Chapter Seventeen 

 FALLING THROUGH 



EVEN though the discovery of this second Coelacanth at the 

 Comores, and the information gleaned by Hunt, appeared to 

 pin-point that area as the home of those animals, it v^^as clear that 

 they could scarcely be abundant there. Although it was true that 

 this Comoran Coelacanth had been found in the type of environ- 

 ment which satisfied every condition I had deduced and predicted, 

 I knew only too well that a Coelacanth in any place does not neces- 

 sarily mean that it is at home. 



Most of Hunt's information was got from natives, and South 

 Africans know from bitter experience that the average native 

 attaches little importance to factual accuracy or to veracity. Their 

 approach in such matters is very different from ours, and when 

 questioned a native will almost invariably tell you what he thinks 

 you want to know, rather than what he knows about what you 

 ask, or even if he knows nothing at all. 



At the same time, however, the evidence that Coelacanths were 

 caught occasionally indicated that if their true home was not at 

 the Comores themselves, it would not be so far off this time, and 

 there was all the more likelihood that this might be found more 

 easily. The field of search would certainly be greatly narrowed 

 down. 



It had long been one of the main objectives of my existence to 

 establish or to see established the certain home of the Coelacanth. 

 Even before my return to the Union with the animal, and on the 

 flight itself, my mind was busy revolving this matter and explor- 

 ing possibilities. I hoped that the discovery of the Coelacanth 

 would abate the scepticism of the French and stir them to action, 

 in the Comores at least, but at the same time nobody had studied 

 this matter as deeply as I and nobody else knew as much. While 

 I know only too well that nobody is unique and nobody is irre- 



