Herrera had already published (1591) a monograph on the history of Portugal and the conquest (1582-1583) of the Azores, when he produced at Madrid his great work, _Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos_, in eight decades, four of which, in two volumes, were published in 1601, and the others in 1615.[260] It has fourteen maps; and there should be bound with it, though often found separate, a ninth part, called _Description de las Indias occidentales_.[261] Of the composite work, embracing the nine parts, the best edition is usually held to be one edited by Gonzales Barcia, and supplied by him with an index, which was printed in Madrid during 1727, 1728, 1729, and 1730, so that copies are found with all those dates, though it is commonly cited as of 1730.[262] * * * * * The principal chronicles of Spanish affairs in the seventeenth century contributed more or less to Columbus’ fame;[263] and he is commemorated in the Dutch compilation of Van den Bos, _Leven en Daden der Zeehelden_, published at Amsterdam in 1676, and in a German translation in 1681.[264] There were a hundred years yet to pass before Robertson’s _History of America_ gave Columbus a prominence in the work of a historian of established fame; but this Scotch historian was forced to write without any knowledge of Columbus’ own narratives. In 1781 the earliest of the special Italian commemorations appeared at Parma, in J. Durazzo’s _Elogi storici_ on Columbus and Doria.[265] Chevalier de Langeac in 1782 added to his poem, _Colomb dans les fers à Ferdinand et Isabelle_, a memoir of Columbus.[266] [Illustration]