It will, perhaps, be thought by some, that I have been more minute than necessary in the account of our journey across that tremendous desert which lies between Mourzuk and Bornou, and which, generally speaking, is made up of dark frowning hills of naked rock, or interminable plains, strewed in some places with fragments of stone and pebbles, in others of one vast level surface of sand, and, in others again, the same material rising into immense mounds, altering their form and position according to the strength and direction of the winds. But, even in the midst of this dreary waste, towns, villages, wandering tribes, and kafilas, or caravans, sometimes occur to break the solitude of this dismal belt, which seems to stretch across Northern Africa, and, on many parts of which, not a living creature, even an insect, enlivens the scene. Still, however, the halting places at the wells, and the wadeys or valleys, afford an endless source of amusement to the traveller, in witnessing the manners, and listening to the conversation, of the various tribes of natives, who, by their singing and dancing, their story telling, their quarrelling and fighting, make him forget, for a time, the ennui and fatigue of the day’s journey. As for the rest, I have to trust to its novelty, for its recommendation to the public, rather than to any powers of writing, which I pretend not to possess; and it is now a source of great satisfaction to me that, under all my difficulties, and they were not few, I was able to adhere to the resolution I set out with, of recording, at the end of each day, the occurrences, however trifling, that had taken place. To Sir Robert Ker Porter, my friend since the days of boyhood, I am indebted for having perfected several drawings, with his experienced pencil, from my hasty, but yet faithful sketches, of the people and scenery of Central Africa. His eye was nearly as familiar as my own with the picturesque objects they display; and, indeed, all who are acquainted with the published narrative of his Researches amongst the Remains of Ancient Persia and Babylonia, might readily recognise the same hand, in these his spirited delineations of African costume and character. DIXON DENHAM. ALBANY, LONDON, Jan. 1st. 1826. [Illustration: MAP _of the_ Travels and Discoveries _made in_ NORTHERN & CENTRAL AFRICA, by _Dr. Oudney, Major Denham, & Captn. Clapperton, R.N._ in the Years 1822, 3, & 4. _J. & C. Walker Sculpt._ _Published as the Act directs Feby. 1826, by John Murray Albemarle Street London._] CONTENTS. * * * * * Page INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.—From Tripoli to Mourzuk xi Excursion to the Westward of Mourzuk xliii MAJOR DENHAM’S NARRATIVE.