Don Horacio 



was arctic exploration, which he never 

 ceased to follow closely, from year to 

 year. He had long-cherished projects 

 in Bering's Sea. One of his favorite 

 schemes was the purchase of British 

 Columbia by the United States, for 

 which he proposed to pay $100,000,- 

 000, in gold if need be, but preferably 

 in silver bars, with the double — bi- 

 metallic — purpose of acquiring our 

 neighbor's coveted territory and pay- 

 ing for it in the unjustly depreciated 

 metal. 



He was greatly interested in active- 

 ly promoting the project of the Drake 

 Monument, with which it was proposed 

 to mark the point on the California 

 coast, now known as Drake's Bay, near 

 Point Reyes, not far from San Fran- 

 cisco, where Sir Francis Drake landed 

 in 1579, and where his much-abused 

 chaplain, Francis Fletcher, read for 

 the first time in California the service 

 of the Church of England. 

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