Above the slab of white stone which formed the cover of the stone grave, two layers of masonry strongly cemented and even cramped together, were built in, so as to unite with the two foot wall which supported the earth on each side, and the vacant space between this last work of masonry and the surface of the ground, being about eight feet in depth, was afterwards filled up with earth. The whole was then covered in, a little above the level of the ground, with another bed of flat stones whose external surface extending to the brink of the two feet wall on each side of the grave, covers a space of twelve feet long and nine feet wide.
A guard has been placed over the grave.
The spot chosen is not devoid of a certain interest. The fountain near it is the one from which General Bonaparte was supplied with water daily for his own private use, brought to him every morning in two silver bottles of his own by a Chinese servant of the house. It is one of the finest springs on the island. Two very large willow trees overshadow the tomb, and there is a grove of them at a little distance below it. The ground is the property of a Mr. Forbett, a respectable tradesman of this island, who has a little cottage close adjoining to it. He assented with great readiness to the proposition of the body being buried there. I shall cause a railing to be put round the whole of the ground, it being necessary even for the preservation of the willows, many sprigs from which had already began to be taken by different individuals who went down to visit the place after the corpse was interred.
EXTRAIT D'UNE DÉPÊCHE ADRESSÉE PAR LE LIEUTENANT GÉNÉRAL SIR HUDSON LOWE AU COMTE BATHURST, EN DATE DE SAINTE-HÉLÈNE, 14 MAI 1821.
… Le coeur, qui avait été conservé dans l'esprit-de-vin, fut mis dans un petit vase en argent, l'estomac dans un autre, et tous deux furent placés dans le cercueil avec le corps.
M. Rutledge, aide-major du 20e régiment, fut chargé de souder les vases où étaient placés le coeur et l'estomac, et les vit déposer dans le cercueil, les entrepreneurs des pompes funèbres étant aussi présents.
Le corps, lorsqu'on le déposa dans le cercueil, fut revêtu d'un uniforme de petite tenue de colonel des chasseurs de l'armée française.
Le cercueil, conformément au voeu particulier du comte Montholon, fut disposé comme suit:
1º Un cercueil ordinaire bordé d'étain;
2º Un cercueil de plomb;