recorded that the gentlemen of the town sent down to the boat landing a fine roan horse for De Soto to ride and a richly caparisoned mule for Dona Isabel. He and all his company were lodged in the most luxurious quarters the town could afford and were hospitably entertained without cost to themselves. Santiago had at this time about eighty houses which were described as spacious and well appointed. About half of them were of masonry and tile and the remainder of boards and thatch. There were also many attractive country estates surrounding the city. The day following his landing De Soto formally assumed his authority as Governor, and Bartolome de Ortiz became Alcalde mayor of Santiago. Scarcely had he done this, however, when news came that a French corsair had attacked Havana, ransacked the church, and burned a number of houses; after which he had sailed away. De Soto at once sent Mateo Aceituna to the scene, with a company of soldiers and artisans, with instructions to rebuild the houses and then to begin the construction of a fort which would serve as an adequate defence for the town. Having done this, he sent Lady Isabel, escorted by his nephew Don Carlos, to Havana by sea, with a strong squadron, while he himself with the remainder of his company set out on horseback for a tour of the islands. He first went to Bayamo, and thence to Trinidad, and Puerto Principe. From the latter place he went in a canoe to the great country estate of Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa at Camaguey, there to get news of Lady Isabel's arrival at Havana. Thence he proceeded to Sancti Spiritus, which at that time was a place of only about thirty houses. Half of his company landed there, and half went on to Trinidad, which was a still smaller place of not more than twenty houses, though it contained a hospital for the poor, the only such institution on the whole Island. Thence he proceeded to Havana without finding another town or settlement of any kind on the entire road. During his stay in Havana De Soto deprived Nunez Tobar of his rank as Captain-General and gave it instead to Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa, because Tobar had made love to Dona Isabel's lady-in-waiting, the daughter of the Governor of Gomera, and indeed had seduced her. In spite, or perhaps because of this punishment Tobar thereupon married the girl and afterward joined De Soto's expedition to Florida in a subordinate capacity.