73 

 opinion the Coelacanth was most likely to live somewhere about 

 Madagascar or in its area, and asked if he would be kind enough 

 to send a batch of the leaflets to the authorities there, as well as to 

 write in explanation and to request them to distribute the leaflets 

 as widely as possible in their territories. He became most interested 

 and promised every possible assistance. A day or two later he 

 informed me that the leaflets had been sent by air to Madagascar, 

 together with a letter giving a full explanation of the whole project. 



I felt that even if I could not go and look everywhere myself, 

 money talks, and the leaflet would have thousands of eyes con- 

 stantly looking on my behalf. Again and again we got evidence that 

 the leaflets had gone far and wide, though we heard nothing of 

 those sent to Madagascar, except later that officials had seen them. 

 There is no evidence that the leaflets were distributed widely 

 there, possibly because it was felt that it was too crazy an idea 

 that Coelacanths should live round those shores. After all, had not 

 competent scientists in Europe satisfactorily settled that Coela- 

 canths had fled to the depths of the ocean? It seems fairly certain 

 that none were sent to the Comores or, if they got there, they 

 remained unused. 



Even though I had high hopes for the leaflet, I was preparing 

 for many years of laborious searching myself. Especially in the 

 course of my later work on South African fishes, it had become 

 clear that for a full understanding of them and of their peculiar 

 faunal components, it would be necessary to study the fishes of 

 East Africa as well. The more I investigated, the clearer did it 

 become how very little work of any real value had been done in 

 that vast area. I felt there could scarcely be any more fortunate 

 combination of effort than to go hunting Coelacanths as well as 

 other fishes in all that huge virtually unknown region, full of 

 wonderful reefs and channels, just the parts where I judged that 

 Coelacanths should live, and, big as they v/ere, still remain un- 

 known. The South African Council for Scientific and Industrial 

 Research lent a ready ear to my proposals, and provided, and has 

 since gone on providing, funds for this exploratory work. In addi- 

 tion, the Portuguese authorities were most co-operative and 

 furnished invaluable aid on a considerable scale. 



In 1947 and 1948 we carried out expeditions over the whole of 

 the southern regions of Mozambique. The fishes of the southern- 



