'The Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. From December 1854 to March 1856. (New Issue.) Edited by the Secretary. Volume XII.' [‎75] (92/258)

GEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH.
Ixxv
with the support it deserved, and so fell to the ground—to be resumed in a
different form some future year.
The Court of Directors The London-based directors of the East India Company who dealt with the daily conduct of the Company's affairs. and the Geographical Society having continued to
express their anxiety on the subject, our late able and respected President, the
Honorable Mr. Willoughby, made in 1851 a careful compilation of all the infor
mation on record,* the bulk of which has appeared in our Transactions, on the
Somalies and their country, and was most anxious to assist in forwarding the
wishes of the home authorities. But at this juncture there appeared no tra
vellers at command such as exactly to meet their views. Dr. Carter’s hands
were full at the Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. , and his health not such as to warrant him in em
barking on an enterprise where so much bodily exertion and fatigue, and so
many privations required to be endured, and the gentleman afterwards select
ed was in Europe sick.
In June 1854 I found Mr. Willoughby, in his new character of East India
Director, as eager and anxious about the matter as he had been before leaving
Bombay—throwing on it, as he did on everything he took in hand, the whole
weight of his talent and attention ; and steadily collecting all the information
which could be procured as to the most effectual mode of conducting the ex
pedition, in reference to which as much anxiety was manifested by him as
if it had been proposed that he himself should become its leader.
Lieutenant Burton, of the Bombay Army, who had in 1851 published two
excellent works on Sinde, and one on Goa and the Blue Mountains (i. e. the
Neilgheries),t had in 1853 undertaken the task, by the wish and at the charges
of the Royal Geographical Society of London, of a journey from Eaypt,
through Arabia, spending some time at the holy cities and visiting the tomb of
the Prophet, returning to India by the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. in the end of the year. A
proposition having been laid by him before the Bombay Government, to con
duct the exploration of the Somali country, the expedition, after due consul
tation with the home authorities, was decided on, and Lieutenant Burton
proceeded to Aden in the beginning of the rainy season. Here he found it
necessary to wait for instructions, and the further arrangements deemed ne
cessary for the journey, delayed him till the month of October, when he and
his companions crossed over from Aden to Berberra, a considerable town on
the southern shore of the Gulf, chiefly dealing in slaves and gum. The party
consisted of Lieut. Herne of the 1st Bombay European Regiment, and Lieu
tenant Speke of the Bengal 46th N. I.
The following account from an Officer at Aden familiar with the whole de
tails of the adventure, gives a much more minute account than I have seen
any where else of Mr. Burton’s plans and projects. It expatiates more
fully on the difficulties to be surmounted than the traveller to whose merits
it does no more than justice might have done, and will, I have no doubt, be
found correct.
* The following are the principal papers on the subject : —
Cruttenden on the Somali Tribes of the North-eastern Africa.—Reports of the Bombay
Geographical Society, vol. vii., page 3. ;—Lieutenant Rigby on.—Ibid, vol. viii.—Lieutenant
Rigby’s Vocabulary of.—Ibid, vol. ix.—Lieutenant Christopher’s account of.—Ibid, vol. vi.—
See also works of Bruce, Salt, and Harris.
f The following are the works published by Lieutenant Button:-—Goa and the Blue Moun
tains. London, 1851. 1vol. 8vo.—.Seinde, or the Unhappy Valley. London, 1851. 1 vol, 8vo
—Scinde; and the Races that inhabit the Valley of the Indus, London, 1851. 1vol. 8vo.
—Medina and Mecca. London, 1855. 2 yols. tsvo.