APPENDIX
 

a step  OUT  OF BABEL

When  I  first  took  up  exploring,  the  difficulties I had to
encounter in  trying to catch the right pronunciation of native
names  seemed  insuperable;  for there were so many styles of
speaking, so many contractions, and so many local and personal
peculiarities, that it appeared next to impossible to get any name
correctly.    A strange tongue is confusing enough when you are
with people who have a written language, of which you may gain
some little idea from books j but, of course, in dealing with those
who have no  written  language,  confusion becomes, indeed, a
veritable Babel.    Your bewilderment is  again increased when
you have to write the names of men and of places that have
never yet been written by any one before, as I often found to my
cost before I made the acquaintance of the Royal Geographical
Society's  system  of orthography for  native  names  of  places.
This system, which may be easily mastered in half an hour, not
only   minimises    orthographical   difficulties,   but   enables   the
traveller, by the exercise of care and patience, to practically do
away with them altogether, and to send home reports containing
native names so written that they can be readily pronounced by
any casual reader acquainted with the system.    I have found
this system of the greatest service to me j in fact, to its adoption
I attribute a very great deal of my success with the natives, and
more particularly with the chiefs, for if there is one thing more
than another they appreciate, it is hearing the names of their
illustrious selves and of their towns and villages properly pro¬
nounced.    In this system the true sound of the word, as locally
pronouncedj is taken as the basis of spelling.    In applying this