INTRODUCTION 19 



travelers save that of retracing their steps — a 

 labor for which their strength was hardly ade- 

 quate. But for the opportune assistance of a 

 body of natives, who encountered them at the very 

 moment when they were sinking from fatigue and 

 thirst, Ruxton and his companion would have been 

 added to the long catalogue of those whose lives 

 have been sacrificed in the attempt to explore the 

 interior of that fatal country. 



" The jealousy of the traders, and of the mis- 

 sionaries settled on the African coast, who con- 

 stantly withheld or perverted that information 

 which was absolutely necessary for the successful 

 prosecution of the journey, induced Ruxton to 

 abandon the attempt for the present. He made, 

 however, several interesting excursions towards the 

 interior, and more especially in the country of 

 the Bosjesmans. 



" Finding his own resources inadequate for the 

 accomplishment of his favorite project, ]Mr. Rux- 

 ton, on his return to England, made application 

 for Government assistance. But though this de- 

 mand was not altogether refused, it having been 

 referred to the Council of the Royal Geographical 

 Society, and favorably reported upon by that 

 body, so many delays interposed that Ruxton, in 

 disgust, resolved to withdraw from the scheme, and 

 to abandon the field of African research which he 

 had already contemplated from its borders. 



" He next bent his steps to Mexico ; and, for- 



