29 



Their names, before their deeds, O Muse ! record ; 

 Cortez, Almagro's far-destroying sword, 

 Cordova, with Nereda's heir combin'd, 

 Moran, Gonzalo, v/ith Hernandez join'd ; 

 With Maldonado, Penalosa came, 

 Their place Vergara next, and Garcia claim, 

 Herrera nigh with Castañeda rode. 

 Like tlic twin offspring of th' Olympian God ; 

 And noble Manrique, not the lowest name, 

 Brought up the rear, and clos'd the lists of fame ; 

 Those, when the fallen Valdivia sent for aid. 

 With eager haste the martial call obey'd, ^ 



Andspurr'd along, unconscious of the doom 

 That sent their General to th' untimely tomb. 

 By Puren's shadowy cliffs the heroes past. 

 And reach'd a sylvan theatre at last. 

 Where marks of mighty rendezvous were seen. 

 For countless feet had mark'd the trodden green ; 

 By num'rous signs they soon discover'd clear, 

 That wild Revolt had rais'dher standard here ; 

 Vet neither stopp'd their course, nor turn'd aside, 

 Till mild Aurora's crimson vest they spy'd, 

 Above the dawning hills display'd afar. 

 And gladly hail'd the morn's ascending car. 

 FairElicura's opening vale they spy. 

 When Sol o'erlooked the w^oods with lordly eye. 

 Here in dread ambuscade the Indians lay. 

 Hoping that, when their Foes pursu'd their way 

 In careless march, a loose, disorder'd host, 

 Thdr bands, conceal'd around the fatal post, 

 Might hem them in amid the woodland gloom 

 All unawares, and mark them for the tomb. 



Three steep descending glades the Warriors past, 

 And to the central shades arriv'd at last ; 

 Where stood their foes, deep rang'd in alleys green, 

 Hidhig in sylvan mask their hideous mien ; 

 Sudden, the Araucanian trump afar 

 Was heard, and tambourines provoke the war ; 

 Barbarian cymbals join their deadly sound, 

 And doubling echoes from the vales rebound. 

 While from their green retreats in dread array 

 The Indians pour, and mtercept the way. 



