The gigantic labor wore out his body. But his mind was as active as ever. He had planned an attempt to recover the Holy Sepulcher. He had thought out a scheme for an Arctic expedition, including a plan for reaching the north pole, which he deposited in the monastery of Mejorada. It was not to be. When he returned from his last voyage, he came home to die. We gather some idea of the Admiral's personal appearance from the descriptions of Las Casas and Oviedo. He was a man of middle height, with courteous manners and noble bearing. His face was oval, with a pleasing expression; the nose aquiline, the eyes blue, and the complexion fair and inclined to ruddiness. The hair was red, though it became gray soon after he was thirty. Only one authentic portrait of Columbus is known to have been painted. The Italian historian, Paulus Jovius, who was his contemporary, collected a gallery of portraits of worthies of his time at his villa on the Lake of Como. Among them was a portrait of the Admiral. There is an early engraving from it, and very indifferent copies in the Uffizi at Florence, and at Madrid. But until quite recently I do not think that the original was known to exist. It, however, never left the family, and when the last Giovio died it was inherited by her grandson, the Nobile de Orché, who is the present possessor. We have the head of a venerable man, with thin gray hair, the forehead high, the eyes pensive and rather melancholy. It was thus that he doubtless appeared during the period that he was in Spain, after his return in chains, or during the last year of his life.
In his latter years we see Columbus, although as full as ever of his great mission, thinking more and more of the transmission of his rights and his property intact to his children. He had always loved his home, and his amiable and affectionate disposition made many and lasting friendships in all ranks of life, from Queen Isabella and Archbishop Deza to the humblest grumete. We find his shipmates serving with him over and over again. Terreros, the Admiral's steward, and Salcedo, his servant, were with him in his first voyage and in his last. His faithful captains, Mendez and Fieschi, risked life and limb for him, and attended him on his deathbed. Columbus was also blessed with two loving and devoted brothers. In one of his letters to his son Diego, he said, "Never have I found better friends, on my right hand and on my left, than my brothers." Bartholomew, especially, was his trusty and gallant defender and counselor in his darkest hours of difficulty and distress, his nurse in sickness, and his helpful companion in health. The enduring affection of these two brothers, from the cradle to the grave, is most touching. Columbus was happy too in his handsome, promising young sons, who were ever dutiful, and whose welfare was his fondest care; they fulfilled all his hopes. One recovered the Admiral's rights, while the other studied his father's professional work, preserved his memorials, and wrote his life. Columbus never forgot his old home at Genoa, and the most precious treasures of the proud city are the documents which her illustrious son confided to her charge, and the letters in which he expressed his affection for his native town. Columbus was a man to reverence, but he was still more a man to love.
The great discoverer's genius was a gift which is only produced once in an age, and it is that which has given rise to the enthusiastic celebration of the fourth centenary of his achievement. To geographers and sailors the careful study of his life will always be useful and instructive. They will be led to ponder over the deep sense of duty and responsibility which produced his unceasing and untiring watchfulness when at sea, over the long training which could alone produce so consummate a navigator, and over that perseverance and capacity for taking trouble which we should all not only admire but strive to imitate. I can not better conclude this very inadequate attempt to do justice to a great subject than by quoting the words of a geographer, whose loss from among us we still continue to feel—the late Sir Henry Yule. He said of Columbus: "His genius and lofty enthusiasm, his ardent and justified previsions, mark the great Admiral as one of the lights of the human race."
A DISCOVERY GREATER THAN THE LABORS OF HERCULES.
Pietro Martire de Anghiera (usually called Peter Martyr), an Italian scholar, statesman, and historian. Born at Arona, on Lake Maggiore, in 1455; died at Granada, Spain, 1526.
To declare my opinion herein, whatsoever hath heretofore been discovered by the famous travayles of Saturnus and Hercules, with such other whom the antiquitie for their heroical acts honoured as Gods, seemeth but little and obscure if it be compared to the victorious labours of the Spanyards.
—Decad. ii, cap. 4, Lok's Translation.
GENIUS TRAVELED WESTWARD.
William Mason, an English poet. Born at Hull, 1725; died in 1797.
Old England's genius turns with scorn away,
Ascends his sacred bark, the sails unfurled,
And steers his state to the wide Western World.