ty miles west on the Corniche road, where
he set up a weaving establishment and also kept a tavern. He had then
five children, Cristoforo, Giovanni, Bartolommeo, Giacomo, and a
daughter. Domenico lived in Savona till 1484. At that time his wife and
his son Giovanni were dead, Giacomo was an apprentice, learning the
weaver's trade, Christopher and Bartholomew had long been domiciled in
Portugal, the daughter had married a cheese merchant in Genoa, and to
that city Domenico returned in the autumn of 1484, and lived there until
his death, at a great age, in 1499 or 1500. He was always in pecuniary
difficulties, and died poor and in debt, though his sons seem to have
sent him from Portugal and Spain such money as they could spare.[417]

[Footnote 416: "Nous avons demontre l'inanite des theories qui
le font naitre a Pradello, a Cuccaro, a Cogoleto, a Savona, a
Nervi, a Albissola, a Bogliasco, a Cosseria, a Finale, a
Oneglia, voire meme en Angleterre ou dans l'isle de Corse."
Harrisse, tom. i. p. 217. In Cogoleto, about sixteen miles west
of Genoa on the Corniche road, the visitor is shown a house
where Columbus is said first to have seen the light. Upon its
front is a quaint inscription in which the discoverer is
compared to the dove (_Colomba_) which, when sent by Noah from
the ark, discovered dry land amid the waters:--

Con generoso ardir dall' Arca all' onde
Ubbidiente il vol Colomba prende,
Corre, s' aggira, terren scopre, e fronde
D' olivo in segno, al gran Noe ne rende.
L' imita in cio Colombo, ne' s' asconde,
E da sua patria il mar solcando fende;
Terreno al fin scoprendo diede fondo,
Offerendo all' Ispano un Nuovo Mondo.

This house is or has been mentioned in Baedeker's _Northern
Italy_ as the probable birthplace, along with Peschel's absurd
date 1456. It is pretty certain that Columbus was _not_ born in
that house or in Cogoleto. See Harrisse, tom. i. pp. 148-155.]

[Footnote 417: Harrisse, tom. i. pp. 166-216.]

[Sidenote: Christopher tells us that he was born in the city of Genoa.]

The reader will observe that Christopher and his two next brothers were
born before the family went to live in the city of Genoa. It has hence
been plausibly inferred that they were born either in Qui