vi 
PREFACE. 
authenticity on this singular record of enterprise 
— to do Httle more than the author would him- 
self have done. In the form of a diary, there- 
fore — written sometimes with Oriental naivete — 
the reader will here find what may be called the 
domestic history of one of the most successful 
expeditions undertaken for the exploration of 
Central Africa. I believe it would have been 
possible to get up a work of more temporary 
interest from the same materials ; but this could 
only have been done by sacrificing truthfulness 
of detail. In the present form, Mr. Richardson's 
journal will always remain as an authority on 
the geography and present condition of a large 
portion of the Saharan desert, hitherto unvisited, 
at any rate un described. 
As will be seen, the Mission was accompanied 
by two German gentlemen, Drs. Earth and Over- 
weg — the former of whom I had the pleasure of 
meeting in Egypt, after his enterprising ride - 
along the coast of Libya. They are still in 
Central Africa, pushing their excursions on all 
sides, from Bornou into unknown tracts ; and 
the accounts they may publish on their return 
will be anxiously looked for. The great traverse 
of the Saharan desert, however, with all its vicis- 
