herwise called Yumbel, a place about
sixty miles to the east of Conception, with six hundred infantry and
four hundred horse, all of whom he sent out in various detachments to
ravage the surrounding country, leaving only two hundred men to guard
the narrow defile of Congrejeras. Provoked at this daring enterprise,
Robolledo, the commandant of Yumbel, sent seventy horse to take
possession of the pass and cut off the retreat of the toqui; but they
were received with such bravery by the Araucanian detachment, that they
were compelled to retire for security to a neighbouring hill, after
losing their captain and eighteen of their number. Robolledo sent three
companies of infantry and all the rest of his cavalry to their aid; but
Lientur who had by this time collected all his troops together, fell
upon the Spaniards, notwithstanding the continual fire of their
musquetry, and put their cavalry to flight at the first charge. The
infantry, thus left exposed, were almost all cut to pieces, thirty-six
of them only being made prisoners, who were distributed among the
several provinces of the Arancanian confederacy. If Lientur had then
invested Yumbel it must have fallen into his hands; but he deferred the
siege till the following year, when his attempt was rendered
unsuccessful by the valiant defence of Ximenes who then had the command.
On his repulse however, he assaulted and took a fort named Neculgueno,
the garrison of which was put to the sword, and all the auxiliaries who
dwelt in that neighbourhood were made prisoners. Lientur followed up
these successful exploits with others equally fortunate, which are not
particularized by contemporary writers, who have given him the title of
the _darling of fortune_.

Ulloa the-governor, more a prey to anxiety and mortification than
disease, died on the 20th of November 1620, and was succeeded in the
government of Chili by Christoval de la Cerda, a native of Mexico, the
eldest oydor, according to the established rule on such occasions. For
the more effectual defence of the frontiers on the Biobio, he caused an
additional fortress to be constructed, named San Christoval, which still
remains. This oydor continued only a year in the government, during
which he was continually occupied in defending the Spanish settlements
against the enterprises of Lientur, with whom he had many encounters.
His successor, Pedro Suarez de Ulloa, continued the war in a similar
manner, contenting himself with ac