138 PERSONAL NARBATIFK 



the wind was fair and light ; if our progress was not fast, 

 it was steady, and we ran down to the Straits of Babel- 

 mandel in two days and a half, passing Perim Island on 

 the 1st September. Thence to Aden our progress was 

 slower, the wind was unfavourable, and we only arrived 

 in the harbour on the morning of the 4th. On landing 

 we were most kindly received by General Russell, the 

 Eesident. I was delayed for a week waiting for a 

 steamer to Bombay, which I finally reached on the 18th 

 September, after an absence of nine months and a half, 

 eight of which had been spent in Africa. 



Altogether, I have never spent eight months more 

 pleasantly. The country was most interesting, the 

 climate during the greater part of the time perfect, and 

 the fauna and geology had all the attractions of novelty. 

 The time was quite insufficient for a thorough examina- 

 tion of the country traversed, but still I had reason to 

 congratulate myself at having been able to accomplish 

 what I had. The scientific results of my journey may be 

 thus briefly summed up. I had, I believe, succeeded in 

 determining the true succession of the principal rock 

 systems of Abyssinia, and of defining their characters 

 with much greater exactness than had previously been 

 done, besides confirming, upon a considerable amount of 

 additional fossil evidence, the opinions of Messrs. Ferret 

 and Galinier as to the age of the only series which has 

 yielded organic remains. I had collected about 1,700 

 specimens of Vertebrata, representing 350 species, besides 

 a considerable number, about 3,500 specimens, of Mol- 

 lusca and Articulata, representing about 500 species. I 



