EllClLLA CAt'laUES COLOCOLO. 439 



Avas secured by a gate and drawbridge. Now the ditch, dug 

 by the old Spaniards, is filled up, and the remains of their draw- 

 bridge have disappeared, having been used probably as fuel. 

 This was the first place assaulted by the Indians, after their 

 grand union against the Spaniards, at the end of the sixteenth 

 century. To relate even a part of the history of those times 

 would be digressing too much ; but an anecdote of Colocolo 

 and the great Caupolican may shorten our journey, and divert 

 us for a time from mud, and rain, and wind. 



Ashamed at having given way to men, at first imagined to 

 be gods, and indignant at the outrages and oppressions of their 

 invaders, a general gathering of the Indian tribes took place 

 near Arauco. Ercilla names sixteen caciques of renown, be- 

 sides others of inferior fame, who assembled with their follow- 

 ers. At the feast which followed their first consultation, great 

 disputes arose among the rival caciques. A general was to be 

 chosen, and each esteenried himself worthy of that high distinc- 

 tion. Insulting words induced an appeal to arms, and desperate 

 strife was about to commence, when Colocolo, the oldest and 

 most respected chief, advancing hastily,* with haughty strides, 

 exclaimed : — 



" What madness is exciting you, Caciques! 



Thus eagerly to rush into a war 



Against the very sources of our strength — 



To tear each other's entrails out, as beasts, 



And utterly forget the tyrant foe ? 



Turn your arms and angry blows 



Against those authors of your slavery, 



Whose shameful inroads on our fathers' land 



Heap infamy upon Arauco I 



Arauco's sons yourselves display — 



And cast their galling yoke away. 



Husband every drop of blood, 



To mingle with a Spanish flood!" 



Having gained attention and temporary silence, the Arau- 

 canian Nestor continued an eloquent address to the angry 



* Ercilla, canto ii. 



