146 APPENDIX, 
commercial enterprise. In July, 1834, the party who had 
undertaken this bold and hazardous enterprise, left Cape 
Town under the direction of Dr. A. Smith, assistant staff 
surgeon, a distinguished naturalist of great talent and ex- 
perience, appointed by the committee as director of the 
expedition. ‘The departure of this expedition appears from 
the colonial papers to have created an unusual degree 
of interest throughout the Colony, as will be seen by the 
following extract of a letter, published in the ‘ South 
African Commercial Advertiser, of the 18th of June, 1834: 
« Dr. Smith enters upon this expedition with the respect 
and affection of all who know him; and it will be con- 
soling to him when in the pathless desert, and far from the 
haunts of civilized men, to look back to the marks of esteem 
and affection shown him on this occasion. While he views 
with satisfaction the feelings of deep interest which the cir- 
cumstances of his departure have created, he will not need 
to feel for a moment that that interest has been lessened by 
his absence. No; he will live in the remembrance of the 
people of Cape Town: they will follow him in their imagi- 
nations, when they shall have heard of his departure from 
the last of the Missionary Stations: they will be continually 
looking for intelligence from him and his party, when 
they shall have passed the limits of the remotest tribes 
that have any intercourse with the peninsula of Africa ; and 
every favourable report of -his progress that may reach 
us, will diffuse a general gladness over the community 
which will be seen in the countenance of the child, and 
of the domestic, while the Christian will bear him upon 
his heart at a throne of grace. The interest created by 
this expedition will not be confined to Cape Town; its 
object is universal; and the interest taken in it will have 
no narrower limits than the civilized world. 
