large quantities, and the attempt to operate mines was soon
abandoned. Attention was then turned to further explorations and
conquests, and to the quest for gold in other parts of the island.

Still more unfortunate than the failure to find much gold, and largely
because of that fruitless quest, was the rise of bitter hostilities
between the Spaniards and the natives. This was also a sequel to and in
part a consequence of the Spanish administration in Hispaniola and
particularly of the part which Velasquez had played therein. Shortly
before coming to Cuba, Velasquez had waged several strenuous and
probably somewhat ruthless campaigns against the natives of Hispaniola,
chiefly in that part of the island which lay nearest to Cuba and in
which he recruited his Cuban expedition. His chief opponent there was a
native chief named Hatuey, who, finding himself unable to cope with the
Spaniards, fled to Cuba with many of his followers and settled in the
country near Baracoa. These refugees were of course quick to report to
the natives of Cuba the cause of their migration, and to portray the
conduct and character of the Spaniards, and of Velasquez personally, in
the most unfavorable light. The natural result was to predispose the
Cuban natives to regard the Spaniards with distrust and aversion. And
when Velasquez himself presently appeared among the very people who had
been thus prejudiced against him, trouble inevitably arose.

The leader in the trouble was Hatuey, who had a large following both of
his own tribe from Hispaniola and also of Cubans. He had maintained a
system of spying and communication through which he kept himself
perfectly informed of the doings of Velasquez, whom he considered his
chief foe, not only politically but personally, and when he learned that
he was coming to Cuba he busied himself with preparations to resist him.
He was foremost in spreading among the Cuban natives all manner of evil
reports concerning the Spaniards, all of which, whether true or false,
found ready credence.

Thus on one occasion, as related by Herrera, he gathered many of the
natives together with a promise to reveal to them the God of the
Spaniards, whom they worshipped and to whom they made human sacrifices
of Indians' lives. When they were assembled and their anticipation was
whetted, he placed before them a small basket filled with gold. "That,"
said he, "is the God which the Spaniards worship, and in quest of which
they are