INTRODUCTION. 67 
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 Ica, 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 Ica, 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 
