letter L, which might apply to Kolbe, the German traveller. But it isn't

altogether a polite one, and so we'll call him a deliberate romancer."

"He ought to have a niche by the side of Sir John Mandeville and others of his kind," said Frank. "Sir John describes the cotton-plant as having eyes, ears, and horns, and bleating like a sheep; and he tells how he successfully tried the experiment of raising young diamonds from a pair of old ones, with other interesting experiences, which are set down with sober earnest.

"But you must remember," said the Doctor, "that in the time of these old travellers they had everything their own way, as they were in no danger of contradiction. Besides, the spirit of the age demanded something marvellous, and if a traveller came home and told the story of his journey without filling it with goblins, fairies, dragons, and similar impossible things, he was charged with having seen nothing, and quite likely his neighbors would assert that during all the time of his pretended absence he was remaining quietly at home.

"Nowadays the world is so well known that the romancing traveller is speedily detected, and his fictions meet a deserved exposure. Explorers follow each other so rapidly that no untruthful story can remain long without contradiction, and we may fairly conclude that the day of the marvellous in travellers' tales has substantially ended."