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274 hesitation, to Hernan Cortes. Afterward, mis- trusting his lieutenant's intentions, he sought to f>revent his sailing, but his emissaries arrived too ate in Havana. When he heard that Cortes had sent commissioners to Spain to obtain the title to the newly discovered country, he sent a powerful expedition under Panfilo de Narvaez in March, 1520, to capture Cortes and take charge of the government in the name of Velazquez. After the unfortunate result of Narvaez's expedition, Velaz- quez intended to march himself, but his age and uie small-pox, then desolating the island, prevent- ed him from executing his design, and disappoint- ment at Cortes's success contributed to the sick- ness of which he died.

VELAZQUEZ CARDENAS DE LEON, Joaquin (vay-lath'-keth), Mexican astronomer, b. in Santiago Aubedocla, near Tizicapan, 21 July, 1732 ; d. in Mexico, 6 March, 1786. He lost his father in childhood and was taken charge of by his uncle, the parish priest of Jaltocan, who educated him, and caused him to be instructed in Mexican his- tory and mythology. He thus became familiar with several Indian languages, and with the hiero- glyph^ writing of the Aztecs. He was afterward S laced in the Tridentine college, of the city of [exico ; but this institution was so poorly equipped with teachers, books, and instruments that he was almost self-educated in mathematics and the classics. Having met by chance with the works of Sir Isaac Newton and Francis -Bacon, he became attracted by the discoveries of the one and the philosophic methods of the other. He had been graduated in law, and what he gained by his la- bors in this profession he spent in the purchase of instruments in England. After being appointed a professor in the university, he was sent on a mis- sion to California, where he made a great number of astronomical observations. He was the first to notice that all the maps of that country had been for several centuries strangely in error with regard to its longitude, and made it extend several de- grees too far to the west. He built an observatory of mimosa logs at. Santa Ana, with the assistance of the Abbe Chappe, a French astronomer, and predicted that the eclipse of the moon of 18 June, 1769, would be visible in California. Unaided, he made a very correct observation of the transit of Venus on 5 June, 1769. In 1774 he was charged with the execution of the topographical and geo- detic survey of the valley of Mexico, and his la- bors, with this aim, have formed the basis of all those that have been undertaken since. After his return from California he placed before the gov- ernment a project for the foundation of the School of mines. The greatest service that he rendered to his country was the establishment of this insti- tution, of which he was director-general till his death. He wrote " Sobre el beneficio de las Minas del sur de California y demas de la N. Espaha" and " Conocimientos interesantes sobre la Historia Natural de las cercanias de Mexico," manuscripts which were formerly in the library of the cathe- dral, and are now in the National library.

VELAZQUEZ DE LA CADENA, Mariano, Mexican grammarian, b. in the city of Mexico, 28 June, 1778 ; d. in New York city, 19 Feb., 1860. He was sent at the age of seven years to Madrid, and there admitted into the Royal seminary of nobles, where he was graduated in philosophy and law in 1799. Although lacking the legal age, he was admitted in 1800, by special royal order, as notary of the council of the Indies, and appointed curator of the estates of minors and intestate es- tates for the viceroyalty of Mexico. During his administration he became intimately connected with Baron von Humboldt, and in 1802 he was re- called to fill the post of private secretary to King Charles IV. As such he was sent in 1804 to rep- resent the king at the coronation of Napoleon, and during the follow- ing year made a tour through west- ern and central Europe. After the imprisonment of the king by Napo- leon in 1809, Ve- lazquez resigned his office, and was making arrange- ments for return- ing to Mexico, when news of the revolutionary movement of Hi- dalgo arrived. Un- willing to identify himself witheither of the contend- ing parties, Velaz- quez resolved to retire to the United States, and settled in New York, where he became a teacher of Spanish, and founded a collegiate institute, in which a great- number of young men from the Latin-American countries were educated. From 1830 till his death he was professor of the Castilian language and lit- erature in Columbia college. He was a member of learned societies in Europe and the United States. He was the author of Spanish school-books and a large " Pronouncing Dictionary of the Spanish and English Languages" (New York, 1852).

VELEZ-HERRERA, Ramon (vay'-leth), Cuban author, b. in Havana in 1808 ; d. there in 1887. He was left an orphan when in childhood, but was educated by his uncle, Desiderio Herrera, a learned man, author of various scientific works, and fin- ished his studies in San Carlos seminary, Havana. In 1829 he was graduated in law, but he left this study to devote himself to literature. The first collection of his poems was published in one vol- ume (Havana, 1833), a second in 1837, and a third in 1838. He also published " Elvira de Oquendo," a pastoral in verse (1840) ; " Los dos novios," a comedy (1843) ; " Flores de Otofio," a collection of poems (1849) : " Romances Cubanos " (1856) ; " Na- poleon en Berlin," a tragedy (1860) ; and " Flores de invierno," poems (1882).

VELLOSINO, Jaynie Andrada (vail-lo-se'-no), Brazilian physician, b. in Pernambuco in 1639 ; d. in Leyden, Holland, in 1712. His father, an officer in the service of Maurice of Nassau, sent him to Holland after the surrender of Brazil to the Portu- guese in 1654. Young Vellosino, after his gradu- ation in medicine at Leyden, entered the service- of the Indian company, and held high offices in Guiana. He was an expert in Indian dialects, and formed a valuable herbarium of the South Ameri- can flora. His works include, besides several me- moirs on Indian languages, " Flora Brasiliana, etc."* (2 vols., Leyden, 1706).

VELLOSO, José Mariano da Concei<Jao (vail-lo'-so), Brazilian scientist, b. in Rio das Mortes in 1742; d. in Rio Janeiro in 1811. After studying in his native province, he was sent to Rio Janeiro, where he finished his education in the convent of Sao Boaventura in 1761, and entered the order the next year. He then began the study of philosophy in the convent of Santo Antonio, and in 1766 was