Editing Journal Archives (section)

==Spring, 1913==

===The Rain of Toads===

'''Abstract'''

Toads of varying size and states of maturity rain down from a clear sky over a small city in the American Midwest.  Some survive their impact with the ground; many do not.  The team explores first the strange nature of the toads themselves – none are native to the North American continent, several are of poisonous or hallucinogenic biology – and then theories as to their possible origins and the mythio-religious implications of their fall.  Several experiments are made, using balloons, to explore the upper atmosphere, but none are successful.  The team then compares this rain with several similar ones throughout the world, some composed exclusively of toads, some of toads mixed with other vermin and some of other vermin alone.  Particular comparison is made with an earlier journal article (cf. Autumn, 1890) which described the rain of jellied eggs of unknown origin from the skies over Rhode Island that summer.  Though the few eggs that survived soon hatched into batrachian forms, none seem to have survived predation by local fauna.

'''About the Explorers'''

Lewis Jenyns is a biblical scholar from Cambridge specializing in plague stories.  R.P. Greg is an atmospherist from Baltimore who successfully predicted their 1904 blizzard.  Both have been with the Lazarus Trust for years.  Though retired from field work, they returned for this expedition due to earlier interest in the case (again, cf. Autumn, 1890).
 

===The Flora of the Orinoco River Basin===

'''Abstract'''

A detailed account of an expedition by boat down the full length of the Orinoco River and the flora found there.  The article includes numerous photographic plates and detailed, cut-away illustrations of many plants, including several rare species of orchid only found on the lower legs of the river.  (An earlier expedition included a detailed description of Pitch Lake, Venezuela, but only reached as far as Ciudad Bolívar.  Sampson Low, Marsten & Company released a book detailing the story of that journey in 1897.  This article represents an excerpted chapter to the follow-up work, to be published next year by same.)

'''About the Explorers'''

James H. Stark is an explorer with a history of extensive travel through the South American rainforests, particularly in the Brazilian basins of the Amazon River.  Though not a regular employee, the Lazarus Trust took on to fund this expedition.
 

===A Tomb Cast in Amber===

'''Abstract'''

A wild desert storm in the Ottoman province of Mesopotamia unearths an ancient ziggurat of Babylonian design, remarkably well-preserved given its mud-brick construction.  Unlike the Egyptians, the Babylonians regarded their ziggurats as dwelling places of the gods, holy temples where none but priests could walk unharmed.  The field team on hand to investigate delves into the somnolent tunnels.  They find a series of puzzles barring their way, but no true traps.  In the center of the temple, they find a huge sarcophagus made all of amber and covered in a script that superficially resembles cuneiform but does not yield sense when put through the Hincks/ Rawlinson/Oppert/Talbot transliteration system.  The sarcophagus is removed to Cairo, pending further study.  Though the Trust’s experts believe there is a mummy inside, none have yet been able to open the sarcophagus to say for certain.

'''About the Explorers'''

Daniel Garrett is an English Egyptologist of private training.  Mason Blackwell is a former soldier-for-hire.  Both have traveled extensively through the Middle East and Northern Africa on private research before joining the Lazarus Trust as field agents.  This is their first published work.


===The Breathing Jungle===

'''Abstract'''

In the wake of several ferocious attacks on a village in the French colony of Cochinchina, a local Lazarus Trust agent joined a ritual tiger-hunting expedition with the twin goals of stopping the attacks and appeasing the local forest gods who, it is assumed, the people had angered to deserve such punishment.  The hunt takes place only in special native costume, designed to mimic the appearance of the tiger while simultaneously providing increased protection from its claws and teeth.  The hunters are also without the benefit of firearms and must rely only on hand-held spears.  The story covers the ritual before the hunt and the strange visions it engendered, as well as the hunt itself and its celebratory aftermath.

'''About the Explorer'''

Jean Paul Renaud is a new employee of the Trust, having only just joined, fresh out of his forensic studies at the University of Paris.  He is stationed in Saigon as a researcher.  This is his first article for the Journals.
 

===The Mystery of the Simian City===

'''Abstract'''

Following the wild stories told by local natives, a lone explorer delves into the dense jungles in east French Guinea.  For weeks he treks through a jungle where a single misstep means death and loses his guides to both the dangerous flora and fauna of the region and their own native superstitions about their destination.  Finally, in the living heart of the jungle, he finds a mysterious, advanced yet crumbling city, the structure of which indicates that it was designed for people of an ape-like physiology and social structure.  All the same, no evidence of the people themselves remains.  

'''About the Explorer'''

Michael Oliver trained in ecology at the University of Chicago and wrote his dissertation on gorilla migration and pod security techniques through central Africa.  Later, he moved to the jungles of India where he studied Tiger predation, and also archery with a yogic sect.  He has been a field explorer for the Lazarus Trust for the past five years; this is his second published article (cf. Winter, 1909).
 

===The Three Nagas Valley===

'''Abstract'''

The Trust’s agents stop a cult uprising in Karnataka and their attempts to summon a mystical thunderstorm to destroy Bangalore.  The city, the first in India to gain electricity, is supplied with hydro-electric power from a dam in the Three Nagas Valley.  A flood would have driven the turbines into overdrive and the resultant power surge, combined with flooding in the garden city itself, would have electrocuted everyone inside.  Investigators first worried when the pearl divers who operate in the Vrishabhavathi River began to go missing, along with their catches – pearls are, mythically, a source of power over water and sky spirits.  Quick exploration lead to the discovery of the cult’s dark temple, and the rapid strike by the forces of the Raj that followed ended their murderous plans.

In the Hindoo religion, Nagas are servants of the god Varuna, who rules “the dark half of the sky,” and are said to be shape-changing bringers of rain.  Their three chiefs are Manasa, Shesha and Vasuki.

'''About the Explorer'''

S. Wilson Rosepere is former Colonel for the British Marine Corps.  He fought in almost every war the British have been involved in since 1878 and joined the Lazarus Trust this year after a decade of military inaction.  This is his first article for the Journals.