e a mail ahead. If not, it will reach London on the very day
that I do. In either case, my dear Mr. McArdle, I hope very soon to
shake you by the hand.

CHAPTER XVI

"A Procession! A Procession!"

I should wish to place upon record here our gratitude to all our
friends upon the Amazon for the very great kindness and hospitality
which was shown to us upon our return journey. Very particularly would
I thank Senhor Penalosa and other officials of the Brazilian Government
for the special arrangements by which we were helped upon our way, and
Senhor Pereira of Para, to whose forethought we owe the complete outfit
for a decent appearance in the civilized world which we found ready for
us at that town. It seemed a poor return for all the courtesy which we
encountered that we should deceive our hosts and benefactors, but under
the circumstances we had really no alternative, and I hereby tell them
that they will only waste their time and their money if they attempt to
follow upon our traces. Even the names have been altered in our
accounts, and I am very sure that no one, from the most careful study
of them, could come within a thousand miles of our unknown land.

The excitement which had been caused through those parts of South
America which we had to traverse was imagined by us to be purely local,
and I can assure our friends in England that we had no notion of the
uproar which the mere rumor of our experiences had caused through
Europe. It was not until the Ivernia was within five hundred miles of
Southampton that the wireless messages from paper after paper and
agency after agency, offering huge prices for a short return message as
to our actual results, showed us how strained was the attention not
only of the scientific world but of the general public. It was agreed
among us, however, that no definite statement should be given to the
Press until we had met the members of the Zoological Institute, since
as delegates it was our clear duty to give our first report to the body
from which we had received our commission of investigation. Thus,
although we found Southampton full of Pressmen, we absolutely refused
to give any information, which had the natural effect of focussing
public attention upon the meeting which was advertised for the evening
of November 7th. For this gathering, the Zoological Hall which had
been the scene of the inception of our task was found