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WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE . ..
doubtless indulging a natural penchant for native exaggeration.
The first of these letters, dated February 11, includes in longhand the note “40 degrees, 9′ S, still on 110. Nothing visible on horiz. but Bob still conf.”
This seemingly innocuous bit of information reveals on inspection a number of oddities. It would seem to indicate that although the letters to home were mailed from February to the middle of May, they were written not in Valparaiso, but while the professors were still at sea! Why the two men should do this and then wait to mail the letters at staggered intervals extending over three and a half months from the date of their arrival in Chile is beyond me. And the latitude given is 40 degrees S. It is quite clear. The “110” can only be the longitude. Thus, it must be inferred from this information that the ship was proceeding almost due south from Easter Island. But the most peculiar part of the phrase is the section which states “nothing visible on the horiz.,” since this would seem to imply that perhaps the two men expected that there might be something on the horizon. This is blatant nonsense, since a quick glance at any map of the Pacific will suffice to show even the casual observer that there is nothing present in that section of ocean for hundreds of miles in any direction, let alone due south! It is interesting to note, though, that diis course was taking them almost directly down the center of the subsurface mountain mass known as the Easter Island Cordillera.