have been nothing, since the prelate saw fit to specify the point in the church where the tomb was situated. The first document in which tradition appears invoked for designating the burial place is the record of a synod held in 1683, which contains the following clause: "this Island having been discovered by Christopher Columbus, illustrious and very celebrated throughout the world, whose bones repose in a leaden box in the sanctuary next to the pedestal of the main altar of this our cathedral, with those of his brother Louis Columbus which are on the other side, according to the tradition of the old people of this Island." The synod and tradition were not strong in Columbus genealogy when they referred to Louis Columbus as the brother instead of the grandson of the Discoverer, and it is noticeable that no mention is made of the son Diego Columbus. It may be remarked, in passing, that the body of Bartholomew Columbus, brother of the Admiral, was deposited in the convent of San Francisco in Santo Domingo, upon his death in 1514, and while some writers suggest it may have been taken to Spain, there is nothing to indicate that it was ever given sepulture in the cathedral of Santo Domingo. After the lapse of another century tradition referred to two sepulchres, one of Christopher Columbus, on the right side of the altar, the other of his brother or son, on the left side of the altar. Moreau de Saint-Mery, a French diplomat and statesman, who lived in the French colony of St. Domingue for some years during the decade of 1780 to 1790, in his book "Description de la partie espagnole de l'isle Saint-Domingue" states that, being desirous of obtaining accurate information with reference to the tomb of Columbus, he addressed himself to Jose Solano, an ex-governor of the colony, then in command of a fleet in the insular waters; that this official wrote a letter to his successor in the governorship, Isidoro Peralta, and that he received the following answer: "SANTO DOMINGO, March 29, 1783. "_My very dear friend and patron:_ "I have received the kind letter of Your Excellency of the 13th of this month, and did not answer immediately in order to have time to ascertain the details it requests relative to Christopher Columbus, and also in order to enjoy the satisfaction of serving Your Excellency as far as is in my power and to permit Your Excellency to have the satisfaction of obliging the friend who has asked for those details.