who were made prisoners and carried before the ulmen covered with wounds.  The prince had resolved on putting them both to death; but, while deliberating on the mode of execution, his wife, the ulmena or princess of Copaipo, moved by compassion for their unhappy situation, successfully interceded with her husband to spare their lives, unbound them with her own hands, tenderly dressed their wounds, and treated them as if they had been her brothers.  When they were entirely recovered, she desired them to teach her son the art of riding, as several of the Spanish horses had been taken in the late defeat.  The two Spaniards readily consented to her request, hoping to avail themselves of this circumstance to give them an opportunity of recovering their liberty, which they did in effect; but the means they employed was marked by a cruel act of ingratitude to their compassionate benefactress, of so much deeper turpitude that it was unnecessary for their purpose.  As the young prince was one day riding between them, escorted by a party of archers and preceded by an officer carrying a lance, Monroy suddenly dispatched him with two or three mortal wounds of a poniard.  At the same time Miranda wrested the lance from the officer of the guard, who were thrown into confusion by this unexpected event, and the two Spaniards readily accomplished their escape.  Being well mounted, they easily eluded pursuit, and made their way through the desert into Peru, whence they continued their way to Cuzco, where Vaca de Castro then resided, who had succeeded to the government after the cruel assassination of Francisco Pizarro by the Almagrian faction.

When De Castro was informed of the critical situation of affairs in Chili, he immediately sent off a considerable reinforcement by land under the command of Monroy, who had the good fortune to conceal his march from the Copaipans, and to join Valdivia in safety.  At the same time the president of Peru dispatched by sea Juan Batista Pastene, a noble Genoese, with a more considerable reinforcement for Valdivia.  On receiving these two reinforcements, which arrived about the same time, Valdivia began to carry his great designs into execution.  Being solicitous to have a complete knowledge of the sea-coast, he ordered Pastene to explore the whole as far to the southwards as possible, noting the most important places all along the coast; and, on his return from this maritime survey, he sent him back to Peru for additional reinforcements, as the natives had become every day bolder and more enterprising, ever since their victory in Copaipo over Monroy and Miranda.  Only a little before this, the Quillotans had contrived to massacre all the soldiers employed at the gold mines in their country, by the following stratagem.  One day a neighbouring Indian brought a pot full of gold to Gonzalo Rios, the commandant at the mines, and told him that he had found a great quantity in a certain district of the country which