PACKING  AND  SHIPPING  323

that  it  would  be  easier  to  send  goods  to  the
North  Pole  than  across  the  country,  as  he  had
been  instructed,  owing  to  the  fact  that  there
was  hardly  a  mountain  trail  over  which  they
might  be  transported.  In  addition  to  this  it
would  take  several  weeks  to  make  the  journey,
and  the  expense  would  be  enormous.  These
facts  were  communicated  to  the  shippers  who
promptly  decided  to  abandon  the  goods,  replying ­
  that  they  did  not  care  to  do  business
in  such  an  inaccessible  country.  As  a  result
of  this  colossal  error  goods  to  the  value  of
more  than  $2500  were  lost  to  the  exporter
and  the  importer,  and  bad  feeling  engendered
on  both  sides.  The  speculator  who  bought
them  at  the  custom  house  sale,  told  me  that  the
contents  of  the  bottles  had  deteriorated  so  that
the  goods  were  unsaleable  after  their  long
stay  in  the  tropical  warehouse,  and  as  a  result ­
  he  was  the  possessor  of  a  large  quantity
of  bottles  for  which  he  had  no  sale.
Shipments  from  the  United  States  to  a  foreign ­
  country  require  what  is  known  as  a  consular ­
  invoice  to  accompany  them.  This  docu ­