The general design of the Writer, as will be seen in the sequel, was of such a nature, that, without being extremely sanguine, he might have hoped to execute a considerable part of it. His prospects the first year were darkened by an unexpected disappointment on his arrival at Assûan; concerning which he may say, without any disposition to complaint, that he felt it severely. Another winter furnished him with a little more information and more experience: but still, as he afterwards unfortunately discovered, by no means all that was necessary to his purpose. He might have appeared in Dar-Fûr as a Mohammedan, if he had known that the character was necessary to his personal security, or to his unrestrained passage; but, from the accounts he received in Kahira, among the people of Soûdan no violent animosity was exhibited against Christians. The character of the converts to Mohammedism, among the black nations, was, according to the general voice of the Egyptians who travelled among them, mild and tolerant. A disposition so generally acknowleged, that the more zealous among the latter are little scrupulous in honouring them with the appellation of _Caffre_. His surprise therefore was not inconsiderable at finding, on his arrival, that an unbeliever in the infallibility of the Korân was more openly persecuted, and more frequently insulted, than in Kahira itself. The information received, previously to his departure in 1793, taught the writer to expect, from having chosen the route of what is called the Soudân Caravan, the choice of a free passage to Sennaar, which would, without much doubt, have secured him an entrance into _Habbesh_, under the conduct of the Fungni, who trade there: for the Fûrian monarch, had his favour not been withdrawn in consequence of false insinuations, would readily have accorded a safe-conduct through Kordofân, which was all that circumstances required. The being removed a few weeks journey too far to the Westward, was no objection, when he reflected on the confusion then reigning at Sennaar, and that in proportion as the road he took was indirect, the less suspicion would be entertained of him as a Frank, the greater experience he must acquire among the people of the interior, and the more easily he might be suffered to pass as a mere trader.