The Presentation of the Diplodocus 253 



by the Secretary of the President, who bade us be 

 seated. The audience-room is a fine apartment, about 

 which hung portraits of former Presidents of the Re- 

 public. President Peria immediately entered the room, 

 and extended cordial salutations to Mr. Garrett, who 

 in turn presented me. The President gave me a hearty 

 grasp of the hand, and expressed his pleasure at seeing 

 a friend of his own cherished friend, Mr. Carnegie, 

 whom with evident pleasure he recalled as having been 

 one of his colleagues at the time when the first Pan- 

 American Congress met in Washington in the years 

 i889~'9O, and of whom he spoke in terms of regard and 

 warm admiration. The conversation turned upon the 

 nature of my errand; the story of the specimen had to 

 be briefly told; and the fact that it had been duly 

 installed in the National Museum at La Plata was 

 mentioned. The President called my attention to the 

 fact that under the constitution he is forbidden to 

 leave the capital, without going through the formality 

 of turning over the reins of government for the time 

 being to the Vice- President, even for so short a journey 

 as that to La Plata, and stated, that, had it not been 

 for this, he would have gone down to the Museum in 

 person to accept Mr. Carnegie's gift, as he understood 

 had been done by the President of France, the Emperor 

 of Austria, and others. He asked me a number of 

 questions as to my impressions of Argentina, and said 

 he hoped that my stay might be extended long enough 

 to enable me to see more of the country than I had as 

 yet seen. He inquired as to the prospects of the coming 

 November election in the United States, without expres- 

 sing partiality for any of the candidates for the Presi- 

 dency. He spoke of the Republic of the North in terms 

 of good-will and generous appreciation. He told me it 



