eir country, with about
thirty thousand inhabitants. The other officers obtained grants of lands
and Indians proportionate to their rank, and the degree in which they
possessed his favour, some getting as far as eight or even ten thousand
Indians. He likewise dispatched Alderte, with a detachment of sixty men,
with orders to establish a settlement on the shore of a lake called
_Lauquen_, to which he gave the name of _Villarica_, or the rich city,
owing to the great quantity of gold that was procured in the environs.

It may be here mentioned that the province of _Maquegua_ was partitioned
anew among the conquerors after the death of Villagran; the principal
part of it being assigned to Juan de Ocampo, and another large share to
Andreas Matencio. But, in consequence of its recapture by the
Araucanians, they reaped very little advantage from their commanderies.
Ocampo was afterwards rewarded for his distinguished services by being
appointed to the office of corregidore of the cities of Serena Mendoza
and St Juan, the two last in the province of Cujo; in which province he
had likewise the grant of a considerable commandery of Indians, which he
afterwards ceded to the crown.

Receiving additional reinforcements from Peru, Valdivia resumed his
march for the south of Chili, still followed but at a considerable
distance by Lincoyan, who pretended continually to seek a favourable
opportunity to attack the Spaniards, but whose timid and cautious
procedure could never find one of which he dared to avail himself. In
this manner Valdivia traversed the whole territory of the Araucunians
from north to south, with exceedingly little opposition and hardly any
loss. But on his arrival at the river Callacalla, which separates the
Araucanians from the _Cunches_, he found that nation in arms on the
opposite bank of the river, ready to dispute the passage. The Cunches
are one of the most valiant of the tribes inhabiting Chili, and possess
the maritime country from the river Callacalla, called Valdivia by the
Spaniards, to the gulf of Chiloe. They are divided into several
subordinate tribes or clans, each of which, as in the other parts of
Chili, are governed by their respective _ulmens_. They are in strict
alliance with the Araucanians, and have ever continued bitter enemies to
the Spaniards.

While Valdivia was deliberating upon the adoption of proper measures for
crossing this river, a woman of the country, named _Recloma_, addressed
t