[Fac-simile of a copperplate in Ovalle’s Historica Relacion de Chile, Rome, 1648.—Ed.]
Penetrating far to the south, the town of Osorno was founded beyond Valdivia, and the archipelago of Chiloe was discovered. During the governor’s absence in the far south, the toqui Caupolican was betrayed into the hands of Alonso de Reinosa, the captain in command at Tucapel, who put him to a horrible death by impalement.
PERUVIANS WORSHIPPING THE SUN.
[After the sketch in Benzoni, edition of 1572, p. 168.—Ed.]
There was now a brief interval of peace. Don Garcia had brought with him to Chili the good licentiate Gonzalez Marmolejo, afterwards first bishop of Santiago, who prepared rules for the humane treatment of the peaceful natives. Only a sixth were allowed to be employed at the mines; no one was to work who was under eighteen or over fifty; no laborer was to be forced to work on feast days, and all were to be paid and supplied with food. On the 5th of February, 1561, Don Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza embarked at Valparaiso and left Chili, being succeeded by Francisco de Villagra, the old companion in arms of Valdivia. Villagra died in 1563, and was succeeded by Rodrigo de Quiroga. In 1563 the bishopric of Santiago was founded, and in 1565 the royal Audiencia of Chili was instituted, with Dr. Melchor Bravo de Saravia as its first president. Its seat was fixed in the city of Concepcion.
We must now return to the course of events in Peru. The scandalous death of the viceroy Conde de Nieva seems to have induced the king to choose his successor from among men learned in the law rather than from the nobility, and to drop the title of viceroy. Lope Garcia de Castro had been a judge of the Audiencia of Valladolid, and afterwards a member of the council of the Indies. He was appointed governor and captain-general of Peru, and president of the Audiencia of Lima, where he made his public entry Sept. 22, 1564. To avoid scandal, the belief had been encouraged that the Conde de Nieva had been murdered in bed. But everybody knew that he had been struck to the ground by several stout negroes with bags full of sand; that the blows had been continued until life was extinct; and that after the murder people came out of the house of the Zarates, and carried the body to the palace. The culprit was Don Rodrigo Manrique de Lara, a powerful citizen of proud lineage, who had discovered love passages between his young wife and her near relative the viceroy. But the judges thought there would be grave scandal if the delinquent was brought to justice, and the new governor took the same view. The affair was hushed up.
Lope de Castro established a mint, imposed the almojarifazgo, or customs dues, and organized the work at the newly-discovered quicksilver mines of Huancavelica, and at the silver mines. In 1567 the Jesuits arrived in Peru, and in the same year the second council of Lima was convoked by Archbishop Loaysa, the governor assisting as representative of the king. The first council was in 1552. At the second the decisions of the council of Trent were accepted, and the parochial arrangements were made; while the governor proceeded with the work of fixing the divisions of land among the Indians, and marking out the country into corregimientos, or provinces, under corregidors. In 1567 Castro despatched an expedition from Callao, under the command of his nephew, Alvaro de Mendaña, who discovered the Solomon Islands. Lope Garcia de Castro governed Peru for five years, handing over his charge to his successor, in 1569, to return to Spain and resume his seat at the council board of the Indies.
Don Francisco de Toledo, second son of the third Count of Oropesa, was the king’s major-domo, and was advanced in years when he was selected to succeed the licentiate Lope de Castro. In his case the title of viceroy was revived, and was retained by his successors until the independence. Landing at Payta, the viceroy Toledo travelled along the coast, closely observing the condition both of Spaniards and Indians; and he then made up his mind to visit every province within his government. He made his public entrance into Lima on the 26th of November, 1569.