260 



all the settlements which Valdivia and his suc- 

 cessors had established and preserved^ at the ex- 

 pense of so much blood, in the extensive country 

 between the Bio-bio and the Archipelago of 

 Chiloe, none of which have been since rebuilt, 

 as what is at present called Valdivia is no more 

 than a fort or garrison. 



The sufferings of the besieged were great, nor 

 can they scarcely be exceeded by those endured 

 in the most celebrated sieges recorded in history. 

 They were compelled to subsist on the most 

 loathsome food, and a piece of boiled leather 

 was considered as a sumptuous repast by the 

 voluptuous inhabitants of Villarica and Osorno. 

 The cities that were taken were destroyed in 

 such a manner that at present few vestiges of 

 them remain, and those ruins are regarded by 

 the natives as objects of detestation. Although 



sirous of making their situation known to the Spaniards ; but 

 the chiefs took every possible precaution to prevent this, and 

 the Indians, who jwssessed the intervenijig country, were 

 equally solicitous to prevent any intelligence of this state from 

 reaching (he Spanish settlements, because it would bring them 

 arther into the land. 



This account is said to have been written in 1771, by Don 

 Ignacio Pinuer, captain of infantry, and interpretirr-general at 

 Valdivia, and by him addressed to the president of Cliili. The 

 writer states that his thorough knowledge of the language of 

 the natives, and his great intimacy with theni, had enabUd 

 him, by the artful and persevering niquiries of eight and 

 tv\Dty years, to collect this information. E. E. 



