Steampunk Diaries – May 13th, 1878

An acquaintance of mine, Emerson, has come into possesion of the log book of the Andromache. It seems that Edward Bransfield who is best known for finding the great southern island Antartica, made his way to the Dark Continent after that voyage. Putting in at a small river for much needed supplies of food, water, and some wood to replace a cracked spar, the crew found themselves in one of the densest jungles they have seen.

Reminiscent of Dr. David Linvingston’s expeditions before that fateful meeting with Henry Morton Stanley, portions of the ship’s crew entered the jungle to search for a tree sturdy enough to replace the spar. The native brush of that area being of vines and tall flowering plants they marched several furlongs in land before finding a suitable specimen. To their immense surprise, a huge lizard like animal was disturbed and thundered away from them. It’s very weight shook the ground and threw the men down.

A few of the less stout fellows in the crew took some time to be coaxed down from the trees, but eventually one was dispatched and stripped of it’s foliage. Being near night they resolved to make camp and return to the Andromache the following day. During the night the crew reported an amount of commotion in the brush as to make them think they were under attack, and reported to not receive any rest.

Upon first light their amazement grew. A tribe of large horned lizards had surrounded the camp site. The smallest being forty hands in height. These lizards chewed grasses and brush much like the cattle and sheep of our own Island. They showed no obvious discomfort at having their morning repast interrupted. The dear Andromache’s crew men could not say the same. With some trepidation they made short work of the fallen tree and returned to the ship in record time.

As can be seen in these drawings included in the log book, the lizards are quite unlike any I have seen before. The common idea around the Club is that they may be of the genus Dinosuari, long thought to have expired years ago. If so this puts into some serious doubt the veracity of those observations.