I N T K 0 I) U C T I 0 N. 
In presenting to the Public these Illustrations of the Tribes of Southern Africa, I have nothing to say by way 
of apology : my aim has been to add something towards the history of the human race,—that grand science ot 
Ethnology which teaches us more and more, as we dive into the startling and instructive facts it daily unfolds to us, 
that “ the noblest study of mankind is man.” My desire is to contribute my mite towards the information of my 
countrymen; and if, as in the present instance, by laying down, in the great storehouse, of British literature, the sheaves 
which I have gathered, this object is accomplished, then I am repaid for my toil. The field is new, and few there are 
who would seek the distant wilds of Africa for such a purpose; hut my heart is in the work,—it is what I love,— it 
is my destiny. 
When a child, l dreamed of Africa ; in my sleep I looked upon its huge grey mountains, and saw the mists clinging 
to their sides, as I have seen it since in all its bold reality. My soul burned for something,—it was to travel far and 
wide over this beautiful world in which we exist, and of which we comparatively know so little. It is now seven years 
since I broke loose from the trammels that hound me to the artificial world : 1 was hut one amongst the two millions 
of mighty London,— a mere cipher, inhabiting hut one speck on the wide, free globe. 1 felt that I was not born to 
sacrifice every high thought and feeling at the shrine of Mammon: I longed for the natural world; and with a glad 
and thrilling heart, 1 shook off, as it were, from my feet the dust of the city, and went forth aloue to the uttermost 
ends of the earth. 
Seven years of travel, and I am not satisfied. I look upon the world’s chart, and feel my own insignificance when 
I see how few and how tiny are the spots that 1 have visited when compared with the many unknown realms that are 
traced upon its vast surface. Yet have 1 stored my memory with glorious reminiscences that must not, that can not fade; 
to these I long to add others : still I would that you, gentle reader, should know something of the many scenes there 
are in distant parts of the world, and for this do I toil on with pen and pencil, instead of rambling through the summer 
fields, when I revisit mj own native England. 
1 have stood amidst the lonely marble columns of Grecian cities—cities that once were,—and I the only living thing 
save the lizard and the hat. From the fiery summit of Etna I have looked down upon Sicily as upon a map. 1 can tell you 
of the deep blue sky, and the clear, dancing waters of the classic Mediterranean, and of the many gay cities that smile 
upon its shores. I have trocl the forbidden threshold of Moslem palaces, and beneath the gilded dome of St. Sophia 
have seen the worshippers of the Prophet triumph where Constantine first raised the Cross within the walls of Byzantium; 
Stamboul, with its mosques and minarets, its gay bazaars and turbaned cemeteries, its veiled beauties thronging beneath 
the cool shade of the plane-trees at the “Valley of the Sweet Watersthe Golden Horn, and the ever-lovely Bosphorus, 
where the Hag of the Crescent floats proudly between Europe and Asia; these are food for dreamy musings over the red 
embers of one’s winter fireside. I have gazed upon the glowing sunset, and watched the ruddy moon, like a burnished 
shield, rise from the black horizon and gild the tropic seas. In the surf-girt islands of the Atlantic, 1 know many a 
green valley where the sun shines brightly above groves of orange and myrtle; and amidst those of the Pacific can tell 
of glens where the palm and the banana flourish beneath a clime of endless spring. In the dewy silence of an autumn 
night I have looked upon the plains of old Troy, bathed in the glory of Eastern moonlight, and a strange, solemn mysf.er\ 
seemed to hover over the dark tumuli of the heroes whose deeds were snug by Ilomer. 1 have roamed with delight 
amongst the blue mountains of South America, and been charmed with the loveliness of the humming-birds and gorgeous 
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