AVES ISLAND. 165 



'^Aves;" and secondly, a statement duly vouched and as exact as pos- 

 sible, of the quantity of guano (witli its market value) taken from the 

 Aves since its occupation by Venezuela. 



Without positive information on the subject, I presume that the 

 bulk of the guano so taken from the '-Aves," and also from the other 

 guano islands under the Pickerell contract, has been carried to the 

 ports and entered or manifested at the custom-houses of the United 

 States, In that event the claimants may probably find greater facility 

 in making up the necessary statement of it than they would have been 

 able to command if Venezuela, instead of inserting the '-Aves" in 

 that contract, had seen fit to keep it open to all nations in pursuance 

 of her administrative resolution of the 28th July, 1855. 



It is proper to add that since the receipt of your No. 27, inclosing 

 to me information as to the amount of the claim" as estimated, I have 

 been constantly avs^aiting further details of statement and proof upon 

 that point. In my judgment, it is not safe nor expedient for the 

 claimants to rest their case in this respect upon the printed depo.sition 

 of Captain N. P. Gibbs, transmitted in your No. 30, though that 

 document will of course be useful in the negotiation. 



With the highest respect, I have the honor to be, your obedient 

 servant, 



CHARLES EAMES. 



Hon. W. L. Makcy, 



Secretary of State. 



Note. — In looking over my dispatches I perceive that in my No. 12, 

 transmitting the resolution of the 28th July, 1855, I give it as dated 

 of "26th July," and the same error occurs again in my No. 22. The 

 true date of the resolution is 28th July, 1855, and I request that the 

 corrosion may be made. 



Legation op the United States, 



Caraccas, December 20, 1856. 



Sir : Referring to the notes addressed by this legation to the honor- 

 able Minister of Foreign Relations of Venezuela, under dates respect- 

 ively of September 24, 1855, and March 8, 1856, relative to the claim 

 of the American citizens who were expelled from the ''guano island of 

 Aves" by the Venezuelan naval forces in December, 1854, and refer- 

 ring also to the several oral discussions of that subject which have 

 taken place since the case was first brought to the notice of the Vene- 

 zuelan government in April, 1855, the undersigned, minister resi- 

 dent of the United States, has now the honor to urge strongly upon 

 the attention of the honorable Minister of Foreign Relations, the im- 

 portance of a prompt and satisfactory adjustment of that claim. 



The main facts of the case as first presented by the undersigned to 

 the government of Venezuela, and afterwards summed up in his two 

 notes above referred to, do not appear to be disputed. 



