21 
August 1. 
Anchored off Chatham Bay, Cocos Island at g:30. The forenoon's 
fishing was spoiled by too many sharks—remini scent of Clipperton. An after- 
noon of bottom fishing which engaged the President's attention our first day 
at Cocos yielded a number of items of interest— two specimens each of two 
colored species of wrasses, parrot fish relatives, about two dozen blue and 
gold snappers, and a blue trigger fish like those caught at Clipperton, Not 
the least of the fish taken this first day was a 120-lb, tiger shark. The 
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President also landed several rainbow runners, Elagati s bipinnulatus . of whidi 
the largest specimen establishes a record for the weight of this species, which 
heretofore had been given as "at least 12 lbs." and now we know that it tips 
the scales at not less than 20 lbs. The first and, as it developed, the largest 
sailfish of our stay at Cocos fell to Col. Watson, 130 lbs.J 10 feet 1-1/2 
inches long, over all measurement. 
Organized a shore party to get specimens of a rare palm reported 
from the Island to which our attention had been called by Dr. 0. F. Cook, of 
the U. S. Department of Agriculture. The excursion inland from Wafer Bay 
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was most successful# Several inflorescences were brought back, as well as a 
bucket of seedlings and another of seeds, together with considerable other 
material of botanical interest, including leaves, bark, measurements, and 
photographs in both black and white and color# 
Such, in brief, were the results of that trip into the mountain 
jungles of Cocos# It was a strenuous one# Dr# Cook had told us that the 
palm we were after had been reported as most abundant above an elevation of 
400 feet. So we thought we would do better to strike inland and ascend the 
higher portions of the island. This meant first going upstream, and wading 
and stumbling along in the rocky, boulder-studded. watercourse of the Arroyo 
