The indefatigable Muñoz worked faithfully; the king complained of the meagre results; the author died doing his best, and his work to this day remains undone. During his labors he made an extensive collection of papers, memorials, and other manuscripts relating to America, known as the _Coleccion de Muñoz_, which he once intended to publish, but this with a portion of his history was left in manuscript. Irving states that the papers of Muñoz were left with Señor Uguina, and Ternaux-Compans claims to have obtained all of Uguina's manuscripts; but Prescott asserts that the collection of Muñoz was deposited in the archives of the Royal Academy of History at Madrid, and was there augmented by the manuscripts of Vargas Ponce, obtained chiefly from the archives of the Indies at Seville. Prior to 1793 the _Archivo General de Indias_ was established at Seville, and a large quantity of old papers conveyed thither from Madrid and Simancas. About 1810 the archives at Simancas were sacked by Napoleon; in 1814 the remnant was re-arranged and classified. Before the death of Muñoz, Navarrete was commissioned by the king to search the archives for documents relating to the doings of the Spanish navy. By him personally, or under his direction when occupied in other duties, the search was continued from 1789 to 1825. The results of these labors were as follows: before 1793, twenty-four folio volumes of copies from the Royal Library at Madrid, the collections of the marquises of Santa Cruz and of Villafranca, of the dukes de Medina Sidonia and del Infantado, and from the _Biblioteca de los estudios reales de San Isidro_, and the _Biblioteca alta del Escorial_; after 1793, seventeen volumes of copies from the _Archivo General de Indias_, including the papers in the _Casa de Contratacion_ in Seville, the _Colegio de San Telmo_, the _Biblioteca de San Acacio_, and from the collection of the Conde del Aguila. With this material, increased by subsequent researches in the libraries of the Royal Academy of History in Madrid, and other public institutions, and in many private collections, particularly that of the Duke of Veraguas, and with access to the Muñoz collection, Navarrete began in 1825 the publication of his _Coleccion de los Viages y Descubrimientos, que hicieron por mar los Españoles desde fines del Siglo_ XV., in 5 vols., Madrid, 1825-37, in which he printed over 500 documents, many of them of the highest importance. As this collection constitutes one of the chief authorities upon the early affairs of Darien, a brief notice of the author may not be out of place. [Sidenote: MARTIN FERNANDEZ DE NAVARRETE.]