his arms, Antiguenu marched in
person at the head of two thousand men to resume the attack upon Angol.
Before proceeding to attack that place, he encamped at the confluence of
the river Vergosa with the Biobio, where he was attacked by a Spanish
army under the command of Bernal. In this engagement the Araucanians
made use of some Spanish musquets which they had taken at their late
victory of Mariguenu, which they employed with much skill, and bravely
sustained the assault for three hours. At length, when four hundred of
the auxiliaries and a considerable number of Spaniards had fallen, the
infantry began to give way, upon which Bernal gave orders to his cavalry
to put to death every one who attempted flight. This severe order
brought back the Spanish infantry to their duty, and they attacked the
entrenchments of the enemy with so much vigour that at length they
forced their way into the camp of the Araucanians. Antiguenu exerted his
utmost efforts to oppose the assailants; but he was at length forced
along by the crowd of his soldiers, who were thrown into irretrievable
confusion and fled. During the flight, he fell from a high bank into the
river and was drowned. The Araucanians were defeated with prodigious
slaughter, many of them perishing in the river in their attempt to
escape by swimming. In this battle, which was fought in the year 1564,
almost the whole of the victorious army was wounded, and a considerable
number slain; but they recovered forty-one musquets, twenty-one
cuirasses, fifteen helmets, and a great number of lances and other
weapons which the Araucanians had obtained in their late victories, and
had used against their former proprietors.

While these events were passing on the banks of the Biobio, an
Araucanian officer named Lillemu, who had been detached by Antiguenu to
lay waste the provinces of Chillan and Itata, defeated a Spanish
detachment of eighty men commanded by Pedro Balsa. To repress these
ravages, the governor of Conception marched against Lillemu with an
hundred and fifty men, and cut off a party of Araucanians who were
desolating the province of Chillan. Lillemu hastened to their succour,
but finding them defeated and dispersed, he was only able to save the
remainder of his troops by making a gallant stand in a narrow pass with
a small select band, by which he checked the advance of the enemy, and
gave time to his army to effect their escape; but he and his brave
companions sacrificed t