194 ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 



pleasant a task it has been to me and how much I have 

 to be indebted to you for letting me have the Echini, 

 and I trust you have not been disappointed in the result. 

 It is of course not all it could be in histology and ana- 

 tomy, but all that is necessary to a zoological and geo- 

 graphical point of view till we have a better idea in these 

 respects of our ordinary Echini. I cannot say I am sorry 

 my task is done; sometimes I felt somewhat overwhelmed 

 with the work in addition to my other jobs, but now that 

 I look back upon it, it is certainly most satisfactory, not 

 only in the work but the pleasant associations it carries 

 with it. 



TO MRS. LOUIS AGASSIZ 



Merida, Jan. 2, 1882. 



Arrived here at last, Saturday night, after a very 

 pleasant passage from Havana. But as we got to Pro- 

 gresso, the port of this place, a regular Norther set in 

 and we had to lie at anchor all Friday without commun- 

 icating with the shore, with the pleasant prospect of the 

 wind lasting for three or four days, and then of being 

 carried on to Vera Cruz without landing at all. Fortun- 

 ately Saturday morning the wind abated and the boats 

 managed to get ashore after a fashion. The American 

 Consul met me at Progresso, passed all my traps through 

 the Custom House without any fuss, and my only mishap 

 was the loss of a spring overcoat, which, with the many 

 changes made from boat to shore, to Custom House, to 

 hotel, to wagon, found another owner. 



Although we had all morning to get through before 

 the train started for Merida, the delays of Custom 

 House, etc., were sufficient to keep us busy till that had 

 gone and we had to go to Merida, twenty-seven miles 



