I  rejoice  over  the  fact  that  I  took  to  these  people  from
a  great  Government  a  message  of  goodwill,  imem-


PREFACE  ix

bittered  by  a  single  ungenerous  thouglit,  and  that  I
liad  nothing  to  ask  which  they  might  not  willingly
grant.
The  project  of  sending  an  American  mission  to
Ethiopia  was  originally  laid  before  President  McKinley
by  myself  in  1900.  The  matter  received  consideration,
and  in  1903  President  Roosevelt  commissioned  me
to  negotiate  a  needed  commercial  treaty  with  the
Emperor  Menelik's  Government.  The  President  mani-
fested a  gratifying  and  very  encouraging  interest  in
all  that  concerned  the  expedition,  and  in  the  Depart-
ment of  State  every  possible  assistance  was  given  in
furthering  the  organization  of  the  party.  From  the
Assistant-Secretary,  then  Acting-Secretary  of  State,
Mr.  Francis  B.  Loomis,  I  received,  not  merely  the
ojfficial  instructions  which  were  to  have  been  expected,
but  active  and  sympathetic  co-operation  in  a  dozen
practical  details  which  had  to  be  considered  in  pre-
paring an  expedition  for  the  heart  of  Africa,  where  we
had  no  official  or  unofficial  representatives,  no  point
of  contact  or  source  of  original  information  what-
ever.
For  the  sake  of  historical  accuracy  I  may  add  that
the  Commissioner,  the  surgeon,  Dr.  Pease,  and  the
secretary,  Mr.  Wales,  sailed  together  from  New  York
on  October  8,  1903,  joined  the  U.S.  s.s.  Machias  at
Naples,  and  thence  proceeded  to  Beirut,  where
Admiral  Cotton's  squadron  was  then  protecting
American  interests.  At  this  point  a  guard  of  marines
was  taken  on  board,  officered  by  Lieutenant  C.  L.
Hussey,  U.S.N.,  who  had  preceded  us  to  Djibouti,
and  Captain   George   Thorpe,   U.S.M.C,  who   sailed


X  PBEFACE

with  us.     From  Beirut  the  Macldas  sailed  directly  to
Djibouti.
