To the Investors and Trustees of
The Tax Exempt Bond Portfolio
Report of Independent Accountants
To the Investors and Trustees of
The Tax Exempt Bond Portfolio
In planning and performing our audit of the
financial statements of The Tax Exempt Bond
Portfolio (the Portfolio) for the year ended
"July 31, 2000, we considered its internal"
"control, including control activities for"
"safeguarding securities, in order to"
determine our auditing procedures for the
purpose of expressing our opinion on the
financial statements and to comply with the
"requirements of Form N-SAR, not to provide"
assurance on internal control.
The management of the Portfolio is
responsible for establishing and maintaining
internal control. In fulfilling this
"responsibility, estimates and judgments by"
management are required to assess the
expected benefits and related costs of
"controls. Generally, controls that are"
relevant to an audit pertain to the entitys
objective of preparing financial statements
for external purposes that are fairly
presented in conformity with generally
accepted accounting principles. Those
controls include the safeguarding of assets
"against unauthorized acquisition, use or"
disposition.
Because of inherent limitations in internal
"control, errors or fraud may occur and not be"
"detected. Also, projection of any evaluation"
of internal control to future periods is
subject to the risk that it may become
inadequate because of changes in conditions
or that the effectiveness of their design and
operation may deteriorate.
Our consideration of internal control would
not necessarily disclose all matters in
internal control that might be material
weaknesses under standards established by the
American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants. A material weakness is a
condition in which the design or operation of
one or more of the internal control
components does not reduce to a relatively
low level the risk that misstatements caused
by error or fraud in amounts that would be
material in relation to the financial
statements being audited may occur and not be
detected within a timely period by employees
in the normal course of performing their
"assigned functions. However, we noted no"
matters involving internal control and its
"operation, including controls for"
"safeguarding securities, that we consider to"
be material weaknesses as defined above as of
"July 31, 2000."
This report is intended solely for the
"information and use of management, the"
Trustees of the Portfolio and the Securities
and Exchange Commission and is not intended
to be and should not be used by anyone other
than these specified parties.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
"New York, New York"
15-Sep-00
