With this volume the wanderings of the Boy Travellers in the Far East are brought to an end. Those enterprising and observant youths have arrived safely at home, in company with their companion and mentor, Doctor Bronson. They have seen and learned a great deal in their absence, and it has been the aim of the author to tell the story of their travels so that it would interest and instruct the school-mates and friends of Frank Bassett and Fred Bronson, together with others who have not the pleasure of their personal acquaintance.

The method followed in the preparation of the preceding volumes of the series of the Boy Travellers has been observed in the present book, as far as it was possible to do so. Though the author has visited several parts of Africa, he has never made a journey to the Equatorial Regions of the Dark Continent; consequently he has been placed under greater obligations to other writers than in his preceding works, and the personal experiences of Frank and Fred in Central Africa were not those of the compiler of the narrative. But he has endeavored to maintain the vividness of the story by the introduction of incidents drawn from many books of African travel and exploration; he has sought to confine fiction to the narrowest bounds, and to construct an account of travel and adventure that should be true in every respect save in the individual characters portrayed.

Many authorities have been consulted in the preparation of "The Boy Travellers in Central Africa," and while some have been freely drawn upon, others have been touched with a light hand. The incidents of the volume have been mainly taken from the works of African explorers of the last thirty years; a few are of older date, and some are from the stories of travellers not yet in print. During the preparation of the volume the author has been in correspondence with several gentlemen who have supplied him with information relative to the most recent explorations, and he has kept a watchful eye on the current news from the land under consideration. Though the wanderings of the Boy Travellers were confined to Central Africa, other portions of the continent were studied, as the reader will discover while perusing the following pages.

Many of the volumes consulted in the preparation of the book are named in the narrative, but circumstances made it inconvenient to refer to all. Among the volumes most freely used are the works of the following authors: Stanley's "Through the Dark Continent" and "Coomassie and Magdala;" Livingstone's "Travels and Researches in South Africa," "Expedition to the Zambesi," and "Last Journals;" Schweinfurth's "The Heart of Africa" (two volumes); Barth's "Discoveries in North and Central Africa" (three volumes); Speke's "Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile;" Burton's "The Lake Regions of Central Africa;" Long's "Central Africa;" Baker's "The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia" and "IsmailÏa;" Reade's "Savage Africa;" Bourne's "African Discovery and Adventure" (two volumes); Wilson's "Western Africa;" Baldwin's "Hunting in South Africa;" Cumming's "A Hunter's Life in Africa;" Silver's "Hand-book to South Africa;" Cameron's "Across Africa;" Serpa-Pinto's "Comment J'ai TraversÉ L'Afrique" (two volumes); Du Chaillu's "Equatorial Africa," "Ashango Land," "Wild Life Under the Equator," "My Apingi Kingdom," and "Lost in the Jungle;" Anderson's "Lake Ngami;" and lastly, several authors whose narratives have appeared in Le Tour du Monde. The publishers have kindly allowed the use of illustrations which have appeared in previous volumes relating to the African continent, in addition to those specially prepared for this work. The maps in the front and rear covers were drawn from the best authorities, and are intended to embody all recent discoveries.

With this explanation of his methods, and the acknowledgment of his indebtedness to numerous explorers and writers, the author submits the adventures of Frank and Fred in Africa to the press and public that have so kindly received the narratives of the previous travels of those youths.

T.W.K.