ii6 Field Columiman Museum. 



to predict the eclipse of the moon which so terrified the Indians in 

 Jamaica that they became obedient to him, and furnished his party 

 food. On the margins are calculations in his penmanship which were 

 doubtless made to verify those of Zacuth. 



Sixth. " Vidasde los Illustres Varones," by Plutarch, translated 

 into Spanish by Alfonso dc Palencia, — two large folio volumes printed 

 in Seville in 1491, by Paolo de Colonia. They contain frequent mar- ^ 

 ginal notes. 



Seventh. " Concordantiae Biblia? Cardinalis S. P." A manu- 

 script of the fifteenth century, containing 1 1 2 parchment leaves. 



It is evident that Columbus consulted this manuscript frequently 

 while preparing his " Libro de los Proficias," for on the margins are 

 frequent cross references in his handwriting, various lines are un- 

 derscored, and index fingers point to passages which were consid- 

 ered by him of peculiar signficance. It is claimed by some that 

 this Concordance was prepared by Columbus himself, but there is no 

 evidence of that fact, and, if so, the existing copy was made by an 

 amanuensis. The four volumes last named have been discovered 

 only recently among the books of Don Fernando Columbus, by Doctor 

 wSimon de la Rosa y Lopez, the librarian of the Columbina Library, 

 and are considered of the highest importance. 



The "Libro de las Proficias" is a volume of manuscript containing 

 seventy leaves of vellum, although there appear originally to have 

 been eighty-four. Fourteen seem to have been cut out of the center. 

 It was prepared in the year 1504-5, and was scarcely completed at the 

 time of the death of Columbus, its object being to demonstrate that 

 his discoveries were predicted by the Holy Scriptures. It is a collec- 

 tion of various papers and memoranda, often incoherent, including a 

 collection of texts from both the Old and New Testaments, that in his 

 opinion refer to the existence of the lands he discovered, and their 

 future conversion to Christianity. There are many marginal notes 

 which would indicate that the manuscript is unfinished or at least that 

 Columbus obtained additional material after completing it. 



The first leaf begins with the usual pious invocation that proceeds 

 all of his manuscripts and the sign of the cross. This is followed b}^ 

 a letter addressed by him from Granada to his friend Father Corricio 

 at the Convent of Las Cuevas, on the 13th of September, 1501, con- 

 cerning references by sacred and profane writers to the regions he had 

 discovered, and also to the probability of the recovery of the Holy 

 Land from the infidels. The answer of the monk, dated at the Mon- 

 astery of Las Cuevas on the 23rd of March, 1502, is also inserted. 

 Then follow various memoranda relating to the same subject, part of 



