14 INTRODUCTION. 
gone as usual to the market-place for fresh beef and vegetables, and 
butchered the greater part of them. As soon as this was reported 
at the castle, the governor sent out troops to protect the strangers, 
and the few that escaped owed their lives to this precaution. The 
admiral procured an exchange of prisoners on this occasion. 
The same evening the Araucano carried the news to Ancon, where 
it was received in the most enthusiastic manner by the army. On 
the 8th the O’Higgins and Esmeralda also arrived at Ancon, where 
again the army cheered the admiral, and were full of hopes that they 
should now attack the town. Guayaquil had declared itself inde- 
pendent ; the Numantian regiment had joined the liberating force. 
The enemy’s best ship was taken, and the moral effect of these 
events, not to speak of the daily, though slight advantages gained by 
several officers, were calculated not only to elevate the patriots and 
to encourage their secret friends to declare themselves, but to dispirit 
the enemy. But though every thing seemed to court him to action, 
San Martin could by no means be induced to change his cautious 
plans, and therefore on the 9th he proceeded to Huacho, still farther 
from Lima, and, with the whole army, disembarked and fixed his 
head-quarters at Supe, whence he proposed to detach one-half of his 
army to Guayaquil, probably with a view to secure that province as 
part of his future empire. This most imprudent scheme was how- 
ever abandoned, and the general contented himself with causing the 
troops to fall back from Chancay to Huaura, at the very time 
when, in addition to the happy circumstances already mentioned, 
Truxillo * had emancipated itself, and General Arenales had obtained 
a decided victory over the royalists under General O’Reilly at 
Pasco, on the 6th of December. ¢ The troops soon began to feel the 
bad effects of the unhealthy situation of Huaura, and nearly one- 
* The province of Truxillo was declared free on the 29th of December by the Governor, 
the Marques de Torre Tagle. 
+ The enemy’s loss was 58 killed, 18 wounded, 343 prisoners, including 28 officers, 
two pieces of artillery, 300 muskets, the banners, ammunition, &c.; the rout was so 
complete, that O’ Reilly fled with only three lancers, the battle having lasted forty minutes. 
Arenales lost one officer and five men killed, and twelve wounded. 
