The key was there delivered to the bishop
and the remains deposited in a sepulchre with suitable bas-reliefs
and inscriptions. The notarial narrative of the event goes into the
most minute particulars, but the contents of the ark are merely
described as "several leaden plates nearly a tercio in length, several
small pieces of bone as of some deceased person, and some earth which
seemed to be of that body."
For over eighty years it was generally accepted in Santo Domingo, as
throughout the world, that the bones of Columbus rested in the
cathedral of Havana. There were, indeed, persons who handed down a
tradition that the remains taken away by the Spaniards were not those
of the great navigator and that these still remained under the altar
platform in the Santo Domingo cathedral, but such persons were very
few and no attention was paid to their allegations. Some Dominicans
even called on the Spanish government to return the remains and let
them be laid to rest in Dominican soil in accordance with the
Discoverer's dying wish. In the meantime no one thought of the tombs
of Diego Columbus or Louis Columbus, nor was it remembered that they
were buried in the cathedral.
Pages:
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453