sent from India to the King of Shoa, advised Lieut. W. Barker, I. N., whose services were imperatively required by Sir Robert Oliver, to return from Abyssinia via Harar, "over a road hitherto untrodden by Europeans." As His Majesty Sahalah Selassie had offered friendly letters to the Moslem Amir, Capt. Harris had "no doubt of the success of the enterprise." Although the adventurous explorer was prevented by the idle fears of the Badawin Somal and the rapacity of his guides from visiting the city, his pages, as a narrative of travel, will amply reward perusal. They have been introduced into this volume mainly with the view of putting the reader in possession of all that has hitherto been written and not published, upon the subject of Harar.[1] For the same reason the author has not hesitated to enrich his pages with observations drawn from Lieutenants Cruttenden and Rigby. The former printed in the Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society two excellent papers: one headed "Report on the Mijjertheyn Tribe of Somallies inhabiting the district forming the North East Point of Africa;" secondly, a "Memoir on
- ↑ Harar has frequently been described by hearsay; the following are the principal authorities:—
Rochet (Second Voyage Dans le Pays des Adels, &c. Paris, 1846), page 263.
Sir W. Cornwallis Harris (Highlands of Æthiopia, vol. i. ch. 43, et passim).
Cruttenden (Transactions of the Bombay Geological Society A.D. 1848).
Barker (Report of the probable Position of Harar. Vol. xii. Royal Geographical Society).
McQueen (Geographical Memoirs of Abyssinia, prefixed to Journals of Rev. Messrs. Isenberg and Krapf).
Christopher (Journal whilst commanding the H. C.'s brig "Tigris," on the East Coast of Africa).
Of these by far the most correct account is that of Lieut. Cruttenden.
