ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the letters of Major Alexander Gordon Laing to Wilmot Horton. Gordon Laing arrived in Tripoli on 9 May 1825 and was warmly welcomed by Hanmer Warrington, who was waiting for Hatita to arrive from the interior. Laing made a favourable first impression but there were two matters which quickly caused the Consul serious concern. The first was Laing's health which appeared to be so poor that Warrington tried to persuade him to take a doctor with him on his journey. The second, which seems to have caused him equal concern, was the estimate of the cost of the Mission which Laing had prepared for the Colonial Office, any knowledge of local conditions. In his dispatch to Lord Bathurst reporting Laing's arrival, Warrington had promised to introduce him to the Bashaw at the earliest opportunity and to speed his departure to the utmost. The Bashaw was plainly determined to delay, if not to prevent, Laing's departure for Timbuktu.
