spatched Francisco de Aguirre with two hundred
men, to reduce the provinces of Tucuman and Cajo on the eastern side of
the Andes; not considering how inadequate was even his whole
undiminished military force to retain so large an extent of country as
that he had now occupied, and a so numerous and warlike people under
subjection. Indefatigable in the execution of his extensive plans of
conquest, Valdivia returned into Araucania, where he founded in the
province of Encol, a city to which he gave the name of La Frontera,
being the seventh and last of his foundation. This name, from events
which could not then have been in the consideration of Valdivia, has
become strictly applicable to its present situation, as its ruins are
actually situated on the southern confines of the Spanish settlements in
Chili. Though long ago destroyed, it is still mentioned by geographers
as an existing city under the name of Angol, by which native
denomination it was long known to the Spaniards. It was situated in a
fertile district, excellently adapted for the cultivation of vines, and
for some time was in a rich and flourishing condition, principally owing
to its wines, which were in great repute at Buenos Ayres, to which place
they were transported by a road across the Andes and through the plains
of La Plata.

After making suitable regulations for the security of this new colony,
Valdivia returned to his favourite city of Conception, where he
instituted three principal military officers for commanding the royal
army of Chili, consisting of a quartermaster-general, a serjeant-major,
and a commissary. In the present times only two of these subsist, the
quarter-master-general and the serjeant-major; which latter office is
now divided into two, one for the cavalry, and the other for the
infantry; while the office of commissary is only now known in the
militia. At this time he sent Alderte into Spain, with a large sum of
money, and a particular relation of his transactions and conquests; and
commissioned him to employ his utmost exertions to obtain for him the
perpetual government of the country which he had conquered, together
with the title of Marquis of Aranco. He dispatched likewise Francisco de
Ulloa by sea, with directions to explore the Straits of Magellan, by
means of which he hoped to open a direct communication with Spain,
without being obliged to depend upon Peru for supplies.

While occupied in the contemplation of these extensive