399 



without resistance. But Urrea, the command- 

 ing officer^ opposed him so vigorously that he 

 was compelled to heslege it. In a short time the 

 garrison was reduced to great extremities from 

 hunger and thirst, as the aqueduct which sup- 

 plied them with water had been destroyed by the 

 enemy, and the commander, having made a sortie 

 in order to procure supplies, v/as slain, together 

 with the soldiers accompanying him. 



In this critical state of affairs, the governor, 

 Don Gabriel Cano, who had succeeded Concha, 

 arrived with an army of five thousand men. 

 Vilumilla, expecting immediately to come to 

 action, posted himself behind a torrent, and 

 drew up his troops in order of battle : but 

 Cano, though repeatedly provoked by the enemy, 

 thought it more advisable to abandon the place, 

 and retire with the garrison. The war after- 

 wards became reduced to skirmishes of but little 

 importance, which were finally terminated by 

 the celebrated peace of Ncgrete, a place situated 

 at the confluence of the rivers Bio-bio and Lara, 

 where the treaty of Quillan was reconfirmed, and 

 the odious title of Captain of Friends wholly 

 abolished. 



Cano, after a mild and harmonious govern- 

 ment of fifteen years, died in the city of St. Jago. 

 He was succeeded by his nephew, Don Manuel 

 Salamanca, who was appointed by the viceroy of 

 Peru, and whose whole conduct was conformable 



