Valdivia

“ CHAPTER XXIII. THE CHINGANA.
Valdivia, founded in 1551 by the Spanish conqueror Don Pedro de Valdivia, is a charming city, two leagues from the sea, upon the left bank of a river, which large vessels can easily ascend into the fertile valley of Guadallanguen. The aspect of the city, the advanced post of civilization in these remote countries, is most agreeable; the streets are large, uniformly built; the white houses, only one story high, on account of the frequency of earthquakes, are terrace-roofed. ”

“ The Valdivia is the outlet for Lake Rinihue and is navigable for a long distance. Valdivia is one of the most recently settled provinces and has a large immigrant element, chiefly German. Its most important industry is that of clearing away the heavy forests and marketing the timber. Stock-raising is an important industry, and wheat is grown on the cleared lands. Lumber, cattle, leather, flour and beer are exported. The capital is Valdivia, a flourishing city on the Valdivia river, 12 m. ”

“ It was a beautiful place, and abounded with every convenience of life. The Spaniards felt highly gratified with their success. Valdivia called the name of their new city Imperial, and he prepared to divide the country among his followers, as Pizarro had divided Peru. Valdivia gave to Villagran, his lieutenant-general, the province of Maquegua, called by the Araucanians the key of their country, with thirty thousand inhabitants. ”

“ A great pitched battle for a time, early in 1541, decided the supremacy of the white men, and Valdivia, with superhuman energy and cruelty unexampled, set tens of thousands of Indians to work washing auriferous sand, delving in mines, cutting roads that still exist, and clearing the way for the advance of the Spaniards southward. In a lovely, fertile, elevated plain, with the eternal snow-capped Andes looking down upon it, Valdivia founded the capital of his new domain, the city of Santiago, on the morrow of his victory in February 1541, and from the height of St. ”

“ We cannot persuade ourselves that his lordship does not acknowledge, that all the stores existing at Valdivia at the time of its restoration belong to the state of Chile in the same manner as those in the provinces actually forming the state, without any other difference than that these were restored to the free exercise of their liberty before that was. Even if Valdivia did not belong to Chile, we do not make war on every section of America, but on the Spaniards who hold a domination over it: these are the principles which have always regulated the conduct of our armies ”

“ Thus fell Pedro de Valdivia, the conqueror of Chili; a man of superior genius and of great political and military talents, but who, seduced by the romantic spirit of his age and country, had not sufficient prudence to employ them to the best advantage. His undertakings had been more fortunate, if he had properly estimated his own strength, and had less despised the courage and skill of the Araucanians, presuming on the dastardly example of the Peruvians, and the want of concert in the more northern tribes of Chili, against whom he had hitherto been accustomed to contend. ”

“ In many skirmishes Valdivia always defeated the Araucanians and put them to flight, as they were in such dread of the Spanish horse that they never dared to adventure into the open plains, where ten Spaniards were able to beat a thousand Indians, for which reason they always kept lurking in the woods and mountains, where the Spanish cavalry could not get at them; whence they often sallied out, doing all the injury they were able against the Spaniards. ”

“ Gold in abundance, surpassing the visions even of the Spaniards, was to be had for the digging or washing, but the Indians would only dig or wash the metal whilst a white man with a harquebus stood over them, and not always then. Poison and treachery were common to both sides, and cruelty surpassed itself. In one battle Valdivia cut off the hands and noses of hundreds of Indian prisoners and sent them back as an object lesson, and the Araucanians, with devilish irony, killed the Spaniards by pouring molten gold down their throats. ”

“ The manner in which Valdivia was afterwards put to death has been differently related. Some say that Lautaro, finding him tied to a tree, killed him after reviling and reproaching him as a robber and a tyrant. The most certain intelligence is, that an old captain beat out his brains with a club. Others again say that the Araucanians passed the night after their victory in dances and mirth; and that at the end of every dance, they cut off a piece of flesh from Valdivia and another from the priest, both yet alive, which they broiled and eat before their faces. ”

“ Valdivia is the name of a Chilian province; also of the river which there pours down from the mountains into the plains: and likewise of a city which is remarkable for its architecturally constructed bamboo-bridge, and for the fact that every man you meet in the street is called Rocca, and prides himself on his ancestors having been the ancient rulers of Chili and walked about there barefooted. Now the inhabitants have degenerated into wearing boots and they talk Spanish. ”

“ It was here that Inez Suarez, who had followed Valdivia from Cuzco, rendered her name immortal by her active defence of the fort; tradition says that she cut off with her own hands the heads of six Indian chieftain prisoners and threw them over the palisades to intimidate the attackers. Valdivia returned, from the Maule, where he had received a check, and re-established his colony. ”

“ Valdivia was among the prisoners taken and was slain. Again and again, under the lead of a youthful hero, Lautaro, and a vigorous toqui, or chief, named Caupolican, the Araucanians assailed the invaders of their country with success; but the latter increased in numbers and gained ground, at last, for a time, building towns and extending settlements in the Araucanian territory. The indomitable people were not broken in spirit, however; and in 1598, by an universal and simultaneous rising, they expelled the Spaniards from almost every settlement they had made. ”

“ It might be supposed that the New World was the land of promise for monks; they appear to rise out of the earth at every step. Thanks to the extensive commerce which Valdivia carries on by means of its port, which is visited by the numerous whalers fishing in those seas, and ships which come there to refit, after doubling Cape Horn, or before passing it,—its streets have more animation than is generally to be met with in American cities.
Don Tadeo arrived in Valdivia, accompanied by Don Gregorio and Doña Rosario, on the evening of the sixteenth day after his departure from his friend's chacra. ”

“ None of them have been since rebuilt, as what is at present called Valdivia is nothing more than a garrison or fortified post. Though great numbers of the inhabitants of these cities perished in the defence of their walls, by famine or by the sword of the enemy, yet Spanish prisoners of all ranks were so numerous among the Araucanians, that almost every family had at least one to its share. The married Spaniards were mostly allowed to retain their wives, and the unmarried men were supplied with wives from among the women of the country ”

“ Valdivia soon found that he had no ordinary Indians to deal with. These were not of the kind that could be dispersed by a squadron of cavalry. A fierce charge was made on his left wing, which was cut to pieces by the daring warriors of Caupolican. The right wing was also vigorously attacked. But the artillery and musketry of the Spaniards were mowing down the ranks of the Araucanians, whose rude war-clubs and spears were ill-fitted to cope with those death-dealing weapons. Driven back, and hundreds of them falling, they returned with heroic courage three times to the assault. ”

“ Perceiving the intentions of Valdivia to occupy the important post of Penco by a permanent settlement, the adjacent tribes of the Pencones gave notice of this invasion to the great nation of the Araucanians, their neighbours and friends, whose territories began on the southern shore of the Biobio; who, foreseeing that the strangers would soon endeavour to reduce their own country to subjection, determined to succour their distressed allies for their own security. ”

“ Pedro de Valdivia undertook the conquest of Chile and Alonso de Alvarado, one of the most generous and humane of the Conquistadores, that of the mountains of northern Peru. The Adelantado himself traveled over most of the empire, founding cities at strategic points in the more populous and fertile valleys, among them Arequipa, and here in Bolivia as in the country about Cuzco he divided the most desirable of the lands into repartimientos and apportioned them among his favorites. ”

“ In pursuance of this humane measure, early in 1512—it was toward the close of 1511 that Valdivia had sailed for Española—the governor organized an expedition against Dabaiba, [VIII-15] a rich province some thirty leagues to the southward. ”

“ In few places have I seen such an abundance of interesting fauna as at Puerto Valdivia. The forest was teeming with birds; mammals were plentiful; shoals of fish and even caimans swarmed in the river; there were also insects enough to cheer the heart of an entomologist. ”

“ Valdivia thus relieved the siege, and rebuilt the city; but, for six years, the natives were constant in their attacks; they cut off the Spaniards at every opportunity, destroyed the crops, and, finally, rendered all the fertile plains around St. Jago uncultivated and desert; and then retired to the mountains.
The Spanish soldiers had become heartily tired of this fighting life. A few battles did very well, but to spend year after year in warfare was not at all comfortable. So they finally determined to kill their general, and then return to Peru. ”

“ After several years of indecisive warfare, in which the Spaniards made no progress in the way of conquering the Indians, or the undisputed occupation of the territory, Valdivia decided to return to Peru for the purpose of enlisting a more formidable force of men and arms with which to prosecute the war against the Araucanians. He started on this mission in 1547, leaving the depleted forces in Chile in charge of Francisco Villagran, returning two years later with two hundred infantry and a troop of one hundred cavalry, all well armed and equipped. ”

“ Valdivia, hearing of this, assembled his troops and marched against the Indians. He had about two hundred Spaniards and five thousand Indian auxiliaries, Promancians and Peruvians, under his command. Caupolicon had about ten thousand troops.
The two armies met on the third of December, 1553. The fight was desperate and bloody. The Spaniards had cannon and musketry—but the brave Araucanians were on their own soil, and they resolved to conquer or die. As fast as one line was destroyed, fresh troops poured in to supply the places of the slain. ”

“ After the death of Valdivia, who was put to death while pleading for his life, the Spaniards evacuated all the cities which the Spanish governor had founded, except two. These were immediately besieged by Caupolican, while Lautaro, now appointed lieutenant-general, or vice-toqui, fortified himself for the defence of the frontiers on the lofty mountains of Mariguena. The mountain being full of precipices and clefts, and covered on one side by impenetrable thickets, presented only a single winding by-path, which led to the top of the mountain. ”

“ There is a rashness without calculation of consequences; but with that calculation well-founded, it is no longer rashness. And thus, now that I was unfettered by people who did not second my operations as they ought to have done, I made up my mind to take Valdivia, if the attempt came within the scope of my calculations."
Valdivia was the stronghold and centre of Spanish attack upon Chili from the south, just as were Lima and Callao on the north. To reach it Lord Cochrane had to sail northwards along the coast of Peru and Chili to some distance below Valparaiso. ”

“ Character of Valdivia—Character of the Araucanians—Their military system and social organization—De Hoz and Carmargo—Pizarro ignores the royal commission and appoints Valdivia to undertake the conquest of Chile—The expedition—Founding of Santiago and trouble with the Indians—Battle on the Mapocho river—Disaffection—Discovery of gold. ”

“ Kinkajous also used these bridges, and as the natives prized the skins of these animals highly for making chaparejos, they conducted a regular business of hunting them on moonlight nights. After shooting in one spot for several nights in succession, it was necessary to leave it undisturbed for some time, as the animals became wary and sought other bridges.
The town of Valdivia is located on a little ridge four thousand two hundred feet up, about ten miles from Puerto Valdivia, which is on the Cauca River. All the intervening country is wooded. ”

“ About the same time, he obtained possession of a rich gold mine, in the valley of Quillota; and, by distributing the gold freely among his men, he found that they soon grew contented. But he discovered that he needed more soldiers, as the natives were far from being subdued; and he had constantly to keep a detachment of troops to guard the miners.
At length, Valdivia resolved to send, by land, two of his captains, Monroy and Miranda, with six companions, whose spurs, bits, and stirrups he directed to be made of gold, hoping thus to entice the Spaniards in Peru to come to his assistance. ”