Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 | Page 2

become me to shrink from public criticism, after having
braved the terrors and hardships of The Desert. However, the
publication of this journal may induce others to penetrate The
Desert,--persons better qualified, and more ably and perfectly equipped
than myself, and who may so accomplish something more permanently
advantageous than what I have been able to compass. Acting, then, as
pioneer to others, my Saharan labours will not be fruitless.
But, if any persons obstinately object to the style and matters of my
Narrative of Desert Travel, I shall likewise as obstinately endeavour to
hold my ground. To all such I say,--"Go to now, ye objectors and
gainsayers, and do better." My mission was motu proprio, and I
plunged in The Desert without your permission. But I am but one of the
two hundred millions of Europe. You can surely get volunteers. You
have the money, the rank, the patronage, and the learned and
philanthropic Societies of Europe at your back. Send others; inspire
them yourselves, and they may produce something which you like
better than what I have given you. If I am not orthodox enough,--if I

have not reviled the Deism of The Desert sufficiently to your
taste,--send those who will. A little less zeal in Exeter Hall, and a little
more in The Desert, would do neither you nor the world any harm. A
little less clamour about Church orthodoxy, or any other doxy[1], and a
little more anxiety for the welfare of all mankind, would infinitely more
become you, as Englishmen and Christians, and be more in harmony
with that divine injunction, which sent out the first teachers of
Christianity amongst the Greeks and Barbarians, in The City and The
Desert, to preach the Gospel to every creature under heaven. If I be too
much of an abolitionist, send one who admires slavery, and who will
write up the Slave-Trade of The Desert. I have written in my way: you
write in your way. If my pages disclose no discoveries in science, this I
can only lament. When a man has no science in him, or no education in
science, he can give you none. But what are your European Societies of
Science for? Are they play-things, or are they serious affairs? Have you
neither money nor zeal to equip a scientific expedition to The Desert?
If not, I cannot help you. By the way, I was astonished to receive, since
my return, a note from one of your eminent geologists, repudiating and
protesting against all knowledge of the subject of "The Geology of The
Desert." And The Desert is a fifth part of the African Continent! Yet
this gentleman dogmatizes and theorizes on all geological formations,
and can tell the whole history of the geology of our planet, from the
first moment when it was bowled by the hand of The Omnipotent in the
immensity of space, of suns and systems! If such presumption and
self-willed ignorance discover themselves in great men, what are we to
expect of little men?
In the following pages, I have encroached upon my Reports, to describe
several of the Oases of The Desert, besides giving as much of the
routes as was necessary to render the Narrative of my journey
intelligible. But this is all I could conscientiously do. For the rest of the
geographical information, the public must wait.
I return for a moment to the traffic in slaves. Born with an innate hatred
of oppression, whatever form, or shape, or name it may take, and under
what modes soever it may be developed, mentally or bodily, in
chaining men down under a political despotism, or in forging for them

a creed and forcing it on their consciences,--I have, since I could
exercise the power of reflection, always looked upon the traffic in
human flesh and blood as the most gigantic system of wickedness the
world ever saw; and which I most deplore, in this our late, more
humane and enlightened age, stands forth and raises its horrid head,
impiously defying Heaven! In very truth, it is a system of crime, which
dares
"Defy the Omnipotent to arms!"
The reader must, therefore, excuse the language with which I have
execrated this traffic in the pages of my Journal. There may be some
men who think it no crime to buy and sell their fellow-men; I have seen
many such amongst the Moslems. But he who thinks the traffic in
slaves to be a crime against the human race, has a right to denounce it
accordingly. I must therefore make a few preliminary observations,
though painful to my feelings.
It is notorious that the agitations of the Anti-Corn-Law League have
given very lately a powerful impulse to the Slave-Trade, and slaves
have risen in Cuba to 30 and 50 per cent.