[p.i]It is hoped that little apology is necessary for the publication of
a volume of Travels in Asia, by a Society, whose sole professed object
is the promotion of discoveries in the African continent.
The Association having had the good fortune to obtain the services of a
person of Mr. Burckhardt's education and talents, resolved to spare
neither time nor expense in enabling him to acquire the language and
manners of an Arabian Musulman in such a degree of perfection, as should
render the detection of his real character in the interior of Africa
extremely difficult.
It was thought that a residence at Aleppo would afford him the most
convenient means of study, while his intercourse with the natives of
that city, together with his occasional tours in Syria, would supply him
with a view of Arabian life and manners in every degree, from the
Bedouin camp to the populous city. While thus preparing himself for the
ultimate object of his mission, he was careful to direct his journeys
through those parts of Syria which had been the least frequented by
European travellers, and thus he had the opportunity of making some
important additions to our knowledge of one of those countries of which
the geography is not less interesting by its connection with ancient
history, than it is imperfect, in consequence of the impediments which
modern barbarism has opposed to scientific researches. After consuming
near three years in Syria, Mr. Burckhardt, on his arrival in Egypt,
found himself prevented from pursuing the execution of his instructions,
by [p.ii] a suspension of the usual commercial intercourse with the
interior of Africa, and was thus, during the ensuing five years, placed
under the necessity of employing his time in Egypt and the adjacent
countries in the same manner as he had done in Syria. After the journeys
in Egypt, Nubia, Arabia, and Mount Sinai, which have been briefly
described in the Memoir prefixed to the former volume of his travels,
his death at Cairo, at the moment when he was preparing for immediate
departure to Fezzan, left the Association in possession of a large
collection of manuscripts concerning the countries visited by their
traveller in these preparatory journeys, but of nothing more than oral
information as to those to which he had been particularly sent. As his
journals in Nubia, and in the regions adjacent to the Astaboras,
although relating only to an incidental part of his mission to Africa,
were descriptive of countries coming strictly within the scope of the
African Association, these, together with all his collected information
on the interior of Africa, were selected for earliest publication. The
present volume contains his observations in Syria and Arabia Petraea; to
which has been added his tour in the Peninsula of Mount Sinai, although
the latest of all his travels in date, because it is immediately
connected, by its subject, with his journey through the adjacent
districts of the Holy Land. There still remain manuscripts sufficient to
fill two volumes; one of these will consist of his travels in Arabia,
which were confined to the Hedjaz, or Holy Land of the Musulmans, the
part least accessible to Christians; the fourth volume will contain very
copious remarks on the Arabs on the Desert, and particularly the
Wahabys.
The two principal maps annexed to the present volume have been
constructed under the continued inspection of the Editor, by Mr. John
Walker, junior, by whom they have been delineated and engraved.
[p.iii]In the course of this process, it has been found, that our
traveller's bearings by the compass are not always to be relied on.
Those which were obviously incorrect, and useless for geographical
purposes, have been omitted in the Journal; some instances of the same
kind, which did not occur to the Editor until the sheets were printed,
are noticed in the Errata, and if a few still remain, the reader is
intreated not to consider them as proofs of negligence in the formation
of the maps, which have been carefully constructed from Burckhardt's
materials, occasionally assisted and corrected by other extant
authorities. One cannot easily decide, whether the errors in our
traveller's bearings are chiefly to be attributed to the variable nature
of the instrument, or to the circumstances of haste and concealment
under which he was often obliged to take his observations, though it is
sufficiently evident that be fell into the error, not uncommon with
unexperienced travellers, of multiplying bearings to an excessive
degree, instead of verifying a smaller number, and measuring
intermediate angles with a pocket sextant. However his mistakes may have
arisen, the consequence has been, that some parts of the general map
illustrative of his journeys in Syria and the Holy Land have been
constructed less from his bearings than from his distances in time,
combined with those of other travellers, and checked by some known
points on the coast. Hence also a smaller scale has been chosen for that
map than may be formed from the same materials when a few points in the
interior are determined by celestial observations. In the mean time it
is hoped, that the present sketch will be sufficient to enable the
reader to pursue the narrative without much difficulty, especially as
the part of Syria which the traveller examined with more minuteness than
any other, the Haouran, is illustrated by a map upon a larger scale,
which has been composed from two delineations made by him in his two
journeys in that province.
[p.iv]It appears unnecessary to the Editor to enter into any lengthened
discussion in justification of the ancient names which he has inserted
in the maps; he thinks it sufficient to refer to the copious exposition
of the evidences of Sacred Geography contained in the celebrated work of
Reland. Much is still wanting to complete this most interesting
geographical comparison; and as a great part of the country visited by
Burckhardt has since his time been explored by a gentleman better
qualified to illustrate its antiquities by his learning; who travelled
under more favourable circumstances, and who was particuarly diligent in
collecting those most faithful of all geographical evidences, ancient
inscriptions, it may be left to Mr. W. Bankes, to illustrate more fully
the ancient geography of the Decapolis and adjoining districts, and to
remove some of the difficulties arising from the ambiguity of the
ancient authorities.
It will be found, perhaps, that our traveller is incorrect in supposing,
that the ruins at Omkeis are those of Gamala, for the situalion of
Omkeis, the strength of its position, and the extent of the ruins, all
favour the opinion that it was Gadara, the chief city of Peraea, the
strongest place in this part of the country, and the situation of which,
on a mountain over against Tiberias and Scythopolis, [Polyb.1.5.c.71.
Joseph.de Bel. Jud.l.4.c.8. Euseb. Onomast. in [Greek text]. The
distance of the ruins at Omkeis from the Hieromax and the hot baths
seems to have been Burckhardt's objection to their being the remains of
Gadara; but this distance is justified by St. Jerom, by Eusebius, and by
a writer of the 5th century. According to the two former authors the hot
baths were not at Gadara, but at a place near it called Aitham, or
Aimath, or Emmatha; and the latter correctly states the distance at five
miles. Reland Palaest. p.302, 775. Perhaps Gamala was at El Hosn;
Gaulanitis, of which Gamala was the chief town, will then correspond
very well with Djolan.] corresponds precisely with that of Omkeis. But
it will probably be admitted, that our traveller has rightly placed
several other cities, such as Scythopolis, Hippus, Abila,[There were two
cities of this name. Abil on the Western borders of the Haouran appears
to have been the Abila of Lysanias, which the Emperors Claudius and Nero
gave together with Batanaea and Trachonitis, to Herodes Agrippa. Joseph.
Ant. Jud. l.19.c.5.--sl.20.c.7.] Gerasa, Amathus;
[p.v]and he has greatly improved our knowledge of Sacred Geography, by
ascertaining many of the Hebrew sites in the once populous but now
deserted region, formerly known by the names of Edom, Moab, Ammon, and
the country of the Amorites.
The principal geographical discoveries of our traveller, are the nature
of the country between the Dead Sea and the gulf of Aelana, now Akaba;--
the extent, conformation, and detailed topography of the Haouran;--the
site of Apameia on the Orontes, one of the most important cities of
Syria under the Macedonian Greeks;--the site of Petra, which, under the
Romans, gave the name of Arabia Petraea to the surrounding territory;--
and the general structure of the peninsula of Mount Sinai; together with
many new facts in its geography, one of the most important of which is
the extent and form of the AElanitic gulf, hitherto so imperfectly known
as either to be omitted in the maps, or marked with a bifurcation at the
extremity, which is now found not to exist.
M. Seetzen, in the years 1805 and 1806, had traversed a part of the
Haouran to Mezareib and Draa, had observed the Paneium at the source of
the Jordan at Banias, had visited the ancient sites at Omkeis, Beit-er-
Ras, Abil, Djerash and Amman, and had followed the route afterwards
taken by Burckhardt through Rabbath Moab to Kerek, from whence he passed
round the southern extremity of the Dead Sea to Jerusalem. The public,
however, has never received any more than a very short account of these
journeys, taken from the correspondence of M. Seetzen with M. de Zach,
at Saxe-Gotha.[This correspondence having been communicated to the
Palestine Association, was translated and printed by that Society in the
year 1810, in a quarto of forty-seven pages.] He was quite unsuccessful
in his inquiries for Petra, and having taken the road which leads to
Mount Sinai [p.vi]from Hebron, he had no suspicion of the existence of
the long valley known by the names of El Ghor, and El Araba.
This prolongation of the valley of the Jordan, which completes a
longitudinal separation of Syria, extending for three hundred miles from
the sources of that river to the eastern branch of the Red Sea, is a
most important feature in the geography of the Holy Land,--indicating
that the Jordan once discharged itself into the Red Sea, and confirming
the truth of that great volcanic convulsion, described in the nineteenth
chapter of Genesis, which interrupted the course of the river, which
converted into a lake the fertile plain occupied by the cities of Adma,
Zeboin, Sodom and Gomorra, and which changed all the valley to the
southward of that district into a sandy desert.
The part of the valley of the Orontes, below Hamah, in which stood the
Greek cities of Larissa and Apameia, has now for the first time been
examined by a scientific traveller, and the large lake together with the
modern name of Famia, which have so long occupied a place in the maps of
Syria, may henceforth be erased.
The country of the Nabataei, of which Petra was the chief town, is well
characterized by Diodorus,[Diod. Sic.l.2,c.48.] as containing some
fruitful spots, but as being for the greater part, desert and waterless.
With equal accuracy, the combined information of Eratosthenes,
[Eratosth. ap. Strab. p.767.] Strabo,[Strabo, p.779.] and Pliny, [Plin.
Hist Nat.l.6,c.28.] describes Petra as falling in a line, drawn from the
head of the Arabian gulf (Suez) to Babylon,--as being at the distance of
three or four days from Jericho, and of four or five from Phoenicon,
which was a place now called Moyeleh, on the Nabataean coast, near the
entrance of the AElanitic gulf,--and as situated in a valley of about
two miles in length surrounded with deserts, inclosed within precipices,
and watered by a river. The latitude of 30 degrees 20 minutes
[p.vii]ascribed by Ptolemy to Petra, agrees moreover very accurately
with that which is the result of the geographical information of
Burckhardt. The vestiges of opulence, and the apparent date of the
architecture at Wady Mousa, are equally conformable with the remains of
the history of Petra, found in Strabo,[P.781.] from whom it appears that
previous to the reign of Augustus, or under the latter Ptolemies, a very
large portion of the commerce of Arabia and India passed through Petra
to the Mediterranean: and that ARMIES of camels were required to convey
the merchandise from Leuce Come, on the Red Sea,[Leuce Come, on the
coast of the Nabataei, was the place from whence AElius Gallus set out
on his unsuccessful expedition into Arabia, (Strabo, ibid.) Its exact
situation is unknown.] through Petra to Rhinocolura, now El Arish. But
among the ancient authorities regarding Petra, none are more curious
than those of Josephus, Eusebius, and Jerom, all persons well acquainted
with these countries, and who agree in proving that the sepulchre of
Aaron in Mount Hor, was near Petra.[Euseb. et Hieron. Onomast. in Greek
text]. Joseph. Ant. Jud.l.4.c.4.] For hence, it seems evident, that the
present object of Musulman devotion, under the name of the tomb of
Haroun, stands upon the same spot which has always been regarded as the
burying-place of Aaron; and there remains little doubt, therefore, that
the mountain to the west of Petra, is the Mount Hor of the Scriptures,
Mousa being, perhaps, an Arabic corruption of Mosera, where Aaron is
said to have died. [Deuter.c.x.v.6. In addition to the proofs of the
site of Petra, just stated, it is worthy of remark that the distance of
eighty-three Roman miles from Aila, or AElana, to Petra, in the Table
(called Theodosian or Peutinger,) when compared with the distance on the
map, gives a rate of about 7/10 of a Roman mile to the geographical mile
in direct distance, which is not only a correct rate, but accords very
accurately with that resulting from the other two routes leading from
Aila in the Table, namely, from Aila to Clysma, near the modern Suez,
and from Aila to Jerusalem. Szadeka, which Burckhardt visited to the
south of Wady Mousa, agrees in distance and situation as well as in name
with the Zadagasta of the Table, or Zodocatha of the Notitiae dignitatum
Imperii. See Reland Palaest. p. 230. Most of the other places mentioned
on the three roads of the Table are noticed by Ptolemy or in the
Notitiae.
And here, the Editor may be permitted to add a few words on a third
Roman route across these deserts, (having travelled the greater part of
it three times,) namely, that from Gaza to Pelusium. In the Itinerary of
Antoninus, the places, and their interjacent distances are stated as
follows, Gaza, 22 M.P. Raphia, 22 M.P. Rhinocolura, 26 M.P. Ostracine,
26 M.P. Casium, 20 M.P. Pentaschoenus, 20 M.P. Pelusium. The Theodosian
Table agrees with the Itinerary, but is defective in some of the names
and distances; Gerrhae, placed by the Table at 8 M.P. eastward of
Pelusium, is confirmed in this situation by Strabo and Ptolemy. Strabo
confirms the Itinerary in regard to Raphia, omits to notice Ostracine,
and in placing Casium at three hundred stades from Pelusium, differs not
much from the 40 M.P. of the Itinerary, or the ten schoenes indicated by
the word Pentaschoenus, midway.
The name of Rafa is still preserved near a well in the desert, at six
hours march to the southward of Gaza, where among many remains of of
ancient buildings, two erect granite columns are supposed by the natives
to mark the division between Africa and Asia. Polybius remarks
(l.5,c.80), that Raphia was the first town of Syria, coming from
Rhinocolura, which was considered an Egyptian town. Between Raphia and
the easternmost inundations of the Nile, the only two places at which
there is moisture sufficient to produce a degree of vegetation useful to
man, are El Arish and Katieh. The whole tract between these places,
except where it has been encroached upon by moving sands, is a plain
strongly impregnated with salt, terminatig towards the sea in a lagoon
or irruption of the sea anciently called Sirbonis. As the name of
Katieh, and its distance from Tineh or Pelusium, leave no doubt of its
being the ancient Casium, the only remaining question is, whether El
Arish is Rhinocolura, or Ostracine? A commentary of St. Jerom, on the
nineteenth chapter of Isaiah, v.18, suggests the possibility that the
modern name El Arish may be a corruption of the Hebrew Ares, which, as
Jerom observes, means [Greek text], and alludes to Ostracine. Jerom was
well acquainted with this country; but as the translators of Isaiah have
supposed the word not to have been Ares, and as Jerom does not state
that Ares was a name used in his time, the conjecture is not of much
weight. It is impossible to reconcile the want of water so severely felt
at Ostracine (Joseph. de Bel. Jud. l.4, ad fin. Plutarch, in M. Anton.
Gregor. Naz. ep. 46.), with El Arish, where there are occasional
torrents, and seldom any scarcity of well water, either there or at
Messudieh, two hours westward. Ostracine, therefore, was probably near
the [Greek text] of the lagoon Sirbonis, about mid-way between El Arish
and Katieh, on the bank described by Strabo (p. 760), which separates
the Sirbonis from the sea. This maritime position of Ostracine is
confirmed by the march of Titus, (Joseph. ibid.) Leaving the limits of
the Pelusiac territory, he moved across the desert on the first day, not
to the modern Katieh, but to the temple of Jupiter, at Mount Casium, on
the sea shore, at the Cape now called Ras Kasaroun; on the second day to
Ostracine; on the third to Rhinocolura; on the fourth to Raphia; on the
fifth to Gaza. It will be seen by the map that these positions, as now
settled, furnished exactly five convenient marches, the two longest
being naturally through the desert of total privation, which lies
between El Arish and Katieh. As the modern route, instead of following
the sea shore, passes to the southward of the lagoon, the site of
Ostracine has not yet been explored.
[p.viii]It would seem, from the evidence regarding Petra which may be
collected in ancient history, that neither in the ages prior to the
[p.ix]commercial opulence of the Nabataei, nor after they were deprived
of it, was Wady Mousa the position of their principal town.
When the Macedonian Greeks first became acquainted with this part of
Syria by means of the expedition which Antigonus sent against the
Nabataei, under the command of his son Demetrius, we are informed by
Diodorus that these Arabs placed their old men, women, and children upon
a certain rock [Greek text], steep, unfortified by walls, admitting only
of one access to the summit, and situated 300 stades beyond the lake
Asphaltitis. [Diod. Sic. l.19.c.95, 98.] As this interval agrees with
that of Kerek from the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, and is not
above half the distance of Wady Mousa from the same point; and as the
other parts of the description are well adapted to Kerek, while they are
inapplicable to Wady Mousa, we can hardly doubt that Kerek was at that
time the fortress of the Nabataei; and that during the first ages of the
intercourse of that people with the Greeks, it was known to the latter
by the name Petra, so often applied by them to barbarian hill-posts.
When the effects of commerce required a situation better suited than
Kerek to the collected population and increased opulence of the
Nabataei, the appellation of Petra was transferred to the new city at
Wady Mousa, which place had before been known to the [p.x]Greeks by the
name of Arce [Greek text], a corruption perhaps of the Hebrew
Rekem.[Joseph. Antiq. Jud. l.4,c.4.] To Wady Mousa, although of a very
different aspect from Kerek, the name Petra was equally well adapted;
and Kerek then became distinguished among the Greeks by its indigenous
name, in the Greek form of Charax, to which the Romans added that of
Omanorum, or Kerek of Ammon,[Plin. Hist. Nat. l.6,c.28.] to distinguish
it from another Kerek, now called Kerek el Shobak. The former Kerek was
afterwards restored by the Christians to the Jewish division of Moab, to
which, being south of the river Arnon, it strictly belonged, and it was
then called in Greek Charagmoba, under which name we find it mentioned
as one of the cities and episcopal dioceses of the third
Palestine.[Hierocl. Synecd. Notit. Episc. Graec.]
When the stream of commerce which had enriched the Nabataei had partly
reverted to its old Egyptian channel, and had partly taken the new
course, which created a Palmyra in the midst of a country still more
destitute of the commonest gifts of nature, then Arabia Petraea,[A
comparison of the architecture at Wady Mousa, and at Tedmour,
strengthens the opinion, that Palmyra flourished at a period later than
Petra.] Wady Mousa was gradually depopulated. Its river, however, and
the intricate recesses of its rocky valleys, still attract and give
security to a tribe of Arabs; but the place being defensible only by
considerable numbers, and being situated in a less fertile country than
Kerek, was less adapted to be the chief town of the Nabataei, when they
had returned to their natural state of divided wanderers or small
agricultural communities. The Greek bishopricks of the third Palestine
were obliterated by the Musulman conquest, with the sole exception of
the metropolitan Petra, whose titular bishop still resides at Jerusalem,
and occasionally visits Kerek, as being the only place in his province
which contains [p.xi]a Christian community. Hence Kerek has been
considered the see of the bishoprick of Petra, and hence has arisen the
erroneous opinion often adopted by travellers from the Christians of
Jerusalem, that Kerek is the site of the ancient capital of Arabia
Petraea.
The Haouran being only once mentioned in the Sacred Writings, [Ezekiel.
c. xlvii v. 16. ] was probably of inconsiderable extent under the Jews,
but enlarged its boundaries under the Greeks and Romans, by whom it was
called Auranitis. It has been still farther increased since that time,
and now includes not only Auranitis, but Ituraea also, or Ittur, of
which Djedour is perhaps a corruption; together with the greater part of
Basan, or Batanaea, and Trachonitis. Burckhardt seems not to have been
aware of the important comment upon Trachonitis afforded by his
description of the singular rocky wilderness of the Ledja, and by the
inscriptions which he copied at Missema, in that district.[See p. 117,
118.] It appears from these inscriptions, that Missema was anciently the
town of the Phaenesii, and the metrocomia or chief place of Trachon, the
descriptions of which district by Strabo and Josephus,[Strabo, 755, 756.
Joseph. Antiq. Jud. l.15,c.13.] are in exact conformity with that which
Burckhardt has given us of the Ledja.
From Strabo and Ptolemy,[Strabo, ibid. Ptolemy, l.5,c.15.] we learn that
Trachonitis comprehended all the uneven country extending along the
eastern side of the plain of Haouran, from near Damascus to Boszra. It
was in consequence of the predatory incursions of the Arabs from the
secure recesses of the Ledja into the neighbouring plains, that Augustus
transferred the government of Trachonitis from Zenodorus, who was
accused of encouraging them, to Herod, king of Judaea. [Joseph. Antiq.
Jud.l.5,c.10. De Bell. Jud.l.1,c.20.] The two Trachones, into which
Trachonitis was divided, agree with the two natural divisions of the
Ledja and Djebel Haouran.
[p.xii]Oerman, an ancient ruin at the foot of the Djebel Haouran, to the
east of Boszra, appears from an inscription copied there by Burckhardt,
to be the site of Philippopolis, a town founded by Philip, emperor of
Rome, who was a native of Boszra.
Another ancient name is found at Hebran, in the same mountains, to the
N.E. of Boszra, where an inscription records the gratitude of the tribe
of AEedeni to a Roman veteran. The Kelb Haouran, or summit of the Djebel
Haouran, appears to be the Mount Alsadamum of Ptolemy.[Ptolem.l.5,c.15.]
Of the ancient towns just mentioned, Philippopolis alone is noticed in
ancient history; and although the name of Phaeno occurs as a bishoprick
of Palestine, and that the adjective Phaenesius is applied to some mines
at that place [Greek text], it seems evident that these Phaenesii were
different from those of Trachon, and that they occupied a part of
Idumaea, between Petra and the southern extremity of the Dead
Sea.[Reland. Palaest. 1.3, voce Phaeno.]
Mezareib, a village and castle on the Hadj route, appears to be the site
of Astaroth, the residence of Og, king of Bashan; [Deuter. c.l.v.4.
Josh. c.ix.v.10.] for Eusebius [Euseb. Onomast. in [Greek text].] places
Astaroth at 6 miles from Adraa (or Edrei, now Draa,) between that place
and Abila (now Abil), and at 25 miles from Bostra, a distance very
nearly confirmed by the Theodosian Table, which gives 24 Roman miles
between those two places. It will be seen by the map, that the position
of Mezareib conforms to all these particulars. The unfailing pool of the
clearest water, which now attracts the men and cattle of all the
surrounding country to Mezareib in summer, must have made it a place of
importance in ancient times, and therefore excited the wonder of our
traveller at its having preserved only some very scanty relics of
antiquity.
Although Mount Sinai, and the deserts lying between that peninsula
[p.xiii]and Judaea, have not, like the latter country, preserved many of
the names of Holy Scripture, the new information of Burckhardt contains
many facts in regard to their geography and natural history, which may
be useful in tracing the progress of the Israelites from Egypt into
Syria.
The bitter well of Howara, 15 hours southward of Ayoun Mousa,
corresponds as well in situation as in the quality of its water, with
the well of Marah, at which the Israelites arrived after passing through
a desert of three days from the place near Suez where they had crossed
the Red Sea.[Exodus, c.xiv. xv. Numbers. c.xxxiii.]
The Wady Gharendel, two hours beyond Howara, where are wells among date
trees, seems evidently to be the station named Elim, which was next to
Marah, and at which the Israelites found "twelve wells of water, and
threescore and ten palm trees." [Exodus, c.xv. Numbers, c.xxxiii.] And
it is remarkable, that the Wady el Sheikh, and the upper part of the
Wady Feiran, the only places in the peninsula where manna is gathered
from below the tamarisk trees, accord exactly with that part of the
desert of Sin, in which Moses first gave his followers the sweet
substance gathered in the morning, which was to serve them for bread
during their long wandering;[Exodus, c.xvi.] for the route through Wady
Taybe, Wady Feiran, and Wady el Sheikh, is the only open and easy
passage to Mount Sinai from Wady Gharendel; and it requires the
traveller to pass for some distance along the sea shore after leaving
Gharendel, as we are informed that the Israelites actually did, on
leaving Elim.[Numbers, c.xxxiii.v.10, 11.]
The upper region of Sinai, which forms an irregular circle of 30 or 40
miles in diameter, possessing numerous sources of water, a temperate
climate, and a soil capable of supporting animal and vegetable nature,
was the part of the peninsula best adapted to [p.xiv]the residence of
near a year, during which the Israelites were numbered and received
their laws.
About the beginning of May, in the fourteenth month from the time of
their departure from Egypt, the children of Israel quitted the vicinity
of Mount Horeb, and under the guidance of Hohab, the Midianite, brother-
in-law of Moses, marched to Kadesh, a place on the frontiers of Canaan,
of Edom, and of the desert of Paran or Zin.[Numbers, c.x. et seq. and
c.33. Deuter. c.i.] Not long after their arrival, "at the time of the
'first ripe grapes,'" or about the beginning of August, spies were sent
into every part of the cultivated country, as far north as
Hamah.[Numbers, c.xiii. Deuter. c.i.] The report which they brought back
was no less favourable to the fertility of the land, than it was
discouraging by its description of the warlike spirit and preparation of
the inhabitants, and of the strength of the fortified places; and the
Israelites having in consequence refused to follow their leaders into
Canaan, were punished by that long wandering in the deserts lying
between Egypt, Judaea, and Mount Sinai, of which the sacred historian
has not left us any details, but the tradition of which is still
preserved in the name of El Tyh, annexed to the whole country; both to
the desert plains, and to the mountains lying between them and Mount
Sinai.
In the course of their residence in the neighbourhood of Kadesh, the
Israelites obtained some advantages over the neighbouring
Canaanites,[Numbers, c.xxi.] but giving up at length all hope of
penetrating by the frontier, which lies between Gaza and the Dead Sea,
they turned to the eastward, with a view of making a circuit through the
countries on the southern and eastern sides of the lake. [Numbers, c.xx,
xxi.] Here however, they found the difficulty still greater; Mount Seir
of Edom, which under the modern names of Djebal, Shera, and Hesma,
[p.xv]forms a ridge of mountains, extending from the southern extremity
of the Dead Sea to the gulf of Akaba, rises abruptly from the valleys El
Ghor and El Araba, and is traversed from west to east by a few narrow
Wadys only, among which the Ghoeyr alone furnishes an entrance that
would not be extremely difficult to a hostile force. This perhaps was
the "high way," by which Moses, aware of the difficulty of forcing a
passage, and endeavouring to obtain his object by negotiation, requested
the Edomites to let him pass, on the condition of his leaving the fields
and vineyards untouched, and of purchasing provisions and water from the
inhabitants.[Numbers, c.xx. Deuter, c.i.] But Edom "refused to give
Israel passage through his border," and "came out against him with much
people, and with a strong hand."[Numbers, c.xx.] The situation of the
Israelites therefore, was very critical. Unable to force their way in
either direction, and having enemies on three sides; (the Edomites in
front, and the Canaanites, and Amalekites on their left flank and rear,)
no alternative remained for them but to follow the valley El Araba
southwards, towards the head of the Red Sea. At Mount Hor, which rises
abruptly from that valley, "by the coast of the land of Edom,"[Numbers,
ibid.] Aaron died, and was buried in the conspicuous situation, which
tradition has preserved as the site of his tomb to the present day.
Israel then "journeyed from Mount Hor, by the way of the Red Sea, to
compass the land of Edom,"[Numbers, c.xxi.] "through the way of the
plain from Elath, and from Eziongeber," until "they turned and passed by
the way of the wilderness of Moab, and arrived at the brook
Zered."[Deuter, c.ii.] It may be supposed that they crossed the ridge to
the southward of Eziongeber, about the place where Burckhardt remarked,
from the opposite coast, that the mountains were lower than to the
northward, and it [p.xvi] was in this part of their wandering that they
suffered from the serpents, of which our traveller observed the traces
of great numbers on the opposite shore of the AElanitic gulf. The
Israelites then issued into the great elevated plains which are
traversed by the Egyptian and Syrian pilgrims, on the way to Mekka,
after they have passed the two Akabas. Having entered these plains,
Moses received the divine command, "You have compassed this mountain
long enough, turn you northward."--"Ye are to pass through the coast
of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir, and they
shall be afraid of you." [Deuter, c.ii.] The same people who had
successfully repelled the approach of the Israelites from the strong
western frontier, was alarmed now that they had come round upon the weak
side of the country. But Israel was ordered "not to meddle" with the
children of Esau, but "to pass through their coast" and to "buy meat and
water from them for money," in the same manner as the caravan of Mekka
is now supplied by the people of the same mountains, who meet the
pilgrims on the Hadj route. After traversing the wilderness on the
eastern side of Moab, the Israelites at length entered that country,
crossing the brook Zered in the thirty-eighth year, from their first
arrival at Kadesh Barnea, "when all the generation of the men of war
were wasted out from among the host."[Deuter, c.ii.] After passing
through the centre of Moab, they crossed the Arnon, entered Ammon, and
were at length permitted to begin the overthrow of the possessors of the
promised land, by the destruction of Sihon the Amorite, who dwelt at
Heshbon.[Numbers, c.xxi. Deuter, c.ii.] The preservation of the latter
name, and of those of Diban, Medaba, Aroer, Amman, together with the
other geographical facts derived from the journey of Burckhardt through
the countries beyond the Dead Sea, furnishes a most satisfactory
illustration of the sacred historians.
[p.xvii]It remains for the Editor only to add, that while correcting the
foreign idiom of his Author, and making numerous alterations in the
structure of the language, he has been as careful as posible not to
injure the originality of the composition, stamped as it is with the
simplicity, good sense, and candour, inseparable from the Author's
character. In the Editor's wish, however, to preserve this originality,
he cannot flatter himself that incorrect expressions may not sometimes
have been left. In regard to the Greek inscriptions, he thinks it
necessary only to remark, that although the propriety of furnishing the
reader with fac-similes of all such interesting relicts of ancient
history cannot in general be doubted, yet in the present instance, the
trouble and expense which it would have occasioned, would hardly have
been compensated by the importance of the monuments themselves, or by
the degree of correctness with which they were copied by the traveller.
They have therefore been printed in a type nearly resembling the Greek
characters which were in use at the date of the inscriptions, and the
Editor has taken the liberty of separating the words, and of supplying
in the small cursive Greek character, the defective parts of the
traveller's copies.
The Editor takes this opportunity of stating, that in consequence of
some discoveries in African geography, which have been made known since
the publication of Burckhardt's Travels in Nubia, he has made some
alterations in the maps of the second edition of that work. The
observations of Captain Lyon have proved Morzouk to be situated a degree
and a half to the southward of the position formerly assigned to it, and
his enquiries having at the same time confirmed the bearing and distance
between Morzouk and Bornou, as reported by former travellers, a
corresponding change will follow in the latitude of Bornou, as well as
in the [p.xviii]position of the places on the route leading to those two
cities from the countries of the Nile.
A journey into Nubia, by the Earl of Belmore, and his brother, the Hon.
Capt. Corry, has furnished some latitudes and longitudes, serving to
correct the map of "the course of the Nile, from Assouan to the confines
of Dongola", which the Editor constructed from the journals of
Burckhardt, without the assistance of any celestial observatians. The
error in the map as to the most distant point observed by Lord Belmore
is however so small, that it has not been thought necessary to make any
alteration in that map for the second edition of Burckhardt's Journey in
Nubia; but the whole delineation of this part of the Nile will be
corrected from the recent observations, in a new edition of the
Supplement to the Editor's general Map of Egypt.
Since the Journey of Lord Belmore, Mr. Waddington and Mr. Hanbury,
taking advantage of an expedition sent into AEthiopia by the Viceroy of
Egypt, have prolonged the examination of the Nile four hundred miles
beyond the extreme point reached by Burckhardt; and some French
gentlemen have continued to follow the army as far as Sennaar. The
presence of a Turkish army in that country will probably furnish greater
facilities for exploring the Bahr el Abiad, or western branch of the
Nile, than have ever before been presented to travellers; there is
reason to hope, that the opportunity will not be neglected, and thus a
survey of this celebrated river from its sources to the Mediterranean,
may, perhaps, at length be made, if not for the first time, for the
first time at least since the extinction of Egyptian science.
The expedition of the Pasha of Egypt has already produced some important
additions to African geography. By permission of Mr. Waddington, the
Editor has corrected, from that gentleman's delineation, the parts of
the Nile above Mahass, for the second [p.xix] edition of Burckhardt's
Nubia, and from the information transmitted to England by Mr. Salt, he
has been enabled to insert in the same map, the position of the ruins of
an ancient city situated about 20 miles to the north-eastward of Shendy.
These ruins had already been partially seen by Bruce and Burckhardt,
[Burckhardt passed through the vestiges of what seems to have been a
dependency of this city on the Nile, at seven hours to the north of
Shendy, and two hours to the south of Djebail; the latter name, which is
applied by Burckhardt to a large village on a range of hills, is
evidently the same as the Mount Gibbainy, where Bruce observed the same
ruins, which have now been more completely explored by M. Cailliaud. See
Travels in Nubia, p.275. Bruce's Travels, Vol. iv. p.538, 4to.] and
there can be little doubt that Bruce was right in supposing them to be
the remains of Meroe, the capital of the great peninsula of the same
name, of which the general geography appears to have been known with
considerable accuracy to men of science in the Augustan age, although it
had not been visited by any of the writers whose works have reached us.
For, assuming [To illustrate the following observations, as well as some
of the preceding, a small drawing of the course of the Nile is inserted
in the margin of the map of Syria which accompanies the present volume.]
these ruins to mark the site of the city Meroe, and that the latitude
and longitude of Shendy have been accurately determined by Bruce, whose
instruments were good, and whose competency to the task of observation
is undoubted, it will be found that Ptolemy is very nearly right in
ascribing the latitude of 16.26 to the city Meroe.[Ptolem. l.4,c.8.]
Pliny [Plin. Hist. Nat. l.2,c.73.] is equally correct in stating that
the two points of the ecliptic, in which the sun is in the zenith at
Meroe, are the 18th degree of Taurus, and the 14th degree of Leo. The
5000 stades which Strabo[Strabo, p. 113.] and Pliny [Plin. ibid.] We
learn from another passage in Pliny, (l.6,c.29,) that the persons sent by
Nero to explore the Nile, measured 884 miles, "by the river", from Syene
to Meroe.] assert to be the distance between Meroe and Syene is correct,
at a rate of between 11 and 12 [p.xx]stades to the geographical mile; if
the line be taken in direct distance, as evidently appears to have been
the intention of Strabo, by his thrice stating (upon the authority of
Eratosthenes,) that the distance from Meroe to Alexandria was 10,000
stades.[Eratosth. ap. strab. p. 62. Strabo, p. 113, 825.] The latitudes
of Ptolemy equally accord in shewing the equidistance of Syene from
Meroe and from Alexandria; the latitude of Syene being stated by him at
23-50,[Ptolem. l.4,c.6.] and that of Alexandria at 31-0. [Ptolem. ibid.]
The description of the island of Meroe as being 3000 stades long, and
1000 broad, in form like a shield, and as formed by the confluence of
the Astasobas, Astapus, and Astaboras,[Eratosth. ap. Strab. p.786.
Strab. p.821. Diodor. Sic. l.l,c.33. Heliodor. AEthiop. l.10,c.5] is
perfectly applicable to the great peninsula watered on the east by the
Tacazze, and on the west by the Bahr el Abiad, after receiving the Bahr
el Azrek. The position of the city Meroe is shewn by Artemidorus,
Ptolemy, and Pliny,[Artemid. ap. Strab. p.771. Ptolem. l.4,c.8. Plin.
Hist. Nat. l.6,c.29.] to have been, like the ruins near Shendy, near the
northern angle of the island, or the confluence of the rivers. The
island between Djebail and Shendy which Bruce calls Kurgos, answers to
that which Pliny describes as the port of Meroe; and finally, the
distance of "15 days to a good walker," which Artemidorus [Artemid.
ibid.] places between Meroe and the sea, giving a rate of about 16
English miles a-day, in direct distance, is a correct statement of the
actual distance between the ruins near Shendy and Souakin. [It is fair
to remark, that there are two authorities which tend to place the city
of Meroe 30 or 40 miles to the southward of the ruins near Shendy.
Eratosthenes states it to have been at 700 stades, and Pliny at 70 miles
above the confluence. But it is rare indeed to find a coincidence of
many ancient authorities in a question where numbers are concerned,
unless one author has borrowed from another, which is probably the case
in regard to the two just quoted.]
[p.xxi]It will hardly be contested, that the modern name of Merawe,
which is found attached to a town near the ruins of an ancient city,
discovered by Messrs. Waddington and Hanbury in the country of the
Sheygya, is sufficient to overthrow the strong evidence just stated. It
may rather be inferred, that the Greek Meroe was formed from a word
signifying "city" in the ancient AEthiopic language, which has continued
up to the present time, to be attached to the site of one of the chief
cities on the banks of the Nile,--thus resembling in its origin many
names of places in various countries, which from simple nouns expressive
in the original language of objects or their qualities, such as city,
mountain, river, sacred, white, blue, black, have been converted by
foreigners into proper names.
The ruins near Merawe seem to those of Napata, the chief town of the
country intermediate between Meroe and Egypt, and which was taken by the
praefect Petronius, in the reign of Augustus, when it was the capital of
Queen Candace;[Ptolem. l.4,c.7. Strabo, p.820. Plin. Hist.
Nat.l.6,c.29.] for Pliny, on the authority of the persons sent by Nero
to EXPLORE the river above Syene, states 524 Roman miles to have been
the interval between Syene and Napata, and 360 miles to have been that
between Napata and Meroe, which distances correspond more nearly than
could have been expected with the real distances between Assouan,
Merawe, and Shendy, taken along the general curve of the river, without
considering the windings in detail.[We must not, however, too
confidently pronounce on REAL distances until we possess a few more
positions fixed by astronomical observations.]
The island of Argo, from its extent, its important ruins, its fertility,
as well as from the similarity of name, seems to be the Gora, of
Juba,[Ap. Plin. ibid.] or the Gagaudes, which the explorers of Nero
reported to be situated at 133 miles below Napata.
[p.xxii]In placing Napata at the ruins near Mérawe, it is necessary to
abandon the evidence of Ptolemy, whose latitude of Napata is widely
different from that of Merawe; and as we also find, that he is
considerably in error, in regard to the only point between Syene and
Meroe, hitherto ascertained, namely, the Great Cataract, which he places
37 minutes to the north of Wady Halfa, still less can we rely upon his
authority for the position of the obscurer towns.
Although the extreme northern point to which the Nile descends below
Berber, before it turns to the south, is not yet accurately determined
in latitude, nor the degree of southern latitude which the river reaches
before it finally takes the northern course, which it continues to the
Mediterranean, we cannot doubt that Eratosthenes had received a
tolerably correct account of its general course from the Egyptians,
notwithstanding his incorrectness in regard to the proportionate length
of the great turnings of the river.
"The Nile," he says "after having flowed to the north from Meroe for the
space of 2700 stades, turns to the south and southwest for 3700 stades,
entering very far into Lybia, until it arrives in the latitude of Meroe;
then making a new turn, it flows to the north for the space of 5300
stades, to the great Cataract, whence inclining a little eastward, it
traverses 1200 stades to the small Cataract of Syene, and then 5300
stades to the sea.[Ap. Strab. p.786. The only mode of reconciling these
numbers to the truth, is to suppose the three first of them to have been
taken with all the windings of the stream, the two last in a direct
line, and even then they cannot be very accurate.] The Nile receives two
rivers, which descending from certain lakes surround the great island of
Meroe. That which flows on the eastern side is called Astaboras, the
other is the Astapus, though some say it is the Astasobas," &c.
This ambiguity, it is hardly necessary to observe, was caused by the
greater magnitude of the Astasobas, or Bahr el Abiad, or White [p.xxiii]
River, which caused it to give name to the united stream after its
junction with the Astapus, or Bahr el Azrek, or Blue River; and hence
Pliny,[Plin. Hist. Nat. l.5,c.9.] in speaking of Meroe, does not say
that it was formed by the Astapus, but by the Astasobas. In fact, the
Astapus forms the boundary of the island, as it was called, on the S.W.
the Astasobas, or united stream, on the N.W.
WILLIAM MARTIN LEAKE, Acting Secretary of the African Association.