plants and animals amongst which he would afterwards be
thrown. If he has no private means of learning the names of such persons,
I should recommend him to write to some public Professor, stating all
particulars, and begging the favour of his advice. The use of the sextant
may be learnt at various establishments in the City and East End of
London, where the junior officers of merchant vessels receive instruction
at small cost. A traveller could learn their addresses from the maker of
his sextant. He might also apply at the rooms of the Royal Geographical
Society, 1, Savile Row, London, where he would probably receive advice
suitable to his particular needs, and possibly some assistance of a
superior order to that which the instructors of whom I spoke profess to
afford. That well-known volume, 'The Admiralty Manual of Scientific
Inquiry,' has been written to meet the wants of uninformed travellers;
and a small pamphlet, 'Hints to Travellers,' has been published with the
same object, by the Royal Geographical Society. It is procurable at their
rooms. There is, perhaps, no branch of Natural History in which a
traveller could do so much, without more information than is to be
obtained from a few books, than that of the Science of Man. He should see
the large collection of skulls in the College of Surgeons, and the flint
and bone implements in the British Museum, the Christie Museum, and
elsewhere, and he should buy the principal modern works on anthropology,
to be carefully re-studied on his outward voyage.
Conditions of Success and Failure in Travel.--An exploring expedition is
daily exposed to a succession of accidents, any one of which might be
fatal to its further progress. The cattle may at any time stray, die, or
be stolen; water may not be reached, and they may perish; one or more of
the men may become seriously ill, or the party may be attacked by
natives. Hence the success of the expedition depends on a chain of
eventualities, each link of which must be a success; for if one link
fails at that point, there must be an end of further advance. It is
therefore well, especially at the outset of a long journey, not to go
hurriedly to work, nor to push forward too thoughtlessly. Give the men
and cattle time to become acclimatised, make the bush your home, and
avoid unnecessary hardships. Interest yourself chiefly in the progress of
your journey, and do not look forward to its end with eagerness. It is
better to think of
|