Seven Years in South Africa/Volume 1/Preface
PREFACE.
From the days of my boyhood I had been stirred with the desire to devote myself in some way to the exploration of Africa, and whenever I came across the narratives of travellers who had contributed anything towards the opening up of the dark continent, I only read them to find that they gave a more definite shape to my longings.
It was in 1872 that an opportunity was afforded me of gratifying my wish, and I then decided that South Africa should be the field of my researches. For seven years I applied myself to my undertaking with all the energy, and with the best resources that, as a solitary individual, I could command, and was enabled to make the three journeys which are described in the following pages.
On my third return to the Diamond-fields I was urged by my South African friends immediately to publish an account of my travels; my time, however, was so engrossed by my medical practice that I had no leisure for the purpose, and contented myself with merely sending a few fragmentary articles to some of the South African newspapers.
But on arriving in London I was again so repeatedly solicited to make public wbat I had seen, that, on reaching home, I determined to issue these volumes containing an account of the leading incidents in my travelling experiences. To enter into the details of all the scientific observations that I made would occupy me for at least three years, and would interfere altogether with my scheme for returning to Africa as soon as possible, so that I have been satisfied to leave these results of my labours to be worked out by the co-operation of the men of science to whom they may be of interest.
I cherish the hope that these volumes may tend to increase the public interest which is now so powerfully drawn to South Africa, and I trust that the time is not far distant when I may submit to the public some further researches relating to “the continent of the future.”
