INTRODUCTION. 6 7 



tinued until sunset. Meantime, about sixty of the enemy's horse 

 were seen on a hill above, having come apparently to reconnoitre, 

 but they were dispersed by a few shots from the Montezuma ; and 

 when the troops at length arrived in Pisco, after a march of six hours, 

 they found that the Spaniards had conveyed away all the stores, and 

 had sent the slaves and cattle into the interior, they themselves had 

 retired to lea, leaving nothing behind but jars of the brandy of the 

 country, generally called Pisco : this was divided between the fleet 

 and the army, and was most acceptable to the sailors, as they were in 

 great want of spirits or wine. The next day the rest of the troops 

 landed, and head- quarters were fixed at Pisco, whence regular bul- 

 letins were issued, containing rather pompous details of the feats of 

 the great expedition ; and several proclamations relative to the good 

 order and discipline of the troops. In these bulletins, the real 

 failures or oversights in the marching, ordering, or commanding the 

 troops were corrected for the public eye. The foraging parties 

 brought in horses and cattle sufficient for the army, but the fleet con- 

 tinued without adequate supplies. 



During the fifty days that the head-quarters of the army were at 

 Pisco, Colonel Arenales occupied lea, Palque, Nazca, and Acari, 

 taking a quantity of military stores, and revolutionising the country 

 as he marched : but the captain-general remained completely in- 

 active. Indeed, from the 26th of September to the 4th of October, 

 he was carrying on a negotiation with the viceroy, an armistice 

 having been concluded at Miraflores for that purpose. What the 

 hopes of either party could have been, from the negotiation seem 

 unintelligible. The grounds, however, on which the viceroy treated, 

 were, that the king of Spain had sworn to adhere to the constitution 

 in the month of March preceding. The same constitution had been 

 published in Lima on the 9th, and sworn to on the 15th of this very 

 month. Was it by Pezuela's authority, and on account of the arrival 

 of the liberating force, that he had given directions, in consequence, 

 that all the states, which had in fact separated themselves from the 

 mother-country, should be invited to rejoin her, under the protection 



k 2 



