LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 



To Dr. Daniel C. Gilman, 



President of The Geographical Society of Baltimore. 



Sir. — I herewith transmit to you a report of the Bahama Expedition 

 sent out by the Geographical Society of Baltimore on June 1, 1903. This, 

 the first publication of the Society, contains sixteen distinct chapters on 

 various subjects pertaining to the Bahama Islands. These papers have been 

 prepared by specialists, most of whom were present on the Expedition and 

 directed the work on their respective investigations. The material which this 

 volume contains is largely the result of researches carried forward on the 

 Expedition, but there are certain chapters which deal principally with facts 

 discovered by earlier investigators. The object of these chapters is to sum- 

 marize this material and thus increase the general usefulness of the publi- 

 cation. The appearance of this book, at a time when the certainty of the 

 Panama Canal is drawing the attention of the civilized world to the Ameri- 

 can Mediterranean, seems most opportune; and it is hoped that the facts 

 here published may be instrumental, if only in a small degree, in causing the 

 Bahama Islands to share in tlie renewed prosperity which is destined to over- 

 take the West Indies when the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans are united. 



Trusting that this volume may meet with your approval, I remain, 

 Very respectfully, 



George Burbakk Shattuck, 



Director of the Baliama Expedition. 



Johns Hopkins University, 



Baltimore, January 2, 1905. 



