Cruelty, and strength, nor so
implacable in their hatred of strangers, as the inhabitants of the north
and of the interior of Africa; and yet to what a short distance from the
Cape has even a solitary European traveller ever reached!
But though a very great deal remains to be accomplished before Africa will
cease to present an immense void in its interior, in our maps, and still
more remains to be accomplished before we can become acquainted with the
manners, &c. of its inhabitants, and its produce and manufactures, yet the
last century, and what has passed of the present, have witnessed many bold
and successful enterprizes to extend our geographical knowledge of this
quarter of the globe.
As the sovereigns of the northern shores of Africa were, from various
causes and circumstances, always in implacable hostility with one another,
and as, besides this obstacle to advances into Africa from this side, it
was well known that the Great Desert spread itself an almost impassable
barrier to any very great progress by the north into the interior, it was
not to be expected that any attempts to penetrate this quarter of the globe
by this route would be made. On the other hand, the Europeans had various
settlements on the western coast: on this coast there were many large
rivers, which apparently ran far into the interior; these rivers,
therefore, naturally seemed the most expeditious, safe, and easy routes, by
which the interior might, at least to a short distance from the shore, be
penetrated.
