t decisive that had been fought for a long time against the
Araucanians.

From the death of Putapichion to the termination of the government of
Lasso, the successive toquis of the Araucanians continued the war with
more rashness than skill; none of them, like Antiguenu and Paillamachu,
having sufficient judgment to repair the losses sustained by the nation,
and to counterbalance the power and arms of the Spaniards by skill and
conduct. Quepuantu, who was advanced to the rank of toqui after the
defeat at Alvarrada, retired to a sequestered vale under the covert of
thick woods, where he built a house with four opposite doors, to
facilitate his escape in case of being attacked. The place of his
retirement having been discovered to the governor, he sent the
quarter-master to surprise him with four hundred light armed troops. As
these came upon him by surprise, Quepuantu took refuge in the wood; but
soon returned at the head of fifty men who had come to his assistance,
and attacked the Spaniards with great courage. After a desperate
engagement of half an hour, in which the toqui lost almost all his men,
he accepted a challenge from Loncomallu, chief of the auxiliaries
attached to the Spaniards, and was slain after a long combat. In 1634, a
similar fate befel his successor Loncamilla, in an engagement with a
small number of Araucanian troops against a strong detachment of
Spaniards. Guenucalquin, his successor, after making some successful
inroads into the Spanish provinces, lost his life in an engagement with
six hundred Spaniards in the province of Ilicura. Curanteo, who was
created toqui in the heat of this action, had the glory of terminating
it by the rout of the enemy; but was killed soon afterwards in another
conflict. Curimilla, the next toqui, more daring than several of his
predecessors, repeatedly ravaged the provinces to the north of the
Biobio, and undertook the siege of Arauco and the other forts on the
frontiers; but was slain at length by Sea in Calcoimo.

During the government of this toqui, the Dutch made another attempt to
form an alliance with the Araucanians, in order to obtain possession of
Chili, but with no better fortune than on the former occasion. Their
squadron, consisting of four ships, was dispersed in a storm on its
arrival on the coast in 1638. A boat well manned and armed, being
afterwards dispatched to the island of Mocha, to enter into a parley
with the Araucanians, was attacked by the inha