. 
100 
region on the western coast of South America, volunteered 
his services. On the 8th of June he addressed a letter to 
Professor Henry, as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 
offering to undertake the journey; and the proposition meet- 
ing a ready response, arrangements were speedily made and 
carried into execution. The Coast Survey furnished instru- 
ments for determining geographical position and time, as 
also a tent; the Naval Observatory contributed two pocket- 
chronometers, and Mr. Fitz hurried to its completion, and 
lent for the enterprise,a 44-inch equatorial, mounted on a 
stand adjustable for different latitudes. Accompanied by a 
young friend from New York, Gilliss left that city on the 
5th of August, for Payta, in Peru, where they arrived on 
the 21st of the same month. 
It is intensely gratifying to the lover of science, in review- 
ing the history of this expedition, to note the international 
courtesies, the liberality, and the appreciation of scientific 
research, which it elicited on every side. Doubtless the per- 
sonal reputation of Gilliss, especially high in that direction 
where so much of his scientific efforts had been expended, 
contributed largely to these amenities ; and to his dignified 
yet modest bearing, together with his unfailing courtesy, 
unquestionably much was due. Still, such aid and ready 
assistance as the expedition received on every side clearly 
ifested an earnest desire to aid the scientific enterprise 
in every possible way. The United States Mail Steamship 
Company, the Panama Railroad Company, and the Pacific 
Mail Steamship Company, gave the use of their ships and 
cars, offering, moreover, every other assistance in their 
_ power. The British Steam-Navigation Company granted 
free transport with great cordiality, and instructed their 
Me agents to aid the objects of the expedition in every possible 
Way. “And so faithfully were these instructions carried out,” 
