87 

 aside and told him that he had come upon one of the most 

 astounding events and that it would certainly be world news. If 

 he used it properly he could have the scoop of a lifetime. I gave 

 him quite an amount of information, warning him to use nothing 

 but that, and none of what he had heard earlier except what I 

 repeated now. As I went to join our party he went away, but he 

 was so much younger than I that his thoughts were easy to read 

 and they did not flatter me. The scepticism I had felt in him was 

 possibly responsible for the manner in which that interview was 

 reported and headed of all things *Sea Missing Link'. As it 

 happened, I did not see this until much later, but early next 

 morning that same young man came aboard seeking further news, 

 and was met by my wife, who had just seen the report. She asked 

 him at once why on earth that phrase 'Missing Link' had been 

 used, and assured him that I would be most displeased, as a 

 Coelacanth was emphatically not a missing link, and I had cer- 

 tainly not used such terms. He said that it was a catchy phrase and 

 sounded good as a title. It was not until Natalie Roberts wrote it 

 up next day that the whole affair was reported in what I regarded 

 as its true perspective, but those unfortunate words 'Missing 

 Link' went out in advance all over the world, giving the whole 

 affair a false aspect that it did not need. It was interesting enough 

 as it was. 



After this reporter had left I went back to our party and told 

 them what had happened, and this of course attracted their 

 immediate and concentrated attention. They wanted to know what 

 I was gbing to do. I said that at the moment I just did not know, 

 the situation would have to be weighed carefully. Was I going to 

 try to fetch it ? I couldn't say at that moment, it was going to be 

 very difficult to do that, anyway. I knew that part of East Africa 

 and the route, and flying there is no easy matter. I doubted if any 

 private plane could do it even if we had the funds to hire it, which 

 we hadn't. It would almost certainly have to be done by a Govern- 

 ment plane if at all. At that moment I was not prepared to say 

 anything definite, not even if I was going to try to go and fetch it. 

 It needed thinking out carefully. 



'What a pity Smuts isn't alive,' said one of the men. 'He would 

 have helped you.' 'Smuts !' burst simultaneously and explosively 

 from my wife's lips and my own. 'Smuts !' Our reactions were so 



