N T R 0 1) U C n N.
IN presenting to the Public these Illusti-ations 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 of
Ethnology which teaches us more and more, as we dive into the startling and instructive facts it daily ujifolds to us,
that " the noblest study of mankind is man." My desire is to contribute my mite towards tbe information of my
coimtrymen; and if, us 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. ITie field is new, and few there are
who would seek the distant wilds of Africa for such a puqDose; hut my heart is in the work,—it is what I love,— it
is my destiiiv-
When !i child, I 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 hui-iied for something,—it was to ti-avel far and
wide over tliis beautiful world in which we exist, and of which we compai'atively know so little. It is now seven yeai-s
sincc I broke loose from the ti'ammels that bound me to the artificial world: I was but one amongst the two millioiLs
of mighty London,—a mere cipher, inhabiting but one speck on the wide, fi'ee globe. I felt that I was not born to
-sacrifice eveiy 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, fi'om lay feet the dust of the city, and went forth alone to the uttermost
ends of the eai'th.
Seven yeai-s of travel, and I am not satisfied. 1 look upon the world's chart, and feel my own insignificance when
I see how few and how tiny are the spots that I 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 1 toil on with pen and pencil, instead of rambling through the summer
fields, when I revisit my own native Englanti.
1 have stood amidst the lonely marble columns of Gi-ecian cities—cities that once were,—and I the only living thing
save the lizard and the bat. Fi-om the fiery sunnnit of Etna I have looked down upon SicOy as upon a map. I can tell you
of the deep blue sky, and the clear, dancing waters of the classic Mediteri-aneau, and of the many gay cities that smile
upon its shores. I have ti'od the forbidden threshold of Moslem palaces, and beneath the gilded dome of St. Sophia
have seen the woi-shippers of the Prophet triumph where Constantine first raised the Cross within the walls of Byzantium;
Stamboul, with its mostiues and minarets, its gay bazaars and turhaned cemeteries, its veiled beauties thronging beneath
the cool shade of the plane-trees at tlie "Valley of the Sweet Waters;" the Golden Iloi-n, ami the ever-lovely Bosphorus,
where the flag of the Crescent floats proudly !>etween Europe and Asia: these are food for dreamy musings over the j-ed
embers of one's winter fireside. I have gazed upon the glowing sunset, and watched the i-uddy moon, like a buniishe<l
shield, rise from the black horizon and gild the tropic seas. In the surf-gu-t islands of the Atlantic, I know many a
green vallry where the sun sliines brightly above gi-oves of oi-ange and myiile; and amidst those of the Pacific can tell
of glens wbca-e the palm and the banana flourish beneath a clime of endless spring. In the dewy silence of an autumn
night I have loolced upon the plains of old Troy, bathed in the gloi-y of Eastern moonlight, aiul a strange, solemn mystery
seemed to hover (i, pr the dark tumuli of the heroes whose deeds were sung by Homer. I have roamed with delight
anumgst Ihi- bluf mountains of South America, and been charmed with the loveliness of the liuniming-birtLs and gorgeous