The Finnish Explorer Yrjö Aukusti Wallin (whose name is perhaps more familiar to us as Georg August or George Augustus) made two historic journeys into the Arabian Peninsula in the 1840s. D.G. Hogarth, paying tribute to Wallin in his Penetration of Arabia, writes:
“One recognises in him, perhaps for the first time in the history of Arabian discovery, a scientific explorer of the best modern type, thoroughly prepared, and determined to leave nothing for the man who might come after him. His assumption of an eastern character seems to have been perfect; but his observation of the scenery and society about him was in no way inspired by it; and the minute accuracy of his report, as attested by the comparison of the narratives of later travellers, argues that he took most copious notes without let or hindrance, save only in the fanatic company of the Persian pilgrims to the Holy Cities”.
Wallin’s narratives, Travels in Arabia (1845 and 1848), are here reprinted in t . CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THIS BOOK FOR FREE