WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 755 



and that he had estabHshed in them the 6 cities mentioned, and 

 requesting that for these great services and those he hoped to render 

 later, His Majesty should confirm him in his post as Governor, and 

 should confer other signal favors upon him. 



1997. He sent Capt. Francisco de Ulloa with two ships to explore 

 the ports and provinces to be found down to the Straits, thinking 

 with lofty ambition that he might gain another empire greater than 

 that of Peru, since he had already explored and subdued much of it, 

 and colonized six cities in its provinces. With this in mind he set 

 out at La Concepcion to indulge his insatiable greed — the origin of 

 his downfall — by having search made for gold mines ; those of Angol 

 were discovered, whose richness was such that in the year 1552 he 

 founded there the city called Los Confines ; to ensure its safety and 

 that of the mines he built a fort and garrisoned it with Spaniards — 

 more interested in discovering and exploiting gold mines than in 

 rendering secure the wide rich provinces which he had subdued, 

 although he knew the haughty spirit of the Indians and how ill they 

 brooked the yoke of slavery to the Spaniards. 



1998. He discovered other very rich mines 4 leagues from La 

 Concepcion at Quilacoya, and put 20,000 Indians to work taking 

 out ore under Spanish miners and superintendents, for whose security 

 he had a fort built with moat and palisade. From this and the other 

 mines they extracted large amounts of gold for him. Under this 

 excessive labor in the mines, the Indians, noting the Spaniards' 

 careless way of living and their self-confidence though their forces 

 were divided, resolved on a universal uprising to massacre all the 

 Spaniards ; and so they started the war with guile, some continuing 

 to work and divert the Spaniards, while others made war openly. 



1999. At this time they invested the fort of Tucapel, which was 

 under the charge of Capt. Martin de Erizar. He defended himself 

 bravely against the savages with the few men he had, and put the 

 bulk of the Araucanians to flight, though they kept molesting and 

 harassing him ; he begged for reinforcements several times, seeing 

 himself hard pressed by the haughty and overbearing Araucanians. 

 Seeing that no help came, he wisely saved himself by withdrawing 

 with his men to the Puren fort and thus achieved safety. Meanwhile 

 Capt. Diego de Maldonado with six soldiers brought him aid, although 

 too late ; they reached Tucapel but found it burnt down ; the savages 

 attacked him with new energy ; he made a hot fight, but they killed 

 three of his men; with the others, all of them badly wounded, he 

 succeeded, by good luck and ability, in getting back to Arauco, from 

 which point he sent the Governor word of the Tucapel incident 



