best plan would be to tell my story in a plain, straightforward
manner, and to leave these matters to be dealt with subsequently in
whatever way ultimately may appear to be desirable. In the meanwhile I
shall, of course, be delighted to give all information in my power to
anybody interested in such things.

[*] I discovered eight varieties of antelope, with which I was
previously totally unacquainted, and many new species of plants,
for the most part of the bulbous tribe.--A.Q.

And now it only remains for me to offer apologies for my blunt way of
writing. I can but say in excuse of it that I am more accustomed to
handle a rifle than a pen, and cannot make any pretence to the grand
literary flights and flourishes which I see in novels--for sometimes I
like to read a novel. I suppose they--the flights and flourishes--are
desirable, and I regret not being able to supply them; but at the same
time I cannot help thinking that simple things are always the most
impressive, and that books are easier to understand when they are
written in plain language, though perhaps I have no right to set up an
opinion on such a matter. "A sharp spear," runs the Kukuana saying,
"needs no polish"; and on the same principle I venture to hope that a
true story, however strange it may be, does not require to be decked
out in fine words.

Allan Quatermain.