meteorological and other observations as a prelude to extensive research.

Lieut. Speke was directed to land at Bunder Guray, a small harbour in the
"Arz el Aman," or "Land of Safety," as the windward Somal style their
country. His aim was to trace the celebrated Wady Nogal, noting its
watershed and other peculiarities, to purchase horses and camels for the
future use of the Expedition, and to collect specimens of the reddish
earth which, according to the older African travellers, denotes the
presence of gold dust. [7] Lieut. Speke started on the 23rd October 1854,
and returned, after about three months, to Aden. He had failed, through
the rapacity and treachery of his guide, to reach the Wady Nogal. But he
had penetrated beyond the maritime chain of hills, and his journal
(condensed in the Appendix) proves that he had collected some novel and
important information.

Meanwhile the author, assuming the disguise of an Arab merchant, prepared
to visit the forbidden city of Harar. He left Aden on the 29th of October
1854, arrived at the capital of the ancient Hadiyah Empire on the 3rd
January 1855, and on the 9th of the ensuing February returned in safety to
Arabia, with the view of purchasing stores and provisions for a second and
a longer journey. [8] What unforeseen circumstance cut short the career of
the proposed Expedition, the Postscript of the present volume will show.

The following pages contain the writer's diary, kept daring his march to
and from Harar. It must be borne in mind that the region traversed on this
occasion was previously known only by the vague reports of native
travellers. All the Abyssinian discoverers had traversed the Dankali and
other northern tribes: the land of the Somal was still a _terra
incognita_. Harar, moreover, had never been visited, and few are the
cities of the world which in the present age, when men hurry about the