APPENDIX A 331 



external ears, but showing enormous dog-teeth : the feet short and bear- 

 like, armed with formidable claws united by a swimming membrane ; the 

 long tail, tapering and prehensile, the hair hard and of a uniform yellowish- 

 brown. In size it far exceeded any creature they knew of, its legs, 

 though short, being almost as great in girth as its body. It followed, 

 naturally that narratives of personal experiences and encounters with 

 this terrific animal were varied. 



These data, it must be confessed, were bewildering. In fact, as described 

 by the Indians the lemisch was scientifically absurd ; but the Indian is 

 like a child in many ways and would naturally endow a creature he feared 

 with extraordinary attributes. 



I will quote here an extract from Winwood Reade's " Savage Africa," 

 one of the finest books of travel ever written. 



"It must be laid down as a general principle that man can originate 

 nothing ; that lies are always truths embellished, distorted, or turned 

 inside out. There are other facts beside those which lie on the surface, 

 and it is the duty of the traveller and the historian to sift and wash the 

 gold-grains of truth from the dirt of fable. ... It is true that some of 

 the ancient myths have been sobered down to natural beings. The men 

 with dogs' heads of whom Herodotus speaks are the barking baboons 

 which I saw in Senegal : the men with their head under their shoulders, 

 their eyes in their breast, are the ill-formed negroes, whose shoulders are 

 shrugged up, and whose heads drop on their breasts : the mermaids of 

 the Arab tales are the sea-cows of the African rivers, which have feminine 

 dugs and a face almost human in expression : the huge serpent which 

 opposed the army of Regulus is now well known as the python : the 

 burning mountains which Hanno saw, and the sounds of the lutes which 

 were believed to proceed from the strife of the elements, are only caused 

 by the poor negroes burning the grass of their hill-tops : the music being 

 that of their flutes, as I have heard it often in those long and silent 

 African nights far away. 



" Incredulity has now become so vulgar a folly, that one is almost 

 tempted, out of simple hatred for a fashion, to run into the opposite 

 extreme. However, I shall content myself with citing evidence respecting 

 certain unknown, fabulous and monstrous animals of Africa, without com- 

 mitting myself to an opinion one way or the other ; preserving only my 

 conviction that there is always a basis of truth to the most fantastic fables, 

 and that, by rejecting without inquiry that which appears incredible, one 

 throws away ore in which others might have found a jewel. A traveller 

 should believe nothing, for he will find himself so often deceived : and he 

 should disbelieve nothing, for he will see so many wonderful things ; 

 he should doubt, he should investigate, and then, perhaps, he may 

 discover." 



