188 



CHILI. 



H -i-ory. 



which it 



evacuated 



hvth 



The Arau- 

 eaniam de- 

 feated with 

 the Ion of 

 their To- 



g* 



Changrt in 

 I he govern- 



held the wretched victims of bis credulity suffering a cruel 

 death in front of the Araucanians. During the siege 

 alio, to.ik fibre one of those tingle combats, which ahout 

 that period had become frequent. Antiguenu challen- 

 ged Bernal, governor of the fort. The chieftains met 

 mid-way between their respective force*, and after main- 

 taining a sharp conflict for two hours were separated by 

 their attendants, and returned to their accustomed mode of 

 warfare. The garrison, pressed by scarcity of provi- 

 sions, and under a strict and vigilant blockade, was at 

 length reduced to extremity, but were generously per- 

 mitted to withdraw unmolested by the Araucanians. 



Antiguenu having in this manner dislodged the ene- 

 my from their two principal forts, and delivered the 

 greater part of his country from their oppressions, began 

 to harass them in their own territories. He dispatched 

 Lilemu, a gallant officer, to ravage the provinces of Itata 

 and Chilian, while he marched in person to the siege of 

 Angol. But a period was here put to his victorious 

 career. Whilst encamped at the confluence of the Bio- 

 bio and Vergosa, his forces were attacked by Bernal, with 

 the whole Spanish army, and totally routed. Antigue- 

 nu perished in the flight. Being hurried along with the 

 fugitives, he was precipitated from a steep bank into the 

 river, and there drowned. In this action the Arauca- 

 nians are said to have employed, with some dexterity, the 

 muskets they had taken at Mariguenu : and the Spa- 

 niards entirely owed their success to the resolute temper 

 of Bernal, who, perceiving his infantry every where 

 yielding to the fierce valour of the enemy, charged the fu- 

 gitives with his cavalry, restored the fight, and thus wrest- 

 ed a victory of which he had begun to despair. The loss 

 of their Toqui was followed by another scarcely less se- 

 vere to the Araucanians. The brave Lilemu, who, during 

 these events, had been successful in Chilian, fell a glorious 

 sacrifice to his magnanimity. Coming to the relief of a 

 small detachment which had been overpowered by the 

 Spaniards, he seized a narrow pass, and with a few 

 gallant companions, at the cxpcnce of their lives and his 

 own, sustained the whole shock of the enemy ; while an 

 easy retreat was thus opened and secured for his scattered 

 soldiers. 



A weakness consequent upon the late misfortunes, or 

 partly perhaps having its origin in the cautious temper 

 of Pa : llataru, the new Toqui, gave the Spaniards an op- 

 portunity of regaining their possessions. Rodrigo de 

 Quiroga, by whom Pedro had been supplanted in the go- 

 vernment, availing himself of one or other of those cir- 

 cumstances, rebuilt Arauco and Canete, raised a new 

 at Ouipeo, and laid waste the country. 



The following year a company of sixty men under Mar- 

 shal Kui/, Gamboa paid a second visit to the Archipelago 

 of Cliilor- , where, over a multitude of seventy thousand 

 natives, this little band, without one stroke of resistance, 

 was permitted to establish their abhorred tyranny. 



An extraordinary fluctuation happened about this time 

 in the form of government. In 15().5, a court of royal 

 audience was established by Philip II. to which was en- 

 trusted the civil and military administration of Chili. 

 This court immediately dismissed Quiroga from his em- 

 ployment, and bestowed the command upon Kui/. Gam- 

 boa. Next year, however, on pretence of being inade- 

 quate to the purposes of the institution, it was stript of 

 its authority, and the whole power transferred to the 

 person of a single chief, Don Mclchor de Brava, with the 



titles of president of the Royal Audience, governor, and Hiinr 

 captain general of Chili. The court itself was finally 

 abolished in 1.17/5, when Quiroga was restored to his 

 former authority ; but being already advanced in years, 

 did not long enjoy his restitution. At his death ( 1 

 he was again succeeded by Gamboa. During these ra- 

 pid transitions in the government, many ineffectual though 

 sincere endeavours had been used to bring the enemy to 

 negotiate. The jealous Araucanians, however, continued 



to avoid, with unconquerable firmness, the slightest advan 

 ces to an accommodation with a victoriouFJtncmy ; an 

 enemy whose whole temper and conduct, as well as their 

 avowed designs, served only to excite hostility, and per- 

 petuate disaffection. The war was continued with re- 

 doubled animosity. Paillataru was defeated in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Canete, and the Spaniards, in their turn, 

 under Melchor de Brava, lost another army on the fatal 

 height of Mariguenu. 



After another severe engagement, from which the Spa- 

 niards could only claim a victory by remaining masters 

 of the field, the contending powers seemed to have been 

 mutually awed into peace, by the ravages of a tremen- 

 dous earthquake. Conception was completely demolish- 

 ed, and the other settlements experienced considerable in- 

 jury. The truce lasted four years, at the expiration of 

 which, on the death of Paillataru, hostilities were renew- 

 ed. In the election of another Toqui, the Araucanians 

 exhibited some political address. In order to engage the 

 confidence and conciliate the affection of the Mustees, 

 who by that time had exceedingly multiplied in the 

 country, they exalted to the supreme power Paynenancu, 

 one of their number. This chief had served with honour 

 in their armies, and was possessed of courage and activity to 

 a great degree ; but his disposition was at the same time 

 rash and presumptuous, and too frequently impelled him 

 to undertakings the most daring and impracticable. He 

 seldom hesitated to engage the Spaniards with inferior 

 forces ; and from this cause it was that most of his en- 

 terprises, though sufficiently harassing, and often de- 

 structive to the enemy, were still more injurious to the 

 Araucanians.* That vigorous and haughty spirit, which 

 had hitherto defied adversity, now manifestly began to 

 flag under a constant succession of defeat and disappoint- 

 ment.. In the first years of his command, the Pehucn- 

 dies and Cliiquillauians were persuaded, for the first 

 time, to take a part in the contest, and made inroads upon 

 the Spanish settlement of Chilian. Gamboa, who a few 

 years before under Quiroga established this colony, was 

 now himself at the head of affairs, and the short period 

 of his government was wholly engaged in repelling these 

 incursions, and maintaining the war against Paynenancu. 



He was superseded in 1583 by Don Alonzo Sotomay- 

 or, who arrived in Chili with six hundred regular troops. 

 This officer supported the war with a powcrfuTsuperiority. 

 The impetuous Paynenancu was decisively worsted in 

 three successive engagements, and the Pehuenches expel- 

 led from Chilian. But his fame was deeply tarnished by 

 exhibitions of barbarity. He resumed in all its rigour 

 the detested system of Garcia, and even aggravated its 

 horrors by additional inflictions, and more extended ra- 

 vages. His course through the country was marked 

 with rapine, devastation, and bloodshed. It presented 

 every where a scene of unexampled atrocity ; the hamlet 

 yet smoking from the hand of the destroyer ; its late hap- 

 py tenant suspended lifeless or in torture from his chosen 



.'. rao- 

 canians re- 

 fuse to ne- 

 gotiate. 



An e.irih- 

 qualcc Ji - 

 stroys Con- 

 ception. 



SotomaySr 

 adopts the 

 cruel yi- 

 tcm uf 

 Garcia, 

 and main- 

 i.iin> a su- 

 periority in 

 I>U opera- 

 tions 



against the 

 Ar.mca- 

 uiant. 



Soon afu-r oMuming the command, be wan defeated by the quarter-matter Bernal, when several Araucanlan females were takea 

 in arm*. Most of these preferring (kulU tu servitude, or fearing i>rbap the brutality of their liccntlou* captors, killed thcnucUt* 

 during (be night. 



