229. What were the last words of Columbus?
He died while repeating the following words in Latin: “Lord, into thy hands I commit my spirit.”
230. Where do the remains of Columbus now repose?
The body of Columbus was deposited in the convent of San Francisco, Valladolid, Spain. It was thence transported, 1513, to the Carthusian Monastery of Seville, where a handsome monument was erected by command of Ferdinand and Isabella, with the simple inscription, “To Castile and Leon, Colon gave a new world.” In 1536, his body and that of his son Diego were removed to the city of St. Domingo, Hayti, and interred in the principal chapel. But, in 1796, the remains, as was supposed, were taken to Havana with imposing ceremonies. The tomb in the cathedral is marked by a slab elaborately carved, on which is inscribed,—
“Restos e Imagen del grande Colon!
Mil siglos durad guardades en la Urna
Y en la remembranza de nuestra Nacion,”
which is Spanish for,
“Oh, rest thou, image of the great Colon,
Thousand centuries remain, guarded in the urn,