October 30, 1952 
Mr. James H. Kempton, 
c/o American Embassy, 
Caracas, Venezuela. 
Dear Jim: 
Possibly you will have seen Billy and Kathy Phelps 
by the time this reaches you and so will know that we are fully 
embarked on plans for the expedition to the upper Orinoco this 
coming January. The only thing that remains to make this 
proposal complete is the assurance that you yourself are going to 
accompany us. I believe I have told you that Billy sprung this on 
me at breakfast the morning that I left Caracas last month. We 
went into details during our recent meeting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 
What I am writing to ask now is this. I plan to come 
down myself by air and will need to ship a certain amount of field 
gear down ahead of time by ocean freight. This will include a 
shotgun (with a spare in case of accident), ammunition, field 
clothing, and the case that I need to prepare specimens, etc. Will 
it be practicable for me to ship this c/o American Embassy and, 
if so, how should the lot be addressed. I would expect to make 
shipment sometime in early December so as to avoid the Christmas 
rush. 
The proposition is one that is certainly intriguing and 
one that should give me a grand lot of experience. 
I am pleased to write that 1 hove had no recurrence 
of malaria and that I seem to be operating under full steam ahead, 
as usual. 
Let me know regarding the shipment as soon as you can. 
Sincerely yours. 
A. Wetmore, 
Secretary, 
hs 
