11 
kept pretty busy--one collecting 
station after another ana often 
with more material than we could 
pickle down the same day. I had 
intended to have some mail ready 
for sending out at this place , 
but only by staying on board am 
I able to get a few notes writ- 
ten. It is too late to mail them 
here, but will get them off from 
Martinique, where we are due on 
the 22nd. The West Indies are a 
delightful cruising ground.... 
The weather, except for two or 
three rather windy days, has been 
most delightful — rather warm mid- 
days, but beautiful balmy moonlit 
nights. Between Trinidad and 
here (St. Lucia), the smaller is- 
lands are rather dry, despite 
frequent rains. It is the dry 
season, but, even so, we have 
some kind of little shower or 
drizzle out of almost a clear sky. 
Then again everything clouds up 
and there is a proverbially trop- 
ical rainstorm — pelting, driving 
rain for some minutes, and then 
it's over. But for these fre- 
quent rains even in the dry sea- 
son, there would be no living 
down here; most of the smaller 
islands have to depend on roof- 
caught rain water. The larger 
ones, like Grenada, St. Lucia, 
Trinidad, and Martinique, have 
tropical rain forests, much water, 
and many streams. Others, like 
Union, Tobago Cay, Mustique, and 
others nobody ever hears of, have 
a tough time when the rains fail 
for longer periods, as they often 
do. 
"There is a lot to tell, and 
much of interest. Grenada's prin- 
cipal crop is nutmegs. In the 
past they have been able to sup- 
ply the world with them, but did 
you ever hear that the principal 
use of nutmegs is to flavor sau- 
sages? Here in St. Lucia the 
chief crop is copra (dried coco- 
nut meats) for oil and soap pro- 
duction. Almost all of the is- 
lands grow bananas, coffee, cocoa, 
and almost anything else the tro- 
pics produce — papayas, mangoes, 
cassava, yams, and what not.... 
"Martinique, March 22, 1956. 
We are moving along. Hope to 
leave here (Martinique) Sunday 
and may reach Dominica on Monday, 
the 26th, where Jack Clarke is 
awaiting us. Things have been 
going quite well, and I'm sure 
that we shall have some very worth- 
while collections with us when we 
return about May 1." 
EXCUSED LEAVE FOR VOTING 
On May 1, 1956, the resi- 
dents of the District of Columbia 
will have an opportunity to vote 
in primary elections. 
Employees of the Smithsonian 
Institution who are residents of 
the District of Columbia may be 
granted a maximum of two hours 
excused leave for the purpose of 
voting on May 1. Please refer 
to Section 430-5h in the Smith- 
sonian Institution Manual for 
further information. 
ADD NEW RATS 
"Rats that walk like men" and 
many other small mammals of the 
North African desert have just been 
added to the mammal collection. 
They were collected by Dr. Henry 
Setzer, associate curator of mam- 
mals, during his expedition to 
