948 



SCIENCE. 



[N. a. Vol. XVII. No. 441. 



destruction of the signals by the Indians, and 

 also by the whites. These ignorant people 

 imagined that these signals were erected to 

 mark the location of treasure and they not 

 only threw down the signals but they dug 

 deep in the soil all around and destroyed the 

 marks which had been established in order to 

 recover the exact location of the stations. The 

 warning of the government, the commands 

 of the bishops and sermons of the priests were 

 equally unable to prevent this destruction. 



We hope that, thanks to the efforts of the 

 authorities and, above all, to the zealous efforts 

 of the president of the republic, such incidents 

 will become unusual. The destruction of 

 signals in a country where communication is 

 so difficult always entails long delays, but, 

 above all, to find on many occasions that the 

 marlfs had been destroyed after the position 

 of the station had been exactly determined 

 was most disastrous, as it entailed the reoceu- 

 pation of all the stations from which the one 

 destroyed had been observed. Thus the de- 

 struction of the marks at Chujuj, situated in 

 the center of a polygon, made it necessary to 

 reoecupy the four surrounding stations. 



Certain signals have been destroyed three 

 times and almost every report from Captain 

 Maurain mentions other cases of destruction. 

 The most unfortunate of these incidents was 

 the simultaneous destruction of the marks at 

 Panecillo, where one of the principal astro- 

 nomical stations was located, and of the 

 geodetic station of Pambamarca. The ge- 

 odetic station had not been occupied, and it 

 was necessary to redetermine the astronomical 

 azimuth of the side Panecillo-Pambamarca, 

 a primary operation which had been completed 

 in 1901. 



There is great anxiety about the safety of 

 the stations Zagroun and Lanlanguzo at the 

 ends of the line, from which the work to the 

 sovith will be extended. If these stations are 

 destroyed it will be necessary to redetermine 

 many other stations. Native officers at- 

 tached to the expedition have been sent to 

 this line to watch the stations and impress 

 on the local political authorities the impor- 

 tance of preserving it from destruction. 



In spite of all these difficulties, we have the 



satisfaction of stating that the operations 

 have been conducted in such a way as to fur- 

 nish every guarantee of precision. We regret 

 the delay of some months which will undoubt- 

 edly increase the expense, but the scientific 

 value of the work will leave nothing to be 

 desired. 



Base Measurement. — Two base lines were 

 measured in 1901, one in the center at Eio- 

 bamba, measured first with a bi-metallic bar 

 and afterwards with the Jaderin wire; the 

 other on the north at El Vinculo measured 

 only with the Jaderin wire. These measure- 

 ments were made during the preceding year, 

 but since then they have been reduced. A 

 third base will be measured at Payta in the 

 southern section of the arc at the close of the 

 operations. 



Astronomical Ohservations. — The necessary 

 observations have been entirely completed. 

 The latitude of Tulcan (principal station) was 

 determined in February; the determination 

 of the difference of longitude, Quito-Tulcan 

 required much time on account of unfavorable 

 weather; the evenings of the exchange of 

 telegraphic signals, comprising two entire 

 evenings with four joint determinations at 

 the two stations, two joint haK evenings, plus 

 five evenings with two determinations at one 

 station and only one at the other. The com- 

 putation of these observations has not been 

 completed, but the results appear satisfactory. 

 The exchange of observers was not practicable, 

 but MM. Maurain and Perrier determined 

 their personal equations at Quito and will 

 redetermine them when they meet again. The 

 resulting latitudes are as follows, all the com- 

 putations having been made: 



Payta — 5° 05' 08".6 



Riobamba — 1 40 00 .9 



Panecillo — 13 51 .1 



Talcan +0 48 25 .6 



Total amplitude of arc 5° 53' 34".2 



Amplitude of northern section 2 28 26.5 



The northern section includes two second- 

 ary astronomic stations, Tacunga and Ibarra. 

 Captain Maurain decided first to determine 

 the longitude between the principal station at 

 Panecillo and the observatory at Quito, so as 

 to take advantage of the continuous presence 



