Appendix. - Notes to etext.
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Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa.
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Introduction.
Personal Sketch - Highland Ancestors - Family Traditions -
Grandfather removes to the Lowlands - Parents - Early Labors and Efforts
- Evening School - Love of Reading - Religious Impressions -
Medical Education - Youthful Travels - Geology - Mental Discipline -
Study in Glasgow - London Missionary Society - Native Village -
Medical Diploma - Theological Studies - Departure for Africa -
No Claim to Literary Accomplishments.
My own inclination would lead me to say as little as possible about myself;
but several friends, in whose judgment I have confidence,
have suggested that, as the reader likes to know something about the author,
a short account of his origin and early life would lend additional interest
to this book. Such is my excuse for the following egotism;
and, if an apology be necessary for giving a genealogy,
I find it in the fact that it is not very long, and contains only one incident
of which I have reason to be proud.
Our great-grandfather fell at the battle of Culloden, fighting for
the old line of kings; and our grandfather was a small farmer in Ulva,
where my father was born. It is one of that cluster of the Hebrides
thus alluded to by Walter Scott:
"And Ulva dark, and Colonsay,
And all the group of islets gay
That guard famed Staffa round."*
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* Lord of the Isles, canto 4.
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Our grandfather was intimately acquainted with all the traditionary legends
which that great writer has since made use of in the "Tales of a Grandfather"
and other works.
