al. This again makes 1447 the
year of his birth.

The authorities who assign 1436 as the year of his birth rely
exclusively on the guess of a Spanish priest, Dr. Bernaldez, Cura of
Palacios, who made the great discoverer's acquaintance toward the end of
his career. Bernaldez, judging from his aged appearance, thought that he
might be seventy years of age, more or less, when he died. The use of
the phrase "more or less" proves that Bernaldez had no information from
Columbus himself, and that he merely guessed the years of the
prematurely aged hero. This is not evidence. The three different
statements of Columbus, supported by the corroborative testimony of the
deeds of sale, form positive evidence, and fix the date of the birth at
1447.

We know the place and date of the great discoverer's birth, thanks to
the researches of the Marchese Staglieno. The notarial records, combined
with incidental statements of Columbus himself, also tell us that he was
brought up, with his brothers and sister, in the Vico Dritto at Genoa;
that he worked at his father's trade and became a "lanerio," or wool
weaver; that he moved with his father and mother to Savona in 1472; and
that the last document connecting Cristoforo Colombo with Italy is dated
on August 7, 1473. After that date--doubtless very soon after that date,
when he is described as a wool weaver of Genoa--Columbus went to
Portugal, at the age of twenty-eight. But we also know that, in spite of
his regular business as a weaver, he first went to sea in 1461, at the
age of fourteen, and that he continued to make frequent voyages in the
Mediterranean and the Archipelago--certainly as far as Chios--although
his regular trade was that of a weaver.

This is not a mere question of places and dates. These facts enable us
to form an idea of the circumstances surrounding the youth and early
manhood of the future discoverer, of his training, of the fuel which
lighted the fire of his genius, and of the difficulties which surrounded
him. Moreover, a knowledge of the real facts serves to clear away all
the misleading fables about student life at Pavia, about service with
imaginary uncles who were corsairs or admirals, and about galleys
commanded for King Rene. Some of these fables are due to the mistaken
piety of the great discoverer's son Hernando, and to others, who seem
to have thought that they were doing honor to the memory of the Admiral
by surrounding his youth with romantic stories.