INTRODUCTION 



You have for the time being left the outer world 

 behind, London and the Mall are but half forgotten 

 memories. Theatres, taxis, and the hypocrisy of civili- 

 zation are left behind, while you probe the unknown 

 depths of the wilds to revel in the mystery of the forests, 

 fields, and plains in Darkest Africa. 



Until you have seen it all as I have seen it you cannot 

 realize what strange corners there are in this world of ours, 

 lands where Ghost Kings dwell, and the dreams of boyish 

 youth are realized to the full. Cannibals and so forth, 

 they have all come true at last, lions, snakes, leopards, 

 elephants, witch doctors, real bows and arrows, yes, it 

 has all been very wonderful ; but time brings its changes, 

 and some day I suppose those quaintly constructed homes 

 of the savages must give way to the oncoming tide of 

 civilization, poverty, struggle, storm, and strife ; the 

 forests that hitherto have remained almost impenetrable, 

 the silent, deep-flowing rivers, will all cease to wear 

 that air of romance and mystery. 



The grandeur and glory of one of nature's greatest 

 shrines will fade, then the country will become but another 

 " Tom Tiddler's " ground. The people that have dwelt 

 there from time immemorial will be but pawns on the 

 chessboard of Christianity's ambition. The strong must 

 win, and the weak shall fall. 



The black, we are told, can never be the white man's 

 equal. I agree fully with this, but there is room under 

 the sun for all, and I, in common with many others, see 

 in the " nigger " more good points than bad. In the great 

 beyond there is to be no distinction of class, and I am 

 inclined to believe there is to be no distinction of colour. 



I am not one of those who worship and adore the black 

 man, any more than I agree with those who would exter- 

 minate him, but I do believe in justice and fair play to 

 the coloured races, whom an Unseen Power has thought 

 fit to place under us in this world of ours. 



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