Carter And Stocks, And An Officer Of The Indian Navy:
A vessel was
also warned for service on the coast of Africa.
This took place in the
beginning of 1851: presently Commodore Lushington resigned his command,
and the project fell to the ground.
The author of these pages, after his 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.
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