[Illustration] This inscription is supposed to mean “Discoverer of America, first Admiral.” Opening the case, which in this situation presented the appearance shown in the cut on page 80, the under surface of the lid was found to bear the following legend:— [Illustration] This legend is translated, “Illustrious and renowned man, Christopher Columbus.”[320] A fac-simile of the inscription found on the small silver plate is given on page 82, the larger of which is understood to mean “A part of the remains of the first Admiral, Don Christopher Columbus, discoverer.”[321] The discovery was made known by the Bishop, Roque Cocchia, in a pastoral letter,[322] and the news spread rapidly.[323] The Spanish King named Señor Antonio Lopez Prieto, of Havana, to go to Santo Domingo, and, with the Spanish consul, to investigate. Prieto had already printed a tract, which went through two editions, _Los restos de Colon: exámen histórico-critico_, Havana, 1877. [Illustration] In March, 1878, he addressed his Official Report to the Captain-general of Cuba, which was printed in two editions during the same year, as _Informe sobre los restos de Colon_. It was an attack upon the authenticity of the remains at Santo Domingo. Later in the same year, Oct. 14, 1878, Señor Manuel Colmeiro presented, in behalf of the Royal Academy of History of Madrid, a report to the King, which was printed at Madrid in 1879 as _Los restos de Colon: informe de la Real Academia de la Historia_, etc. It reinforced the views of Prieto’s Report; charged Roque Cocchia with abetting a fraud; pointed to the A (America) of the outside inscription as a name for the New World which Spaniards at that time never used;[324] and claimed that the remains discovered in 1877 were those of Christopher Columbus, the grandson of the Admiral, and that the inscriptions had been tampered with, or were at least much later than the date of reinterment in the Cathedral.[325] Besides Bishop Roque Cocchia, the principal upholder of the Santo Domingo theory has been Emiliano Tejera, who published his _Los restos de Colon en Santo Domingo_ in 1878, and his _Los dos restos de Cristóbal Colon_ in 1879, both in Santo Domingo. Henry Harrisse, under the auspices of the “Sociedad de Bibliófilos Andaluces,” printed his _Los restos de Don Cristóval Colon_ at Seville in 1878, and his _Les sépultures de Christophe Colomb: revue critique du premier rapport officiel publié sur ce sujet_, the next year (1879) at Paris.[326] From Italy we have Luigi Tommaso Belgrano’s _Sulla recente scoperta delle ossa di Colombo_ (Genoa, 1878). One of the best and most recent summaries of the subject is by John G. Shea in the _Magazine of American History_, January, 1883; also printed separately, and translated into Spanish. Richard Cortambert (_Nouvelle histoire des voyages_, p. 39) considers the Santo Domingo theory overcome by the evidence.