foundation of an abandoned church in the city, the building devoted to educational purposes was at once begun, of which former mention was made. The following public enterprises also deserve notice: a normal farm, for the promotion and improvement of agricultural art; a large cemetery which was urgently required by public decency, the old one being overcrowded; a public promenade, shaded by groups of trees, with iron benches beneath them; numerous repairs of existing structures; the paving of two leagues of streets; the construction of bridges of quarried marble over the canals, etc.; and the opening of straight roads thirty yards wide between the departments, to facilitate the wagon traffic.
He endeavored to bring back the refinements of cultivated society to a province so remote and which had been so exposed to conditions detrimental to progress, by the observance of public ceremonies and festivities on such occasions as the laying of corner-stones of new buildings, at the opening of various new works, and by military parades, all photographed at the time, in all of which were employed the forms, ornaments, and symbols used for such purposes by all civilized nations. The halcyon days of his short rule must have seemed after their late misfortunes like a dream of the night.
In his first addresses to the provincial legislature, he proposed the development of the mining interest; for San Juan, an oasis in the desert of the Travesias, as the barren region around the province is called, is full of mining wealth. Three years had passed in fruitless endeavors to extract the silver which showed itself in numerous localities throughout the province.
