xviii
Being questioned how he came to . have so minute -a
recollection of the exact number of days occupied in his
long journeys from place to place, he answered, that being
obliged to travel almost naked under a burning sun, he
always inquired, before setting out on a journey, how long
it was expected to last. In the progress of it he kept an
exact account; and when it was finished, he never failed to
notice whether it had occupied a greater or lesser number
of days than he had been taught to expect, or whether it
had been completed exactly in the stated time.
On asking him how he could venture to speak with confidence
of the precise number of miles which he travelled
on each day; he replied, that he could easily recollect
whether the camels on any particular journey, travelled well
or ill; and knowing that when they are heavily laden
and badly supplied with provisions, they will not go more
than from ten to fifteen miles a day ; but that, on the other
hand, when they are fresh and lightly laden, they will
travel from eighteen to twenty-five miles a day, he had
reckoned the length of his journeys accordingly.
When asked how he came to observe so minutely the
directions in which he travelled; he replied, that he always
noticed in a morning whether the sun rose in his face, or
not: and that his thoughts being for ever turned to the
consideration of how he should escape, he never omitted
to remark, and as much as possible to impress on his
recollection, the course he was travelling, and had travelled,
and to make inquiries on the subject. Being a sailor, he
observed, he had the habit of noticing the course he was
steering at sea; and therefore found no difficulty in doing
so, when traversing the Deserts of Africa, which looked
like the sea in a calm.
Enough, it is hoped, has been said to satisfy the Reader
that the Narrative is genuine. But the Editor, aware that
it might be difficult to obtain credit for so extraordinary a
story, was anxious that Adams, before he left the country,
should be seen and examined by every gentleman who
might wish it, or whose opinions would be most conclusive
with the public. Fortunately this wish was fully accomplished
: for the story having come to the knowledge of
Earl Bathurst, the Right Honourable the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, Major General Sir Willoughby Gordon, the
Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, John Barrow, Esq.* George
* In mentioning the names of Sir Joseph Banks and Mr. Barrow, the
Editor ought not to conceal that Adams had the misfortune, at his first interviews
with these gentlemen, and previous to the conclusive corroborations
which his story has since received, to excite some doubts in their minds by his
account of Tombuctoo, and by his mistakes,on some subjects of natural history,
(see Notes 15, 18, and 20), but of the general truth of his Narrative they
.did not, even at that early period, entertain any doubts.