Abstract:
The following pages detail an attempt to open a direct commercial intercourse with the inhabitants of Central Africa. It is well known that the attempt ended in a complete failure to make that intercourse a profitable one, and was attended with a melancholy loss of life. As far as proving the navigability of the Niger, and the ease and facility with which that mighty stream may be used for the purposes of commerce, it was successful in no ordinary degree, considering the novelty of the undertaking, the complicated nature of a steam-vessel, and the excessive mortality of the crews. I also hope that it has in some measure di spelled the mystery which has so long enveloped the interior of that interesting country; and that it has proved that any man with common sense and common ability may ascend and descend the main artery of Africa (provided he escapes the effects of the climate) with perfect safety, in moderate sized vessels, from the sea to Boussa. That my successors in the same field may avoid the errors that .were committed, and profit by the experience acquired, is the principal reason why these Narratives are published. The parties who, l hope, may, and trust will be principally interested, are those who look upon the opening of Central Africa to the enterprise and capital of British merchants as likely to create new and extensive markets for our manufactured goods, and fresh sources whence to draw our supplies; and those who, viewing mankind as one great family, consider it their duty to raise t11eir fellow-creatures from their present degraded, denationalised, and demoralised state, nearer to Him in whose image they were created.
