procured a guide to conduct him southward. The man whom the Cunches furnished for this service, in accordance with his instruc tions, led the army through the most wild and inhospitable part of the country, and made his escape, after involving the way-worn and famishing soldiers in apparently inextricable difficulties among desert and precipitous mountains. At the close of the month of January, 1559, they came in sight of the beautiful Archipelago of Chiloe, and the brilliant spectacle of its fertile islands, teeming with an industrious population, and the land-locked waters, covered with canoes and sail-boats, gladdened their eyes, and promised rest and refreshment after their toilsome journeyings. The natives received the Spaniards with the greatest kindness and hospitality, and, after their strength was recruited, furnished them with provisions, and a guide to direct them upon an easy route homeward. The return-march through the provinces of the Huilliches, was accomplished with little or no difficulty, as the road lay through a level country, where provisions could easily be obtained. CAUPOLICAN THE YOUNGER. SIGNAL SUCCESSES OF THE SPANIARDS. WARLIKE OPERATIONS OF ANTIGUENU.-OF PAILLAMACHU.-RECOVERY OF ARAUCANIA BY THE NATIVES. PEACE CONCLUDED IN 1641. UPON the death of Caupolican, the assembled ulmenes of Araucania elected his eldest son to the vacant dictatorship. Tucapel was made vice-toqui, and an army was instantly raised to prosecute the war against the murderous intruders. In the first engagements, the Spaniards met with signal defeat, and Don Garcia, having marched from Conception to Imperial, found himself closely besieged by Caupolican the younger, with his whole army. The Araucanians were unable to force the entrenchments, and, after various assaults, in which the young chief exhibited the most astonishing prowess and personal courage, they were compelled to raise the siege. In the ensuing campaigns of this year (1559) the Spaniards steadily gained ground, as the native forces were continually growing weaker, while the arrival of recruits by sea as constantly increased the resources of the former. The fatal battle of Quipeo crushed for the time all the hopes of the Araucanians. Their last army was cut to pieces; their bravest and most influential officers were slain; among others, Tucapel, Mariantu, Colocolo, and Lincoyan; and the brave Caupolican, to avoid falling into the hands of his enemies, perished by his own hand. Don Garcia now rebuilt the forts in Arauco, Angol, and other provinces. He also reopened the long-neglected gold and silver mines, and sent a body of troops, under Pedro Castillo, across the Andes, to extend and confirm the Spanish authority in the east. That officer founded the cities of St. Juan and Mendoza on the eastern slope of the great mountain range. Francis Villagran being reinstated in the viceroyalty of Chili, Don Garcia returned to Peru, having, as was generally believed, completely established the Spanish power in the former country. The Araucanians, notwithstanding their terrible reverses, still cherished the hope of liberty, and having chosen a distinguished warrior, named Antiguenu, for their toqui, retreated to the marshy wilderness of Lumaco. In this secure place of concealment, Antiguenu devoted himself to disciplining the youth enlisted to take the place of the veteran warriors who had perished in the late disastrous war, and soon began to commit depredations on the more exposed Spanish settlements. When his force had increased sufficiently to justify open hostilities, he fortified himself upon Mount Mariguenu, the scene of the brilliant exploit of Lautaro, and had the good fortune to be attacked in this stronghold by a Spanish army, under a son of the viceroy. The Araucanians were signally successful, and the Spanish force was almost entirely destroyed. Without delay, Antiguenu now fell upon and reduced the fortress of Canete, and dispatched a large army to make a new attempt upon the city of Conception. At the same time, he laid siege to the fort at Arauco, then in command of Lorenzo Bernal. The city proved too strong to be taken by assault, and too well provisioned to be successfully blockaded, but the obnoxious fort at Arauco was taken and destroyed. Thus far the Indians were successful, but, (in the year 1564,) as Antiguenu was upon his march against Angol, he was compelled to engage the whole Spanish army, under Bernal, who attacked him. upon the bank of the Bio-bio, near the mouth of the Vergosa. The brave toqui was slain, and his followers were destroyed or dispersed. From this period until the close of the sixteenth century, notwithstanding the determined spirit and continual efforts of the Araucanians, the Spanish colonists steadily gained ground. Among the succession of famous native chiefs who held the office of toqui and conducted the more important campaigns, the names of Paillataru, Cayancaru, and Cadeguala, were the most distinguished. Notwithstanding the resistance of the aborigines, the forts at Canete, Arauco, &c., were restored, and a new post was established at Quipeo. The Chiloan Archipelago was also brought under subjection, and the peaceable islanders submitted to foreign tyranny and exactions, with scarcely an effort at resistance. In the year 1596 the tide of Spanish successes began to turn. The native ruler, at this period, was the celebrated Paillamachu, a very aged but active and energetic chief. The Spanish viceroy was Don Martin Loyola, a nephew of St. Ignatius, founder of the pow erful order of the Jesuits. Paillamachu, in the old places of retreat among the morasses of Lumaco, had for years been engaged in recruiting and disciplining his shattered forces, and, in 1596, commenced a most vexatious system of petty warfare against the Spaniards, making forays upon their smaller settlements, for plunder, and for the exercise and instruction of his inexperienced youth. Loyola could effect nothing against such an enemy, and at last devoted his attention to the fortification and strengthening the more important military posts, wisely deeming that these might eventually be the only places of refuge against the indomitable Araucanians. Upon his return northward, after a visit for this purpose to Imperial, in the month of November, 1598, the viceroy encamped in the valley of Caralva. Supposing himself far from the reach of the enemy, he had dismissed the greater part of his escort. Paillamachu had, however, kept upon his track, with two hundred warriors, and seized the opportunity to fall upon the encampment. Loyola and all his attendants perished. Simultaneously with this event, by the admirably concerted arrangements of the toqui, the natives throughout Araucania, as well as the Cunches and Huilliches, rose in mass. "Every Spaniard who had the misfortune to be found without the garrisons was put to death; and the cities of Osorno, Valdivia, Villarica, Imperial, Canete, Angol, Coya, and the fortress at Arauco, were all at once invested with a close siege. Not content with this, Paillamachu, without loss of time, crossed the Bio-bio, burned the cities of Conception and Chillan, laid waste the provinces in their dependence, and returned loaded with spoil to his country."* During the three years succeeding, all the Spanish settlements in Araucania were destroyed, and the whole country south of the Biobio was regained by the natives. A singular mixture of races resulted from the adoption by the Araucanian conquerors of the prisoners taken at the reduction of the principal towns. It appears that the half-breeds who thereafter formed a portion of the independent population of Chili, were the most implacable enemies of the Europeans. From this time until the year 1618, the Bio-bio constituted the boundary between the hostile races. Many ineffectual attempts were made by the Spanish viceroys to recover the lost territory, and equally futile proposals for the establishment of a peaceful communication, for the purpose of missionary enterprise, were set on foot, in conformity with the wishes of the zealous but bigoted monarch of Spain. From 1618 to 1632 the office of toqui was held by the warlike chieftains Lientur and Putapichion, who not only maintained possession of their own territory, but made continual inroads upon the Spanish settlements, bearing off prisoners, horses, and other valuable booty. The Araucanians were at this time habituating themselves to the art of riding, and to the use of fire-arms, as far as they could be procured. The war continued until the year 1640, when the viceroyalty of Chili was conferred upon Don Francisco Zuniga, Marquis of Baydes, who had before done good service for Spain in the wars of the Low Countries. This officer perceived that little was to be gained by continued hostilities with an enemy whom no reverses could dispirit-no severity subdue. The Spanish army was greatly reduced, although from time to time reinforced by fresh arrivals from Peru; and the Araucanians, in the midst of the misery and destitution consequent upon such long and bloody contests, appeared no less determined than when they first made a stand against the invasion by Valdivia. Always well versed in military tactics, they had now become far more dangerous opponents, from their acquisition of horses and from their experience of European warfare. Immediately on his arrival, the marquis took measures to procure a personal interview with Lincopichion, the toqui, and preliminary arrangements for a peace was agreed upon. A great meeting was held, for the purpose of ratifying and concluding the treaty, at * Molina's History of Chili. Quillin, in Puren, on the 6th of January, 1641. Among the usual provisions for exchange of prisoners, terms of trade, personal security, &c., the Spanish viceroy took the precaution to insert a proviso that no foreigners, of any other nation, should be allowed to land upon the Araucanian coast. This stipulation was suggested by former efforts of the Dutch to avail themselves of the cooperation of the native inhabitants, in their attempts against the colonies in Chili. In 1643, a Dutch fleet from Brazil made the harbour of Valdivia, and fortifications were commenced in hopes that a foothold could be thus secured, and the assistance of the natives obtained in maintaining it. The good faith of the Araucanians towards the Spaniards rendered this scheme abortive. CHAPTER V. RENEWAL OF WAR. -PEACE OF 1773.-PRESENT CONDITION POWER. INTERVENTION OF SAN MARTIN. CIVIL WARS. ATTEMPT OF RAMON FREYRE. AFTER about fifteen years of peace and prosperity, difficulties again arose in Araucania, and both colonists and natives suffered all the miseries of a ten years' war. In the earlier campaigns, during this season of hostility, the Toqui Clentaru was signally successful. He defeated the Spaniards in a pitched battle, seized the forts at Arauco, Colcura, St. Pedro, and other posts; and crossing the Bio-bio, de stroyed the city of Chillan, with the forts of St. Christopher and Estancia del Rey. Nothing but the most meagre outline of the prominent events of this period has been preserved in history. During nearly fifty years of quiet which succeeded, the Spaniards encroached farther and farther upon the territory and liberty of the natives, whose dissatisfaction finally led to an outbreak. No permanent peace was effected before the year 1773. During this long interval, the growth of the settlements was retarded, and an enormous VOL. III.-19 |