124 



Some time before, since the South African Council for Scientific 

 and Industrial Research, from which most of the funds for my 

 work came, fell directly under the Prime Minister, when Dr. 

 Malan came into power I sent him a copy of this volume, in whose 

 production the C.S.I.R. had played so great a part. (Only three 

 days after it had gone the President of the C.S.I.R. suggested 

 that I should do this very thing.) 



Just before Christmas, when they had been preparing to leave 

 for their brief rest at the Strand, Mrs. Malan had assembled a few 

 books, and quite by chance my Sea Fishes of Southern Africa 

 caught her eye as eminently suitable for the seaside, despite its 

 size. 



So now they fetched him the book and found the Coelacanth 

 pages in it. He read it over slowly and paged through part of the 

 volume. Then he shut it. He called her again, and tapping the 

 book said, 'The man that wrote this book would not ask my help 

 at a time like this unless it was desperately important. I must 

 speak to him.' 



Mildly they tried to dissuade him, to wait for the morning at 

 least, but he shook his head and repeated, *I must speak to him 

 now.' And so the telephones were set going. Thank God for that 

 *nice cup of tea !' It has helped to win many victories. 



