476 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
in the care of Barros, a resolution which Palanca found 
most just and natural, as it was the law of the country. 
It is not improbable that this, and other proceedings 
of mine, which will be found most frankly avowed in 
the course of this narrative, may be censured by some 
of my readers; but I would beg my censors to ponder 
for a moment upon my position, accompanied as I was 
by a mere handful of men, in a country where everything 
was hostile, climate and inhabitants included. If I do 
not profess the principle that the end justifies the means, 
neither do I lay claim to that virtue which would 
present the other cheek when the first has been smitten. 
Far from the restraints of the civilised world—outside 
its two circles of iron—the penal code and social con¬ 
ventionalities, which, close and rigid as they are, still 
leave sufficient room for crime and infamy, the African 
explorer, hemmed in by savage races whose rules of 
conduct differ essentially from his own, having the 
Almighty as sole witness of his acts, and his conscience 
as sole censor of his proceedings, requires a more than 
ordinary strength to preserve his honesty of purpose 
and moral dignity amid scenes and circumstances where 
his passions might so easily lead him astray. For 
myself, I candidly confess that the ovations which have 
been showered on me by the civilised world, for having 
happily overcome the material obstacles of my journey, 
might have been perhaps more justly bestowed upon 
me for my victories over my own self, if the terrible 
internal struggles I had to undergo had only been as 
patent to the eye. 
To conquer his own unruly passions, to overcome the 
material and moral habits he has formed during his 
civilised life, are the two great labours of the explorer. 
He who can do this successfully will attain his end and 
fulfil his mission. At the outset of my journey I must 
confess I had some apprehensions on this score, and as 
time went on I discovered that my fears were not un¬ 
founded. I had to wrestle severely with my own spirit, 
but though exhausted with the struggle, I managed to 
come out victorious. By dint of indomitable will, I 
