Chapter V: Part 5

I see that Aly Bey el Abbasi 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 anecdotes to prove how little he imposed, with his almost utter ignorance of Arabic, upon the 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 memory; that of Wady Muna is the only one slightly resembling the reality. He has made one very curious mistake, which is, that he persuades himself 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 trivial a fact as that of the existence of carpets in one of the mosques of Cairo, where I actually 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 call 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 correct. 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 Egyptian Nile was also repeated, which of course is in direct contradiction to the former supposition. The truth seems to be, that the ignorant Africans finding the two rivers to resemble each other, in size, in productions, and in the regularity of their inundation, conclude them to be the same. The name of La Mar Zarah, which he ascribes to the river of Timbuctou, I believe to be misspelt for Bahr El Ahmar El Sahára; (بحر الاحمر الصحرا) or the Red River of the Desert.[10] This epithet is perhaps applied to it in the same manner, as Abiadh, Azrak, Akhdar, “white, blue, green,” are given to the different branches of the Nile. La Mar Zarah is said to be of a muddy colour, and the Egyptians describe the Nile by the word Ahmar, at the time when it first begins to rise and to become muddy.

The names of the King and Queen of Timbuctou seem to shew that they are Mohammedans. Woolo seems to be Wouli, which in Arabic, means Governor or Ruler (والي), and is given to all their governors, and Fatima is evidently a Moslim name. That Adams did not see them pray, is no proof to the contrary; he might reside for months at Berber or Shendy without witnessing any sort of public worship. There are however some of his statements which struck me as quite impossible, and convinced me of his want of veracity, at least with regard to them. I can never believe that twenty-three persons travelling on foot, with women and children, can cross a waterless desert of thirty days journey, without any other supply of water than what was loaded upon four camels; nor again, that twenty eight persons could travel in the same manner, for twenty-nine days, with four camels only partly loaded with water. Such powers of abstinence, neither Arabs nor Nubians, nor their camels possess; every person who has travelled in a caravan of camels, will disbelieve such assertions. After eight days the water kept in the best Soudan water skins is partly evaporated, and the remainder, from the continual shaking, is reduced to a thick black mud, which extreme necessity alone can make one swallow. The best camels for transport, known in the countries which I have visited, are the Darfour breed. They are never longer than ten or twelve days on their road to Egypt, without water, and even in that journey many of them perish of thirst. The daily supply of one quart would afford little relief to an animal which when thirsty swallows fifty or sixty, and after several days thirst, one hundred pounds of water. Four camel loads of water would in North-eastern Africa, even among the Nubian merchants, who carefully reckon every pound weight to be loaded upon their camels, be thought a scanty allowance for twenty-eight persons, even if they were mounted on camels, for a journey of five or six days. It is not by a daily allowance of half a pint mixed with urine, that a pedestrian traveller in the sands of Africa can hope to support his strength, through the continued exertions of such a journey; nor shall I ever believe that the Moors are so much superior to the Nubians, although they may be rather stronger than Aly Bey el Abbassi, who was perishing with thirst in a desert of Barbary, of one day’s journey across, fainting at four P. M. after having drank at noon a large draught. Stories of long journeys without water are to be placed in the same class with those of hot winds, overwhelming sands, and the miraculous swiftness of camels, &c. &c. They all originate in the fancy of Bedouins, who at the expense of truth, thus indulge the curiosity of the inhabitants of the towns, gaping at the wonders of the desert. They can be contradicted only by the few who have actually crossed the deserts, while they will be constantly corroborated by those who draw their information only from bragging Arabians or Moors.

I am certain that you take a lively interest in the travels of the unfortunate Seetzen, who was poisoned five years ago in Yemen. His labours, I can assure you, have been very extensive, and conducted in a most enlightened manner. His intimate acquaintance with all branches of natural history was applied with indefatigable zeal to countries the most difficult of access, and he had many times nearly become a martyr to those pursuits, before he met with his ultimate fate. It has fallen to my lot to trace his footsteps, in many hitherto unknown parts of Syria and Arabia Petrӕa, and again in the Hedjaz; these, together with what I heard from the Europeans who knew him at Aleppo, Damascus, and Cairo, as well as from many Arabs on the road, have inspired me with as great a respect for his private character, as the dispersed memoirs of his researches already published, must give every reader for his literary acquirements. Although endowed with a lively fancy, and even with considerable poetical talents, he was a man of plain truth. If sometimes over fond of speculating upon the facts which he had collected, yet I am certain that in stating those facts, he observed the strictest adherence to truth, and I have not the smallest doubt, that if he had lived to publish the mass of knowledge which he had acquired during his travels, he would have far excelled all travellers, who ever wrote on the same countries. Mr. Salt has lately shewn me a letter which he received in 1811, from Mr. Rutland, then factor at Mokha, acquainting him with the death of Seetzen, which had just taken place, and making mention, at the same time, of several papers which he had left as a present to Mr. Rutland, who adds that as they are in German he cannot read them. As Mr. Seetzen would hardly have thought it worth while to make such a present to a person who could so little appreciate its value, I am much inclined to suspect they were only left in his hands as a deposit. Exact designs and descriptions of Mekka and other places, vocabularies of eighteen African languages, &c. are stated to be among the number. Seetzen’s friends at Cairo, according to the common practice of Levantines, amongst whom most of the pseudo Franks established in these parts must be classed, entirely forgot him as soon as he was beyond their threshold, and it thus happened that although his death took place as far back as September, 1811, in the vicinity of Mokha, where it was of public notoriety, and that although since the beginning of 1811, no news whatever had been heard of him at Cairo, yet nobody thought proper to write to Mokha, for further enquiry, and as late as July 1815, nothing was known here of his fate. I then received a letter from Mokha, giving some details of the death of Mr. Seetzen, which I forwarded immediately to Vienna, accompanying it with a letter of my own to Mr. Hammer, which he, without being authorized to it, abridged and published, together with the other paper.

An Italian physician of the name of Cervelli, now established as a merchant at Alexandria, made four years ago some interesting travels in the North of Africa; he was attached to the son of Yousef Pasha of Tripoli, in the capacity of physician, and his patron being sent by his father to reduce Fezzan, the chief of which had been dilatory in the payment of the tribute, Cervelli accompanied the Pasha’s son upon that expedition; they first went from Tripoli by land to Derne, near to which Mr. Cervelli saw the splendid ruins of Cyrene, at least what he supposed to be the remains of that town; they went from Derne to Augila, and from thence to Fezzan, where they remained about six weeks, and then returned over a chain of mountains, where he found snow, (for it was in winter,) by Sokhne to Tripoli.

He heard of two English travellers having been at Fezzan, of whom one died, and the other was never heard of after his departure for Soudan; the name of Hornemann was unknown to Mr. Cervelli. This gentleman, although not a man of letters, possesses natural talents, and a good deal of vivacity and good nature; he told me that he took many notes, that he has not yet drawn up a journal, but that he has some intention of publishing his travels: I never could get him to shew me any of his papers, but I know that he possesses some, together with a few sketches of drawings; as his time is now totally occupied by commercial pursuits, I doubt, whether he will ever have leisure to work up his journal, and therefore, being well persuaded of the interest which his tour would excite, I have done my best to get possession of his papers, and offered him a thousand piastres for them, under the formal promise that if ever they should be published, it should be under his own name. Since his departure for Alexandria, I have charged Mr. Thurburn, formerly secretary to Colonel Missett, and now a partner in the house of Briggs and Co. a gentleman of much information, to renew the negociation with Mr. Cervelli. He has lately informed me, that Mr. Cervelli refuses to part with his papers; but has promised to employ his evenings in arranging them, as he wishes to publish them himself.

I feel the greatest regret, in being obliged to inform you, in closing this letter, that I have no well founded hopes of being able to leave Egypt before next spring. It would be tedious to enter into all the disappointments I have experienced, by the non-arrival of the western caravan. If the Committee believes that I am not a trifler in my duty, they will not doubt that nothing but imperious circumstances could so long detain me at Cairo. If, on the contrary, my prolonged stay in this city should give rise to any doubts of the sincerity of my intentions, I feel that nothing that I could say on the subject could possibly remove them.

_Cairo, 20th February,_ 1817.

By the present conveyance, I have the honour of transmitting to the Committee, my journals in the Hedjaz, together with some notices on the interior of Africa, and a translation from Macrizi, containing some documents on the history and geography of Nubia and the Nile countries; which may serve to illustrate my travels in Nubia.

You will be pleased to hear that the colossal head from Thebes has at last, after many difficulties, safely arrived at Alexandria. Mr. Belzoni, who offered himself to undertake this commission, has executed it with great spirit, intelligence, and perseverance. The head is waiting now at Alexandria for a proper conveyance to Malta. Mr. Salt and myself have borne the expenses jointly, and the trouble of the undertaking has devolved upon Mr. Belzoni, whose name I wish to be mentioned, if ever ours shall on this occasion, because he was actuated by public spirit fully as much as ourselves. The Committee need not be under any apprehension, that this transaction has caused my name to become of public notoriety in Egypt; which would certainly have been the case, if it had been known that I had a hand in the business, for during the fortnight the head remained at Boulak, the vessel was constantly crowded by swarms of visitors, of all classes. Nobody knows that I have had any thing to do with it. The Kahirines ascribe it entirely to Mr. Salt and Mr. Belzoni, who, they say, send it to England to have it taken to pieces, in order to find the invaluable jewel which it contains. The residence of the French Savans in Egypt has not taught them to form better notions, and the same kind of belief which caused the Shikh of Tedmor to resist my carrying off a small mutilated bust, found near the portico at Palmyra, still operates in every part of Egypt.

The peasants of Gourne reported to me, that the French had in vain endeavoured to carry off this head: and that they had even cut a hole in the lower part of the bust, to blow off part of the stone, and render it thus more transportable. I am ignorant for what reason they relinquished that scheme, but it is somewhat curious to find that in the drawing which they have given of that head, in their great work, they have represented it as it would probably have been, after the lower part should have been destroyed.

The discoveries of Mr. Belzoni in Upper Egypt, are too interesting not to deserve notice here. He has half cleared the temple of Ebsambal in Nubia, of the sands that obstructed it. The frontispiece of the temple, which has thus been discovered, is full of hieroglyphics; of the four colossi which stand before it, the face of one only (which I have mentioned in my journal), remains perfect; one of the three others has been reduced by mutilation to a mere lump of rock.

Behind Gourne[11] he has discovered a new tomb of the kings, about one mile distant from the most western “insulated tomb,” as the French laid it down in their map. He says it is beautiful, and larger than any of the others, with a sarcophagus in it. All the paintings are done upon a white stucco, adhering loosely to the wall, and thus easily to be removed.

By digging at Gourne, in the plain between the Memnonium, and Medinet Habou,[12] in a western direction from the two sitting colossi, about half a mile distant from them, he found a mutilated colossal head of granite, of much larger dimensions than the one he carried off, or any other at Thebes, being from ten to twelve feet across the front.

You remember the small pond, within the enclosure of the interior part of the temple of Karnak, towards the side of Luxor,[13] which encircles on three sides an elevated ground. A row of Andro-sphynxes, or whatever they may be called, stand there, which the French had dug up, and of which Mr. William Banks carried off last year the two best. In digging farther on in the line in which these statues stood, Mr. Belzoni has discovered eighteen others, of similar shape, but of much superior workmanship, all in beautiful preservation; he has brought down six of them to Mr. Salt, who had furnished him with money for the express purpose of procuring antiquities; besides the commission to carry off the head. By the side of these figures he has found another statue, of a hard, large grained sand stone: it is a whole length naked figure, sitting upon a chair, with a ram’s head upon the knees; the face and body entire; with plaited hair falling down to the shoulders. This is one of the finest, I should say the finest Egyptian statue I have seen; the expression of the face is exquisite, and I believe it to be a portrait. From the beautiful preservation of all these figures, which is so rare in Egypt, Mr. Belzoni argues, that the Egyptians used this place to hide their idols, when the Persians came to destroy them, and he hopes, in going up a second time to Thebes, to find at the same place other treasures. He has likewise found at Karnak, the four sided monument, with figures in high relief on three sides of it, of which the French talk so highly in their work, and of which they have given a drawing. But it was in quite a different place from that indicated by them, for Mr. Belzoni found it under ground far to the east of the adytum of Karnak. This, with a dozen of Sphinxes, he has been obliged to leave on the shore of the river near Karnak, the boat being already over loaded. The head alone weighs, I believe, from twelve to fifteen tons.

Mr. Belzoni, who is as enterprising as he is intelligent, high-minded, and disinterested, further informs us, that he has dug up the colossus, indicated by the French upon their map of Karnak, as laying on the N. W. side of the abovementioned pond, under the name of “Colosse renversé.” He has turned it up, and finds it to be a torso without head, or feet, about thirty feet in length, of beautiful workmanship; he says that he has seen nothing in Egypt, not even excepting our head, that can be compared to it, as it is a true imitation of nature, not done in the usual hard style, but according to the best rules of art.

If Mr. Belzoni had had a flat bottomed boat at his command, he is confident that he should have been able to float down one of the small obelisks of Philӕ, about twenty five feet in length. He handles masses of this kind with as much facility as others handle pebbles, and the Egyptians who see him a giant in figure, for he is six feet and 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; although 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. Belzoni, small indeed, but as much as our circumstances permitted, the total expense incurred 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 money, for he extends his extortions over every article of Egyptian produce, and condescends even to farm out the trade of camel and sheep’s dung. Mr. Belzoni, who is known in England as a hydraulic 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 artists. They are enticed into his service by his emissaries in the Mediterranean, but are soon left to bewail their credulity.

You will 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 Italian, and Mr. Kabitch, a German, settled here, formed the project of exploring the well in the great pyramid. 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 continuation 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 Sherif 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 twelfth 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 illustrative 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 number of smaller ones; and a large Coptic manuscript, written upon gazelle skin, found in the island of Omke, above the cataract of Wady Halfa. Many large specimens of Egyptian sculpture may yet be obtained, but it will be long before so complete a collection of smaller articles will 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 pecuniary 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 England. I believe that it has cost him about fifteen hundred pounds, and is certainly worth three or four times that sum in Europe.

I am in anxious expectation 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 have been the case if I had departed last year; for it will afford me no small consolation in my future travels, to think that whatever may be my fate, some fruit has been reaped from my pursuits, and that the Association is now in possession of several journals, 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 written on the Bedouins 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 illustrated 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 corruption 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, otherwise than as a nation of bloody, savage, and faithless robbers.

When you ask me whether I know Antar, you probably forget that the first knowledge I gained of that author, was from an odd volume in your own library.[14] 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 little 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 descending 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 doubt informed that this same Antar was one of the poets of the Moallakat, and that Osmay, who relates his life 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[15] not long since, I suggested to him the expediency of making some abridgement, in case of his publishing 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 public, and nothing would give me greater pleasure, than to see the noble Bedouin romance ushered into this world.

_Cairo, 18th May,_ 1817.

By the present opportunity I transmit to Sir Joseph Banks, my journal in the peninsula 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 these 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 had 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 whether that acquaintance was such, as to confirm or detract from the veracity of the stated facts; the latter being often applicable 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 little 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 trouble 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 reasonable to doubt whether the African Association would like to engage in an undertaking, 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 pyramids. 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 pyramid, to pursue his labours under their directions in its neighbourhood, and especially near the Sphinx. The small temple which the Sphinx holds between its monstrous paws, is certainly very interesting, and of the best Egyptian workmanship. The hieroglyphics 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. The 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 resemblance to Greek than to Egyptian work. The designs which Mr. Salt has made are strikingly correct, and will indemnify future travellers, for having missed the opportunity of inspecting these curious monuments. Very few of them can have the satisfaction to admire these beautiful ornaments of the Sphinx, a colossus that 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, than 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 incredible 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 with Mr. Beechy, the secretary of Mr. Salt, at Thebes, has made many excavations there, and has found at Karnak a colossal head very little 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 historical 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 construction 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 service, 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,_ 1817.[16]

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 important 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 apprehensive that what strikes me to be correct, may not appear equally so to persons who have not visited the desert, and have not travelled with Bedouins. Should my opinions meet with 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 relative 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 obliged to content myself now for nearly two years, with comments upon former journeys, or to offer you of future ones, the promise instead of the deed.

I cannot yet move from hence as no caravan has yet arrived from the west; it is indeed expected, but so it has been for a length of time, and that very expectation prevents me from undertaking any other journey, and chains me to this town, 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 destination 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, that of being more or less exposed to the blame of relaxation or want of spirit, in the performance of my duty. Had I 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 my successor many years of apprenticeship, to be able to enter the gates of Libya, with 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 Barbary, 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, which it appears to attack in preference even to the white; 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 the ancient canal from Rahmanye to Alexandria, a measure that becomes from year 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 carried 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 the 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 their 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, will open a water communication 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 public works, are treated much in the same manner as were the Israelites by Pharaoh. The income of the Pasha, which upon a moderate calculation is two and a half or three millions sterling, per annum, (and of which he spends at most half,) added to the low price of labour, and the abundance of hands, render 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 Mohammed Aly, conducts in the Hedjaz against the Wahabi. Until within the last two months, he had not pushed on farther than Hanakye, a station 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 appears not to have been decisive, as he has not advanced. Meantime reinforcements are continually sent to Arabia. Three Frenchmen who are in the suite of Ibrahim 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.

_5th of June._ I have sent off by this opportunity, a packet to Mr. Hamilton, containing 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 believed 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 prospect, 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 entertained hopes, not more sanguine, than reasonable, of being able to penetrate in safety from Fezzan to the countries of the Niger; and of at last receiving the reward of his long perseverance, in the acquirement 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 dysentery, which had for several days incommoded him, so much encreased, that he applied for relief to Dr. Richardson, an English physician, who fortunately happened at that time to be at Cairo, travelling in the company of Lord Belmore. Thus it is a satisfaction to know, that our lamented traveller, in his last illness, had as good advice 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 remission. On the morning of the 15th, conscious of his danger, he proposed and obtained the consent of his physician, that Mr. Salt, His Majesty’s Consul General, should be sent for. “I went over immediately,” 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 approaching 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 repeated, as if afraid that I should think he had already contributed enough, as I had once hinted to him). ‘Give two thousand piastres to Osman’ (an Englishman, whom at Shikh Ibrahim’s[17] particular 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 I have in the house, which is little, 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.[18] Give my love to my friends,’ (enumerating several persons, with whom he was living upon terms of intimacy at Cairo). ‘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 noticed his intended journey, was an evident struggle between disappointed hopes, and manly resignation. Less of the weakness 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 parting as taking a final leave. So unhappily it proved; he died at a quarter before twelve the same night, without a groan. The funeral, 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 manuscripts 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 temper and prudence, well calculated to ensure his triumph over every difficulty. His liberality and high principles of honour, his admiration of those generous qualities in others, his detestation of injustice and fraud, his disinterestedness and keen sense of gratitude[19] were no less remarkable, than his warmth of heart and active 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, genius, and industry, conspired to render well adapted to whatever great enterprize 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 fallen 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 westward of those countries, are the only parts of his transmitted papers, which belong in strictness to the objects of an Association for promoting the discovery of the interior parts of Africa; yet his remarks upon several parts of Syria, the Holy Land, and Arabia, are so replete with new and accurate information, that the Association 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 volume, 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.