vi PREFACE.

procuring me the acquaintance of many merchants

from the more distant provinces. With these ad-

vantages I travelled during nineteen months in all

directions through these countries. Whilst on my

journey, or sojourning in any place, I noted down

in my journal everything that appeared to me re-

markable, which I laid before my friends for their

amusement on my return. It is with their advice,

and more particularly at the instigation of the

celebrated French traveller Antoine d' Abbadie, that

the information I was able to collect respect-

ing a country of which so little was formerly

known, now appears in print. My journey was

strictly mercantile in its tendency ; I cannot, there-

fore, venture on so explicit a description as might

be expected of a traveller or a man well versed in

the various sciences a traveller should profess, and

yet I am not altogether diffident, inasmuch as I

think that my small contribution will at least form

a short guide for those who may be willing to ex-

plore these countries more fully hereafter, as it will

give them many a hint before they reach these

climes, which will save them much trouble and

inconvenience during their residence in Kordofan.

Although two distinguished German travellers, Dr,