INTRODUCTION. 7 



the Expedition come to a stand, I undertook, required no 

 great ability in one " not too old to learn : " it saved a 

 salary, and, what was much more valuable than gold, 

 saved the Expedition from the drawback of any one 

 thinking that he was indispensable to its further progress. 

 The office required attention to the vessel both at rest and 

 in motion. It also involved considerable exposure to the 

 sun ; and to my regret kept me from much anticipated 

 intercourse with the natives, and the formation of full 

 vocabularies of their dialects. 



I may add that all wearisome repetitions are as much 

 as possible avoided in the narrative ; and, our movements 

 and operations having previously been given in a series of 

 despatches, the attempt is now made to give as fairly as 

 possible just what would most strike any person of 

 ordinary intelligence in passing through the country. 

 For the sake of the freshness which usually attaches to 

 first impressions, the Journal of Charles Livingstone has 

 been incorporated in the narrative; and many remarks 

 made by the natives, which he put down at the moment 

 of translation, will convey to others the same ideas as they 

 did to ourselves. Some are no doubt trivial ; but it is by 

 the little acts and words of every-day life that character 

 is truly and best known. And doubtless many will prefer 

 to draw their own conclusions from them rather than to 

 be schooled by us. 



