I have selected my authorities on their merits as accurate writers. A large part of my material is in the Spanish language, and the great mass of it is from the reports of men on the ground and of those who were closely identified with the afiairs of the island. In cases of wide generalisation or of a purely subsidiary nature only have I relied upon secondary writers. I have been able to use many libraries in the United States, the Biblioteca Nacional at Habana. The British Museum at London. The Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris, the Biblioteca Nacional at Madrid, and the Archives de Indies at Sevilla.