he general of the Cunches with so much eloquence in behalf of the
strangers, that he withdrew his army and allowed them to pass the river
unmolested. Immediately after this unexpected event, the Spanish general
founded a sixth city on the southern shore of the Callacalla, near its
junction with the sea, giving it his own name of Valdivia; being the
first of the conquerors in America who sought in this manner to
perpetuate his name. This settlement, of which the fortress only now
remains, attained in a few years a considerable degree of prosperity;
owing to the superior fineness of the gold procured from its
neighbouring mines, which obtained it the privilege of a mint, and
because its harbour is one of the most convenient and secure of any on
the shore of the Pacific Ocean. The river is here very broad, and so
deep that ships of the line may be moored in safety within a few feet of
the shore; and it has several other safe harbours and creeks in the
vicinity.

Satisfied with the extent of the conquests he had made, or rather with
the incursions he had been able to make in the Araucanian territory,
Valdivia now retraced his steps towards the north; and in his progress
during the year 1553, he built fortresses in each of the three
Araucanian provinces of Paren Tucapel and Arauco. From the warlike
inhabitants of these provinces especially, he apprehended any attempt
that might prove fatal to his more southerly settlements of Imperial
Villarica and Valdivia, and he left garrisons in these more northern
fortresses to preserve the communication, and to be in readiness to
afford succours to the others in the south. According to the poet
Breilla, the Spaniards had to sustain many battles and encounters with
the natives in the course of this expedition in Araucania, but the
particulars of none of these are recorded. This is however very
probable; as it is not easy to account for the continuance of Lincoyan
in the command on any other principles. It may be concluded, however,
that, owing to the caution, or cowardice rather of the Araucanian toqui,
these actions were so ill conducted and so inconclusive, as to give very
little interruption to Valdivia in his triumphant progress through these
provinces, between the Biobio and Callacalla, or from Conception to
Valdivia.

On his return to St Jago, the seat of government, Valdivia received a
considerable body of recruits to his army from Peru, together with 350
horses; on which he di