eye off the water cask and fixing it on the scenery
where I meant it to be, saying firmly in pencil on
margins “ No you don’t,” when I was committing
some more than usually heinous literary crime, and so
on. In cases where his activities in these things may
seem to the reader to have been wanting, I beg to
s ta te th a t they really were . not. I t is I who have
declined to ascend to a higher level of lucidity and
correctness of diction than I am fitted for. I cannot
forbear from mentioning my gra titu d e to Mr. George
Macmillan for his patience and kindness with me,—a
mere jun g le of information on W e st Africa. W h e th e r
you my reade r will share my g ratitude is, I fear, doubtful,
for if it had not been for him I should never have
attempted to write a book a t all, and in order to
excuse his having induced me to try I beg to state
th a t I have written only on things th a t I know from
personal experience and very careful observation. I
have nev e r accepted an explanation of a native custom
from one person alone, nor have I set down things as
being prevalent customs from having seen a single
instance. I have endeavoured to give you an honest
account of the general state and manner of life in
Lower Guinea and some description of the various
types of country there. In reading this section you
must make- allowances for my love of this sort
of country, with its g re a t forests and rivers and its
animistic-minded inhabitants, and for my ability to
be more comfortable there than in England. Your
superior culture-instincts may militate against your
enjoying W e st Africa, bu t if you go the re you will
find things as I have said.