PEEP ACE. 
When honoured with a special meeting of welcome by the Eoyal 
Geographical Society, a few days after my arrival in London in 
December last, Sir Eoderick Murchison, the President, invited me 
to give to the world a narrative of my travels; and at a similar 
meeting of the Directors of the London Missionary Society I publicly 
stated my intention of sending a book to the press, instead of 
making many of those public appearances which were urged upon 
me. The preparation of this narrative * has taken much longer 
time than, from my inexperience in authorship, I had anticipated. 
Greater smoothness of diction, and a saving of time, might have 
been secured by the employment of a person accustomed to com¬ 
pilation; but my journals having been kept for my own private 
purposes, no one else could have made use of them, or have entered 
with intelligence into the circumstances in which I was placed in 
Africa, far from any European companion. Those who have never 
carried a book through the press can form no idea of the amount 
of toil it involves. The process has increased my respect for 
authors and authoresses a thousand-fold. 
I cannot refrain from referring, with sentiments of admiration 
and gratitude, to my friend Thomas Maclear, Esq., the accomplished 
Astronomer Eoyal at the Cape. I shall never cease to remember 
his instructions and help with real gratitude. The intercourse I 
had the privilege to enjoy at the Observatory enabled me to form 
an idea of the almost infinite variety of acquirements necessary to 
form a true and gi’eat astronomer; and I was led to the conviction 
that it will be long before the world becomes overstocked with 
accomplished members of that profession. Let them be always 
honoured according to their deserts; and long may Maclear, 
Herschel, Airy, and others, live to make known the wonders and 
glory of creation, and to aid in rendering the pathway of the world 
safe to mariners, and the dark places of the earth open to Christians! 
I beg to offer my hearty thanks to my friend Sir Eoderick 
Murchison, and also to Dr. Norton Shaw, the secretary of the Eoyal 
Geograpliical Society, for aiding my researches by every means in 
their power. 
His Faithful Majesty Don Pedro Y., having kindly sent out orders 
to support my late companions until my return, relieved my mind 
of anxiety on their account. But for this act of liberality, I should 
* Several attempts having been made to irhpose upon the public, as mine, 
spurious narratives of my travels, I beg to tender my thanks to the Editors of 
the Times and of the A.tJienceum for aiding to expose them, and to the book¬ 
sellers of London for refusing to subscribe for any copies. 
