ote for his tomb an epitaph in Latin, eloquently
setting forth his merits and his services. This was not, however,
inscribed above his remains, and soon was forgotten. Instead, there was
popularly circulated and remembered an epigram upon him coined by some
adversary whose identity is unknown. This declared Velasquez to have
been "Covetous of honor, but more covetous of gain."

This we must regard as unjust. Velasquez had his faults, and some of
them were grave. He was at times arbitrary and ruthless, as most
empire-builders of all lands have been. He was not always grateful to
those who served him faithfully, nor was he impartial in his dealings
with men. These faults were, however, common in those times, and they
were no more marked in Velasquez than in his contemporaries. On the
other hand he unquestionably had great virtues. He had courage, vision,
enterprise, and statesmanlike views for the development of his domain.
His work in Cuba was over-shadowed by that of Cortez in Mexico and of
Pizarro in Peru, but it was in essence not less meritorious than theirs,
for which indeed it prepared and opened the way. It is one of the
tragedies of history that his very tomb should have been forgotten and
lost, and his name remembered as a name and nothing more. For in the
early history of Cuba there is no other name which stands for so much in
conquest and colonization, and in the foundation, organization and
development of the State, as that of the first Cuban Governor, Diego de
Velasquez.

CHAPTER IX

Velasquez had been Governor--technically Lieutenant-Governor under the
Admiral, Diego Columbus, at Hispaniola--for more than thirteen years;
save for the abortive and illegal administration of Zuazo. But after him
gubernatorial terms were destined to be of much shorter duration, and
marked with many vicissitudes. His nominal successor was appointed some
time before his death. Whether in anticipation of his decease, or with
the design of ousting him, is not clear. At any rate, at the middle of
May, probably on May 20, 1524, Juan Altamarino was named by the King to
be the next governor, for a term of two years and no more. He appears
not to have been in any way identified with the island, though probably
he had been associated with Diego Columbus in Hispaniola; and at the
time of his appointment he was in peninsular Spain. He made no haste to
go to Cuba and assume his office, wherefore it was necessary, upon the
death o