Transcriber's note:
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Some inconsistencies in the dates have been corrected in chapters XV and XVI:September 29th changed to August 29th, October 1st to September 1st, and October 4th to September 4th.
Performed in the Years 1850-51,
BY THE LATE
AUTHOR OF "TRAVELS IN THE GREAT DESERT OF SAHARA."
LONDON:
Printed by G. Barclay, Castle St. Leicester Sq.
The task of the Editor of these volumes hasbeen principally one of arrangement and compression.The late lamented Mr. James Richardsonleft behind him a copious journal, comprisedin eight small but closely-written volumes, besidesa vast heap of despatches and scatteredmemoranda; and, at first sight, it seemed tome that it would be necessary to melt the wholedown into a narrative in the third person. Onattentively studying the materials before me,however, I perceived that Mr. Richardson hadwritten in most places with a view to publication;and that, had he lived, he would soonhave brought what, on a cursory examination,appeared a mere chaotic mass, into a shapethat would have accorded with his own ideaof a book of travels. Such being the case, Ithought it best—in order to leave the stamp of[vi]authenticity on this singular record of enterprise—todo little more than the author would himselfhave done. In the form of a diary, therefore—writtensometimes with Oriental naïveté—thereader will here find what may be called thedomestic history of one of the most successfulexpeditions undertaken for the exploration ofCentral Africa. I believe it would have beenpossible to get up a work of more temporaryinterest from the same materials; but this couldonly have been done by sacrificing truthfulnessof detail. In the present form, Mr. Richardson'sjournal will always remain as an authority onthe geography and present condition of a largeportion of the Saharan desert, hitherto unvisited,at any rate undescribed.
As will be seen, the Mission was accompaniedby two German gentlemen, Drs. Barth and Overweg—theformer, of whom I had the pleasure ofmeeting in Egypt, after his enterprising ridealong the coast of Libya. They are still inCentral Africa, pushing their excursions on allsides, from Bornou into unknown tracts; andthe accounts they may publish on their returnwill be anxiously looked for. The great traverseof the Saharan desert, however, with all its vicissitudes[vii]and dangers, the physical aspect of thatwonderful region, and the manners of the varioustribes that inhabit it, will, in the present volume,be found to be fully described—not, it is true,with much attempt at literary ornament, but inthe vivid though simple language in which aman sets down impressions which he has justreceived. I have endeavoured to remove all thefaults which may be supposed to have arisenfrom haste or carelessness, and have necessarilyre-written several passages, and passed a correctingpen over the whole manuscript. But I thinkI may say with confidence, that there is n