So
eager did they show themselves to obtain gold in exchange for weapons
and other objects coveted by the dusky races, that the Araucanians
became suspicious, and in the end awoke to the fact that the presence of
the Dutch in their country was due to precisely the same causes as had
attracted the Spanish. Disillusioned, they withdrew their hastily
extended friendship, and retired to their own haunts, lending a passive
rather than an active resistance to those strangers with whom they still
remained on outward terms of friendship. The relations, however, became
more strained when, on the rare occasions when the two races came into
contact, the Indians refused to supply the Dutch with provisions. This
policy of the Araucanians won them their object, for in the end the
Dutch, unable to subsist without the supplies for which they depended on
the Indians, were forced to relinquish their settlements and to abandon
the country.
An English expedition, with more peaceful intent, under the command of
Sir John Narborough, set sail from England towards the end of 1669, and
arrived in Valdivia in 1670. On this occasion the hands of the Commander
were strictly tied, since he had received implicit injunctions not to
fall foul of the Spaniards; thus, when he endeavoured to trade with the
Indians, the Spaniards took prisoner his lieutenant and three of his
men, whom they detained.
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