1 88 LOUIS AGASSIZ. [CHAP. xxn. 



travelled by post to Curicu and by rail to Santiago. 

 The Hasslcr, after repairs, resumed its cruise to the 

 island of Juan Fernandez, with only Pourtales and Dr. 

 Hill on board, to continue the dredging and other scien- 

 tific observations. But the sounding-lines broke down 

 entirely, the ropes rotted, and it became impossible to 

 dredge at a depth even of one hundred fathoms. 



It was a great disappointment to Agassiz and 

 Pourtales, after coming so far, to be deprived of 

 expected results by defective machinery and worthless 

 apparatus. Before leaving Cambridge, Agassiz had 

 written in his Annual Report as director of the 

 Museum for the year 1871 that he was going "to 

 explore the greatest depths of the Atlantic and Pacific 

 oceans, on both sides of the American continent " ; and 

 in no case was a really great depth reached by the 

 dredge. 



At Santiago Agassiz met two old European friends, 

 both eminent naturalists, - - Don Ignacio Domeyko, 

 rector (president) de la Universidad de Chile, and Dr. 

 R. A. Philippi, professor of zoology and botany at the 

 same university. Domeyko was a student at the Paris 

 School of Mines, when Agassiz was there in 1832 ; and 



/ 



both met at Cuvier's house and in the office of Elie de 

 Beaumont. No one has done so much as Domeyko to 

 develop mining in Chili, and no one was held in such 

 high regard and respect all over the Chilian Republic. 

 He received Agassiz with open arms, and he and his 

 daughter Annita did all they could to make his visit 

 agreeable and profitable. Philippi had visited Agassi/, 

 at Neuchatel on his return from a scientific exploration 



