“March 27, 1781.—This day the Indians attacked with great force all parts of the city, setting fire to the houses that were outside of the trenches, assaulting these and the wall, from which they were repulsed with great vigour. This engagement lasted from 11 o’clock in the morning till 4 in the evening. At this hour the rebels retired with much loss, which was given at more than one hundred and fifty killed, without a loss on our part. “March 28.—It was recognized to-day that the number of Indians who approached was considerably increased. At 8 o’clock in the morning they attacked all parts of the city, aided by some guns which they fired, and at the same time they went on burning the houses outside of the fortifications, and we resisted them with great valour. The attack lasted until five o’clock in the afternoon, when the enemy retired with more than three hundred and fifty dead, according to our calculation, and on our side we had only two. “March 29.—The Indians have been coming down from all sides since daybreak, and at ten o’clock assaulted the city with desperation, and this attack, repulsed by us, lasted till half-past five in the afternoon, at which hour they retired with a loss of more than one hundred and fifty men, and we had the misfortune, by the bursting of a cannon in one of the forts, to have three killed and several severely wounded, and among the killed was Captain José de Roxas.” [Sidenote: Martínez y Vela on Doña Clara] [Sidenote: The elegance of Doña Clara] [Sidenote: Doña Clara in poverty] In the troubled life of Potosí, Martínez y Vela found an abundance of incidents that enabled him to give his _Anales_ a piquant flavour not usually discovered in chronicles. The following is his entry for the year 1690.