Page:First Footsteps in East Africa, 1894 - Volume 1.djvu/21

 PREFACE FIRST (1856) EDITION.

to writing, as well as to reading, diffuse Prolegomena, the author finds himself compelled to relate, at some length, the circumstances which led to the subject of these pages.

In May 1849, the late Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Malcolm, formerly Superintendent of the Indian Navy, in conjunction with Mr. William John Hamilton, then President of the Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain, solicited the permission of the Court of Directors of the Honourable East India Company to ascertain the productive resources of the unknown Somali Country in East Africa. The answer returned, was to the following effect:—

"If a fit and proper person volunteer to travel in the Somali Country, he goes as a private traveller, the Government giving no more protection to him than they would to an individual totally unconnected with the