ENTRY 3: THE RESEARCH
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We last left our not-so-stalwart band of adventurers in a somewhat varied state:
Jim Ransom has come down with a nasty infection, Katya is... well.... kind of
broken at the moment, Beatrice is still missing, and Jonathan is off chasing a
rare version of yam for Jim while Jim is recovering. Elizabeth has recovered
enough from her run-in with a machetti to be mobile, so she and Adrian decided
to gather a ton of information.

Day 1: Monday, 19 January

Elizabeth is released from the hospital, Jackson's funeral is at 2pm. Adrian
used his university connections to arrange a meeting with the president of
Emerson Imports, a large import company specializing in African imports, for
Thursday morning. Adrian and then Elizabeth tried to reach Miriam Atwright by
telephone; she seemed rather distraught to hear of Elias' death and told us
that the book he was looking for was called _Africa's Darkest Sects_, the diary
of traveller Jeremy Seavey. Adrian and Elizabeth checked Columbia University
Library for the book, and discovered information on why it wasn't available
there. They then headed to Jackson's funeral, where they were the only people in
attendance other than Jackson's publisher, John Kensington, who was extremely
upset, and provided them with some more information on the publishing house
of the book for which Jackson was looking. Deciding that Miriam Atwright was
their best hope, Adrian and Elizabeth booked train passage to Boston for that
night.

Day 2: Tuesday, 20 January

After arriving in Boston before dawn, Elizabeth and Adrian book hotel rooms and
get some more sleep before travelling to the Harvard Library to see Miriam
Atwright. She was once again distraught, and offered to help them as best as she
could. She provided a bit more information about the book and how it was stolen
from the library, and helped Adrian and Elizabeth research the Cult of the
Bloody Tongue. This (and other research that proved fruitless) took all of
Tuesday afternoon and most of Wednesday.

Day 3: Wednesday, 21 January

Research at Harvard: see above

Day 4: Thursday, 22 January

Adrian and Elizabeth met with Emerson Imports president Arthur Emerson at 10:00
in the morning. Adrian and Elizabeth quickly realized that they had not come to
exactly the right place, as Emerson Imports supplies many stores and schools,
and doesn't really know anything about what they're selling. Nevertheless, Mr.
Emerson was extremely helpful and provided Adrian and Elizabeth the names of
three stores that he supplies.

For the rest of the day, Adrian and Elizabeth researched some more things.
Adrian put out a request for _Africa's Darkest Sects_ with many rare book
dealers, and Elizabeth spent some time with the society papers, trying to find
out about Dr. Huston (a member of the Carlyle expedition). At approximately 4
hours after she begins, she gets the bright idea to go to the *source* of the
society papers, a gossip columnist. She makes an appointment to talk with Jane
Eliade from the Riposte the next day at lunch.

Day 5: Friday, 23 January

After informative meetings with gossip columnists, Adrian and Elizabeth call Lt.
Poole to ask after Beatrice, and are told that they should try to check around
Harlem, where the police can't get any information, to try and get leads on her
whereabouts.

Until the speakeasies open, Adrian and Elizabeth decide to do (what else?) more
research. Adrian visits Norvig Press, the publishers of the now infamous book,
and Elizabeth visits two of the businesses recommended by Mr. Emerson.

We leave Elizabeth and Adrian at dusk on Friday evening, preparing to contact
their friends so that they can all go to Harlem together.
 

NEW STUFF WE LEARNED ABOUT:

THE BOOK:

- _Africa's Darkest Sects_, the diary of a now-deceased explorer named Jeremy
  Seavey, who apparently 'went native' at some point in his career. Supposedly
  a true, first person account of happenings in tribes- initiation rites,
  tribal customs. Editor said that he believed Seavey made up at least 1/2 of
  it; towards the end, the editor said, he was raving about cults, demons
  stealing children, etc. He had found the manuscript at an auction of Seavey's
  estate (at Weiss & Hickman auction houses). Seavey had left Africa in 1897.

- Oh, yeah. Published by Norvig Press, a publishing house that specializes in
  the macabre- true life crime, autopsy manuals, gruesome and shocking tales.

- The book was so graphic that only 13 copies were published and distributed
  before NY State authorities destroyed (by fire) all remaining copies, manus-
  cripts, etc, etc. (Which is why it is such a hard book to find.)

- Harvard Library's copy of the book was stolen around 4 months ago. It was
  stored behind a locked door in a rare books section of the library; it was
  discovered missing when that particular room smelled suddenly and strongly of
  a foul rot, and an inventory was called. Miriam Atwright remembers the smell
  clearly.

- Current progress here: Adrian has put out requests at rare book dealers.

THE CULT OF THE BLOODY TONGUE:

(Not much was available....)

- Mentioned by several tribes (among them the Nandi, Kikuyu, and Luos) in the
  area as being a society of demons that steal children. Since nobody can
  confirm anything about the tribe (including any definite members), scholarly
  opinion is that the cult is a myth.

- However, the mythology doesn't fit into the African template at all, and so
  there is some doubt about dismissing it. Tribes around Lake Victoria mention
  them; Lake Victoria is near the Aberdare mountain range.

CARLYLE PARTY MEMBERS:

- Huston (the freudian psychologist) was quote 'your typical degenerate', had a
  brilliant career ahead of him as a John's Hopkins grad, and left his practice
  and wife to study in Europe with Freud. He treated both Carlyle and his
  sister. He left the country on the expedition after breaking off an affair
  with one of his patients (she later killed herself).

- After Huston's death, there was a large debate on whether or not his practice
  was actually 'medical', and hence whether or not the records of his patients
  were still confidential. After a few months, it was decided that the records
  were still confidential and are now in the custody of the Medical Affairs
  board of NY. His small estate was auctionned off by Oxtoby & Nachtreib.

- Jack Brady (intimate friend to Mr. Carlyle) was indeed a friend of Carlyle's.
  He served in the war, got a distinguished cross, and did mercenary work after
  that in France, China, and all over. He spoke arabic and chinese. He came
  back to the states, killed someone in a fight in CA, and was sent to jail. He
  met Carlyle in prison, and within an hour the two were close friends. Carlyle
  got him out of jail, and he became Carlyle's bodyguard. He was known to wear
  a brass plate in his pocket that had 2 bullet dents in it.

- The infamous Roger Carlyle was indeed infamous. He was the subject of two
  paternity suits, finally managed to graduate from Groton college after failing
  out of almost every other school in the country. He met Brady while at USC. He
  pissed off his sister before the Africa thing came up; he had control of the
  family fortune and was squandering it and impoverishing her. He slummed in
  Harlem frequently and it was there that the met Anastasia Bunay, an african
  poet. He became obsessed with her and with Africa, and not much later was
  the expedition. Nothing more is known of her.

- Mypatia Masters, who was indeed related to Beatrice Masters, dated Carlyle a
  few times, and had broken off a secret love affair with a Marxist at CCNY
  just before leaving on the expedition. His name is Raoul Pennair. She asked
  Carlyle to take her with him. She was a very good photographer with the best
  of educations. Some of her works survived (her family has them).

- Today, the Penhew foundation (which was set up after Penhew died) is a
  moderately sized private archaeological foundation. Parts of their good
  collections are always on show. It's an ok research institution for London,
  which means it's absolutely phenomenal elsewhere.
 

JACKSON'S MENTAL STATE BEFORE HIS DEATH:

- John Kensington again mentioned that Jackson spoke of being pursued, and very
  afraid of an unstated danger in the future that must be stopped.
 

EMERSON IMPORTS:

- In the warehouse district, a large warehouse filled with boxes. Arthur Emerson
  is a gregarious and large man with a cigar, shirt with sweat-stained armpits.
  He has a supplier in Mombasa named Ahja Singh who will look for things for us
  if we so desire. A list of his customers includes Whitfield's curios, Orson's,
  and 'the Joojoo house'.

THOSE BUSINESSES:

- Have not yet located the joojoo house. The others are upscale galleries
  selling 'occult artifacts' to rich people. They weren't very helpful, I didn't
  see anything that looked like it could have made those tears in Jackson, or
  anything that looked like the carving on his forehead or the headresses on the
  men who nearly killed us. But, I got salespeople's business cards.
 

NEW PEOPLE AND PLACES TO SEE:

- Jeremy Seavey (author of book)
- Ahja Singh (Emerson's Mombasa contact)
- Joojoo house
- Bradly Grey of Dunston, Whittlebee & Grey (represented Erica Carlyle after
  death of Roger)
- Lady patient of Hunston's who killed herself
- Anastasia Bunay (african poet)
- Raoul Pennair (Marxist in Mypatia Masters' past)