196 Naturalist at Large 



settlers who had homesteaded and started to grow bananas 

 on the island, and also to put up the buildings, lay a track, 

 and set up a hoisting engine to carry supplies up the 362 

 steps from the lake shore to the Laboratory at the crest. 

 A tremendous amount of credit goes to Zetek for his in- 

 geniousness and foresight. He and I bought an amount of 

 material from the Panama Canal's obsolete stores. The beg- 

 ging and borrowing we did from the Army and Navy as 

 well as the Canal officials — borrowing especially in the 

 shape of brains — put us in debt to many people. 



The question in the beginning was how we were to re- 

 ceive the Federal recognition which was necessary if we 

 were to operate efficiently in the Canal Zone. Someone 

 remembered the paper "Institute for Research in Tropical 

 America," and the Barro Colorado Island Laboratory was 

 committed to its care. From then on, the annual reports 

 were made to and circulated by the National Research 

 Council, and to all intents and purposes the Laboratory was 

 the Institute. 



This arrangement made it possible for us to give visiting 

 scientists commissary privileges, hospital facilities, railroad 

 passes, free entry through the customs, and the right of resi- 

 dence in the Canal Zone. It also made possible the purchase 

 of ice and all other supplies and their delivery at the Frijoles 

 Station of the Panama Railroad by the Commissary De- 

 partment of the Panama Canal. If it had not been possible 

 to devise this quick tie-up, the whole development of the 

 Laboratory would have been long delayed. 



The Laboratory and its work have now become widely 

 known. Thousands of people have read My Tropical Air 



