expedition, which, under Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, left Acapulco, 21 Nov., 1564. After taking posses- sion of Cebu, and conquering Mindoro, Legaspi de- spatched Urdaneta to New Spain with a request for re-enforcements. He reported afterward to the king at Madrid before returning to his convent in Mexico, where he died. He wrote several memoirs and letters which are preserved in the archives of the Indies at Seville. Among them are " Relation del Viage del Comendador Garcia de Loaysa," " Re- lacion de la expedition del Comendador Miguel Lopez de Legaspi," and " Cartas al rey Felipe II. condescriptiones de los puertos de Acapulco y Na- vidad." In the first memoir he speaks of a strait which the French reported to exist " north of the codfish country " (Newfoundland or Labrador), communicating with the Pacific.
URDANETA, Rafael, Venezuelan soldier, b.
in Maracaibo, 24 Oct., 1789 ; d. in Paris, France,
23 Aug., 1845. He took part in the revolutionary
movement of 1810, on 25 July was appointed lieu-
tenant, and fought in the campaigns of 1811— '12.
In 1813, with the auxiliaries of Cundinamarca, he
accompanied Bolivar to Venezuela. He entered
Caracas on 6 Aug., after which he was promoted
brigadier. In March, 1814, he defended the city
of Valencia with a small force against the besieg-
ing army of 4,000 men under Ceballos till he was
relieved on 3 April by Bolivar. He also took
part in the victorious battle of Carabobo, 28 May,
1814, and protected the retreat of the patriot army
after the defeat of La Puerta, 15 June. He re-
tired with a remnant of the army to the western
provinces, but after being routed at Mucuchies on
7 Sept. he penetrated into New Granada. There
he joined Bolivar, and, after being promoted ma-
i'or-general and sent to Cucuta, he was defeated in
Jalaga in November, 1815. and with the rest of his
forces joined Paez in Apure. He was second in
command in the operations against Caracas in
1818, being also appointed member of the council
of government in Angostura. The next year he
was made general-in-chief of the army that was
forming in Margarita from the German and Brit-
ish legions and native troops, with which he oper-
ated against Cumana and captured Barcelona. In
1821 he obtained the submission of Maracaibo and
Coro, and in 1826 was sent to Venezuela, and op-
posed the plans of Paez, returning to Colombia in
1827 as commander of Cundinamarca. He was
also member of the constituent congress of Colom-
bia, and twice secretary of war, occupying, from
September, 1830, till April, 1831, the executive of
the nation to fill a vacancy. Shortly afterward he
returned to Venezuela, where he was successively
senator for the province of Coro, governor of Guay-
ana, and twice secretary of war. In 1845 he was
sent as minister to Madrid, but he died on his way.
— His cousin, Francisco, South American soldier,
b. in Montevideo, 3 Aug., 1791 ; d. in Bogota in
1861, entered the military service in his youth, and
fought against the British in 1806-'7. In 1809 he
was called by his uncle, Martin Urdaneta, to Bo-
gota, where he entered the Spanish service, but he
joined the patriot cause in 1810. In 1819 he par-
ticipated in the campaign of Cauca, becoming in
1820 governor of Popayan, and in 1821 of Antio-
quia. In 1829 he was promoted major-general. In
1861 he used his utmost efforts to save the lives of
the political prisoners in the College of Rosario, and
when they were assassinated before his eyes, on 7
March, he retired to his home, where he soon died.
URE, Robert, Canadian clergyman, b. in Lan-
arkshire, Scotland, in January, 1823. When he
was nineteen years old he emigrated to Canada,
and settled at Hamilton. He studied theology,
and was ordained a minister of the Free Presbyte-
rian church in 1850. He was a pastor at Streets-
ville in 1850-62. and' since the latter year he has
been stationed at Goderich, Ont. He was for two
years a lecturer on apologetics at Knox college,
Toronto, and has also been a lecturer on the same
subject at Queen's university, Kingston. He aided
in bringing about the union of the various Presby-
terian churches in Canada, and was a moderator of
the united churches. He received the degree of
D. D. from Queen's university in 1876.
URFE, Gabriel Jules (oor-fay), West Indian
navigator, b. in Martinique, W. I., in 1795 ; d. in
the Arctic ocean in 1833. He was educated at
Paris, entered the navy as a midshipman in 1810,
and after the restoration of Louis XVIII., in 1814,
was attached as ensign to the frigate " La Rail-'
leuse" and sent to South America. After assist-
ing in re-establishing French consulates in Brazil,
Venezuela, Mexico, and the West Indies, he was
a commissioner in 1817 to receive the surrender
of the administration of French Guiana from the
Portuguese, and afterward took part in a campaign
to Martinique and Santo Domingo. Later he was
employed at Madagascar and Bourbon, and in
1830 he was attached to the department of charts
in the navy office. On 4 July, 1833, he sailed as
second in command of the frigate " La Liloise "
with Poret de Blosseville for an exploration of the
Arctic ocean. They prepared a chart of the west-
ern coast of Greenland, which they forwarded in
August following to Admiral Duperre, and stopped
afterward at Vagna-Fjord, whence they returned
in October, navigating along the coast of Green-
land. This was the last that was heard of the
frigate, and the subsequent expeditions that were
sent to search for it failed to discover any trace
of the navigators. Urfe's works include, besides
several memoirs that are published in the " Annales
maritimes et coloniales, "Histoire de la decou-
verte du Groenland par les navigateurs Scandi-
naves" (Paris, 1831), and "Historique de l'occupa-
tion Anglaise a la Martinique " (1832).
URFE, Louis Edouard d', West Indian mis-
sionary, b. in Les Saintes, Guadeloupe, in 1699 ; d.
in Leghorn in 1762. He was educated in the col-
lege of the Jesuits at Bordeaux, entered that order
in 1727, and was sent in the following year to
Guadeloupe, where he resided several years and
had charge of the parish of Capesterre. In 1742
he went to Cayenne, founded several missions
among the Galibi Indians, explored Guiana and
the basin of the Orinoco, and in 1760 became
visitor of his order. He died at Leghorn during a
voyage for the purpose of conferring with the gen-
eral of the Jesuits. Urfe's works include " Gram-
maire Galibi " (Paris, 1755) : " Dictionnaire Galibi "
(1757) ; and " Histoire des etablissements de la foi
fondes dans la Guiane ou Nouvelle France meri-
dionale"(1762).
URICOCHEA, Ezequiel (oo-ri-ko-chay'-ah), Colombian scientist, b. in Bogota in 1834. As early as 1846 he obtained in college the first prize
in mathematics, and in 1849 he went to the United States to finish his studies, being graduated in medicine at Yale. In 1852 he went to Germany,
and in 1854 was graduated at the University of Gottingen, devoting himself specially to the study of chemistry and mineralogy. He travelled through
Europe for two years, and remained six months in Brussels to study astronomy in the observatory of that city. In 1857 he returned to his native country, where he was professor of chemistry till 1868. He founded the Society of naturalists of New
