faced and aquiline,
white-eyed and auburn-haired, and beautifully complexioned. At thirty
his hair was quite gray. He was temperate in eating and drinking and in
dress, and so strict in religious matters, that for fasting and saying
all the divine office he might be thought possessed in some religious
order." His piety, as his son has noted, was earnest and unwavering; it
entered into and colored alike his action and his speech; he tries his
pen in a Latin distich of prayer; his signature is a mystical pietistic
device.[12] He was pre-eminently fitted for the task he created for
himself. Through deceit and opprobrium and disdain he pushed on toward
the consummation of his desire; and when the hour for action came, the
man was not found wanting.

Within the last seven years research and discovery have thrown some
doubt upon two very important particulars regarding Columbus. One of
these is the identity of the island which was his first discovery in the
New World; the other, the final resting-place of his remains.

There is no doubt whatever that Columbus died in Valladolid, and that
his remains were interred in the church of the Carthusian Monastery at
Seville, nor that, some time between the years 1537 and 1540, in
accordance with a request made in his will, they were removed to the
Island of Espanola (Santo Domingo). In 1795, when Spain ceded to France
her portion of the island, Spanish officials obtained permission to
remove to the cathedral at Havana the ashes of the discoverer of
America. There seems to be a question whether the remains which were
then removed were those of Columbus or his son Don Diego.

In 1877, during the progress of certain work in the cathedral at Santo
Domingo, a crypt was disclosed on one side of the altar, and within it
was found a metallic coffin which contained human remains. The coffin
bore the following inscription: "The Admiral Don Luis Colon, Duke of
Veragua, Marquis of Jamaica," referring, undoubtedly, to the grandson of
Columbus. The archbishop Senor Roque Cocchia then took up the search,
and upon the other side of the altar were found two crypts, one empty,
from which had been taken the remains sent to Havana, and the other
containing a metallic case. The case bore the inscription: "D. de la A
Per Ate," which was interpreted to mean: "Descubridor de la America,
Primer Almirante" (Discoverer of America, the First Admiral). The box
was then opened, and on the inside of the cover wer