EN TRODUCEITON.

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THs volume contains a collection of letters, and extracts from

journals, which Emin Pasha has sent to various correspondents in Europe during his residence in the Egyptian Sudan,

As I have had the pleasure of personal acquaintance with Emin Pasha, and the advantage of travelling through a con-

siderable portion of the country he has so long ruled, and

have also been in continuous correspondence with him for the

past nine years, the task of writing an introduction to the book has been entrusted to me ; and although this is a

pleasant duty, it is yet an arduous one, for I find it difficult

to say all I wish with regard to my illustrious friend, and yet

at the same time to write in such a way as may be acceptable to him. |

It must be borne in mind that Emin Pasha has no idea

that these letters are being published in their present form. It may be well to explain here the reason for their publication.

Until last year, Emin Pasha was a comparatively unknown man. A few scientists in Germany and in England alone knew of his existence and of the work in which he was

engaged; but when, in the end of 1886, I received and pub-

lished letters from him, saying that he still held the Equatorial

Province of Egypt, and requesting help to enable him to main- tain his post, interest was aroused in him, and his fame rapidly.

spread throughout the whole of the civilised world.

Help, too, was soon forthcoming. I proposed that an expe-

dition should be sent to his relief, and the Royal Scottish