INTRODUCTION. 3 
the opportunity to escape, but first needlessly stabbed her son, and 
then fled to Cuzco. 
That city was then governed by Castro, the successor of Pizarro, 
who granted the assistance desired by Valdivia; and Monroy led a 
small body of recruits by land to Copiapo, while a considerable force 
was conveyed by sea, under Juan Baptista Pastene, a noble Genoese. 
Meantime Valdivia had obtained possession of the rich gold mines 
of the valley of Quillota; and, sensible that nothing effectual could 
be done without a communication by sea with Peru, had begun to 
build a vessel at the mouth of the river of Aconcagua, which rises 
near the Cumbre pass of the Andes, traverses the whole valley of 
Quillota, and falls into the dangerous bay of Concon, between the 
harbours of Valparaiso and Quintero, neither of which receive any 
considerable rivers. 
On receiving the reinforcement from Castro, Valdivia imme- 
diately ordered Pastene to explore the coast of Chile, as far as the 
straits of Magellan; and then despatched him to Peru for fresh 
succours, as the natives became daily more enterprising, and had 
recently put to death the whole body of soldiers stationed at the 
gold mines near Quillota, burned the vessel which was just finished, 
and destroyed the store-houses at the mouth of the river. On re- 
ceiving news of this disaster, Valdivia marched from Santiago, 
revenged the death of his people by exercising as much cruelty as 
possible towards the unhappy Quillotanes, and built a fort for the 
protection of the miners. Thence he advanced to meet his new 
reinforcements under Villagran and Escobar, who brought him 300 
men from Peru; and desiring to have an establishment in the north- 
ern part of Chile, he pitched upon the beautiful plain at the mouth 
of the Coquimbo, where he established the colony of La Serena, 
commonly called Coquimbo, in 1543. 
The year following was marked by gaining over the Promaucian 
Indians to the Spanish cause, to which they have ever since faithfully 
adhered, impelled probably by their jealousy of their- immediate 
neighbours the Araucanians. Valdivia then pursued his conquests 
B2 
