sadvantage to the
American possessions, and especially to Cuba, had not the immediate
successors of Cabrera in the governorship of Cuba been able men who
managed the affairs of the island with sagacity and foresight. D. Juan
Bitrian de Viamonte, Caballero de Calatrave, a native of Navarre, was
appointed head of the administration and entered upon his duties on the
seventh of October, 1630. As auditor of the interior was appointed the
Licentiate Pedro so who a few months later was succeeded by D. Francisco
Rege Corbalan. One of the most famous religious institutions in the West
Indies was founded about this time. A pious woman, known as Sister
Magdalen de Jesus, opened a retreat for women devoting themselves to a
religious life; it was at first called Beaterio, but subsequently became
known far and wide as the convent of the nuns of Santa Clara.

Governor Bitrian de Viamonte was neither strong of physique nor of
personality; yet he discharged the functions of his office most
successfully. During his administration was projected the construction
of two towers, one in Chorrera, the other in Cojimar. The garrison of
the place was increased and Castellane was made a respectable
stronghold. He also organized the militia, creating six companies in
Havana, two in Santiago and two in Bayamo. He had, however, serious
disagreements with the Marquis de Cadreyta, and being something of an
invalid and considered unfit to defend the island against the attacks
of some powerful enemy, he was removed to the comparatively easier post
of Captain-General of Santo Domingo. His successor was the Field-marshal
D. Francisco Riano y Gamboa, a native of Burgos. He suffered shipwreck
on the coast of Mariel while on his voyage from Spain and lost
everything but his patents, but was duly inaugurated on the twenty-third
of October, 1634.

The precautions taken by his successor to insure an effective defense of
the island were by no means superfluous. For as the power of Spain was
steadily declining, that of the Netherlands and of England was rising.
The establishment of the Dutch along the Hudson, their founding of Nieuw
Amsterdam and their settlements on some of the minor West Indies, had
brought the danger of Dutch invasion nearer than ever before. The
colonies founded by the British at Jamestown and Plymouth had brought
within reach the eventuality of having to guard the Spanish possessions
against the British as well. Dutch and British navigatio