270 Bemarhs on the Expedition into Central Africa. 



Jjttemptcd, and to do in lliat respect what might liavc been 

 ■well done then, M'ill rcqnire efforts eqnivalent in extent and 

 expense. The iianatoi- of the voyage has not dabbled very 

 successfully in these matters on the strength of his own know- 

 ledge: blunders in that respect however, together with the 

 multifarious gossip of the narrative^ are in some respects re- 

 deemed by the important facts which it occasionally discloses, 

 and by tlie minuteness and accuracy with which it may be in- 

 ferred the main object of the expedition was prosecuted, in 

 determining the varied and entangled outline of the extensive 

 and interesting coast which it surveyed. 



The facts presented to us are of the following charactefl- 

 generally : 



1. That from beyond the Equator as far as the southern 

 mouth of tlie Mozambique Channel, the coast line is thickly 

 planted with islands, reefs, and inlets, affording harbours of 

 the most advantageous description in regard to access, security, 

 and convenience; being in many instances natural inlets or 

 straits of great variety, and in other instances the effect of the 

 diffused and unrateable influence of the coral insects. Fouv 

 or five important rivers also pierce the line of the eastern coast, 

 and the confronting outline of Madagascar presents the same 

 contrast to our impenetrable shores in the abundance and 

 variety of its points of access and shelter. 



2. Over the vi^hole of this section of the Indian Ocean there 

 exist the remnants of Arabian and Portuguese influence linger- 

 ing in isolated points upon the shore : the latter especially now 

 wasting from its own atrocious and inhospitable exercise. 

 Humanity will certainly triumph in its extinction, if it be true 

 that the cunning of its unhonoured decrepitude has been ex- 

 ercised in tempting, even recently, tlie native tribes to mutual 

 slaughter, from zealous vexation at more philanthropic inter- 

 ference. Among the natives on the coast there appears great 

 continuity of general character, aspect, and perhaps language, 

 but the locality of identity or variation remains yet to be 

 ascertained, and a page in the history of man remains yet to 

 be decyphered, containing the nan-ation or conjecture of what 

 has occurred during the long ages in which the presence ard 

 Ihe power of the civilized world has been excluded from these 

 regions as rigidly as their shores have formed a barrier to the 

 ocean. 



There is great watit of a general knowledge of some good 

 system (and tlierc are several published) by which the sounds 

 of one language may be represented by the characters of 

 another. The confusion in the names of people and places in 

 this continent is becoming somewhat puzzling. It is surely ad- 

 visable to retain the spelling of names which have already been 

 introduced iirto a known book, and save us the trouble of 



