First footsteps in East Africa | Page 4

return from El Hajaz to Bombay,
conceived the idea of reviving the Somali Expedition: he proposed to
start in the spring of 1854, and accompanied by two officers, to

penetrate via Harar and Gananah to Zanzibar. His plans were
favourably received by the Right Hon. Lord Elphinstone, the
enlightened governor of the colony, and by the local authorities,
amongst whom the name of James Grant Lumsden, then Member of
Council, will ever suggest the liveliest feelings of gratitude and
affection. But it being judged necessary to refer once more for
permission to the Court of Directors, an official letter bearing date the
28th April 1854 was forwarded from Bombay with a warm
recommendation. Lieut. Herne of the 1st Bombay European Regiment
of Fusileers, an officer skilful in surveying, photography, and
mechanics, together with the writer, obtained leave, pending the
reference, and a free passage to Aden 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 body, using Berberah as a base of operations, westwards to
Harar, and thence in a south-easterly direction towards Zanzibar.
But the voice of society at Aden was loud against the expedition. The
rough manners, the fierce looks, and the insolent threats of the Somal--
the effects of our too peaceful rule--had pre-possessed the timid colony
at the "Eye of Yemen" with an idea of extreme danger. The
Anglo-Saxon spirit suffers, it has been observed, from confinement
within any but wooden walls, and the European degenerates rapidly, as
do his bull-dogs, his game-cocks, and other pugnacious animals, in the
hot, enervating, and unhealthy climates of the East. The writer and his
comrades were represented to be men deliberately going to their death,
and the Somal at Aden were not slow in imitating the example of their
rulers. The savages had heard of the costly Shoa Mission, its 300
camels and 50 mules, and they longed for another rehearsal of the
drama: according to them a vast outlay was absolutely necessary, every
village must be feasted, every chief propitiated with magnificent
presents, and dollars must be dealt out by handfuls. The Political
Resident refused to countenance the scheme proposed, and his
objection necessitated a further change of plans.
Accordingly, Lieut. Herne was directed to proceed, after the opening of
the annual fair-season, to Berberah, where no danger was apprehended.
It was judged that the residence of this officer upon the coast would
produce a friendly feeling on the part of the Somal, and, as indeed
afterwards proved to be the case, would facilitate the writer's egress
from Harar, by terrifying the ruler for the fate of his caravans. [6] Lieut.
Herne, who on the 1st of January 1855, was joined by Lieut. Stroyan,
resided on the African coast from November to April; he inquired into
the commerce, the caravan lines, and the state of the slave trade, visited
the maritime mountains, sketched all the places of interest, and made a
variety of meteorological and other observations as a prelude to
extensive research.
Lieut. Speke