CHAPTER XII

THE COLONY OF CHILE

In Chile, as has been said, the conquest of the land was effected under far more strenuous circumstances than those which applied to any other part of South America, with the exception, perhaps, of the coasts in the neighbourhood of the estuary of the River Plate.  In the early days of Chile it is literally true that the colonists were obliged to go about their labours with a handful of seed in one hand and a weapon of defence in the other.  It was owing to this constant warlike preoccupation that the early cities of Chile were of so comparatively mean an order, for, harassed by continuous Indian attacks as they were, the settlers could find no leisure to devote their energies to anything of a pretentious or even reasonably commodious order in the way of town-building.

In the north of the Continent the enervating climate, facile conquest, and easy life had naturally tended to atrophy the energy of the Spaniards.  In Chile, on the other hand, the constant and fierce struggles of the warlike natives, the hardships and frugal living, and the temperate and exhilarating atmosphere, tended not only to preserve the energy, but even to increase the virility of the settler in the south.

It is true that in the central provinces of the country, where the Indians were less numerous and less warlike than the Araucanians of the south, a certain number of the natives were distributed into encomiendas, and set to work at enforced tasks, but the number of these, compared with those which existed in the centre and north of the Continent, remained utterly insignificant.  As to the Araucanians themselves, their indomitable nature absolutely forbade an existence under such conditions.

It was not only with the aborigines of their new country that the Spanish settlers in Chile had to contend.  Nature had in store for them a species of catastrophe which was admirably adapted to test their fortitude to an even greater degree.  Thus in 1570 the newly-founded city of Concepcion was brought to the ground by an earthquake, and some eighty years later the larger centre of Santiago became a heap of smoking ruins from the same cause.  Indeed, throughout the history of both the colonial and independent eras Chile has been from time to time visited by such terrible calamities as these.  In every instance, however, the disaster has left the inhabitants undismayed, and new and larger towns have risen upon the sites of the old.

Chile, probably owing to the comparatively limited area of its soil, was never raised to the rank of a Viceroyalty; nevertheless the Governorship of the province was, of course, one of the most important on the Continent.  After the death of Valdivia on the field of battle, Francisco Villagran was elected as chief of the new colony.  At the period when he assumed command there had come about one of the most severe of the many crises through which the young colony was destined to pass.  The Araucanians, emboldened by their victories, now pressed on to the attack from all sides with an impetuosity and confidence which proved irresistible.  The south was for the time being abandoned, and the Spanish women and children were hurriedly sent by sea to Valparaiso, while the harassed army retired towards the north.