at the river de San Pedro, with ten thousand Indians. The battle commenced immediately upon the appearance of the Spaniards. The contest was long, obstinate and bloody. Some Spaniards fell in it; but victory declared in their favor. They continued their march and arrived at the Aguntas from which place a plain three leagues long extends to Carac

cas.

The cacique of this place had declined taking part against the Spaniards, unwilling to expose to devastation the great plantations which he had in his domains. Losada, therefore, was enabled to give to his army some moments of repose, of which they had great need. At the same time, he knew that fresh armies of Indians, were waiting for him in the defiles, through which he was obliged to pass in order to arrive at the valley of St. Francis or the Caraccas. It was upon that account he resolved to prefer the way on his right, which leads across the mountain to a valley, not farther distant than half a league from the Caraccas, to which he gave the name, which it still retains of Valle de la Pascua, valley of Easter, because he arrived there in the holy-week, where he remained without uneasiness, till after the Easter holy-days.

The scheme of Losada, was to make every effort to conciliate the friendship of the Indians, by negotiation and good treatment to soothe them into a submission to Spanish dominion, to induce them to prefer the social laws, which protect every individual, to the state of nature, where every one is exposed to the insults and exaction of the strongest. Therefore, in the beginning, he made use of arms

solely for defence. All the Indians, who were taken, were well treated, caressed, instructed, and released. They amused the Spaniards by the most flattering promises, and consented to take whatever oaths were required of them with so much the more complacency, as they attached no importance to them, and thus they departed seemingly well pleased; but that liberty which they owed to the generosity of their conquerors, they never employed, but in contriving new snares for the Spaniards, and in forming new coalitions in order to fight them. As soon as Losada became impressed with the afflicting certainty, that lenient measures served only to give the Indians a false idea of his weakness, he seriously determined to resort to the plan of military coercion. He left in the valley of St. Francis, Maldonado with 80 men, whilst with the rest of his army he scoured the country for ten leagues to the eastward, where he found many ambushes, many posts, many Indians disposed to dispute his passage; but it was in vain they attempted to resist him; every thing yielded to his discipline and valour. He continued to conquer with every possible success, when he learned that Maldonado was besieged by more than two thousand Indians. This intelligence obliged him to retrace his steps, in order to fly to the assistance of the camp of St. Francis. On his approach the siege was actually raised, and the Indians for safety betook themselves to flight.

The intention of Losada had, at first, been to found no city, till the conquest of the country was happily atchieved, and tranquillity well secured.

But circumstances made him change his opinion. He laid, therefore, the foundation of the city of Caraccas, to which he gave the name of Santiago de Leon de Caraccas, which is but a combination of his own name, that of governor Ponce de Leon, together with that of the Indian nation, who occupied the ground upon which it was built. The precise date of its foundation is unknown. History has only been able to ascertain the year, but it was towards the end of 1567.

The Spaniards passed upwards of ten years making war upon the Indians in the environs of Caraccas. They made continual sallies, and not always with success. During that interval, they, several times, saw themselves upon the point of being compelled to evacuate the country. To support all the fatigues, all the privations, which they experienced, and to come off victorious from the battles, which they were daily in the habit of giving and receiving, required all the perseverance, patience, and self-denial that are reckoned amongst the characteristic virtues of the Spaniards, as well as the intrepidity peculiar to those who are the subjects of the present narration.

Maracaibo.

Whilst Losada was completing the conquest of Caraccas, Captain Alonso Pacheco, an inhabitant of Truxillo, fought in the western part of the country, the Saparas, Quiriquiros, Atilas and Toas Indians, who opposed his march to Maracaibo. This conquest was neither short nor easy; it was the

work of time and courage. After he had reduced them to submission, he built, in 1571, a city upon the border of the lake of Maracaibo, under the name of New-Zamora, which it has not retained, for it is now known only by that of Maracaibo.

Carora.

In 1572, John de Salamanca, with seventy men, marched to fight the Indians of Bararigua, and founded on the 9th of June, of the same year, the city of Carora.

St. Sebastian de los Reyes.

The city of St. Sebastian de los Reyes was founded in 1585, by Don Sebastian Dias. The Indians attacked it several times, and with greater hopes of success, on account of the very small number of its inhabitants at that time; but their valour made up for the deficiency of their number.

We may see, by the manner in which these cities have been founded, that they owed their existence to force alone; their preservation to the courage of their first inhabitants. Perhaps, it was expected that we should here present a circumstantial account of those conquests which have embraced all the province of Venezuela, which, with considerable exceptions, are by no means uninteresting; but, besides that such a task would exceed the limits I have already prescribed to myself, the perspicuity, method and accuracy, with which Oviedo, a creole of Caraccas, has handled that subject, would

have deterred me from an undertaking in which I could not but appear inferior. My duty, I conceive, is sufficiently discharged by publicly referring to the work, and paying to the author that tribute of praise, which is certainly due to him. He has, in a masterly manner, described the means which have been employed to bring that country under the authority of the Spaniards; I have, therefore, only to point out those which are employed to keep them in it. He has given a faithful representation of the ancient state of that country; it is my part to render an account of what is its present state, and thence form conjectures of what will be its future state.

VOL. I.