280 
OBITUARY NOTICES. 
sary observations for time, latitude, and azimuth. Often 
with instruments set up and covered with oiled canvas, we 
have waited hours in the persistent drizzle, hoping that the 
sun might break through the clouds for a few minutes. 
There were no limits to the day’s work except those set by 
the climate and its caprices. Through three years of such 
experience Mr. Baker was ever cheery, ever full of expedients 
to circumvent the perversities of the meteorological environ¬ 
ment, and the full measure of success achieved was largely 
due to him. 
Early in the prosecution of our work I had noticed that 
the culmination of easterly variation of the magnetic needle 
in this region for the nineteenth century appeared to have 
passed, and that the easterly declination was annually dimin¬ 
ishing by a small but very perceptible amount. To Mr. Baker 
was given the task of making the numerous local observa¬ 
tions by which this important discovery might be firmly 
established. 
On our return to civilization began the task of utilizing 
the material obtained, by preparing it for the use of naviga¬ 
tors in the form of charts, meteorological and tidal tables, 
and a Coast Pilot. Owing to the little-known character of 
the country, the importance of bringing together the infor¬ 
mation scattered through scores of voyages, atlases, and 
charts was very great. A series of summaries was planned— 
a Coast Pilot for details of navigation, the meteorology; the 
observations of terrestrial magnetism, and a bibliography of 
charts, maps, and publications on Alaska and the adjoining 
region. 
The field work being interrupted in the winter of 1874- 
1875, office work as above outlined began and was carried on 
until 1880, when another season in the field brought that 
part of the work to a close and enabled us to proceed to 
publication with the results. 
In all the labor which this involved Mr. Baker proved an 
efficient coadjutor, obtaining meanwhile a training which 
was to prove most important for his career at a later period. 
