154 AVES ISLAND. 



the report, but I sjiall be careful in so doing in no way to accept or 

 admit tlie idea in wliicb it is written. 



In urging the Aves claim to an adjustment by this government, 

 composed as in great part of an estimated value of the guano deposit 

 from which the claimants were ousted, I feel seriously the want of more 

 proof of the value of that deposit. I have nothing of importance on 

 this ]3oint but the estimate of Captain N. P. Gibbs, as given in his 

 printed deposition transmitted with your No. 30, On the other hand, 

 it is believed here that the guano taken from the Aves since the Vene- 

 zuelan occupation amounts to not more than from 800 to 1,200 tons, 

 not all of this quantity being very saleable ; and it is known, or at 

 least confidently asserted here, that the Aves have been for some time 

 abandoned as valueless. I am not warranted by any facts in my pos- 

 session in disputing this last assertion. I infer from the language of 

 one of the inclosures in your No. 30, that the importance in this claim 

 of clear proof as to the value of the Aves guano had not escaped the 

 attention of the department, and had been by you suggested to the 

 claimants. The facts of the case as they are alleged here to have since 

 appeared, show that suggestion of the department to have been alike 

 judicious and important. I hope the claimants will act upon it, and 

 transmit to me, through the department, all the proofs on the point 

 which, it may be in their power to obtain. 



I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, your obedient ser- 

 vant_, 



CHARLES EAMES. 



Caraccas, December 21, 1854. 



Simon Planas, Secretary of State in the Department of the Interior 

 of Justice and of Foreign Affairs, of the government of Venezuela, 

 acting, on the one part, under the express authority of the Executive 

 power and John D. F. Wallace, a resident of Philadelphia, in the 

 State of Pennsylvania, on the other part have entered into the following 

 contract, to wit: 



Article first. The right is granted to John D. F. Wallace, to those 

 with whom he now is or may hereafter be associated, and to their law- 

 ful successors, collectively and individually, for the period of fifteen 

 years, to extract guano from the desert island called " Las Aves" and 

 from any other islands belonging to the republic in which said article 

 may be found. 



Sec. 1. Should Venezuela, by any contingency or cause, happen 

 to lose the right which she now holds over said island, it is under- 

 stood that the fifteen years settled upon in this article shall be 

 reduced to the time which will have elapsed between the date of this 

 contract and the day when the loss of such right will have occurred ; 

 and in such an event, there shall be no ground for an indemnity, and 

 upon a settlement of the account, the balance resulting therefrom shall 

 be paid. 



Sec. 2. Said island lies in latitude, north, 15° 45', and longitude, 

 west, 63° 35', from the meridian of Greenwich. 



