FAREWELL SPEECH. 317 



am at a loss how to express in words the feelings of my heart. 

 In former times, while I was performing what I considered to 

 be my duty in Africa, I felt great pleasure in the work ; and 

 now, when I perceive that all eyes are directed to my future 

 conduct, I feel as if I were laid under a load of obligation to do 

 better than I have ever done as yet. I expect to find for ray- 

 self no large fortune in that country, nor do I expect to explore 

 any large portions of a new country, but I do hope to find 

 through that part of the country which I have already explored, 

 a pathway by means of the river Zambesi which may lead to 

 highlands where Europeans may form a settlement, and where, 

 by opening up communication and establishing commercial 

 intercourse with the natives of Africa, they may slowly, but not 

 the less surely, impart to the people of that country the knowl- 

 edge and the inestimable blessings of Christianity. 



" I am glad to have connected with me in this expedition my 

 gallant friend Captain Bedingfield, who knows not only what 

 African rivers are, but also what are African fevers. With his 

 aid I may be able to discover the principles of the river system 

 of that great continent, and if I find that system to be what I 

 think it is, I propose to establish a depot upon the Zambesi, and 

 from that station more especially to examine into that river 

 system, which, according to the statements of the natives, if 

 discovered, would afford a pathway to the country beyond, 

 where cotton, indigo, and other raw material might be obtained 

 to any amount. 



" I am happy also in being accompanied by men experienced 

 in geology, in botany, in art, and in photography, who will 

 bring back to England reports upon all those points, which I 

 alone have attempted to deal with, and with very little means 

 at my disposal. 



" The success — if I may call it success — which has attended 

 my former efforts to open up the country mainly depended upon 

 my entering into the feelings and the wishes of the people of 

 the interior of Africa. I found that the tribes in the interior 

 of that country were just as anxious to have a part of the sea- 

 board as I was to open a communication with the interior, and 

 I am quite certain of obtaining the co-operation of those tribes 

 in my next expedition. Should I succeed in my endeavor, 



