e had never
heard a word before, promising him Eternal Life if he would believe and
threatening him with Eternal Torment if he continued obstinate in his
Infidelity. Hatuey reflecting on the matter, as much as the Place and
Condition in which he was would permit, asked the Friar that instructed
him, whether the Gate of Heaven was open to Spaniards; and being answered
that such of them as were good men might hope for entrance there: the
Cacique, without any farther deliberation, told him that he had no mind to
go to heaven for fear of meeting with such cruel and wicked Company as
they were; but he would much rather choose to go to Hell where he might be
delivered from the troublesome sight of such kind of People." And so died
the Cacique Hatuey. Four hundred years later, the Cuban Government named a
gunboat _Hatuey_, in his honor.

The Velasquez expedition, in the following year, founded Baracoa, now a
small city on the northern coast near the eastern extremity of the island.
It is a spot of exceeding scenic charm. It was established as the capital
city, but it held that honor for a few years only. In 1514 and 1515,
settlements were established at what is now Santiago, at Sancti Spiritus,
Trinidad, and Batabano. The latter was originally called San Cristobal de
la Habana, the name being transferred to the present city, on the north
coast, in 1519. It displaced the name Puerto de Carenas given to the
present Havana by Ocampo, who careened his vessels there in 1508. Baracoa
was made the seat of a bishopric, and a cathedral was begun, in 1518. In
1522, both the capital and the bishopric were transferred to Santiago, a
location more readily accessible from the new settlements on the south
coast, and also from Jamaica which was then included in the diocese.
Cuba, at about this period, was the point of departure for an important
expedition. In 1517, de Cordoba, with three vessels and 110 soldiers,
was sent on an expedition to the west for further and more northerly
exploration of the land discovered by Columbus in 1503. The coast from
Panama to Honduras had been occupied. The object of this expedition was to
learn what lay to the northward. The result was the discovery of Yucatan.
Cordoba returned to die of wounds received in a battle. A second and
stronger expedition was immediately despatched. This rounded the peninsula
and followed the coast as far as the present city of Vera Cruz. In 1518,
Hernan Cortez was _alcalde_, or ma