FIJI-NEW ZEALAND EXPEDITION 15 
to pay what we considered exorbitant freight rates. These 
charges cut down our appropriations to such an extent that a 
very inadequate sum remained for equipment: We felt handi- 
capped in this respect and as a matter of fact took with us a 
very poor supply of large glass jars for the preservation of the 
more conspicuous and showy specimens; we had to content our- 
selves with small bottles and metal tanks in which the specimens 
were crowded together, much to the detriment of the more deli- 
eate and fragile objects. 
The transportation of aleohol for the preservation of material 
offered a serious problem on account of legal restrictions of 
various sorts, particularly in the United States en route to Van- 
couver. We finally arranged to have our three large metal con- 
tainers shipped in bond to Vancouver, care of the S. S. ‘‘Nia- 
gara’’ of the Canadian Australasian line. In such matters I 
found it easier to deal with foreign officials than with those of 
our own government, with which it is hard to avoid a vexatious 
amount of red tape. There should be, it seems to me, some way 
whereby a state university might ship aleohol out of the 
country for the use of its own agents in a foreign land without 
so much trouble as at present. As a matter of fact most foreign 
officials, particularly the British, seem better able to appreciate 
scientific objectives and to make allowance for them than do 
our own. In short they are inclined to help any well-accredited 
scientific party or individual and seem well able to waive or 
modify their legal restrictions when the occasion seems to justify. 
The form in which to take money for such a trip is import- 
ant. As our operations were to be exclusively in British terri- 
tory, it would seem a simple problem. We divided our funds 
between American Bankers Association checks and English money 
in the form of letters of credit. One thing can confidently be 
counted on, namely that the traveler always loses in the matter 
of exchange. We were assured by our bankers that both forms 
would pass at par wherever we went, but we found that we 
were everywhere charged exchange. English money, except 
small silver coins, was not current in either Fiji or New Zealand, 
and even bankers’ checks did not pass for their par value, neith- 
er was Fiji money good, except at a discount, in New Zealand. 
If banking accounts were established, we had to pay for each 
