FROM TKE SOMALI COAST THROUGH SOUTHERN 

 ETHIOPIA TO THE SUDAN." 



Bv Oscar Neumann. 



In the sprino- of 1899 Baron Carlo von Erlang'er asked me to join 

 an expedition to Sonialiland which he intended to undertake for the 

 sake of spoi't and ornitholog-ical research. I agreed on condition that 

 the journey should not be confined to Sonialiland, but should also 

 extend to the countries of southern Ethiopia. The preparations took 

 nearl\' half a j-ear. Meanwhile the revolt of the ''Mad Mollah" had 

 broken out, and the western route proposed by myself proved to be 

 the only one possible, as the foreign office was forced to recall its per- 

 mission to penetrate the hinterland of Berbera, and we were therefore 

 o})liged to set out from Zeila by the old caravan route to Hai"ar. The 

 members of the expedition were Baron Carlo von Erlanger, Dr. Hans 

 Ellenbeck as physician, Mr. Johann Holtermuller as cartographer, Mr. 

 Carl Hilgert as taxidermist, and myself. 



We started from Zeila on flanuary 12, 1900, but an accident to Mr. 

 Carl Hilgert, who nearh^ killed himself with a small Flaubert gun, 

 stopped us at the wells of Dadab, only three marches from the coast, 

 so that we did not arrive at Harar until the beginning of March. 



In the desert Baron Erlanger and myself preceded the caravan in 

 order to meet Mr. Alfred Ilg, the foreign minister of the Emperor 

 Menelik, who was on his way to the coast, and to whose valuable help 

 a great part of the success of our expedition is due. But in the first 

 place we have to thank the Emperor Menelik, that intelligent ruler 

 and restorer of an ancient and great Empire, for his help and permis- 

 .sion to pass through his countiy. In the second place oui' thanks are 

 due for the kind assistance atl'ordcd by Major (now Lieutenant-Colonel) 

 Harrington, H. B. M., agent in Abyssinia; Major Ci(5cadicola, the 

 Italian envoy, and Mr. Muhle, postmaster and chief engineer of the 

 telegraph and telephone lines between Adis Abeba and Harar. 



From Harar we made an excursion to the mountains of Gara Mulata, 

 situated about three daA's to the southwest and not visited by any 

 European since the time of Captain Hunter. The western slopes of 



f'Read before the Royal (leofrraphical Society, June 9, 1902. Reprinted from The 

 Geographical Journal, London, Vol. .w, No. 4, October, 1902, 



SM 1903 50 775 



