Excerpt from On the Threshold of Central Africa: A Record of Twenty Years' Pioneering Among the Barotsi of the Upper Zambesi I do not Share the weakness of certain amateurs who are the sole admirers of their own performances, and who do not perceive that people only praise them out Of good nature. I have far too exalted an ideal for that. I am fully aware of my own awkwardness and my own short-comings. If here and there I have succeeded, it is by sheer accident. But being only an amateur, I do not profess to work for the great public. My heartfelt gratitude also is due to my niece, who, with her sisters' help, has spared neither time, pains, nor labour to make this volume presentable to the English Christian public, and thus serve the interests Of the Lord's Kingdom. But if these pages can interest our friends, and win new ones for us; give them a true idea Of the country where we have travelled, laboured, and suffered; and increase their love for the work to which we have given our lives; if only they can comfort some hearts, and confirm some souls in the Faith; give a fresh impulse to the Evangelisation of the Heathen World; awaken and develop some new vocations - if, above all, they can exalt and glorify the Master Whom I serve, and Whom I love - I Shall have succeeded, and my prayer will have been granted. 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.