^10 
OBSERVATIONS ON MR. 
SALT'S 
Basha Abdallah, in his letter to me, which was dehvered by Mr. 
Sah, strongly expresses his wish of becoming better acquainted 
with the English, and hopes that, if any farther intercourse should 
take place, he may be mentioned as a person desirous of being em- 
ployed by them. His conduct to Mr. Salt and his companions was 
so liberal, and free from those prejudices which usually narrow 
the mind of a Mussulmaun, that I feel it a duty to make public 
these expressions of his regard. Indeed it must be the interest of 
every trader to Abyssinia, to attach to his interest a man, who has 
more property and more power in that country, than any other of 
his religion, and whose agent, Hadje Hassan, is the most respect- 
able merchant in Massowah. 
Should a national arrangement ever take place, and Valentia 
become, as I am convinced it then would, the great emporium of 
trade with Eastern Africa, many buildings must be erected in that 
island, that the barter trade may be conducted under the superin- 
tendence of proper officers, and that the goods may be warehoused 
till they shall be wanted. It would then be unnecessary to send 
them up into the interior on credit; the native merchant would 
bring his gold and ivory to the spot, and take, in exchange, the 
manufactures of Europe and India: a traffic which the want of 
specie renders necessary. That the consumption of Abyssinia 
would increase greatly, even in the first instance, by the reduction 
of price, and the temptation of many novel and useful articles, 
which the ingenuity of our merchants would soon discover, appears 
to me certain ; but I look forward to still greater advantages, from 
the facility which that country will afford of supplying Kordofan, 
Darfur, and the other neighbouring states, with every article, at a 
