f the cathedral of that city. To this the
emperor consented, in a decree signed June 2, 1537. It is not known
how soon the removal to San Domingo was really made, but it took place
before many years.

Mr. Harrisse quotes from a manuscript authority to show, that when
William Penn besieged the city of San Domingo in 1655, all the bodies
buried under the cathedral were withdrawn from view, lest the heretics
should profane them, and that "the old Admiral's" body was treated like
the rest.

Mr. Harrisse calls to mind the fact that the earthquake of the
nineteenth of May, 1673, demolished the cathedral in part, and the
tombs which it contained. He says, "the ruin of the colony, the climate,
weather, and carelessness all contributed to the loss from sight and
the forgetfulness of the bones of Columbus, mingled with the dust of his
descendants"; and Mr. Harrisse does not believe that any vestige of them
was ever found afterwards, in San Domingo or anywhere else. This remark,
from the person who has given such large attention to the subject, is
interesting. For it is generally stated and believed that the bones were
afterwards removed to Havana in the island of Cuba. The opinion of Mr.
Harrisse, as it has been quoted, is entitled to very great respect and
authority.

A very curious question has arisen in later times as to the actual place
where the remains now are. On this question there is great discussion
among historians, and many reports, official and unofficial, have been
published with regard to it.

In the year 1867, the proposal was made to the Holy Father at Rome, that
Columbus should receive the honors known in the Roman Catholic Church
as the honors of beatification. In 1877, De Lorgues, the enthusiastic
biographer of Columbus, represents that the inquiry had gone so far that
these honors had been determined on. One who reads his book would be led
to suppose that Columbus had already been recognized as on the way to be
made a saint of the Church. But, in truth, though some such inquiry was
set on foot, he never received the formal honors of beatification.

*****

We have one account by a contemporary of the appearance of Columbus.(*)
We are told that he was a "robust man, quite tall, of florid complexion,
with a long face."

(*) In the first Decade of Peter Martyr.

In the next generation, Oviedo says Columbus was "of good aspect, and
above the middle stature. His limbs were strong, his eyes quick, and