838 The American Naturalist. [September, 
ARCHEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY: 
Ninth International Congress of Americanists.—Huelva, 
Spain, Oct. 7-11, 1892.—The Congress was held in the Cloisters of 
the Convent of La Rabida at Palos. These had been restored in the 
style as when Columbus resided there during the preparation for his 
first voyage to America. 
It was opened by an address of Senor Canovas del Castillo, the 
Premier of Spain. He sketched the history of America, showing the 
Monks of Rabida and the inhabitants of Palos were strong supporters 
of Columbus in the organization of his expedition. 
The Bishop of Badajos made a speech referring to the fraternity 
existing between Spain and America. This was enthusiastically 
responded to by Senor Palma of Peru. . 
A grand ball was given at night to the members of the Congress by 
the Municipality of Huelva. 
In the evening the U.S. Warship Bennington arrived at the Port 
of Huelva, having in tow the two Spanish Caravels Nina and Pinta. 
which had been built at Barcelona under the supervision of Lieut, 
Wm. McC. Little, acting for Mr. Wm. S. Curtis, Chief of the Bureau 
of American Republies, and intended to traverse the Ocean and Great 
Lakes and be exhibited at Chicago in 1893. 
. At the session of the 8th, the representative of British Guiana asked 
, of the Spanish Government permission to search the archives of 
Seville for ancient documents concerning the Discovery of America. 
Senor Canovas del Castillo responded heartily in the affirmative. 
M. Lucien Adam of France and Senor Fabic of Spain, the President 
of the Congress, spoke as to the best methods of Studying the A merican 
question. 
Dr. Benk, a delegate from Austria, proposed the publication of a 
general map of America ; indeed his proposition was but a part of the 
general one for a map of the entire world. Dr. Benk explained his 
proposition, which was that this map should be upon the universal 
scale of 1 to 1 million, or about 16 statute miles to the inch. This 
would require he said, about 936 sheets, of which the land might be 
shown on 769 sheets. Each sheet of the map up to 60° North Latitude 
would embrace 5° in each direction. The more northern sheets would 
1 This department is edited by Thomas Wilson, Smithsonian Institution, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 
