504 
MOTIVES FOR TRAVELLING, AND 
30 Dec. 
that there would be no want of arms and ammunition, which they 
well knew would, if rightly used, enable us to make a whole nation 
of wild men fly before us. 
These, and many similar arguments, were urged with the most 
impressive declarations of sincerity and unreserve ; yet, whether it 
might be owing to that almost universal prevalence of deceit and 
falsehood, which teaches these people, as a matter of course, to 
regard no man's words as expressing his real thoughts and inten- 
tions ; or whether some dissuasive advice and misrepresentations 
had pre-occupied their minds, I had the mortification to find that 
all I could say appeared to have very little effect. Therefore, after 
convincing my own men that it was not my intention to lead them 
into danger, I engaged them privately, and as it were on their own 
parts, to talk with these people, and use their persuasion to induce 
some of them to enlist for the expedition. The smallest number 
that would suffice for the bare purposes of travelling and conducting 
my waggons, was six in addition to my own ; and I had resolved to 
proceed on my journey the moment these were engaged. As I 
could not hope to obtain a body of men strong enough to render 
our safety from attacks of the natives certain, I contented myself 
with a number which would answer all my views in other respects, 
and be sufficient for our protection and defence in ordinary cases, 
trusting to prudence and watchfulness in circumstances of greater 
danger, and relying on the Providence of that Great Being whose 
works and whose wisdom in this remote corner of the creation, I 
was desirous of studying and making the objects of my meditation. 
To view the admirable perfection of Nature in a new light, and 
not less beautiful in the wilds of Africa, was the irresistible motive 
which led me on : while the charms which novelty of scenery, height- 
ened by the interesting consideration of Human Nature under forms 
perfectly new to me, and a philosophical contemplation of the various 
objects which in these untrodden regions incessantly present themselves, 
have for a mind constituted to feel them, inspire an enthusiasm which 
none can know but those who have been placed under these circum- 
stances. How pitiable are those cold-hearted beings, whose amuse- 
ments and views, whose whole life, and even thoughts, are artificial. 
