207 



considering them as of sufficient importance, evacuat- 

 ed them in 1589, and transferred the garrison to ano- 

 ther fortress, which he had directed to be built upon 

 the river Puchanqui, in order to protect the city of 

 Angoî : So that the war now became in a great mea- 

 sure reduced to the construction and demolition of 

 fortifications. 



The dictatorship of Guanoalca was rendered more 

 remarkable by the military exploits of the heroine 

 Janequeo than by his own. This woman was the 

 wife of that valiant officer Guepotan, who for so long 

 a time defended the post of Liben. After the loss 

 of that important place he retired to the Andes, 

 where he constantly endeavoured to stimulate those 

 mountaineers to the defence of the country. Desi- 

 rous of having his wife with him, he at length de- 

 scended into the plains in search of her, but was 

 surprised by the Spaniards, who were very solicitous 

 to get him into their hands, and preferred being 

 cut in pieces to surrendering himself prisoner. Jane- 

 queo, inflamed with an ardent desire of avenging 

 the death of her husband, in company with her bro* 

 ther Guechiuntereo, placed herself at the head of an 

 army of Puelches, with which, in 1590, she began 

 to make inroads upon the Spanish settlements, kill- 

 ing all of that nation that fell into her hands. The 

 governor, reinforced by a regiment of soldiers, 

 which he had received from Peru, set out upon his 

 march against her ; but she, constantly occupying 

 the highest ground, and attacking unexpectedly, 

 sometimes the van, and at others the rear of his ar- 

 my, obliged him to retire, after having lost, to no 



