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
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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
