THE AFRICAN TEA VELLER. 



223 



number of hours per noctem, the traveller, who 

 is, in fact, his own general, adjutant, quarter- 

 master, and commissariat officer, is expected to 

 survey and observe, to record meteorology and 

 trigonometry, to shoot and stuff birds and beasts, 

 to collect geological specimens and theories, to 

 gather political and commercial information, be- 

 ginning, of course, with cotton ; to advance the 

 infant study anthropology ; to keep accounts, to 

 sketch, to indite a copious, legible journal — notes 

 are now not deemed sufficient — and to forward 

 long reports which shall prevent the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society napping through its evenings. 



It is right, I own, to establish a high standard, 

 which ensures some work being done ; but ex- 

 plorations should be distinguished from common 

 journeys, and a broad line drawn between the 

 possible and the impossible. Before a march, 

 when all my time was certain to be amply occu- 

 pied, an ardent gentleman once requested me to 

 collect beetles, and a second sent me recipes for 

 preserving the tenantry of shells. Another un- 

 conscionable physicist deemed it his duty to 

 complain because I had not used a sextant at 

 Meccah, and yet another because I had not inves- 

 tigated the hypsometry of Harar. It was gener- 

 ally asserted that my humble studies of geogra- 



