e Almendariz, who immediately made efforts to have the
king remove his episcopal seat to Havana. This caused serious disputes
between the bishop and Governor Pereda, who sent the king a report
disapproving of this removal. The conflict between the two culminated in
the excommunication of Pereda by the bishop. The administration of his
successor, Don Sancho de Alquiza, former governor of Venezuela and
Guyana, was brief. He was inaugurated on the seventh of September, 1616,
and died on the sixth of June, 1619. He was much interested in the
economic development of Cuba, promoted the development of sugar
industry, encouraged the employment of negroes on the plantations. His
efforts to exploit the mineral wealth of the island were also
commendable. He placed the supervision of the copper mines under the
direction of the military government and the work proceeded most
promisingly. The copper extracted was of superior quality and two
thousand quintals of the metal were annually exported to Spain.

The sudden death of Alquiza led to much agitation due to the violent
spirit of rivalry between the auditor Don Diego Vallizo and the
Castellan of the Morro, Geronimo del Quero, who aspired to the
governorship. A great calamity occurred in Havana during this interim
administration. On the twenty-second of April, 1620, a fire broke out
and assumed such disastrous proportions, that two hundred homes were
destroyed and the growth of the city was for a time seriously crippled.

The dangers that beset the development of Cuba were rapidly multiplying
instead of diminishing. Frequent change of administration was not
calculated to insure efficiency and stability in the management of the
island's affairs. Enterprises begun under one governor were interrupted
under the next. Sometimes the original plan was essentially changed and
entirely abandoned. A striking example of this sad state of affairs was
furnished during the third decade of the seventeenth century. Don
Francisco Venegas was inaugurated as governor on the fourteenth of
August, 1620. He had been charged with the organization of a war fleet
for the protection of the coast from invasions by pirates and
freebooters. For that purpose he had brought with him some vessels. They
came at an opportune moment for British and Dutch hookers had been
roving in West Indian waters. The vessels of the Cuban armadilla under
Vazquez de Montiel defeated these intruders at the Island of Tortuga,
captur