466 SPANISH AMERICA. 



dashed through the same line after him, 

 when they both most gallantly cut their 

 way through the enemy, and rejoined their 

 own party in safety. 



Amongst the independent corps, we must 

 notice the first battalion of rifles, which, 

 although it was composed entirely of native 

 troops, was officered by Britons; the men 

 having originally been raised among the 

 Indian inhabitants of the missions on the 

 banks of the river Orinoco, below Angos- 

 tura, and who were almost wild, although 

 they had been converted to Christianity. 

 The origin of this corps is the more par- 

 ticularly mentioned, as it has ever been 

 greatly distinguished since its formation, 

 and is at present with the Liberator in Peru, 

 under Colonel Arthur Sandes, one of the 

 officers who materially assisted in its first 

 formation in the missions of Caroni in 1818. 

 Four hundred of these Indians (few speaking 

 even the Spanish language) were formed 



