The receipt of this alarming news so terrified the inhabitants of _St. Iago_ that they made up their minds to quit the country and retire to _Peru_. They appointed, however, as temporary governor Pedro de Viscara, a veteran of seventy years, who set out for the frontier with such troops as he could raise. Crossing the _Bio-bio_ in the face of the enemy, he withdrew the inhabitants of _Angol_ and _Coya_, sending them to _Conception_ and _Chillan_. At the end of six months he was relieved by _Don_ Francisco Quinones, sent by the Viceroy of _Peru_ to assume the government. Several actions took place to the north of the _Bio-bio_; the most important occurred on the plains of _Yumbel_. This battle, fought between nearly equal numbers, continued with incredible fury for nearly two hours, when night parted the combatants, and the _Toqui_ repassed the _Bio-bio_. The Spanish governor ordered his prisoners to be hanged. After this engagement the fort of _Arauco_ and the city of _Canete_ were evacuated. [Sidenote: 1600.] The active Paillamachu went from place to place. He stormed _Valdivia_, putting to death a great number of the inhabitants, and forcing the remainder to save themselves on board ships, which at once set sail. By this exploit he secured all the cannon of the place, two millions of dollars, and four hundred prisoners. To add to these misfortunes, five Dutch men-of-war now appeared on the coast of _Chili_, plundering the island of _Chiloë_ and putting the garrison to the sword. A party having attacked the Araucanians on the island of _Talca_, or _Santa Maria_, under the belief that they were Spaniards, were repulsed with the loss of twenty-three men. [Sidenote: 1602.] Quinones was succeeded in the government by Garcia Raymon, an officer of much experience in South America, and who in turn had shortly to give place to Rivera, a soldier who had fought in the Low Countries, and who was now sent out with a regiment of veterans. His coming encouraged his countrymen to abandon their idea of quitting _Chili_; it did not, however, retrieve the fortunes of the war. After a siege of three years, _Villarica_ fell into the hands of the Araucanians: whilst a similar fate awaited _Imperial_, which place owed its protracted defence to a Spanish heroine, called Inez Agulera. When defence was no longer possible, this lady, who during the siege had lost her husband and her brothers, escaped by sea with a great part of the inhabitants. The city of _Osorno_ was the next to give way to the besiegers, and thus was freed from the presence of the Spaniards the extensive country between the _Bio-bio_ and the archipelago of _Chiloë_, and the work of Valdivia and his successors was undone.