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a forlorn hope, but each Coelacanth-blank day only served to add 

 to the severe mental depression that clouded my life. Would this 

 two-fold responsibility of the Coelacanth, the decision about the 

 fate of this animal, and the suspense of waiting to hear if more had 

 been caught at the Comores, never end ? I did not look forward to 

 the meeting in Nairobi, for I had a premonition that my frantic 

 desire to get on with finding Coelacanths was going to be side- 

 tracked, wrapped up in official and technical cotton-wool. It had 

 happened before, but this was much worse, for the Comores were 

 foreign waters and closed against me. 



Living on a small vessel and on the islands at that time, we 

 were completely isolated except for an occasional visit to the lofty 

 lighthouse at the northern end of Bazaruto, and when we went 

 to work at sea we had no contact with the rest of the world. 

 Towards the close of our work in that area, we landed one day on 

 the mainland opposite Bazaruto, and found the people there very 

 excited, for at low tide a man had gone probing into the dirty 

 water at the base of an eroded mushroom-like coral lump and had 

 found hidden there an enormous 'Garrupa', or Rock Cod, which 

 he eventually managed to kill. It was well over 200 lb. in weight, 

 a terrific fish to have remained in what was only a puddle. As we 

 stood by looking on, a Chinese who spoke Portuguese came up 

 to me and said that there had been a radio report the night before 

 about a curious large fish that had been caught by the French. 

 He had heard my name mentioned, and that had made him take 

 some notice of it, as he knew I was working among the islands. 

 We certainly jumped at this. Had they mentioned where it had 

 been found ? He thought it had been Madagascar, but was not sure. 

 Was it a Coelacanth ? Yes, that was the name. 



It was like the burst of a bomb to me, but although we ques- 

 tioned him closely he could tell us no more. We rushed round to 

 everyone who had a wireless-set, but found out nothing much 

 besides. Although it was not quite certain, for they might all have 

 been mistaken, I felt many years younger. We could get no other 

 information of any kind, for when newspapers reached that part 

 they were at least six days old. It was not until we got back to 

 civilisation a week later that we learnt that it was indeed a Coela- 

 canth, and that it had been taken at the Comores and at Anjouan, 

 the same island. 



