in Arabia. On the 23rd August a favourable reply was despatched by the
Court of Directors.

Meanwhile the most painful of events had modified the original plan. The
third member of the Expedition, Assistant Surgeon J. Ellerton Stocks,
whose brilliant attainments as a botanist, whose long and enterprising
journeys, and whose eminently practical bent of mind had twice recommended
him for the honors and trials of African exploration, died suddenly in the
prime of life. Deeply did his friends lament him for many reasons: a
universal favourite, he left in the social circle a void never to be
filled up, and they mourned the more that Fate had not granted him the
time, as it had given him the will and the power, to trace a deeper and
more enduring mark upon the iron tablets of Fame.

No longer hoping to carry out his first project, the writer determined to
make the geography and commerce of the Somali country his principal
objects. He therefore applied to the Bombay Government for the assistance
of Lieut. William Stroyan, I. N., an officer distinguished by his surveys
on the coast of Western India, in Sindh, and on the Panjab Rivers. It was
not without difficulty that such valuable services were spared for the
deadly purpose of penetrating into Eastern Africa. All obstacles, however,
were removed by their ceaseless and energetic efforts, who had fostered
the author's plans, and early in the autumn of 1854, Lieut. Stroyan
received leave to join the Expedition. At the same time, Lieut. J. H.
Speke, of the 46th Regiment Bengal N. I., who had spent many years
collecting the Fauna of Thibet and the Himalayan mountains, volunteered to
share the hardships of African exploration.

In October 1854, the writer and his companions received at Aden in Arabia
the sanction of the Court of Directors. It was his intention to march in a