2 INTRODUCTION. 
on the part of the natives which still lays waste some of the best 
provinces of the state. On reaching the southern side of the Cacha- 
poal the Spanish army met several of the Indian tribes, and par- 
ticularly the Promaucians, ready to. oppose their further progress ; 
and though Almagro was on the whole victorious, he considered the 
worth of the conquest as insufficient to reward the toils of the 
conquerors, and in the year 1538 returned with his army to Peru, 
where, after having possessed Cuzco for a short time, he was put 
to death by order of Francisco Pizarro, in the seventy-fifth year of 
his age. 
Pedro de Valdivia was the next Spanish leader deputed by 
Pizarro to conduct an army into Chile: he accordingly entered it in 
1540 with 200 Spaniards and a large body of Peruvians, taking the 
same road as Almagro ; but as it was the summer time, the soldiers 
had nothing to fear from the cold, which had proved so fatal to 
Almagro. The reception of Valdivia was very different from that 
given to his predecessor. The Chilenos had learned to hate as well 
as to fear the invaders. Every step was won by force of arms; and 
the settlements or colonies established by Valdivia were repeatedly 
destroyed. Even Santiago, which he founded. in 1541, did not find 
sufficient defence in its citadel of Santa Lucia, but was burnt by the 
people of the valley of Mapocho while Valdivia was advancing to 
the banks of the Cachapoal to repel the Promaucians. On his 
return. from that expedition, he sent Alonzo Monroy and Pedro 
Miranda, with six companions, towards the frontiers of Peru in order 
to obtain succours; and that they might the more readily entice 
the European soldiers to join them, their bits and stirrups and spurs 
were made of gold. This little company was however attacked by 
the people of Copiapo, and Monroy and Miranda only escaped, 
They were carried to the ulman or governor of the valley, who had 
condemned them to death; but the intercession of his wife saved 
them ; a benefit which they repaid with the basest ingratitude. She 
requested them to teach her son to ride, several of the Spanish 
horses having been taken and brought to her. They made use of 
