178 



To keep up and increase the ardour which this 

 success had excited in the minds of his soldiers, 

 Antiguenu stationed himself upon the top of Mount 

 Mariguenu,a place of fortunate omen for his country. 

 Villagran, who was either too much indisposed with 

 the gout to assume the command himself, or was 

 averse to hazard the attack of a place that had prov- 

 ed so unfortunate to him, gave in charge to one of his 

 sons to dislodge the enemy from that dangerous post. 

 This rash and enterprising young man attacked the 

 Araucanian entrenchments with so little precaution, 

 that almost all his army, consisting of the flower of 

 the Spanish troops, and a great number of auxilia- 

 ries, were cut in pieces, and he himself was killed at 

 the entrance of the enemy's encampment. 



After this signal victory, Antiguenu marched 

 against Cañete, rightly judging that in the present 

 circumstances it would be unable to resist him; but 

 Villagran, who was likewise convinced of the im- 

 possibility of defending it, anticipated him by with- 

 drawing all the inhabitants, part of whom retired to 

 Imperial, and part to Conception. On their arrival, 

 the Araucanians, who had experienced so many dis- 

 asters in the vicinity of this place, had no other trou- 

 ble than that of destroying the fortifications and set- 

 ting it on fire, and in a short time it was entirely 

 Gonsumed. 



la the mean time Villagran, more the victim of 

 grief and mental anxiety than of his disorder, died, 

 universally regretted by the colonists, who lost in 

 him a wise, humane and valiant commander, to 

 whose prudent conduct they were indebted for the 



