344 EARLY TOBACCO PLANTATIONS. 
Hispaniola, the vice-regal powers which had been intrusted to 
him. Diego as portrayed by the historian “was a man as 
noble as his father, and almost as gifted; and he had his 
father’s fate. Like his father, he had to bear all that Spanish 
envy and Spanish malignity could inflict. In 1511, Diego 
Columbus sent Diego WValenduer to conquer Cuba.” From 
historians Velasquez gets a better character than most of the 
Conquistadores, who in general were as ferocious as they 
were audacious and fortunate. No serious opposition was or 
could be offered. With the name of Velasquez the prosper- 
ity of Cuba is inseparably identified. As Governor of Cuba 
he was a vigorous colorfizer and civilizer. He founded 
Havana, which he called the Key of the New World, and 
which is said to rank as the eighth place in the hierarchy of 
commercial cities. Havana, however had long been flourish- 
ing before the seat of Government had been transferred to it 
from Santiago. It was Velasquez who introduced slavery 
into Cuba; and it was during his vice-royalty and under his 
sanction that those memorable exploratory and conquering 
expeditions began, the most astonishing of which was that to 
Mexico, led by Cortez, the insubordinate lieutenant of Velas- 
quez,' whose death is said to have been hastened by the 
rebellious and ungrateful conduct of Cortez, and perhaps by 
the spectacle of such immense-and rapid success. The agri- 
cultural, commercial, and general growth of the West India 
islands at this period would have been much more rapid if 
the Spaniards had not annihilated the native population, and 
if they had not been exposed to incessant piratical attacks. 
These were often of the most desolating kind. In 1688, the 
city of Puerto Principe was plundered and destroyed. 
From its strongly fortified position Havana set the bucca- 
neers at defiance, and sometimes saved the whole island from 
ruin. 
The exact period of the first cultivation of tobacco in St. 
Domingo is not known, but we find that as early as 1535 the 
negroes had habituated themselves to the use of it in the 
plantations of their master. Soon however its cultivation 
increased, and during the latter part of the Sixteenth Century 
