In May 1841 the Phlegethon reached Calcutta, and my respected Commander, the late lamented R. F. Cleveland, Esq., R. N., aware of my intention to travel, introduced me to several members of the Indian Government, who afforded me every facility to enable me to enter Africa from the coast opposite to Aden, and from whence a Political Mission, under Captain Harris, was then on the eve of starting for the court of Shoa in Abyssinia. I beg particularly to acknowledge the interest that the Governor-General, the Right Hon. the Earl of Auckland, took in my proposed expedition, and also the kindness and attention I received from T. Prinsep, Esq., First Member of the Council, and T. H. Maddock, Esq., Secretary to the Government. I take this opportunity also of expressing to Capt. Haines, the political resident in Aden, my lively feelings of respect and gratitude for kindnesses the most disinterested, and for that assistance without which I could never have undertaken my subsequent journey. Of my reception in Abyssinia by Captain Harris, I speak elsewhere, but the spirit with which my arrival was hailed may be supposed by the fact that during the first evening I managed, according to the _notes of our conversation_ taken by my very courteous entertainer, to assert a falsehood, to which, however, when I became aware of the circumstance I gave an unqualified contradiction, and so ended all friendly intercourse until some months after, when a peace was negotiated through the mediation of Capt. Graham. The circumstances of this quarrel were most embarrassing to me, and have, I believe, occasioned considerable indignation on the part of those who had assisted me so far on my travels. Some respect, however, I do owe to myself, and feeling annoyed at being the subject of unworthy imputations, I have abstained from making any explanation whatever. Circumstances already have, in a great measure, exonerated me. The confidence of public men may be abused for a time, but it cannot long be imposed upon. Before laying down my pen, I must remark that I am not learned either in the Arab or the Amharic tongues, and when I have ventured to insert a few words from either language, it is to add some little to the scene, not to lead any one to suppose that the smattering I picked up among the natives is paraded in affectation of great oriental learning. In the orthography of proper names, I have used English letters, I know no other so well. Distrusting my _ear_ and _taste_, I referred to the published works of three modern Abyssinian travellers, who affect to be directed by a foreign standard of pronunciation. Finding them all to disagree, I had no other resource but to fall back upon the despised alphabet of my mother tongue.