too, water supplies were oxasiiaed, f&t the first tiiao in several visits 
to aooos Island did I see any of Idle reputedly heai?y rains, and I can 
now attest that they do ooto down with full tropical intensity, t^iough 
they are of ooaparatively short duration, Saturday, the 26th, was our 
last day at Coo os, and I took advantag© of the opportiaiity to obtain 
additional seeds of the ix rare .Booseveltia tiala. 
fr<m Cooos we aade a <|uiok run bac^ to Balboa, where w© 
arrived at 7 o^clook the morning of the 30th, Sere Captain Pieking and 
I- had a oonfereno© with A*siral P, li, Sadler, frm. the latter 1 learned 
that, although tjie Sa-^ has permission from ttm Ecuadorian govern^ait 
to establish an air and sulmarin© base in the Galapagos, they would 
make no move until neoessary, and that any pioneering in the way of 
settxng an establislim^it in thos islands would have to be done 
us if done at all. As valuable as lavy faoilitios would bo to our 
undertaking, this was, nevertheless, good nms^ for it wuld enable us 
to locate the laboratory at is now oonsidered the most favorable 
site, whioh Captain Picking has detertai-nod to be cn the south shore of 
north Seymour Island wiiers it fronts Indefatigable, Between the two 
islands Is a emparatively narrow channel whioh, by virtue of reefs 
across each end, has been traiiafkaa^ into a wonderfully i^ll protected, 
landlocked basin, entirely free from swells# Tliis lie Ims designated 
the South Channel Basin, It is the place that h© Ims recosaaeadod to 
the Kavy In his report to A<teiHkl Sadler, and where both he and /^dsiral 
Sadler say w® are free to locate if we will keep to one or the other 
end of this particular site. The water is so quiet here that one 
can anchor alongside of the rooks, though a small dock should be built 
for the sake of oonvenienee. Captain Picking has kindly furnished mo 
