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ty miles west on the Corniche road, where he set up a weaving establishment and also kept a tavern. He had then five children, Cristoforo, Giovanni, Bartolommeo, Giacomo, and a daughter. Domenico lived in Savona till 1484. At that time his wife and his son Giovanni were dead, Giacomo was an apprentice, learning the weaver's trade, Christopher and Bartholomew had long been domiciled in Portugal, the daughter had married a cheese merchant in Genoa, and to that city Domenico returned in the autumn of 1484, and lived there until his death, at a great age, in 1499 or 1500. He was always in pecuniary difficulties, and died poor and in debt, though his sons seem to have sent him from Portugal and Spain such money as they could spare.[417] [Footnote 416: "Nous avons demontre l'inanite des theories qui le font naitre a Pradello, a Cuccaro, a Cogoleto, a Savona, a Nervi, a Albissola, a Bogliasco, a Cosseria, a Finale, a Oneglia, voire meme en Angleterre ou dans l'isle de Corse." Harrisse, tom. i. p. 217. In Cogoleto, about sixteen miles west of Genoa on the Corniche road, the visitor is shown a house where Columbus is said first to have seen the light. Upon its front is a quaint inscription in which the discoverer is compared to the dove (_Colomba_) which, when sent by Noah from the ark, discovered dry land amid the waters:-- Con generoso ardir dall' Arca all' onde Ubbidiente il vol Colomba prende, Corre, s' aggira, terren scopre, e fronde D' olivo in segno, al gran Noe ne rende. L' imita in cio Colombo, ne' s' asconde, E da sua patria il mar solcando fende; Terreno al fin scoprendo diede fondo, Offerendo all' Ispano un Nuovo Mondo. This house is or has been mentioned in Baedeker's _Northern Italy_ as the probable birthplace, along with Peschel's absurd date 1456. It is pretty certain that Columbus was _not_ born in that house or in Cogoleto. See Harrisse, tom. i. pp. 148-155.] [Footnote 417: Harrisse, tom. i. pp. 166-216.] [Sidenote: Christopher tells us that he was born in the city of Genoa.] The reader will observe that Christopher and his two next brothers were born before the family went to live in the city of Genoa. It has hence been plausibly inferred that they were born either in Qui
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