THOMSON'S G-'ZELLKS 



Envoi 



SLOWLY, but surely, the explorer makes his way to 

 the uttermost ends of the earth. It is but a few- 

 months since Tibet, that land of legends, hitherto un- 

 known and impenetrable, had at last to open its gates 

 to the invader. 



Asia, traversed for long ages past by the forces of 

 civilisation, had been able to keep this one stronghold 

 inviolate, though Africa, until recently the " Dark Continent," 

 no longer maintained any such refuge. Both continents 

 surprised the world of zoological science by the disclosure 

 of two large mammals, the very existence of which 

 had been unsuspected : Asia with the singular takin 

 (Budorcas taxicolor] ; Africa with the okapi. 



If there be no longer any great riddles to solve 

 in the Dark Continent, there still await investigation 

 any number of very difficult questions in every field of 

 knowledge. To give an illustration : there are over two 

 hundred kinds of birds still to be discovered there,. 



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