. But such was not the case with the
valiant Araucanians. From the period of Almagro, the companion of Pizarro
and the first invader of Chili, down to our own days these bold Americans
fought for and retained their independence, holding the Biobio as their
national frontier, and driving army after army from their soil. Not until
1882 did they consent to become citizens of Chili, and then of their own
free will, and they still retain their native habits and their pride in
their pure blood.

The most heroic and intrepid of the Indian races, they defied the armies
of the Incas long before the Spaniards came, and the armies of the
Spaniards for centuries afterwards, and though they have now consented to
become a part of the Chilian nation, this has not been through conquest,
and they are as independent in spirit to-day as in the warlike years of
the past. Their hardy and daring character infects the whole of Chili, and
has given that little republic, drawn out like a long string between the
Andes and the sea, the reputation of being one of the most warlike and
unyielding of countries, while to its people has been applied the
suggestive title of "the Yankees of the South."

It would need a volume to tell the deeds of the heroes who arose in
succession to defend the land of Araucania from the arms of those who so
easily overturned the mighty empire of Peru. We shall, therefore, confine
ourselves to the exploits of one of the earliest of these, a youthful
warrior with a genius for war that might have raised him to the rank of a
great commander had not death early cut short his career. The second
Spaniard who attempted the conquest of this valiant people was Pedro de
Valdivia, the quartermaster of Pizarro, an able soldier, but one of those
who fancied that a handful of Spanish cavaliers were a match for the
strongest of the Indian tribes. He little knew the spirit of the race with
which he would have to deal.

Southward from Peru marched the bold Valdivia with two hundred Spaniards
at his back. With them as aids to conquest was brought a considerable
force of Peruvians; also priests and women, for he proposed to settle and
hold the land as his own after he had conquered it. Six hundred miles
southward he went, fighting the hostile natives at every step, and on the
14th of February, 1541, stopped and laid the foundations of a town which
he named St. Jago. This still stands as the modern Santiago, a city of
three hundred thousa