Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. My dear Jephson, -<br><br>My marriage and my illness are two causes, either one of which had they occurred separately would have sufficiently explained the delay which has rendered me unable until now to make any kind of effort to comply with the wishes of yourself and of my English and American publishers, that I should introduce your hook to your readers on both sides of the Atlantic. But, really, your book needs 110 introduction from me : those who have read In Darkest Africa know well the estimation in which I hold you.<br><br>From my own personal point of view, T can say with all sincerity that I am well pleased to know that you have actually written this book. I was of course well aware that you lost no opportunity during our wanderings through the Dark Continent of making notes of all you saw and all you did; but to convert these rough notes into an intelligent and consecutive narrative required much thought and much labour.