nland, saw
clearly the importance of a settlement at which vessels from Europe
could touch on their first arrival at the Continent.

So the stream of white men, having been in the first instance swept by
the force of circumstances rather than its own desire from the coast in
a north-westerly direction, began now to roll back towards the coast
once again, without, however, yielding up any of the territories which
it had occupied in the interior.

In 1580 Juan de Garay determined that the supreme effort should be made.
He led an expedition down the stream, and on the spot where Pedro de
Mendoza had founded his first ill-fated settlement he built the pioneer
structures of the second town of Buenos Aires. The wisdom of this move
was evident to all, provided the place were able to withstand the
attacks of the surrounding Indians. In this the garrison succeeded, and
Buenos Aires, having now taken firm root, began the first slow growth
of its development, which eventually made of it the greatest city in
South America.

In the meantime much had been effected towards the colonization of the
land to the west of the Andes. As has been related, Almagro's
unfortunate expedition returned, dejected and diminished in numbers,
from the apparently inhospitable soil in the south. This disaster lent
to Chile an unenviable but entirely undeserved notoriety. Pedro de
Valdivia was the next to venture into these regions. Valdivia naturally
enjoyed several advantages over his predecessor, for he knew now, by the
other's experiences, the dangers and perils against which he had to
guard. In consequence of this his expedition met with considerably more
success than had been anticipated. Marching southward across the great
Atacama Desert, he penetrated to the fertile regions of the land, and
founded the town of Santiago.

All this was not effected without encountering the hostility of the
local Indians, and the inhabitants of the new town carried their lives
in their hands for a considerable while after the foundation of the
city. Perhaps, indeed, no pioneers experienced greater hardships than
did those of Chile. For the first few years of its existence every
member of the new colony became accustomed to live in an unceasing
condition of short rations, and it was on very poorly furnished stomachs
that the garrison was obliged to meet and to repel the attacks of the
natives. In the end, however, the seeds which had been brought by the
adventure