When on my return to England from my second sojourn in West Africa,
I discovered, to my alarm, that I was, by a freak of fate, the sea-
serpent of the season, I published, in order to escape from this
reputation, a very condensed, much abridged version of my
experiences in Lower Guinea; and I thought that I need never explain
about myself or Lower Guinea again. This was one of my errors. I
have been explaining ever since; and, though not reconciled to so
doing, I am more or less resigned to it, because it gives me
pleasure to see that English people can take an interest in that
land they have neglected. Nevertheless, it was a shock to me when
the publishers said more explanation was required. I am thankful to
say the explanation they required was merely on what plan the
abridgment of my first account had been made. I can manage that
explanation easily. It has been done by removing from it certain
sections whole, and leaving the rest very much as it first stood.
Of course it would have been better if I had totally reformed and
rewritten the book in pellucid English; but that is beyond me, and I
feel at any rate this book must be better than it was, for there is
less of it; and I dimly hope critics will now see that there is a
saving grace in disconnectedness, for owing to that disconnectedness
whole chapters have come out without leaving holes.

As for the part that is left in, I have already apologised for its
form, and I cannot help it, for Lower Guinea is like what I have
said it is. No one who knows it has sent home contradictions of my
description of it, or its natives, or their manners or customs, and
they have had by now ample time and opportunity. The only
complaints I have had regarding my account from my fellow West