T)T135 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/travelsinnubiaOOburc TRAVELS I N NUBIA. Ir/i?/ Leyvts Bin'Mwrdt. jEtat. 24-. Mtched hy .AngeHcd, Clarke. Tram rhc ffn^uud ^awuuf hy SlotCT. TRAVELS IN- NUBIA; BY THE LATE JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTING THE DISCOVERY OF THE INTERIOR PARTS OF AFRICA. WITH MAPS, &c. LONDON : JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1819. PRINTED BY W. BULMEli AND CO. CLEVELAND E.OW, ST. JAMEs's. THE ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTING THE DISCOVERY INTERIOR PARTS OF AFRICA. THE COMMITTEE. The Marquis of Hastings, K. G The Earl of Morton, K. T. The Earl of Aberdeen, K. T. The Earl Spencer, K. G. The Earl of Caledon. The Right Hon. Charles Yorke. The Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, G. C. B, Lieutenant Colonel Leake. William Hamilton, Esq. Secretary. OF THE The Earl of Carlisle. The Earl of Carysfort Thomas Coutts, Esq. The Earl of Darnley. The Right Hon. Lord Clive. Robert Chaloner Esq. M. P. Sir Harry Englefield, Bart. The Hon. and Rev. Francis Egerton. The Right Hon. Lord Gwydir. The Rev. Thomas Gisborne. George Gostling, Esq. The Earl of Guildford. THE AFRICAN ASSOCIATION. The Eai-1 of Hardwicke, K. G George Harrison, Esq. The Earl of Harrowby. The Marquis of Hertford, K. G. Chai les Hoare, Esq. Henry Hoare, Esq. Henry Hugh Hoare, Esq. Sir Everard Home, Bart. Richard Payne Knight, Esq. The Right Hon. Lord Lovaine, M. Thomas Legh, Esq. M.P. John Maitland, Esq. John Motteux, Esq. The Earl of Mountnorris. D. L. North, Esq. M. P. WiUiam Morton Pitt, Esq. M. P. James Rennell, Esq. Henry Salt, Esq. The Reverend William Smelt. John Symmonds, Esq. Sir William Watson, Bart. William Wilberforce, Esq. M. P. P. Roger Wilbraham, Esq. Right Rev. the Bishop of Winchester. The Right Hon. Lord Yarborough. CONTENTS Memoir on the Life and Travels of John Lewis Burckhardt. - i Journey along the Banks of the Nile, from Assouan to Mahass,on the Frontiers of Dongola. - _ - - l Description of a Journey from Upper Egypt through the Deserts of Nubia to Berber and Suakin, and from thence to Djidda in Arabia. - - - - - - 163 APPENDIX. No. I. Itinerary from the Frontiers of Bornou, by Bahr elGha- zal, and Darfour, to Shendy. - - - - 477 No. II. Some Notices on the Countries of Soudan, west of Dar- four; with Vocabularies of the Borgho and Bornou Languages ; collected at Cairo from Negroe Pilgrims. - - 484 No. III. Translation of the Notices on Nubia contained in Makrizi's History and Description of Egypt, called El Khetat, SfC. ; with Notes. - - - 493 ERRATA. Page Line xxix, 25, xlv. 24, 5, Ixxxi, 12, 166, ult. \ 167, 272, note, 299, note, 362, 7. 487, 4, ib. 34. 488, 8, ib. 20, for Manali Arabs, read Mawdli Arabs. for divided from the north of Djebal, read divided to the north from Djebal. for the, read this. for twenty-eight dollars, read twenty-five dollars. for MucaSi^ot, read MiyaSd^oi. for jiarts of Asia Minor, read ports of Asia Minor. for March 18th, read May 18th. for Moslenjs, read Moslims. for map, read maps. for tamirisk, read tamarisk. for iiothern read northern. MEMOIR ON THE LIFE AND TRAVELS or JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. /t/rf Ihr Mf'llUJil- ^" It^Utf J J'lihUs/Led as the Act directs j" ilfr'iSi^.iyJchnAIurrajMbenuifie Stnet Ltmdcn IValker , Sculpt MEMOIR, i^c John Lewis Burckhardt was of an eminent family of Basle, but born at Lausanne. He was the eighth child of John Rodolph Burckhardt, commonly called Burckhardt of Kirshgarten from the name of his mansion in the city of Basle. Burckhardt of Kirshgarten began life with the best prospects, but they were soon blighted by the French revolution ; from the very beginning of which he became involved in a series of dangers and difficulties, which atone time had nearly brought him to the scaffold. On the accusation of having been concerned in betraying the T6te- de-pont at Huningen to the Austrians, when they besieged that fortress in the year 1796-7, he was tried for his life by the French party at Basle ; and although, in consequence of the undoubted proofs of his innocence brought forward upon his trial, he was released from prison, he found it impossible to remain in the power of the French, as he had certain information of his being upon the list of those who were to be destroyed either by open or secret means. He entered into a Swiss corps in English pay, but was un- der the necessity of leaving his wife and children at Basle, to save the family if possible from total ruin. Here his son Lewis Burck- hardt was a daily witness of the misery suffered under the repubhcan French, and here he imbibed, at a very early age, a detestation of their principles, and a resolution never to bend under their yoke. It was his wish to serve in the armies of some nation which should iv LIFE AND TRAVELS OF be at war with France ; but he was first desirous of completing his education, which with the exception of two years in an estabhsh- ment at Neuchatel, had been hitherto under the care of a person residing in his father's house. In the year 1800, being then 16 years of age, he was carried by his father, Colonel Burckhardt, to the university of Leipzig, from whence after a stay of near four years he was removed to Got- tingen. In both places his exemplary conduct and high feelings of honour, his distinguished talents and ardent zeal for knowledge, ensured him universal esteem and respect ; while a remarkable frankness, cheerfulness, kindness, and evenness of temper, made him particularly beloved by his more intimate acquaintance. After leaving Gottingen in 1805, he returned to his father, and remained also a short time with his mother at Basle. Uncertain what plan to pursue, unable to find upon the continent any nation which was not either subject to the French or in alliance with them, and having for these reasons rejected an offer made to him by one of the royal courts of Germany to enter the diplomatic line, he resolved at length upon proceeding to England, in the hope of meeting some opening to his wishes in the service of this country. He arrived in London in the month of July, 1806, bringing with him several excellent letters of introduction, among which was one to Sir Joseph Banks, from Professor Blumenbach of Gottingen. The President of the Royal Society had long been an active member of the Committee of the African Association, which at that time had more than begun to despair of any further intelligence from Mr. Horneman, and in the following year received an account of the death of another of their travellers, Mr. Henry Nicholls, at Old Calabar, in the bight of Benin, where he was preparing him- self for an expedition into the interior country. The result of the information obtained by the travellers of the JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. V Association on the Western side of Africa, compared witli that trans- mitted by Mr. Horneman from the North, had now rendered it advisable to make a new attempt in the latter direction. These wishes of the Association soon became known to Burckhardt, through his acquaintance with some of the leading members. To a mind equally characterised by courage, a love of science and a spirit of enterprise, such an undertaking afforded peculiar attrac- tions, and accordingly it was not long before Burckhardt made an otfer of his services to Sir Joseph Banks and the Rev. Dr. Hamilton. The latter, who was at that time Treasurer and acting Secretary of the Association, perceiving him to be undismayed by the strong representations of danger, which it was peculiarly right to make to a person of his birth and education, and having found him admira- bly adapted to the undertaking by his natural and acquired talents, as well as by the vigour of his constitution, laid his offer before the Association at the next general meeting in May, 1808. The offer was willingly accepted, and Burckhardt received his instruc- tions on the 25th of January, 1809, having diligently employed the interval in London and Cambridge in the study of the Arabic language, and of those branches of science which were most ne- cessary in the situation wherein he was about to be placed. He allowed his beard to grow and assumed the Oriental dress : he at- tended lectures on chemistry, astronomy, mineralogy, medicine and surgery, and in the intervals of his studies he exercised himself by long journeys on foot, bareheaded, in the heat of the sun, sleep- ing upon the ground, and living upon vegetables and water. As an intimate knowledge of Arabic was the most important of all acquirements, our traveller was instructed to proceed in the first instance to Syria, where at the same time that he studied the language in one of its purest schools, he might acquire a ha- bitude of Oriental manners at a distance from those countries vi LIFE AND TRAVELS OF which were to be the scene of his researches, and consequently without much risque of being afterwards recognised. After a stay of two years in Syria, he was instructed to proceed to Cairo, frona whence, accompanying the Fezzan caravan to Mourzouk by the same route traversed by Horneman, he was directed to make thai town the point of his departure for the interior countries. On the 2d of March, 1809, Burckhardt sailed from Cowes on board of a merchant ship, proceeding with convoy to the Mediterra- nean, and he arrived at Malta in the middle of April, from whence he addressed two letters to Sir Joseph Banks, of which the following are extracts : Extract of a letter dated Malta, April 22, 1809. You will be much interested in hearing that at this moment an attempt is making to explore the Interior of Africa ; and that I have, unknowingly, entered upon my expedi- tion as rival to a gentleman who is probably by this time in the scene of action. I was allowed the perusal of a letter from Dr. Seetzen to Mr. Barker, who is a merchant of Malta, and brother to the British Consul at Aleppo. Dr. Seetzen is a German physician, who was sent five or six years ago by the Duke of Saxe-Gotha into the Levant, to collect manuscripts and Eastern curiosities. He has resided for a considerable length of time at Constantinople, at Smyrna, at Aleppo, at Damascus, and for the last eighteen months at Cairo, froni whence his letter to Mr. Barker is dated on the 9th of February last. After remarking that he had sent off from Cairo to Gotha a collection of fifteen hundred manuscripts and three thousand diffei-ent objects of antiquity, he informs Mr. Barker that he is waiting for the next caravan to set out for Suez ; that he means to go down the eastern coast of the Red Sea, and then entering Africa to the southward of the line, to explore its interior parts. Such are his expressions. The late Bey of Tripoli is at present a fugitive at Malta : he is a much respected old man; his name Akhmed Karamaly : five or six years ago he was dispossessed of his throne by his brother, the present reigning Bey. I take Akhmed to be the Bey men- tioned in Hornetnan's letters. He has at length come to a compromise with his brother, who has ceded to him the province of Derna, and promises not to molest him there, pro- vided he keeps quiet himself ; and Akhmed is now going to take possession of his new territory. I had never heard before that Derna was a dependency of Tripoli ; the country was generally, I think, supposed to be inhabited by free tribes of Arabs. It is much to be regretted that the whole extent of that coast, from Mesurata to Derna, and almost as JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. Vll far as Alexandria, should still remain unsurveyed ; no accurate soundings have been taken along the shore, and its inland parts, even those nearest the sea, are totally unknown. I am assured that there are three safe anchoring places between Dema and Alexandria ; the harbour of Bomba,* formed by an island lying across the bay, is particularly spoken of as able to contain almost any number of ships and of any size. When the French fleet, under Admiral Gantheaume victualled Corfu last year, and escaped the vigilance of Lord CoUingwood's cruising squadrons, they were hid for some time, with their fore and top masts struck, behind the island of Bomba, and were passed unnoticed. The Malta pilots ai'e perfectly well acquainted with all the inlets of the coast, but their intelligence is little to be depended upon, because the safety of many of their privateers depends upon an exclusive knowledge of that part of the Mediterranean. An English traveller might, under the protection of the governor of Malta, and of the new sovereign of Dema, who is smd to be very much attached to this country, visit with great personal safety, the ancient site of Berenice, Cyrene, and the gardens of the Hesperides. Some account of the recent eruption of Mount ^Etna has probably already reached you ; until you receive a detailed description of it, even such a superficial account as I have received from different quarters may perhaps prove acceptable to you. It was from the letter of an English gentleman who was on the spot, that I obtained the following account. The time of the first eruption is not mentioned, but on the 27th of March, Messina was covered with ashes and cinders early in the morning. The children said it rained black snow. No earthquake seems to have been felt. A new crater, approaching in size to that of the Monti Rossi, had been formed; and in the neighbourhood of it, seven or eight small ones ; they lie in the direction of Lingua-grossa, about three or four miles from that place, and at an equal distance from Castiglione. On the other side of the mountain, over Nicolosi and over Randazzo, two other craters have opened ; the old crater at the summit was also smoking, so that the whole mountain seems to have been in combustion. The principal stream of lava took the slope towards Franca Villa and Castiglione ; its breadth varied, according to the shape of the country, from twenty yards to one mile. On the steepest part where the lava was most liquid, it flowed between three and four miles an hour ; at other places, and particularly where it approached the vineyards of Franca Villa, its rate was only about fifty yards during the same space of time. As it ran doAvn a very woody country, the breaking down of the forest and its ingulphing in the fiery waves are described as a most sublime spectacle. On the 12th of April the eruption had nearly subsided, but the inhabitants, for whose relief the English had raised a subscription, were in dread of new eruptions. * Bomba was a Greek colony under the name of Plateia, It was the first possession of the Greeks on the coast of Africa. (Herodot. 1. 4. c. 151.) LIFE AND TRAVELS Extract of a letter dated Malta, 22nd May, 1809. T am proceeding from hence to Aleppo as an Indian Mohammedan merchant, the supposed bearer of dispatches from the East India Company to Mr. Barker, British Con- sul, and the Company's well known Agent at Aleppo. As such I am recommended to the British Consul at Cyprus, a Greek ; and as such I shall find means to excuse my pre- sent irregularity of speech and manners. I shall escape the exaction of the custom- house officers, be protected on the road, even by the country authorities, and shall soon be lost in the crowds of Aleppo. During my stay here, I have succeeded in equipping myself thoroughly in the Oriental fashion. The dress I have taken is somewhat Syrian, yet sufficiently differing from the retd Syrian costume, to shew that I have no wish of passing for a native. I have practised as much as was in my power the speaking of Arabic, and have reason to believe that none of my secrets have transpired. I have lived out of the way of intruders, and of being taken notice of, in the lodgings of Lieutenant Corner of the navy. Harbour-master, to whom, as well to Mr. Chapman, the Public Secretary, and Mr. Peter Lee, I am under infinite obligations for the help and advice which they have given uie. Sir Alexander Ball has been very kind to iiie upon every uccctsion, and sppmpH much iiiterest/'d in the success of my travels. Circumstances would not allow me often to call at the palace, which his friendly and instructive conversation, whenever I did call, rendered a matter of great regret to me. ******** A singular misrepresentation prevails in Europe respecting this island, namely, that the greater part of the soil is imported from Sicily ; and it has even been said, that by these importations the soil is completely renewed every ten years. I believe it would be diffi- cult to produce a single instance of earth having been brought over from Sicily. To make tlie soft and friable limestone, of which the island consists, fit for agriculture, they break through it to the depth of twelve or fifteen feet. A sort of rough cistern from six to eight feet high, often running under the whole length of the field, is then constructed with part of the stones which have been taken out; large fissures are found in the rocks full of earth ; this is taken out, and is sufficient to cover the cistern to the height of four or five feet ; the rest of the stones are used for buildings, and to construct a waU round the field, which prevents the soil from being washed away by the torrents of rain in the rainy season, at the same time that it shelters the fig and olive trees planted within the wall from the violence of the wind. The whole island is covered with these enclosed fields, whose soU is very fertile. The mistaken notion alluded to, may arise perhaps from the following circumstances. Ships and boats coming here from Sicily often take in ballast at that island, consisting of sand, mixed perhaps with some earth, which, when they arrive here, they are obliged to carry to a particular part of the harbour, to prevent its being thro\\Ti overboard and JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. choaking the anchorage. Or perhaps the frequent importation of terra puzzolana, which is in common use to make cement, and which when landed may have been mistaken for earth, may have given rise to the assertion. The government of Malta is at this moment a curious mixture of English and Mal- tese authority. As yet the island does not belong to England. The islanders having, Avith the assistance of Sir Alexander Ball, who was then a captain, obliged the French garrison at Valetta to surrender, applied to the British government for assistance in the further defence of their island, against the attempts that might be made by the French, and the Knights ; and they offered in l eturn, to give up the government and the revenue. In consequence of this proposal, Sir Alexander was sent to them soon afterwards, as his Majesty's Civil Commissioner. After the peace of Amiens, when the island was to be restored to the Order, he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to tiie Court of the Grand Master. The Court however never resumed its existence, though it is still nominally recognised ; all the English resident here, excepting of course the military, are judged by Maltese laws and courts of justice, at the head of which is a Maltese pre- sident, but the decisions are submitted to the approbation of the civil governor, who in capital cases may reprieve the criminal. All civil situations, except three or four, appointed from home, are in the patronage of the governor, but are exclusively held by natives. It is by this policy, and by totally excluding military law, that the hearts of the people have been gained. It may well be worth while to do so, for the Maltese are an indepen- dent high spirited people, however they may have been represented by the Knights. In the time of their rising against the French, they formed a well disciplined corps of 15,000 men, the greater part of whom were expert sharp-shooters. The port of Valetta has lately been declared a free port, and this will render it for a long time to come the centre of trade from Gibraltar as far as Odessa. The numerous Greek traders find themselves better protected here than in their own islands. Here are no greedy custom-house officers nor interested kadis to share their profits, but they find that justice is dealt to them with the same equity as to the first London merchants, and that even the England home trade does not enjoy greater privileges than their own. The island of the Archipelago which sends out the greatest number of ships "is Ydra ; they are well built, armed and manned. Government monopolizes the corn trade of the island, and engages in return to sell the com at a fixed price. A supply for two or three years consumption for the whole popu- lation is always kept in the fortress. The former Pasha of Tripoli, whom I spoke of in my last letter, is gone to Dema, under convoy of a brig which Sir Alexander sent with him. His ship was moored for a whole day close under my window, which afforded me a fortunate opportunity of prying b X LIFE AND TRAVELS OF unobserved into the Moors' private manners, and behaviour to each other ; and even the short history of one day became very instructive to me. You may well conceive that I avoided all intercourse with these persons from Bar- bary. I often met parties of them in the streets, but the " Salem aleik " given and returned, was all that passed between us. The trade between Malta and Barbary, especially that with Tripoli and Tunis, acquires daily more vigour and stability. Even the English merchants begin to enter into it ; hitherto the Moors and the Maltese have chiefly had it ^in their hands. The Tunisians, besides bartering in the Mediter- ranean for themselves, are also shippers for others, and enterprising smugglers with the enemy's ports. During my passage from Gibraltar, being above six miles to the westward of Cape Toro in Sardinia, five Tunisian vessels passed in the night close to our ship, standing right over for the coast of France. Our Commodore was not near enough to see them, nor was it thought advisable to make any signals. It happens rather unfortunately, that a Swiss regiment in the English service is in gar- rison here, to many of the officers of which I am personally known : this has made me very cautious in going abroad, and now, after a seven weeks residence, I have the satis- faction to find that I have succeeded in passing unknown, and unnoticed. The great in- tercourse between the Moorish merchants and Malta, made it absolutely necessary for me to keep my travelling plans very secret. The next intelligence which the Association received from their traveller was a detailed account of his progress from Malta to Aleppo, in a letter dated from the latter place on the 2d of October, I8O9. The following copious extract contains all the most inter- esting parts of it. I have already had the honour to inform you, that I had settled at Malta with a Greek, for my passage to Cyprus on board his ship. A few hours before my departure, the captain called upon me to tell me that the owner of the ship had changed his mind as to its destination, that he himself had been ordered to go to Tripoly, but that a friend of his, whom at the same time he introduced to me, Avas on the point of sailing in his stead for Cyprus, and that he had already put my baggage on board this other ship. Though displeased with so preremptory a proceeding, I had no objection to change my conveyance, both captains being known to IMr. Lee ; but the very moment I ^vas embark- ing, the new captain told me that he was not quite sure whether he should touch at Cyprus, his ship being properly bound for Acre. I had now the option to wait at IVIalta, perhaps another month or two, for an opportunity for Cyprus or the coast of Syria, or to run the JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. xi chance of disembarking at a place where there was no person whatever to whom I could apply for advice or protection. liUckily an Arab of Acre, then at Malta, happened to be known to Mr. Barker, jun. ; in half an hour's time a letter for a merchant at Acre, with another, in case of need, for the Pasha, were procured, and I embarked and sailed the same morning, in the hope of finding, when arrived at Acre, a passage for Tripoly (Syria), or for Latikia. However, we were no sooner out of sight of the island, than it was made known to me that the real destination of the ship was the coast of Caramania, that the captain had orders to touch first at the port of Satalia, then at that of Tarsus ; and that if grain could not be purchased at an advantageous price at either of these places, in that case only he was to proceed to Acre. My remonstrances with the captain would have been vain : nothing was left to me but to cultivate his good graces, and those of my fellow travellers, as the progress of my journey must depend greatly upon their good offices. The passengers consisted, to my astonishment, of a rich Tripolitan merchant, who owned part of the ship, two other Tripolines, and two Negroe slaves. I introduced myself amongst them as an Indian Mohammedan merchant, who had been from early years in England, and was now on his way home ; and I had the good fortune to make ray story credible enough to the passengers, as well as to the ship's company. During the course of our voyage numerous questions were put to me relative to India, its inhabitants, and its language, which I answered as well as I could : whenever I was asked for a specimen of the Hindu language, I answered in the Avorst dialect of the Swiss German, almost unintelligible even to a German, and which, in its guttural sounds, may fairly rival the harshest utterance of Arabic. Every evening we assembled upon deck to enjoy the cooling sea breeze, and to smoke our pipes. While one of the sailors was amusing his companions with story-telling, I was called upon to relate to my companions the wonders of the farthest east ; of the Grand Mogul, and the riches of his court: of the widows in Hindostan burning themselves : of the Chinese, their wall and great porcelane tower, &c. &c. The Tripolitan merchant, in his turn, regaled us with the wonders of Soudan, of one nation whicli is in continual warfare witli their neighbours, of a nation of speaking sheep, of another of necromancers, who lately defeated a whole army which the King of Bornou had sent against them, &c. &c. Still there was something in- structive in his tales, as I learnt with certainty that the yearly caravan intercourse between Fezzan and Tripoly is still uninterrupted; in February 1 80y, a caravan from thence had arrived at Tripoly ; but the pilgrim caravans from Fezzan to Cairo and Mekka have suf- fered greatly by the irruptions of the Wahabi. In a short time I got upon a very friendly footing with the Tripolines. I had taken but a scanty provision of eatables on board, consisting of bread, rice, oil, dates, vegetables, and coffee. After the second day, the wealthy Moor would not allow me to mess by myself ; he insisted upon my join' xii LIFE AND TRAVELS OF ing his mess, which was plentifully supplied with all sorts of Barbary dainties. In return for his hospitality, I was not backward with my manual labour whenever he wanted it. One day we cleared one of his coffee bags of its rotten beans, to prepare it for being shewn at Satalia to the buyers as a sample of the whole stock : another day we killed a sheep, and made Barbary sausages and Kuskusey; and among other things, we refitted the foremast, which had been carried away off Candia. Provided there was something to divert the pas- sengers' thoughts from my person and affairs, I was contented. We made Candia on the 15th; sailed on the 15 th and 16th along the southern coast, about ten leagues distant from it : saw on the I7th Rhodes, at a great distance: entered the next day the bay of Satalia, and anchored on the 19th in the port of Satalia. The bay is an inlet into the mountains of Cai-amania, which surround it on the east and west side. Towards the north, where a cliff about fifty feet high overhangs the bay, the country is level. The port of Satalia is at the foot of the cliff, in the bottom of the bay. The mountains on the western side, which we passed very near, are of considerable height. Their highest ridge was on the top covered with snow. I observed one of those mountains apparently higher than the rest, whose foot touched the sea, on the sides of •which the snow was sparingly spread down to one third of the mountain's height ; and this was on the 18th of June. They are all barren ; their shape and whole appearance is much the same as that of the African mountains in the Straits of Gibraltar. The town of Satalia is built partly upon the cliff, partly in the plain which the cliff terminates ; its gardens extend to about three or four miles along the rocky shore. The town is separated from the port and the few buildings which surround the landing place, by a wall constructed on the top of the cliff ; a narrow passage leads from the beach up to the town, the gate of which is regularly shut at sunset. The entrance of the harbour seems to have been defended formerly by two towers, the ruins of which are still extant. The inner harbouir is sm£^ll ; a Turkish guard ship, four Arab vessels from Damiat, five or six small country sailing boats, and our own. ship, crowded the whole space between the two ruined towers. There is good anchorage in the larger outer bay, but no shelter against the southerly winds. T^wo fine streams of spring water descend the cliff on both sides of the landing place. As soon as we approached the harbour a Turkish police boat came alongside of us, and the Tripohne immediately went with the officer on shore. After we had come to anchor we were informed that the plague was in the town, and that the watch ship moored near us had two sick on board ; and though nobody had died in tlie town within the last fortnight, yet all the principal Christian and Turkish merchants had left their town houses, and were still living in their gardens. Of course our captain would not allow any body to go on shore, and pressed the Tripoline to return on board ; but the latter having already recovered once from the plague, thought himself quite secure from any second attack, and treated JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. xiii the captain's remonstrances very lightly. He remained four days on shore, trading all the while for his own account, without finding grain to purchase i'or the ship's cargo. During that time I went once on shore to see two bullocks killed and weighed, which had been bought for the ship's company ; we purchased besides some other fresh provisions, the whole at very low prices: the two bullocks at fifty-five piastres, fowls at eight paras, or about tw o-pence halfpenny each ; seven eggs for one penny, &c. &c. The Turks laughed much at the captain's continually warning them off from our persons, (yet it seems that both at Satalia and here at Aleppo, the more prudent amongst them adopt measures of precaution against the plague. I am told that at Smyrna also they have followed the Franks' example). On the evening of the 23d, having sold for his private account all the merchandize he had on board, the Tripoline, accompanied by several Turks, made his re appearance along side our ship, and demanded forthwith to be taken on board. A very ridiculous scene then took place. The captain requii'ed that he should undress and wash himself in the sea, and that his clothes should undergo a similar opera- tion ; the Moor, on his side, insisted on washing only part of his clothes and his body ; and all his Turkish friends were of the same opinion ; (an aged Musselman thinks it a great shame to expose his body naked except in the bath.) The contention lasted upwards of half an hour : it being now dark he was at last prevailed upon to j ump into the sea, but nothing could persaude him to allow his clothes to be washed, for fear of having them spoiled ; tliey were afterwards suspended at the rigging of the foremast, that the air might purify them, and he recovered them after a three days quarantine. Our captain thought he had now done his duty. He told me that upon his return to Malta he should think himself justified in taking the usual oath, that he had had no communication with any infected place ; and instead of a three months quarantine, which the ship ought properly to undergo, he will only have to perform a quarantine of forty days, like all other ships which come from healthy parts of the Levant. We left Satalia the same evening. Satalia is governed by a Pasha : the greater half of the population consists of Greeks, who have got almost all the commerce into their hands. Till three or four years ago there was a French Consul resident in the town ; in consequence of an avanie practised upon a merchant under his protection he left it, and no European power has since appointed a Consul at this place. The export trade consists chiefly in corn, oil, and cotton. The country boats trade to Cyprus and the coast of Syria. The Arabs of Damiat and Alexandria bring rice, Mocha coffee, and sugar ; those who were then lying in the harbour purchased from us with great eagerness some coarse English jwcket handkerchiefs. After we had left Satalia, we sailed for three days along the coast of Caramania, and kept our course constantly ten leagues distant from the shore. The chain of snowy moun- tains seems to continue in a direction parallel with the shore. At the foot of these xiv LIFE AND TRAVELS OF mountains I observed every evening thunder clouds and lightning; during our stay in the port of Satalia we were twice refreshed by heavy showers, though it was now the season when it very seldom rains in other parts of the Levant. I suppose that the vicinity of the snowy mountains, which rapidly condense the copious vapours arising from the heated earth, give rise to these clouds. On the 2Gth, late at night, we anchored in the roads of Mersin, a collection of villages so called, situated to the west of Tarsus, about fourteen miles distant from it. The next morning some of us went with the Tripoline on shore, where we found a party of about twenty Turkmans, encamped under and around a single tent ; they were selling grain, with which the buyers loaded several camels. After a short parley the chief of the party led us to his village, about two miles distant. We remained there the whole day in the chiefs house, couched upon carpets, which were spread upon a terrace sheltered from the sun by the shade of two large mulbeiTy trees. We returned to our ship in the evening ; and spent the next four days in the same manner with these hospitable people. An Aga is at the head of this Turkman tribe ; he commands about twenty-five villages, over each of which he appoints a chief to collect the revenue, which is equally divided be- the Chief and the Aga. Many of these chiefs are Greeks, who by their long residence Avith the Turkmans have completely adopted their manners. Their dress is the same, excepting the red cap, which the Greeks do not wear ; and but for that mark it would be impossible for a stranger to distinguish them from their masters. The Turkmans are con- tinually moving about on hor.seback from one village to another ; they are tolerably well mounted and well armed, each with a gun, two pistols, a poignard, and a sabre. They never go but armed, but it seems to be chiefly from ostentation, for they live at peace with the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages, have nothing to fear from straggling Arab tribes, and have no opportunity of attacking travellers or caravans, which never pass this way. They occupy the whole plain, which extends in length from Cape Bajarre to beyond Tarsus ; its breadth extends from the sea to the lowest ridge of the mountains of Cara- mania, and varies firom four to five or ten miles. This plain, at least as much as I saw of it in my way to Tarsus, is for the greater part sown with barley and wheat; where it is left uncultivated, numerous herds of buffaloes and fine cattle feed upon the wild grass. Wild capers grow in great abundance. I found in several rivulets small tortoises, and amongst the ruins of deserted houses we got here and there sight of a zerboa. The Tripohne having made his purchase of grain from the Aga, the latter sent on board our ship three fat sheep in earnest of his engagements. In six days the ship was to begin loading. The Tripoline being at leisure during this time, I persuaded him to go with me to Tarsus, in search of a further conveyance for me by sea or land ; one of the other Tripohnes was likewise desirous of looking out for a passage for Beirout ; the excursion was tlierefore soon JOHN LEWIS BURCKEIARDT . XV agi-eed upon. We formed a small caravan, and set out on horseback on the morning of the 30th. The road from our anchoring place to Tarsus crosses the above mentioned plain in an easterly direction : we passed several small rivulets which empty themselves into the sea, and which, to judge from the size of their beds, swell in the rainy season to considerable torrents. We had rode about an hour, when I saw at half an hour's distance to the north of our route, the ruins of a large castle, upon a hill of a regular shape in the plain; half an hour further towards Tarsus, at an equal distance from our road, upon a second tumulus, were ruins resembling the former ; a thii-d insulated hillock, close to which we passed midway of our route, Avas overgrown with grass, without any ruins or traces of them. I did not see in the whole plain any other elevations of ground but the three just mentioned. Not far from the first ruins, stands in the plain an insulated column. Large groups of trees shew from afar the site of Tarsus. We passed a small river before we entered the town, larger than those we had met on the road. The western outer gate of the town, through which we entered, is of ancient structure ; it is a fine arch, the interior vault of which is in perfect preservation : on the outside are some remains of a sculptured frieze. I did not see any inscriptions. To the right and left of this gateway are seen the ancient ruined walls of the city, which extended in this direction farther than the town at present does. From the outer gateway, it is about four hundred paces to the modem entrance of the city ; the interme- diate ground is filled up by a burying ground on one side of the road, and several gar- dens with some miserable huts on the other. We led our horses to the Khan of the mu- leteers, and went ourselves to the Khan of the merchants, where we found tolerable accom- modation, the brother of the Tripohne being known here. Our room was soon filled with all the foreign merchants who hved in the Khan, and the principal town merchants ; we sold to them a few silk handkerchiefs and coarse cambrick, and were plagued with their company for the whole remaining part of the day. The foreign merchants were a party of Kahines, several Aleppines, and some Constantinopolitans. In the evening, the alley at the gate of the Khan was transformed into a dark coffbe room, where every body went to smoke a pipe. As we were strangers, we were greeted at our entrance with the usual politeness of Orientals towards travellers ; " Peace be with you, you are welcome among lis, how are you ? God send you a happy evening, &c. &c." were compliments which every one whom we approached addressed to us. We were treated by several merchants with pipes, coffee, ice-water, and Bour, which latter drink is water mixed with the juice of liquorice. The ice is brought from the mountains three days journey distant, at the price of three piastres for about five pounds. A tolerable singer sung some Turkish airs, and accom- panied himself upon a sort of mandoline. Many questions were addressed to me about xvi LIFE AND TRAVELS OF my person and affairs : my neiglibour the Tripoline took the trouble of answering them to the satisfaction of the company. " Allah Kerim," " God is great," was their usual exclamation at hearing that I came from so far. We retired rather late : for my part I had been much entertained with the party. We went to sleep before the door of our room, upon a covered terrace built of wood, which runs along the interior circuit of the Khan. Before sun rise every body was up ; some of the merchants descended into the court yard to perform at the fountain the ablutions which are prescribed to the Musselman after his night's rest. But in this part of their religious rites, as well as in the performance of their daily prayers, I observed much indifference amongst the plurality of the Turks I saw here, as well as of those with whom I travelled afterwards from Suedieh to Aleppo. Amongst the latter were many who, during eight days, did not pray once : even two Hadjis, who had performed the Mekka pilgrimage, were of that number. Some would pray once, others twice a day, before sun rise, and after sun set ; only three or four of the caravan were strict in regularly chaunting the three daily prayers, to which number the Koran limits the duty of trnvellers ; but I did not find that more respect or deference was paid to them than to the others. We remained in the Khan that morning, and quitted the town at noon to return to our ship, leaving the Tripoline behind to settle our affairs. The little I saw of Tarsus did not allow me to estimate its extent ; the streets through which I passed were all built of wood, and badly ; some well furnished bazars, and a large and handsome mosque in the vicinity of the Khan, make up the whole register of curiosities which I am able to relate of Tarsus. Upon several maps Tarsus is marked as a sea town : this is incorrect ; the sea is above three miles distant from it. On our return home we started in a S. W. direction, and passed, after two hours and a half's march, Casal, a large village, half a mile distant from the sea shore, called the Port of Tarsus, because vessels freighted for Tarsus usually come to anchor in its neighbourhood. From thence turning towards the west, we arrived at our ship at the end of two hours. 1 he merchants of Tarsus trade principally with the Syrian coast and Cyprus : Imperial ships arrive there from time to time to load grain. The land trade is of very little consequence, as the caravans from Smyrna arrive very seldom. There is no land communication at all between Tarsus and Aleppo, which is at ten journeys (caravan travelling) distant from it. The road has been rendered unsafe, especially in later times, by the depredations of Kutshuk Ali, a savage rebel, who has established himself in the mountains to the north of Alexandretta. Tarsus is governed by an Aga, who I have reason to believe is almost independent. The French have an agent there, who is a rich Greek merchant. On the following day the Tripoline rejoined us ; he had taken, to my great satisfaction, JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. xvii a passage for me on board a Greek sailing boat from Tripoli of Syria.* That vessel was at anchor at Casal, and according to its master's affirmation was bound for Latikia, which was exactly the place where I wished to land. I left our ship on the second of July ; in taking leave of the Tripoline I took off my sash, a sort of red cambric shawl, of Glasgow manufacture, which he had always muc^ admired, thinking it to be Indian stuff, and pre- sented it to him as a keepsake or reward for his good services. He immediately unloosened his turban, and twisted the shawl in its stead round his head : making me many profes- sions of friendship, and assuring me of his hospitality, if ever the chance of mercantile pur- suits should again engage me to visit the Mediterranean, and perhaps Tripoli in Barbary. The time I liopemay come, when I shall be enabled to put his assurances to the test. (I think I forgot to mention, that the Tripoline was much skilled in languages, which ena- bled me freely to converse with him ; besides his native Arabic tongue, he spoke Turkish, Greek, and Italian.) The vessel on board of which I now embarked, was an open boat with three masts, about thirty-five feet long, and nine broaJ, much resembling the representation of the Germs of the Nile, which Bruce and other travellers have given. These vessels are very common on the Syrian coast ; where they are called Jackdur. I had engaged to pay for my passage twenty-five piastres, at my arrival in Latikia, but was no sooner with my baggage on board, than the master informed me that he meant to proceed to Antakia (Antiochia) not to Latikia, and that I was at liberty to return to my own ship, if I did not choose to go his way. I thus found myself duped a second time, though I had most distinctly agreed for my passage to Latikia. However, there being no other conveyance to the coast of Syria at hand, I resolved to remain on board. I was afraid of being kept in these parts, until after the return of my old ship for Malta ; when I should have nobody to recommend me to those, in whose company I might con- tinue my way ; I knew moreover, that there was a brisk intercourse between Antakia and Aleppo. There had not been for some time, any opportunity from Tarsus to the opposite coast. A crowd of passengers came therefore on board. I counted fifty-six men and women lying upon deck, besides six sailors, and six horses in the ship's hold. We had each just as much space allowed, as the body covered, and remained in this state two nights and one day. In general the passage is performed within the twenty-four hours. On the morning of the 5th, we entered the bay of Suedieh, which is formed on one side by the promontory called Has Khanzir, on the other by another projecting rocky mountain ; both are the extremities of chains of barren rocks, which I conceive to be the remotest branches of the Libanus. These mountains come down to the water's * This Tripoli is distinguished from the city of which my fellow traveller is a native, by the appellation of Tarabolaus fel Shark, or Tripoli of the East. xviii LIFE AND TRAVELS OF edge on botli sides of the bay ; in the bottom of it, where the Orontes now called Aasi empties itself into the sea, begins a level country of four or five miles in width and length. It is to the whole of this tract of level land, which contains several villages, that the name of Suedieh is applied, though that appellation is also given sometimes exclusively to the port. The wind being favourable we entered the river, and anchored, after half an hour's sailing through its sinuosities, at Mina, the port of Antakia, where the ship was laid close to the shore, where the elevated banks of the river form a kind of quay. Mina is a miserable village built close to the river's right bank, consisting of about seven or eight houses, the best of which serves as a place of residence to the Aga, whom the Aga of An- takia appoints to receive the duties upon exports and imports. Higher up than Mina the Aasi is not navigated ; the navigation is rendered impracticable by rocks, though there is plenty of water. Here, at the last stage of its course, it is a fine slow-flowing river, much about the size of the Thames beyond Richmond bridge ; its waters are muddy, and this being the case in the month of J une, three or four months after the rainy sea- son, I suppose tliey can hardly be clear during any other part of the year. Arrived at Suedieh, I found myself very uncomfortably situated. I had lost my friend the Tripoline, and though he had warmly recommended me to the master of the Jack- dur, yet I found the crew of the vessel (o be thievous and treacherous ; they spread the rumour amongst the people of Suedieh that I was a Frank, and as the ship was imme- diately to return to Tarsus, I expected to find myself completely at the mercy of the inhabitants ; amongst whom, as well as amongst the crew, there was nobody who under- stood the Italian, or, as they called it, the Latin tongue. I remained on board the ship that day and the following ; and was bargaining for a horse and mules to take me to Antakia, when, to my great satisfaction, a caravan from Aleppo came down to the coast with Indian goods; I soon got acquainted with the muleteers, and made my bargain with one of them for the whole journey, from Suedieh to Aleppo. He first asked fifty piastres per Kantar jlLxS (about five-hundred pounds English we ight). I got him down to thirty, and was afterwards informed at Aleppo, that I should not have paid more than twenty-five. It is a great point gained by travellers in these countries, if they can make with their mule or camel drivers the usual bargain of the country. If the muleteer overcharges them, he makes a boast of it wherever he goes, the traveller is immediately known to be a person little conversant with the customs of the coun- try, and he may be sure to be dealt with accordingly, in every respect, where- ever the mule-driver accompanies him. I was helping the servants to distribute my baggage into mules loads, and to tie it round with cords, when the Aga sent for me. 1 found him smoking his pipe in a miserable room, surrounded by his people ; entering JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. xix the room I pulled off my slippers, and sat down on the floor before him. I shall here remark that it is a custom most strictly adhered to, never to sit down upon a carpet, or even a mat, and in presence of a man of rank, not even upon the bare floor, without pulling off the slippers, and if a person has but one pair on his feet, which is the Mog- grebyn and the Greek fashion, he must sit down bare footed. After I had drank a dish of coffee, I asked the Aga what his pleasure was ; he answered me, by making a sign with his thumb and forefinger, like a person counting money. I had several chests for the British Consul at Aleppo with me, and had also marked my own baggage with the Consul's name, thinking by these means to prevent its being examined. He asked me what the chests contained, I expressed my ignorance about it, telling him only, that I thought there was a sort of Frank drink (beer), and some eatables, which I had been charged with at Malta, for the Consul, on my way home. He sent one of his people to look over their contents ; a bottle of beer had been broken in loading, the man tasted it by putting his finger into the liquor, and found it abominably bitter : such was his report to the Aga. As a sample of the eatables, he produced a potatoe which he had taken out of one of the barrels, and that noble root excited a general laughter in the room, " It is well worth while," they said, " to send such stuff to such a distance." The Aga tasted of the raw potatoe, and spitting it out again, swore at the Frank's stomach which could bear such food. The other trunks were now left unexamined ; and I was asked fifteen piastres for the permission to depart with them. I gave him ten piastres, and received from him a sort of receipt for that money, because I told him that without it, the Consul would never believe that I had really paid down the money as duty upon his effects. The Aga was very high in his expressions, talking of his grandeur, how little he cared about the Sultan, and still less for any Consul, &c. He laughed a great deal at my Arabic, which certainly was hardly intelligible ; but he did not much trouble himself with questions about my affairs, his mind seeming now solely taken up by the hope of extor- ting money from the Aleppine merchants, and so I left him, and soon afterwards, about an hour before sunset, departed from Suedieh, with part of the caravan, the rest intending to pass the night there. The road from Suedieh to Antakia crosses the plain for about one hour's distance. On the right runs in a deep bed a branch of the Aasi, and forms in this place several islands ; on your left extends the well cultivated plain of Suedieh. As we approached the mountains which inclose the plain on the western side, we passed several extensive and regularly planted orchards, belonging to the Aga of Antakia ; the road now lay through lanes thickly overhung on both sides with shrubs, and I was entering a country famous for the beauties of its landscape scenery, when the sun shed its last rays. We continued our way in the dark for about one hour and a half longer, and halted near a rivulet, at, the entrance of the hills, where men and horses were fed : we remained there till about two hours after midnight. LIFE AND TRAVELS OF From thence the road leads over a mountainous and rocky ground, abounding with trees and springs. At the break of day we passed a village and a considerable rivulet flowing towards our right ; one hour's march further another rivulet ; the country then opens, and the traveller finds himself upon the ridge of a high plain, encompassed by the two beforementioned chains of mountains, from which he descends into the val- ley which the Aasi waters, and where he finds Antakia very picturesquely situated, near the foot of the southern chain of mountains, surrounded with gardens and well sown fields. It was yet early in the morning when we passed the river and entered the town ; a strong built bridge leads over the river immediately into the town gate. I was stopped at the gate, and asked for one of the two pistols, which I wore in my girdle ; I had told the people of the caravan that they belonged to the English Consul. My muleteer assured me that the pistol would be restored, I therefore gave it up voluntarily, well con- vinced it would have been forced from me against my will. The Aga's man brought it back in the evening, I was asked two piastres for the returning of it ; they had taken the flint, and the powder from the pan. Arrived at Antakia, the muleteer led his mules to the Khan of the muleteers ; I might have gone to the Khan of the merchants, but having no body to accompany me and introduce me there, I pref^red staying with the muleteers, whose way of living I also wished to see. The Khan is a large court yard built in a triangular shape : the basis of the triangle is distributed on both sides of the entrance door into small dark cells, which serve as magazines for the goods, and as places to cook in. On another side are the stables ; and the whole length of the third side is taken up by a teiTace built of stone, about four feet elevated from the ground, and eight feet broad, where the muleteers eat, sleep, and pray, that side of the Khan being built in the direction of Mecca. In the midst of the yard is a large water bason, which affords drink to men and beasts indiscriminately. My entrance into the Khan excited considerable curiosity, and the little cell I took possession of was soon beset by troublesome enquirers, who unanimously declared that I was a Frank come to the country for evil purposes. I had nobody to take my part except my muleteer, whose remonstrances in my behalf were soon lost in the general cry of Djaour (infidel) raised by the other inhabitants of the Khan and by the town's people, who came to visit their friends. Whenever I could get any of them to listen to me for half an hour, I found means to appease them, but the town's people did not even condescend to speak to me, and I evidently saw that their plan was to make religion a pretext, for practising an avanie upon me. My property fortunately was mixed with that of the Consul ; a spare shirt and a carpet constituted my whole baggage ; besides a pocket purse, containing the jBoney necessary for my daily expenses, I had about twenty sequ'ms hidden upon me. JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. xxi Tlie Aga of Antakia sent his Dragoman to get something out of me. This was a wretched Frank, who pretended to be a Frenchman, but whom I should rather suppose to be a Piemontese. . I pretended complete ignorance of the French language, he there- fore asked me in Italian minutely about my affairs, and how I could attempt to travel home without any money or goods, to defray the expenses of the journey. I answered that I hoped the Consul, in remuneration of my having carefully watched his effects, would pay the expense of a camel from Aleppo to Bagdad, and that at the latter place 1 was sure of finding friends to facilitate my fai-ther journey. When the man saw that nothing in my manners betrayed my Frank origin, he made a last trial, and pulling my beard a little with his hand, asked me familiarly " "Why I had let such a thing grow I answered him with a blow upon his face, to convince the by-standing Turks, how deeply I resented the received insult ; and the laugh now turned against the poor Dragoman, who did not trouble me any farther. I am at a loss to state how far I succeeded in sustaining my assumed character ; I thought that the major part of the caravan people were gained over to my side, but the town's people were constant in their imprecations against me. I had been flattered with an immediate departure for Aleppo, but the caravan was detained four days in the Khan. During the whole time of our stay, I spent the day time in the cell of the goods, amusing myself with cooking our victuals ; the town's people, though often assembled before the door of the room, never entered it ; in the evening the gates of the Khan were shut, and I then went to sleep with the muleteers upon the terrace. I was relieved from this unpleasant situation on the 10th, when it was decided that the caravan should depart. The muleteers began prepai-ing for their departure by divi- ding the whole court into squares of different sizes, by means of ropes, at the end of which iron wedges are fastened, which are driven into the earth up to their heads ; each muleteer takes one of these squares proportionate in size to the number of his beasts ; and loads them in it. Though the ropes are little more than one inch above ground, the animals never move out of the square assigned to them, and thus great order prevailed in the Khan, though it M'as dark when we loaded, and the whole court crowded with beasts and bales. At halting places when the beasts are fed, the same ropes are extended in front of them, to prevent their getting amongst the baggage. 1 cannot say much of Antakia, having seen nothing of it but the streets through which I entered. It looks like a neat town, at least in comparison to Tarsus : living is only half as dear as it is in Aleppo. This circumstance, joined to the beauty of the surround- ing country, and the proximity of the sea would make it a desirable place for Franks to live in, were it not for the fanaticism of its inhabitants, who pride themselves upon being descendants from the Osmanlis the conquerors of Syria. Last year at a tumult raised xxii LIFE AND TRAVELS OF at Suedieh, these Osmanlis murdered the Greek Aga of Suedieli with his whole family, and a young French physician, who had come to his house to cure his son. The Aga of Antakia is appointed by the Grand Signior, and is independent of any Pasha We marched the whole night of the lUth over a plain country, and reached early the next morning Hamsin, a village situated at nine hours march from AnLakia, on the right bank of the Orontes. We passed the river in a ferry boat : its banks on both sides are about forty feet high at this place; its breadth is near fifty yard?, the depth no where more than five feet. On a little eminence a few hundred paces from the ground on the river's side Avhere we encamped, rises a spring of excellent water ; my companionj. however, drank of the muddy water of the Oi'ontes, in preference to taking the trouble of filling their flasks at the spring. One of the merchants had a tent with him, under the shade of which we passed the whole day. In the evening the village youths kindled a large fire, and amused themselves with music and dancing. The next day we passed a chain of calcareous mountains planted here and there with olives ; on the top of one of these mountains lives a custom-house officer, who exacted a toll from each individual, as it was said, in the name of the Grand Signior. The descent on the eastern side is steep, but the mules walked with the greatest firmness. In the valley into which we descended lies the town of Ermenaz (jU..<,l,) watered by several streams. Though small, it is one of the best towns in this part of Syria ; its gardens are cultivated with great care, and its in- habitants are industrious, because they are out of the immediate reach of rapacious Pashas and Janisaries. They work a glass manufacture which supplies Aleppo. The olives of the country round Aleppo are, next to those of Tripoly, the best in Syria: its grapes are like- wise much esteemed. As we rode by, I saw lying on the right hand side of the road near the town, a broken ancient column of about four feet in diameter, and I was told after- wards in Aleppo, that many like remains of antiquity are to be met with in the neigh- bourhood of Ermenaz. At half an hour's distance from this latter place we again began to mount, and the path became difficult and tiresome for the beasts, from the number of detached rocks with which it is overspread. After nearly eight hours march (meaning the whole day's work), we descended into the eastern plain of Syria, and encamped at the foot of the mountains, round a large tree in the vicinity of a copious spring. When- ever the beasts were unloaden, it was with much difficulty that I could prevent my luggage from being thrown upon the ground The caravan people in this country, and I should suppose every where else in the East, are accustomed to loads of bales of goods, which do not receive any injury from letting them fall to the ground. The loads on each side of the beast are tied together over its back, by a cord. Arrived at the halting place, the first thing the muleteer does, is to go from mule to mule to unloosen that cord ; the loads then fall to the ground. This mode of unloading, and the great JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. xxiii cai'elessness of these people, render the transport of many European commodities utterly impracticable, without their being accompanied, by a servant sent along with them, for the express purpose of taking off the loads. A Frank merchant of Aleppo received some years ago a load of Venetian looking-glasses which were all dashed to pieces. Provided the chests which contain the merchandize be entire, the muleteer thinks himself free from responsibility. We were joined in the evening by some other travellers, whose curiosity led them to new inquiries about my person and affairs. None of my companions had till now found out any thing which could have directly inculpated myself ; they however kept a strict watch over all my motions : being obliged at night to go aside, two of the travellers last arrived followed nie unseen, and pretended afterwards to have observed some irregu- larities in the ablutions necessary to be performed on such occasions ; in consequence of which, I was told that I was " Haram," or in a forbidden unclean state, and notwith- standing every thing T said to defend and excuse myself, I found that from that time I had lost the good opinion of all my companions. We marched the next day six hours, and halted at Mart Mesrin, a village belonging to Ibrahim Pasha, who in the time of Djezar was Pasha of Aleppo, afterwards Pasha of Damascus, and who lives now in disgrace and poverty at this place, the whole appearance of which makes it probable, that in a few years hence it will be deserted by its inhabitants. The wide extended plain over which we marched this day consists almost throughout of a fei-tile soil, but without any trees, and in most places uncultivated, but where a number of ruined and deserted villages, indicate that many parts of it must have formerly been cultivated. Having been much plagued during this whole day by my fellow travellers, and in the evening also by the peasants, who had collected round the caravan ; I swore that I would not eat any more with any of tbem. This declaration being somewhat in the Arab style, they were startled at it ; and my muleteer especially much pressed me to rejoin their mess ; I assured him that I would rather eat nothing and starve, than have any further friendly dealings with men who professed themselves my friends one day, and proved my enemies the next, (it should be observed that this was the last stage of our journey, I therefore did not run great risk in making good my words). The tract of country over which we passed on the following day was similar in appearance to that w hich we had seen on the preceding. The number of deserted and ruined villages increased the nearer we approached Aleppo ; we had marched about eight hours when we discerned the castle of Aleppo, at the sight of which the armed horsemen of the caravan set off at a gallop, and repeatedly fired off their guns ; the merchants put themselves ahead of the caravan and after one hour's march farther, we entered the town. All merchandizes coming to Aleppo must be taken to the custom- house Khan ^^U- {^jj ; they are weighed there to determine the amount of the sum due to the muleteer for freight, and a duty must be paid for them to the Grand Signior, which xxiv JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. together with the taxation money of the Christians and Jews, is the only branch of revenue which the Janissaries, the present masters of the town, still allow the Porte to retain. The English consular house is in that very Khan. I was now arrived at Aleppo in a shape which entirely left it to my option, either to continue in my disguise, or to avow my European origin. After a long conversation on that subject with Mr. Barker, I was convinced that it would better answer the purpose of my stay in Aleppo to choose the latter, and my reasons for it were the following : at the time 1 left England and Malta, I imagined that the intercourse between Cairo and Aleppo was frequent, and that it might easily happen, that Cairine merchants might see me here and recognise me afterwards at home, or that travelling Aleppines who knew me here, might afterwards see me again in Egypt. The departure of the Syrian pilgrim caravan to Mecca, not having taken place for the last three years, has almost annihi- lated the commercial intercourse overland between the two countries. At the meeting of the Syrian and African caravan near Mecca, Egyptian merchants used formerly to join the former, and return with them to Damascus and Aleppo, and vice versa ; at present the little commerce carried on between Cairo and Aleppo, is entirely in the hands of a few Turkish and Greek houses at Tripoli, Latikia, and Alexandria, and the Egyptian merchants themselves never come to Aleppo. Had I continued in my disguise, and conti- nued to live exclusively amongst the Turks, opportunities would have frequently happened to put theveracityof my story to the test. East Indians come from time to time to Aleppo with the Bagdad caravan, and many of the Bagdad and Bassorah merchants established at Aleppo have been in India. My person would have been infinitely more noticed than it now is, if taking a shop in the bazar, as I first intended, I should have exposed myself to the curiosity of the whole town; I should have entirely foregone the instruc- tion to be derived from books and masters skilled in the language ; and moreover I have no doubt that the French Consul residing here would have heard of my arrival, and have done every thing to put my pursuits in a dubious light. These are the reasons which convinced me, that for the present time it was more advisable to appear in a shape which would preclude the intrusion of curious inquirers ; and afford more facility to my studies. I continue my name of Ibrahim, and pass in my Turkish dress unnoticed in the crowds of the street and the bazars. The Consul receives me at his house as a travelling country merchant of his ; and as it frequently happens that people coming into the Le- vant change their names; nobody wonders at my being called with an oriental name. I had first my doubts whether my fellow caravan travellers might not be over inquisitive here ; but such of them as I have since met, greeted me without further questions, and the government of the city is now such, that a man picking a quarrel with me about what I might have told him at Antakia^ would only expose himself to be fined for a sum of JOHN LEWIS BUllCKHARDT. XXV money by tlie Janissaries, the masters of the town, for their trouble to settle the business with the Consul. My plans for the present are to remain at Aleppo the whole of the winter and part of next summer. I have been fortunate enough to find a good and willing master of Ara- bic, and I hope to make progress in the study of the literal as well as vulgar language. As soon as I shall be able to express myself with some precision in the vulgai- dialect, and perfectly to understand it, I shall visit the Bedouin Arabs in the Desert, and live with them some months. I can do this in perfect security ; and I have no doubt that you will approve of it, as it will afford me the best opportunity of practising the manners and becoming acquainted with the character of a class of people who are the same, whether tliey over-run the deserts of Arabia or those of Africa. You need not be afraid that the history of my own person, which has taken up so con- siderable a portion of the preceding pages, will any more be exhibited before you at such a length. I thought it might be of some interest to the Association, to see how far I was able to succeed in making good my way to Aleppo in the disguise in which I left Lon- don; unaided as I was by a knowledge of Eastern languages, or a familiarity with East- ern manners. This trial has so far been satisfactory to me, that, in the first place, I am persuaded that nothing of my pursuits has transpired at Malta, which will always be of material consequence to me ; secondly, in being landed at a remote corner of Syria, I have avoided the general intercourse of a mercantile seaport, such as Acre, Beirout, Tripoly, or Latakia ; and finally, it has created within me the confidence that whenever I may be able to call in support of a similar disguise, a fluent utterance of Arabic, and a habitude of Oriental manners, I shall easily find means to triumph over such obstacles as those I met with in the Khan at Antakia A few davs after my arrival at Aleppo, I was attacked by a strong inflammatory fever which lasted a fortnight, 'i'he want of night's rest occasioned by the quantity of vermin which had collected upon my person, principally during my stay in the Khan of Antakia, was, as I thought, the cause of it. I have enjoyed perfect health since that time, and the climate agrees with me better than I expected. Aleppo, October 2nd, 1809, Mr. Burckhardt remained two years and a half in Syria, mak- ing daily additions to his practical knowledge of the Arabic lan- guage, and to his exjjerience of the character of Orientals, and of Mohammedan society and manners. His principal residence was at Aleppo. Having assumed the name of Ibrahim Ibn Abdallah at Malta, he continued to bear it in Syria; but apprehensive of not having yet had sufficient experience, thoroughly to act the part e xxvi LIFE AND TRAVELS OF of a Mussulman, and finding no necessity for such a disguise at Aleppo, he was not studious to conceal his European origin, and wore only such a Turkish dress, as is often assumed in Syria by Eng- lish travellers, less for the sake of concealment than to avoid occa- sional insult. Thus he had the benefit of an unmolested intercourse w ith the Mussulman population of Aleppo, at the same time that he was not prevented from openly accepting the friendship and pro- tection of Mr. Barker, the British Consul, nor under the necessity of denying himself the social resources afforded by the houses of the European residents ; especially those of Mr. Barker, and of Mr. Masse^'k, formerly Dutch Consul. Of his obligations to the former of these gentlemen, he omitted no opportunity of bearing testimony. Besides two short tours which he made from Aleppo, he was absent from thence in the year 1810, for six months, dur- ing which time he visited Palmyra, remained three months at Damascus, and from thence made two journeys into the neigh- bouring districts ; one through the Libanus and Anti-Libanus, and the other through the unexplored country of the Haouran, or Auranitis. After his final departure from Aleppo, in Febru- ary 18 J 2, he again made some stay at Damascus, and per- formed a second journey in the Haouran, including a part of the ancient Decapolis. Upon quitting Damascus for Egypt, he visited Tiberias and Nazareth, and from thence having crossed to the Eastern side of the Jordan, proceeded through the countries to the east and South of the Dead Sea, until he arrived at Wady Mousa, where he had the satisfaction of discovering the remains of a large ancient city, consisting of a great number of buildings and monuments excavated in the rocks, a singularity which, added to the testimony of ancient history, marks the place for the site of Petra, the capital of Arabia Petraea. From Wady Mousa he pur- sued a westerly course towards the capital of Egypt, across the valley of Araba, and the desert of El Tyh. A sketch of his travels in Syria is communicated in letters JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. xxvii M hich he addressed from time to time to Sir Joseph Banks, or to Mr. Hamilton, Secretary of the Association. The following are extracts of the most interesting parts of this correspondence. Aleppo, May 12, 1810. ^Vith the present I transmit to you in duplicate a short sketch of the recent history of Aleppo, and some notices concerning the Turkmans E.ihanli, which I collected during a visit to them in the beginning of March last. They are a tribe of Nomade Turkmans, who encamp in winter time at one day's journey from Aleppo. I got myself introduced to one of their chiefs as a physicir.n in search of medicinal herbs, and spent a fortnight amongst them. I am now so far advanced in the knowledge of Arabic, that I understand almost every tbinsr that is said in common conversation, and am able to make myself understood on most sulijects, although sometimes with difficulty. 1 have made acquaintance with some Shikh'-, and some of the first literati amongst the Turks of Aleppo, who from time to time visit me. I owe this favour principally to Mr. Wilkins's Arabic and Persian Dictio- narv. The common manuscript dictionaries, or Kamus, being generally very defective, the learned Turks are often very glad to consult Wilkins, and never do it without ex- claiming How wonderful that a Frank should know more of our language than our first X'le as.". Learning at Aleppo is in a very low state; no science, the Turkish law exce] tc(', is properly cultivated ; not even that of Arabic grammar, which is so necessary to thv interpretation of the Koran. I am assured by the best authority, that there are no\^ in this town only three men, (two Turks and a Christian) who know this language gra' iv.atically. The chief quahty of a hterary man is that of getting by heart a great number of verses made upon different occasions, and of knowing the proper opportunity of reciting them ; to this must be added, a knowledge of the different learned significations of one and the same word, and of the words which express the same idea. For example, the word Adjuz, which in common language means a decrepid old man, has in the learned language about sixty other different significations ; and there are in Arabian poetry about one hundred and fifty different words for wine. But to interpret passages of difficult grammatical construction, or rationally to amend errors, or even to compose prose or verse free from grammatical blunders, is a task much above the capacity of an Aleppine Ulema. Two Persian Dervishes arrived here about two months ago, who had lived upwards of two years at the Wahabi court of Derayeh. I got acquainted with one of them, a young man of twenty-two ; the other has gone to Mosul, from whence his companion shortly expects his return. The latter has been in the habit, singular enough for xxviii LIFE AND TRAVELS OF Mohammedan traveller, of keeping a regular journal of his travels, describing whatever struck his inquisitive mind, and abounding, as I understand, with geographical notices. Another traveller of a singular description passed here two years ago. He called him- self Aly Bey, and professed to be born of Tunisian parents in Spain, and to have received his education in that country. Spanish appears to be his native language, besides which he spoke French, a little Italian, and the Moggrebyn dialect of Arabic, but badly. He came to Aleppo by the way of Cairo, YafFa, and Damascus, with the strongest letters of recommendation from the Spanish Government to all its agents, and an open credit upon them. He seemed to be a particular fi iend of the Prince of the Peace, for whom he was collecting antiques ; and from the manner in which it was known that he was afterwards received by the Spanish ambassador at his arrival in Constantinople, he must have been a man of distinction. The description of his figure, and what he related of his travels, called to my recollection the Spaniard Badia and his miniature in your library.* He was a man of middling size, long thin head, black eyes, large nose, long black beard, and feet that in- dicated the former wearing of tight shoes. He professed to have travelled in Barbary, to have crossed the Lybian Desert between Barbary and Eg3'^pt, and from Cairo to have gone to Mekka, and back. He travelled with Eastern magnificence, but here he was rather shy of shewing himself out of doors ; he never walked out but on Fridays to the prayers of noon, in the great mosque. One of the beforementioned Dervishes told me that there had been a great deil of talking about this Aly Bey, at Damascus and Hama; they suspected him of being a Christian, but his great liberality and the pressing letters which he brought to all the people of consequence, stopped all further enquiry. He was busily employed in an-anging and putting in order his journal during the two months of his stay at Aleppo. Aleppo, 2nd July, 1810. My long stay in Syria having been determined upon, in consequence of the absolute necessity of n.y familiarising myself with the idiom of these countries, I shall deem it my duty to send you from time to time some vouchers of my application to Arabic litera- ture. I have for some time past been engaged in an Arabic exercise, which has proved of great utility to me ; it is the metamorphosis of the well known novel of Robinson Cru- soe into an Arabian tale, adapted to Eastern taste and manners. A young Frank born at Aleppo, who speaks Arabic like a native, but who neither reads nor writes it, has been my assistant in the undertaking. I take the liberty of sending you here inclosed a copy of tliis travestied Robinson, or as I call the book in Arabic, Dur el Bahur, the Pearl of the Seas. Of the merits or defects of the translation I can claim at most forty per cent.; the handwriting excepted, which is my own. * This letter is addressed to Sir Joseph Banks, JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. xxix I am en the eve of leaving Aleppo for an excursion into the Desert, and shall probably set out the day after to-morrow. My good luck conducted some days ago an Arab Shikh to town, who is the migl)tiest chief of all the Arabs between Aleppo, Damascus, and Bagdad. He came for the purpose of receiving in person the passage duties upon certain goods which are shortly to be sent by means of a great caravan to Bagdad. He belongs to the M-ide extended tribe of the Aenezy, who have all become Wahabi ; his own very powerful tribe is called the Tedhan, and his name is Duehy ibn Ryeiben. I easily got acquainted with him ; we ate and drank together, and I succeeded in making an agreement with him, that he should take me by way of Tedmoror Palmyra home to his family and tents, which he says are not far from Damascus in the plain of Haouran ; he himself came to Aleppo accompanied only by a few people upon dromeda- ries. He is to shew me his tents and horses, of which latter I told him the English Con- sul here might be perhaps induced to buy some upon my recommendation ; and he is then to set me down at Damascus. He is known to all the principal Bagdad merchants of this town, and my agreement with him has been made in writing, signed by the most respectable of these merchants, as witnesses ; I ain so far in perfect tranquillity as to the security of my person under his protection. Me is indeed a famous robber, but the Shikhs of the Desert have never been known to withdraw their protection from those to whom they have promised it. Damascus i August 15, 1810. The Arab Shikh mentioned in my last kept true to his engagements only during the two first days of our journey. Instead of conducting me, on the third day, in person, to Hamah, he gave me one of his men as a guide. Returning the next day towards the watering place seven hours east of Hamah, wliere we had left the Shikh, we were attacked and stript by a party of Manali Arabs, who, unfortunately for me, hap- pened to be engaged in a quarrel with the Aenezy tribe of the Shikh. A watch and compass were the only articles I regretted to have lost ; as to cash, I had not a single farthing in my pocket. We returned to the town, to refit ourselves as well as possible, and then set out again the next night, to rejoin our chief. The latter had however in the interval left the watering-place ; we were obliged to run after him in the Desert for thirty- six hours, and finding him at last at another watering-place he declared to me that he could not possibly conduct me himself any further, because his people had very much pressed his return, afraid as they were of the approaching Wahabi. In reply to my remonstrances, he offered me another guide to take me to Tedmor, and from thence to the Haouran. With this guide I reached Tedmor after a march of thirty hours, and con- templated the wonders of the Palm city for nearly two days. The Shikh of Tedmor, in XXX LIFE AND TRAVELS OF consideration of my empty purse, contented himself with taking my saddle from me. Leaving Tedmor we reached by a forced march Kariatein in one day, and from thence Yerud, a village about twelve hours to the N. E. of Damascus. Dueliy, the Arab chief, had passed there a few days before, and knowing that my guide would likewise take that route, he had left at the village-Shikh's house, an open letter to my address, in which he peremptorily told me not to proceed any farther in my journc}' towards the Haouran, but to go direct to Damascus, because he was determined to fly with his tribe away from the Wahabi. The fact was, that he did not wish to feed me under his tents for two months, according to our contract. Convinced that the whole was but a trick, I insisted upon proceeding in the original direction. My guide, however, refused to accom- pany me ; he even left me in the evening ; there were no other trusty people present to guide my steps through the Desert, I was therefore at last obliged to follow Duehy''s ad- vice, and came to this place with a salt caravan from Tedmor, which I had found at Yerud. Two days after my arrival Duehy likewise made his appearance, and there being nobody present to take up my cause against him, I was obliged strictly to fulfil the sti- pulations of our contract, which he on his side had thus shamefully eluded. Notwithstanding these disappointments, which often occur to travellers in these coun- tries, my tour to Tedmor has given me much satisfaction. Besides the ])leasure of seeing those interesting ruins,'! have had some good opportunities of observing the Bedouins under their own tents ; we alighted every day at difiFerent encampments, and were every where received vrith hospitality and kindness. I should have put my project of visiting the Haouran in execution, even before now, had not the recent changes in the government of this city, and the state of suspense which it naturally occasions, in the districts depending upon it, rendered the roads insecure, and the inhabitants more than usually suspicious of strangers, until the new Pasha shall have had time firmly to establish himself in his newly acquired territory. A few days after my arrival at Damascus, Yussef Pasha, who had governed the town and its territory for the last four years, was turned out, and his place occupied by Soleiman Pasha of Akke (Acre.) This change being connected with the interruption of the pilgrim caravan to Mekka, and with the late Wahabi affairs, some details concerning it may perhaps be thought accept- able. As to the state of the Wahabi power in the southern parts of Arabia, I must con- fess that I am in perfect ignorance of it. Without being an eye witness, or meeting by chance with a credible eye witness, it is impossible to guide oneself through the laby- rinth of false reports, which policy, fanaticism, and party spirit spread on their account. To mention but one instance : at my leaving Aleppo the general voice was, that the Wa- habi were at the gates of Damascus. Jt is now the sixth year since the Damascus pilgrim caravan, which included the JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. Hadjis of the greatest part of the Turkish dominions, has not been able to reach Mekka. In 1 805, Abdallah Pasha, then Pasha of Damascus, set out at the head of a caravan ; having arrived in the neighbourhood of Medineh, the Wahabi governor of that city, by orders of Ibn el Saoud the great Wahabi chief, refused entrance to the caravan. The Ha- djis were obliged to pass on the outside of the walls, and thus continued their way towards the Kaaba. They were yet three days journey from it, when they found themselves surrounded by the innumerable host of Saoud's army. The two parties came to a parley, when Saoud declared to the Pasha, that he should thenceforward suffer no Turkish army to march through his territory, and that the army must therefore immediately return ; but that those Hadjis who were determined to complete their pilgrimage might continue their way in safety, on condition that they should go unarmed, and promise to stay only three days at the holy city. None of the pilgrims were tempted to accept the offer of a free passage. Abdallah himself, frightened by the Wahabi numbers, made Saoud conceive hopes that he would be a coiivert to the new religion. Before lie returned, it was stipulated that in case of any caravan taking its departure the following year, there should be neither Pasha nor army to convoy it ; that all the Hadjis should be unarmed and without ammunition ; that there should be no Mahmal {the camel which carries the new carpet for the decoration of the Kaaba) ; and that arrived at the same place where they then were, Saoud should have the right of selecting the individuals who were to proceed, while the others should wait there for the speedy return of their brethren. It is said that Abdallah Pasha was obliged by his officers to give his consent to these shameful articles. He in- sisted upr)n their attesting with their signatures that he had declared his determination to appeal to the sword, but that he was prevented ft-om doing so, by their unanimous opi- nion that it was better not to shed blood. The Hadj returned to Damascus and Constantinople, and Abdallah sent the attestation of his officers to Constantinople, to excuse his retreat. Instead of recruiting and strengthening his forces, and protecting the next year the caravan with an army capable of forcing its way through the Wahabi tribes, Abdallah set out in 1806, with a corps not exceeding 8000 men, and a very small caravan of Hadjis. They were met, at three days journey from Mekka, by the Sherif of Mekka, who is a subject of the Wahabi. He told them that he had positive orders to refuse to any armed force the entrance into the holy city ; but he again offered to let the unarmed Hadjis complete their pilgrimage. It is said that Abdallah had before- hand entered into some secret negociations with the Sherif, and that the latter had decla- red his wish to join the Pasha, with the Mekka people, against the Wahabi ; thinking, of course, that the Pasha would not hazard the Hadj, without being accompanied by a considerable force ; but that when he saw the small number of the troops and the mutinou* xxxii LIFE AND TRAVELS OF spirit which reigned amongst them, he remained true to his former engagements with Ibn Saoud. Abdallali returned to Damascus a second time, without having been able to accomplisli the pilgrimage, which he had formerly led fifteen times to Mekka and back to Damas- cus. He soon afterwards fell into disgrace with the Grand Signor, when Yussef Aga, an upstart, who from the rank of a simple soldier, had raised himself to the first dignities in the town, was named Pasha of Damascus. His military temper and courage were known, and he had promised to conduct the Hadj. It may be necessary to explain here the policy of the Pasha of Damascus and of the Porte respecting the Hadj . The Miri, or land tax, of the Pashaliks of Damascus and Tripoli, which, according to the ori^nal assessment amounted to about 3500 purses, (it is now worth more than triple that sum,) has been abandoned to the Pasha of Damascus for the necessary expense of the Hadj ; and to the Pasha of Tripoli for the expense of the Djerde, or caravan of pro- visions, which meets the Hadjis on their return. Besides these 3500 purses, the Pasha of Damascus contributes at least 1000 more, out of his own treasury, because the expen- ses, particularly the tribute paid to the Arab tribes on the pilgrim route, are yearly increasing. Abdallah Pasha, who had already given apparent proofs of his zeal for the Hadj, seeing the power of the Porte daily decreasing, and knowing the terror which the Wahabi name had inspired, thought that the time was come, when, without inculpating himself, he might at last put a stop to the Hadj, and add its expenses to the revenue of the Pashalik. For this reason, he neglected to recruit the forces, which were to accom- pany the pilgrims, as he might have done, if it had been his real intention to favour the Hadj, and he returned the second year to prove to the country that if he himself, who had so often led the Hadj to Mekka, was no longer able to do so, certainly any other person who should attempt it, would be equally unsuccessful. The Porte however pre- vented his design ; before the conclusion of 1806, Yussef Pasha was named to the com- mand of Damascus, and Abdallah Pasha, who was much disliked in the town, peacefully retired to Aleppo, where he lives now as a private grandee. Yussef Pasha governed the territory of Damascus and Tripoli for four years, without once conducting the caravan. What Abdallah had projected his successor executed ; the Miri, instead of defraying the expenses of the Hadj, or being accounted for to the Porte, entered into the Pashas chests. In the present degenerate and tottering state of the empire, the Porte has forgot that the rehgious and fanatical spirit which is diffused over its subjects by the visitors of the Kaaba, is perhaps the last supporter of its political existence. She thinks no longer of the religious importance of the pilgrimage ; her troubles and cares are all for money ; as if money alone would uphold an empire. JOHN LEWIS ^RCKHARDT. xxxiii Yussef Pasha was the best Pasha Damascus ever had ; his firmness and justice kept the turbulent Damascenes in order ; he never committed avanies upon the inhabitants j and was respected and even liked by every honest man. He had one vice however which the Porte never forgives in its officers, that of avarice. Instead of transmitting the greater part of the Miri to the Porte, who had a claim to it all, as not being em- ployed in the expense of the Hadj, the sums carried by his yearly envoys to Constan- tinople, every thing included, did not amount to more than fifteen hundred purses ; he thought himself sure of the attachment of his troops and the country people ; and sligh- ted the Porte's remonstrances. It was under these circumstances that in May last the news spread over the country, that Ibn Saoud, the chief of the Wahabi, had left his head quarters at Derayeh at the head of an immense army, with hostile intentions against Syria. Their arrival spread general terror ; the rich caravans which were expected from Bagdad at Aleppo and Da- mascus were immediately countermanded ; and although there was no certain intelli- gence of the intended route of the Wahabi, it was supposed that their first attempt would be upon Damascus. Others, and perhaps better informed people, were of opinion, that Saoud came to punish the Aenezy, who, divided into more than one hundred and fifty different tribes, people the desert as far as ten journeys to the east of Aleppo, Hamah, Honis, and Damascus. The Aenezy had long ago been converted to the Wahabi faitli, but had for the last three years neglected to pay the fifth or tribute, which Saoud exacts from all his followers.* At the same time, there were still several tribes of Arabs, inhabiting the plains and mountains on both sides of the Hadj route, as far as the eighth stage from Damascus, who were not yet Wahabi, and their conversion might likewise enter into Saoud's plan. The Pasha of Damascus was glad to see fresh ob- stacles arise to prevent the pilgrims from proceeding, and have a new excuse to the Porte, for not transmitting the Miri, which he might now be supposed to employ for his preparations against the approaching enemy. The month of June passed away, and nothing sure was yet known of the direction which Saoud had taken. In the beginning of July, intelligence reached the town from Mezerib, a castle on the third stage of the pilgrims route, that the Aga commanding in the place had been attacked by swarms of Wahabi, Yussef Pasha immediately left the town at the head of above 5000 men. Arrived at Mezerib he found that his officer had already repulsed the attack, and that twelve of the enemy had been killed ; their heads were forthwith dispatched to Constanti- nople, and this insignificant skirmish blazoned forth as an important victory. A person who * Another part of the nation of the Aenezy, who live in the Nedjd^ are faithful Wahab:, and their chief Ibn Haddali,is the third in command and esteem amongst that sect, f xxxiv LIFE AND "TRAVELS OF was at tliat time with the Pasha at Mezerib has assured me, that the corps of Arabs which attacked the castle consisted of about 800 men, mounted upon camels and armed with lances. Saoud, it was said, had fixed his head-quarters, with the great lx>dy of his army, at about two days journey from Damascus, cmongst the encampments of a Wahabi tribe called Shammar. The Pasha of Acre was now requ red to se d troops in aid of Yussef Pasha ; the Emir Beshir, or chief of the Druses, was addressed to the same effect, and Yus- sef Pasha remained from the 9th of July till the IGih at Mezerib without so much as seeing an enemy ; but he had the mortification to hear that Saoud's vanguard had plun- dered and entirely destroyed seventeen of the best villages of the Haouran, and massacred all the inhabitants. Soleiman Pasha of Acre had meanwhile encamped with about three thousand men at Tabaria, and the Emir Beshir had joined him there with as many more Druses. The town of Damascus was in perfect tranquillity, the fear of the Wahabis having already subsided, when on the 25th a civil officer came to town with a letter from Soleiman Pasha, addressed to the Kadi, Ulemas, and Grandees of Damascus, including the copy of a Firman from the Porte, by which Yussef Pasha was deposed, and Solei- man Pasha named Pasha of Damascus. Soleiman had obtained his Firman by transmit- ting considerable sums of money to Constantinople, by promising to conduct the Hadj, or in case it should be absolutely impossible, to remit the Miri, and at all events to send YussePs accumulated treasures to the Grand Signor. Nothing was done in his favour at Damascus but to deposit, as usual, a copy of the Firman in the registers of the Mehkemeh, or court of justice, Yussef Pasha, by forced marches, arrived three days after with his army, and ordered several heads to be struck off. Soleiman Pasha with the Emir Beshir likewise advanced, and the town was in expectation of some great event, liUckily for its inhabitants Yussef Pasha's avarice prevented a civil war ; instead of liberally distributing his treasures amongst his troops, he only paid them a part of their arrears, upon which the emissaries of Soleiman fomented the dissatisfaction which began to break out, the principal officers were bought over, and in a Uttle skir- mish that happened on the 3 1 st, the troops of Yussef loudly expressed their disinchnation to fight their master''s rival. By the sacrifice of his treasures Yussef Pasha might perhaps have been able to sustain his cause. Being informed that Soleiman was in possession of a second Firman which demanded his head, he determined suddenly to fly. He was pre- paring to leave his Seraglio in the night of the 1st of August, accompanied by about eight-hundred chosen horsemen, with his treasure loaded upon seventy mules, when his Arnauts, who were to have been left behind, fell upon the loaded mules, part of which had already nearly gained the town-gates, forced open the money chests and pillaged the whole. The guard of eight hundred men, seeing there was now nothing more to be gained in the Pasha's service, deserted him, and the broken hearted Pasha, who during four years JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. XXXV had been the benefactor of Damascus, was lucky in securing his retreat, with six or seven of his suite, amongst a friendly tribe of Arabs in the neighbourhood of the city. Soleiman made his solemn entrance into Damascus on the 5th of August, and is now joint Pasha of three Pashahks : Damascus, Acre, and Tripoli, that is to say, he is in possession of almost the whole of Syria, from Gaza to the vicinity of Aleppo and Antioch. Soleiman Pasha is by birth a Georgian Christian ; he was brought up by Djezzar as a Turkish slave, and was much Uked by his master, who elevated him to the first situations, in his Pa- shalik of Acre. After the death of Djezzar, Soleiman made himself master of Acre, by expelhng Ismael Pasha, who had succeeded Djezzar, and the Porte soon after recognised him. He bears a good character, at least as good as any Pasha can sustain Avithout being made a fool of. His principal favourite and counsellor is a rich Jew, named Haym, whose talents had already been acknowledged by Djezzar. After having cut off his nose and ears, and torn out one of his eyes, that monster kept him for ten years a prisoner in his Seraglio, obliging him during the whole time to conduct all his most important affairs. Under Soleiman Pasha, Haym has governed Acre, and it is worthy of remark, that at the very same time, the principal men of business of Soleiman's rival Yussef, were the two brothers and the cousin of Haym, who are supposed to be the richest house in Damascus. Now that Soleiman is Pasha of both places, the whole fraternity is here, and the Jews of Syria may flatter themselves (as the Christians here say) that Israel reigns again in his ancient limits. Nothing farther has transpired of the Wahabi ; but it is easy to foresee that Solei- man Pasha will soon raise again the Wahabi war-cry. Having had frequent occasions during my stay at Aleppo to observe the deplorable state of the whole country round it, it has been a very gratifying sight to me to mtness the comparative ease and I might even say wealth of the inhabitants of the territory of Damascus. The neighbourhood of the city in particular is in a very pros- perous state, owing partly to the richness of the ground, which is no where equalled in Syria, partly to the effect of Yussef Pasha's government, who during his whole reign never extorted any extraordinary contributions from the peasant, and protected him against the oppressions of minor tyrants. It is the misfortune of the Turkish govern- ment, at least in its present decayed state, that popular virtues in the persons of its go- vernors are quite incompatible with the Porte's own views. The Porte demands supphes, and nothing but supplies ; and the Pasha, to satisfy her, must press upon the industry of his subjects. He who is the well-wisher of his people, who contents himself with the ordinary revenue, and who lets justice preside in his councils, will undoubtedly incur his sovereign's displeasure, not because he is just, but because his justice prevents him from plundering and transmitting a portion of the acquired plunder to the Diwan. To save his existence he has nothing left but silently to resign his unhappy subjects to the rod xxxvi LIFE AND TRAVELS OF of a succeeding despot, or to declare himself a rebel and to contend with his rival until the Porte, convinced of the difficulty of deposing him, patiently waits for a more favourable opportunity of eflPecting her purposes. These principles are applicable to all persons in office, from the Pasha down to the Shikh of the smallest village ; and it is to them that the rapid decay of Turkey is chiefly to be ascribed. It requires but one year's reign of a man like Djezzar to destroy the benefits of the four years government of a Yussef. The rapidity however, with which ease and wealth are seen to reflow into the reopened chan- nels of industry, prove that Syria, on the downfall of the Turkish empire, would soon regain its former lustre. My last letter, of the 4th of J uly, from Aleppo, was accompanied by an Arabic imitation of the well known novel of Robinson Crusoe, arranged so as to suit the Arabian taste. I was desirous of giving some proof of my appUcation to the study of that lan- guage. I can conscientiously say, that I have done, and still do, every thing in my power to make myself master of it, but I must confess that I find its difficulties out of proportion to the time which has been allotted to me, to surmount them. I have no other motives in this confession than the sincerest zeal to succeed in my travels to the fullest expectations of the African Association, A two years residence in Syria was thought sufficient to enable me to speak with fluency. After one year's stay, I think I may be allowed to be able to calculate what remains yet to be done, and I con- clude that a twelve month more of study and practice is not sufficient for the remaining task. I therefore take the liberty to entreat the Committee to allow me six months more, over the already granted two years, before I proceed to Egypt. If the Committee is per- suaded of the truth of what I advance, a delay of six months and the expense accom- panying it, will not be thought an object, nor will it, I trust, be believed, that after the expiration of the prolonged term, I shall again demand a farther delay. The additional six months, however, is of the greatest importance to me, because I know from experience that when once tolerably conversant with a language, a short practice has a more rapid effect than triple the time employed in getting over the first difficulties. In case no distinct answer to this application should arrive before next July, I shall look upon my proposition as rejected, and strictly follow the tenour of my former instructions. Aleppo, January 6th, 1811. I had the honour of writing to you from Damascus on the 15th of August, ISIO; soon after my arrival in that city from Palmyra. The unsettled state of the government of Damascus obliged me to prolong my stay there for upwards of six weeks. I again left it in the middle of September to ^^sit Baalbec and the Libanus. My route lay through Zalile, a small but prosperous town on the western side of the valley Bekaa^ the ancient JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. XXXV ii Coelosvria, and from thence to Baalbec, where I remained three days ; then to the top of the Libanus, the Cedars and Kannobui, from whence following the highest summits of the mountain, I returned to Zahle by the villages called Akoura and Aflyn. It had been my intention to make from Siout an excursion into the Great Oasis, which is not thoroughly known yet. Several circumstances impe- ded my project ; I should however have persisted had I not been informed that the Si- wah people are continually visiting the Oasis, and I should not like to be afterwards recognised by them on my way to Fezzan. I remained ten days at i^iout, and conti- nued then my journey southwards ; visiting on my way Gaou, Akhmym, Farshiout, Den- dera, Kenne, and Goft ; and after four days stay at the different villages, situated within the precincts of Thebes, I arrlxed at Esne sixteen days after having left Siout. Esne is the last place of note in Upper Egypt, it was therefore here that I was to make the necessary preparations for my journey into .Vubia. arrived at Assouan on the 22nd of February. The Aga of Assouan procured me a guide up to Dei r, the chief place in Nubia. *•****•» took me four days and an half to leach Derr, which is about one hun.lre.l ani forty uiiies distmt from Assouan. A'sout fi ty miles below that place I fell in with two Engli>h gei.tlemen, Messrs. Legh and Smelt, who had been up to Ibrini and were returning to Assouan, on board a small s-hip they had hired there. I had already had the pleasure of seeing them at Cairo and at criuut. * * » » * * * After three days journey from Ibrim (which is only five hours aistant from Derr), JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. li I reached the second cataract at Wady Haifa. From thence in three days more Sukkot, in traveUing along the mountainous district called Batn el Hadjar. ******* J passed the large island called Say, and from thence, at the end of two days more, arrived at Tinareh, a small castle, the chii f place in the country of Mahass, which I calculate to be at four hundred and thirty, or four hundred and fifty miles above Assouan. (The above mentioned distances are dromedary's days of thirty mibs each.) From 'I'iiiareh to the northern limits of Ddngola are two and a half days journey. returned by the same way to Sukkot, swam here my camels across the river, in order to see the western bank, which I continued to follow until I again crossed to the eastern bank, a few miles above Phila3. I returned to Assouan on the 3 1st of March, seventeen days after my departure from Tinareh, and thirty-five days after my setting out from Assouan ; during which time I had only allowed myself a single half day's rest at Derr. So far my personal story through Nubia. The enclosed journal contains niy observations during the journey; I must solicit j'our indulgence for the rude manner in which it is written. It is cer- tainly not as I wish it to be, nor as it should have been, had I been at my leisure and ease. It has been written in a miserable court-yard, on the side of my camel, under the influence of the hot Kamsin winds, which now reign in Upper Egypt. I have suf- fered also fi'om a strong inflammation in my left eye, which has become still worse by wri- ting, and which makes writing painfid to me. I have been now for these last three weeks at Esne, waiting for the dcpai^nre of a Sen- naar caravan, whi:h is to set out in a few days from Daraou, about sixty miles south of tliis place, whither I shall without delay proceed. For I have conceived the project of making a journey on that side of Africa, before I begin my western tour. I wish to visit the shores of the Astapus or Astaboras, on my way from Gous towards Massuah ; which harbour I should' thus reach by a northern road, different from that of Bruce. The road from Egypt to Gous is perfectly safe. I am well recommended to the people in power at Gous and Darner; from whence there is a practicable road eastward into Abyssinia. It is not my intention to make any stay in Abyssinia whatever ; not holding myself at all qualified for travels in those parts ; but up to the frontiers of Abyssi- nia Arabic is spoken, and wherever that is the case I hope to be able to penetrate with some advantage to science. From Massuah I shall proceed to Djidda, or to Mokka, and return without delay, by land, along the eastern shore of the Red Sea, to Cairo. 1 hope to be in Cairo again in ten months. If I supposed that this journey presented great risks I should not undertake it ; for I wish to expose myself to hazards only on the western side of Africa, but there is only a distance of twenty days (from Gous to Massuah), which presents any difficulties ; of these twenty days, ]ii LIFE AND TRAVELS OF fourteen (from Gous to Taka) are by caravan routes ; there remain six days from Taka to Massuah, where it will be necessary to join tlie Bedouins, in order to have any security on the road. Travelling in Arabia, few parts excepted, is as safe as tra- velling in Egypt ; and it will not be less so to mc;, as I shall have recommendations to all the officers of Mohammed Aly who garrison the cities of the Hedjaz, since the complete defeat of the Wahabis, who have retired to their native seats in the Nedjed. I repeat to you that I look with confidence upon the success of my projected journey, As to health, I am in the perfect enjoyment of it, my eye excepted, which I hope will be cured by the pure air of the desert. According to the directions I have given I hope to find money supplies either atMokka or at Djidda. I proceed from hence, as a Derwish, having nothing with me but a camel, some provisions, and about four gui- neas in sequins, hidden in my woollen cloak. This will carry me, I hope, as far as Massuah, where, in case of need, a^ free passage is easily obtained from the charity of the Turkish merchants, I cannot help feeling some apprehensions lest this project should not meet with the en., tire approbation of the Committee : as it will defer again for a twelvemonth my grand journey. As for myself, as long as I have any vigour of mind and body left, I shall look upon time as a very secondary consideration, and subservient only to objects of science ; and I am indifferent to what extent my absence from Europe is prolonged, pro- vided my final object of visiting as much of the unknown countries of Soudan as I pos- sibly can, is obtained. If I am not to be tired with respect to time it is hardly to be supposed that my employers should ; but other considerations may certainly make them desire a more prompt conclusion of my journey. And for this reason I am extremely anxious to know what opinion they entertain of my conduct. Postscript, dated from Siout in Upper Egypt, \2th of July, 18l3. I am sorry to say that I have not been able to set out with the Sennaar caravan as soon as I expected A small caravan, coming from the south, arrived at Daraou at the end of May. The merchants had been stripped on the road by the chief of Mograt, through whose territory they are obliged to pass. That chief had espoused the cause of the Mamelouks, and declared war against the Egyptian slave-traders. The party of the latter, with whom I intended to set out from Daraou, where they had already assem- bled, were now afraid to proceed on their journey in small numbers, and they put off their departure, until they might be joined by several other parties, in order to form a large caravan, capable of fighting its way through, if the robber of Mograt should at- tack them, I profited by the interval to return to Siout, from whence I sent a messeix-» ger to Cairo, for my purse was almost exhausted JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. liii I shall write to you once more before I set out from hence, which I hope will be in three weeks. If the departure and arrival of the caravans, were as well regulated in Africa, as they are in Syria, this vast continent would soon be explored. But the difficulties and delays are great, and can only be overcome by patience. The plague is said to have ceased at Cairo, but it still continues in some parts of Lower Egypt, after having almost depopulated Alexandria and Damietta. It had reached a village only two hours distant from here, but made no farther progress. But great fears are entertained that it will increase and spread next winter, over the whole country, which is generally the case whenever it has not completely subsided to- wards the end of June. Extract of a letter from Esne, October \4th, 1813. The great Djelabe traders from Sennaar who have just arrived here, have at length put an end to the impediment caused by the chief of Mograt, by killing him and his principal men in his own house at Mograt, But another difficulty has occuned. There is a gi-eat scarcity of provisions in the Nile countries, from Gous up to Sennaar, occasioned by the locusts, who devoured entirely the last winter crops. The envoys sent last year by Mohammed Aly, to the King of Sennaar, who have returned with the late caravans, describe the state of the inhabitants as most deplorable ; they kill each other for a measure of Dhourra, and neither law nor government is any more attended to. Under such circumstances the caravans assembled at Daraou, in the neighbourhood of Assouan, have not thought proper to leave Egypt, where every kind of provision is at the lowest price. They have wisely resolved to defer their departure until the new Dhourra gi'ain should have have been reaped in the southern countries, when as the inundation of the Nile has been very copious this year, plenty will have returned to those districts, I shall thus start in their company in about three weeks from this time, and have little doubt, provided I remain in good health, that I shall reach Massuah in safety, by taking my road straight across the mountains from Damer towards Massuah. From Massuah I mean to cross over to the Arabian coast, and to return to Cairo by the Hedjaz ; I hope the Committee of the African Association will not object to this extension of my travels. I keep my ultimate object well in view, and after my return to Cmro, I shall be ready to put it in execution. But I think that the discovery of the interior parts of Nubia is well worth a year's labour and the expense attending it. My journey through Arabia may probably qualify me better than any thing else, to future perilous travels in the Mohammedan world, nor will it, I hope, be devoid of some advantages to science. I have collected some information on the interior parts of Africa, from the Soudan pil- liv LIFE AND TRAVELS OF grlms, of whom I have seen great numbers in Upper Egypt. But I wish to improve upon it, before I transmit it to the Association. These pilgrims go here by the name of Tekayme (sing. Tekroury, from the verb^^' : meaning to renew, improve and purify, that is to say, their faith and learning by the pilgrimage. It is probably from this name of Tekroury, that the Arabian geographers have placed a country called Tekrour, between Timbuctou and Kashna ; none of these travellers knew of any such country ) Such of them as are most distinguished for skill in writing and reading, style themselves " Fokara," (from Jii : a poor man, i. e. before the Lord) which name is given in Upper Egypt to the whole class of learned men. Most of the Tekayme come from Darfour ; some from Bornou and the country of Wady el Ghazal, between Bornou and Darfour ; others from Bagherme and Borgho. I have not met with a single man from Wangara, nor could I ever find any whose native country was west of Wangara. 'J he road they take is from Darfour to Kordofan and Sennaar, from whence they follow the course of the Nile through Ddngola and Nubia, to Egypt. Those only who can afford to buy camels and provisions, cross the desert from the Nile to Souakin, tlie others live upon alms, and upon the selling of amulets. I understand that there is a still more frequented pilgrim road from Sennaar through Abyssinia to Massuah. Upper Egypt enjoys at present perfect tranquillity, under the severe but equitable government of Ibrahim Pasha, son of Mohammed Aly. The taxes are moderate and the whole country is equally assessed ; no avanies are practised, and the soldiery is kept in strict order. By secularizing a part of the revenues of the church, such as the super- fluous income of mosques, schools, public cisterns, Olemas, village Shikhs, &c. the Pasha has of late considerably enriched his treasury. The clerical interest is of course now in opposition, although the Pasha has become the restorer of the faith, by deU- vering the holy cities. The Mamelouks have no chance of succeeding in any at- tempt upon Egypt, as long as Mohammed Aly keeps in power ; but if he should hap- pen to fall, 1 conceive that although their number is now reduced to three hundred fighting men only, they would forthwith regain their lost scat in Egypt, where their friends are still very numerous, especially among the most daring adventurers, who greatly dislike the just and vigorous measures of the actual government. P. S. I am in good health, but have gone during the course of the summer and au- tumn, through two very painful ophthalmic attacks, from the latter of which I have just recovered. The cause of delay mentioned in the preceding letter continued to operate during the next four months, and it was not until the JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. Iv 2nd of March, 1814, that tlie caravan finally quitted upper Egypt. During the tedious intervals, which Mr. Burckhardt was under the necessity of passing at Esne, he continued to wear his usual disguise of a poor Mohammedan trader ; taking care to be as little known or noticed as possible. Among the jealous, treacherous, and cruel Mussulman nations which he traversed, after leaving Daraou, it was with difficulty that he seized opportunities of continuing the journal of his remarks and proceedings. Still less was it in his power to transmit any intelligence to the Associ- ation, until after having arrived in safety at Souakin, a port of considerable traffic on the African coast of the lied Sea, he cros- sed over from thence to Djidda,in Arabia. The following extract of a letter from Djidda will put the reader in possession of the general direction of the route, together with the most important heads of information acquired by Mr. Burck- hardt in his second Nubian journey. The detailed account of it, which was not transmitted to the Association until the year 1816, forms the subject of the greater part of the present volume. Extract of a Letter from Mr. Burckhardt to Sir Joseph Banks, dated Djidda, 7 th Au- gust, 1814. I left Upper Egypt on the 2nd of March, .ind crossed the Nubian desert during a jour- ney of twenty three days, slow travelling ; nearly in the same route, by which Bruce re- turned from Abyssinia, fifty years ago. Our caravan rejoined the Nile at Berber, in the vicinity of Bruce"'s Gooz, and after a fortnight's stay among the Arabs Meyrifab, and as much at Darner (two days south of Berber), we reached Shendy, which is at present the principal mar!;et for the slave-traders, from Egypt, Darfour, Kordofan, and Sennaar. Its King is tributary to the King of Sennaar, as are likewise all the petty rulers down the river as far as Dongola ; it would have been easy for me to proceed to Sennaar, nine days journey distant from Shendy, and from thence into Abyssinia, following Bruce's track. But I wished to visit unknown districts, and I was convinced, from what I had already experienced, that a tour through those countries would be attended with expenses, which I was httle able to bear When I left Egypt, I had only sixty dollars, and an ass hi LIFE AND TRAVELS OF to cany me ; not having thought proper to lose the opportunity of the caravan, for the sake of the supply of money which I expected from Cairo. Twenty-five dollars were spent in the way to Shendy. I was thus much straitened, and I had scarcely enough left to buy a slave, a camel, and the necessary provisions for my journey to the Red Sea. From Shendy I proceeded towards the river Atbara (Astaboras), whose fertile banks are cultivated by the Arabs Bisharein. I followed that river in a S. S. E. direc- tion for about one hundred and twenty miles as far as Goz-Radjeb, a place under the dominion of Sennaar, five days journey distant from it. The course of the Astaboras, as well as that of the Astapus (now called Mogren), is very erroneously laid down upon the maps. From Goz I reached the country of Taka, a low ground of four or five days journey in length, and two days in breadth, which is regularly inundated by torrents, rushing down from the Abyssinian mountains ; and which produces a rich crop of Dhourra. I had hoped to cross the mountains from hence to Massuah, on the Abyssi- nian sea coast ; but I found, notwithstanding the information given to me at Shendy, that there is no commercial intercourse between the two places. The infamous treachery of the Arabs Hadendoa, Melykenab, and Hallenga, who inhabit Taka and the southern mountains, renders it impossible to proceed alone, with anybaggage of the smallest value, and the total want of hospitality among all the Arabs of these parts forbids any attempt to travel as a Derwish or beggar. After a ten days stay amongst the Arabs Hadendoa, I left Taka for Souakin, which place draws its whole supply of com from Taka. The rains began to set in ; a high chain of mountains, midway between Taka and Souakin, divides the climate ; to the south of this chain, Ave had every night heavy showers, to the north, the season of the hot winds had begun, and the rains were not expected until September. Thirteen days from Taka we reached Souakin. The Turkish governor of that place was going to seize me, supposing me to belong to the Mamelouks of Dongola ; fortunately I had an old Firman of the Pasha of Egypt with me, the 'producing of which saved me from prison, and procured me a free passage on board a country boat to Djidda, where I arrived in good health on the 20th of July. It is now my intention to visit the principal places of the Hedjaz, to perform the Hadj, or pilgrimage to Mekka, and then to return to Cairo by land. I shall send to England the journal of my late tour, together Avith that of the Hedjaz, after my return to Cairo, not being at present at hberty to write much. The Pasha of Egypt is in possession of all the principal towns of the Hedjaz, but whenever he has endeavoured to push on into the interior, he has constantly been defea- ted by the Wahabi Arabs, amongst whom a female chief, called Ghalye, whose resi- dence is in Taraba, eight days journey S.E. of Mekka, has particularly distinguished herself. The chances however seem at present to be greatly in favour of the Pasha. JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. Ivii Saoud, tliG Wahabi chief, died three months ago of Illness ; His son Abdallah, and his brother of the same name, have been fighting for the succession, and have both been killed in the civil war. The treasure of Saoud is now in possession of the younger sons of Saoud, who are besieged at Derayeh, the capital of Nedjed, by other branches of their family, and several great Arab Shikhs. Many powerful Wahabi chiefs have come over to the Pasha, who has thus been led to undertake an expedition against Derayeh, and the Nedjed itself. At the moment I am writing, Tousoun Pasha, the son of Mohammed Aly, is proceeding from hence to Medina, in order to command the expedition which will take place as soon as the rains have set in, and there is some reason to believe that he will succeed in his project, although it is hardly to be expected that the Turkish troops will be able to keep possession, for any length of time, of those inland countries. I am under great difficulties for a supply of money, the letter of credit which I brought from Cairo not having been honoured, under the pretext that it was dated eighteen months ago ; it must be confessed also that mv torn clothe* did not speak much in my favour. Disappointed in all my endeavours to sell a bill upon Cairo, I have ad dressed myself to the Pasha, Mohammed Aly himself, who is now at Tayf, five days jour- ney from hence. He knows me well, and when at Cairo had often expressed himself in my favour. If he does not comply with my wishes I shall be obliged to return forthwith to Egypt, without performing the Hadj : which will not take place for three months, for the Hedjaz is not the country where a man can hope to travel gratis. Every thing is enor- mousl}' dear at all times, and in the time of the pilgrimage the prices are still higher. P. S. August 9th. I have been so fortunate as to procure a supply of money, by the means of Yahya Effendi, the physician of Tousoun Pasha, a man educated in Europe, and who had known me at Cairo. He received me with singular kindness, and as he was departing with the Pasha for Medina, he was anxious to see me furnished with money before he set out. The answer from Mohammed Aly has not yet arrived. Nearly a year elapsed before the Association received any fur- ther advices from their traveller, his next letter being dated from Cairo, upon his arrival in Egypt from Arabia. As the unfortu- nate state of his health prevented him, upon this occasion, from en- tering into any particulars of his Arabian journey, it is right to inform the reader, that in the following year he transmitted to the Association the most accurate and complete account of the He- djaz, including the cities of Mekka, and Medina, which has ever i Ivhl LIFE AND TRAVELS OF been received in Europe. His knowledge of the Arabic language and of Mohammedan manners had now enabled him to assume the Mussulman character with such success, that he resided at Mekka, during the whole time of the pilgrimage, and passed through the various ceremonies of the occasion, without the smallest suspicion having arisen as to his real character. Upon one occasion, when the Pasha of Egypt, Mohammed Aly, then holding his head quarters at Tayf, to the eastward of Mekka, and who was not altogether ignorant of Burckhardt's connexion with England, thought proper to put his qualifications as a Mussul- man to the test, by directing the two most learned professors of the law, then in Arabia, to examine him upon his knowledge of the Koran, and of the practical as well as doctrinal precepts of their faith, the result was a complete conviction upon the minds of his hearers, or at least of his two examiners, of his being not only a true but a very learned Mussulman. It was his firm con- viction, that the title of Hadji, which his pilgrimage gave him the right to assume, would be of the greatest use to him in his future travels in the interior of Africa. Important however as were the experience and information acquired by his journey in Arabia they were too dearly purchased ; for there can be little doubt, that his constitution never recovered from the effects of that fatal climate, which has always proved pernicious to Europeans.* The severe attacks of fever and dysentery, which he suffered in Arabia, appear to have been the ultimate cause of the fatal termination of the disorder which, two years afterwards, in closing at once his labours and his existence, destroyed the best founded hopes of success, in exploring the unknown regions of Africa, which the Association had ever formed. • The Danish scientific mission to Arabia in the year l/^'l, consisted of five persons. Niebuhr was the only one who returned to Copenhagen, JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARD T. lix The following is an extract of the letter from Cairo, already alluded to. It was dated the 25th June, 1815, and addressed to Sir Joseph Banks. Along interval has elapsed since I gave you in my letter of August 1814, the news of my happy arrival at Djidda from my Nubian journey. The difficulty of correspon- dence between the Hedjaz and Egypt, arising from the jealous policy of the newly esta- blished Turkish government, is one of the reasons which have prevented me from sending you any account of the journey, which I have just accomplished. Another is, I am sorry to say, repeated and long continued attacks of iUness. It is now ei ht days since I am returned to this city, in a weak state of health, still suffering from the effects of a fever which detained me three months at Medina, and had nearly put a stop to all further travels. The receipt of your obliging favour of the 10th September, 1814, and of a letter from IVIr. Hamilton, of the 4th June, of the same year, have contributed more than medicines can do to revive my strength, and to exhilarate my spirits. Indeed tlie assu ; ranee which these letters contain, of my former labours having met with the approbation of my employers, has been to me the source of most heartfelt joy, and the encourage- ment which I have derived fi-om it, has entirely banished from my mind that despon- dency, which my bodily sufferings had caused. JMy physicians wiU not permit me to write much, I can therefore give you but a short sketch of my travels in the Hedjaz. On my arrival at Djidda in August 1814, I remained there about a month, principally employed in endeavouring to procure a supply of money, a bill I had taken with me from Cairo, upon a person residing there, not having been honoured. Having at last succeeded in obtaining a temporary supply, sufficient until I should receive answers from Egypt, I went to Tayf, five days journeys east of Djidda, where I spent the Ramadhan and met the Pasha of Egypt, Mohammed Aly, who gave me the most polite reception, having already seen me at Cairo. It had been my wish to push on farther into the mountains of the Hedjaz, but the whole country was over-run by parties of hostile Wahabi, and the road itself from Tayf to Kolatsb, eight hours distant, where the Turkish head quarters were, was continually infested by them. I returned therefore from Tayf to Mekka, where I past the months of September, Octo- ber, and November, and after recovering from a violent attack of dysentery, I performed on the 25th of November, in the company of more than eighty thousand pilgrims, the Hadj to Mount Arafat. In the beginning of January, I set out from Mekka to Me- dina, a journey often or eleven days, mostly through deserts. My project was to reimain about three weeks at Medina, and to return from thence over land to Egypt, in the hopes of being able to visit on my road, some ruins at a place called Hedjer, six days north of LIFE AND TRAVELS OF Medina, where I expected to meet with some specimens of the most ancient Arabian mo- numents. Six days after my arrival at Medina, I was attacked by a fever which kept me chained to my carpet until April. The state of weakness to which I was then reduced obliged me to give up all attempts to travel by land ; fatigue would have brought on a relapse, and I should have perished in some Bedouin hut on the road. As soon as I could support the motion of a camel, I left Medina and descended to the sea coast at Yembo. The plague, an evil hitherto unknown to Arabia, had lately made its ap- pearance here as well as at Djidda, and its ravages soon became so great that all the inhabitants left these towns, and I found Yembo almost deserted ; after a stay ot fifteen days I embarked on board a country ship, landed at the promontory of Ras Moham- med in the peninsula of Mount Sinai, from whence I reached Tor, where I had a relapse of my fever, which obliged me to remain there near a fortnight. I then took the road of Suez, and arrived at Cairo on the nineteenth of June, after an absence of nearly two years and a half. I ascribe my bad health in the Hedjaz to the climate and water ; the latter, which in these countries is so important an article of diet, is every where brackish and of bad taste, much endangering the health of all strangers. In a letter to the Secretary of the Association he adds, Of the prosecution of my travels into the interior of Africa through the Lybian deserts, I shall say nothing at present. Some time will be required to recover my strength and to complete my journals ; when these are accomplished there will, I hope, be nothing to prevent me from speedily commencing my final journey, for which I trust that I am now qualified in such a manner as to authorise my entertaining some hopes of success. It is impossible for me to express the satisfaction I felt at being apprized by you, that my labours had hitherto met with the approbation of the African Association. I hope my employers will not be disappointed in the favourable hopes they have conceived of my future proceedings, and that the sense of gratitude which I entertain for their hav- ing so liberally left to my entire disposal a school time of upwards of six years, will be a pledge that 1 shall use my utmost exertions in the final execution of those projects for which I have been so long preparing myself. My convalescence goes on slowly ; the great heat of the present season does not per- mit a rapid return of strength, and I can for the same reason work only a few hours du- ring the day. The following is extracted from a private letter, written about the same time, and obligingly communicated to the Association. JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. hi Cairo, 20th July, 1815. I returned to Egypt last month, in very bad healthy for the Arabian climate is of the worst kind, and lias proved much more dangerous to Mohammed Aly's army than all the forces of the Wahabi. Mohammed Aly himself, who had been in the Hedjaz for twentv months, returned at the same time to his capital, after having completely defeated and destroyed the power of his enemy from Medina southward as far as Arabia Felix. Tousoun Pasha remains in the neighbourhood of Medina to finish the war by taking Derayeh, the Wahabi capital ; he has with him about twenty-five hundred or three thousand Turks, and eight or ten thousand Arabs. The hasty return of the Pasha to his capital was probably owing in some measure to the great fears lately prevailing at Cairo and Alexandria, of an expedition of the Sultan against Egypt. The Kapoudan Pasha was equipping his fleet, had taken on board a numerous coi-ps of soldiers, and issued from the Dardanelles without any body knowing the destination of his expedition. Mohammed Aly continues to improve the state of Egypt, and that of his finances. He has begun to exercise his troops in the European manner, has established a large fabric of muskets at Cairo, and possesses also two thousand muskets bought in London. An Italian has set up a gunpowder manufactory where he has constantly two hundred men at work : an En- glishman is beginning to establish a distillery of rum at the Pasha's expense upon a very large scale. About twenty ships belonging to the Pasha are trading to Italy and Spain : six ships in the Red Sea trade to Yemen, and it is in view to estabhsh a direct com- merce with the East Indies. Immense sums have been spent during the last two years in fortifying Alexandria and the Castle of Cairo, together with the mountain behind it. But what secures to the Pasha the possession of Egypt more than any thing else, is the death of three or four thousand soldiers, the most rebellious and fiercest of his troops, whom he constantly placed as vanguards against the Wahabi, and of whom very few returned to Cairo. I doubt not that your Syrian correspondent has informed you of the changes which iiave taken place in that country. Ibn Djassau Oglu has been raised to the Pashalik of Aleppo ; he approached that town with a large army, and promised safe conduct to all the Janis- saries, on condition, that they should give him up Ibrahim Aga Herbily. The latter in vain offered to his comrades to defray all the expenses of the war; they themselves laid hold of him and delivered him to the Pasha, who soon afterwards found means to entice also the other chiefs to his palace, where he had them all massacred. In the possession of Ibrahim Herbily, who was cruelly tortured before his death, forty thousand pui-ses were found, the greater part of which were hidden in the house of Raphael P . Five LIFE AND TRAVELS OF hundred Janissaries were killed. Mamuel, one of Mr. Barker's, shared the same fate. The Pasha has been quarrelling with all the Consuls and has behaved cxtrem ill to the Franks. Soleyman Pasha still keeps Acre, and has now the whole sea coast up to Latikia under his orders. Soleyman Pasha of Damascus has ^dready twice conducted the Syrian war to Mekka, and remains in his government. I hope that you have foimd Sir Joseph Banks in good health. 'J hat venerable and noble minded patron of science has written me a letter containing expressions which I could expect only fi'om a parent. As such I really revere him, and my gratitude towards him would alone be sufficient to induce me to pursue my task, even if so many other con- siderations of honoiu- and duty did not concur in demanding from me every exertion of mv faculties towards this object. During the succeeding nine months, the attention of Mr. Burck- hardt was almost entirely devoted to the regaining of his impaired strength, and to the preparation of his Nubian and Arabian jour- nals for the Association. The following; are extracts from three letters addressed by him to the Secretary of the Association during this period. Alexandria, 2d September, 1815. I am sorry to say that the cure of my long protracted illness was not so expeditious as the assurances of my physicians at Cairo led me to expect. I had several relapses of mv fever ; the intense heat contributed to weaken my system still more, nor was mv remain- ing strength supported by any confidence in the medical skill of the persons who at- tended me : I determined therefore to go to Alexandria, fully persuaded that the sea- breeze, and the society of Col. Missett would powerfully co-operate to the re-establish- ment of my health. I have now been here for the last sixteen days. Col. Missett's kind and generous hospitality is too well known to all Eastern travellers, to stand in need of my commendations ; the deplorable state of his own health did not prevent him from watching with the liveliest interest over the recovery of mine, and it is to his attentions and the friendly assistance of Dr. Meryon, physician of Lady H. Stanhope, whom her Ladyship had sent here to attend the Colonel, that I attribute my present convalescence. Lady Hester has been occupied travelling over Syria for the last three years, and has established herself at Mar Elias, a convent above Seyda. I shall leave Alexandria next week and return by way of Damietta to Cairo, where I hope to finish my journals. The worst effects of my fever|were shewn in a depression and listlessness which seldom permitted me to take up the pen. I hope however soon to JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. Ixiii make amends, and to be able to put a speedy term to my stay in Egypt. Convinced as I still am, that the Fezzan route presents fewer difficulties for penetrating into Africa from the East, than any other, my departure from Cairo must depend upon tlie arrival and redeparture of a Fezzan caravan. I trust that I shall have a less severe trial of patience than that which made nle lose nearly a twelve month in Upper Egypt, before I could find an ehgible conveyance into Nubia ; yet it was to that patience that I owed the success of my journey, and I have laid it down as an invariable rule never to sacrifice security to time, however reluctantly I may submit to the privation of almost every means of instruc- tion, and to the total want of rational society. The latter, which is but feebly felt in travelling, engrosses all one's leisure thoughts during the tediousness of a long protracted fixed residence in any part of these uncivilised countries. The city of Cairo has been lately exposed to serious disturbances. The Pasha, after his return from Arabia, attempted to introduce the Nizam Djedid, and began to drill both his infantry and cavalry according to European tactics. The discontent of the troops soon broke out into open rebelUon, and Mohammed Aly, who had carried his victorious arms to the remotest parts of the Turkish empire, had the mortification to see his capital exposed to the fury and avidity of his own soldiers, who stripped the greater part of the shops, and sacked all the principal Bazars of the town, after which they i-etreated quietly to their quarters, having in vain endeavoui'ed to break open the gate of the Frank street. The Nizam Djedid has now been given up, and the Pasha, conscious of the strength of the rebels, has not deemed it advisable to adopt any strong measures of punishment ; but in order to conciliate the good will, and in case of need the assistance, of the town's people, he has reimbursed to them, out of his own pocket, the whole amount of their loss, which has been calculated at four millions of piastres. The rebellion happened during the first days of last month. Many Franks have left Cairo. Several of them have been much ill treated, and shot at by the soldiers, even after the two days of plunder. It was the vulgar belief that the Franks had persuaded the Pasha to the adoption of European tactics. The Wahabi war di-aws to a conclusion. The Pasha on quitting Arabia left his son Tousoun Pasha, at the head of his small army, in the northern parts of the country. In April last, during the time of my residence at Medina, Tousoun took possession of the province of Kasyne, a fertile district between Medina and Derayeh, the chief seat of the Wahabi ; he fought there several battles with the Wahabi, in one of which Ibrahim Aga, his treasurer, the first officer of his court, was killed after a desperate resistance, This man, who was Grovernor of Medina during the latter part of my stay tiic re, was a Scotch- man, who had been taken at the battle of Rosetta, and who had turned T urk aad was become the favourite of Tousoun Pasha, whose life he had once saved in an engagement Ixiv LIFE AND TRAVELS OF with the Bedouins. His determined bravery, and faithful attachment to the cause of the Pasha would probably have procured him the rank of a Pasha of two tails, if he had had the good fortune to return to Egypt. Before he fell under the lances of the Wahabi he killed five of them with his own hand. The Chief of the Wahabi, Abdallah Ibn Saoud, was apprehensive that the repeated advantages gained by Tousoun Pasha might cause the principal of his adherents to join his enemy ; he therefore commenced negotiations. In the month of June he paid a visit to Tousoun Pasha, and altiiough the articles of peace were not ultimately settled during their conferences, yet little doubt was entertained when the last dispatches were sent off from Arabia that they would soon be concluded. Abdallah Ibn Saoud, in returning to Derayeh, left his own child, two of his brothers, and upwards of thirty of the principal Shikhs of Derayeh in the hands of Tousoun Pasha, as hostages for his good behaviour. Mohammed Aly demands from the Wahabi Chief an enormous sum in retribution of his pillaging the temple of the Prophet at Medina ; he endeavours to prevail upon him to do hommage to the grand Signior for the possessions of the Wahabi in Arabia, but leaves him in the exercise of his new religion, jN"0vided he takes no further steps for propagating it. Cairo, 8th Febmary, IS 16. I have the honour of enclosing herewith the journal of my tour through Nubia, fro Upper Egypt to Souakin and Djidda. It has been ready for some time, but the hope of the arrival of a slave caravan which is daily expected, had made me delay its dispatch, in order to be able to clear up some doubts from the testimony of these traders, whom I might have examined here with much more leisure and safety than I could do in their own country. The caravan however is not yet arrived, and as I wish this to reach you before the yearly meeting of the African Association, I send it off at present, re- serving the additional remarks and n<»tes for a future period. I am busy now in arrang- ing my Arabian journals, which are more voluminous than the enclosed, because I found myself more at liberty, and much less observed at ]\fekka and Medina than I Avas in Soudan. I am sorry to say that my hopes of departing from Cairo are not likely to be quickly realised. No Moggrebyn caravan has arrived, although the yearly epoch of its arrival in Egypt has long passed by. Almost out of patience myself, I am little able to intreat my employers not to lose theirs ; but if my former labours have convinced them that I am averse from trusting my hopes to the chances of rash and ill-prepared measures they will also (I hope) have experienced that I am not likely to give up projects to which I have once pledged myself. My success must be the 'fruit of patience and caution, and I should be wanting in duty both to my employers and myself, as JOHN LEWIS BUCKHARDT. Ixv Weil as in the gratitude which I owe to providence for having hitherto bestowed success upon my patience, if I were now to lose it. I am far from feeling myself comfortable in Egj'pt, and every private motive engages me to wish for a speedy departure from this country. Tousoun Pasha, left by his father Aly as governor of Arabia, concluded, in June, 181.5, a treaty of peace with the Wahabi. The possession of the whole desert and the far greater part of the Bedouin tribes were given up to them, while the holy cities with their territories were acknowledged as dependencies of the Sultan. The Wahabi promised to put no obstacles in the way of the great pilgrim caravans. But it is contrary to the politics of Mohammed Aly to quell that war entirely, for he knows that as long as Arabia is in an unsettled state, and Mekka in danger, he becomes necessary to the Mussulman world in his governorship of Egypt, of which he might possibly be soon deprived if the He- djaz was quiet ; he has therefore refused to ratify the treaty, and his younger son, Ibrahim Pasha, is now proceeding to Arabia with a new armament of troops. The expenses of the war are covered by the income of Djidda and the great profits accruing to the Pasha from his monopolies in the trade of the Arabian coast. A lucky chance has put me in pos- session of very interesting papers concerning this Wahabi war, which together with the information I collected in the Hedjaz, will enable me to throw considerable light upon the whole Wahabi sect and their affairs. For three successive years the plague has raged at Cairo, and great apprehensions are entertained of its return this spring. If it be so I shall neither imitate my Mussulman neigh- bours in taking no precaution whatever against its attacks, nor the Greeks and Franks who shut themselves up for^three or four months in their houses as close prisoners ; but I shall leave the infected borders of the Nile, and seek for refuge among the Bedouins. As I have at present completely recovered my health, which I principally ascribe to an ex cursion through the Delta, after my visit to Alexandria, I do not despair, provided my health keeps pace with my spirits for the next three or four years, to bring my labours to a successful completion. I send this with a messenger to AJexandria, from whence it will be forwarded by Col. Missett. It has been my peculiar good fortune to have met in Syria and in Egypt with such men as Mr. Barker and Col. Missett. The latter is now on the point of retiring from office, for his infirmities increase rapidly, and the climate of Egypt is little calculated to remove them. His public and private vix'tues are such as will ever make him regretted by the Europeans of this countrv, whose zealous protector he has ofteH been, in most trying circumstances, and to many a kind benefactor. I have known few men who treat and know Turks so well as be does. His rigid integrity, his accuracy in business, and his inflexible firmness, are the only checks which Mohammed Aly has experienced in his re- k Ixvi LIFE AND TRAVELS OF Jations with European governments, for the other Consuls are under such great obUgat ions to him that they never dare uphold their nation's interei-ts w hen they are in opposition to those of the Pasha. Nevertheless, the urbanity and generosity of the Colonel's character conciliated the friendship of all the Turks who were known to him, and he departs sincerely regretted both by Egyptians and E( rcpeans, but particularly by myself, who have always experienced from him the most friendly solicitude. Cairo, \8th April, 1816. I depart the day after to morrow for Mount Sinai. The plague has declared itself in this town, and all the Franks are shut up. 1 should not like to imitate them, and still less to expose myself to the infection. As the disorder is likely to spread among the villages on the Nile, I have thought that I could not do better than retire while it lasts to the Bedouins, who among their many advantages over the settled Arabs, enjoy a total exemp- tion from the plague. I shall endeavour to push on as far as Akaba, and trace the direc- tion of the eastern gulf of the Red Sea, which, as far as I know, has never been seen by Eu- ropean travellers. In the following letter Mr. Burckhardt furnishes the Association with a short account of the result of his journey in the peninsula of Mount Sinai. Cairo, 1st July, 1816. I acquainted you in a former letter with my intention to pass the time of the plague in the desert of Sinai. My return to Cairo Avas about the time when the infection usually ceases. From the convent of Mount Sinai I made an excursion towards the eastern gulf of the Red Sea, which I followed up nearly in its whole length, till I came within sight of Akaba (Elana, not Ezlon Geber). Circumstances did not permit me to visit that spot itself, but I could see enough to trace the direction of the gulf as well as of the chains of mountains by which this part of Arabia is linked to Syria. The sea of Elana is much narrower than that of Suez. Close to the shore, on both sides, are high mountains ; its main direction is more easterly than is generally laid down upon the maps. Bedouin of the Arabian coast navigate it, in open boats, in which they carry their cattle to the inhabitants of the peninsula for sale, and they fish for pearls in several parts oi it. Excepting a small island, called El Deyr, not far west of Akaba, where some ruins are seen, no vestiges of ancient settlers, which could be attributed to the Israelites, fell under my observation. At Wady Fizan (one day and a half SW. of the convent of Sinai), are some remains of small towns, of the date of the Lower Empii-e, erected at the time when the monastic order had spread over the whole peninsula, which appears JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. Ixvii to have contained at that time a great number of convents, forming an establish- ment mucli resembling that existing now at Mount Athos. The most interesting an- tiquities are the celebrated inscriptions of Wady Mekatteb, which have never been fully copied yet ; and which are so numerous, that they would afford several days labour even to an experienced draughtsman. I have met with similar inscriptions In many other parts of the mountain, but invariably to the West of Djebel Mousa, which is a strong argument in favour of the belief, that the authors of them were pil- grims coming from E^ypt ; and not Israelite shepherds, as many have supposed. They evidently appear to be mere names, to which the sign jH is always prefixed. I saw no inscriptions of more than a line or two ; it appears that each pilgrim in passing %vrote his name, and the inscribed rocks are constantly found on the side of the dif- ferent great roads, leading from Suez to Djebel Sinai, usually near the resting places, which were chosen where some impending rock afforded shelter from the sun ; and Avhere the same convenience still induces travellers to halt. In the lower part of the mountains the inscriptions are cut in sand stone, in the higher upon granite ; the characters have no depth, but upon granite even this would be a labour exceeding the strength and leisure of ordinary pilgrims. The want of water, especially about Wady Mekatteb, precludes the idea of an army having passed that way, the soldiers of which might have wished to perpetuate their names. Perhaps some of the drawings of animals, particularly those of camels and mountain goats, (in Arabic " Beden," which are to this day very common in the mountain) may have been done by the Israelite shep- herds ; I saw similar drawings, without inscriptions, upon rocks not far from Akaba. Upon the whole these inscriptions appear to me to have a strong resemblance to some I have seen in Nubia, written in the ancient Egyptian current character ; some letters at least appear to be common to both. My opinion is that they were the work of Egyptian Christians, or perhaps Jews, during the first centuries of our era. Besides those of Wad Mekatteb, the most numerous and well written, are those at the foot, on the declivity, and at the summit of Djebel Serbal, a high mountain, apparency the highest of the whole chain, situated S. W. b. W. from the convent about forty miles distant, and which, as far as I know, has not been ascended by any former traveller. Many circumstances indicate that its pointed summit was once the object of a pilgrimage. Artificial steps lead up to it, and the inscriptions about the top are innumerable. From what causes this mountain derived its sanctity,! could not learn, neither from the Arabs nor the priests of the convent, Avho were even ignorant of the ruins of a large convent, situated near the foot of Djebel Serbal. A botanist would find a rich harvest in these high regions, in the most elevated parts of which, a variety of sweet scented herbs grow. The Bedouins collect to this day the ixviii LIFE AND TRAVELS OF manna, under the very same circumstances described in the books of Moses. Whenever the rains have been plentiful during the winter, it drops abundantly from the tamarisk (in Arabic Tarfa) ; a tree very common in the Syrian and Ara- bian deserts, but producing, as far as I know, no manna any where else. They ga- ther it before sunrise, because if left in the sun it melts; its taste is very sweet, much resembling honey ; they use it as we do sugar, principally in their dishes composed of flour. When purified over the fire, it keeps for many months ; the quantity collected is inconsiderable, because it is exclusively the produce of the Tarfa, which tree is met with only in a few valleys at the foot of the highest granite chain. The inhabitants of the Peninsula, amounting to almost four thonsand, complain of the want of rain and of pasturage ; the state of the country must therefore be much altered from what it was in the time of Moses, when all the tribes of Beni Israel found food here for their cattle. About the highest part of the peninsula, springs and wells are in plenty ; in the middle parts and near the shore water is scarce. The present inhabitants are a motley crowd of Bedouins from all quarters, Arabians, Syrians, Egyptians, Moggi'ebyns, united at present in three tribes, who are called masters of Sijia, and who live like true Bedouins, They are in possession of several fruitful valleys where date trees grow, and where agriculture is practised by a minor set of Arabs, the descendants of Christian families, servants of the convents, vvho turned Mussulmans in the sixteenth century, and are no longer to be distinguished from their neighbours. To trace the route of the Israelites in this desert becomes very difficult, from the change which the proper names seem to have under- gone. I could find very few watering places, whose names correspond with those in the Arabic version of the scriptures, although there are several principal valleys and water- ing places, which must have been in the time of Moses, as they are now, the main places of resort of the shepherds of this province. About half way from Has Abou Moham- med to Akaba, lies Dahab. (Deuter. I. i.), an anchoring place, with date plantations, and several mounds of rubbish covering perhaps ancient Hebrew habitations ; five hours north of Ras Abou Mohammed lies the harbour of Sherm, the only one on this coast frequen- ted by large ships. In its neighbourhood are volcanic rocks ; I could find no others of that description in any part of the Sinai deserts, although the Arabs as well as the priests of the convent, pretend that from the mountain of Om Shommar (about eight hours S. S. W. from Djebel Mousa), loud explosions are sometimes heard, accompanied with smoke. I visited that mountain, but searched in vain for any traces indicating a volcano. The librjiry of the convent of Mount Sinai contains a vast number of Arabic MSS. and -Greek books ; the former are of little literary value ; of the latter I brought away two ibmitiful Aldine editions, a Homer, and an Anthology. The priests would not show JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. Ixix tile their Arabic memorandum books, previous to the fifteenth century. From those I saw, I copied some very interesting documents concerning the former state of the country, and their quarrels with the Bedouins. On my return to Cairo, on the ]4th of June, Mr. Salt dehvered to me a couple of pocket compasses, and a letter, to my address, which you had ordered to be for- warded to him. This letter was from my mother; and I can find no terms adequate to express my thanks for your kindness in informing my mother of my welfare, and of the satisfaction which my services have caused to my employers. Next to the desire of contenting the latter, that of contributing to the happiness of my mother is the most fervent I have in this world. So flattering a testimony as that which came from you, could not fail to excite in her heart very lively emotions, and has created in mine senti- ments of lasting and heartfelt gratitude towards their authors. I can still give you no hopes of my speedy departure from hence. The time has gone by when the Fezzan caravan ^might have arrived at Cairo, and I am left in a state of suspense in which I master with difficulty my impatience. My uneasiness encreases by the reflection that this prolonged stay in Egypt may be falsely interpreted in Eng- land, by those who do not know me personally. Yet I cannot prevail upon myself to take a false inconsiderate step ; and however acute my feelings may be on that score, I will rather expose myself to the temporary imputation of a neglect of duty, than act with rashness and against my conviction. Futurity alone can shew whether I was worthy of the full confidence of my employers, or not. If, as it is said, the great Mog- grebyn pilgrim caravan is to pass here on its way to Mekka in October, I may perhaps join it on its return, if no earlier occasion offers. I shall thus be enabled to reach Fezzan by a circuitous route. Of this I shall of course give the African Association further advice, if I should resolve upon it. Mr. Salt I believe has ah'eady acquainted you with our project of conveying the fine granite head of the Memnonium to Alexandria, with the intention of sending it to Eng- land, and of offering it in our joint names to the British Museum. You know that beauti- ful specimen of Egyptian workmanship; the impression which it made upon you and your travelling companions in Upper Egypt, was the chief incitement to Mr. Salt, v^ ho had not yet seen it, to engage in the proposed scheme. Mr. Belzoni, a Roman, lately in the service of the Pasha, who is a good mechanician, has had proper machines made here for its trans- port, and is gone to Gorne to fetch it. Mr. Salt and myself have made a common purse to defray the expenses of the land and water carriage, &c. and have given Mr. Belzoni the necessary instructions. If we do not succeed, our intentions at least were too good to be laughed at, but should the head reach its destination, and become as it deserves to be, im object of general admiration, it will afford me infinite satisfaction to have been a pro-. LIFE AND TRAVELS OF moter of this enterprize. The heads of tlie colossi, at Ebsambal (See my journal in Nubia.) bear a great likeness to this, with the difference that they are of sand stone. The expression of the face is the same ; perhaps a little more gravity is percei- ved in those of Nubia, but the incomparable serenity, and godlike mildness are remark- able in both. The excursion to Mount Sinai was the last journey which Mr. Burckhardt accomphshed. From the time of his return to Cairo in J une 1816", to that of his death in October 1817, he con- tinued to reside in the Egyptian capital, occupied in prepar- ing various papers for the Association ; and in other employ- ments connected with Arabic literature, and his travelling pursuits. The letters which he addressed during this period to the Commit- tee, shew how deeply he felt the disappointment, caused by the non- arrival of any caravan from the interior, by the return of which, he might have proceeded upon the ultimate object of his mission. His letters contain also a series of valuable observations upon the events which occurred about that time in Egypt and Arabia, to- gether with many remarks upon the manners and government of Egypt, and upon those subjects which were his principal objects of enquiry, as an agent of the African Association. The remarks of a person who unites good sense and judgment to local know- pledge and experience, are of the highest value in countries where every branch of enquiry presents results so different from our pre- conceived notions,foundedupon what we have been accustomed to in Europe; where accurate information is very difficult to acquire ; and where, consequentlj^ the remarks of the transient traveller are often replete with error. These considerations are a sufficient excuse for laying before the reader the most interesting parts of the last epistolary communications of Mr. Burckhardt to the Association. They are contained in the following extract from his letters, all of which, except the last, are addressed to Mr. Hamilton, the Secretary. JOHN LEWIS J3URCKHARDT. Ixxi Cairo, October \bth, 1816. I have the honour of transmitting to tlie Committee of the African Association some papers, forming part of the information obtained by me, during my journey through Arabia. They consist of, 1st. Some further fragments on the Bedouins of Arabia, in sequel to those forwarded on former occasions. 2nd. A history of the Wahabi, and principally of Mohammed Aly's late campaign in the Hedjaz. 3rd. A few notes to my former journals. The repeated notices I have transmitted concerning the Bedouins of Arabia, will show how much I am interested about them. I believe that very little of their real state is known in Europe, either because travellers have not sufficiently distinguished Be- douins from Arabs in general, or because they have attempted to describe them "rithout having had the advantage of "seeing them at leisure in their own tents, in the interior of the desert. Their nation is the original stock, from which Syria, Egypt, and Barbary derive their present population, and for this reason alone they deserve to be enquired into ; but they acquire a still greater interest when we consider, that amidst the utter depravity of manners and morals, and the decline of laws and civil institutions throughout the Mohammedan world, the Bedouins are the only Eastern nation who have preserved unchanged their ancient customs, and the manners of their forefathers and who still continue to be what they were twelve hundred years ago, when their emigrating tribes conquered part of Asia, Africa, and Europe. I am aware that my description of the Bedouins is not calculated to be acceptable to the public in gene- ral, as it contains nothing but dry facts: my only object has been to fill up a vacuity in our knowledge of the East, and I flatter myself that those who are interested in obtaining a knowledge of this part of the world wll not be displeased at what I have done. You will forgive my having forwarded the papers in so imperfect a state. Although my general health is at present very good, my eyes are far from being as I wish them to be ; and since my severe ophthalmic attacks in Upper Egypt, I have repeatedly suf- fered from them, and have lately had again a severe inflammation. I see that Aly Bey el \bbasi has got the start of me in his description of Mekka, but I hope to be able to give some information in addition to his. I have lately had an opportunity of perusing his work ; little as I like the style in which it is written and the pretensions of its author, yet I find it incumbent upon me to state, that after a minute examination of it, I find no reason to doubt the general veracity of Aly Bey ; what he says of himself in Syria, Egypt, and the Hedjaz, I know to be true, although he has not always thought proper to state the whole truth. I could tell you many anec- dotes to prove how httle he imposed, with his almost utter ignorance of Arabic, qpon the Ixxii LIFE AND TRAVELS OF sharp-sighted natives of these countries; but he was perhaps to be excused in fancying' that he did, as those who partook of his bounty would be the last to hint to him their real thoughts on this subject, and whether Bey or not, he was a Mussulman, and that was sufficient. His method of travelling was very injudicious; surrounded with so much pomp, it was almost impossible for him to make many interesting observations, for a Turkish grandee is never left alone, and his numerous dependents are spies upon all his actions. The plan which he gives of the mosque at Mekka is very correct ; that of the town is much less so, as you will see by comparing it with that which accompanies my description of the city. All his views of Hedjaz and Syria are drawn from melnory ; that of Wady Muna is the only one sUghtly resembling the reality. He has made one very curious mistake, which is, that he persuades him- self that he was at Mekka, when the Wahabi took possession of that town, an event which happened three years before his arrival there. I am indignant at his daring to question the veracity of Mr. Browne, (by whose side he is a mere pigmy,) upon so tri- vial a fact as that of the existence of carpets in one of the mosques of Cairo, where I actu- ally saw carpets spread not longer ago than yesterday. To advert to another more humble African adventurer, — I have lately seen the Quarterly Review of the Travels of Adams to Tombuctou, (which the Africans caU Timbuctou,) but not the work itself. From what I have heard related in Egypt, and the Hedjaz, by several Felata Bedouins coming as Hadjis, from the neighbourhood of Timbuctou, by the way of Tunis, I believe that Adams's description of that town is cor- rect. One of them told me it was half as large as Cairo, and built of low mud houses, such I believe as are common all over Soudan. As to his river, I likewise heard that the Timbuctou river flows westward. The old story, that it is the same river with the Egyp- tian Nile was also repeated, which of course is in direct contradiction to the former sup- position. The truth seems to be, that the ignorant Africans finding the two rivers to re- semble each other, in size, in productions, and in the regularity of their inundation, conclude them to be the same. The nameof La Mar Zarah, which he ascrlbestothe river of Timbuctou, I believe to be misspelt for Bahr El Ahmar El Sahara ; j£ Egyptians whn see him a giant in figure, for he is six feet an ' a half high, believe him to be a sorcerer. Manual labour is so very cheap in Upper Egypt, that a little money goes a great way •■ the hire for a Fellah per day, is about four-pence ; al- though upwards of one hundred Fellahs were occupied for many days with our head, and that we paid one hundred pounds for the boat only, and made a present to Mr. Bel- zoni, small indeed, but as much as our circumstances permitted, the total expense in- curred by us, as far as Alexandria, does not amount to more than three hundred pounds, and Mr. Belzoni's whole expedition, to about four hundred and fifty pounds. The Pasha of Egypt is luckily not yet aware of the value of these statues ; if he was, he would probably imitate Wely Pasha of the Morea, and ask for passage mo- ney, for he extends his extortions over every article of Egyptian produce, and con- descends even to farm out the trade of camel and sheep's dung. j\Ir. Belzoni, who is known in England as a hydraidic engineer, and is married to an English woman, who has accompanied him to Egypt, entered last year the service of the Pasha, as a mechanic, but not being able to contend with the intrigues of a Turkish court, and too honourable to participate in them, he was dismissed as unfit for his business, and five months of pay still remain due to him. So much for the Pasha's encouragement of European jai'tists. They are enticed into his service by his emissaries in the Mediterranean, but ar^ soon left to bewail their credulity. JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. Ixxix You Avlll find in the notes accompanying my translation of Macrizi, the account of some other very interesting discoveries, in the Eastern mountains of Upper Egypt; and last month, the old and so often visited pyramid of Djize was so well rummaged, that much curious new matter has come to light. Mr. Caviglia, an Itahan, and Mr. Kabitch, a German, settled here, formed the project of exploi-ing tlie well in the great pyra- mid. In the course of the operation, they have discovered that a continuation of the descending passage leads to a chamber under the centre of the pyramid, and they find that no other well descends into the passage. I have been led to believe from various circumstances, that this new discovered con- tinuation of the entrance passage was opened in the time of the Khalif who opened the pyramid, and that it has been choaked up ever since. If I am to believe She- rif Edrys, the author of a history of the Pyramids, a book, I believe, unknown in Europe, and which I have lately purchased here, the interior of the pyramid is full of passages and rooms, and several sarcophagi are yet to be discovered. This author wrote in the twelth century, and himself minutely examined the pyramid. I cannot dismiss the subject of Egyptian antiquities, without saying a word of Mr, Drovetti's collection. It is certainly at present the finest of all those extant, in Italy^ France, and England. There are few large statues, but great numbers of middle sized, and an innumerable series of idols, scarabees, medals, intaglios, and other articles il- lustrative of the religion and domestic life of the Egyptians, their dress, furniture, &c. &c. His rolls of papyrus are particularly valuable. He has ten quite entire, three of which are, I believe, the largest ever found in this country, together with a great num- ber of smaller ones; and a large Coptic manuscript, written upon gazelle skin, found in the island of Omke, above the cataract of Wady Haifa. Many large specimens of Egyptian sculpture may yet be obtained, but it will be long before so complete a collection of smaller articles wiU be collected by one person. Mr. Drovetti has been for twelve years a person of great influence, and even power in Egypt ; and his great object has been, to augment his collection, for which purpose he employed people in every part of the country. As it often happens in the Levant, with Europeans, long settled there, mercantile and pecimiary interests have at last got the better of his love for antiquity, and Mr. Drovetti having now turned corn-dealer, is desirous of converting his collection into cash. It would certainly be most desirable to have the collection in Eng- land. I believe that it has cost him about fifteen hundred pounds, and is certainly worth three or four tvues that sum in Europe. I am in anxious exjjectation of a caravan for Lybia, and I have been long prepared to start at the shortest notice ; I shall now leave Egypt with the more pleasure, because I shall not have to regret the abandoning of my journals in a rude state, which would Ixxx LIFE AND TRAVELS OF have been the case if I had departed last year ; for it will afford me no small consola- tion in my future travels, to think that whatever may be my fate, some fruit has been reaped from ray pursuits, and that the Association is now in possession of several jour- nals, containing new information upon very interesting countries. Cairo, March 23d, 1817. If any thing can give me pleasure, it is the information which you give me, that my employers are contented with me, and I beg you to assure them, that as long as I shall have the honour to be in their service, no efforts shall be left untried by me to deserve their approbation. I fully appreciate the permission they have given me, to pass so long a time out of the intended direction of my labours. If some credit be due to me for the manner in which I have spent this time, no less is due to their liberality, in affording me the means of applying my exertions to countries and subjects, that fell not within the immediate scope of my mission ; although I flatter myself, that the purposes of the latter were at the same time considerably advanced. It affords me much satisfaction to understand that what I have wr tten on the Be- douins has been found of interest. My last additions to those papers, which complete all the information I possess on that nation, have perhaps not reached you. I have illustra- ted their manners, laws, and character, with much pleasure, because I hold them to be infinitely superior to their neighbours the Turks. They have happily escaped the cor- ruption of Levantine manners and morals, and this alone entitles them to the attention of the European public, although few travellers have thought them worth noticing, other- wise than as a nation of bloody, savage, and faithless robbers. When you ask me whether I know Antar, you probably forget that the first know- ledge I gained of that author, was from an odd volume in your own library.* I fully agree with you in your sentiments concerning it ; it has certainly every characteristic of an epic poem ; it is throughout of high interest, and often sublime. I have attentively read httle more than one twelfth part of it ; the copy I bought at Aleppo is among the MSS. which I sent to England from Syria. Its style is very remarkable ; without de- scending to the tone of common conversation, as the One Thousand and one Nights often do, it is simple, and natural, and clear of that bombast, and those forced expressions, and far-fetched metaphors, which the Orientals admire even in their prosaists, but which can never be to the taste of an European critic. The poetry appears almost every where to be the effusion of real sentiment, and the heroic strain of Antar's war and love songs, his satires and bursts of self-praise, are as exalted as they are natural. You are no Addressed to Mr. Hamilton. JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. Ixxxi doubt informed that this same Antar was one of the poets of tlie Moallakat, and that Os- may, who relates his hfe in this work, occupied a high rank among the poets at the court of Haroun er-Rashid, and his son Mamoun. I believe Sir William Jones was the first to call the attention of the public to this romantic poem, in his Comment. Poes. Asiat. He possessed only one or two volumes of it, yet enough to convince him of the excellence of the whole performance, of which he speaks in terms of the highest praise. Having occasion to write to your brother* not long since, I suggested to him the ex- pediency of making some abridgement, in case of his publlshmg a translation of any part of Antar, for there are many repetitions, in which the Arabs delight, but which lessen the general interest of the work. I am confident that the translation of the abridged Antar would extremely gratify the pubhc, and nothing would give me greater pleasure, than to see the noble Bedouin romance ushered into the world. Cairo, I8th May, 1817. By the present opportunity I transmit to Sir Joseph Banks, my journal in the penin- sula of Sinai, and to you, a volume of proverbs and popular sayings current at Cairo. I am afraid the Committee will be startled at all the Arabic it contains, and exclaim that the writer was sent to tl^ese countries not to become a translator but a discoverer. I can only say in excuse, that as my stay in this city has been unfortunately, but necessarily, so much prolonged, I thought that with a view to forward my future designs, I could not do better than pursue my study of Arabic, and in so far I can assure you, that I have derived essential benefit from this compilation, while at the same time I hope that a knowledge of the Arab nation, and of their present language, may be somewhat advanced by it, and facilitated to others. In translating and explaining these sayings, I have been actuated by another motive; I wished to leave a memorial with my employers, as well as with the public, that I liad acquired a competent knowledge of the vulgar dialect of the people whom I have described in my journals. The simple assurance to that effect, would go very little way with those, who know that for the last fifty years few Europeans have published their travels among Arabs, without pretending to be familiar with their language, and at the same time giving proofs of gross ignorance of it. It is true that from the perusal of my journals, and from the information which I collected in the course of my travels without the help of interpreters, the reader will probably infer that I must have understood something of this language ; but he would still be left in utter ignorance * Terrick Hamilton, Esq. who has since published the translation of a part of Osmay's work. m Ixxxii LIFE AND TRAVELS OF whether that acquaintance was such, as to confirm or detract from the veracity of the stated facts; the latter being often apphcable to those, who hear and understand only by halves, yet enough to make them believe that they are not in want of a Dragoman. I have therefore thought it incumbent upon me, to give some clear proof how far I really possess that knowledge, and cannot help flattering myself that by this httle work I have given a greater degree of authenticity to my journals. If I am not able to display the learning of a profound Arabic scholar, I trust at least that those who take the trou- ble to peruse this volume, will give me credit for understanding the language of the bazar, and of the peasants, and that is all I wish for at present. From what I have just said, you will perceive that I am desirous of having these sheets published. The number of amateurs of Arabic is so very small in Europe, and the printing of Arabic is so expensive, that even the advantageous sale of such a work would, I believe, hardly defray one third of the expenses. It is reason- able to doubt whether the African Association would like to engage in an under- taking, so foreign to its avowed pursuits, although I shall be very happy to find that I am mistaken in this surmise. But it strikes me that the Directors of the East India Company, who patronise so liberally every branch of Oriental learning, may perhaps be willing to lend their assistance to this publication. Mr. Salt has already acquainted you with the further discoveries near the py- ramids. He and Mr. Briggs made a common purse to enable Captain Caviglia, whose pecuniary resources were exhausted by his works, in the interior of the pyra- mid, to pursue his labours under their directions in its neighbourhood, and especicUy near the Sphinx. The small temple which the Sphinx holds between its monstrous paws, is certainly very interesting, and of the best Egj'ptian workmanship. The hierogly- phics upon its walls are beautifully cut, and belong to the best period of Egyptian art. The many fragments of sculpture found between the paws are of a less remote period, and seem to have been placed there as offerings by the Greek Egyptians, who wrote the Greek inscriptions found on one of the paws and upon a large detached slab of stone; they belong to the reigns of Claudius, and Adrian, &c. Tlie flight of steps cut out of the rock, that lead down to the avenue in front of the paws about sixty feet distant from them, and which describe a curve, bear likewise more resem- blance to Greek than to Egyptian work. I'he designs which Mr. Salt has made are strikingly correct, and will indemnify future travellers, for having missed the oppor- tunity of inspecting these curious monuments. Very few of them can have the satisfac- tion to admire these beautiful ornaments of the Sphinx, a colossus tliat is to me more imposing even than the pyramids, for the latter, after all, appear like small mountains ; while the former is a gigantic animal. The labourers will no sooner quit the place, thaa JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. Ixxxiii the sands will return to their former situation, and few people will have the courage to dig them out again. Captain Caviglia, who continues at the work with incre- dible ardour, says that with two thousand pounds he should be able to clear the whole Sphinx, from top to bottom on all sides, and little doubt can be entertained of his finding in that case, other important monuments of antiquity; perhaps large temples or grottos cut out of the rock, below and on the sides of the Sphinx, which appears to stand in a hollow. Our colossal head is to leave Alexandria very soon, on board a transport which Admiral Penrose has sent to load corn. Mr. Belzoni, who is at present Avith Mr. Beechy, the se- cretary of Mr. Salt, at Thebes, has made many excavations there, and has found at Kar- nak a colossal head very httle injured equal in beauty and size to ours, and in the highest preservation. Among other things he has found two large bronze vases covered with hieroglyphics. As soon as the plague is over at Alexandria, I shall transmit to England a large chest of Arabic manuscripts. My whole collection, including two chests already sent to England, amounts to about four hundred volumes, composed principally of histo- rical books, among which are many not found in Europe, and very scarce even in the East. I have still to regret the non-arrival of caravans from the west, and I can only repeat that whenever one arrives, I shall certainly accompany it, on its return to Fezzan. In the meanwhile I must rely on the justice of the Association, not to put any other con- struction on my delay than those which I have stated. I am conscious that I subject their patience to a very severe trial, but mine at the same time is put to the torture. Did I not indulge the reasonable hope that my conduct, since I have been in their ser- vice, entitles me to the confidence of my employers, I should be inclined to load my camel, and enter Lybia alone, to prove to them that it is neither want of courage, nor of zeal, that keeps me so long in inaction. Cairo, May 18th, ISl/.* My journal in the peninsula of Sinai has grown to such a bulky volume, that I am somewhat apprehensive, of its being less acceptable on that account, but as there is no necessity for its being published at full length, the editor may cut off at pleasure all the less interesting matter. I had more liberty to write during the greater part of this journey, than I possessed in several former ones. This small country so im- portant to the history of mankind, has never before been described in detail. The commentary on the route of the Israelites, which I have annexed to it, I submit with much diffidence to the perusal of the Committee, as I cannot but feel ap- prehensive that what strikes me to be correct, may not appear equally so to persons * Addressed to Sir Joseph Banks. Ixxxiv LIFE AND TRAVELS OF who have not visited the desert, and have not travelled with Bedouins. Should my opinions meet w ith approbation, I shall be particularly gratified, in having been able to elucidate some obscure points of early history, and to vindicate the authenticity of the sacred historian of the Beni Israel, who will be never thoroughly understood, as long as we are not minutely informed of every thing relati\ e to the Arabian Bedouins, and the country in which they move and pasture. There was a time when I never wrote to you, without being able to acquaint you either with the termination of some interesting excursion, or with my being just upon the start for another. Instead of which, I have been obhged to content myself now for nearly two years, with comments upon former journeys, or to offer you of future ones, the promise irv- stead of the deed. I cannot yet move from hence as no caravan has yet arrived from the west ; it is indeed expected, bvit so it has been for a length of time, and that very expectation prevents me from undertaking any other joumey, and chains me to this tow n, the air of which presses more heavily upon my lungs than did the pestilential exhalations of the saltmarshes of Medina. Had I any reasonable hope of being able to reach my des- tination by any other route, than that of Fezzan, believe me, not a moment's delay should be incurred, to relieve myself from the most painful sensation I have felt since I left England, tliat of being more or less exposed to the blame of relaxation or want of spirit, in the performance of my duty. Had 1 less at stake I should perhaps be less prudent, but when I consider that during eight years, I have done my best to acquire the proper qualifications for the undertaking, I am unwilling to risk the prospect of success now in my hands, while if I can finally set out upon my journey in an eligible manner, I have some well founded expectations of bringing it to a happy issue. If I fail, it must cost ray successor many years of apprenticeship, to be able to enter the gates of Libya, Avith as much confidence, as I shall now be able to do. I believe that the non-arrival of the Fezzan caravan is to be ascribed to the encreased demands of black slaves on the coast of Baibary, to replace the white slaves so gloriously delivered by the English fleet, for I have understood that the intercourse between Tripoly and Fezzan has been very brisk for the last twelvemonth. The demand for slaves, however, is no less great in Egypt, where the plague has made for the last four years, great ravages among the black species, Avhich it appears to attack in preference even to the w hite ; and if the Barbary market is glutted, which already must be the case, the Fezzan traders will again drive their human cattle to the slave folds of this town. Mohammed Aly has within the last month begun a work for which he would deserve great credit, were it not clear that far from its being made subservient to the benefit of his subjects, it will only furnish him with pretexts for new extortions. He is re-opening JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. l\xxv the ancient canal from Ralimanye to Alexandria, a measure that becomes from jear to year more necessary, as the bar of Rosetta is almost choaked up by sand ; and has been during this winter for four months quite impassable, even to the flat bottomed boats of this country. Already last year the Pasha had caused a causeway to be car- ried across the mouth of the lake of Madye, and thus stopped the communication of that lake with the Sea, establishing by these means, a land-road all tlie way from Rosetta to Alexandria. But the Lybian Bedouins who were called with their camels, to transport the corn collected at Rosetta from all Egypt, by this new road to Alexandria, were so ill- treated by the Turkish officers, and so much curtailed of theii" freight, that they soon fled back to the desert, and thus the trade has as yet derived very little profit from that road. The opening of the canal, which is calculated to be a work of two years, for sixty thousand men, at an expense of about two millions of dollars, vnM open a water communi- cation from all parts of Egypt to Alexandria, uninterrupted through the whole year, but such imposts will be levied, as will soon cause the native merchants to regret the ancient passage by the bar of Rosetta ; the Fellahs meantime employed in this and the other pub- lic works, are treated much in the same manner as were the Israelites by Pharoah. The income of the Pasha, which upon a moderate calculation is two and a half or three mil- lions sterling, per annum, (and of which he spends at most half,) added to the low price of labour, and the abundance of hands, i-ender similar undertakings in Egypt much less difficult than they would be in other parts of the Turkish dominions. Perhaps the canal between the Nile and the Red Sea will be opened afterwards ; if the direct intercourse with India, which the Pasha has already set on foot, succeeds according to his wishes, and is not opposed by the East India Company. Such enterprises might cause any other country to flourish, and to increase in wealth and industry ; but here, none will benefit by them but the Pasha himself, and those employed by him in lucrative situations, while the mass of the people bewail the long duration of these works, in the execution of which they are in every instance defrauded of their dues ; they are forced by government to attend to the labour, and are obliged to accept two thirds, and sometimes only half of the price that labour holds in the country. We are left without precise news from the seat of the war which Ibrahim Pasha, the son of jVIohammed Aly, conducts in the Hedjaz against the Wahabi. Until within the last two months, he had not pushed on ftirthor than Hanakye, a sta- tion three days journeys in advance of Medina, towards the interior of the Wahabi country. He is reported to have obtained several advantages over small corps of the enemy, and to have defeated them even in a more important battle, but his success ap- pears not to have been decisive, as he has not advanced. Meantime reinforce- ments ai-e continually sent to Arabia. Three Frenclimen who are in the suite of Ibra- Ixxxvi LIFE AND TRAVELS OF him Pasha, have written lamentable letters to Cairo, stating that they were one night robbed of their whole baggage, and left in their shirts, while sleeping in a tent adjoining to that of the Pasha, whose military chest was carried off on the same occasion. A frigate is building at this moment at Bombay, for Mohammed Aly, with which he intends to harass his enemy in the Persian gulf ; and to protect his commerce in the Red Sea which he daily extends, and from which he will succeed to shut out in a short time all private adventurers from Egypt and the Hedjaz. 5t?t of June. I have sent off by this opportunity, a packet to Mr. Hamilton, con- taining a collection of popular sayings of the Arabs of Cairo, written in the vulgar dialect of the city. Captain Gambier, of the Myrmidon, who has come here for a few days, and who departs immediately for Malta, has promised to forward both packets from thence. I hope that within a few weeks, the colossal head will also be embarked at Alexandria. In the Hadj of the year 1817, among the pilgrims collected at Mekka from every part of the Mussulman world, was a party of Moggrebyns, or western Africans, who were expected to return home as usual, by the way of Cairo and the Fezzan ; it was belie- ved that the caravan would take its departure from Egypt in the month of December. As Mr. Burckhardt had now transmitted to England the last of his papers relating to his former journeys, it was with the utmost satisfaction, that he contemplated the pros- pect, which at length so opportunely offered, of putting the great purpose of his mission into execution. Feeling strongly armed, in his long previous course of study and experience, he enter- tained hopes, not more sanguine, than reasonable, of being able to penetrate in safety from Eezzan to the countries of the Niger ; and of at last receiving the reward of his long perseverance, in the ac- quirement for the public of some authentic information, upon the unknown regions of Africa. But the Divine Providence ordained otherwise. On the 4th of October, he found the symptoms of dy- sentery, which had for several days incommoded him, so much encreased, that he applied for relief to Dr. Richardson, an English JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT, Ixxxvii physician, who fortunately happened at that time to be at Cairo, tra- velHng in the company of Lord Belmore. Thus it is a satisfaction to know, that our lamented traveller, in his last illness, had as good ad- vice and assistance as medicine could supply. The disease however, in spite of all the remedies administered, continued its progress from bad to worse, with fatal obstinacy, and without any favourable remis- sion. On the morning of the 15th, conscious of his danger, he pro- posed and obtained the consent of his' physician, that Mr. Salt, His Majesty's Consul General, should be sent for. " I went over immedi- ately," says Mr. Salt, in a letter to the Secretary of the Association, " and cannot describe how shocked I was, to see the change which had taken place in so short a time. On the Tuesday before, he had been walking in my garden with every appearance of health, and conversing with his usual liveliness and vigour ; now he could scarcely articulate his words, often made use of one for another, was of a ghastly hue, and had all the appearance of approach- ing death. Yet he perfectly retained his senses, and was surprisingly firm and collected. He desired that I would take pen and paper, and write down what he should dictate. The following is nearly word for word what he said : ' If I should now die, I wish you to draw upon Mr. Hamilton for two hundred and fifty pounds, for money due to me from the Association, and together with what I have in the hands of Mr. Boghoz, (two thousand piastres), ' make the following disposition of it. Pay up my share of the Memnon head,' (this he afterwards re- peated, as if afraid that I should think he had already contributed enough, as I had once hinted to him). ' Give two thousand piastres to O sman' (an Englishman, whom at Shikh Ibrahim's* particular * From the time of his departure from Aleppo, Mr. Burckhardt had continued to pass by this name. Ixxxviii LIFE AND TRAVELS OF request, I had persuaded the Pasha to release from slavery). ' Give four hundred piastres to Shaharti my servant. Let my male and female slaves, and whatever 1 have in the house, which is litde, go to Osman. Send one thousand piastres to the poor at Zurich. Let my whole library, with the exception of my European books, go to the University of Cambridge, to the care of Dr. Clarke, the librarian; comprising also the manuscripts in the hands of Sir Joseph Banks. My European books' (they were only eight in number) ' I leave to you' (Mr. Salt}. ' Of my papers make such a selection as you think fit, and send them to Mr. Hamilton for the African Association ; there is nothing on Africa. I was starting in two months time with the caravan returning from Mekka, and going to Fezzan, thence to Tombuctou, but it is otherwise disposed. For my affairs in Europe, Mr. Rapp has my will. -f- Give my love lo my friends,' (enumerating several persons, with whom he was living upon terms of intimacy at Cairo J. ' Write to Mr. Barker/ (He then paused, and seemed troubled, and at length with great exertion said,) ' Let Mr. Hamilton acquaint my mother with my death, and say that my last thoughts have been with her.' (This subject he had evidently kept back, as not trusting himself with the mention of it until the last). ' The Turks,' he added, * will take my body, I know it, perhaps you had better let them.' When I tell you that he lived only six hours after this conversation, you will easily conceive what an effort it must have been. The expression of his countenance when he •f This refers to a will made previous to his departure from England, according to which, in case he had advanced into the interior of Africa, and was not heard of by the 1st of January, 1820, he was to be considered as dead. By this will, after shewing his gratitude to a relation, to whom he had been indebted while at Leipzig, he appointed his mother residuary legatee for all sums which might accrue to him, from his en- gagements with the African Association. JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. Ixxxix noticed his intended journey, was an evident struggle between disappointed hopes, and manly resignation. Less of the weak- ness of human nature was perhaps never exhibited upon a death bed. Dr. Richardson and Osman, who has for some time lived with him, were both present at this conversation. He ended by expressing a wish that I should retire, and shook my hand at part- ing as taking a final leave. So unhappily it proved ; he died at a quarter before twelve the same night, without a groan. The fune- ral, as he desired, was Mohammedan, conducted with all proper regard to the respectable rank which he had held in the eyes of the natives. Upon this point I had no difficulty in deciding, after his own expression on the subject. The Arabic manu- scripts for the University of Cambridge are in a large chest, and shall be forwarded by the first safe opportunity, together with his papers, which are few, and appear to be chiefly copies of what I believe him to have already transmitted." To those who have perused the preceding extracts from Mr. Burckhardt's correspondence, it will be almost superfluous to add any remarks upon his character. As a traveller, he possessed talents and acquirements, which were rendered doubly useful, by his qualities as a man. To the fortitude and ardour of mind, which had stimulated him to devote his life to the advancement of science, in the paths of geographical discovery, he joined a tem- per and prudence, well calculated to ensure his triumph over every difficulty. His hberality and high principles of honour, his admi- ration of those generous qualities in others, his detestation of injus- tice and fraud, his disinterestedness and keen sense of gratitude* were no less remarkable, than his warmth of heart and active • His present to the University of Cambridge, of the choicest collection of Arabic manuscripts in Europe, was intended as a mark of his gratitude, for the literary bene- n Ixxxix; LIFE AND TRAVELS OF benevolence, which he often exercised towards persons in distress, to the great prejudice of his limited means. No stronger example can easily be given of sensibility united with greatness of mind, than the feelings which he evinced on his death bed, when his mother s name, and the failure of the great object of his travels, were the only subjects upon which he could not speak without hesitation. By the African Association his loss is severely felt, nor can they easily hope to supply the place of one whom birth, education, ge- nius, and industry, conspired to render well adapted to what- ever great enterpriae his fortitude and honourable ambition might have prompted him to undertake. The strongest testimony of their approbation of his zealous services is due from his employers, to their late regretted traveller ; but it is from the public and from posterity, that his memory will receive its due reward of fame; for it cannot be doubted that his name will be held in honourable remembrance, as long as any credit is given to those who have fal- len in the cause of science. Although the journeys of Mr. Burckhardt in the parts of Africa, to the southward of Egypt, together with the oral information which he obtained, relative to the interior regions situated to the west- ward of those countries, are the only parts of his transmitted pa- pers, which belong in strictness to the objects of an Association for promoting the discovery of the interior parts of Africa ; yet his fits, and the kind attention which be received at Cambridge, when prepaiing himself for his travels. Of his disi-egard of pecuniaiy matters, and bis generous feeling towards those who were dear to him, a single example will be sufficient. His father having bequeathed at his death about ten thousand pounds, to be divided into five equal parts, one to his widow, and one to each of his children, Lewis Burckhardt immediately gave up his portion, to increase that of his mother. If, he said, I perish in my present undertaking, the money mil be where it ought to be ; if I return to England, my employers will un- doubtedly find me some means of subsistence. JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. xci remarks upon several parts of Syria, the Holy Land, and Arabia, are so replete with new and accurate information, that the Associ- ation cannot think itself justified in withholding them from the public. His travels in Nubia, and all his information upon the north-eastern parts of Africa, have therefore been selected for a first volnme, and it is in the contemplation of the Association, to continue the publication of his remarks upon the other countries described by him, in the order of precedence to which they shall appear to be entitled, by the novelty or importance of their matter. There remains only one observation to be made by the member of the Committee, upon whom has devolved the task of editing the present volume. Although Mr. Burckhardt was gifted by nature with sagacity and memory for making accurate observations, and with taste and imagination to give a lively description of them, it must not be forgotten, that he wrote in a language which was not his native tongue, which he did not learn until he was twenty-five years of age, and in the writing of which he had little exercise, until he had arrived in those countries, where he very seldom heard it spoken, and where he had still more rarely any opportunities of referring to English models of composition. When, in addition to these great disadvantages, it is considered that the journal which forms the contents of this volume, was only once transcribed from his collection of daily notes, and was written, as the traveller him- self states, in the corner of an open court, by the side of his camels, under the influence of the hot winds of the Desert, and under the sufferings of an ophthalmia, the reader will easily believe that the Editor has found it necessary to make some alterations in the dic- tion of the original manuscript. Some changes of arrangement have also been occasionally required, in order to bring together dispersed observations upon the same subject, which, having been xcii LIFE AND TRAVELS, &c. noticed as tliey occurred, are, as usual in the first transcription of a traveller's journal, found in such a desultory and unconnected state, as could not be agreeable to the reader. In these attempts of the Editor to present the work to the public in a more perspi- cuous form, it has at the same time been his most studious endea- vour to make as few changes as possible; for he would much rather expose himself to the imputation of having left passages liable to be criticized for inelegance and an idiom not English, than to that of having, in the remotest manner, injured the spirit and originality of the Author's thoughts and expressions, by an ill- judged attempt to polish or correct them. Bl RCKnARDT .s TRAAT.i.S. JOURNEY ALONG THE BANKS OF THE NILE. FROM ASSOUAN TO MAHASS, ON THE FRONTIERS OF DONGOLA. Aft ER having visited most of the celebrated ruins in the valley of the Nile, T arrived at Assouan on the 22d of February, 1813, being actuated by a strong desire of continuing my journey up the river, as far as I should be able to do it, without exposing myself to imminent danger. During a week's stay at Esne, the last town of note in Upper Egypt, I had collected a good deal of informa- tion concerning the state of Nubia, and had taken my measures accordingly. Amongst other arrangements, it became necessary for me to purchase a pair of good dromedaries, one for myself, and another for the guides, whom I might hire at the several places 1 should pass through in Nubia ;* I therefore sold the two asses, which had carried me from Cairo to Esne, and bought, for about 22/ , two dromedaries which proved upon trial, to be excellent animals ; for during a journey of thirty-five days, from Assouan to Mahass, and back again, I allowed them only one day's rest, and generally rode them ten hours per day. There is • Single men are always easily found, to act as guides, but few are willing to expose their own beasts to the chances of a dangerous journey. B ASSOUAN. a market for camels in Esne, famous all over Egypt, from being frequented by the Arabs Bisharye and Ababde, who possess the best breed of camels in these parts of Africa. The Turkish governor of Esne, Hassan Beg, a native of Cyprus, furnished me, at my request, with a strong letter of recommendation to the three brothers, sons of Soleyman Kashef, who at present govern Nubia: and it was hoped that the increasing power of Mohammed Aly, the Pasha of Egypt, would render such a letter from one of his prin- cipal officers, of some weight. I had, besides, a firman from the Pasha himself, but as it was written in Turkish, which nobody reads in Nubia, and of a general nature, I placed little rehance upon it, further than as it contained among other names, those of the castle of Ibrim, and of its governor, which might be distinguished even by an Arab reader. The letter upon which I principally founded my hopes of success, was from the house of Habater, the principal mer- chants in Esne, to whom 1 had been recommended by a friend at Cairo. The Habater have almost monopolized the Nubian trade in dates; they act as the charges d'affaires of the Nubian princes in all their political transactions with Egypt, and being also Sherifs, or descendants of the Prophet, and men of large fortunes, they en- ioy great credit, and their recommendation may be useful to tra- vellers and merchants in the whole route up the Nile, as far as Sennaar. After an easy journey of four days from Esne, I reached As- souan, the most romantic spot in Egypt, but little deserving the lofty praises which some travellers have bestowed on it for its antiquities, and those of the neighbouring island of Elephantine. Hassan Beg, of Esne, had given me a letter to the Aga of Assouan, to whom I applied for a guide to conduct me as far as Derr, where Hassan Kashef, one of the Nubian chiefs, resides : an old Arab, a native of Nubia, was soon found for this purpose, and after bargaining a ASSOUAN. 3 long while, I at last agreed to give him one Spanish dollar for his services to Derr, which was considered an ample payment for a journey of 140 miles. I left at Assouan my servant, with the little baggage I had ; and after purchasing some provisions, started, with my guide, on the 24th of February, carrying nothing with me but my gun, sabre, and pistol, a provision bag, and a woollen mantle (Heram) of Moggrebyn manufacture, which served either for a carpet, or a covering during the night. I was dressed in the Thabaut, or blue gown, of the merchants of Upper Egypt, having quitted my common Turkish travelling dress at Esne. After esti- mating the expenses which I was likely to incur in Nubia, I put eight Spanish dollars into my purse, in conformity with the prin- ciple I have constantly acted upon during my travels, namely, that the less the traveller spends while on his march, and the less money he carries with him, the less likely are his traveUing projects to miscarry. After a journey of 450 miles up the Nile, from As- souan, and the same distance down again, I returned with three dollars, having spent about five dollars, including every expense, except the present to Hassan Kashef.* This must not be attributed to parsimony ; I mention it here as a part of my plan of travelling, * The different items of expense during my journey were as follow : Piast, Par. To the guide from Assouan to Derr - - - . - 6 .. 20 Present to him - - - _ . - 0 .. 10 Dhourra, bought at Assouan - - - - 1 .. 30 Bread and onions, bought at Assouan - - - - 0 ., 25 Present to the servant of the governor, at Derr - - . I ,. 0 Present to the secretary, for writing a letter to Sukkot, which induced him to recommend me in strong terms - - - - 1 .. 0 Provisions of Dhourra from Derr to Mahass - - • - 6 .. 0 Tobacco bought at Derr - . - _ _ 1..0 Shoes repaired at Derr - _ _ . - - 0..5 Paid on the way to my guide to Mahass - - - - 1 0 Paid wages to my guide on my return to Derr - - - 0 .. 20 4 ASSOUAN. and by way of advice to all travellers who visit unknown and dan- gerous countries in the East. February 24th, 1813. 1 left Assouan at noon, and proceeded by the tombs of the ancient Saracen town of Assouan, on the east side of the hill where the French under Desaix raised a bas- tion. A high brick tower, dedicated to the memory of the Turkish saint, Shikh Wanes ^^), stands near it. The Tur- kish sepulchres cover a space of nearly three miles in circumfer- ence. Here a great number of highly esteemed saints are buried, whose tombs are visited by devotees from all parts of Egypt. The Cufic tombstones are innumerable, but the inscriptions upon them are not of a remote date : and the letters are badly shaped. Makrizi, the Egyptian historian, relates, that in the year 806 of the Mohammedan aera, 21,000 persons died of the plague at Assouan ; a fact by which we may estimate the importance of the town in those times. About one mile distant from the tombs begins the brick wall mentioned by Denon, called Hayt el A dj our (j^lk^), which continues along the sandy plain be- tween the granite rocks, as far as the neighbourhood of the island of Philae. The inhabitants say that this wall was built by a king of the name of Adjour, I think it was intended as a defence against the inroads of the Bedouins of the eastern moun- tain, at the time when a brisk overland transport trade existed between Philse and Syene. The natives say that it was originally Piast. Par. Present to my guide - - - - 2.. 0 Paid to Nubians, for shewing me the ruins, on the road from Derr to Assouan 1 . 10 Ferry-boat at Debot - - - - 0 .. 10 To the guide from Derr to Assouan - - - - 6 .. 20 Present to him - - - 0 .. 20 or, £l. 15s. sterling. 36 - 10 PHIL^. 6 the embankment of a canal ; and Norden is of opinion that in ancient times, the bed of the Nile vvas on this side. But this seems impossible, as the ground evidently rises from Philae towards Assouan. On the granite rocks along the road, hierogly- phic inscriptions are met with, which increase in numbers as we approach the island. There are also some illegible Greek inscrip- tions, which probably once recorded the names of curious Greek travellers. There is another and longer road from Assouan to Philae, along the side of the river, by the Cataract. After riding about four miles from Assouan, we reached an open plain, free from rocks, on the M est side of which the river flows: here tlie ruins of the island of Philae j^O' ^^i^^s el Wodjoud*) presented themselves to my view. As there was no vessel at hand to convey me over to the island, and knowing that I should pass this way on my return to Assouan, I did not stop any longer than was necessary to look at the granite rocks, on the banks of the river, where the famous seat, of which many travellers have given drawings, principall}' attracts notice. The small village opposite Philae is called Birbe, and is the boundary of Egypt. The different hamlets, from hence doAvn the river, as far as Assouan, form part of the territory of Birbe ; which, in consequence of old finnans from the Porte, enjoys an entire exemption from all kinds of land tax. On the south side of Birbe commences the territory of the Nubian princes, to which Philae belongs. The natives, in the invirons of the Cata- ract, are an independent race, and boast of the security which the nature of the ground affords to their homes ; many of them inha- bit the islands, and support their families principally by fishing in the river. ♦ Anas el Wodjoud ; i. e. " the social pleasures of Wodjoud.'" Wodjoud, say the Arabs, was the name of the mighty king who built the temples of Philoe. 15 PHILiE. At the time of my visit, the Nubians belonging to Assouan were at war with their southern neighbours, occasioned by the latter having intercepted a vesel laden with dates, know- ing it to belong to a merchant of Assouan. A battle had been fought opposite Philae, a few days before my arrival, in which a pregnant woman was killed by a stone ; for whenever the Nubians are engaged in skirmishes, their women join the party, and furi- ously attack each other, armed with slings. The southern party, to whom the deceased belonged, was now demanding from their enemies the debt of blood, not only of the woman, but of the child also, which she bore in her womb at the time of her death. This the latter refused to pay, and being the weaker in numbers, and there being no garrison at Assouan to support them, the men thought proper to retire from the field ; they abandoned the vil- lages nearest to Philae, leaving only their women and female chil- dren, and retired with the males to Assouan. On my return from Mahass, peace had not yet been restored ; the Nubians were still at Assouan, where a caravan of women arrived daily, with provi- sions for their husbands. We recrossed the before mentioned plain, opposite the island, where I observed numerous fragments of potter}^ and then as- cended the mountain to the south of it, there being no road fit for camels by the side of the river. We traversed the deep valleys of this mountain for about two hours. The rocks present an endless variety of granite, among which a rose-coloured species is particularly beautiful. Sienite, and red feldspath, together with granite, compose this chain. We afterwards descended again to the side of the river, near one of the small hamlets which com- pose the district of Shamet el Wah (^\^\ iUU.i). The bed of the river here is free from rocks and islands, but its banks, on both sides, are so narrow, that there is hardly a hundred yards of cul- SH A MET EL WAH. 7 tivable ground. Half an hour farther, we reached the village of Sak el Djemel (^Usll jL), belonging to the district called Wady Debot, and alighted at the Shikh^s house, where we passed the night. Here I first tasted the country dish which, during a journey of five weeks, became my constant food ; thin, unlea- vened, and slightly baked cakes of Dhourra, served up with sweet or sour milk. From the Dhourra being badly ground, this food is very coarse, and nothing but absolute hunger could have tempted me to taste it. February 25. I continued along the east bank of the river: The road the whole of the way to Derr is perfectly safe, provided one of the natives accompanies the traveller. I every where found the people to be possessed of a degree of curiosity which I had never met with before. Whenever we passed a village, often at a full trot, the men came running out of their houses, and across the fields, to ask my guide who I was, and what was the object of my journey. The answer was, that I was sent from Esne to Derr, with letters from the governor to the Nubian chiefs. They would then enquire after the contents of the letters, and, that they might do this more at their ease, would press me to alight, and breakfast with them. One hour and a half brought us to Wady Syale (aIL-j '^^^ hours and a half, Wady Ab- doun (i^jJuT lj^^j)' Four hours, Wady Dehmyt, {^^^j All the villages, as far as Dongola, are called Wady^ or valley, There are always three or four of them comprised under one ge- neral name : thus, Wady Dehmjt extends about four miles along the bank of the river, and includes upwards of half a dozen hamlets, each of which has its particular name. Travellers, therefore, who note down the names of villages in these parts, will easily be led into mistakes, by confounding the collective appellation with that of the single hamlet. There are few large villages ; but groups of five or six houses are met with wherever 8 WADY DEHMYT. a few palm trees grow on the banks of the stream, or wherever the breadth of the soil is sufficient lo admit of cultivation. I found Daoud Kashef, the son of Hossejn Kashef, encamped with a party of men at Dehnijt, in huts constructed of Dhourra* stalks. I alighted at his own hut, and breakfasted there, informing him, that I was sent on business to his father and uncles. The governors of Nubia are continually moving from one part of their dominions to another, to collect the tribute from their subjects, and are always accompanied by a guard of forty or fifty men, in order to levy it by force, Avherever necessary, and to be the better able to commit depredations. On the night preceding my arrival at Dehmyt, a Nubian came to me at Sak el DJemel, to complain of Daoud s tyranny ; it had been reported to the latter, that this man, with his family, was secretly indulging in bread made from wheat, a sufficient proof of great wealth. Daoud's people, in consequence, surrounded his house during the night, and demanded from him a camel, as a present to thi ir mas- ter: on his refusal to comply, they attacked the house; and as the owner had no near neighbours, he in vain attempted to defend him- self: he was severely ^rounded, and the whole of his property fell a prey to the aggressors. Daoud was but poorly equipped ; he was dressed in the common white shirt of the country. He asked me for some gunpowder,-!* and, on my telling him that the supply I * There are two species of Holcus cultivated in Egypt, nearly resembling one another in appearance before they ripen, but bearing a very different kind of grain, the one being that which we commonly call Maize or Indian com, the other a small grain like millet, tlie same which is known in the West Indies by the name of Guinea corn. Maize being suited to a more northerly climate, is little grown in Upper Egypt, where it is known by the name of Dhourra es-Shamy (Syrian Dhourra). In Nubia the millet-grained Dhourra is exclu- sively cultivated. •j- Since the Mamelouks have retired to Dongola, Mohammed Aly, the Pasha of Egypt, has prohibited the sale of gunpowder in every part of Upper Egypt. He has thus cut off his enemies' anununition, who pay at present, in Dongola, one slave for every six dozen of musquet cartridges. W ADY KARDASSY— TAFA. 9 had of that article was scarcely sufficient for myself, he did not appear at all offended by the refusal. Several hundred peasants were assembled round the camp, with herds of cows and sheep, with which they pay their land tax. We quitted Dehmyt, and in five hours from our departure from Wady Debot, reached Wady Kardassy (^Ij/ <-?'^!;)» where I passed the ruin of a small temple, of which one corner of the wall only remains standing. I saw no fragments of columns ; but, on some of the stones which lay scattered about, hieroglyphic fi- gures are sculptured ; and the winged globe appears upon several of them. On the west side of the river, opposite to this place, is a large ruin. My guide told me, that, at a long day's journey from hence, in the eastern mountain, are the ruins of a city called Kamle. In five hours and a half, we came to Djama (j^); and in six hours, to Tafa (iiU); the villages so named lying on both sides of the river. The plain between the banks of the river and the foot of the mountain is about a quarter of a mile in breadth. Here are the ruins of two buildings, standing near each other, of which nothing now remains but the foundations ; they are constructed of sand-stone, in a very rude manner, and are about forty feet square. There are no fragments of columns, nor of sculptured stones of any kind. There are also some ruins on the opposite side. These are undoubtedly the remains ofTaphis and Contra Taphis.* Immediately to the south of the ruins, the mountains on both sides of the river prevent all passage along its banks ; the road, in consequence, lies, for one hour, across the mountain, which I again found to be composed of rocks of gra- nite. The granite chain had been uninterrupted from Assouan to Dehmyt. To the south of Dehmyt, the mountain which borders the river is composed of sand-stone, and continues thus * Vide infra. c 10 DARMOUT— ABOU HOR. as far as the second Cataract, at Wady Haifa, with the excep- tion only of the granite rocks above Tafa, which extend as far as Kalabshe. We descended again to the bank of the river in one hour, and passed the village of Darmout (c->^j), built partly upon a rocky island, and partly upon the high rocks of the eastern shore. The effect of the evening sun upon the black granite islands, sur- rounded by the pure* stream, and the verdant banks, was very beautiful From hence to Tafa the river is studded with nume- rous islands. Seven hours and three quarters brought us to El Kalabshe (Ai-jial\), the largest Wady, or asseinblage of villages, we had yet passed. Although the plain is very narrow, there are ne- vertheless considerable mounds of rubbish and broken pottery, along the foot of the mountain, indicating the site of an ancient town; and as there is a large ruin opposite to this place, on the western bankj-f- we may safely conjecture these to be Talmis and Contra Talmis. There are no remains of any edifice on the eastern side. The two hundred houses which compose the village on that bank occupy a space of about half an hour in length. In eight hours and a half we came to El Shekeyk ( jJLLJO; in eight hours and three quarters, to Abou Hor In the course of this day, I passed several beds of torrents. When the rains are copious in the moun- tain, torrents occasionally rush down into the river, but they never continue longer than two days. These torrents account for the mo- mentary increase of the Nile in Egypt, during the winter, when the river is at its lowest. Throughout Nubia, rain never falls in the val- ley, some light showers excepted ; but there is a regular rainy season in the eastern mountains, as far as Suez, which produces abundant * From March till June the waters of the Nile are quite Hmpid. Volney, who ex- claims against its muddy stream, saw it only in autumn and winter, -f- Vide infra. DANDOUR— GYRSHE. 11 crops of wild herbs, and pasturage for the cattle of the Bedouins who inhabit those districts, 1 had occasion to mention a similar phenomenon, in mj former Journals, in the mountains of Eastern Palestine. In the Ghor, or valley of the Jordan, rain seldom falls, while the mountains on either side have their regular rainy season. Our host at Abou Hor served us this evening with the dish called Asyde, which consists of the green ears of barley boiled in water, and mixed with milk. Feb. 26th. The Wady Abou Hor is about three quarters of an hour in length. After a ride of two hours we passed the village Dandour (jjjJo) ; three hours and a half, Wady Abyadh the plain still continuing very narrow. In order to gain some soil from the river, the ancient inhabitants of Nubia had erected nume- rous piers or jetties of stone, extending for twenty or thirty yards into the river ; which, by breaking the force of the stream, would leave, on their northern side, a small extent of land free from water. Many of the piers still remain, but in a decayed state. I gene- rally observed, on the western side of the river, a similar structure, exactly opposite to that on the eastern. In four hours and a half, Merye (-o^); five hours, Gyrshe I passed the ruins of an ancient town, probably Saracen, built partly of bricks, and partly of small stones. The natives say that a king of the name of Da- bagora reigned here. The plain at Gyrshe is broader than I had any where yet seen it, to the south of Assouan, being about a mile. Like all the villages I had hitherto passed, Gyrshe is but poorly inhabited, two-thirds of the houses being abandoned. The country had been ruined by the Mamelouks, who remained here several months, when on their retreat before the Turkish troops of Mohammed Aly ; and the little they left behind was consumed by the Turks under Ibrahim Beg, Mohammed Aly's son, who finally succeeded in driving the Mamelouks out of Nubia, and across 12 WADY KOSTAMNE. the mountains, into the plains of Dongola. A terrible famine broke out after their retreat, in which one-third of the population of Nubia perished through absolute want ; the remainder retired into Egypt, and settled in the villages between Assouan and Esne, where numbers of them were carried off by the small-pox. The present inhabitants had returned only a few months before my visit to these parts, and had begun to sow the fields after the inundation had subsided ; but many of their brethren still con- tinued in Egypt. The great number of newly-dug graves which I observed near each village, were too convincing proofs of the truth of the melancholy accounts which the natives gave me. In six hours I came to Wady Kostamne {^c^xu^), a well built village. Here the Mamelouks fought a battle with the troops of Ibrahim Beg, and were routed. They retreated to the eastern mountains, where they remained for several months, till their enemies retired to Assouan ; when the greater part of the Begs descended to the banks of the Nile, and as the stream happened at that moment (May, 1812) to be extremely low, they crossed it at a ford near Kostamne,* with all their women and baggage. Some of them continued their route southward along the western bank, plundering in their way all the villages of Derr, Wady Haifa, Sukkot, and Mahass ; while the chief Begs, with their Mame- louks, made a short cut through the western desert ; and the whole party united again on the banks of the Nile, nearArgo, one of the principal places within the dominions of the King of Dongola ;-f mustering in the whole about three hundred white Mamelouks, * This is the only spot, where I know the Nile to be fordable. ■f A Highlander, who had been taken prisoner in the unfortunate affair at Rosetta, in I8O7, and had afterwards joined the Mamelouks, has lately arrived at Cairo. He left the Mamelouks at Dongola, and traced his way back, alone, through Nubia and Upper Egypt, notwithstanding the spies of the Pasha. MASSACRE OF THE MAMELOUKS. 13 and as many armed slaves, the wretched remains of upwards of four thousand, against whom Mohammed A\y had begun his contest for the possession of Egypt. The fate of about tweh'e hundred of them, who, with their chief, Shahin Beg, were treacherously slaughtered in the castle of Cairo, notwithstanding the most solemn promises of per- sonal security had been given to them, is too well known to be re- peated here ; but a similar massacre, which took place at Esne, is less known, and may here be related, as serving to prove the stupidity and infatuation which have always presided over the councils of the Mamelouks. These fierce horsemen had sought refuge in the mountains inhabited by the Ababde and Bisharye Arabs, where all their horses died from want of food, and where even the richest Begs had been obliged to expend their last farthing, in order to feed their troops, provisions being sold to them by the Arabs at the most exorbitant prices. Thus cut off from all the comforts, and luxuries of Egypt, to which they had been accustomed from their infancy, Ibrahim Beg thought it a propitious moment to ensnare them, as his father had done their brethren at Cairo. With this design, he sent them the most solemn promises of safe conduct, if they would descend from the mountain, and pledged himself that they should be all placed in situations under the government of Mohammed Aly, corresponding with the rank which each individual then held amongst themselves. It will hardly be believed that, well acquainted as they were with the massacre at Cairo in the preceaing year, more than four hundred Mamelouks, headed by several Begs, accepted the delusive offer, and descended in small parties from the mountains. They were stripped in the way by faithless guides, so that, with the exception of about thirty, the whole reached the camp of Ibrahim Beg, then near Esne, in a state of nakedness. After the different parties had all joined, and it was ascertained that no others were ready to follow them, the signal 14 DJEBEL HEYATY— OELLAKY. of carnage was given, and tlie whole of them, with about two hundred black slaves, were unmercifully slaughtered in one night. Two French Mamelouks only were saved, through the interest of the physician of Ibrahim Beg. Similar instances of perfidy daily occur among the Turks ; and it is matter of astonishment, that men should still be found stupid enough to allow themselves to be thus ensnared by them. Eight hours and a quarter brought us to Djebel Heyaty (jfLa- J-=^) eight hours and a half to Kobban (J^j), opposite the fine temple of Dakke, which stands on the western bank. February 27. Near Kobban are the remains of an ancient town, enclosed by a wall of bricks burnt in the sun, much resembling that of Eleithias, to the north of Edfou in Egypt. The length of the oblong square is about 150 paces, its breadth 100 paces. The wall is upwards of 20 feet in thickness, and in several places more than 30 feet in height. Within its area are ruins of private habitations, partly constructed of stone, and partly of bricks. Some capitals of small columns of the Egyptian order lay about. On the S. E. corner of the wall, beyond its precincts, is the ruin of a very small Egyptian chapel, of a rude construction, with a few stones only remaining above the foundations. There are several hierogly- phic figures : a chariot sculptured on a stone indicates that a battle was represented. It appears that this enclosure, which stands close to the river, was meant as a castle. Large mounds of rubbish, the ruins of the ancient town, continue for about five minutes walk further. In one hour, I reached Oellaky (jjic), having passed, close to it, a broad canal : similar canals are met with in almost every part of Nubia, where the extent of the shore, and its height above the level of the river, rendered artificial irrigation necessary ; but they are now no longer taken care of, and are gradually choaking up The plain here is a mile in breadth. Oellaky has given its DJEBEL OELLAKY. 15 name to a chain of mountains, which begins to the east of it, and runs quite across the high hills of the eastern desert, towards the shores of the Red Sea. If I am not mistaken, Bruce passed this chain. According to the reports of the natives, and the unani- mous testimony of all the Arabian geographers, this mountain, called Djebel Oellaky, contains gold mines ; I am inchned to be- lieve, however, that the Bedouins, who alone wander about in those districts, and who must therefore be the authors of such reports, have mistaken yellow mica for gold ; for the river carries down with it through the whcle of Nubia a great deal of micaceous sand. Hassan Beg, the governor of Esne, who is fond of mineralogy, as far as it relates to precious stones and metals, had read in some book, of the mines of Oellakj'^ ; and being desirous to ascertain whe- ther the report was true, sent four of his soldiers to escort a Greek, who pretends to a knowledge in stones, with an order to make researches in the mountain. They reached the village of Oellaky, and proceeded from thence about two hours to the eastward ; but being frightened by a report that a large party of Mamelouks was descending from the mountain, they immediately returned, throw- ing the whole country into an alarm. I had met them at Dehmyt, when they earnestly pressed me to return with them, assuring me that the Mamelouks would certainly strike off my head, if they learnt that I was the bearer of letters from Hassan Beg. There was some truth in the report; for two Mamelouk Begs, Ibra- him Beg Djezayrly, and Osman Beg Bouhanes, who had re- mained in these mountains with the Arabs, after the departure of their companions for Dongola, in order to be as near at hand as possible, in the event of a change taking place in Egypt, had at last, with five of their women, and two servants only,* been ♦ One of the servaiits of these Begs, a Greek Christian of Brusa, in Asia Minor, 16 KORTY-THYALE. obliged, through absolute want, to rejoin their brethren. All the money and valuables which they possessed had been extorted from them by the Arabs, as the price of provisions ; their horses had died ; their Mamelouks had deserted them ; and their clothes and equipages were in rags ; in this state, they abandoned for the present all ideas of the re-conquest of Egypt, and quitting their station near the shores of the Red Sea opposite Djidda, they took the road to Derr. The arrival of the Greek and the four soldiers above mentioned drove them back one day's journey into the moun- tain, until their spies informed them of their departure ; they then returned, and arrived at Derr one day before me. I travelled from two to three hours along a rocky shore, opposite the island Derar which is well cultivated, and about three quarters of an hour in length. On the western bank is the village of Korty . From three to four hours the Wady Meharraka ^ extends ; and farther south, from four to five hours, the Wady Thy ale (<)J\J ^50);). I had here the pleasure of falhng in with two English travellers, Messrs. Legh and Smelt, and Captain Barthod, an American ; I had already seen the two former at Cairo, and at Siout. They had left Cairo on board a country ship, two days after my departure from thence, and on reaching Assouan, had hired a large boat to carry them up to Derr, from whence they had visited Ibrim, being the first Europeans who had reached that place, and examined the antiquities between it and the island of Philae ; for Norden saw them only through his telescope. I hailed their boat as I rode along the bank of the river, and we passed a few hours together, after which they pursued their course down to Assouan. In five hours and a half, I came to Wady assured me afterwards, at Derr, that their party, being unable to forego the habit of smoking, had, in a total want of tobacco, in the mountains, filled their pipes with the dry dung of the Gazells. WADY NAME^SEBOUA. 17 Name {aam o-jU); in six hours, Bareda (iOjb); six and a half, Kokan (^^^^^5); here I saw a great number of crocodiles, the first I had seen since leaving Cairo, my road through Egypt having seldom been close along the river. Here also I observed stone piers in the river at several places. Seven hours and a half, Wady Nasrellab (c-jUIj^ sf-^lO- South of Kokan, for two hours, the mountains come down so close to the river as to leave no space for a passage along its banks, and of course none for cultivation. We passed several beds of torrents. Eight hours and a half brought me to Wady Medyk (l1^>). Here are some heaps of hewn stones, the remains of ancient edifices, from which the village has taken its name (Kherab signifying ruined). Nine hours, Wady Oeshra (^yu Nine and a half, Wady Diwan (jV.u*). Ten and a half, Derr, (jjJi), the chief place between Egypt and Dongola. I do not remember to have seen, in any part of Egypt, fields more carefully cultivated than are those between Korosko and Derr. The peasants houses too are larger, and more cleanly, than those of the Egyptian Felah. March \st. I had reached Derr late in the evening, and alighted at the house of Hassan Kashef, as do all travellers of respectability, and where the two Mamelouk Begs above mentioned were also quartered. As the governor had retired to his women's apart- ments, I did not wait upon him, but went to rest, having refused to answer all the inquisitive questions put tome as well by his people, as by the servants of the Begs ; but the next morning, Hassan, after having visited the Mamelouks, surprised me in the open hall where I was lodged, before I had risen, and immediately asked me what was the object of my arrival, and whether I was a merchant, or sent to him by the Pasha of Egypt. It had been my intention, before I knew of the arrival of the Mamelouks, to pass for a person sent by the Pasha upon a secret mission into Nubia, having learnt from the people of Upper Egypt, that the governors of that country dread the power of Mohammed Aly, and would not dare to molest me : but when I was apprised of the arrival of the two Begs, and being also led to beheve, from the conversation of the peasants at whose houses I had slept in my way up to Derr, that the Nu- bian princes were as much afraid of the Mamelouks, their southern neighbours, as they are of their northern one, I thought it would be 20 DERR dangerous to disguise my real intentions ; and, encouraged by the success of Messrs. Legh and Smelt, I candidly told Hassan Kashef, that I had merely come to make a tour of pleasure through Nubia, like the two gentlemen who had been at Derr before me ; and presented to him, at the same time, my letters of recommendation. 1 however profited litde by my candour. The frank avowal of my intentions was interpreted as a mere scheme of deception ; no one would believe that I was only a curious traveller ; the Arabic I spoke, and my acquaintance with Turkish manners, led the Kashef to believe that I was a Turk, and sent by Hassan Beg of Esne to watch his motions ; and the two Begs, although they had be- haved remarkably civil to me, upon my visiting them, strength- ened the Kashef in liis opinion. I spent the whole of this day, and part of the next, in negociations with the governor, in order to obtain a guide to conduct me to the southward. An offering of soap,* coffee, and two red caps, worth, altogether, about sixty piastres, which I made to him, would, at any other time, have been very acceptable ; but the presents made to him by Messrs. Legh and Smelt were worth about 1000 piastres, and they had only gone to Ibrim, *' while you," said the Governor, " give me a few trifles, and wish to go beyond that place, even to the second Cataract." — I rephed, that my present was certainly not propor- tionate to his rank and claims ; but that it was already more than my means could afford ; and that I thought myself possessed of an advantage over my predecessors in my letters of recommend- ation from Esne. The following lucky incident at last led to the at- tainment of my wishes : I had been informed that a large caravan was on its way from Mahass to Esne, and that a considerable part * In all these parts soap is a very acceptable present, none being made in Egypt, except at Siout, which is of a very inferior quality. It is imported from Syria, and prin- cipally from Palestine. At Esne, one pound of soap is worth 1*. 6d. DERR. 21 of the merchandize l^elonged to the Kashef himself, who wished to sell it at Siout and Cairo. I therefore waited privately upon him, and told him, that if I returned to Esne, and the Beg who had given me the letter of recommendation, should be informed of the little attention that had been paid to his letter, in not allowing me to pass beyond the second Cataract, notwithstanding its ex- press tenour that I should be so permitted, he would readily think himself justified in raising a contribution upon the caravan on its arrival at Esne, or impeding its route towards Siout. This became a matter of serious reflection with the Kashef ; and he at last ad- dressed me in the following terms : " Whoever you may be, whe- ther an Englishman, like the two other persons who passed here, or an agent of the Pasha, I shall not send you back unsatisfied : you may proceed ; but, farther than Sukkot the road is not safe for you ; and from thence, therefore, you will return." I requested a letter of recommendation for Sukkot, which was immediately written, and a Bedouin guide also was soon found. I bought some Dhourra and dates, for provision on the road, and left Derr a little before noon on the 2d of March, the two Mamelouk Begs in vain endeavouring to create obstacles to the prosecution of my journey. But before I continue the description of my route, I shall here give some details concerning the country I had already passed through from Assouan, and its inhabitants. The general direction of the river from Assouan to Korosko is south ; it there takes a western course, which it retains the whole of the way to Dongola. The eastern bank is, throughout, better adapted for cultivation than the western ; and wherever the former is of any breadth, it is covered with the rich alluvial earth de- posited by the Nile. On the western side, on the contrary, the sands of the desert are impetuously carried to the very brink of the river, by the north-west winds which prevail during the winter 22 DERR. and spring seasons ; and it is, generally, only in those places where the course of the sandy torrent is arrested by the mountain, that the narrow plain admits of cultivation. The eastern shon^ is, in consequence, much more populous than the western ; but it is not a little singular, that all the chief remains of antiquity are upon the latter. The ancient Egyptians, perhaps, worshipped their bounteous deities more particularly in those places where they had most to dread from the inimical deity Typhon, or the personified desert, who stands continually opposed to the beneficent Osiris, or the waters of the Nile. The bed of the river is, in general, much narrower than in any part of Egypt, and the course of its waters less impeded by sand- banks. Immediately after the inundation, the poor Nubians cultivate, on the narrow shore, Dhourra, and the grain called Dokhen (^^^i-o), of which bread is made ;* but it is upon the crop of Dhourra that they depend for their subsistence ; while its dry stalks serve during the whole of the summer, as food for their cattle, instead of straw. The Birsim, or lucerne of Egypt, is un- known here, as well as in Upper Egypt, south of Kenne. After the inundation has subsided, and the Dhourra harvest is finished, the soil is irrigated by means of water wheels (Sakie ^\ s^), one of the Bedouins called Kerrarish (j^JJ)- These Bedouins, a remote branch of the Ababde, pasture their cattle on the uninhabited banks of the river, and on its islands, from Derr southward, as far as Mahass and Dongola, where they are said to be more numerous than in Nubia. They are poor; their tents are formed of mats made of the leaves of palm-trees, with a partition in the middle to separate the women's apartment ; but, notwithstanding their po- verty, they refuse to give their daughters in marriage to the Nu- bians, and have thus preserved their race pure. They pride them- selves, and justly, in the beauty of their girls. The Kerrarish are, for the most part, in the service of the governors of Nubia, to whom they are attached as a corps of guards, and guides, and accompany them in their journies through their dominions. Whilst the father and grown up sons are absent, the mother and daughters remain in their solitary tent; for they generally live in separate families, and not in encampments. These Bedouins receive occa- sional presents from the chiefs of Nubia, and such of them as cultivate tlie islands in the river are exempted from ta.\es. They are a very honest and hospitable people, and more kind in their dispositions, than any of the inhabitants of Nubia whom I met * Vide infra. KETTE. 31 with. Those who are not in the employ of the governors, gain their liveHhood either by acting as guides, or in collecting the senna in the eastern mountain, which they sell to the merchants of Esne at about £1. per camel's load (from four to five hundred weight). Numbers of them also travel from Wady Haifa, on the Nile, three da3's journies into the western desert, and collect there the Shabb, C^SS) or nitre, which they exchange with the same merchants for Dhourra; giving two measures of the former for three equal mea- sures of the latter. The nitre is found on digging only a few in- ches deep, and covers a space of several miles in extent. This is, however, a perilous traffic, as the inhabitants of Kubbanye, a vil- lage about twelve miles north of Assouan, also engage in it; these are eleven days in reaching the nitre pits, and whenever the two parties meet, a bloody conflict ensues. Between W ady Haifa and the Shabb, one day's distance from the latter, is a spring where is some verdure, and where a few Doum trees grow North of the Si abb, one day, in the direction of the great Oasis, is a similar spring, called Nary with many date trees growing round it. After having rode along by the date groves, and well built pea- sants houses, for about half an hour from Derr, we ascended the eastern mountain, the road along the river side being interrupted by the rocks. On the top of the mountain is a wide plain, covered with small fragments of loose sand-stone ; and bordered on the east, at about two hours distance, by a higher range of mountains. We continued along this plain in the direction of W. S. W., until two hours and a half from Derr, when we descended again to the banks of the river, near the village Kette (.sIj), where we crossed the dry bed of a branch of the stream, and alighted on an island, at the tent of my guide, where I remained for the night. These people, who all speak Arabic as well as the Nouba language, are 32 IBRIM. quite black, but have nothing of the Negro features. The men generally go naked, except a rag twisted round their middle ; the women have a coarse shirt thrown about them. Both sexes suffer the hair of the head to grow ; they cut it above the neck, and twist it all over in thin ringlets, in a way similar to that of the Arab of Souakin, whose portrait is given by Mr. Salt in Lord Valentia's Travels. Their hair is very thick, but not woolly ; the men never comb it, but the women sometimes do ; the latter wear on the back part of the head, ringlets, or a small ornament, made of mother of pearl and Venetian glass beads. Both men and women grease their head and neck with butter whenever they can afford it ; this custom answers two purposes; it refreshes the skin heated by the sun, and keeps off vermin. The j oung boys go quite naked ; but the grown up girls tie round their waist a string of leather tassels, much resembling the feather ornaments worn for a like purpose by the south sea islanders. March 3d. I sent my guide back to Derr, to purchase more Dhourra, in order that we might give some of it to the camels, in those places where no wild herbs grow ; and on his return we set out. Our road lay along a grove of date trees, and an uninter- rupted row of houses, for two hours, when the perpendicular rock reached close to the river. At the height of about sixty or eighty feet above the footpath, I observed from below, the entrance to an apartment hewn in the rock, but without any road leading to it, the rock being there quite perpendicular. In like manner I have seen sepulchres cut in the rock of Wady IMousa in Arabia Petraea, which can only be approached by means of ladders, forty or fifty feet in height. In two hours and a half we reached the castle of Ibrim (^^.y})^ which is now completely in ruins, the Mamelouks having sustained a siege in it last year, and in their turn besieged the troops of Ibrahim Beg, in the course of which operations, the IBRIM. 33 walls were battered with the few cannon that were found in the castle, and many of the houses of the village levelled with the ground. Ibrim is built upon an insulated rocky hill, just above the river, and is surrounded by barren mountains entirely incapable of cul- tivation, on the tops of which are many ancient tombs of Turkish saints. The houses are constructed of loose sand-stone, as is the modern wall which surrounds the town. On the west side are some remains of the ancient wall ; this had been built of hewn stones cemented together with great neatness : the stones are rather small. It appeared to me to be an erection of the Lower Empire. Within the area of the town are the remains of two pubhc buildings, probably Greek churches, built in the same style as the ancient wall. The castle is about fifteen minutes walk in circumference. A small gray granite column was the only rem- nant of antiquity it contained. The castle of Ibrim, with its territory, which commences half an hour south of Derr, and extends as far as Tosko,* is in the hands of the Aga of Ibrim, who is independent of the governors of Nubia ; the inhabitants being thus freed from taxes, and paying nothing to their own Aga, had in the course of years acquired, by the annual sale of their dates, great wealth both in money and cattle ; but the Mamelouks, in their retreat last year, destroyed in a few weeks the fruits of a century. They took from the Wady Ibrim about twelve hundred cows, all the sheep and goals, im- prisoned the most respectable people, for whose ransom they re- ceived upwards of 100,000 Spanish dollars; and on their depar- ture, put the Aga to death; their men having eaten up or destroyed all the provisions they could meet with. This scene of pillage, was folloued by a dreadfiil famine, as I have already mentioned.-f* The people of Ibrim are often at war with the governors of * Vide infra. f See p. 12. F I BRIM. Nubia, and although comparatively few in number, are a matcli for the latter ; being all well provided with fire arms. They are white, compared with the Nubians, and still retain the features of their ancestors, the Bosnian soldiers who were sent to o-^irrison I brim by the great Sultan Selym. They all dress in coarse linen gowns, and most of thera wear something like a turban : " We are Turks," they say, " and not Noubas." As they are not under absolute subjection to their Aga, and independant of every other power, quarrels are very frequent among them. They have a hereditary Kady : blood is revenged by blood ; no commutation in money being accepted for it when death ensues ; but all wounds have their stated fines, according to the parts of the body upon which they are inflicted. A similar law prevails among the Syrian Bedouins. When a Turk of Ibrim marries, he presents his wife with a wedding dress, and gives her besides, a written bond for three or four hundred piastres, half of which sum is paid to her in case of a divorce. Divorces, however, are very rare. At a wedding a cow or a calf is killed ; for to eat mutton upon such an occasion would be a great scandal to the spouse. In no part of the Eastern world, in which 1 have travelled, have I ever found property in such perfect security as in Ibrim. The inhabitants leave the Dhourra in heaps on the field, without a watch, during; the night; their cattle feed on the banks of the river without any one to tend them ; and the best parts of the household furniture are left all night under the palm-trees around the dwelling ; in short, the people agreed in saying, that theft was quite unknown in their territory. It ought, however, to be added, that the Nubians, in general, are free from the vice of pil- fering. From Ibrim we crossed the mountain, and at one hour's dis- tance from it descended to the river side, at Wady Shubak ( jLi), WADY SHUBAK— rOSKO. 35 whither most of the inhabitants of Ibrim retired, after the passage of the Mamelouks. We slept here, at the house of the children of the Aga whom the Mamelouks murdered. Wherever I ahghted, a number of peasants assembled, in the evening, at the house ; I always gave out that I had business of a public nature with the two chiefs, who were stationed to the south of Sukkot, and being accompanied by a man known to be attached to the Kashefs, no one dared to create the least obstacle to my journey. Indeed, travellers in Nubia, in general, have little to fear from the ill will of the peasants ; it is the rapacious spirit of the governors that is to be dreaded. March 4>th. The grove of date trees continues to the south of Shubak. I found many of the houses abandoned ; and at every step were graves. The Nubians place an earthen vessel by the side of every grave, which they fill with water at the moment the deceased is interred, and leave it there : the grave itself is covered with small pebbles of various colours, and two large palm leaves are stuck into the ground at either extremity ; the symbol of victory thus becoming, in Nubia, that of death. Near Shubak are some mounds of hewn stones, indicating the remains of an ancient edifice. One hour from Ibrim brought us to Wady Bostan (^J^ ^^'^l')- '^^^ soil, fit for culture, is here very narrow ; the eastern mountain is distant about one hour ; between it and the plain is a rising spot of ground covered with loose sand- stones. The shape of the insulated mountains which compose this part of the chain, is remarkable; most of them resembling cones flattened on the top, or perfect pyramids ; and when viewed from afar, they appear so regular, that they seem to be the work of man. In two hours and a half we came to the village of Tosko (AiLj), the southern limits of Wady Ibrim. In the rocky plain east of Tosko stands an insulated, shattered rock, with several sepulchres 86 EHMENNE— FORMUNDY. excavated in it; these are supported on the inside by low square pillars: in one of them, a vaulted passage leads out to a back entrance. They are of very rude workmanship ; and have no sculptures upon the walls, except the figure of the cross. Near the rock are considerable mounds of rubbish. It is matter of surprise, that these are the only sepulchres met with in the eastern hills, from Assouan to this place : the sand-stone rock might have easily been excavated, as has been done in numerous places in Egypt. Tosko continues for about one hour. Three hours and a half, passed over the mountain. Four and a half, Ermenne () is like- wise frequently met with, where the Oshour grows. Like the Ara- bian Bedouins, the Nubians make tinder of it.* At the end of three hours we passed, in the sandy plain, a number of tumuli, or bar- rows, of various sizes, covered with sand ; I counted about twenty- five within the circuit of a mile and a half: the regularity of their shape, which is exactly the same as that of the tumuli in the Syrian deserts, and the plain of Troy, makes it almost certain, that they are artificial. Three hours and a half, Kosko, a small village. Four hours, the large village of Endhana, also called Adhendhan (^^1^1 — liUil). In riding along, we were invited to a funeral feast by the inhabitants of a house belonging to some relation of the Nubian princes; the possessor had died a few days before at Derr, and on receiving the news of his death, his relations here had slaughtered a cow, with which they were entertaining the whole neighbourhood ; at two hours distance from the village, I met women with plates upon their heads, who * Vide my Journal through Arabia Petraea, 40 FARAS-^DEBEYRA. had been receiving their share of the meat. Cows are killed only by people of consequence, on the death of a near relation ; the common people content themselves with a sheep or a goat, the flesh of which is equally distributed ; the poorer class distribute some bread only at the grave of the deceased. Four hours and three quarters i upon the hill, at the south end of Wady Endhana, opposite the village of Faras, on the west side of the river, stands an ancient ruined mosque. Five hours and a half, passed the fine island of Faras. The country is here open, but the plain, on both sides of the river, is covered with sand. Seven hours, the village Serra gharby (oV* 'J-) west side. Seven and a half, the ruins of a small Arab town close to the water, enclosed by a thick brick wall. Eight hours, Serra {sjS), a fine village; eight and a half, Debeyra (^^ju^), where I slept. My guide always conducted me to the house of the principal person in the village ; we should otherwise have often gone supperless to rest. Wherever we alighted, a mat was spread for us upon the ground, just before the gate of the house, which strangers are never permitted to enter, unless they are intimate acquaintance. Dhourra bread, with milk, was our usual supper ; to this were sometimes added dates. The landlord never eats with his guests, except when earnestly pressed to do so. Our camels were not alwa} s fed by our hosts, who excused themselves, by saj'ing that the stock of Dhourra stalks was already exhausted. If the stranger is to be well treated, a breakfast is brought in, at sunrise, before he departs ; it consists of hot milk and bread, the supper being usually cold : but we were seldom so fortunate as to get a breakfast, and generally rode the whole day without tasting any thing but a few dates from our own stock, at some spot where we stopped in the morning to bait our camels upon the tamarisk or acacia trees. March 6th. Our road lay over a fertile plain, covered with date ESHKE— WADY HALFA. 41 trees and habitations, to Eshke {. to the east of which, the eastern mountain terminates in shght undulations of the ground ; but these increase in size, and collect again into mountains, about thirty miles farther up. There is some trade carried on at Wady Haifa ; vessels from Assouan often moor here to load dates, and the nitre which the Arabs collect at three days journeys from hence in the western desert.* * See p. 31. G 42 SECOND CATARACT. In summer, the navigation from Derr to Wady Haifa becomes, in many places, very difficult, except for small boats, on account of the sand banks. One of the relations of the governors of Nubia resides here, and collects the revenue. At the end of six hours, we came to the southern extremity of Wady Haifa. The river forms here several islands, upon one of which are the remains of an ancient town, built of bricks, with a high brick wall. Seven hours, the plain over which we rode became uneven, and studded with insulated clusters of rocks, whose summits just appear above the surface of the sand. To the west is the second Cataract. Eight hours, halted for the night, in this desert, near one of the islands, which are formed by the river. The noise of the Cataract was heard in the night, at about half an liour's distance. The place is very romantic ; when the inunda- tion subsides, many small lakes are left among the rocks ; and the banks of these, overgrown with large tamarisks, have a pictu- resque appearance amidst the black and green rocks ; the lakes and pools thus formed cover a space of upwards of two miles in breadth. I here shot a wild-goose, which afforded a supper to our party, now increased by the company of a poor young girl from Dabrous, who ran after us, when she saw us pass by, and begged we would take her under our protection as far as Wady Mershed, beyond the Cataract. From Wady Haifa to Sukkot is a stony wilderness, with many cataracts in the river, similar to that at Assouan ; and the navigation is interrupted for about one hundred miles. This rocky tract is called Dar el Hadjar, or Batn el Hadjar, i. e. the rocky district, or the " womb of rocks." March 7th. After a march of one hour, the straggling hillocks and mounds rose into a low chain of hills, the road amongst them being a perfect sandy plain. In one hour and a half we came to BATN EL HADJAR. 43 Wady Amka (j»\), pay a small tribute to their Melek, and the Melek is tributary to the governors of Nubia, who besides carry off as much of the property of these Arabs as falls in their way, whenever they pass along the Batn el Hadjar. The greater part of the Sherifs, however, have now quitted their abode, owing to the continued incursions of the Arabs Sheygya (^X^^), who live on the banks of the river, south of Dongola, eight days journeys distant from Sukkot, across the desert ; and whose depredations have so much ruined the She- rifs, that the greater part of them have retired to Sukkot, and many of them to Dongola. At present, the male inhabitants in the whole district of Batn el Hadjar hardly amount to two hundred, half of whom are Sherifs, and the other of the Bedouin tribe of Kerrarish. Some Arabs remain at Amka ; and a small village is built upon a rocky island, where are the ruins of a large brick tower; from hence the Arabs cross the branch of the river every morning, (upon the trunk of a palm-tree, using their hands as paddles) for the purpose of cultivating their fields upon the shore, and * Vide infra. 44 WADY MERSHED— SERAS. return in the evening in the same manner. As we advance the river continues to be full of rocks and islands, and the country has a very wild aspect. There is no place that so much resembles the Batn el Hadjar and its Wadys, as the road along the Nile from Assouan to the first Cataract ; the same rocky shore, with here and there the same narrow strip of soil, continues all along " the womb of rocks,"' from Wadj Haifa to Sukkot. At two hours and a half, is Wady Mershed (j.^^). The Wadys are separated from each other by rocky tracts, which reach close to the river. At Wady Mershed there are again numerous islands in the river ; upon two of them are some brick ruins, an ancient tower, and a few huts of Arabs. Our route from Wady Haifa to Mershed had been W. S. W. Above Mershed, the river is free from islands, and few rocks are seen in ii ; but its bed is very narrow, and the banks are high : I could throw a stone over to the opposite side. Four hours and a half brought us to Sette Hadje, a cultivable patch of ground, enclosed by rocks, with some ancient brick dwellings; it is inhabited only by an old Arab, who hves in the hut constructed over the tomb of the female saint called Sette Hadje, and who owes his livelihood to the charity of passengers : I found him extended upon his mat, with a pot of water, and an earthen vessel near him, into which I put a few handfuls of dates. From hence southwards, the river has many windings. The hills on the east side increase in height until eight hours and a half, at Wady Seras when they again form a regular chain of mountains, over which lies the road from Wady Sette Hadje. My old Arab guide, afraid of robbers from among the She\'gva Arabs, who are continually hovering about in these parts, to waylay tra- vellers, hurried me along as fast as he could. We met very few persons on the road, excepting small parties of five or six Soudan pilgrims, or Tekayrne (sing. Tekroury); these courageous travellers SERAS. 46 come from all parts of Soudan to Darfour, from whence they proceed either by Kardofan to Sennaar, or direct to Dongola. From the Nile some of them take the route of Suakin, crossing the Red Sea, from thence to Djidda ; others follow the Nile through Dongola and Mahass, and perform their pilgrimage with the Egyp- tian Hadjis, after having remained some time in the mosque El Azhar at Cairo, occupied in reading the Coran and a few books of prayers. I found, upon subsequent enquiry, that the greater part of these pilgrims were natives of Darfour, and Bergho. Among more than forty whom I spoke to at Esne, I could not find one whose country was as far west as Kashna ; but I met with several who came from Wangara. The name Tekroury is given to them, I suppose, from their being natives of the district of Tekrour in Soudan. Such of them as can read and write are called Fdkara (plur. of Fakyr), a term applied in Upper Egypt to all learned persons, by which is meant, such as can read the Coran, and who know how to write talismans, for preservatives against charms, and spells of the devil. Nine hours and a half, we stopped at the southern extremity of Wady Seras, at a hut of Kerrarish Arabs, who, together with a family of the Sherifs, were watching the produce of a few cotton fields, and bean plantations. They gave us some milk for supper, assuring us that they had no bread, and that they had not even tasted any for the last two months. I distributed a measure of Dhourra amongst them, upon condition that they should not exchange it for any thing else, but make bread of it for them- selves and their women, for the latter very seldom enjoy this luxury, which is almost exclusively reserved for their husbands and brothers. In consequence of my present, the women were all set to work to grind the Dliourra between two granite stones, for the richer class only have hand-mills (U^), hke those of the Arabian 46 DJEBEL BILINGO. Bedouins. Plenty of bread was then made, and the girls sat up, eating and singing, the whole of the night, and being separated from us only by a partition formed of tamarisk branches, they often joined in the conversation. The leaves of beans, and the grain of the shrub Kerkedan, which is black, and resembles in size the coriander seed, form the food of these people. The Kerkedan grows wild in the Batn el Hadjar, and is sown in some parts of Northern Nubia ; a coffee is made from the roasted grains, which is not disagreeable to the taste, but the Arabs more usually make bread of them. The leguminous shrub Symkaisalso very common here, and affords excellent food for camels ; it pro- duces a pod, resembling pease, and containing several round rose coloured grains, which are edible, when green ; these the Arabs collect and dry, and by hard boiling, obtain from them an oil, which they use, instead of butter, to grease their hair and body. The Sherifs of Batn el Hadjar are of the darkest brown colour, with fine features, and are remarkably well made. Both men and women go naked ; but the latter wear leather amulets round the neck, copper armlets and bracelets, and silver ear-rings. Most of them speak a little Arabic. March 8th. From Seras we ascended a high mountain. The rock, which had been everywhere sand-stone as far as Wady Haifa, changes its nature at the second Cataract, where grunstein and grauwacke predominate ; these primitive rocks continue throughout the Batn el Hadjar. In the mountain beyond Seras are granite, and immense rocks of quartz : the grunstein rocks are also every where crossed by strata of quartz. Three or four hours east of our route, a high chain of mountains extends parallel with the course of the river; it bears the name of Djebel Bihngo QLh J-=-), and is uninhabited : it is regularly visited by winter rains, and the water remains in the clefts and hollows the whole of the summer. WADY ATTYRE. 47 In two hours and a half we came to a plain on the top of the mountain, called Akabet el benat (o>U^ ^),the rocks of the girls. Here the Arabs who serve as guides through these mountains have devised a singularmode of extorting small presents from the traveller : they alight at certain spots in the Akabet el benat, which they call or