Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/268

242 242 RETURN OF COLUMBUS. Ills person and habits. PART this spot his body was transported, in the year 1536, — '- — to the island of St. Domingo, the proper theatre of his discoveries ; and, on the cession of that island to the French, in 1795, was again removed to Cuba, where his ashes now quietly repose in the cathedral church of its capital. ^^ There is considerable uncertainty as to Colum- bus's age, though it seems probable it was not far from seventy at the time of his death. ^^ His per- son has been minutely described by his son. He was tall and well made, his head large, with an aquiline nose, small light-blue or greyish eyes, a fresh complexion and red hair, though incessant toil and exposure had bronzed the former, and bleached the latter, before the age of thirty. He had a ma- jestic presence, with much dignity, and at the same time affability of manner. He was fluent, even elo- quent in discourse ; generally temperate in deport- ment, but sometimes hurried by a too lively sensi- bility into a sally of passion.^'' He was abstemious in his diet, indulged little in amusements of any kind, and, in truth, seemed too much absorbed by ^5 Navarrete, Coleccion de A'^ia- ges, torn, ii., Doc. Dipl. 177. On the left of the grand altar of this stately edifice, is a bust of Co- lumbus, placed in a niche in the wall, and near it a silver urn, con- taining all that now remains of the illustrious voyager. See Abbot's "Letters from Cuba," a work of much interest and information, with the requisite allowance for the in- accuracies of a posthumous publi- cation. 36 The various theories respect- ing the date of Columbus's birth cover a range of twenty years, from 1436 to 1450. There are sturdy objections to either of the hypotheses ; and the historian will find it easier to cut the knot than to unravel it. Comp. Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. Intr. sec. 54. — Mufioz, Hist, del Nuevo- Mundo, lib. 2, sec. 12. — Spotorno, Memorials of Columbus, pp. 12, 25. — Irving, Life of Columbus, vol. iv. book 18, chap. 4. 1'' Fernando Colon, Hist, del Al- mirante, cap. 3. — Novi Orbis Hist., lib. 1. cap. 14. — Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 6, cap. 15.