Catherine Hutton
Published: 2015-07-01
Total Pages: 476
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Excerpt from The Tour of Africa: Containing a Concise Account of All the Countries in the Quarter of the Globe, Hitherto Visited by Europeans; With the Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants I am the son of an English country gentleman of good family and large fortune. The first thing impressed upon my mind by my mother was, that I was born to be a great traveller. Whether the hearing of this predestination constantly repeated, during my infancy, had any influence in forming my character, or whether I really came into the world with an inclination to travel, I must leave to philosophers to determine; but certain it is that, when I could escape from my nurse, I was found in some field, or on some path where I had not been before. As I grew older, I never saw a hill, but I wished to know what was beyond it; and I never heard of a town, but I formed an idea of it, and fancied myself in it. My father died when I was twelve years of age, and my mother survived him only a year. At twenty-one, I found myself rich, independent, bound to my native country by no tie of consanguinity, and I resolved to fulfil my destiny, or gratify my inclination, whichever were the ruling principle, by seeing the world. Having resolved upon travelling, I passed three sleepless nights in considering the subject. I had always been partial to Asia. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.