DEPARTMENT OF MERIDIAN ASTROMETRY. 145 



arrangement of buildings and instruments may well be deferred until a future 

 occasion. On October 5, in the presence of a small party of officials and 

 friends, the first stone of the foundation was laid with simple ceremonies. 



During the whole of my stay in San Luis the authorities of the city and 

 province and the leading citizens generally evinced the most cordial interest in 

 our plans. In particular, Senor Don Modesto Quiroga, provincial Minister 

 of State and of Finance, was unremitting in his attentions and assistance. 

 Dr. C. L. Newton, Director of the Bscuela Regional, was constantly engaged 

 in the performance of valuable services in our behalf in addition to the hos- 

 pitality which he dispensed in behalf of the National Government. Senor 

 Don Jose Romanella, Mayor of San Luis, facilitated our operations in valua- 

 ble ways. In a word, every one whom I met seemed to feel a keen interest 

 in the success of our enterprise and anxious to assist it in any way that of- 

 fered an opportunity. 



On October 7 I arrived in Buenos Aires on my return trip, and on October 

 10 embarked on the steamship Velasques, bound for New York. On the 

 sixth day out, at a point about 100 miles south of Rio de Janeiro, this ship, 

 on a night of inky darkness with fog and rain, ran ashore at full speed upon 

 the rocky coast of San Sebastian Island. The ship and its cargo became a 

 total loss ; but after some dangers and hardships all the passengers and crew, 

 together with nearly all their baggage, were saved and returned to Santos, 

 Brazil, from which port I reembarked on the steamship Titian, which arrived 

 in New York November 1 1 . 



Owing to the delay in my return to New York the time of my second trip 

 to Argentina, with the remainder of the observing staff for the Observatory 

 of San Luis and with the instruments, has been provisionally postponed until 

 the sailing of the steamship Verdi, January 20, 1909, from New York. It is 

 hoped that the new observatory will be ready for the reception of instru- 

 ments and observers at that time. 



