PREFACE TO FIRST VOLUME. 
11. 
ience with Nature, the most stimulating of teachers, and of the earnest 
determination to understand and learn to grasp everything that she put 
in my way. The reader must take these observations into considera- 
tion when passing judgment on my feeble efforts. 
1 am deeply indebted to my brother, and owe it to him if my labours 
should prove to be successful. 1 have to thank him also for the most 
important portion of the work under discussion, the accompanying 
map, the wearisome labour of several years: he drew this under his 
Commission with the British Government, and when the latter left it for 
him to print, readily handed it over to me for publication. 
No one realises better than myself that I have been far from 
reaching the goal proposed at the commencement of my journey, and 
that my earnest intentions have been only partially fulfilled. The judg- 
ment of the critics, who are not always impartial, entirely corresponds 
with my own personal dissatisfaction in this case, but the knowledge 
of having honestly striven towards my object through thick and thin is 
sufficient consolation for me. 
Added to the simple description of what T noted and observed very 
carefully in the course of my journey is a feeble attempt at a Fauna 
and Flora of the Colony, in the compilation of which I have trusted my 
own judgment only after having had it confirmed by the mature exper- 
ience of others. The inclusion of this material is entirely due to the 
energetic support of men who, with their courteous assistance and gen- 
tle but stimulating advice, have not only encouraged me in the attempt, 
but at the same time have unselfishly and readily supplied me with 
their own descriptions of the new forms met with in my zoological and 
botanical collections. I feel bound to express my thanks publicly and 
particularly' to Dr. Klotzseh. Professors Johannes Müller, Ehrenberg, 
Erich son, Dr. Troschel, Mr. Cabanis and others, who have helped me so 
whole-heartedly in the undertaking. 
And so, with the most graciously granted permission and the most 
respectful expression of thanks, I place my poor work not only at the 
foot of His Majesty’s throne, but also hand it over to the consideration 
of the public in the trust that they will judge it by no other standard 
than that which is in correspondence with the position in life that I 
have followed in the past, and which T occupy at present. 
V ‘ 
RICHARD SCHOMBURGK." J * 
