CHAPTER I 



THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TROPICAL RESEARCH STATION 



Within one month after our party left New York City 

 the Tropical Research Station of the New York Zoological 

 Society became an established fact, and the succeeding sea- 

 son's results proved the wisdom and success of the under- 

 taking. As in all types of exploration the dominant factor 

 in this work was uncertainty; the impossibility of knowing 

 what each day would reveal of error or achievement. But 

 our own single-mindedness of purpose combined with the 

 unanimous good-will and sympathy of the people of Guiana 

 left no doubt of ultimate success. 



The most difficult thing throughout was to resist the 

 lure of many openings and invitations which seemed to offer 

 opportunities almost equal to the conception with which I 

 had set out. Grenada embodied one's ideal of a tropical 

 island, and when a short walk revealed rhinoceros beetles 

 and hummingbirds' nests and an abundance of strange birds, 

 it seemed well worth while to spend a month there. Trinidad 

 was still more of a temptation. Here were zoologists most 

 hospitable and as full of the joy of scientific work as our- 

 selves, and here was a great island which I knew from for- 

 mer experience to be teeming from sea-beach to mountain 

 top, with interesting forms of life. But after all, it was an 

 island, and the headlands of Venezuela were in sight. 



My ambition for the Zoological Society's Station was 

 to have a continent to draw upon. So with real regret 

 we continued our voyage and reached Georgetown. The 

 big kiskadees shouted welcome from the unlovely corrugated 

 roofs of the stellings, just as they had seven years before. 

 And during all this time the Botanical Gardens had lost no 



