Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 1

Narrative of a Mission to Central
Africa Performed in the Years
1850-51, Volume 1

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Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 1, by James Richardson This
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Title: Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years
1850-51, Volume 1 Under the Orders and at the Expense of Her
Majesty's Government
Author: James Richardson
Release Date: November 27, 2005 [EBook #17164]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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1st to September 1st, and October 4th to September 4th.]

NARRATIVE OF A MISSION TO CENTRAL AFRICA
PERFORMED IN THE YEARS 1850-51,
UNDER THE ORDERS AND AT THE EXPENSE OF HER
MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT.
BY THE LATE JAMES RICHARDSON, AUTHOR OF "TRAVELS
IN THE GREAT DESERT OF SAHARA."
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193 PICADILLY.
MDCCCLIII.
LONDON: Printed by G. Barclay, Castle St. Leicester Sq.

PREFACE.

The task of the Editor of these volumes has been principally one of
arrangement and compression. The late lamented Mr. James
Richardson left behind him a copious journal, comprised in eight small
but closely-written volumes, besides a vast heap of despatches and
scattered memoranda; and, at first sight, it seemed to me that it would
be necessary to melt the whole down into a narrative in the third person.
On attentively studying the materials before me, however, I perceived
that Mr. Richardson had written in most places with a view to
publication; and that, had he lived, he would soon have brought what,
on a cursory examination, appeared a mere chaotic mass, into a shape
that would have accorded with his own idea of a book of travels. Such
being the case, I thought it best--in order to leave the stamp of
authenticity on this singular record of enterprise--to do little more than
the author would himself have done. In the form of a diary,
therefore--written sometimes with Oriental naïveté--the reader will here
find what may be called the domestic history of one of the most
successful expeditions undertaken for the exploration of Central Africa.
I believe it would have been possible to get up a work of more
temporary interest from the same materials; but this could only have
been done by sacrificing truthfulness of detail. In the present form, Mr.
Richardson's journal will always remain as an authority on the
geography and present condition of a large portion of the Saharan
desert, hitherto unvisited, at any rate undescribed.
As will be seen, the Mission was accompanied by two German
gentlemen, Drs. Barth and Overweg--the former, of whom I had the
pleasure of meeting in Egypt, after his enterprising ride along the coast
of Libya. They are still in Central Africa, pushing their excursions on
all sides, from Bornou into unknown tracts; and the accounts they may
publish on their return will be anxiously looked for. The great traverse
of the Saharan desert, however, with all its vicissitudes and dangers, the
physical aspect of that wonderful region, and the manners of the
various tribes 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 in the vivid though simple language in which a man sets down
impressions which he has just received. I have endeavoured to remove
all the faults which may be supposed to have arisen from haste or

carelessness, and have necessarily re-written several passages, and
passed a correcting pen over the whole manuscript. But I think I may
say with confidence, that there is no observation or statement in the
following pages which cannot be justified by a reference to the original
journals and scattered memoranda.
To me this simple record of daily occurrences seems highly interesting.
It divides itself, naturally, into a succession of parts of unequal
importance. First comes an account of the journey to Mourzuk, the
capital of Fezzan, containing the traverse of the