Born 1784.--Died 1817.
Descended from an eminent family at Basle--Born at
Lausanne--Aversion to republican principles--Detestation
of the French--Enters as a student at Leipzig--Removes to
Göttingen--Arrives in London--African Association--His offers
are accepted--Studies Arabic--Allows his beard to grow--Assumes
the oriental dress--Accustoms himself to endure hardships--Sails
from Cowes--Arrives at Malta--Dr. Sectzen--Assumes the
character of an Indian Mohammedan merchant--Reaches the coast
of Syria--Departs for Aleppo--Laughable anecdote--Aga’s
dislike to beer and potatoes--Suspected of being a Frank in
disguise--Is pulled by the beard and otherwise insulted--Arrives
at Aleppo--Puts off his Mohammedan dress--Is seized with fever
from the bites of vermin--Attempts a translation of Robinson
Crusoe into Arabic--Sets out in company with an Arab sheïkh for
Palmyra--Robbed on the road--Damascus--Arab hospitality--Beautiful
scenery--Baalbec and Libanus--Cedars--The Druses--Haurān the
patrimony of Abraham--Vestiges of ancient cities--Places
himself under the protection of an Arab sheïkh--Enters the
desert--Is stripped to the skin, and left exposed to the rays
of the sun--Arab lady attempts to steal his shirt--Returns to
Damascus--Dead Sea--Joins a caravan--Philadelphia--Treachery of
the Sheïkh of Kerek--Valley of Ghor--Ruins of Petra--Arrives
at Cairo--Journey into Nubia--Mameluke chiefs--Deadly
feud--Hospitality of the Nubians--Romantic scenery--Curious mode
of extorting presents--Admirable custom of placing water-jars
by the road-side--Drunken savages--Palm wine--Contempt for
Mohammed Ali--Descends the Nile--Colossal statues--Anecdote
of an Arab--Assouan--Cheapness of provisions--March of a
caravan through the desert--Is treated with great contempt
by his companions--Bruce--Burckhardt’s insolent skepticism
respecting that eminent traveller--Extraordinary sufferings--Wady
el Nabeh--Scarcity of water--Nubian desert--Lakes of
mirage--Is near perishing from thirst--Camels despatched to
the Nile--Insolence and extortion--Extraordinary method of
discovering a stolen lamb--Arrives at Damar--Adventure with
a Faky--Numerous crocodiles--Romantic scenery--Tremendous
effects of a desert storm--Taka--Enormous lions--Effects of the
sultan’s firman on his persecutors--Returns to Jidda--Attacked
by fever--Delicious fruit--Sells his slave--Sets out for the
interior of the Hejah--Arrives at Mecca--Picturesque scenery--Ras
el Kora--Tayef--Observations on Burckhardt’s beard--Suspected
of being an English spy--Affects to be hurt by the pasha’s
suspicions--Animated description of the Hadj, or pilgrimage
to Mecca--Sets out for Medina--Is attacked by an intermittent
fever--Melancholy condition--Consoles himself by reading
Milton--Tomb of Mohammed--Sets out for Yembo--Plague--Pursues
his journey to Cairo--Composes his journal--Excursion to Mount
Sinai--Furnishes Belzoni with money for removing the head of
Memnon--Is attacked with dysentery--Dies at Cairo--Character 168