18 INTRODUCTION 



ceived from the agents of these establishments such 

 favorable accounts of the nations towards the in- 

 terior, as also of the nature of the climate, that 

 he has the most sanguine hopes of being able to 

 penetrate to the central region, if not of travers- 

 ing it to the Portuguese colonics of Mozambique. 

 If this be accomplished, then indeed will Lieuten- 

 ant Ruxton have acquired for himself a permanent 

 name among British travelers, by making us ac- 

 quainted with the nature of the axis of the great 

 continent of which we possess the southern ex- 

 tremity.' 



" In pursuance of this hazardous scheme, Rux- 

 ton, with a single companion, landed on the coast 

 of Africa, a little to the south of Ichaboe, and 

 commenced his journey of exploration. But it 

 seemed as if both nature and man had combined 

 to baffle the execution of his design. The course 

 of their travel lay along a desert of moving sand, 

 where no water was to be found, and little herbage, 

 save a coarse tufted grass and twigs of the resinous 

 myrrh. The immediate place of their destination 

 was Angra Peguena, on the coast, described as a 

 frequented station, but which in reality was de- 

 serted. One ship only was in the offing when the 

 travelers arrived, and to their inexpressible morti- 

 fication they discovered that she was outward 

 bound. No trace was visible of the river or 

 streams laid down in the maps as falling into the 

 sea at this point, and no resource was left to the 



