ABSTRACT
Sir John Lane Harrington, the British agent and consul general in Ethiopia, and Sir Evelyn Baring, who held the same rank in Egypt, were the two officials on the spot who were most concerned about Ethiopian expansion into territories claimed by Britain. In 1899, Menelik agreed to Harrington and Cromer's proposal that they mutually delimit Ethiopia's western border with the Sudan. Austin's most pressing problem was that their food supplies were running low. However, Harrington had arranged for the Ethiopians to send a relief column down to the lake, and Austin hoped to buy food from the local agriculturists around the Omo River. The latter was especially important with regard to Lake Rudolf, which, thanks to Austin's two trips, was largely in the British sphere. Harrington had arranged for the Ethiopians to send a relief column down to the lake, and Austin hoped to buy food from the local agriculturists around the Omo River.
