8 NO CLAIM TO LITERAKY MERIT. Intkod. 



was then raging, and it was deemed inexpedient for me to proceed 

 to China. I had fondly hoped to have gained access to that then 

 closed empire by means of the healing art ; but there being no 

 prospect of an early peace with the Chinese, and as another 

 inviting field was opening out through the labours of Mr. Moffat, 

 I was induced to turn my thoughts to Africa ; and after a more 

 extended course of theological training in England than I had 

 enjoyed in Glasgow, I embarked for Africa in 1840, and, after a 

 voyage of three months, reached Cape Town. Spending but a 

 short time there, I started for the interior by going round to 

 Algoa Bay, and soon proceeded inland, and have spent the fol- 

 lowing sixteen years of my life, namely, from 1840 to 1856, in 

 medical and missionary labours there without cost to the inha- 

 bitants. 



As to those literary qualifications which are acquired by habits 

 of writing, and which are so important to an author, my African 

 life has not only not been favourable to the growth of such accom- 

 plishments, but quite the reverse : it has made composition irk- 

 some and laborious. I think I would rather cross the African 

 continent again than undertake to write another book. It is far 

 easier to travel than to write about it. I intended on going to 

 Africa to continue my studies ; but as I could not brook the idea 

 of simply entering into other men's labours made ready to my 

 hands, I entailed on myself, in addition to teaching, manual 

 labour in building and other handicraft work, which made me 

 generally as much exhausted and unfit for study in the evenings 

 as ever I had been when a cotton-spinner. The want of time for 

 self-improvement was the only source of regret that I experienced 

 during my African career. The reader remembering this will 

 make allowances for the mere gropings for light of a student who 

 has the vanity to think himself " not yet too old to learn." More 

 precise information on several subjects has necessarily been omitted 

 in a popular work like the present ; but I hope to give such details 

 to the scientific reader through some other channel. 



