260 



ERCILLA^S POEMS. 



the pursuit of the Indians on three horses 

 only. It is long since they have ceased to 

 enter the cultivated part of the province of 

 Mendoza ; though formerly they used to ride 

 up to the very walls of the city. Some of the 

 ladies here had read a great deal, and were 

 perfectly well informed about the history of 

 the New World since its conquest. Don 

 Melchior produced ErciUVs epic poem, which 

 describes in beautiful language, and with much 

 imagination, the numerous battles between the 

 early Spaniards, and the Araucanian Indians, 

 who gave so much trouble to the successors of 

 Pizarro, and who are still unsubdued on the 

 southern frontier of Chili, beyond the limits of 

 the river Biobio, as are likewise most of the 

 tribes on the Pampas. The Araucanians are still 

 endowed with a courage and a capacity of en- 

 during fatigue almost incredible. They are a 



