"The Times' Flight."
Dear Mr. Punch,—His many friends (among whom I take leave to count myself) will heartily sympathise with Dr. Chalmers Mitchell on the engine troubles he has passed through, culminating in the enforced curtailment of his scientific expedition. It is gratifying to think that the pure and lofty spirit of research which animated the great newspaper-proprietor who sent him forth on this mission has been vindicated by the Doctor's discovery of an unmapped volcano. Regrettably the conditions under which he observed it precluded him from making an expert survey of it, and even from securing specimens of its geological structure. The possibility of such an unfortunate contingency, which may have escaped the consideration of the promoter of the expedition, was recognised by other scientists. But it was confidently expected by his Zoological confrères that his voyage of exploration would add largely to our knowledge of the habits and customs of the fauna of Africa, and notably of the giraffe, as coming, by the exceptional development of its neck, within closest range of his vision as he flew through the vast inane.
Even better opportunities for the observation of animal life would, it was thought, occur during the occasional intervals spent on terra firma for purposes of repose or repair. And indeed one is greatly intrigued by the following terse and airmanlike entry in the log for February 20th: "Much disturbed by lions." Nothing is said of the actual capture of one of these interesting denizens of the jungle, but reference to such a feat might well have been omitted out of regard for brevity. Is it too much to hope that the enterprise of The Times may yet be rewarded by the addition of a live lion to the Zoological Gardens?
In any case, by the exceptional opportunities he enjoyed for a careful study of leaking cylinder jackets, insulating tape, red-leaded joints and missing engines the intrepid Doctor must have added largely to his knowledge of mechanical science, to say nothing of the botanical discoveries he made when his machine came within a few inches of contact with a banana-tree.
I, for one, look forward eagerly to his return, when he will be able to narrate his experience with a fulness and freedom of language impossible in cabled despatches.
Yours faithfully,
Stanley Livingstone Jones.