NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE 



211 



On Januaiy 25 the vessel entered the floating dry-dock at San 

 Lorenzo Island. It was necessary to repair the copper sheathing 

 and to overhaul the oscillator, which had been out of commission 

 for more than two months. While this was being done we nar- 

 rowly excaped a serious accident. Ordinarily, when assembling 

 the instrument for use, a pressure of forty pounds per square 

 inch of carbon dioxide was run into this apparatus. Accordingly, 

 a gauge was ordered to check accurately this pressure before 



The Sunday Market at Huancato 

 Famous throughout Peru — the people from the country for miles around come to town 

 to trade their grain, vegetables, fruit, hides, pottery, coca, and other products of the sierra 

 and the montana for shoes, saddles, furniture, and other manufactured goods. 



the vessel was refloated. Soide and several workmen were filling 

 the oscillator from a tank of compressed gas; and, when the gauge 

 read "sixteen" the packing was violently blown out. Fortu- 

 nately, no physical injury was caused to the men. It was then 

 discovered that the gauge furnished was made to read in "atmos- 

 pheres" and not "pounds" pressure, thus registering in units 

 about fifteen times greater than the one they had ordered. 

 The journey from Callao to the floating-dock, a distance of 



