Letters from Mr. J. Graham Kerr. 265 



S.S. ' Bolivia,' Rio Pilcomayo. 

 Lat, 24° 50' approx. 



Oct. 28tli, 1890. 



I take this opportunity of writing you a line or two as to 

 my doings^ or rather those of the expedition. I wrote you 

 a letter just four months ago, which was sent down by a 

 canoe which started at that time, and which you have, no 

 doubt, received long since. Since the writing of that letter 

 there is little of scientific interest to chronicle. It is in 

 the first place the winter season, and all nature has almost 

 as lifeless an aspect as it has at home during winter. No in- 

 sects, no plants; even birds are greatly diminished in numbers. 

 As the commission starts en route for the Paraguay in an 

 hour or two, I shall merely give you a bare outline of what 

 has taken place. In the first place, we came to a full stop at 

 this point, owing to the almost total drying up of the river, 

 only a tiny rivulet of intensely salt water trickling down the 

 river-bed. We had managed to reach here only by extra- 

 ordinary exertions, the latter part of the way by means of 

 building dams across the river and waiting till the water 

 accumulated sufficiently to enable us to steam up river for a 

 few miles. We arrived here on the 10th of June last. By 

 this time want of provisions began to be felt, as the vessel 

 had been provisioned for three or four months only. A 

 party of soldiers had been sent down to bring up fresh 

 supplies, but as there were no signs of them, it was resolved 

 to build a canoe and send down a trustworthy person to 

 accelerate matters. This was done, and on June 27th the 

 canoe started under charge of Capt. Leon Zorilla, Page's 

 second in command. This party, as we afterwards heard, 

 got down all right, but Zorilla, finding that a revolution was 

 going on in Buenos Aires, at once made off thither without 

 thinking for a moment of us, or taking any means to send 

 us provisions. As the mouth of July passed on Page's 

 health began to fail, and on the 20th he started off down river 

 in a canoe with a couple of negro servants, to make his way 

 to Buenos Aires in search of medical treatment. The 

 ^Bolivia' he left under charge of his son, a boy of ten ; and 



