In the mean time, two soldiers having separated from the army, proceeded to Guasco, where they were at first well received, but were afterwards put to death by the inhabitants, in consequence, no doubt, of some acts of violence, which soldiers, freed from the controul of their officers, are very apt to commit. This was the first European blood spilt in Chili, a country afterwards so copiously watered with it.

On being informed of this unfortunate accident, calculated to destroy the exalted opinion which he wished to inspire of his soldiers, Almagro, having proceeded to Coquimbo, ordered the Ulmen of the district, called Marcando, his brother, and twenty of the principal inhabitants to be brought thither, all of whom, together with the usurper of Copiapo, he delivered to the flames, without, according to Herrera, pretending to assign any reason for his conduct. This act of cruelty appeared to every one very extraordinary and unjust, since among those adventurers there were not wanting men of sensibility, and advocates for the rights of humanity. The greater part of the army openly disapproved of the severity of their general, the aspect of whose affairs from this time forward became gradually worse and

worse.

.

About this period, 1537, Almagro received a considerable reinforcement of recruits under Juan de Rada, accompanied with royal letters patent, appointing him governor of two hundred leagues of territory, situated to the southward of the government granted to Francis Pizarro. The friends whom he had left in Peru, taking advantage of this opportunity, urged

him by private letters to return, in order to take possession of Cuzco, which they assured him was within the limits of his jurisdiction. Notwithstanding this, inflated with his new conquest, he pursued his march, passed the fatal Cachapoal, and, regardless of the remonstrances of the Peruvians, advanced into the country of the Promaucians.

At the first sight of the Spaniards, their horses and the thundering arms of Europe, these valiant people were almost petrified with astonishment, but soon recovering from the effects of surprize, they opposed with intrepidity their new enemies upon the shore of the Rio-claro. Almagro, despising their force, placed in the first line his Peruvian auxiliaries, increased by a number whom Paullu had drawn from the garrisons; but these, being soon routed, fell back in confusion upon the rear. The Spaniards, who expected to have been merely spectators of the battle, saw themselves compelled to sustain the vigorous attack of the enemy, and advancing with their horse, began a furious battle, which continued with great loss upon either side, till night separated the combatants.

Although the Promaucians had been very roughly handled, they lost not their courage, but encamped in sight of their enemy, determined to renew the attack the next morning. The Spaniards, however, though by the custom of Europe they considered themselves as victors, having kept possession of the field, were very differently inclined. Having been accustomed to subdue immense provinces with little or no resistance, they became disgusted with

an enterprize, which could not be effected without great fatigue and the loss of much blood, since, in its prosecution they must contend with a bold and independant nation, by whom they were not believed to be immortal. Thus all, by common consent, resolved to abandon this expedition; but they were of various opinions respecting their retreat, some being desirous of returning to Peru, while others wished to form a settlement in the northern provinces, where they had been received with such hospitality.

The first opinion was supported by Almagro, whose mind began to be impressed by the suggestions contained in the letters of his friends. He represented to his soldiers the dangers to which a settlement would be exposed in so warlike a country, and persuaded them to follow him to Cuzco, where he hoped to establish himself either by favour or force. His fatal experience of the mountain road, determined him to take that of the sea coast, by which he reconducted his troops with very little loss. On his return to Peru in 1538, he took possession by surprize of the ancient capital of that empire; and, after several ineffectual negociations, fought a battle with the brother of Pizarro, by whom he was taken, tried and beheaded, as a disturber of the public peace. His army, having dispersed at their defeat, afterwards reassembled under the title of the soldiers of Chili, and excited new disturbances in Peru, already sufficiently agitated. Such was the fate of the first expedition against Chili, undertaken by the

best body of European troops that had as yet been collected in those parts. The thirst of riches was the moving spring of the expedition, and the disappointment of their hopes of obtaining them, the cause of its failure.

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CHAPTER VI.

The Spaniards return to Chili, under the command of Pedro de Valdivia; St. Jago the capital founded; Various encounters with the natives; Conspiracy of the soldiers against the general.

FRANCIS PIZARRO having, by the death of his rival, obtained the absolute command of the Spanish possessions in South America, lost not sight of the conquest of Chili, which he conceived might, in any event, prove an important acquisition to him. Among the adventurers who had come to Peru. were two officers, commissioned by the court of Spain, under the titles of governor, to attempt this expedition. To the first, called Pedro Sanchez de Hoz, was committed the conquest of the country as far as the river Maúle; and to the other, Carmargo, the remainder to the Archipelago of Chiloé. Pizarro, jealous of these men, under frivolous pretexts refused to confirm the royal nomination, and appointed to this expedition his quarter-master, Pedro de Valdivia, a prudent and active officer, who had gained experience in the Italian war, and, what was a still greater recommendation, was attached to his party, directing him to take de Hoz with him, who was probably more to be feared than his colleague, and to allow him every advantage in the partition of the lands.