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A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 5 by Robert Kerr

R >> Robert Kerr >> A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 5




On the arrival of the few Spaniards at Conception who had been able to
escape from the slaughter at Mariguenu, the city of Conception was
filled with indescribable grief and dismay, not a family but had to
deplore the loss of some near relation; and the alarm was greatly
increased by learning that Lautaro was fast approaching with his
victorious army. As Villagran considered it to be impossible to defend
the city under the present dismay of his small remaining force, he
hastily embarked all the old men, women, and children on board two ships
that happened to be then in the harbour, one of which he ordered to
proceed to Imperial, and the other to Valparaiso, while he proceeded by
land for St Jago with all the rest of the inhabitants who were able to
carry arms. Lautaro entered the city next day without opposition, which
he found entirely deserted of its inhabitants, but filled with much
valuable booty, as by its mines and commerce it had already attained
considerable opulence, and the inhabitants were in such haste to escape
with their lives, that they only took what provisions they could procure
along with them, and abandoned their riches. After removing every thing
that was valuable, Lautaro burnt all the houses, and razed the citadel
and other fortifications; after which he returned with his army to
Arauco, to celebrate his triumph after the manner usual in his country.

While Lautaro thus bravely asserted the independence of his country on
the frontiers, Caupolican marched into the south, as has been already
mentioned, to invest the cities of Imperial and Valdivia, both of which
he held closely blockaded. In this emergency, the governors of these two
cities demanded succours from Villagran; who, notwithstanding his late
terrible defeat, sent a sufficient number of troops for their defence
with all possible speed; and both places being accessible by sea, these
succours were able to arrive in time to prevent Caupolican from gaining
possession of either.

"When the army of Caupolican drew near to the city of Imperial, the air
was suddenly enveloped in black clouds, whence arose a mighty storm of
hail and rain. In the midst of the tempest the _epumanon_ or war god of
the Araucanians, made his appearance in form of a terrible dragon,
casting out fire at his mouth and nostrils, and desired them to hasten
their march as he would deliver the city into their hands, on which
occasion he enjoined them to put all the Christians to the sword. The
_epumanon_ then disappeared, and they pursued their way joyfully, being
animated by this oracle. On a sudden the heavens cleared up, and a most
beautiful woman was seen, seated on a bright cloud, and having a
charming yet severe and majestic countenance, which much abated the
pride and haughtiness inspired by the former vision. This was the _queen
of heaven_, who commanded them to return to their own homes, for God was
resolved to favour the Christians; and they immediately obeyed[70]."

[Footnote 70: This paragraph, within inverted commas, is literally
copied from Ovalle, as an instance of the puerile conceits indulged in
by the true Catholic writers of the seventeenth century. The brave and
faithful Bernal Diaz at the beginning of the sixteenth century saw no
miracles during the conquest of Mexico, and the judicious Molina at the
close of the eighteenth, modestly refrains from copying any such
incredible absurdities into his history of Chili.--E.]

On abandoning the sieges of Imperial and Valdivia, Caupolican went to
join Lautaro at Conception, in order to attempt some enterprise against
the Spaniards more practicable than the attack of fortifications, for
the assault of which the Araucanians possessed no sufficient arts or
arms. Availing himself of the absence of his redoubted enemy; Villagran,
who appears to have gone along with the succours to Imperial, ravaged
the whole Araucanian territory around that city, burning and destroying
the houses and crops, and carrying off all the provisions that were not
destroyed to the town. Though of a humane and generous disposition,
averse from the exercise of violence, Villagran endeavoured to
vindicate the employment of these rigorous measures by the necessity of
circumstances, and the pretended rights of war: But on this occasion
they were of no real service to the Spanish cause, which they
contributed to render more odious to the Araucanians; and in general the
only effect which such barbarous conduct produces, is to heap distress
on the weak and helpless. To the other terrible calamities inseparable
from war, especially when carried on in this barbarous manner, a
pestilential disease was superadded which committed dreadful ravages in
Chili, especially among the natives. During the incursions of Villagran
into the Araucanian territory, some Spanish soldiers, who were either
infected at the time or had recently recovered from the small pox,
communicated that fatal disease for the first time to the Araucanians,
among whom it spread with the more direful and rapid destruction, as
they were utterly unacquainted with its nature. So universal and
dreadful was the mortality on this occasion in several provinces, that,
in one district containing a population of twelve thousand persons, not
more than a hundred escaped with life. This pestilential disorder, which
has been more destructive than any other to the human race, had been
introduced a few years before into the northern parts of Chili, where it
then occasioned great mortality among the natives, and where it has
since frequently reappeared at uncertain intervals, and has greatly
diminished the aboriginal population. For more than a century, counting
from the present times, 1787, the southern provinces of Chili forming
the Araucanian confederacy, have been exempted from the ravages of this
cruel disease, in consequence of the most rigorous precautions being
employed by the inhabitants to prevent all communication with the
infected countries, similar to those used in Europe to prevent the
introduction of the plague.

"The following anecdote will shew what horror the small-pox has inspired
into the natives of Araucania. Some considerable time ago[71], the
viceroy of Peru sent as a present to the governor of Chili, several jars
of honey, wine, olives, and different seeds. One of these jars happened
to break while landing, and some Indians who were employed as labourers
on this occasion, imagined that the contents of the jar were the
purulent matter of the small-pox, imported by the governor for the
purpose of being disseminated among the Araucanian provinces, to
exterminate their inhabitants. They immediately gave notice to their
countrymen, who stopped all intercourse with the Spanish provinces and
flew to arms, killing above forty Spaniards who were then among them in
the full security of peace. To revenge this outrage, the governor
marched with an army into the Araucanian territory, and a new war was
excited which continued for some time to the great injury of both
nations."

[Footnote 71: The passage within commas is a note in the original
English publication of Molina; and from subsequent parts of the history,
the event here related appears to have occurred about the commencement
of the seventeenth century, or more than two hundred years ago.--E.]

While Villagran was using every possible exertion to maintain the
Spanish power in the south of Chili, by combating the brave and
victorious Araucanians, he found himself on the point of being compelled
to turn his arms against his own countrymen. It has been already
mentioned that Valdivia, in the instructions he left with the
magistrates of Conception before his fatal expedition into Araucania,
had nominated Francisco Aguirre in the second place as his own successor
in the government, and that Villagran, only third in nomination, had
succeeded to the command in consequence of the absence of the other two
who were prior to himself. When Aguirre, who was then in Cujo, where he
does not appear to have effected any thing of importance, was informed
of the death of Valdivia, and his own destination to the government of
Chili, he considered the assumption of the vacant command by Villagran
as prejudicial to his own just rights, and immediately returned into
Chili with sixty men who remained of his detachment, determined to
acquire possession of the government by force or favour. His pretensions
and those of Villagran must infallibly have kindled a civil war among
the Spaniards in Chili, to the ruin or vast detriment of the Spanish
interest, had not the competitors agreed to submit the decision of their
respective claims to the royal audience at Lima, which at that time,
1555, held the supreme legal jurisdiction over all the Spanish dominions
in South America. On this appeal, the court of audience thought proper
to set aside the pretensions of both competitors, and issued an edict
authorizing the corregidors of the different cities to command each in
their respective districts, till farther orders. Perceiving the extreme
inconvenience that must have necessarily resulted to the interests of
the colony, from this divided government, especially during so important
a war, the principal inhabitants remonstrated against the impolicy of
this decree. The royal audience listened to the representations of the
colonists, and appointed Villagran to resume the command, but only
granted him the title of corregidor, and gave him orders to rebuild the
city of Conception. Although convinced of the inutility of this measure
in the present conjuncture, Villagran, in obedience to the orders,
proceeded immediately to that place with eighty-five families, whom he
established there, and erected a strong fortification for their defence.

The native inhabitants of that part of the country which formed the
territory of Conception, were indignant at being again subjected to the
intolerable yoke of the Spaniards, and had recourse to the Araucanians
for protection. Caupolican, who seems at this time to have remained in
almost entire inaction, either ignorant of the proceedings of the
Spaniards, or from some other cause of which we are not informed,
immediately sent Lautaro at the head of two thousand warriors to the
assistance of the distressed natives on the north side of the Biobio.
The young vice-toqui, exasperated at what he called the obstinacy of the
Spaniards in rebuilding the city which he had destroyed, immediately
passed the Biobio, and the Spaniards imprudently awaited him in the open
plain, confiding in their own valour and arms, despising the superior
numbers of the barbarians. The Spaniards, however, were panic struck at
the furious energy of the first encounter, and fled with precipitation
to take shelter behind their ramparts; but were so closely pursued by
Lautaro and his valiant followers, that they were unable to close the
gate. The Araucanians entered the city along with the fugitives, many of
whom were slain; and the small remnant made a precipitate retreat, part
of them by embarking in a ship then in the port, and others by taking
refuge in the woods, whence they returned through bye-paths to St Jago.

Lautaro immediately plundered and burnt the city, and returned loaded
with spoils to his usual station on the mountain of Mariguenu. The
successful issue of this enterprise excited Caupolican to resume the
sieges or blockades of Imperial and Valdivia, during which Lautaro
undertook to make a diversion of the Spanish forces, by marching against
St Jago, by which he expected to prevent them from sending
reinforcements into the south, and he even conceived that it might be
possible to gain possession of that capital of the Spanish dominions in
Chili, notwithstanding its great distance; as the successes he had
already obtained so filled his mind with confidence that no difficulty
appeared too great to be overcome. In order to execute this hazardous
enterprise, which appears to have been concerted with Caupolican, he
only required five hundred men to be selected by himself from the
Araucanian army; but so many pressed to serve under his victorious
standard, that he was obliged to admit an additional hundred. With this
determined band of six hundred warriors, he traversed all the provinces
between the rivers Biobio and Maule, without doing any injury to the
natives, who hailed him as their deliverer from the Spanish tyranny. But
on crossing the latter river, he immediately proceeded to lay waste the
lands of the Promaucians, who were detested by the Araucanians for
acting as auxiliaries to the Spaniards. Had he treated them with
kindness, he might in all probability have detached them from the
Spanish interest and united them in alliance with his own nation. But
impelled by eagerness for revenge, he did not appreciate the good
effects which might have flowed from a reconciliation with that numerous
and warlike nation, whom he considered as traitors to the common cause.
Having satiated his revenge, he fortified himself in an advantageous
post in their territory on the banks of the Rio-claro, probably on
purpose to gain more correct information respecting the state of the
city he intended to attack.

This ill-judged delay was of great importance to the inhabitants of St
Jago, by giving them time to prepare for their defence. They could not
at first believe it possible that Lautaro would have the audacity to
undertake a march of three hundred miles beyond the Araucanian frontiers
to attack their city; but undeceived by the refugees from Conception,
and the daily reports of the ravages of the enemy in the territories of
the Promaucians, they dispatched Juan Godinez with an escort of
twenty-five horse into the Promaucian country to watch the motions of
the enemy, and to send intelligence of his proceedings and designs.
Godinez was unexpectedly attacked by a detachment of the Araucanians,
and obliged to make a precipitate retreat to St Jago, with his numbers
considerably diminished, and filled the capital with consternation and
dismay at the intelligence of the near approach of their redoubted
enemy. On this occasion the Araucanians took ten horses and some arms
from the Spaniards, both of which were used by them in the succeeding
actions.

Villagran, who was at this time unable to take the field in consequence
of illness, sent his son Pedro against Lautaro with such troops as could
be procured, and immediately proceeded to fortify all the approaches to
the city of St Jago with strong entrenchments. In the mean time, young
Villagran attacked the Araucanians in their fortified post. Instructed
by their intrepid yet wary commander, the Araucanians pretended to take
flight after a short resistance; but the Spaniards were no sooner
entered into the abandoned inclosure, than they returned upon them with
such impetuosity, that Pedro and his men were completely routed, and
only the cavalry was able to escape by flight, all the infantry who had
penetrated the Araucanian camp being put to death. After procuring
reinforcements, young Villagran returned three several times to attack
the camp of Lautaro, in all of which attempts he was repulsed with
considerable loss. He now encamped his force in a low meadow on the
banks of the river Mataquito, at no great distance from the entrenched
post of Lautaro. The Araucanian general formed a plan for inundating the
camp of the Spaniards during night, by turning upon them a branch of the
river; but the Spaniards being informed of this design by a spy,
withdrew to St Jago.

Having recovered from his illness, Villagran was solicited by the
citizens of St Jago to exert himself to dislodge the Araucanians from
their neighbourhood, as they every moment expected to see them at their
gates. He accordingly, some time in the year 1556, set out from the city
at the head of 196 Spaniards and 1000 Indian auxiliaries, in search of
Lautaro. Instructed by his severe defeat at Mariguenu, Villagran
resolved to attack the enemy by surprise; and quitting the direct road,
he secretly directed his march towards the Araucanian encampment in the
night by a private path under the guidance of a spy, and reached their
entrenchments undiscovered at day-break. Lautaro, who had been on guard
all night according to his usual custom, had just retired to rest when
the alarm was given of the attack from the Spaniards. He hastened
immediately to the spot, to observe the enemy and to issue his orders
for defence; but at the moment of his arrival, a dart from the hand of
one of the Indian auxiliaries pierced him to the heart. Encouraged by
this fortunate event, which was soon known to the Spaniards, Villagran
urged the assault of the entrenchments, and soon forced an entrance in
spite of the Araucanians, who made an obstinate defence. Finding their
post carried, the Araucanians retired to an angle of their works,
determined rather to allow themselves to be cut in pieces than to
surrender. In vain the Spanish commander repeatedly offered quarter;
they continued fighting with the utmost obstinacy till every man of them
was cut off, many of them even throwing themselves on the lances of the
Spaniards, as if courting death in preference to submission. This
victory, which was not obtained without considerable loss on the part of
the Spaniards and their allies, was celebrated in St Jago and the other
Spanish settlements with every demonstration of joy. The Spaniards
felicitated themselves on being freed from a redoubted enemy, who at the
early age of nineteen had already obtained so many victories over them,
and who threatened to destroy their settlements in Chili, and even to
harass them in Peru.

When the terror which this young hero had inspired was removed by his
death, even his enemies extolled his valour and military talents, and
compared him to the greatest generals who had figured in ancient times,
calling him the Chilese Hannibal. To use the words of the abbe
Olivarez:--"It is not just to depreciate the merit of one, who, had he
been of our nation, we should have vaunted as a hero. If we celebrate
the martial prowess of the Spanish Viriatus, we ought not to obscure the
fame of the American Lautaro, as both valorously contended in arms for
the liberties of their country."

For a long time the Araucanians lamented the untimely fate of the
valiant Lautaro, to whom they owed all the success which their arms had
hitherto atchieved, and on whose conduct and bravery they entirely
relied for the preservation of their independence. His name is still
celebrated in their heroic songs, and his actions are still proposed as
the most glorious model for the imitation of their youth. Above all
others, Caupolican felt and lamented the loss of his valiant associate.
Far from thinking he had got free from a rival of his fame, he
considered that he had lost his chief coadjutor in the glorious cause of
restoring their nation to independence. Immediately on receiving the
mournful intelligence, he quitted the siege of Imperial, though reduced
to the last extremity, and returned with his army to defend the northern
frontiers of Araucania, and to protect his country from the incursions
of the Spaniards, as he learnt by his spies that they soon expected a
large reinforcement of men and warlike stores from Peru under a new
commander.

On learning the death of Valdivia, as formerly related, Philip II. gave
charge of the government and conquest of Chili to Alderete, the agent
who had been sent by Valdivia into Spain, and furnished him for this
purpose with six hundred regular troops. During the voyage to the Tierra
Firma, the ship was set on fire by accident, by his sister who was
accustomed to read in bed; and of the whole number on board, Alderete
and three soldiers alone escaped to Porto Bello. Overcome with grief and
disappointment at this melancholy catastrophe, Alderete died soon after
in the small island of Taboga in the gulf of Panama. When informed of
this disaster, and of the threatening aspect of affairs in Chili in
consequence of the untoward events in the Araucanian war, the marquis of
Canete, then viceroy of Peru, appointed his son Don Garcia Hurtado de
Mendoza, to the vacant government. As this charge had become both
important and dangerous, the marquis resolved that his son should be
accompanied by such a body of forces as might be able to support his
authority, and might enable him successfully to terminate the war
against the Araucanians. As the civil dissensions in Peru were now at an
end, and that country abounded in military adventurers eager for
employment, he was soon able to levy a respectable force of horse and
foot for this expedition. The infantry, all well equipped and appointed,
with a great quantity of military stores; embarked in ten ships under
the command of Don Garcia in person; and the cavalry marched by land
under the orders of Garcia Ramon, who was appointed quarter-master-general
of Chili.

Don Garcia arrived with his fleet in safety in the Bay of Conception, in
the month of April 1557, and came to anchor near the island of
Quiriquina, which was chosen as the headquarters as a place of great
security. The scanty population of the island attempted to oppose the
disembarkation of the troops, but being soon dispersed by the artillery,
they retired in their piraguas to the continent. A small number being
made prisoners, the governor sent two or three of them with a message to
the Araucanians, to inform them of his arrival, and that he was desirous
to settle a lasting peace with them on fair terms. In an assembly of the
Ulmens to deliberate upon this message, the general opinion was that no
propositions ought to be listened to from an enemy who had returned in
greater force than ever, under the idea that any terms they might
propose would necessarily be treacherous and unfair. Old Colocolo
observed, however, that no injury could arise from listening to the
proposals of the Spanish governor; and that they even had now a
favourable opportunity for obtaining a knowledge of the amount of his
force, and for discovering his designs. For this purpose, therefore, he
thought it advisable that they should send an intelligent person, under
pretence of congratulating the new governor on his arrival, and thanking
him for his offer of amicable terms of peace, who might at the same time
gain information of whatever he should consider important to regulate
their future conduct. Caupolican and most of the older officers adopted
this judicious proposal, and the important commission was confided to
Millalauco, a person who possessed every requisite for the business
confided to his charge.

Millalauco accordingly crossed the narrow strait which separates the
island of Quiriquina from the continent, and presented himself to the
Spaniards with all the pride which characterises the Araucanian nation.
In their turn, the Spaniards were willing to give him a high idea of
their military power, and drew out their troops in order of battle for
his reception, conducting him to the tent of the governor amidst
repeated discharges of their artillery. Not in the least disconcerted by
this military parade, Millalauco complimented the governor in the name
of Caupolican and the Araucanian chiefs, declaring that they would all
be happy in the establishment of an honourable peace, advantageous to
both nations, in their desire for which they were solely actuated by
motives of humanity, and not by any dread of the Spanish power. Don
Garcia, though much disappointed by these vague offers, replied in the
same general terms respecting peace; and, after regaling the ambassador
in a magnificent manner, he ordered some of his officers to conduct him
over the whole encampment, in expectation of intimidating him by
displaying the immense military preparations which accompanied him to
Chili. This was exactly suited to the wishes of Millalauco, who observed
every thing with the utmost attention, though with apparent
indifference; and, having taken leave of the Spaniards, he returned to
make his report to the assembled chiefs. On receiving an exact report of
all that had been seen by their envoy, the Araucanian chiefs gave orders
for the establishment of centinels along the coast of their country, to
observe and communicate notice of the movements of the Spaniards, and
commanded the warriors to prepare for taking the field at the first
summons, as they believed a renewal of the war was near and inevitable.

Don Garcia continued inactive almost the whole of the winter in the
island of Quiriquina, waiting the arrival of his cavalry from Peru, and
for reinforcements which he had required from the cities of Chili. At
length, on the night of the 6th August 1557 he privately landed 130 men
and several engineers on the plain of Conception, and immediately took
possession of Mount Pinto which commands the harbour, where he
constructed a fort well garnished with cannon, and surrounded by a deep
ditch. This event was immediately communicated to Caupolican, who
hastily collected his forces, and passed the Biobio on the 9th of
August, and next morning at day-break, a day remarkable in Europe by the
defeat of the French at St Quintin, he assailed the new fortress on
three sides at once, having sent on in front a body of pioneers to fill
up the ditch with fascines and trunks of trees. The assault was long
urged with all the furious and obstinate bravery which distinguishes the
Araucanians. Numbers mounted the parapet, and some even leapt within the
walls, destroying many of the defendants. But the cannon and musquetry
of the Spaniards were so skilfully directed, and the slaughter of the
assailants so prodigious, that the ditch was filled with dead bodies,
serving as bridges for the new combatants who pressed on to replace
their slain comrades. Tucapel, impelled by his rash and unparalleled
valour, threw himself into the fort, where he slew four of the enemy
with his formidable mace, and then made his escape by leaping from a
precipice amidst a shower of balls.

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