seen in the front *. Alvarado, Martinez, Correa, and Pinto, fled to Ilo, and embarked with something short of one thousand fugitives. Alvarado could only prevail upon about three hundred of these men to accompany him to Iquique (sixty leagues south of Arica), where the skeleton battalion No. 2 had been left, and whither some dispersed soldiers had directed their course. Upon arriving at Iquique, Alvarado discovered that the battalion had been compelled to embark on the 13th of February, by the royalists under Olañeta, who had marched from Potosi to the coast. Alvarado sent the greater part of his men on shore, in the supposition that Olañeta had retired from Iquique, but who, it turned out, had concealed his men in the village. Upon the patriots arriving, they rushed from their ambuscade, and killed or made prisoners the entire party. Alvarado, unsuccessful at all points, made sail for Lima.

But

Miller, on learning the fate of his legion, wrote the following letter to the author of these memoirs: "My first battalion, which cost me so much pains to form, and which occupied all my thoughts for a year, was cut to pieces at the affair of Torata. it fought nobly; is spoken of by the rest of the army in terms of admiration of its conduct, and of sorrow for its loss; for all agreed that the corps had acquired fame in the midst of misfortune. The firmness with which two cavalry charges were repulsed, after the rest of our army had given way, and the accuracy

Ensign Rivero, of the legion, was amongst the killed at Torata. His body was found on the field of battle by his brother Lieutenant-Colonel Rivero, who commanded a royalist battalion.

and sang froid with which the battalion manoeuvred under a heavy fire, drew forth expressions of applause from Canterac; and yet my brave fellows were almost all recruits but there was so much esprit de corps, and such a bond of union between officers and men, that I always anticipated they would do something brilliant whenever they met the enemy. The highsouled ambition of its youthful commandant, Don Pedro de la Rosa, did not a little tend to raise my expectations. He and Captains Tarramona (who acted as major) and Escobar and six subalterns were killed. They were all from seventeen to twenty-four years of age, my very best officers, and would have done honour to any European service. Besides these, two captains and seven subalterns were taken prisoners, all excepting three severely wounded. Only one hundred and thirty rank and file escaped, exclusive of the light company detached with me.

"I mourn with a feeling beyond the power of expression for the loss of so many fine, brave, and promising young men who have fallen during this short campaign. My first visits of condolence to the families of my departed friends have been indescribably distressing."

Lieutenant-Colonel de la Rosa and Major Tarramona had served together as cadets in the same royalist corps. They both transferred their services to their country at the same time, and both received captaincies in the Peruvian legion of the guard, soon after it was formed. At the theatre, at the bullfight, at the ball, at the promenade, or in the field, they were inseparable. Their conduct at the battle

of Torata was equally heroic. They advanced several yards in front of their battalion, to within musketshot of the enemy's line, when La Rosa called out, "Here are La Rosa and Tarramona, once cadets of the royal army, but now of the Peruvian legion, and who desire nothing more eagerly than to fight for their country. Come on, then, Spaniards, and try the courage of the legion." La Rosa and Tarramona retired unhurt amidst a shower of musket-balls. Their contempt of danger inspired their soldiers with enthusiastic valour. The battalion repulsed several successive charges, and did not retire until it was reduced to one-fourth of its original number. La Rosa conducted the retreat with as much coolness as skill, but unhappily both he and his friend Tarramona were killed at the same time at Iquique, each at the early age of twenty-two years, and both were buried in one grave.

The Peruvian government decreed that the name of the Lieutenant-Colonel de la Rosa should be retained on the muster-roll of the legion, and that when called over by the commissary, the battalion should reverse arms, and the adjutant answer, "Died gloriously on the field of battle." A pension was granted to the sister of La Rosa; but it is much to be feared that the posthumous honours; the family pension; and the worth and valour which found a premature grave, are equally unremembered.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Colonel Miller disembarks at Quilca.-Camaná.-Siguas.Victor.-Advance of Carratalá.-Murderer shot.-Carabeli.Atico.-Port of Chala.-Colonel Manzanedo.-Strategy.Palpa.-Barandalla.-Cholera morbus.-Port of Lomas.Dr. Cordova. The brig Protector sails to Callao.

IT will be recollected that Miller sailed from Arica on the 21st of December, with the light company of the legion, and some spare arms to distribute amongst the natives. The brig Protector, which conveyed them, brought up in the roadstead of Quilca, at noon, on Christmas day, close to H. M. S. Aurora; but no communication between the two vessels took place. The only place of landing was at the head of a caleta, or small inlet, which was examined, and found so narrow, and the sides so bold and rugged, that a few men might, with perfect safety, prevent the disembarkation of very superior numbers. At sunset about fifty royalists were perceived on the hills. No information could be procured from the neutral frigate, and the silence of many old friends on board was, although perfectly proper, extremely mortifying. Miller's object was to cause a diversion to the northward of Arequipa; but the reinforcements which were to have followed were never sent. Notwith

standing this unfavourable circumstance, he commenced offensive operations with one hundred and twenty men.

At midnight on the 25th, Miller pushed off in a jolly-boat, accompanied by an officer, three soldiers, and a bugleman. An officer and twenty-five men followed in the launch, with orders to put back in case of resistance to the landing of those in the jollyboat. The surf broke furiously, and tracks of foam across the entrance whitened the foot of the rocks on each side of the mouth of the inlet, and formed eddies difficult to row through in the dark. The adventurous party, however, landed without opposition, for the royalist detachment had already fled to Camaná. The patriots entered the village of Quilca at two A.M., and surprised in his bed the curate, a stanch royalist, who was till then uninformed of the sudden retreat of his friends. At daybreak a patriot advanced guard, posted on the road leading to Arequipa, made prisoner Don N. Aramburu, a native of Spain, who had been despatched by the merchants of Arequipa, to arrange with the commanding officer of the Aurora for the shipment of treasure. He was also the bearer of important despatches from the viceroy La Serna to the minister of war at Madrid, one of which, containing his excellency's resignation, we have given in the last chapter. The intercepted correspondence and other information were sent to Alvarado on the 26th.

Soon after sunset, on that evening, the patriot party marched, and arrived at Camaná by daybreak on the 27th. They were well received by the inhabitants, who stated that the sub-delegate Lieutenant-Colonel Piñera had, about three hours before, fled with eighty men across the river, which runs a