8 f NO CLAIM TO LITERARY MERIT. Lnthod. 



life, namety, from 1840 to 1856, in medical and missionary- 

 labours in Africa without cost to the inhabitants. 



As to those literary qualifications which are acquired by habits 

 of writing, and winch 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 tins 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. 



