The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1925-04-11
THE LOST WORLD
BIZ SIR Arthur Conan Doyle

which broke GU tagain at intervals
throughout his address. That ad-
dress will not be given in extenso in
these columns, for the reason that
a full account of the whole adven-
lures of the expedition is being pub
lished as a suppl ament from the pen
of our own special correspondent.
Some general indications will there
fore suffice. Having described the
genesis of their journey, and paid a
handsome tribute to his friend, Pro
fessor Challenger, coupled with an
apology for the ~incredulity with
which his assertions, now fully vim
dicated, had been received, he gave
the actual course of their journey,
carefully Withholding such informa-
ton as would aid the public in any
attempt to locate this remarkable
plateau. Having described, in gen
eral terms, their course from the
main river up to the time that they
actually reached the base or the
cliffs, he enthralled his hearers ny
his account of the difficulties
tered by the expedition in their re
peated attempts to mount them, and
finally described how they succeeded
in their desperate endeavors, which
cost the lives of their two devoted
half-breed servants"
Having conducted his audience
in fancy to the summit, and ma
rooned them there by reason Of the
fall of their bridge, the Professor
proceeded to describe both the hor-
rors and the attractions of that re-
markable land. OF personal adj
ventures he said little, but laid
stress upon the rich harvest reaped
by science in the observations of
the wonderful beast, bird, insect,
and plant life of the plateau. Pc
culiarly rich in the coleoptera and
in the l~epidoptera, forty-six new
species of the one and n~inety-four
of the other had been secured in
the course of a few weeks. 1t was,
however, in the larger animals,
and especially In the larger ami
mails supposed to have been long ex-
tinct, that the interest Of the pub
lie was naturally centered. OF
these he was able to give a goodly
list, but had little doubt that it
would be largely extended when the
place had been more thoroughly
investigated. He and his COM
panions had seen at least a dozen
creatures, most of them at a dis
lance, which correspondent with
nothing at present known to
Science. These would in time be
duly classified ana examined. He
instanced a snake, the cast skin
Of which, deep purple in color,
was fifty one feet in length, and
mentioned a white creature,
supposed to be mammalian, which
gave forth well-marked phosphore-
scene in the darkness; also a large
black moth, the bite of which was
supposed by the Indians to be high
ly poisonous. Setting aside these
entirely new forms of life, the
plateau was very rich in known pre-
historic forms, dating back in some
cases to early Jurassic times.
Among these he mentioned the
gigantic and grotesque stegosaurus,
seen once by Mr.. Malone at a drink
place by the lake, and drawn In the
sketchbook Of that adventurous
American who had first penetrated
this unknown world He described
also the iguanodon and the pier
odactyl two of the first of the
wonders which they had encount-
cred. He then thrilled the assembly
by some account OF the terrible
c~arnivorous dinosaurs, which had on
more than n occasion pursued
were the most formidable of all the
creatures which they had encount-
cred. Thence he passed on to the
huge and ferocious bird, the phoror-
achus, and tothe great elk which
still roams upon this upland It
was not, howeverfi until he sketched
the mysteries Of the central lake
that the full Interest and enthusi-
asm Of the audience were aroused.
One had to pinch himself to be
sure that one was awake as we
heard this sane and practical Pro
lessor In cold measured terms de-
scribing the monstrous ~three-eyed
fish-lizards and the huge water
snakes which inhabit his enchanted
sheet Of water. Next he touched
upon the Indians, and upon the ex.
t~raordinary colony Of anthropoid
apes, which might be looked upon
as an advance Upon the pithecan.
thropus Of Java, and as coming
therefore carer than any known
form to that hypothetical or cation.
the missing link. Finally he de.
scribed. amongst some merriment.
the ingenious but highly dangerous
aeronautic invention of Professor
Challenger, and wound up a most
memorable address by an account of
the methods by which the commit
tee did at last find their way back
to civilization.
CTo Be Continued
Copyright, 1925, by A Conan Doyle)