P R E F A C E .
I t has been my object in this work to give as clear an
account as I was able of tracts of country previously unexplored,
with their river systems, natural productions, and
capabilities; and to bring before my countrymen, and all
others interested in the cause of humanity, the misery entailed
by the slave-trade in its inland phases; a subject on which
I and my companions are the first who have had any opportunities
of forming a judgment. The eight years spent in
Africa, since my last work was published, have not, I fear,
improved my power of writing English; but I hope that,
whatever my descriptions want in clearness, or literary skill,
may in a measure be compensated by the novelty of the
scenes described, and the additional information afforded on
that curse of Africa, and that shame, even now, in the
19th century, of an European nation,—the slave-trade.
I took the “ Lady Nyassa” to Bombay for the express purpose
of selling her, and might without any difficulty have
done so; but with the thought of parting with her arose, more
strongly t.ban ever, the feeling of disinclination to abandon
the East Coast of Africa to the Portuguese and slave-trading,
and I rlp.Wminp.rl to run home and consult my friends before
I allowed the little vessel to pass from my hands. After,
therefore, having put two Ajawa lads to school under the
eminent Missionary the Bev. Dr. Wilson, and having provided
satisfactorily for the native' crew, I started homewards
with the three white sailors, and reached London July 20th,
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