ng obtained absolute command of the Spanish possessions on the
southern side of South America, by the defeat and death of his rival
Almagro. Pizarro resolved to resume the conquest of Chili, which he
conceived might become an important acquisition. Among the adventurers
who had come from Spain to Chili, were two officers who held royal
commissions to attempt this conquest, named Pedro Sanchez de Hoz, and
Camargo. To Hoz had been confided the conquest of the country from the
confines of Peru to the river Maule; and to Camargo the remainder of the
country beyond that river to the archipelago of Chiloe. Jealous of the
interference of these officers in the country which he considered as his
by right of discovery, Pizarro refused under frivolous pretences to
confirm the royal nomination, and chose for the conduct of the
expedition Pedro de Valdivia, his quarter-master, a prudent active and
brave officer, who had acquired military experience in the wars of
Italy, and who had already evinced a strong attachment to his party. On
this occasion, Valdivia was directed to take Hoz along with him to
Chili, and to allow him every advantage he could possibly desire in the
allotment or repartition of lands and Indians in the expected conquest.

Valdivia accordingly set out from Cuzco in 1540, with a force of 200
Spaniards, and accompanied by a numerous body of Peruvian auxiliaries,
taking likewise along with him some monks, several Spanish women, and a
great number of European quadrupeds, with every requisite for settling a
new colony in the country. On his march for Chili he pursued the same
route with Almagro; but instructed by the misfortunes of his
predecessor, he did not attempt to pass the Andes till the middle of
summer, by which precaution he was enabled to enter Chili without
incurring any loss. His reception there however, even in the northern
provinces, was very different from that which had been experienced by
Almagro. Informed of the conquest of Peru by the Spaniards, owing to
which they were freed from the submission they had come under to the
Incas, they did not consider themselves bound to transfer their
obedience to the present invaders. The Copaipans accordingly began to
attack Valdivia immediately on entering their country, assailing him at
every step with much valour, but with very little conduct. Like
barbarians in general, they were incapable of making a common cause with
each other; and having been long accustomed