Page:A history of Chile.djvu/88

 76 A HISTORY OF CHILE his death by accident, or whether, like a Roman gen- eral, he preferred death to the dishonor of defeat. This battle was fought in 1564, and closed the war for a season, or until the following year. At the same time the Araucanians met with disaster in another quarter. A detachment had been sent under another leader, called Lillemu, to lay waste the provinces of Chilian and Itata. Pedro Balsa went against him with a party of eighty Spanish troops, but was de- feated. The governor then marched from Santi- ago with one hundred and fifty Spaniards and with this force cut off a detachment of Lillemu's troops. The latter chieftain came with reinforcements to their assistance, but found that they had been already dispersed. The Spaniards fell furiously upon their reinforcements, and it was only by taking a stand in a narrow pass that Lillemu was able to effect a retreat of his forces ; but this stratagem cost him his own life together with the lives of a large number of his brav- est warriors. During the year following, Pedro de Villagran who had been appointed to the governorship merely as the tem- porar}' successor of his father, was succeeded bj' Rodri- go de Quiroga, who was appointed to the office by the Royal Audience of Lima. The Araucanians elected as Antiguenu's successor a relative of Lautaro, Pailla- taru by name. He was a cautious commander who contented himself with leading occasional incursions against the Spanish provinces. In 1565 Quiroga rebuilt the fort of Arauco and the town of Caiiete, also a fort on the spot where the battle of Quiapo had been fought. In 1566 formal possession was taken of Chilo6 with its accompanying archipelago, consisting of eighty outlying islands, and the city of Castro with the port