Tlie Remains of Columbus. 195 



The Spaniards finally drifted away from the northern coast of 

 Haiti, and the city of Santo Domingo was founded on the south 

 in 1 496, which yet contains many things that take us back to 

 those first years of conquest. The chapel still stands, though 

 in ruinous condition, from the porch of which Bobadilla pro- 

 claimed the downfall of Columbus, and the house built by 

 Don Diego, the son of the Admiral, rises above the right bank 

 of Ozama river. 



There is a castle also, the Homenage, which was built in the 

 year 1509, or during the dominion of Don Diego. Here also 

 are the ruins of the first American university — date, 1507 or 

 1509 ; the vast convent of the Franciscans, a contemporary 

 structure ; and lastly here are some of the remains of Columbus. 

 To be more explicit, I may say that here are to be seen one set 

 of the remains that Columbus left behind him at his departure, 

 the other being claimed by the city of Havana. It is too long 

 a story to narrate ; all the evidence on both sides is given in my 

 book and also in the monastery of La Rabida, reproduced in 

 Jackson Park. 



Briefly, Columbus died at Valladolid, in Spain, in 1506. His 

 remains were taken to Santo Domingo about 1540, where they 

 were deposited at the right hand of the high altar in the cathe- 

 dral, remaining there until 1795, when the Spaniards took up 

 and transported what they thought were the bones of Columljus 

 to Havana; but in 1877, in making some repairs in the cathe- 

 dral, the workmen found another vault, which contained a 

 casket and bones; also inscriptions showing that those were the 

 real remains and that the Spaniards had made a mistake and 

 had probably taken away the ashes of Don Diego, the son. 

 But, wherever may rest the bones of the Great Admiral, it is 

 with the island of Santo Domingo that his greatest exj3loits are 

 associated, and in that island he expressed the wish to be 

 buried. 



Nearly every island of the Caribbean sea has an association 

 with the great Colon. In his second voyage he discovered the 

 Caribbees, or Lesser Antilles ; on his third he found Trinidad 

 and the peninsula of Paria, as well as the Pearl islands, sailing 

 thence to Santo Domingo again, whence he was sent home in 

 chains, in the year 1500. On his last and most disastrous 

 ■voyage, 1502, and the two 3^ears succeeding, he coasted the east- 

 ern shores of Yucatan and Central America, the voyage ending 



