56 RETURN TO THE CAPE. 



who periodically pay enormous sums for these inglorious 

 affairs wish to know how our little unprotected party 

 could quietly travel through the heart of the colony to 

 the capital with as little sense or sign of danger as if we 

 had been in England, they must engage a "Times Special 

 Correspondent" for the next outbreak to explain where 

 the money goes, and who have been benefited by the 

 blood and treasure expended. 



Having placed my family on board a homeward-bound 

 ship, and promised to rejoin them in two years, we parted, 

 for, as it subsequently proved, nearly five years. The 

 Directors of the London Missionary Society signified their 

 cordial approval of my project, by leaving the matter 

 entirely to my own discretion ; and I have much pleasure 

 in acknowledging my obligations to the gentlemen com- 

 posing that body for always acting in an enlightened 

 spirit and with as much liberality as their constitution 

 would allow. 



I have the like pleasure in confessing my thankfulness 

 to the Astronomer Royal at the Cape, Thomas Maclear, 

 Esq., for enabling me to recall the little astronomical 

 knowledge which constant manual labor and the engross- 

 ing nature of missionary duties had effaced from my 

 memory, and in adding much that I did not know before. 

 The promise he made on parting, that he would examine 

 and correct all my observations, had mure effect in making 

 me persevere in overcoming the difficulties of an unassisted 

 solitary observer than any thing else; so, whatever credit 

 may be attached to the geographical positions laid down 

 in my route must be attributed to the voluntary aid of 

 the excellent and laborious astronomer of the Cape (Obser- 

 vatory. 



Having given the reader as rapid a sketch as possible 

 of events which attracted notice between 1840 and 1852, 1 

 now proceed to narrate the incidents of the last and 

 longest journey of all, performed in 1852-56. 



