x PREFACE. 



I beg to offer my hearty thanks to my friend Sir Roderick 

 Murchison, and also to Dr. Norton Shaw, the secretary of the 

 Royal Geographical Society, for aiding my researches by every 

 means in their power. 



His faithful majesty Don Pedro V., having kindly sent out or- 

 ders to support my late companions until my return, relieved my 

 mind of anxiety on their account. But for this act of liberality, 

 I should certainly have been compelled to leave England in May 

 last ; and it has afforded me the pleasure of traveling over, in im- 

 agination, every scene again, and recalling the feelings which actu- 

 ated me at the time. I have much pleasure in acknowledging my 

 deep obligations to the hospitality and kindness of the Portuguese 

 on many occasions. 



I have not entered into the early labors, trials, and successes of 

 the missionaries who preceded me in the Bechuana country, be- 

 cause that has been done by the much abler pen of my father-in- 

 law, Rev. Robert Moffat, of Kuruman, who has been an energetic 

 and devoted actor in the scene for upward of forty years. A slight 

 sketch only is given of my own attempts, and the chief part of the 

 book is taken up with a detail of the efforts made to open up a 

 new field north of the Bechuana country to the sympathies of 

 Christendom. The prospects there disclosed are fairer than I an- 

 ticipated, and the capabilities of the new region lead me to hope 

 that by the production of the raw materials of our manufactures, 

 African and English interests will become more closely linked 

 than heretofore, that both countries will be eventually benefited, 

 and that the cause of freedom throughout the world will in some 

 measure be promoted. 



Dr. Hooker, of Kew, has had the kindness to name and classify 

 for me, as far as possible, some of the new botanical specimens 

 which I brought over ; Dr. Andrew Smith (himself an African 

 traveler) has aided me in the zoology ; and Captain Need has laid 

 open for my use his portfolio of African sketches, for all which 

 acts of liberality my thanks are deservedly due, as well as to my 

 brother, who has rendered me willing aid as an amanuensis. 



Although I can not profess to be a draughtsman, I brought 

 home with me a few rough diagram-sketches, from one of which 

 the view of the Falls of the Zambesi has been prepared by a more 

 experienced artist. 



October, 1857. 



