1 68 ovalle's historical relation of chile. 



which being fo far ofF, I cannot have the help of in defcribing the particulars of the 

 events which were very memorable at the firft entrance of the Spaniards. I muft there- 

 fore make ufe of fuch paffages as I fhall find up and down in the general hiftories of 

 the Indies ; and this will refrefh in me the memory of what I have feen or learned by 

 others ; and yet I muft own the knowledge and information the reader will have from 

 hence, will be but fcanty and fhort, fuch as I Ihould have hardly attempted to publifh 

 without this apology ; and defiring my readers to accept of this colleftion for the pre- 

 fent, till the complete hiftory of Chile does come out, I having left men moft eminent 

 in their profeflion employed in it when I left thofe parts. 



The Adelantado Almagro being returned in the year 1537 to Cufco, Colonel Pedro 

 Valdivia defired from the Adelantado Francifco Pizarro leave to purfue the conqueft 

 of Chile, fmce he had power and commiflion from the King to grant it. He promifed 

 not to return till he Ihould have completed the fubjeftion of it, and reduced it to the 

 obedience of the crown and God Almighty. The Adelantado, who had it in his 

 thoughts, becaufe of the fame of its great riches, to follow the conqueft of Chile, 

 confidering this gentleman to be one of the braveft captains that had come to the Indies, 

 having born arms in Italy and Peru, and given a very good account of all that he had 

 undertaken, chofe him for this enterprize in the year 1539, giving him a year's time 

 to prepare all things, that he might fet out, as he did, in the year 1540. I do not 

 fay any thing of the particulars of his journey, nor of the people he carried with him, 

 becaufe I am not where I can have a diftin£t information ; only that in which all agree, 

 is, that he got together a good body of men, both Spaniards and Indians ; for thefe 

 laft relating what riches the Ingas ufed to draw from people who owned his empire in 

 thofe parts, animated every body to this enterprize ; and Valdivia feconding, with 

 addrefs, thefe impreffions, made a good army, with which he fet out from Peru. 



They had almoft periftied with cold, hunger, and other inconveniences ; yet at laft 

 they arrived, and advanced at firft with little difficulty ; but as they went, engaging 

 further in the country, ftill they found more oppofition : they firft came to the valley 

 of Copiapo, which fignifies the feed of Torquoiies ; for there is a rock of them, of fo 

 great a quantity, that they are grown lefs valuable upon it, as Herrera fays : it is a blue 

 ftone, which makes a very good fliew. And fince now we enter this kingdom with 

 more advantage, and upon a fteady foot of fettlement, it will not be amifs to defcribe 

 the valleys and places where the cities were firft founded, and the other fettlements, 

 that we may not be obliged to look back with an ufelefs repetition. 



The valley of Copiapo is the firft of the inhabited valleys of Chile, though the beft 

 part of the people are Indians, with a few Spaniards, out of which one is the Corrige- 

 dor, who is named by the governor of Chile. The land is of itfelf very fruitful, and 

 is made more fo by a pleafant river, which runs about twenty leagues in it before it 

 empties itfelf into the fea in a bay which makes its harbour. Here grow all forts of the 

 natural fruits and grains of the country, and of Europe ; the maize yields above three 

 hundred for one, and the ears of it are almoft half a yard long, as Herrera and other 

 authors relate. Though I am not informed as to the particular of Valdivia's reception 

 here by the Indians, yet I fuppofe it was without much contradi£lion ; becaufe thefe 

 people were already accuftomed to the foreign yoke of the Ingas, and had already feen 

 and received the Spaniards out of refpeft to the Inga Paulo, who accompanied Almagro, 

 who gave them their lawful Cacique, or prince, as we have feen. They had the fame 

 facility in the valleys of Guafco, which is about fiye and twenty or thirty leagues from 

 Copiapo, and that of Coquimbo Limari, and as far as Quillota. Here the Indians took 

 ^ras, and oppofed the Caftilians vigoroufly j engaging them almoft daily, as people 



that 



