LAKE TITICACA 131 



trol over myself. If matters do not mend I must pack 

 up my traps and go off for a few months for an entire 

 change of scene. 



The following winter, Mr. Anderson withdrew his 

 expected support. As the school was heavily in debt, 

 permission was obtained from the Massachusetts Legis- 

 lature to sell the island and dissolve the corporation. 

 Later, Penikese became a small-pox hospital, and finally 

 a leper settlement of the State of Massachusetts. 



In the fall of 1874, Agassiz planned a trip to Chile 

 and Peru for the purpose of visiting their copper mines, 

 exploring Lake Titicaca, and collecting antiquities for 

 the Peabody Museum. Accompanied by Mr. S. W. 

 Garman, of the Museum staff, he left New York in 

 November, taking with him a large outfit of ropes, 

 dredges, sounding lines, thermometers for deep-water 

 temperatures, and all the necessary materials for pre- 

 serving whatever collections they might make in the 

 lake. 



From Panama he took a steamer down the west coast 

 that stopped three days at Callao. This enabled Agassiz 

 to run up to Lima and get in touch with the govern- 

 ment officials and Mr. Henry Meiggs, of the Mollendo- 

 Puno Railroad. Continuing south, he left Mr. Garman 

 at Mollendo to take the baggage some three hundred 

 miles to Lake Titicaca, over the astonishing railroad 

 that scrambles through passes in the Andes only a few 

 hundred feet lower than Mont Blanc. He himself con- 

 tinued to Valparaiso. A few days there enabled him to 

 make the acquaintance of various people in the world 

 of copper, pick up what information he wanted, and 

 arrange for seeing some of the mines. 



