EQUIPMENT 27 



appointing, for there was only a little material on exhibi- 

 tion, and it was labeled as "from Chubut," which is a 

 territory 400 miles long by about the same width. I called 

 upon but found Florentine Ameghino sick unto death, 

 and the other geologists were all in the field somewhere. 

 However, we gathered what information we could and 

 returned to Buenos Aires by another route. 



On another day we visited the distinguished naturalist 

 and savant, Prof. F. P. Moreno, and met a most attractive 

 man of the old school, who is a fine linguist, has made a 

 fine art collection, contributed to the literature of his 

 country, assembled the great ethnological collection at 

 La Plata and is the South American authority on this 

 subject. Besides having explored Patagonia, he is one of 

 the best informed geologists of the country. He was very 

 courteous to us, making many useful suggestions, and at 

 parting told us if we ever got into trouble or needed help 

 to telegraph him. 



We also visited the department of fisheries, which up to 

 that year has been manned and directed largely by men 

 sent from the United States. For seven or eight years 

 they had been occupied in introducing various trouts and 

 salmons into the mountain streams and lakes of the Repub- 

 lic, the results of which have been highly gratifying; for 

 the fishes soon adapted themselves to the reversed seasons, 

 changed their breeding season, and were multiplying 

 rapidly. 



On application the Minister of Interior gave us letters 

 of introduction to the four governors of the territories 

 composing Patagonia, with instructions to aid us; which 

 letters proved of great value when we came into the coun- 

 try where the ofhcials can do so much to delay one. 



At the London and River Plate Bank we cashed our 

 drafts, and then I went over to the National Bank of 

 Argentina to deposit my money and take out credits to 

 be used in the south. But here I found that what we con- 



