KJ INTRODUCTION. 
good works from those on an ill-constructed plan, car be strictly 
observed only when the traveller describes what has passed 
under Ins own eye ; and when his principal attention has been 
°V Cle “> tl ?K observations than on the manners of 
different people and the great phenomena of nature. Now, the 
most faithful picture of manners is that which best displays the 
relations of men towards each other. The character of savage 
or civilized life is portrayed either in the obstacles a traveller 
meets with, or m the sensations he feels. It is the traveller 
himsdf whom we continually desire to see in contact with the 
objects which surround him ; and his narration interests us the 
more when a local tint is diffused over the description of a 
country and its inhabitants. Such is the source of the interest 
excited by the history of those early navigators, who, impelled 
by intrepidity rather than by science, struggled against the ele- 
ments m their search for the discovery of a new world. Such is 
the irresistible charm attached to the fate of that enterprising 
traveller, who, full of enthusiasm and energy, penetrated alone 
into the centre of Africa, to discover amidst barbarous nations 
the traces of ancient civilization. nations 
In proportion as travels have been undertaken by persons 
whose views have been directed to researches into descriptive 
SS g®?graphy, or political economy, itineraries have 
partly lost that unity of composition, and that simplicitv which 
th0S< ; 0f formor a S es - Zt is now become scarcely 
possible to connect so many different materials with the detail 
of other events; and that part of a traveller’s narratit; 
which we may call dramatic gives way to dissertations meS 
descriptive. The numerous class of readers who prefer aoTeeable 
amusement to solid instruction, have not gained by the exchange • 
and I am afraid that the temptation will not be great to follow' 
sur js srtattffi asSi? v 
any other to the advancement of science Often aS ^ 
discussions on meteorology, it contains many chaSCdScfe 
tions , such as those of the modes of life of the es f n P. 
the mountains, the dangers of huntim? thl X, habitants of 
sensations felt on the summit of the higher Alps ’ &nd tha 
There are details of ordinary life which /may be useful to 
* Mungo Park. 
