The next occasion of war was caused by the endeavour of the Spanish governor, Gonzaga, to compel the Araucanians to live in cities. At this time also, the Pehuenches, who at the commencement of the war were allies of the Spaniards, having been defeated by the Araucanians, resolved to change sides, and have ever since been firmly allied with this brave people. Various battles were fought, and among others, a bloody one in the beginning of the year 1773. The same year, however, peace was agreed upon, and the Araucanians were allowed to have a minister resident in the city of St. Jago. The treaties of Quillan and Negrete were revived, and, under the wise administration of the Spanish viceroys, Jauqui and Benavides, the country for a long time enjoyed the blessings of unbroken tranquillity. The Araucanians have thus by their courage and perseverance been enabled to maintain their liberties against some of the best disciplined troops of Spain, even those who had served in the Low Countries during the reigns of Charles the Fifth and Philip the Second, and who were armed with weapons before unknown and calculated to strike terror into all the native tribes. They remain still secure in their mountain fastnesses, enjoying the blessings of liberty, and determined as ever never to be subjugated by any foreign foe. SOUTHERN INDIANS OF SOUTH AMERICA. The whole interior of the southern portion of South America, from Terra del Fuego up to Paraguay, was long occupied by numerous savage tribes of Indians. Of these little was known till long after the occupation of portions of the country by the Spaniards. They soon obtained horses, and were divided by the Europeans into equestrian and pedestrian tribes. They were generally ferocious in their character, and engaged in almost perpetual wars with each other. The equestrian tribes, especially, were accustomed to make long excursions for the purpose of plunder or revenge. Many of these nations have since been swept off by that dreadful scourge of the Indian race, the small-pox, and many have been driven still farther back by the Europeans. Our knowledge of their history, which is, indeed, but scanty, is derived from the accounts furnished by the Catholic missionaries, who labored long and with some degree of success among them.[3] The views they give of their manners and customs is often most interesting, and will be treated of in our sketch of the manners and customs of the American Indians. The vast plains, or _pampas_, as they are called, which lie southwest of Buenos Ayres, were inhabited by the equestrian savages, who, with the Araucanians, and other tribes which dwelt in the mountains, were termed by the Peruvians, AUCAS, or rebels, probably from some event in their former history. It would seem, indeed, that several of the tribes originally came from the Northwest, and perhaps there gained the knowledge of horsemanship, in which they are so expert, from the earlier European invaders.