Royal army infinitely superior to him in numbers. He left Soto la Marina on the 24th of May; and after suffering dreadfully from the want of provisions and water on his march through the Tierra Caliente from the coast, he reached the town of El Valle del Maiz, situated on the river Pănūcŏ, in the Intendancy of San Luis Pŏtŏsī, and near the confines of the Table-land, on the 8th of June 1817. Here he found a body of four hundred Royal cavalry, which he defeated; and this successful action enabled him to allow his troops two days' rest after their fatigues. On the 14th of June his little corps reached the Hacienda de Pĕŏtīllŏs, where it was destined to meet with the first serious opposition to its progress. Brigadier Ărmiñān, at the head of nine hundred and eighty European infantry, of the regiments of Estremadura and America, and eleven hundred of the Rio Verde (Creole) cavalry, occupied the road to the Interior, and an engagement in the field, or a siege in the Hacienda, became inevitable. Mina resolved upon the first, aware that delay would only bring reinforcements to the Royalist army, while he had none to expect. He therefore posted his whole force, consisting of one hundred and seventy-two men, (a small detachment was left in charge of the baggage and ammunition,) upon a little eminence, which commanded the surrounding plain, and there awaited Ărmiñān's approach. He was soon enveloped by the Royalist
