to find his way across the
peninsula to Oman, but the time at his disposal (as an Indian officer on
leave) was insufficient for so extended a journey; and his further
contributions to Arabian geography were not made until twenty-five years
later, when he was deputed by the Egyptian government to examine the
reported gold deposits of Midian. Traces of ancient workings were found
in several places, but the ores did not contain gold in paying
quantities. Interesting archaeological discoveries were made, and a
valuable topographical survey was carried out, covering the whole Midian
coast from the head of the Gulf of Akaba to the mouth of the Wadi Hamd,
and including both the Tehama range and the Hisma valley behind it;
while the importance of the W. Hamd and the extent of the area drained
by its tributaries was for the first time brought to light.

Exploration in Nejd.

Burckhardt had hoped in 1815 that the advance of the Egyptian expedition
would have given him the opportunity to see something of Nejd, but he
had already left Arabia before the overthrow of the Wahhabi power by
Ibrahim Pasha had opened Nejd to travellers from Hejaz, and though
several European officers accompanied the expedition, none of them left
any record of his experience. It is, however, to the Egyptian conquest
that the first visit of a British traveller to Nejd is due. The Indian
government, wishing to enter into relations with Ibrahim Pasha, as _de
facto_ ruler of Nejd and El Hasa, with a view to putting down piracy in
the Persian Gulf, which was seriously affecting Indian trade, sent a
small mission under Captain G.F. Sadlier to congratulate the pasha on
the success of the Egyptian arms, and no doubt with the ulterior object
of obtaining a first-hand report on the real situation. On his arrival
at Hofuf, Sadlier found that Ibrahim had already left Deraiya, but still
hoping to intercept him before quitting Nejd, he followed up the
retreating Egyptians through Yemama, and Wushm to Ras in Kasim, where he
caught up the main body of Ibrahim's army, though the pasha himself had
gone on to Medina. Sadlier hesitated about going farther, but he was
unable to obtain a safe conduct to Basra, or to return by the way he had
come, and was compelled reluctantly to accompany the army to Medina.
Here he at last met Ibrahim, but though courteously received, the
interview had no results, and Sadlier soon after left for Yambu, whence
he embarked for Jidda, and af