JOURNEYS AND RESEARCHES 
IN 
SOUTH AFRICA. 
INTRODUCTION. 
My own inclination would lead me to say as little as pos- 
sible about myself; but several friends, in whose judgment 
I have confidence, have suggested that, as the reader likes to 
know something about the author, a short account of his 
origin and early life would lend additional interest to this 
book. Such is my excuse for the following egotism ; and, if 
any apology be necessary for giving a genealogy, I find it in 
the fact that it is not very long, and contains only one inci- 
dent of which I have reason to be proud. 
Our great-grandfather fell at the battle of Culloden, fight- 
ing for the old line of kings; and our grandfather was a 
small farmer in Ulva, where my father was born. It is one 
of that; cluster of the Hebrides thus alluded to by Walter 
Scott : — 
“ And Ulva dark, and Colonsay, 
And all the group of islets gay 
That guard famed StafTa round/’* 
Our grandfather was intimately acquainted with all the 
traditionary legends which that great writer has since 
made use of in the “ Tales of a Grandfather ” and other 
works. As a boy I remember listening to him with do 
* Lord of the Isles. caDto iv. 
o 
