xxvi 
ADDENDA. 
not more particularly allude, the editor apprehends that he has just ground 
of complaint against the Article in question; this circumstance ought not to 
prevent him from bearing testimony to its general merits, and bestowing due 
praise on the industry and ability with which it is composed. He would 
gladly have availed himself of the information which it contains, had he not 
conceived that it would be both superfluous and improper to transcribe long 
passages from a work, already in the hands of every reader. 
Some observations contained in the Article now alluded to, make it neces- 
sary for him to correct a misapprehension into which the Edinburgh and 
Quarterly Reviewers have fallen relative to this publication. As it has been 
erroneously stated in the former of those works, that the duty of writing 
Mr. Park's life was entrusted to the editor by the African Institution, it is 
proper for him to state, that his engagements towards that Body were strictly 
limited to the business of superintending the press and of adding such few 
observations as might be necessary to explain the nature and objects of the 
publication. In prefixing to the Journal a Biographical JVIemoir of Mr. Park, 
he acted solely on his own judgment, and followed his own desire of gratify- 
ing, in a certain degree, the reasonable curiosity of the public, and doing 
justice to the merits of that distinguished traveller. He was anxious also to 
avail himself of the favourable opportunity which this publication presented, 
for directing the public attention towards the almost forgotten subject of 
African Discovery, and for pointing out a new object of curiosity and enquiry^ 
materially connected with those discoveries, the River Congo, of which little 
was then known, and which had been passsed over nearly in silence by geo- 
graphical writers. 
In the two latter, at least, of these objects, the editor has reason to hope 
that his labours have not been altogether unsuccessful. He has the gratifica- 
tion of announcing, that two expeditions for exploring the Interior of Africa 
are now in preparation, and will shortly take place, under the directions of 
Government. The former of these is intended to pursue the course of the 
Niger, and ascertain the progress and termination of that river, as far as can 
be effected by following the plans of Mr. Park; the latter is to proceed im- 
mediately to the mouth of the Congo, and explore the course of that river, 
according to the suggestion of Mr. Maxwell, author of the Chart of the 
Congo, the very intelligent friend of Mr. Park, from whose correspondence 
several extracts have been given in the third Note of the Appendix to this 
