266 COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 



exquisite workmanship, and their houses were built of stone and adobe. 

 The Government of Honduras has recently issued a decree for the erec 

 tion of a monument to mark the spot where Columbus first landed upon 

 the soil of Central America. It will be a life size statue, standing upon 

 a pedestal, and will bear the inscription: &quot;The Republic of Honduras 

 to Christopher Columbus, 1492-1892.&quot; 



A series of pictures was given also of the present appearance of all 

 the places visited by him. At the site of Puerto Bello, on the Isthmus 

 of Panama, Columbus established a colony during his fourth and last 

 voyage, for the purpose of ascertaining the source from which the 

 Indians got their gold ; but it existed only four months. Several of the 

 party were massacred by the Indians and many died of disease. The 

 food became low, and the ships were so worm eaten that they would 

 scarcely float, so he started back toward Hispaniola, and the leaking 

 caravels were beached in Santa Gloria Bay, on the northern coast of 

 Jamaica. As the name (bestowed by Columbus in 1502) implies, 

 Puerto Bello has a very fine harbor, with from 8 to 10 fathoms of water 

 at the entrance of the bay, with Drake Point on the north and Buena 

 ventura Island on the south. A town was founded there in 1584, 

 which rapidly grew in importance, being the great depot for the gold 

 and silver from Peru brought across the isthmus and taken to Spain 

 by the royal galleons. It was destroyed in 1739 by Admiral Vernou, 

 of the British navy. The population was at that time 10,000, but it is 

 now less than 1,000, the decline being due to the loss of trade and the 

 unhealthiness of its situation. 



A mile or more to the east of St. Anns Bay, which Columbus named 

 Santa Gloria, he ran his ships aground, and, lashing them together, 

 built thatched cabins on their decks. &quot; Thus castled in the sea, he 

 hoped to be able to repel any invaders, and at the same time to keep 

 his men from roving about the neighborhood and committing their 

 usual excesses.&quot; Here he was compelled to remain for nearly a year, 

 until finally rescued by a vessel from Santo Domingo. The cove is a 

 beautiful and secluded one, with white sand beach and bordering 

 fringe of sea-jirape trees. 



A very interesting series of pictures illustrated the two alleged 

 burial places of Columbus, in Santo Domingo and Havana, and were 

 presented with impartiality. These pictures were made by Mr. Fred 

 erick A. Ober, the commissioner of the Chicago Exposition to the 

 West Indies, with the permission of the archbishop of Santo Domingo 

 and others in authority. 



Columbus died on the 20th of May, 150G, after partaking of the holy 

 sacrament, and uttering the words &quot;Into Thy hands, Oh, Lord, I com 

 mit my spirit,&quot; 



The house at Valladolid, Spain, in which Columbus died May 20, 

 1506, is still standing, and is visited by multitudes of tourists. At the 

 time of his death it was an inn. His brother, Bartholomew, was with 

 him. In none of the chronicles of the time, and they were numerous, 



