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FIGUEROA, CASTRO, AND GUTIERREZ—THE COLONY.

the legislative hall, with the inscription " Benefactor of the Territory of Alta California;" for a suitable monument to be erected at Monterey; and for the printing of the resolutions in the manifesto about to be published. The monument was intrusted to the ayuntamiento, which body before the end of 1835 had gone so far as to devise an appropriate inscription in Latin and Spanish, and to ask officially how the cost was to be paid. Here the matter ended for all time. 33

A biographical sketch of Figueroa, as in the case of his predecessor Victoria, is not required here, because all that is known of his life has been told in this and the two preceding chapters. In person, he was a little below medium height, thick set, with a swarthy complexion, black and abundant hair, scanty

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  1. Sept. 29th, Zamorano to comandantes, and private letters to Vallejo and Valle announcing the death. Vallejo, Doc., MS., iii. 74-5. Record of the death also in 6 . Dieyo, Arch., MS., 59; Dept. St. Pap., MS., iv. 56. On Sept. 26th the American medico Stokes had joined the council of doctors to consider the governor's case. Dept. St. Pet])., Pref. y Juzg., MS., v. 53. Sept. 3d, F. had been at S. Rafael. Id., Ben. Mil, Ixxviii. 8. Military honors ordered, including a gun each half hour for about a week, besides special artillery evolutions on the day of funeral. Id., Ben. MIL, Ixxx. 20-1. Valle, Lo Pasado de CaL, MS., 15, speaks of having been at Sta Cruz where he heard the iirst guns without knowing the occasion. Figueroa had ordered a grand celebration of the national fiesta on Sept. IGth. Id., 19-20. Trans fer of the remains to the south on the Avon, and ceremonies at Sta Barbara. Dept. St. Pap., MS., iv. 58-9; Id., Ben. MIL, Ixxx. 23. The mission books of Sta 13. contain no record on the subject, probably because the deposit in the vault was not intended a- a permanent one. Accounts of the embalming of the body by Drs Alvu, St >kes, Cooper, and others, in Gonzalez, Me morion, MS., 17-18; Dye s RecoL, MS., 3; Gomez, Lo que Sabe, MS., 178-9; Pinto, Apnnt., MS., 12-13. It is stated by Gonzalez and Gomez that the remains were removed from the vault in 1845, at which time the coffin was opened and found to contain nothing of the body but dust; and it was thought this effect was due to the arsenic used in the embalming process. From Mexico there came in time an order dated Feb. 8, 1S3G, that the remains should be placed where Figueroa had desired. Sup. Govt St. Pap., MS., xii. 1. Action of the dip. andayunt., in Figueroa, Manifesto, 177-84; Leg. Rec., MS., ii. 222, 2GS-9; Monterey, Actos de Ayunt., MS., 122, 134-5; Robinson s Life in CaL, 1G8-72; Vallejo, Hist. Cal., iii. GO-7. The inscription to be put on the monument was as follows in substance: To the Eternal Memory | of General Jose Figueroa I Political and Military Chief | of Alta California | Father of the Country I dedicate this monument | the Provincial Diputacion | and the Ayuntamiento of Monterrey | at public expense | as a mark of gratitude. | Died in tins capital | Sept. 29, 1835 | at the age of 43. General mentions of F. s death, with more or less eulogy, in nearly every case, in Pico, Acont., MS., 2G-7; Ord, Ocurrencias, MS., 68-9; Galindo, Apuntes, MS., 31; Castro, ReL, MS. 35–6; Amador, Mem., MS., 142; Fernandez, Cosas, MS., 70-2, 84-5; Vallejo, Reminis., MS., 116; Alvarado, Hist. CaL, MS., ii. 238-9; iii. 37-40; Vallejo, Wd, CaL, MS,, iii. 55-9; Tuthill's Hist. Cal., 139–40.