1876.] 



SENATE— No. 10. 



7 



possible without the hearty aid of Col. E. A. Flint, the super- 

 intendent of the Mollendo and Puno Railroad ; to his friendly 

 interest we owe the success we have had. To the Messrs. 

 Meiggs of Lima, also, I must return the thanks of the Museum 

 for the generosity with which our bulky materials were trans- 

 ported free of charges from the lake to the coast, over three 

 hundred miles of railroad, crossing a region accessible till 

 within a few years only by llamas or pack-mules, the diffi- 

 culties of which only a traveller in the rainless belt of South 

 America can appreciate. Mr. Garman sailed round the lake 

 in a small schooner (the only sail-boat on the lake), hired 

 for the purpose, receiving from the prefects of the various 

 departments, both in Peru and Bolivia, all possible aid in 

 furtherance of his objects. Thanks to letters from the Sec- 

 retary of State (Mr. Fish) to Mr. Thomas, our minister at 

 Lima, President Pardo was kind enough to give us, through 

 the Secretary of Home Affairs, circular letters to all the 

 custom-houses of the coast, passing our boxes in and out of 

 the country without delay or examination. Special instruc- 

 tions were also given by the President to Mr. San Roman, 

 Prefect of Puno, to whose interest we owe the ppportunity 

 of crossing the lake several times, and circumnavigating it 

 on the small government steamers plying thereon. The 

 officers of the "Yavari" and " Yapura " did all in their power 

 to facilitate my work, and it is mainly owing to them that I 

 succeeded in making a great number of soundings, and vis- 

 iting all the places of interest on the islands of the lake 

 and its shores. During my stay on board, the steamers 

 were placed at my disposal in every sense of the word ; and I 

 cannot close my list of acknowledgments without mentioning 

 more specially Capt. Guerrero, of the "Yavari," who was 

 indefatigable in our behalf. 



The volunteer work of the Museum has, as usual, been 

 carried on by Messrs. L. F. de Pourtales, Theodore Lyman, 

 T. G. Gary, and Baron Osten-Sacken. 



The care of the business has been undertaken, as in former 

 years, by Mr. Gary, while the direction of the Museum 

 assistants has fallen upon Mr. Pourtales for the greater part 

 of the year, owing to my protracted absence. 



