Much of this work is based on the travels of Lieut. Ormsby, conveyed to Wellsted verbally or through manuscripts. He travelled to Muscat, Gambrun, Bushire, Basra, Bagdad, Damascus and Tripoli, as well as in the eastern Mediterranean, before retracing his tracks to return to India. The voyage to Arabia and Socotra is Wellsted's own.

Wellsted's short career was almost entirely devoted to surveying and exploration of the Red Sea, Arabia and Oman during a number of expeditions between 1830 and 1837. His death at the age of 37 was attributed to a failed suicide attempt made in the grip of fever while exploring Oman.

First edition, 2 volumes, 8vo, xvi, 485; viii, 347pp., 2 lithographed frontispieces, folding map in vol. I, original blind-stamped brown ribbed cloth, folding cases, map with tear, repair to front free endpaper in both volumes, rebacked retaining original spine, a very good set.