This wholesale massacre may have been carried out with a view to ensuring the complete Spanish repopulation of the islands. The destruction of the natives naturally led, in course of time, to the importation, on a very large scale, of negro slavery, and the unnatural trade continued until its final abolition, which took place some twelve years ago. Traces of Indian blood are still evident amongst the inhabitants of the wild regions in the eastern part of Cuba, who boast indeed that they are the "Caribbees." The women are especially beautiful, and remarkable for the extraordinary length of their hair, which sometimes touches the ground. A female attendant in the house of a planter whom I visited in this part of the island some years ago, was, I was assured, of undoubted Caribbean descent. She was rather tall, copper-coloured, and her hair, when she let it fall loose, nearly reached her ankles, perfectly straight, and intensely black. She was not a slave, and was treated with respect and kindness by her employers. Although Columbus revisited the island three times before he returned to Spain, to rest his weary bones in that peace his enemies so persistently denied him, he died, as I have said, in the full conviction that it formed part of the Asiatic continent, and it was not until 1508 that, at the command of Nicola Ovanda, a certain Captain Sebastian circumnavigated the island, and established the undoubted fact of its being completely surrounded by water. In 1511, Columbus' son Diego, then Governor of Hispaniola, otherwise Hayti, sent Diego Velasquez to Cuba, with full authority to colonize it. This process he performed by parcelling out the island among his followers and reducing the natives to slavery. The poor creatures, never having been accustomed to hard work, rebelled, and were forthwith mercilessly exterminated. Velasquez founded many towns, among them Baracoa, Bayamo, Trinidad, Puerto Principe, Santiago de Cuba (in 1515), and San Christobal de Habana (Havana) (in 1519), this last city not exactly in its present position. More interesting by far than Velasquez was his lieutenant, Hernando Cortez, eventually to be known as the intrepid explorer of Mexico. The lustre of his career in Cuba was stained, however, by his ferocious treatment of the aborigines, whom he condemned to work in his newly discovered copper mines, and tortured to death because they refused to obey their taskmaster. His love affairs, on the other hand, were romantic, and are still enshrined in the legendary history of the island. His great, if cruel, name figures in many a folk-lore tale, but no allusion is ever made to his subsequent adventures on the main continent. Velasquez, too, is not forgotten. His Governorship had evidently many features of excellence, and if he bears the shame of having introduced the curse of negro slavery, he must be given credit for having planted the first sugar cane in his fair domain.