day and the following night, 

 waiting to see where the fire signal would break out. At dawn they 

 set fire to the Voroa galpon, and Col. Francisco del Campo reached 

 there at sunrise with his soldiers; he found there over 1,000 Indians, 

 some mounted and some on foot. At the arrival of the Colonel and 

 his force, 500 Indians and 8 Spanish harquebussiers rushed out of 

 the fort and attacked the savages, and followed them in their flight 

 more than a league over flat country till they reached some blufifs 

 over a dry watercourse, where they threw themselves over the clifif, 

 not being able to resist ; in this manner over 700 died, without our 

 losing more than i Spanish soldier. 



Chapter X 



Describing the Country and Jurisdiction of Villarica. 



1966. Villarica was 22 leagues from the city of La Imperial, 

 SE.^E. ; it was 25 leagues from the sea and 3 from the Cordillera 

 Nevada, in 39° S., near a lake which is 4 leagues long E. and W., 

 and 2-1 wide, named Mallalauquen ; the city was built W. of it ; near 

 the outlet of this lake is the source of the Rio Tolten. That city 

 was founded and colonized by Gov. Pedro de Valdivia in the year 

 1 55 1, a few days after La Imperial. The lake was and is a great 

 resort ; the residents of the city used to go there and enjoy themselves 

 boating ; it served as a fort and wall for the city on one side ; on 

 the other, it was surrounded by very high ridges and by forests of 

 lofty cypresses, and by cliffs with huge pine trees with pine nuts. 



1967. Among these pine groves they raised quantities of hogs, 

 which they fattened with the pine nuts ; their ham and bacon was 

 the best in all the Kingdom, in fact, in the world. High above it 

 on the summit of the Cordillera, the city had a volcano which was 

 generally spouting fire ; on its slopes near the lake two springs gush 

 forth, the size of oxen, and flow into it. The location of the city 

 was excellent and agreeable, and the region is fertile, although it 

 is all very rough country. There were Franciscan and Mercedarian 

 convents in Villarica. 



1968. Two leagues from the city, as one came from La Imperial, 

 stood the fort of valiant Capt. Juan Beltran, a mulatto, son of a 

 Negro and an Indian woman, who is worthy of eternal memory for 

 his great deeds among those savages. He was very deferential toward 

 the Spaniards, and very obedient and loyal to them ; with the Indians 



