50 Report of the President 



wireless operator, and Jonathan C. Small, mechanic and 

 general aid. Edwin S. Brooke, Jr., accompanied the party as 

 official photographer, returning with the ship. 



The expedition left New York in the S.S. "Diana," on 2 

 July, Boston on 5 July, and North Sydney, N. S., on Saturday, 12 

 July, with full equipment for subsistence for three years and 

 for prosecuting scientific work in geology, zoology, geography 

 and meteorology, and investigations in wireless telegraphy. 

 The Strait of Belle Isle, however, contained much ice, and the 

 difficulties of navigation were increased by a dense fog, and at 

 one o'clock on the morning of the seventeenth the ship 

 went aground on the rocks off Barge Point, Labrador. Some 

 of her coal was jettisoned, a large part of the cargo was light- 

 ered, then she was pulled off the rocks by the S.S. "Stella 

 Maris" and proceeded under her own steam to Battle Harbor, 

 and finally to St. John's, where her cargo was transferred to 

 the S.S. " Erik," which had been chartered to take her place. 

 On Thursday, 31 July, the "Erik" left St. John's, called at 

 Battle Harbor for the supplies left there after the accident and 

 proceeded to the north, where a landing was finally made at 

 Etah, North Greenland, and permanent headquarters estab- 

 lished, it being found to be impracticable to make a landing 

 on the west side of Smith Sound on account of the ice. 



In January and February the Curator visited the Isthmus 

 of Panama and the central portion of Costa Rica partly in the 

 interests of the Museum, making collections of rocks, fossils 

 and photographs which have been turned over to the Museum, 

 and collecting other data for a lecture which was delivered in 

 the Museum's Members' Course in March. The Curator," fur- 

 thermore, was the official delegate of the Museum to the 

 Twelfth International Geological Congress which met in 

 Toronto, Canada, 7-14 August. 



In the late summer and early portion of the fall, Prentice 

 B. Hill, assistant in the department, was sent to Grottoes, 

 Virginia, to collect material for the construction of a repro- 

 duction of a portion of Weyers Cave. The material was 

 obtained with the permission and assistance of the Grottoes of 

 the Shenandoah Company, through J. M. Pirkey, Super- 

 intendent. Furthermore, the Norfolk & Western and Penn- 



