23 JULY 1954, Page 7

A SPECTATOR 'S NOTEBOOK

THE Abominable Snowman is having some difficulty— more difficulty than the Piltdown Man had—in being accepted as a reality by the learned men. Their Scepticism arouses an almost missionary fervour in Mr. Charles Stonor, who has just returned from an inconclusive but fruit- ful reconnaissance of its haunts in the Himalayas. Among the pundits the dividing line between belief and disbelief seems in general to be ruled by 'age; those who in their day did not see the creature are anti-yeti, while those who are young enough to have (perhaps) a hand in one day clearing up the mystery are, not unnaturally, pro-yeti. Mr. Stonor, a slim, fair, puddle-aged man, has as few doubts about its reality as have the Sherpas, who hold it in awe but would not dream of allowing it to be molested. It is. he is quite certain, a very large and remarkable ape, and when above the snow-line it lives on mountain-hares, which are not really hares but rodents about the size of a guinea-pig. He has brought back with lum one piece of evidence which he regards as of great importance but whose nature cannot be revealed until it has been subjected to scientific tests. Like most unlearned People. I hope the tests come up to Mr. Stonor's expectations.