Araucanians to flight.  Cayancura was so exceedingly mortified by this defeat, that he retired to his ulmenate, leaving the command of the army to his son, Nangoniel, a young man of great hopes and much beloved by the nation.  This young commander immediately collected a new army, in which were an hundred and fifty horse, which from this time forwards became a regular part of the Araucanian military force.  With these troops he returned to invest the fortress of Arauco, and guarded all its environs so closely that the garrison were unable to procure a supply of provisions, and were at length compelled to evacuate it, probably on capitulation.  Encouraged by this good fortune, Nangoniel proceeded towards the Biobio, intending to attack the fort of Trinidad, which protected the passage of supplies in that direction from Spanish Chili to the forts on the south of that river.  But while on his march, he was encountered by a detachment of Spanish troops commanded by Francisco Hernandez, by whom he was defeated.  In this action he lost an arm and received several other dangerous wounds.  Being obliged by this misfortune to take refuge on a neighbouring mountain, where he was drawn into an ambush by the sergeant-major[89] of the Spanish army, he and fifty of his soldiers were slain, after defending themselves valiantly for a long time.  On the same day, an officer named Cadeguala, who had obtained great reputation in the Arancanian army for his courage and military skill, was proclaimed toqui by the officers.

[Footnote 88:  Lines, it would appear of circumvallation and contravallation, probably suggested by some of the Spaniards who had joined the Araucanians.—­E.]

[Footnote 89:  This officer in the Spanish service seems somewhat equivalent to our adjutant; and the sergeant-major of the array in Chili, may be considered as a kind of adjutant-general.—­E.]

About this time, while the Araucanians were valiantly endeavouring to oppose the Spanish arms, the English also planned an expedition against them in that remote quarter of the world.  Sir Thomas Cavendish sailed with this view from Plymouth on the 21st of July 1586 with three ships, and arrived on the coast of Chili in the following year.  He landed at the desert port of Quintero[90], and endeavoured to enter into a negociation with the natives of the country; but he was attacked by Alonzo Molina, the corregidor of St Jago, and compelled to reimbark with the loss of several soldiers and seamen, and quitted the coast after a very short stay.

[Footnote 90:  The port of Quintero, in about lat. 32 deg. 45’ S. is about 8 or 10 miles to the north of the river Quillota in Spanish Chili.  The voyage of Sir Thomas Cavendish will appear in an after division of this work.—­E.]