First footsteps in East Africa.

Burton's first expedition to Somalia, made in order to explore the forbidden city of Harar (which he was the first European to reach).

In 1854 Burton was commissioned by the British East India Company to explore the Somali region which had acquired commercial and political interest following the British occupation of Aden a decade and a half earlier. In the course of this expedition he landed at Zeila and travelled into the interior as far as the old walled city of Harar where he spent ten days before returning to the coast at Bebera in 1855. The work contains good descriptions of the above mentioned ports as well as the first detailed account of Harar, its customs, government, and trade.