tion until wholly enfeebled, and having lost th^ 

 flower of their youth, they fied dispersed over the 

 plains. 



Yet, notwithstanding this defeat, and others of, 

 not less importance that they afterwards experienced, 

 they never ceased, for the space of six years, until 

 their utter ruin, to keep the Spaniards closely be- 

 seiged, attacking them upon every occasion that of- 

 fered, and cutting off their provisions in such a man- 

 ner, that they were compelled to subsist upon un- 

 wholesome and loathsome viands, and on the little 

 grain which they could raise beneath the cannon of 

 the place. The fertile plains in the neighbourhood 

 had become desert and uncultivated, as the inhabi- 

 .tants had destroyed their crops and retired to the 

 tftiountains. 



A mode of life so diffèrent from what they ex- 

 pected wearied and disgusted the soldiers, and they 

 finally resolved to kill their general, whom they be- 

 lieved obstinately attached to his plans, and to return 

 to Pern, where they hoped to enjoy more ease and 

 tranquillity. This conspiracy having fortunately 

 been discovered by Valdivia, he began by concilia- 

 ting the least seditious, which he readily effected, 

 as he possessed great prudence and address. As 

 he had yet only the title of general, he assembled 

 the magistracy of the city, and persuaded them to 

 appoint him governor. Invested with this imposing, 

 though less legitimate character, he punished with 

 death the authors of the conspiracy ; but perceiving 

 that this ex ertion of a precarious authority could not 

 be productuveof adurable effect, he prudently applied 



