of the birth of Christopher's youngest brother Giacomo
(afterwards spanished into Diego) in 1468, which makes an
interval of 32 years; so that if the mother were (say) 18 in
1436 she must have borne a child at the age of 50. That would
be unusual, but not unprecedented. But M. Harrisse (tom. ii. p.
214), from a more thorough sifting of this documentary
evidence, seems to have proved that while Giacomo cannot have
been born later than 1468 he may have been born as early as
1460; so that whatever is left of M. d'Avezac's objection falls
to the ground.]

[Footnote 411: "Serenissimi principi, di eta molto tenera io
entrai in mare navigando, et vi ho continovato fin' hoggi: ...
et hoggimai passano quaranta anni che io uso per tutte quelle
parti che fin hoggi si navigano." _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap.
iv.]

[Footnote 412: _Op. cit._ cap. iv. _ad fin_.]

[Footnote 413: "Traido en disputas," Navarrete, _Coleccion_,
tom. ii. p. 254.]

[Footnote 414: "Muy altos Reyes, de muy pequena edad entre en
la mar navegando, e lo he continuado fasta hoy.... Ya pasan de
cuarenta anos que yo voy en este uso: todo lo que hoy se
navega, todo lo he andado." Navarrete, _Coleccion_, tom. ii. p.
262. Observe the lame phrase "pasan de cuarenta;" what business
has that "de" in such a place without "mas" before it? "Pasan
mas de cuarenta," i. e. "more than forty;" writing in haste and
excitement, Columbus left out a little word; or shall we blame
the proof-reader? Avezac himself translates it "il y a plus de
quarante ans," and so does Eugene Mueller, in his French version
of Ferdinand's book, _Histoire de la vie de Christophe Colomb_,
Paris, 1879, p. 15.]

[Footnote 415: That was the golden age of sumptuary laws.
Because Alfonso XI. of Castile (1312-1350), when he tried to
impress horses for the army, found it hard to get as many as he
wanted, he took it into his head that his subjects were raising
too many mules and not enough horses. So he tried to remedy the
evil by a wholesale decree prohibiting all Castilians from
riding upon mules! In practice this precious decree, like other
villainous prohibitory laws