To those who meditate Travel.--Qualifications for a Traveller.--If you
have health, a great craving for adventure, at least a moderate fortune,
and can set your heart on a definite object, which old travellers do not
think impracticable, then--travel by all means. If, in addition to these
qualifications, you have scientific taste and knowledge, I believe that
no career, in time of peace, can offer to you more advantages than that
of a traveller. If you have not independent means, you may still turn
travelling to excellent account; for experience shows it often leads to
promotion, nay, some men support themselves by travel. They explore
pasture land in Australia, they hunt for ivory in Africa, they collect
specimens of natural history for sale, or they wander as artists.
Reputed Dangers of Travel.--A young man of good constitution, who is
bound on an enterprise sanctioned by experienced travellers, does not run
very great risks. Let those who doubt, refer to the history of the
various expeditions encouraged by the Royal Geographical Society, and
they will see how few deaths have occurred; and of those deaths how small
a proportion among young travellers. Savages rarely murder new-comers;
they fear their guns, and have a superstitious awe of the white man's
power: they require time to discover that he is not very different to
themselves, and easily to be made away with. Ordinary fever are seldom
fatal to the sound and elastic constitution of youth, which usually has
power to resist the adverse influences of two or three years of wild
life.
Advantages of Travel.--It is no slight advantage to a young man, to have
the opportunity for distinction which travel affords. If he plans his
journey among scenes and places likely to interest the stay-at-home
public, he will probably achieve a reputation that might well be envied
by wiser men who have not had his opportunities.
The scientific advantages of travel are enormous to a man prepared to
profit by them. He sees Nature working by herself, without the
interference of human intelligence; and he sees her from new points of
view; he has also undisturbed leisure for the problems which perpetually
attract his attention by their novelty. The consequence is, that though
scientific travellers are comparatively few, yet out of their ranks a
large proportion of the leaders in all branches of science has been
supplied. It is one of the most grateful results of a journey to the
young traveller to find himself admitted, on the ground of his having so
much of special interest to relate, into the society of men with whose
names he had long been familiar, and whom he had reverenced as his
heroes.
To obtain Information.--The centres of information respecting rude and
savage countries are the Geographical, Ethnological, and Anthropological
societies at home and abroad. Any one intending to travel should put
himself into communication with the Secretary, and become a member of one
or more of these Societies; he will not only have access to books and
maps, but will be sure to meet with sympathy, encouragement, and
intelligent appreciation. If he is about to attempt a really bold
exploration under fair conditions of success, he will no doubt be
introduced to the best living authorities on the country to which he is
bound, and will be provided with letters of introduction to the officials
at the port where he is to disembark, that will smooth away many small
difficulties and give him a recognised position during his travels.
Information on Scientific Matters.--Owing to the unhappy system of
education that has hitherto prevailed, by which boys acquire a very
imperfect knowledge of the structure of two dead languages, and none at
all of the structure of the living world, most persons preparing to
travel are overwhelmed with the consciousness of their incapacity to
observe, with intelligence, the country they are about to visit. I have
been very frequently begged by such persons to put them in the way of
obtaining a rudimentary knowledge of the various branches of science, and
have constantly made inquiries; but I regret to say that I have been
unable to discover any establishment where suitable instruction in
natural science is to be obtained by persons of the age and station of
most travellers. Nor do I know of any persons who advertise private
tuition in any of its branches whose names I might therefore be at
liberty to publish, except Professor Tennant, who gives private lessons
in mineralogy at his shop in the Strand, where the learner might easily
familiarise himself with the ordinary minerals and fossils, and where
collections might be purchased for after reference. An intending
traveller could readily find naturalists who would give lessons, in
museums and botanical gardens, adapting their instruction to his probable
wants, and he would thus obtain some familiarity with the character of
the principal 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 a return to civilisation, not as an end to hardship
and a haven from ill, but as a close to an adventurous and pleasant life.
In this way, risking little, and insensibly creeping on, you will make
connections, and learn the capabilities of the country, as you advance;
all which will be found invaluable in the case of a hurried or disastrous
return. And thus, when some months have passed by, you will look back
with surprise on the great distance travelled over; for, if you average
only three miles a day, at the end of the year you will have advanced
1200, which is a very considerable exploration. The fable of the Tortoise
and the Hare is peculiarly applicable to travellers over wide and unknown
tracts. It is a very high merit to accomplish a long exploration without
loss of health, of papers, or even of comfort.
Physical Strength of Leader.--Powerful men do not necessarily make the
most eminent travellers; it is rather those who take the most interest in
their work that succeed the best; as a huntsman says, "it is the nose
that gives speed to the hound." Dr. Kane, who was one of the most
adventurous of travellers, was by no means a strong man, either in health
or muscle.
Good Temper.--Tedious journeys are apt to make companions irritable one
to another; but under hard circumstances, a traveller does his duty best
who doubles his kindliness of manner to those about him, and takes harsh
words gently, and without retort. He should make it a point of duty to do
so. It is at those times very superfluous to show too much
punctiliousness about keeping up one's dignity, and so forth; since the
difficulty lies not in taking up quarrels, but in avoiding them.
Reluctant Servants.--Great allowance should be made for the reluctant
co-operation of servants; they have infinitely less interest in the
success of the expedition than their leaders, for they derive but little
credit from it. They argue thus:--"Why should we do more than we
knowingly undertook, and strain our constitutions and peril our lives in
enterprises about which we are indifferent?" It will, perhaps, surprise a
leader who, having ascertained to what frugal habits a bush servant is
inured, learns on trial, how desperately he clings to those few luxuries
which he has always had. Thus, speaking generally, a Cape servant is
happy on meat, coffee, and biscuit; but, if the coffee or biscuit has to
be stopped for a few days, he is ready for mutiny.