194 Field Columbian Museum. 



said, belong- to mc the tenth and the eighth, with the salaries and 

 emoluments specified above; and considering that we are mortal, and 

 that it is proper for every one to settle his affairs, and to leave de- 

 clared to his heirs and successors the property he possesses or may 

 have a right to: Wherefore, I have concluded to create an entailed 

 estate (mayorazgo) out of the said eighth of the lands, places and rev- 

 enues, in the manner which I now proceed to state: 



In the first place I am to be succeeded by Don Diego, my son, 



who, in case of death without children, is to be succeeded by my 

 other son, Ferdinand; and should God dispose of him also without 

 leaving children and without my having any other son, then my 

 brother, Don Bartholomew, is to succeed; and after him his eldest son; 

 and if God should dispose of him without heirs, he shall be succeeded 

 by his sons from one to another forever; or in the failure of a son, to 

 be succeeded by Don Ferdinand, after the same manner, from son 

 to son, successively ; or in their place by my brothers, Bartholomew 

 and Dieg-o, And should it please the Lord that the estate, after hav- 

 ing continued some time in the line of any of the above successors, 

 should stand in need of an immediate and lawful -male heir, the suc- 

 cession shall then devolve to the nearest relation, being a man of 

 legitimate birth and bearing the name of Columbus derived from his 

 father and his ancestors. This entailed estate shall in nowise be in- 

 herited by a woman, except in case that no male is to be found, either 

 in this or any other quarter of the world, of my real lineage, whose 

 name as well as that of his ancestors, shall have always been Colum- 

 bus. In such an event (which may God forefend), then the female 

 of legitimate birth most nearly related to the preceding possessor of 

 the estate shall succeed to it; and this is to be under the conditions 

 herein stipulated at foot, which must be understood to extend as well 

 to Don Diego, my son, as to the aforesaid and their heirs, every one 

 of them, to be fulfilled by them; and failing to do so they are to be 

 deprived of the succession for not having complied with what shall 

 herein be expressed ; and the estate to pass to the person most nearly 

 related to the one who held the right; and the person thus succeeding 

 shall in like manner forfeit the estate, should he also fail to comply 

 with said conditions; and another person, the nearest of my lineage, 

 shall succeed, provided he abide by them, so that they may be ob- 

 served in the form prescribed. This forfeiture is not to be incurred 

 for trifling matters, originating in lawsuits, but in important cases, 

 when the glory of God, or my own, or that of my family may be 

 concerned, which supposes a perfect fulfillment of all the things here- 

 by ordained; all which I recommend to the Courts of Justice. And I 

 supplicate His Holiness, who now is, and those who may succeed to 

 the holy church, that if it should happen that this, my will and testa- 

 ment, has need of his holy order and command for its fulfillment, that 

 such order be issued in virtue of obedience and under penalty of ex- 

 communication, and that it shall not be in any wise disfigured. And 

 I also pray the King and Queen, our Sovereigns, and their eldest 

 born. Prince Don Juan, our Lord and their successors, for the sake of 

 the services I have done them, and because it is just, and that it may 



