Pizarro and Almagro were now left in occupation of the Inca Empire. It was inevitable that jealousy should arise between the pair, and it was not long before the situation grew strained. Pizarro, true to his own interests, had insisted on returning to Spain in order to give an account of the doings in Peru. Needless to say, he employed the opportunity to obtain the royal sanction to advance still further his official position—somewhat at the expense of Almagro, of course. Almost directly after his return he founded the city of Lima, intending this to supersede Cuzco as the future capital of the country.

All this while the breach between Pizarro and Almagro had widened. In 1535 the latter, realizing that even the Empire of the Incas was not sufficiently large to hold the pair of Spanish leaders, determined to make for the South. The expedition was a tragic one. Almagro, though his spirit was undaunted, was now aged in years, and the barren country of the Atacama Desert and the attacks of the hostile Indians rendered the enterprise a failure from a monetary point of view. Almagro had invested all his fortune in this, and his affairs now became desperate.



In the meantime the crafty Pizarro had been permitted to enjoy very little peace and tranquillity in Peru. Manco Capac had bided his time, and his Indian subjects, fervently loyal to the sacred dynasty, had crowded about him in their thousands. The Peruvians now assumed the aggressive. Thousands of Inca troops scoured the country, and, falling on remote and unprepared bands of Spaniards, obtained some modicum of revenge in slaughtering all they found.



Encouraged by such minor successes, the Inca army advanced against the main bodies of the Spaniards. Some historians place the numbers of the native troops at no fewer than 200,000. With astonishing suddenness the situation became altered. Pizarro found himself besieged in Lima, while his brothers, shut up in Cuzco, experienced an equal difficulty in beating off the attacks of the serried native ranks. Had the Spanish army in Peru been left to its own devices, there is no doubt but that their doom would have been sealed. The irony of fate, however, chose this very moment for the return of Almagro. Marching up with his grim and travel-worn band, he found himself before Cuzco, surveying the beleaguered Spaniards and the investing Incas.

Manco Capac had gleaned something of the disputes between the European leaders. He made advances to Almagro, and did all he could to win him to his side; but Almagro, little cause though he had to love Pizarro, proved himself stanch. He was in consequence attacked by the Inca troops, but these he repulsed with heavy losses, and then entered Cuzco in triumph. Manco Capac himself escaped, and retired to the other side of the Andes.



Almagro was destined to receive small thanks for his intervention. The aged conquistador laid claim to the city as part of his own dominions, and this woke into fresh activity the warfare between himself and Francisco Pizarro. Almagro, defeated, lost his head, a white and seventy-year-old head though it was. His fate by no means ended the tragedies in Peru. The current of sinister events was running here in a strangely full flood. It was only three years afterwards that Pizarro himself was murdered by his enemies, the adherents of Almagro's son, whom they wished to see elevated to the Governorship of the country, an event which actually occurred, although it proved of very short duration.

By the time this had come about, the power of the Incas had been broken for good and all, so far as practical purposes were concerned. Driven from their temples and strongholds, certain sections of the race survived, although among them were remarkably few of the noble families who had formed the salt of the land. Great numbers of the rank and file of the race met with the fate which was at that time so universal throughout the country, or rather in its metal-bearing lands. They were sent to the mines, and, worked and flogged to death, their numbers diminished with a ghastly rapidity. Some sections, more fortunate, were at a rather later age set to agriculture, and, forced to somewhat more congenial tasks than the first workers, they continued to serve the Spaniards.



CHAPTER VI

SPANIARD AND NATIVE

The collisions with the various peoples of the Continent had now afforded the conquistadores an opportunity of testing the power of each. The force of the impact had, it is true, swept into the background the first peoples with whom they had come into contact; but, as the scanty numbers of the pioneers filtered across the new territories, they found that the task of annexation was by no means so easy in every case.

So far as a warlike spirit was concerned, the difference between the aboriginal tribes of the tropics and those of the southern regions was most marked. The Incas were, in many respects, a warlike race—that is to say, they had possessed themselves by force of arms of the country in the neighbourhood of Lake Titicaca, wresting this from whatever tribe of the Aymaras it was which, highly civilized, had held the land before them. This nucleus of empire, once obtained, they had spread to the south and to the north, and to a certain extent to the east, conquering all with whom they had come into contact, with the notable exception of the Araucanians in Southern Chile.

The Chibchas, too, in the far north, whose civilization in some respects equalled that of the Incas, might be termed a conquering race. They dominated the north of the Continent, and upheld their empire securely by force of arms. Yet it is curious that both these nations, representing the chief civilizing and inventive powers of the Continent, presented nothing beyond the most futile resistance to the invaders. Their gods desecrated, their faith outraged, stung to utter fury and hate, even these passions failed to lead them to a single victory of consequence, notwithstanding the fact that their tens of thousands of warriors were faced by no more than a few dozen Spaniards. Disheartened by the terrifying onslaught of the men in mail mounted on gigantic horses, they appear to have reconciled themselves with melancholy submission to a fate which only on two or three occasions during the following centuries they endeavoured with any earnestness at all to disturb.

How different were the battles of the south! The Spaniards who found themselves face to face with the Araucanian Indians, and with those of the Pampa on the other side of the Andes, had a far more strenuous tale to tell. The armour which had resisted with such contempt the more delicate weapons of the Peruvians and of the northern warriors in general was crushed in and dented beneath the tremendous blows dealt by the clubs of the muscular and warlike Araucanians, who charged into the battle with a wild joy that left them as drunk with triumph at the end of the combat as they had been with their native spirit at the beginning.

These Araucanians were, indeed, born fighters. In common with the general run of mankind, it was their lot to be defeated from time to time. Nevertheless, they repaid the defeats frequently with very tragic interest; in any case, subdued by force of arms they certainly never were. Much the same may be said of the Indians of the Argentine and Uruguayan plains. The aggressive tactics here were by no means confined to the Spaniards. On the first landing of the conquistadores, these found themselves, after having given provocation in the first instance, cooped up within the flimsy walls of their new settlements, surrounded by fierce and vindictive enemies, who charged on them from time to time with bewildering fury, choosing as often as not for the purpose the hour just before dawn, which they would make horrid with their warlike cries and shrill yells. These, too, remained entirely unsubdued to the last. They had the ill-fortune to be favoured with fewer natural advantages than the Araucanians. They had neither woodland valleys nor mountains in which to take shelter in the time of need. They fought on a plain which was as open as day, and as flat as a table from horizon to horizon. No crude strategy was possible—at all events, in the daytime—and the attack of the charging Indians was necessarily visible from a distance of leagues.

From time to time a certain number of these fierce tribesmen were captured, but their fiery spirits could brook no domestic tasks, and when, at a very much later date, some of them were shipped upon a Spanish man-of-war with the purpose of testing their value as sailors, they rose in mutiny and slew many officers and men, and, indeed, obtained temporary control of the ship, until, seeing the uselessness of further efforts, they flung themselves overboard in a body.

It was the ancestors of such men as these who had in the first instance disputed the soil with the Spaniards. There is no doubt that, while the metal-bearing lands fell into the opened mouths of the Spaniards as easily as over-ripe plums, the maintaining of a foothold in the southern plains was a precarious and desperate matter. As has been said, the natural topographical advantages of Southern Chile made the wars here the grimmest and fiercest of all those waged throughout the Continent. The mere names of Caupolican and Lautaro suffice to recall a galaxy of Homeric feats. The deeds of the two deserve a passing word of explanation.

It was the Chief Caupolican who organized the first resistance to the invaders on a large scale, and who led his armies with a marvellous intrepidity against the Spaniards. He initiated a new species of attack, which proved very trying to the white troops. He would divide his men into a number of companies, and send one after another to engage the Spanish forces. Thus the first company would charge, and would engage for awhile, fighting desperately. Then they would retire at their leisure, to be succeeded without pause by the second, and so on. According to some of the older historians, it was by this method that Valdivia's forces were overcome on the occasion when the entire Spanish army, including its brave leader, was massacred.

The other famous chief, Lautaro, received his baptism of spears and of fire under the leadership of Caupolican. Lautaro was probably the greatest scourge from which the Spaniards in Chile ever suffered. Twice he demolished the town of Concepcion, and once he pursued their retreating forces as far as Santiago itself. In an engagement on the outskirts of this city the victorious chief was killed, and after his death a certain amount of the triumphant spirit of the Indians deserted them. But only for a while. The indomitable spirit of the race awoke afresh, and asserted itself with renewed ardour in the course of the next series of the interminable struggles.

Compared with all this, the sun-bathed peaks of the centre and of the north breathed dreams and soft romance. Naturally the temperament of the inhabitants had tuned themselves to fit in with this. The few savage customs which had intruded themselves among the quaint rites and mysticism of these peoples had failed to inculcate a genuine warlike ardour or lust for blood. Their dreamily brooding natures revolted against the strain of prolonged strife. What measure of violent resistance was to be expected from the dwellers on the shores of Lake Guatavita?

The Lake of Guatavita had been a sacred water of the Indians of Colombia before the advent of the Spaniards. It was on this peaceful sheet that the cacique and his chiefs were rowed out in canoes while the people clustered in their thousands about the mountainous sides of the lake.

When the canoes had arrived at the centre of the lake the chiefs were accustomed to anoint the cacique, and to powder him with a great profusion of gold-dust. Then came the moment for the supreme ceremony. The multitude turned their backs on the lake, and the cacique dived from the canoe and plunged into its waters; at the same time the people threw over their shoulders their offerings of gold and precious stones, which fell with a splash into the waters.

The lake was further enriched after the arrival of the conquistadores, when the natives, tortured and ill-treated in order that gold should be wrung from them, conceived such a hatred of the metal that they threw all they had wholesale into the sacred waters. It is said that some Indians, goaded beyond endurance, taunted their conquerors and told them to search at the bottom of the lake, where they would find gold. They had no idea that the Spaniards would actually attempt this, but this the conquistadores did, and were digging in order, apparently, to drain the water off when the sides fell in and put an end to the attempt. It is said that even then they procured a large amount of gold and some magnificent emeralds.



As may well be imagined, it was people such as these who suffered most of all from the violence of the strange, pale beings who had descended into their midst to subdue them, first of all by means of the sword, and then by the ceaseless wielding of the more intimate and degrading thong. Since, notwithstanding all that has been urged to the contrary, the average Spaniard of those days—even those of his number who had to do with the Americas—was provided with the ordinary sentiments and passions of humanity, it was inevitable that in the course of the oppression and warfare waged against the natives some devoted being should sooner or later rise up to espouse the cause of the Indians.

This intermediary, of course, was Bartolome de las Casas, so widely known as the Apostle of the Indies. There are many who fling themselves heart and soul into a cause of which they know nothing, and who, from the sheer impetus of good-hearted ignorance, cause infinite mischief. The case of Las Casas was different. Before he took up his spiritual labours he had lived for years at the theatre of his future work, and understood the conditions of the colonial and native life.

As a matter of fact, Las Casas' mission did not dawn upon him until he had enjoyed a very considerable practical experience in the industrial affairs of the New World. His connection with this latter did not begin with his own generation. He was the son of a shipmate of Columbus, who had sailed with the great explorer in his first voyage, and who had accompanied Ovando when that knight sailed out from Spain to take up his Governorship of the Indies.

It was in Hispaniola, it appears, that Las Casas was ordained priest. In the first place he lived the ordinary life of the Spanish settler in the island. In common with everyone else, he accepted a repartimiento—that is to say, a supply of Indian labourers—and was undoubtedly on the road to riches when, little by little, the inhumanity of slave-owning became clear to him. To one of his enthusiastic temperament no half measures were possible. He gave up his Indians forthwith, allowed his estate to revert to Nature, and began his strenuous campaign, that had as its object the freedom of the native races.

By 1517 he had succeeded in attracting a wide attention to his efforts. Journeying to Spain, he persisted in his cause, and gave the high authorities of that country little peace until they lent an ear to the grievances of his dusky proteges. Las Casas was endowed to an unusual extent with both eloquence and fervour, and both these attributes he employed to the utmost of his powers in the service of the American aborigines. Thus he painted the sufferings and the terrible mortality of these unfortunate people with a fire and a force that left very few unmoved. Nevertheless, as was only to be expected, he met with considerable opposition from various quarters where the financial interests dependent on the New World outweighed all other considerations. In the end, rendered desperate by this opposition and by the active hostility which he encountered in these quarters, he determined to lead the way by the foundation of a model colony of his own in South America.

He obtained the cordial sanction of the Spanish King to this end. Nevertheless, when put into practice, the scheme failed utterly. The reasons for this were to be sought for in the poorness of the soil chosen and in the intrigues of the white settlers rather than in any fundamental fault of the plan itself. For all that, its failure came as a severe blow to Las Casas. After experiences such as these, the majority of men would probably have given up the attempt in despair. Las Casas, it is true, sought the refuge of a monastery for a while in order to recover his health and spirits, which had suffered from the shock. Once again in possession of these, he returned to the field, and, undaunted, continued to carry on his work.

This campaign of Las Casas is famous for a curious anomaly. That his work of mercy should have resulted in the introduction into the Continent of a greater number of dusky labourers than before appears on the face of it paradoxical. Yet so it was. For Las Casas, determined that the mortality among the Indians should cease, advocated the importation of African slaves into Central and South America. His idea was that the labours spread over so many more thousands of human bodies would prove by comparison bearable, and would thus end in fewer fatalities. It is certain enough that this introduction of the sturdy negro tended considerably to this end, and that many thousands of lives were prolonged, if nothing more, by this plan. For all that, it must be admitted that the venture was a daring one to emanate from the mind of a preacher who was fighting against the slave trade. But Las Casas, urged by his own experience, took a broad view, and none even of his contemporaries were able for one moment to impugn his motives.

Las Casas was as much a product of the period and place as were the wild and daring conquistadores themselves. The new Continent undoubtedly exerted a curious influence over its visitors from the Old World. It seemed to possess the knack of bringing out the virtues as well as the defects with an amazing and frequently disconcerting prodigality. Several of Las Casas' biographers have wondered at the reason why the Apostle of the Indies was never made a saint. Certainly hundreds of lesser heads have been kept warm by a halo which has never graced that of Las Casas.



CHAPTER VII

THE COLONIZATION OF THE SOUTH

It was natural that after the first occupation of the New World the tendency of the explorers should have been to turn their attention to the south and to the still undiscovered lands. At the first glimpse the aspect of the Atlantic coast to the south of Brazil gave little promise of the wealth—that is to say, of the gold—sought by the pioneers, since its shores were low, marshy, and alluvial.

In 1515 Juan de Solis sailed to the mouth of the River Plate, and landed on the coast of Uruguay. His party were immediately attacked by Charrua Indians, and the bodies of De Solis himself and of a number of his crew were stretched dead on the sands. This ended the expedition, for the survivors left the place in haste and returned to Spain.

In 1526 Sebastian Cabot explored the River Plate, and, sailing up-stream, investigated the Parana, and discovered the waters of the Paraguay River itself. In these inland waterways his fleet was met by that of another pioneer, Diego Garcia. This latter, doubtless from chivalrous motives, gave the pas to Cabot, and turned the bows of his vessels down-stream. It was Cabot's intention to establish himself permanently on the shores of this great river system. Near the present site of the town of Rosario he built the fort of Sancti Spiritus. Seeing, however, that his appeals to Spain for assistance remained unanswered, he eventually abandoned his attempt. There seems little doubt that he withdrew practically all his forces from the River Plate; but there are legends of some survivors who remained in the district after the main expedition had left. Some old historians allege that these underwent strange experiences and hardships, but the veracity of such narratives is more than doubtful.



It was in 1535, the year when Valdivia marched southward from Peru to conquer Chile, that the conquest and actual colonization of the River Plate was first seriously undertaken. Pedro de Mendoza, a soldier of fortune, ventured on the attempt. Mendoza's career as a mercenary soldier had proved quite unusually profitable even for those days, and he had acquired a large fortune at the sack of Rome alone. His purse provided a really formidable expedition.

The voyage to the mouth of the River Plate on this occasion was more productive of incident than was usual, even in those days of adventurous pioneers. The halts at Teneriffe and at Rio de Janeiro had resulted in some dissensions among Mendoza's men, and the execution by the orders of the Chief of one of his most popular leaders had all but caused open mutiny at the latter place. Nevertheless, when his forces landed at the site of the present town of Buenos Aires, they constituted a formidable company of men, admirably equipped with everything that the science of the age could devise for the purpose of conquest and colonization, particularly the former.

Having founded his settlement, Mendoza set himself to deal with the Indians and to bring them into subjection. In a very short while he found out that it was a very different tribe of aborigines with which he had to deal to the peace-loving inhabitants of Peru and the north-west. The agile, hardy, and fierce Pampa Indians, having once fallen foul of the invaders, allowed them no respite. Attacked by day and night, deprived of all supplies of food, Mendoza's troops began to suffer from exhaustion and hunger, to say nothing of the wounds inflicted by their enemies.

In the end, the leaders had to admit to themselves that the place was no longer tenable. Nevertheless, neither Mendoza nor his men had any intention of abandoning permanently these fertile plains through which ran the great rivers. The scarcity of minerals in these districts had now become sufficiently obvious to them; yet even to men in quest of little beyond gold the extraordinary fertility of the alluvial soil was not altogether lost. With a courage and pertinacity which does the adventurers every credit, they determined, instead of abandoning the river and putting out to sea, to sail far up-stream into the unknown, and to seek their fortune inland.

Mendoza's expedition first of all established itself for a while on the site of Sancti Spiritus, Cabot's old abandoned fort, which they now rechristened Corpus Christi. Shortly after their arrival at the place, Mendoza himself, who had doubtless suffered many disillusions concerning the gold and precious stones of these districts, and whose health had given way beneath the stress of the hardships and of the numerous precarious situations in which he had found himself, set sail for Spain. It was to be his fate never to return to his native land, since he died on his way home.

Juan de Ayolas was now left in command of the Spanish force. He was an able commander, and a man of determined character, eminently fitted to conduct an expedition such as this. Without hesitation, the new leader purposed to make his way farther up the stream. He got together the ships once again, and, manning them, he made his way from point to point along the great river system, attacked here and there by the Indians on the banks, and occasionally challenged by flotillas of canoes, which boldly came out to assume the aggressive. But in every case the lesson taught the Indians was a severe one, and, undeterred by the hostility shown him, Ayolas sailed inland until he came to Asuncion in Paraguay. At this spot the expedition came to a halt, and the weary pioneers landed, and immediately became lost in admiration of the fertile and delightful country in which they now found themselves.

There is no doubt that to the new-comers the country in the neighbourhood of Asuncion, with its pleasant valleys, rolling country, and forest-covered hills, must have come in the shape of a relief after the apparently interminable passage of the plains. It was the spot at which the pioneer would naturally halt, and endeavour to found his settlement.

The Guarani Indians extended but a cold welcome to the daring adventurers. Their temperament was by nature far less warlike than that of the savage and intrepid natives in the regions of the coast. These Guarani Indians, nevertheless, made some show of aggression, and would doubtless have been glad to scare away these undesired strangers. Owing to this, a collision between the two forces occurred; but so crushing was the defeat of the Indians that they resigned themselves submissively to the Spaniards, and henceforth became a vassal tribe, lending assistance to their white masters in both civil and warlike occupations.

Immediately after the victory, the Guaranis were set by the Spanish to assist in the construction of the new town, which was to be the head-quarters of the Imperial power in the south-east of the Continent. Once definitely settled here, the conquistadores set themselves to extend the frontiers of their dominions, which in the first place were confined to the neighbourhood of the new town of Asuncion itself.

The tribes in the immediate neighbourhood were now more than merely friendly: they were actively servile. But the case was different with the other native peoples, more especially with the Indians in the Chaco, the wooded and swampy district on the opposite side of the river. These showed themselves fiercely inimical to the new-comers, and it was seldom that the Spaniards were without a feud of some kind to suffer at their hands.

The new colonists had now time to look about them. Much had happened since they had first landed on the shores of the River Plate, but the main object of the expedition still remained clear to them. This was the discovery of a road from the south-east to Peru. Ayolas determined to take up this fascinating quest in person. Accompanied by a number of men, he sailed up the river until he came to a spot at which he judged that an attempt at the overland journey might well be attempted. Leaving Domingo Martinez de Irala, his lieutenant, in charge of the ships and of a force of men, Ayolas marched into the forest and disappeared into the unknown. It was his fate never to return. His company, ambushed and cut up by a tribe of hostile Indians, perished to a man.

It was months before Irala learned of the catastrophe. In the belief that his chief was still in the land of the living, he waited with his ships and men at the point where Ayolas had disembarked, varying his vigil from time to time by a cruise down-stream in search of provisions. The news came to him at length, shouted out by hoarse defiant voices from the recesses of the forest on the banks. For a while the Spaniards would not believe the surly message of death given by the unseen Indians. In the end, however, its truth could not be doubted, and Irala assumed command of the party. Returning to Asuncion, he was unanimously appointed Governor by the settlers of the place.



The character of Domingo Martinez de Irala was eminently suited to the post he now held. His courage was high, his determination inflexible, and his energy abundant. It is true that, in the same manner as his colleagues of the period, he was frequently totally careless of the means employed so long as the end was achieved. Nevertheless, he was in many respects an ideal leader, and his vigorous personality kept in check both the ambitions of the Spanish cliques and the dissatisfaction of the less friendly Indians.

Irala was destined to undergo many vicissitudes in the course of his Governorship. Very soon after he had been elected to this post it was his fate to be superseded for a while. Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, having obtained the appointment in Spain itself, came out by Royal Licence to govern the new province of which Asuncion was the capital. Cabeza de Vaca was essentially a humanitarian Governor, who proved himself extremely loth to employ coercion and the sword, which means, in fact, he only resorted to with extreme reluctance as a very last resource. His courage and determination were evidenced by his overland journey; for, instead of sailing up the great river system from the mouth of the River Plate, he brought his expedition overland from Santa Catalina in Brazil, advancing safely through the numerous tribes and difficult country which intervened between the coast and Asuncion.

The temperament of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, however, was of too refined and trusting an order to deal with the turbulent and somewhat treacherous elements which abounded at Asuncion. After a while a revolt occurred, brought about probably by the Governor's objection to the wholesale plundering and enslavement of the Indians by the Spaniards. The populace turned strongly against the Governor. Cabeza de Vaca was flung into prison, and sent a prisoner to Spain, after which drastic procedure Irala was once again elected Governor by the colonists. Doubtless Cabeza de Vaca possesses the chief claim to sympathy of all those who had to do with Paraguay at this early period of its existence; yet at the same time it is impossible to refrain from admiration of the sheer determination and willpower with which Irala pursued his career.

For years Irala's position remained utterly precarious. He was the chosen of the colonists, but not of the Court of Spain, which alone possessed any legal right to appoint a person to so high an office as his. No exalted personages were more jealous of their privileges than these. Several times Irala was on the point of losing his Governorship, but on each occasion the measures he adopted, aided by good fortune, tided him over the crisis, and left him continuing in the seat of authority. In the end, after undergoing innumerable anxieties, Irala at last succeeded in obtaining the Royal Licence for the Governorship of Paraguay.

All the while his energy continued undiminished, and it was due to him that the colonization of the country made such rapid strides. The means by which this end was effected were, from the modern point of view, entirely dubious, for it was Irala who instituted in Paraguay encomiendas, or slave settlements, into which the natives of the country were congregated in order that their labour might be employed in agriculture and similar occupations. This, however, was the ordinary procedure of the period, and, as historians have already pointed out, Irala's faults, although serious enough, were really nothing beyond those of his age. In any case, his name stands as that of one of the most powerful of the conquistadores. During the later years of his office a comparatively undisturbed era obtained, and he held the reins of the Paraguayan Government with a firm hand till his death, which occurred at the age of seventy-one.

On Irala's death, it was only natural that those elements of discord and jealousy which his strong personality had kept in check should break out, and cause no little confusion and strife. For a while the Governorship of Paraguay was sought by many, and the conflicting claims led to numerous disputes, and even occasional armed collisions. One of the most notable of the Governors who succeeded Irala was Juan de Garay. It was this conquistador who was responsible for the second and permanent founding of the city of Buenos Aires. Garay was a far-seeing man, who, having established a number of urban centres inland, saw clearly the importance of a settlement at which vessels from Europe could touch on their first arrival at the Continent.

So the stream of white men, having been in the first instance swept by the force of circumstances rather than its own desire from the coast in a north-westerly direction, began now to roll back towards the coast once again, without, however, yielding up any of the territories which it had occupied in the interior.

In 1580 Juan de Garay determined that the supreme effort should be made. He led an expedition down the stream, and on the spot where Pedro de Mendoza had founded his first ill-fated settlement he built the pioneer structures of the second town of Buenos Aires. The wisdom of this move was evident to all, provided the place were able to withstand the attacks of the surrounding Indians. In this the garrison succeeded, and Buenos Aires, having now taken firm root, began the first slow growth of its development, which eventually made of it the greatest city in South America.

In the meantime much had been effected towards the colonization of the land to the west of the Andes. As has been related, Almagro's unfortunate expedition returned, dejected and diminished in numbers, from the apparently inhospitable soil in the south. This disaster lent to Chile an unenviable but entirely undeserved notoriety. Pedro de Valdivia was the next to venture into these regions. Valdivia naturally enjoyed several advantages over his predecessor, for he knew now, by the other's experiences, the dangers and perils against which he had to guard. In consequence of this his expedition met with considerably more success than had been anticipated. Marching southward across the great Atacama Desert, he penetrated to the fertile regions of the land, and founded the town of Santiago.

All this was not effected without encountering the hostility of the local Indians, and the inhabitants of the new town carried their lives in their hands for a considerable while after the foundation of the city. Perhaps, indeed, no pioneers experienced greater hardships than did those of Chile. For the first few years of its existence every member of the new colony became accustomed to live in an unceasing condition of short rations, and it was on very poorly furnished stomachs that the garrison was obliged to meet and to repel the attacks of the natives. In the end, however, the seeds which had been brought by the adventurers took root and grew. Provisions became fairly abundant, and the settlements in the neighbourhood of Santiago were now firmly established.

Valdivia, determined to extend his frontiers, marched to the south. It was in the neighbourhood of the Biobio River that he first encountered the Araucanian warriors of the true stock. Here his forces met with a rude awakening. In discipline and fighting merit the companies of the Araucanians stood to the remaining tribes of South America in the same relation as did the Zulu regiments to the other fighting-men of Africa. A furious struggle began which was destined to last for generations and for centuries. But at no time were the fierce Araucanians subdued, although it fell to their lot to be defeated over and over again, as, indeed, proved the fate of the Spaniards likewise.

Some notion of the tremendous vigour with which these wars of the south were waged may be gathered from "La Araucana," the magnificent epic written by Ercilla, the Spanish poet, who composed his verses hot from the fight, his arms still weary from wielding the sword.

One of the first of the notable Spanish victims in the course of these wars was Valdivia himself. Attacked by furious hordes of Araucanians and overwhelmed, the intrepid European and his army perished to a man; while the Araucanians in triumph swept northwards, to be hurled to the south again by the next wave of battle which chanced to turn in favour of the Spaniards.



CHAPTER VIII

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN COLONIES

Having now definitely obtained possession of the enormous territories of South America, it was equally the policy of both Spain and Portugal to retain the enjoyment of the new lands and of their produce for themselves alone. In order to effect this, stringent laws were laid down from the very inception of the colonization of the Continent. In a nutshell, they amounted to this: none but Spaniards might trade with the Spanish possessions of South America, and none but Portuguese with the Colony of Brazil. In the case of the latter country the regulations were by no means so strictly carried out as in the former. One of the chief reasons for this, no doubt, was the old-standing and traditional friendship existing between Portugal and England. With so many interests in common, and such strong sentimental bonds uniting the pair in Europe, it was difficult to shut out the English commerce altogether from Brazil.

In the Spanish colonies the enactments of the Court of Spain were far more rigorously carried out. Here, since the laws were so strict, the rewards for their breaking were naturally all the greater. Tempted by the magnitude of these latter, a great number of the officials made a lucrative profession of giving clandestine assistance to foreign commerce in direct contravention of the regulations laid down.

It is rather curious to remark that at the very height of her colonial commerce, when the riches of South America were pouring at the greatest rate into her coffers, how little actual wealth was accumulated by the Mother Country. Indeed, a monumental proof of the inefficiency of her organization is that, although she bled the filial nations with an almost incredible enthusiasm, Spain remained in debt. The influx of gold from her colonies demoralized and ruined such industries as she had possessed, and such goods as she sent out to South America and elsewhere were now almost devoid of any proportion of her own manufactures. The merchandise which she sent to the New World she purchased from other countries, principally from Great Britain, and the English merchants saw to it that their profit was no small one. Thus Spain at this period, from a mercantile point of view, was very reluctantly serving as a general benefactor to Europe.

All this, of course, was in spite of most extraordinary efforts to effect the contrary. As early as 1503 the Casa de Contratacion de las Indias had been established in Spain. This institution was practically the governing body of the colonies. It possessed numerous commercial privileges, since it held the monopoly of the colonial trade. These privileges were continued until as late as 1790.

The Casa de Contratacion, although in many respects a purely mercantile body, was endowed with special powers. So wide was its authority that to be associated with this body was wont to prove of enormous financial benefit. Thus, it was entitled to make its own laws, and it was specially enacted by Royal Decree that these were to be obeyed by all Spanish subjects as implicitly as any others of the nation.

So far as the commercial world was concerned, the powers of the Casa de Contratacion were sheerly autocratic. The institution, in fact, held the fortunes of all the colonials in its hand. It possessed, in the first place, the privilege of naming the price which the inhabitants of the New World should pay for the manufactured goods of the Old. In addition to this, it lay within its domain to arrange the rates at which the produce sent from the colonies was to be sold in the Spanish markets. From this it will be evident that, commercially speaking, its powers were feudal.

It was inevitable that frequent evils should have sprung from the inauguration of a system such as this. It became almost a religion to every Spanish official and trader to batten upon the unfortunate colonial, quite regardless of the fact that the pioneer settler was being strangled during the process. Since the hapless dweller in South America was not allowed to bargain or haggle, and was forced to take whatever was graciously sent out to him at a rate condescendingly fixed, it frequently happened that this latter was five or ten times the legitimate price.

The disadvantages endured by the humble oversea strugglers, however, did not end here, for their own produce received the coldest of financial greetings in Europe, and the prices realized from these frequently left the agriculturalists in despairing wonder as to whether it was worth while to continue with their various industries. Added to all these were further regulations which proved both irksome and costly to the men of the south. Twice a year the Casa de Contratacion sent out a formidable fleet from Cadiz, escorted by men-of-war. It was this fleet which carried the articles of which the colonials were in urgent need. Now, the main settlements of the Spanish merchants and officials, as distinguished from the colonial, were in Panama and the north, and it was largely in order to benefit these privileged beings that the ridiculous regulations were brought into force which made the fleet of galleons touch at the Isthmus of Panama alone. By this means it was insured that these goods should pass through the commercial head-quarters, and leave a purely artificial profit to the Spaniards concerned, instead of being sent direct to the various ports with which the coasts of the Continent were now provided.



In these circumstances it was necessary for colonial merchants and traders from all parts of South America to journey to this far northern corner in order to carry out their negotiations, and to attend to the fresh transport of the wares. The hardships and the added cost brought about by regulations such as these may be imagined, and, as was only to be expected, a system such as this recoiled upon the heads of those who were responsible for its adoption.

Occasionally circumstances arose in connection with these official fleets which bore with almost equal hardship upon Spaniard and colonial alike. Thus, when the English, Dutch, and French buccaneers took to harassing the South American coast in earnest, there were periods when the galleons of the Indies were kept within their harbour for a year and more. Then the Spaniards went perforce without the South American gold, and the colonial's life was shorn of the few comforts which the wildly expensive imported articles had been wont to bring.

The home authorities invariably appeared loth to take into account the possibility of human enterprise. It was not likely that the colonials would submit tamely to such tremendous deprivations as those intended by Spain. Foreign traders, moreover, notwithstanding the ban and actual danger under which they worked, were keenly alive to the situation, and to the chances of effecting transactions in a Continent where so handsome a profit was attached to all commerce. The result was the inception of smuggling on a scale which soon grew vast, and which ended in involving officials of almost all ranks. The Governors of the various districts themselves were usually found perfectly willing to stand sponsors for all efforts of the kind, and, viewing the matter from the modern point of view, they are scarcely to be blamed for their complaisant attitude.

Here is a narration written in 1758 of the manner in which these transactions were carried on. The author, referring to it in an account of the European settlements in America, asserts that the state of affairs was one likely to prove extremely difficult to end—

"While it is so profitable to the British merchant, and while the Spanish officers from the highest to the lowest show so great a respect to presents properly made. The trade is carried on in this manner: The ship from Jamaica, having taken in negroes and a proper sortement of goods there, proceeds in time to the place of a harbour called the Groute within the Monkey-key, about four miles from Porto-Bello, and a person who understands Spanish is directly sent ashore to give the merchants of the town notice of the arrival of the vessel. The same news is carried likewise with great speed to Panama, from whence the merchants set out disguised like peasants, with their silver in jars covered with meal to deceive the officers of the revenue.... There is no trade more profitable than this, for their payments are made in ready money, and the goods sell higher than they would at any other market. It is not on this coast alone, but everywhere upon the Spanish Main, that this trade is carried on; nor is it by the English alone, but by the French from Hispaniola, and the Dutch from Curassoo, and even the Danes have some share in it. When the Spanish Guardacostas seize upon one of these vessels, they make no scruple of confiscating the cargo and of treating the crew in a manner little better than pirates."

From all this, the shortcomings of the Spanish attempts at a protective system are sufficiently evident.

In view of the hostile reception extended to them in all parts of the Continent by the Spanish officials, it was only to be expected that foreigners, whenever they had the opportunity, should have rendered a whole-hearted assistance to this business of smuggling. Moreover, since there was seldom peace between the Portuguese and the Spaniards, the former were only too glad to foster this trade, and thus defeat the object of the Spanish authorities, and incidentally line their own pockets. It was all the more difficult for the Spanish Colonial Government to maintain a consistent attitude when the introduction of the slaves, on whom the welfare of so many districts depended, was in the hands of foreigners.

This state of affairs applied in a far lesser degree to Brazil, since that country was frequently able to obtain its human consignments in Portuguese vessels from its fellow-colony of Portuguese West Africa. The Spaniards, on the other hand, were dependent upon other nations for the importation of their slaves, and they were from time to time accustomed to grant special licences for this purpose. It was the reverse of likely that men of a temperament which urged them to raid the African shores in search of their human quarry, and to sail their black cargoes through the tropics, would abstain from making the fullest and most general use of an opportunity thus offered, as the Spanish officials invariably found was the case to their cost, and occasionally, as has been said, to their profit!

The rivalry which characterized the relations between Spain and Portugal did not fail to be carried across the ocean, nor, when transferred to the colonies of either nation, did the mutual jealousies grow less bitter. Indeed, scarcely had the colonization of Brazil and of the Spanish territories commenced in earnest when the struggle between the two nationalities began.

The area of the strife, fortunately, was confined. The enormous territories of tropical Brazil forbade anything in the nature of thorough exploration on the part of the few and slender bands of the pioneers, to say nothing of any attempt at expansion. It was in the south, where the narrow strip of Brazil projected itself downwards into the temperate latitudes, that the desire for aggrandizement raged. The Portuguese considered that the natural southern frontier of their great colony was the River Plate. The Spaniards, having already possession of the northern bank, fiercely resented any such pretension, with the result that the Banda Oriental, by which name the Republic of Uruguay is still locally known, as well as the southern part of the Province of Paraguay, became the scene of many battles. It may be said that the warfare between the two nations continued here, with but rare and short peaceful interludes, for centuries.

The fortified town of Colonia, on the north bank of the Uruguay River, represented one of the chief bones of contention. Its possession constituted a strategic advantage of no small importance, and Spanish and Portuguese flags waved alternately over its shattered ramparts. The situation was accentuated by the characteristics of the inhabitants of the Portuguese city of Sao Paolo. These people, who lived in the town loftily placed upon its rock, had acquired for themselves, almost from the inception of the colony, a somewhat sinister and reckless reputation. The Portuguese and half-breeds here, their vigour unimpaired by a temperate and bracing climate, would sally out to the west and to the south on slave-raiding expeditions, which they conducted with extraordinary ferocity and enterprise. Matters of boundaries and frontiers possessed no interest whatever for these Paolistas or Mamelucos, by which latter name the swashbuckling members of this community were better known.



In the first instance, these forays were responsible for comparatively little friction, since the number of Indians near at hand was as plentiful as the neighbouring white men were rare. When the nearer land became depopulated, however, it began to be necessary to extend the expeditions farther afield from Sao Paolo, and it was then that the Mamelucos came into contact with the growing numbers of the Spanish settlers, and with the Indians who now resided beneath the protection of the Spanish power. When the Jesuit missionaries arrived in Northern Uruguay and in Southern Paraguay their advent had the effect of embittering the feud between the frontiersmen; for the Jesuits, forming the Indians into companies of their own, withdrew them still farther from the onslaughts of the Paolistas. These latter determined at all costs to capture and to drive back their gangs of slaves, became more and more emboldened, and pushed forward to the south and west well into the Spanish territories, harrying the missionary settlements, and laying waste the countryside.

For years the Guarani Indians, unarmed, were helpless in the face of such attacks. Eventually, however, the influence of the Jesuits obtained permission from the Court of Spain for these latter to be provided with firearms, and after this the Indian regiments, trained and disciplined, offered such effective resistance to the Mamelucos that these were forced to cease their slave-raids.

In 1574, when the importation into Brazil of negro slaves from West Africa had become a regular affair, the demand for slaves on the part of the Paolistas naturally became less active. Even with this item of discord removed, such intervals of peace as were patched up between the rival Powers were of short duration. The fertile and temperate lands to the north of the River Plate still remained in dispute, and although the Spaniards succeeded in retaining the possession of the bulk of these, there were times when the Portuguese penetrated as far as the waters of the great river, and in the end they managed to detach several of the most northerly districts from Spanish control, and in adding these to their own colonies.

It was consistent with the curious irony of fate which seemed to direct the operations of the Continent at that period, that while the Portuguese and Spaniards, actual lords of the soil, were at daggers drawn, the foreign seawolves, who had been gathering together, surveying with longing eyes the fold of riches so rigorously banned from them, were now making preparations for active aggression. But the history of the expeditions on the part of these formidable rovers is worthy of more than one chapter to itself.



CHAPTER IX

FOREIGN RAIDS ON THE SPANISH COLONIES

Had the laws of the Indies been differently framed, there is no doubt that the hardy sailors and reckless buccaneers who plundered these coasts would have had no existence, and that South America would have remained unprovided with much of its grim romance. As it was, Spain, by her imperious policy of "hands off," had flung a challenge to every adventurer of the other nations throughout Europe.

During the earliest periods of its colonization the reports from the New World were naturally somewhat nebulous in character, and the Spanish authorities themselves saw to it that as little authentic news as possible should be allowed to filter beyond their own frontiers. This policy succeeded for a while in restraining the undesired enterprise of the rival peoples who were, so far as South America was concerned, groping in the dark. This phase was naturally only fleeting. At the first evidence of a desire on the part of the other nations to participate in the benefits accruing from South America, the Spanish Court thundered forth threats and edicts.

Thus on December 15, 1558, King Philip II. decreed that any foreign person who should traffic with Spanish America should be punished by death and confiscation of property. The edict was emphatic and stern, and contained a clause which deprived the Royal Audiences in Spanish America of any powers of dispensation in the execution of these penalties:

"If anyone shall disobey this law, whatever his state or condition, his life is forfeit, and his goods shall be divided in three parts, of which one shall go to our Royal Treasure, one to the judge, and one to the informer."

It is, of course, notorious that the distance which separated the colonies from the motherland prevented the enforcing of many laws, whether good or bad, and that the Spanish-American local expression—"The law is obeyed but not carried out"—was common to nearly every district. At the same time, the mischief caused by decrees such as these may readily be imagined. A rich bribe to an informer was in itself an incentive to the stirring up of mischief where frequently none was intended. Such official bribes as these, however, were wont to be more than counteracted by the private inducements held out by many of the foreign adventurers and traders themselves, and after a while a great number of the officials found it very much to their profit not only to wink at the wholesale commerce and smuggling that was being carried on, but even actively to promote it and to participate in its benefits.

This method of keeping Spanish America as the close property of the Crown was one which grew more and more difficult to preserve as time went on. In the first place the authorities had merely to cope with the foreign seamen and the fleets of adventurous traders who were determined, at all costs, to win their share of financial profit from these golden shores. After a while, with the growing population of the Continent, a new situation asserted itself, and the influence of the colonists themselves had to be considered.



In order that the full financial profit, as it was then understood, of the colonies should continue to be passed on to Spain, it was essential that the colonists should continue a negligible factor. The permanence of this state of affairs could only be affected in one way: it was necessary that no equipment such as would provide independence of thought or action should be allowed to be at their service. Books, of course, were considered as one of the most mischievous potential engines of the kind. The Spaniards determined that none of the learning of their country should pass into the colonies. A certain number of volumes were permitted to cross the sea, it is true, but these were of the species that might be readily understood by a child of a few summers, and were ridiculously inadequate to the most ordinary intellect of adults in civilized regions. These themselves were subjected first of all to a close inspection on the part of the Inquisition in Spain. After this they had to pass the Board of Censors appointed by the Council of the Indies. Even here the precautions did not end, for on their arrival in the colony they were once again inspected as a safeguard, lest any secular matter or work of fiction should by any chance be overlooked and suffered to remain.

In short, the policy by which the motherland endeavoured to retain for her own benefit the riches of her colonies was undoubtedly one of the most benighted ever conceived by a European nation. It amounted to nothing less than a consistent checking and deadening of the intelligence of her sons oversea in order that their atrophied senses should fail to detect the true manner in which they were being shorn of their property and privileges.

On the other hand, in conformity with the same theory, superstition was encouraged to an extraordinary degree. The Royal Seal, when it arrived from Spain, was greeted as though it were a symbol of Deity, and the royal audience would chant an oath to obey it as implicitly as though it were a command of God. Every conceivable care was taken to foster this frame of mind throughout the colonies, and, since the intellectual occupations were religiously kept to themselves by the officials, it is not astonishing to find how far this method succeeded, and for how long it continued. Thus, even as late as 1809, when a portrait of King Ferdinand arrived at Coquimbo, the oil-painting was received with the honours accorded to a symbol of Deity. A special road was made for it from Coquimbo to La Serena, the capital of the province. This task occupied many days. Volunteer citizens filled up the holes, made wooden culverts, and, in fact, acted as enthusiastic road repairers, in order that the portrait might suffer no discomfort. When it was judged that the highway was sufficiently repaired, the portrait set out upon its astonishing journey. It was surrounded by cushions and placed in a flower-filled carriage. The inhabitants kneeled as the picture passed, and when it had been placed in the cathedral, salvos of artillery sounded, and the people shouted in delirious joy. The occasion, moreover, was marked by a fete which lasted three days.

All this, however, is anticipating by some centuries the period under review. In the first instance, largely owing to the ignorance concerning the New World which prevailed in other parts of Europe—which ignorance had been greatly fostered by Spain—the Spaniards succeeded in retaining the undisputed possession of their portion of the Continent for nearly three-quarters of a century. Then came the first of the maritime swallows, which made many dismal summers for the Court of Spain. In 1565 Drake voyaged to the Guianas on the Spanish Main. He was followed by Hawkins, Raleigh, and a host of others, including the Dutch navigators.

These hardy seamen, it must be said, had in the first instance proceeded to the Continent with the idea of engaging in legitimate trade. In justice to the many desperate acts which the majority subsequently committed, it must be remembered that in the case of the early collisions, they only let loose their guns when they found themselves attacked by the Spanish authorities in the distant ports, or intercepted on the high seas by the guardian fleets of Spain.

An experience or two of the kind sufficed to rouse the hot blood of the seamen. Knowing now that they were braving the anger of the King of Spain, they determined to continue in this undaunted, even, if necessary, "to synge his bearde," as, indeed, was accomplished on one notable occasion. So they continued their voyages to these ostensibly closed coasts of South America and the general run of the territories known at the time as the West Indies. Frequently they found riches in the venture, sometimes disaster and death. The former proved an incentive to these breathless voyages, with which no dread of the latter fate could interfere.

It would be as well to refer briefly to the careers in South America of a certain number of the most notable of these early adventurers. One of the first was Sir John Hawkins, who set out in 1562 with three ships: the Salomon, the Swallow, and the Jonas. Having touched at Teneriffe, he then landed at Sierra Leone, "where by the sworde and other means" he obtained some 300 negroes. He shaped his course to the west, and sailed with his cargo to the Spanish Indies.

Notwithstanding the stern official prohibitions, Hawkins succeeded in trading with the residents at Port Isabella, in Hispaniola, and the tall sides of his vessels, empty now of their dark human freight, soon held an important cargo of hides, ginger, sugar, and pearls. So successful was he, indeed, that he added two more ships to his flotilla and sent them to Spain. This daring procedure was intended as something in the light of a challenge and of a proof of his good faith in his right to barter in Spanish South America—a right, he claimed, which was ratified by an old treaty between Henry VII. and the Archduke Philip of Spain.

The Spanish officials, doubtless open-mouthed at this somewhat subtle and startling confidence of Hawkins, promptly confiscated the vessels by way of definitely proving it ill-founded. Notwithstanding this, Hawkins was more than satisfied with the cargo brought home by his three original ships, and two years later he set out again, accompanied by the Earl of Pembroke and the Earl of Leicester, with a larger fleet than before.

On this occasion he again visited Africa, collected a cargo of slaves, and endeavoured to trade with the Spaniards, more especially in Venezuela. This time the expedition found the authorities, warned by threatening prohibitions from Europe, in a less enterprising mood. Hawkins, persisting in the attempt, succeeded in bartering a certain number of slaves for hides, gold, silver, pearls, and other commodities. After a while the Spanish officers attempted to interfere and to put a stop altogether to the traffic, on which Hawkins, ever a friend to free trade, gathered his men together and marched down to the market-place, incidentally firing off guns, which procedure destroyed the last scruples of the inhabitants, and an important exchange and barter now took place. Thus the triumphant Hawkins returned with a second valuable cargo to England.

In 1567 Hawkins was accompanied on his next voyage by his young cousin, Francis Drake. The incidents of this voyage strongly resemble those of the previous ones. Negroes were collected in West Africa, and were disposed of in Spanish America, notwithstanding the protest, whether genuine or simulated, of the officials. The ending of the voyage, however, was destined to introduce a tragic note. On the way home the small English expedition fell in at the Port San Juan de Ulloa with a great Spanish fleet. In the first instance the mutual overtures were friendly, and hostages were exchanged on both sides. In the end, however, the English force was, without warning, attacked by the Spaniards as they lay at anchor. The majority of the men who had gone on shore were slain, and those who remained on the ships were assailed by overwhelming numbers. After a strenuous tussle with the Spaniards, Drake in the Judith, followed some time afterwards by Hawkins in the Minion, got away. The condition of Hawkins's crew, unprepared as was this ship for the voyage, was pitiful. A lengthy spell of contrary winds served to accentuate the terrible dearth of provisions which prevailed. The following is a contemporary account of some of the incidents. The vessel had wandered about the ocean

"tyll hunger inforced us to seek the lands for birdes were thought very good meate, rattes, cattes, mise and dogges, none escaped that might be gotten, parrates and monkayes that we had in great prise were thought then very profitable if they served the tourne one dinner."

The return home in this instance was truly a sorry one, for the survivors had left not only gold behind them, but the corpses of so many brave comrades.

On the whole, the exploits of Hawkins were considerably overshadowed by those of his young relative, Sir Francis Drake, who had begun to adventure on his own account in 1570, and who haunted the Spanish Indies, determined to avenge the treatment he and his comrades had received at San Juan de Ulloa. He ransacked Nombre de Dios and Cartagena, explored the Gulf of Darien, made friends with the Indians who inhabited the place, and captured many Spanish merchantmen, repulsing the attacks of the Spanish men-of-war.

Drake now crossed the Isthmus of Panama, and—the first foreigner to accomplish the feat—set eyes on the Pacific Ocean, in which he swore to cruise before he had finished his career. Here, moreover, having failed to capture one royal treasure convoy, his good fortune led him to meet with a second, and the gold and silver borne by the laden mules became the property of himself and his men.

Drake started out on his next voyage in 1577, and fulfilled his purpose of breasting the waters of the Pacific; for, after various adventures on the east coast of the Continent, he sailed through the Straits of Magellan, and found himself in the ocean that, until then, had been traversed by Spanish vessels alone. His arrival came as a bolt from the blue to the Spaniards, who had not dreamed of the possibility of the invasion of the Pacific, the waters of which they had grown to consider as sacred to themselves. The alarm spread like wild-fire along the whole length of that great coast. All the while Drake cruised up and down, capturing and destroying wherever he might. Indeed, of all the adventurers of this period, Drake was the one whose name conveyed the greatest terror to the Spanish colonists. This was evident in all parts of the Continent. Thus the impetuosity of his attacks and incursions in the neighbourhood of the Guianas and Venezuela was sufficient utterly to startle and dismay the unfortunate Spaniards.



The taking of Caracas in 1595 showed him as not only an able leader, but as an extraordinarily gifted tactician. It was in the course of this attack, by the way, that the fine old hidalgo, Alonso Andrea de Ledesma, mounted his horse, and, shield on arm, lance in rest, charged full tilt single handed against the English force, who would have spared him had he permitted it. But his onslaught was too impetuous for that. All the invaders could do for the gallant old knight was to give him an honourable and reverent burial.

After a while, Queen Elizabeth herself now lending open support to the adventurers, Drake's expeditions became more and more daring, and, until he died of fever at Porto Bello, his personality was one which gave sleepless nights from time to time to responsible persons on the coasts of the great Continent.

The name of Raleigh, "poet, statesman, courtier, schemer, patriot, soldier, freebooter, discoverer, colonist, castle-builder, historian, philosopher, chemist, prisoner, and visionary," is, of course, from the romantic point of view, principally associated with El Dorado, and his quest of the magic and imaginary land of gold. It was for this reason that Raleigh's dealings with the Spaniards in South America were more circumscribed than those of many of his colleagues. Led to the belief, both by his own fanciful convictions and by the legends brought him by the Indians, he had conceived El Dorado as situated somewhere in the Guianas, and thus his operations were chiefly confined to this part of the world and to the neighbourhood of the Orinoco River.

Raleigh's quest, on paper, certainly sounds one of the most fascinating and entrancing of those undertaken in the great Continent. That which the average reader hears of less are the fevers, noxious insects, heat, and the general climatic hardships and perils involved in one of the most tropical of all countries, to say nothing of the brushes with the Spaniards; for Raleigh, courtier, poet, and philosopher though he was, was no more gentle in his dealing with his enemies than any other freebooter of his period.



In the end Raleigh returned from the Orinoco laden with no gold, but with heavy tales of the countless booty which he had failed to obtain, and in the existence of which he implicitly believed, as his spirited defence against the charges of his disappointed critics and would-be profit-sharers proves.

Once again, after many years, and after he had endured many wrongs, hardships, and imprisonment in England, Raleigh succeeded in 1617 in making his way to Guiana. His health had now become shattered, and he found himself unable to explore the Orinoco River in person, with the result that the absence of his powerful and charming personality, which had effected so much in these regions in the past, was much felt, to the disadvantage of the expedition. A portion of his forces made its way inland; but it was attacked by the Spaniards, and young Walter Raleigh, the only son of the explorer, was slain. On this occasion the party actually discovered four gold refineries. Spain, however, had increased the strength of her position in this neighbourhood enormously, and the expedition failed.

Raleigh, broken-hearted at the death of his son, returned to England. He had procured no gold; all that he had won for himself was the enmity of Spain, which, in the end, through the instrumentality of King James I., cost him his head. So much for some of the most important of the early English adventurers in the seas which the Spaniards claimed as their own.

To refer to the whole company of notable buccaneers in detail is impossible, although so many others, from Cavendish to Sharpe, Davis, Knight, and the rest, are worthy of note. There were, moreover, the Dutch freebooters, such as Van Noorte, de Werte, Spilsbergen, and others, as Jaques l'Ermite, Francois l'Ollonais, and Bartolomew Portugues, who ransacked and burned every town which failed to resist their fierce onslaughts, from the Gulf of Darien in the north all round the coast to the Pacific Ocean on the west.



CHAPTER X

FOREIGN RAIDS ON PORTUGUESE COLONIES

The rivalry which had existed between the Portuguese and the French in the early days of Brazilian colonization has already been referred to. With this exception, the first era of the Colony of Brazil was comparatively peaceful—that is to say, the Portuguese, proving themselves of a more liberal temperament than the Spaniards, did not suffer from the fierce aggressions of the English and the Dutch to the same extent as did their Castilian neighbours. In 1580, however, the situation altered itself abruptly—in a most unpleasant fashion so far as the Portuguese were concerned.

In that year Portugal became subject to Spain, and thus the Portuguese Colonies were now controlled by Spain. As a result of this Brazil had to undergo the enmity of the English and the Dutch in addition to that of the French. This latter was now of comparatively old standing. The forays and raids of the French had, indeed, continued almost without cessation, Pernambuco and Paraiba being two of the chief spots attacked. In many of these incursions the French were assisted by the natives, with many tribes of whom they had succeeded in establishing good relations. In the course of time, however, it became evident that the French, like the British, were to be feared in these neighbourhoods rather on account of their raids than for the danger of a permanent settlement.

Until 1580 several English expeditions had proceeded to Brazil, and had succeeded in trafficking with the Portuguese in complete amity. One or two of the English are even said to have established themselves near Bahia in the quite early days of the colony, and to have lived on good terms with the Iberian lords of the soil. Afterwards, through the instigation of the European officials, this cordiality became lessened, and in 1580, as has been said, the nations proceeded to open warfare in South America.

In 1582 Edward Fenton visited the coast of Brazil, and was attacked by a Spanish squadron. One of the latter vessels was sunk, and a decided victory was obtained by Fenton, who, after this, put out to sea. This was the first hostile action undertaken by the English on the Brazilian coast.

In 1591 Cavendish came to raid the various settlements. He ravaged many places, and eventually came to Espiritu Santo, where he landed a force, which, through bad generalship, was much cut up by the defenders of the place. Cavendish after this left the coast, and died on the way home to England—some say of a broken heart.

In 1595 James Lancaster's expedition arrived off Brazil. Lancaster had been brought up among the Portuguese in Europe. He understood their temperament, and was thus especially well equipped to command an enterprise such as this. After taking a number of prizes on the high seas, he fell in with another expedition commanded by Captain Venner, and the two forces united, Lancaster remaining in chief command. The English fleet now sailed for Recife. In this port they discovered three large Dutch ships, which permitted them to attack the port without interference. Lancaster, who displayed admirable generalship, landed his forces. These surrounded and captured Recife, and the English found themselves masters of a large amount of booty. Lancaster, who was a tactician as well as a fighter, now made terms with the Dutch, and offered them freight to take to England on terms which caused the Dutch ships to abandon their attitude of benevolent neutrality in favour of an active alliance.

Shortly afterwards a squadron of five vessels hove in sight; these proved to be French. By presenting them with a gift of Brazil wood, Lancaster won these to his cause as well. So now a fleet of three nations—English, Dutch, and French—were simultaneously occupied in plundering Recife. Against this force the Portuguese could do little. Fire-ships and blazing rafts were sent down the river by the garrison who had taken refuge inland; but these attempts were frustrated, and, after some few weeks spent at Recife, Lancaster sailed away with his rich plunder, and the gathering of the hawks dispersed. It is worthy of note that Lancaster exhibited a trait sufficiently rare in his comrades. He apparently remained content with his booty, and determined to enjoy it, for he does not appear any more in the character of a buccaneer.

The Dutch now gave serious attention to South America, and a West India Company was formed in Holland for no other purpose than to capture and exploit Brazil. The first fleet, commanded by Jacob Willikens, sailed from Holland in 1623. Both the authorities in the peninsula and Brazil had received warning of what was threatening, but no adequate steps would seem to have been taken for the defence of the colonies. The Dutch fleet anchored off Bahia, where a force was landed, which succeeded in obtaining possession of the town. The Dutch were welcomed by the European Jews, who had taken up their abode in that place, and also by the negroes, both of whom appeared to live in dread of the Inquisition.

The Portuguese themselves, in the first instance, fled to the woods, under the impression that the raid was merely temporary, and that a day or two would see their waters free of the marauding bands, and would restore the sacked town to its rightful owners. When it became evident that the Dutch were fortifying the town and meant to retain possession of it for good, the national spirit of the Portuguese proved equal to the occasion, and Bishop Marcos Teixeira, after assuming the garb of a penitent, took command of the army, and hoisted the crucifix for his standard. The Bishop proved an able commander, and the Dutch were closely invested in Bahia, finding themselves unable to stir outside their fortifications.

In the meanwhile the news of the capture of the capital of Brazil had produced a tremendous shock in the peninsula, and the greatest fleet which had ever sailed south was prepared to assist Bahia. Dom Manoel Menezes commanded the Portuguese section of the forces, which consisted of 4,000 men in twenty-six ships, while Fadrique de Toledo commanded the Spanish fleet of forty sail, which carried 8,000 soldiers.

On March 28, 1625, this formidable array of vessels appeared off Bahia. The Portuguese colonists had continued to besiege their captured capital, and the Bishop, who had striven and fought nobly, died, worn out by too great exertions. At the sight of the Iberian fleet, the Brazilians made a fresh attack upon the capital with enthusiasm, but the rash attempt was repulsed with great loss.

Several encounters now took place, and the Dutch sent out fire-ships by night in the hope of destroying their enemy. The attempt, however, failed, and in the end the French and English mercenaries in the Dutch service, becoming tired of the struggle, worked their influence in the cause of surrender. Shortly after this occurred, a powerful fleet of Dutch ships, under Baldwin Henrick, came in sight, but on seeing the Spanish standards flying instead of the Dutch, sailed away to the north. Had it remained, it would undoubtedly have gained a decisive victory, since the Iberian forces were in much confusion. The Dutch prisoners were honourably treated, and in the end returned to Holland, where they met with a somewhat contemptuous reception on the part of their fellow-countrymen.

In 1627 the Dutch West India fleet fell in with a Mexican treasure fleet, captured this in its entirety, and the enormous wealth thus gained gave great impetus to the enterprises of this kind. The Dutch now raided the north of the Continent, and in 1629 prepared an important expedition against Pernambuco. Fifty vessels sailed from Holland for this purpose. The force landed under the Dutch commander Wardenburg, and commenced operations in earnest. First the town of Olinda, and then the neighbouring town of Recife, were captured, after very severe fighting. It was some while, however, ere the position of the Dutch became secure, and even the short passage between the twin towns could only be effected in circumstances of great danger and difficulty, owing to the raids of the investing Portuguese.

Soon after this the Dutch captured other neighbouring ports, such as Nazareth and Paraiba. The dominion of Holland in Northern Brazil now appeared assured. At the same time the counter attacks of the Portuguese were ceaseless, and the leaders of the Dutch garrisons in South America made representations to the Netherlands in favour of reinforcements and a commander of real note. In response, Prince Mauritz, Count of Nassau, was sent out to take supreme control of the Dutch ventures on Brazilian soil. A personality more fitted for this particular purpose could scarcely have been lighted upon. For Prince Mauritz was not only a brave soldier, but a tactful and chivalrous enemy; indeed, his figure stands out in glowing colours in this campaign among the woods of the far southern coast, and the continuance of the Dutch dominion was no doubt largely due to his individuality. His arrival with nearly 3,000 men inspired the worn soldiers of Holland with new confidence. Ceara was captured, and Sao Jorge da Mina was attacked and taken as well.

In his few moments of leisure Count Mauritz gave his attention to the improvement of the town of Recife, Olinda being now utterly destroyed, as a result of the numerous battles of which it had stood as the unhappy centre. He drained the marshy ground, and planted it with oranges, lemons, and groves of coconut-trees, thus embellishing the country in the neighbourhood. Very little leisure was permitted for undertakings of this kind, for the Portuguese, persevering in their determination to regain their coastal territories, persisted in their attacks whenever an opportunity offered. A certain number, whose patriotism was less dear to them than their purses, consented to traffic with the Dutch, and the Jews upheld with enthusiasm the interests of the new-comers in this matter; but the Portuguese, on the whole, remained steadfast to their ideals, and refused to have any dealings with the intruders.

By this time the Dutch had every right to consider themselves as likely to remain the permanent possessors of Northern Brazil. The circumstance, as a matter of fact, which was destined seriously to disturb their dominion came in the light of a totally unexpected happening. Throughout the history of South America, when its lands were the colonies of Spain and Portugal, events in the European Peninsula had nearly always been echoed in the Southern Continent. The event, of course, which had so great an influence on the affairs of both Brazil and the Spanish possessions was the revolt in 1640, when, after her eighty years' captivity, Portugal freed herself from the Spanish yoke.



In the north of the colony the new situation led to a somewhat curious and paradoxical state of affairs. The Dutch had overrun Northern Brazil for the sole ostensible reason that it was a possession of Spain. Now that Portugal had freed herself from Spain, and that Brazil in consequence was once again a purely Portuguese possession, all reason for the Dutch occupation of the coast of Brazil was at an end. In Europe the situation was this: The Dutch and the Spaniards had been for generations at deadly enmity, while the rivalry between the Portuguese and the Spaniards had induced a hostility rather less deadly, it is true, but, nevertheless, sufficiently keen for the purposes of war. Thus, with the freedom of Holland from Spain, and with the liberation of Portugal from Spain, the situation of the two, once vassal countries, was identical. They had an interest in common in preserving themselves from the rapacity of Spain.

This was all very well in Europe, but in South America matters worked out very differently in actual practice. The Dutch were now firmly established in Northern Brazil, having their headquarters at the town of Recife, or Pernambuco. It was not in human nature to give up the fruits of their conquest merely because the Portuguese had driven out the Spanish officials from their territories in Europe. The situation from the point of view of Holland was simple, and could be put in a nutshell. The Dutchmen were willing enough to enter into friendly relations with the Portuguese, but not at the cost of the Brazilian possessions of the Dutch West Indian Company, which had been especially formed for the purpose of acquiring these.

Count Mauritz of Nassau had proved himself an able administrator, and it was now the turn of the Dutch to intrigue where before they had fought openly. In June, 1641, an agreement was negotiated in Europe between Portugal and the United States of the Netherlands, which concluded a truce for ten years. A year was allowed in order to carry this intelligence to the Dutch commanders in South America and elsewhere. In order to cement this new friendship, the Dutch further agreed to supply Portugal with arms and ammunition to aid in the common fight against Spain.

The Brazilian policy of Holland was, however, quite different from that proposed in Europe. Instructions were sent to Count Mauritz of Nassau ordering him to continue in the command, to extend the sphere of the Dutch dominion, and, if possible, to capture Bahia. These instructions were largely due to the belief held in Holland that Portugal would be unable to maintain her independence for any length of time.

When the news of the truce was first brought to Count Mauritz at Recife, all the outward marks of festivity and great rejoicings were exhibited. A general fraternization ensued, and the late enemies and temporary friends regaled each other at various banquets. Thus Paulo da Cunha, the Brazilian patriot, upon whose outlawed head the Count had put a price of 500 florins (to which da Cunha had retorted by placing a price of 2,000 cruzados upon the Count's), was now invited to feast with Nassau, and the two entered into an intimate and rather chaffing discussion upon the respective prices they had put upon each other's heads.

Very shortly, however, the Brazilians found reason to suspect the sincerity of the Dutch professions of friendship. A Dutch fleet sailed north, captured Sao Christovao, and in other places seized a number of Portuguese vessels. The Portuguese now found themselves in something of a dilemma, owing to the very fact of the independence they had won. During the Spanish dominion the ports had been manned by the Spaniards as well as by the Portuguese. This, of course, was no longer the case. Bahia, for instance, had now lost a great part of its garrison. The 700 Spaniards and Neapolitans who had served there were honourably treated by the Portuguese, and were sent on their way to Europe, but were captured by the Dutch ere they had left the coast.

The Dutch aggression, as a matter of fact, was not confined to South America. A Dutch force of 2,000 regular troops had entered Sao Paul de Loanda, the capital of Angola. The loss of this important Portuguese possession on the west coast of Africa produced a direct effect on South America, for it was from here that the Brazilians had imported all their African slaves. Thus the whole of this traffic passed entirely into the hands of the Dutch for the time being. Mauritz of Nassau went the length of suggesting that the territory of Angola should become an appendage of that of Dutch Brazil, as the two were bound so closely by this traffic! The Dutch had also captured the Island of St. Thomas. In that place, however, the climate avenged the Portuguese to the full, and the mortality among the Dutch from fever in this island was appalling.

The Dutch in Brazil now sent an expedition to the north to obtain possession of the Province of Maranhao. They captured and plundered the capital, pillaging churches and ransacking the sugar factories. The Governor, Maciel, appears to have behaved very badly, and with no little treachery towards his fellow-countrymen. Nassau, when Maciel surrendered, treated him with contempt, and imprisoned him. The situation had now become grimly farcical. In Europe the Dutch were supplying the Portuguese with arms and stores, and acting in general as their allies; while in Brazil the two nations were openly at war, and the Dutch were sending hostile expeditions in all directions!

Just at this period, indeed, the ambition of the Dutch appeared to swell to the highest point. Count Mauritz determined to push his conquests far to the south, and had even prepared an expedition for the capture of the Spanish town of Buenos Aires; but the attempt was frustrated by the hostility of the Portuguese and Indians nearer home. All this time, of course, Dutch fleets had been harrying the Pacific coast, and the Dutch had actually obtained a footing in Southern Chile, although this was not destined to prove permanent. With the extension of their boundaries, however, it was but natural that the difficulty of preserving their dominion should increase.

In Maranhao, freshly conquered as it was, rebellion broke out almost as soon as the Dutch had established themselves. Desperate fighting took place in the neighbourhood of the capital, and many barbarities were committed on both sides. The Dutch Governor, in a fit of exasperation, delivered twenty-five Portuguese to the savages of Ceara, and sent fifty to the Barbadoes to be sold as slaves. The English Governor, however, after he had received these latter on shore, set them at liberty, and administered a severe reproof to the agent who had offered white men for sale in this way. Owing to happenings such as these the bitterness between the two races increased.

In the end Maranhao was regained by the Portuguese, and the Fort of Ceara itself was surprised by a force of Tapuya Indians and its garrison massacred. These occurrences were ominous, and the turn of the tide seemed to have set in. Prince Mauritz of Nassau now sent in his resignation, and, after leaving everything in a state of complete preparedness, set out for Europe, accompanied by no fewer than 1,400 persons all told, a force which could ill be spared from Brazil at that period. Among them were a few Indians who were taken to Holland to demonstrate to the inhabitants of that country the accomplishments of their countrymen, and the nature of the new subjects.

Nassau had governed the captured territories in a liberal and imperialistic spirit, and his personality had been popular to a certain extent even among the Portuguese. His absence was severely felt, and the policy of the West India Company, in itself parsimonious and somewhat petty, undoubtedly suffered much from the want of his presence; for during the time that he was in power he had restrained the excesses of his own people, and used no little tact towards the Portuguese. His rank, moreover, counted not a little in winning their esteem. The new authorities had not the influence over the soldiery that Prince Mauritz had enjoyed, and lacked not only experience but judgment.

Shortly after this Dirk van Hoogstraten, a Dutch officer, offered his services to the Portuguese, and various other symptoms portended a break up of the organization of the Dutch West India Company. Several attempts at insurrection took place in the neighbourhood of Recife itself, and the methods of the Dutch in repressing these became increasingly harsh. Some of the malcontents were hanged, and in several cases their hands were lopped off before death.

The Brazilian patriot, Joao Fernandes, now became very prominent, and the Dutch in consequence began to be more and more harassed. The woods in the neighbourhood of the town sheltered numbers of discontented Portuguese and Indians, who had collected stores and weapons, and had hidden themselves in the recesses of the forests until the time came for them to sally out for the attack. Several expeditions sent out by the Dutch to break up these bands were unsuccessful. The Portuguese either eluded them, or the Dutch fell into the ambushes prepared for them, and suffered loss without being able to retaliate.

Every month the Portuguese grew stronger in numbers, and attacks were now frequent on the Dutch isolated settlements, many of which were captured and the inhabitants massacred. The Portuguese were determined to surrender none of the advantages which the nature of the country offered them, and thus the warfare still remained of a guerilla order, and upon the sallying out of a formidable Dutch force, the Portuguese, with their Indian allies, would disperse in the dense forests, and come together again when the Dutch had concluded their march.

The retaliatory methods of the Dutch served to enrage the Portuguese beyond all bearing. The Council of the Dutch West India Company issued a proclamation to the effect that all women and children in the towns, whose husbands and fathers were rebels, were to be evicted from their houses and left to fend for themselves. The idea seems to have been that these people would flock to the insurgents and thus hamper their movements. The result was that the unfortunate women and children were exposed to the mercy of the weather and the forests.

Joao Fernandes had now collected a formidable number of men, and, posting these about nine leagues to the westward of Recife in a spot of great strategic advantage, he awaited the Dutch advance. One thousand five hundred Dutch troops, aided by a number of native auxiliaries, came on to the attack. Three times they advanced and drove the Portuguese and their Indian allies some way up the hill on the sides of which they were posted, but each time the Dutch lost more and more men from the ambushes in the thick cane-brake which covered the ground. In the end the Dutch retired, having suffered very severe casualties. It is said that 370 of their force were found dead upon the field. Beyond this a number died on the retreat, while many hundreds were wounded. The Portuguese assert that their army consisted of 1,200 whites, aided by about 100 Indians and negroes. This fight had very important consequences, since it enabled the Portuguese forces to arm themselves with the weapons left on the field by the dead and wounded Dutch.

During all this time the authorities at Bahia had remained quiescent, since officially no state of war existed, and in the eyes of the Government the Dutch were supposed merely to be quelling some revolutionary movements ere they departed for Europe! Now the time came for this farce to be ended, and the Governor of Bahia sent troops to the north to join the insurgents in their struggle against the Dutch. The traitor Hoogstraten now definitely joined these forces, and the whole of the country south of Recife fell once more into the hands of the Portuguese. During this period the bitterness between the two armies was still further accentuated by the massacre of Portuguese by the Tapuya Indians at Cunhau. This atrocity, as a matter of fact, was perpetrated on the initiative of the Indians alone, but at the time the Dutch—unjustly, as it turned out—were blamed for it. This circumstance induced retaliation, and eventually caused many barbarous acts to be done on both sides.

After the fortunes of war had fluctuated on various occasions and the Dutch had alternately been defeated, received reinforcements, and become temporarily victorious again, the war came to an end. The Dutch consented to withdraw entirely from Brazil, to surrender Recife and all the remaining forts which they possessed, as well as the Island of Fernando de Noronha. In return they were granted an amnesty, which was extended to the Indians in their service.

Arrangements had been carried almost to a conclusion when the Dutch showed themselves prepared to continue the campaign in South America. This threat of renewed aggression had the effect of increasing the liberality of the Portuguese terms. The ensuing negotiations were considerably assisted by Charles II. of England, who, about to marry Catherine of Portugal, strongly took up the cause of the Portuguese in South America, and announced to the Dutch his intention to ally his forces with those of the Portuguese, and, if necessary, proceed to extremities. These representations of Charles were taken up by France and Portugal, and the Dutch, as a result, decided to waive some of their wilder claims. Before, however, the treaty was finally concluded, it was found necessary to pay certain sums in the nature of a ransom to the Dutch. These consisted of 4,000,000 cruzados, in money, sugar, tobacco, and salt, which were to be paid in sixteen annual instalments. All the artillery taken in Brazil, which was marked either with the arms of the United Provinces of the Netherlands or of the West India Company, were to be restored to their former owners.



Thus, although Portugal may be said in one sense to have cooped the Dutch up within a narrow strip of remaining territory, and to have been on the point of expelling them from Brazil by the sword, actually the withdrawal was only effected by the payment of this heavy ransom. As Southey has it: "The Portuguese consented to pay for the victory which they had obtained."



CHAPTER XI

THE COLONY OF PERU

With South America now definitely settled, we may glance at the various provinces which constituted the Spanish American Continent. For a long while after the first establishment of the Spanish dominion the divisions between the various districts remained far fewer in number than was later the case. South America may be said to have been partitioned off in the early days into four main divisions. The northernmost of these was commonly known as Terra Firma, and comprised New Granada and the neighbouring districts. This area is now occupied by the Republics of Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador.

To the south of Terra Firma the Viceroyalty of Peru extended itself, bordered on the south by the Province of Chile; while to the east, occupying the remainder of the Continent as far as the Brazilian frontier, and stretching over the fertile plains to the south, was the great Province of Paraguay, which included the territories now contained in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and part of Bolivia.

Seeing that the head-quarters of the Colonial Government was vested in Peru, it would be as well to deal with this portion of the Continent first. Peru constituted in the first place the sole Viceroyalty, and subsequently the senior Viceroyalty, of Spanish South America. Lima, its capital and the seat of government, took care to distinguish itself from any other colonial city of the Continent. Certainly no other town possessed such buildings and architectural decorations as those of which Lima could boast. The home of the Viceroy, it was a city of pomp, processions, and stately movements. These, as a matter of fact, were by no means out of place, when the great importance of the spot from a governmental point of view is considered. Every matter of consequence, in whatever province it may have had its origin, was referred for settlement to Lima, and it was here that the Viceroy and his Court gave judgments, the effects of which were echoed thousands of miles away.

Of all the Viceroyalties in the world, that of Peru was undoubtedly the proudest during the earlier Spanish colonial period, for the holder of the high office governed not merely a country, but the greater half of a vast Continent. Seeing that the colonial policy of Spain invariably tended to pit one of her subordinate Powers against another in order to avoid the acquirement of too much authority on the part of any special person, it was only natural that the authority of the Viceroy, although great, was not supreme even in his own dominion. There were matters which had to be referred to the Court of Spain, but even in these the importance of Lima remained in one sense unimpaired, for Lima then became the mouthpiece of the Continent, and it was through her officials that the case was presented for the deliberations which pursued their leisurely course in Europe.

The palace of the Viceroy represented, naturally, one of the chief buildings in the capital. Impressive as was the authority of this high official, he was wont to live even his private life in great state. As a rule he would set apart a short while in the morning and afternoon for the personal reception of petitions. There were, of course, numerous public functions in which it was his duty to take part. Thus, on the arrival of any new laws or decrees from Spain, the Viceroy was accustomed to proceed to the Council Hall, where these were delivered to him. He would then salute the documents by kissing the King's signature and by laying the paper on his head.