AVES ISLAND. 125 



two tliousancl dollars in value. I further state that, according to tlie 

 best of my judgment, the cost at said isle of all the materials for 

 the wharf of my employers, and which were left there, and taken 

 possession of by the Venezuelans, and the building of said wharf 

 at said isle, was not less than $4,500. I further state that, ac- 

 cording 'to the best of my judgment, the cost at said isle of all the 

 materials for said seven houses and the sheds built by my employers 

 there, and which we were compelled to abandon, and which the Vene- 

 zuelans took possession of, and the building said houses and sheds at 

 said isle was not less than $3,500, and the cost of the other property 

 was as much as $3,500 more. I further state, that I do not include 

 in said cost any of the expenses incurred on the cruise for the dis- 

 covery of said isle, which, including the hire for the brig and crew so 

 employed, were not less than $3,000; nor do I include any of the 

 sacrifices, expenses, or losses incurred or sustained by the breaking 

 up of their guano business at Arenas, in the Gulf of Mexico, in order 

 to go to said isle, which I think must have amounted to several thou- 

 sand dollars, and not less than $3,500 ; nor do I include in any of said 

 estimates of any of said property at the isle any amounts except the 

 actual cost of the materials or articles in the United States, and of 

 their transportation to the isle, and the time, labor, trouble, and 

 expense bestowed upon them there ; and I consider my estimate greatly 

 below what would have been their value to my employers at the isle 

 if they had not been molested by the Venezuelan government, and if 

 they had been allowed to continue the gathering of said guano. 



TO THE ELEVENTH. 



I have seen a copy of the statement of the claim presented by P. S. 

 Shelton and Sampson & Tappan to the State Department, of their 

 damages against the Venezuelan government. The first item is " for 

 the guano on said island, estimated as a minimum at 25,000 tons, 

 (probably 50,000 tons,) which, under the management of the sub- 

 scribers, would have produced a net profit of $12 50 per ton, which 

 on 25,000 tons is $312,500." I regard this item, if they are held to 

 be entitled to the guano and to a fair compensation for it, as much 

 below the amount they might justly claim. As I have stated in my 

 estimate, the quantity stated is less than was on the isle when we were 

 evicted. If Lang & Delano should be considered as entitled to one 

 half, in consequence of the division in July, 1854, made under the 

 circumstances I have stated, the quantity is still, I think, understated, 

 for if nothing had to be paid for port charges or export duties, and if 

 they had been free to load the guano at no expense but the cost of 

 lading it as their own property, with the conveniences and facilities 

 for so doing that they had prepared, then I regard the price or value 

 claimed, viz: $12 50 per ton, as below what might reasonably , be 

 claimed for it at the isle, and a fair profit made upon it in the United 

 States. As freights would probably not have exceeded, on an aver- 

 age, $7 per ton to the United States, even if sold at first sale in the 

 United States at $25 per ton, it would have been a profitable trade, 

 and have left also a margin for profit to those who purchased it to sell 



