. Wedgwood,
the inventor, is not only useful to the blind, but is equally capable
of being rendered available to all persons suffering under diseases of
the eyes; for, although it does not assist you to commit your thoughts
to paper with the same facility that is attained by the use of pen and
ink, it enables you to write very clearly and legibly, while you have
the satisfaction of knowing that you are spared all risk of hurting
your sight. It is but an act of justice to refer such of my readers as
may feel any curiosity on this subject, to Mr. Wedgwood, for full
particulars respecting his various inventions for the use of the blind.

Having given these personal explanations--rendered necessary by the
peculiarity of my situation, and the very general curiosity which
appears to exist on the subject, if I may judge by the frequency of the
interrogatories that are put to me--will now conclude my preliminary
observations,

Nor will I thee detain
With poet's fictions, nor oppress thine ear
With circumstance, and long exordiums here;

but place myself at once on board H.M.S. Eden, at Woolwich, on the 1st
of July, 1827, having been previously invited to take a passage to the
coast of Africa, by her captain, W.F.W. Owen, Esq., who was appointed
superintendent of a new settlement about to be established on the
island of Fernando Po. The commission with which this gentleman was
charged, afforded him peculiar advantages, as he was to retain the
command of his ship, independently of the Commodore on the African
station, for the purpose of facilitating his operations in the island.
I had resolved to visit Sierra Leone, and other places on the western
coast of Africa, principally from an early anxiety I felt to explore
that part of the world, and also, strange and paradoxical as it may
appear, for the benefit of my health. That a man should visit Sierra
Leone for the benefit of his health, seems to be as unreasonable as if
he were to seek for the vernal airs of the south in the inclement
region of Siberia. But, I am strongly inclined to believe, that the
apprehensions of European travellers on this subject are often as fatal
as the climate that produces them. In my own case, I was not only free
from any apprehensions concerning fevers and those diseases which are
incidental to a tropical climate, but, having been recommended to try
the effects of a warm region, I anticipated an improvement in my
general health fro