de Fuentes, a native of Andalusia, on whom he conferred the title of captain-general and president of justice, allowing him a retinue of fifty men. This title bears date in the city of la Plata, whither his excellency had proceeded to prosecute the general visitation he had undertaken, the 22d day of January, 1574; and the urgency of the measures that were adopted, may be estimated by the tenour of the clauses, which provided, that on the 28th of the same month, or sooner if possible, the expedition should set out.
Fuentes, who was justly considered as the Hernan Cortes of that part of South America, did not lose any time in devising the means of peopling the above vallies, to the end that they might serve as a barrier, and afford security to the roads of Peru, and to the bordering provinces. This man, who was certainly deserving of greater celebrity than he acquired, and of a better fate than the one which attended him, commenced his project by the adoption of measures that ought to have served, and should still serve as a rule to all conquerors. He occupied the principal valley, erected and peopled the city which is the capital of that district, and thence made war against the Indians. As soon as he had driven them to a convenient distance, he formed other settlements, such as Charaja, Concepcion, &c. until he had, by this method, succeeded in conquering and peopling, at one and the same time, an extent of fifty leagues of that abundant and fertile territory; and until the odious name of Chirihuano was not heard in Peru, except by the reports from Tarija.
For the sake of humanity, it were to be wished that a circumstance which is painful to relate, and which shews the want of gratitude in the human heart, could be passed over
