[p.v] PREFACE OF THE EDITOR.
SOME years have now elapsed since two distinct portions of Burckhardts
works (his Travels in Nubia and Syria) were offered to the public, and
most favourably received; their success being insured not only by
instrinsic merit, but by the celebrity of their editor as a scholar and
antiquary, a traveller and a geographer. It must not however be
inferred, from any delay in publishing the present volume, that its
contents are less worthy of notice than those parts which have already
proved so interesting and instructive to a multitude of readers. It was
always intended that this Journal, and other writings of the same
lamented author, should issue successively from the press: There still
remain, says Colonel Leake, in his Preface to the Syrian Journal (p.
ii.) 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 Muselmans, the part least accessible to Christians; the
fourth volume will contain very copious remarks on the Arabs of the
Desert, and particularly the Wahabys.
[p.vi] Respecting the portion now before the reader, Colonel Leake, in
another place, expresses a highly flattering opinion. Burckhardt, says
he, transmitted to the Association the most accurate and complete
account of the Hedjaz, including the cities of Mekka and Medina, which
has ever been received in Europe. His knowledge of the Arabic language,
and of Mohammedan manners, had enabled him to assume the Muselman
character with such success, that he resided at Mekka during the whole
time of the pilgrimage, and passed through the various ceremonies of the
occasion, without the smallest suspicion having arisen as to his real
character. (See the Life of Burckhardt prefixed to his Travels in
Nubia, p. lvii. 4to. edition, 1819).
Recommended so strongly, the work of a less eminent traveller would be
entitled to our notice: this presents itself with another claim; for the
manuscript Journal was partly corrected and prepared for publication by
the learned editor of Burckhardts former writings. But some important
literary occupations prevented Colonel Leake from superintending the
progress of this volume through the press. His plan, however, has been
almost invariably adopted by the actual editor; particularly in
expressing with scrupulous fidelity the authors sentiments on all
occasions, and in retaining, without any regard to mere elegance of
style or selection of terms, his original language, wherever an
alteration was not absolutely necessary to reconcile with our system of
phraseology and grammatical construction certain foreign idioms which
had crept into his English writings. [It was thought expedient, from
circumstances of typographical convenience tending to facilitate and
expedite the publication of this volume, that the Arabic characters
which in the original manuscript follow immediately certain words, or
appear between the lines or in the margin, should here be placed
together at the end, as an Index, with references to the pages wherein
they occur.]
[p.vii] The map prefixed to this volume might almost appear superfluous,
since the positions of Djidda, Mekka, Medina, Tayf, and Yembo, the chief
places of Hedjaz visited by Burckhardt, are indicated with accuracy in
the excellent maps that illustrate his Nubian and Syrian Travels. But as
the reader of this volume cannot reasonably be supposed to have
constantly at hand, for immediate reference, the two former portions of
our authors works, a map is here given, in the construction and
delineation of which Mr. Sydney Hall has attended to every suggestion
offered by the editor: at whose recommendation the names of places are
spelt after Burckhardts manner, however different from that more usual
among us. [Thus in the map as in the letter-press of this volume, Mekka
might have been spelt Mecca; and Hejaz, Jidda, Nejed, would as well
express the proper sounds of those words as Hedjaz, Djidda, Nedjed; and
at the same time approximate more closely to the original Arabic
orthography, by which our English j (as in Jar, James, &c.) is
represented without the assistance of a d; although the prefixing of
this letter to the j might prevent a Frenchman from pronouncing it as in
jour, jamais, &c.]
By the editors advice, also, several places situate beyond the Eastern
limits of Hedjaz are included in this map; since Burckhardt, although he
did not visit them himself, has given some original itineraries, in
which they are mentioned.
That those places do not belong to the region properly denominated
Hedjaz, is evident; but how far this region extends eastward cannot
easily be determined; and the same difficulty respecting it occurs in
various directions. The editor, that he might ascertain by what
boundaries we are justified in supposing Hedjaz to be separated from
other provinces of Arabia, consulted a multiplicity of authors, both
European and Oriental. The result, however, of his inquiry has not
proved satisfactory; for to each of the neighbouring countries.
[p.viii] certain writers have assigned towns, stations, and districts,
which by others of equal authority are placed in Hedjaz.
Such confusion may partly have arisen from the different statements of
the number, extent, and names of divisions comprised within the same
space; this being occupied, according to European writers, by three
great regions, the Stony, the Desert, and the Happy Arabia; while
Oriental geographers partition it into two, five, six, seven, or more
provinces, under denominations by no means corresponding in
signification to the epithets above mentioned, which we have borrowed
from the Greeks and Romans.
That it would be a most difficult, or scarcely possible task, to fix
precisely the limits of each Arabian province, is acknowledged by that
excellent geographer, DAnville; but he seems disposed to confound the
region comprising Mekka, Djidda, and Yembo, (places which, as we know,
are unequivocally in Hedjaz,) with Arabia Felix. [DAnville, Géographie
Ancienne.] DHerbelôt, in one place, declares Hedjaz to be Arabia
Petraea, [See the Bibliothèque Orientale in Hegiaz ou Higiaz--Nom
dune province de lArabie, que nous appelons Pierreuse, &c.--
Richardson also, in his Arabic and Persian Dictionary, explains Hijaz by
Mecca and the adjacent country, Arabia Petraea; and Demetrias
Alexandrides, who translated some portions of Abulfedas Geography into
Greek, (printed at Vienna, 1807, 8vo.) always renders Hedjaz by [Greek
text] and in another he identifies it with Arabia Deserta. [Les
Provinces de Tahama et dIemamah sont comme au coeur du pays; celle de
Hegiaz est devenue la plus célebre à cause des villes de la Mecque et de
Medine, et fait avec les deux dernières que nous avons nommées ce que
nous appelons lArabie Déserte.--Biblioth. Orient. in Arab.]]
Among the Eastern writers, some divide Arabia into two parts, Yemen and
Hedjaz; others into five great provinces, Yemen, Hedjaz, Nedjed, Tehama,
and Yemama. Bahrein has also been included;
[p.ix] and Aroudh is named as an Arabian province, but appears to be the
same as Yemama. Hadramaut, Mahrah, Shejr, Oman, and other subdivisions
have likewise been reckoned independent provinces by some, while many
confound them with the greater regions, Yemen and Hedjaz. To the latter,
indeed, are often assigned even the extensive countries of Nedjed,
Tehama, and Yemama.
Respecting the boundaries of all these provinces, much embarrassment has
arisen from contradictory statements made by several of the most eminent
Oriental geographers; Edrisi, Abulfeda, Al Madaieni, Ibn Haukal, Ibn el
Vardi, Bakoui, and others. Mr. Rommel, a very ingenious commentator on
Abulfedas Arabia, is frequently obliged to acknowledge the difficulty
of ascertaining where one division begins and another terminates. With
regard, more particularly, to the boundaries of Hedjaz, Abulfeda is
silent; but it appears that his opinion, so far as Mr. Rommel could
collect from incidental accounts of places assigned to this province and
adjoining territories, did not in all respects coincide with the
statements of other celebrated geographers. [See Christophori Rommel
Abulfedea Arabiae Descriptio, commentario perpetuo illustrata,
Gottingae, 1802, 4to. Ambitum et fines hujus provinciae Abulfeda
designare supersedet.--Al Madaieni haec profert: Hhegiaz est provincia
complectens illum tractum montium qui inde ab Yaman expansus usque ad
Sham (Syriam) protenditur. In eo tractu sitae sunt Madinah et Amman--
Cum hoc dissidere Abulfedam non dubium est.--Ibn al Arabi: Quod est
inter Tehamah et Nagd illud est Hhegiaz.--Fusius Ibn Haukal: Quod
protenditur a limite Serrain urbis sitae ad mare Kolzum adusque viciniam
Madian, et inde reflectendo per limitem tendentem in ortum urbis Hhegr,
ad montem Tai trunseundo juxta tergum Yamamah ad mare Persicum, hoc
totum ad Hhegiaz pertinet. Et alio loco: Hhegiaz ea est provincia,
quae Maccah et Madinah et Yamamah cum earundem territoriis
comprehendit.--Ibn al Vardi Hhegiaz appellat provinciam secus Sinum
Arabicum et a regione Habyssiniae sitam--Bakui eam inter Yaman et
Syriam posuisse satis habet, simul longitudinem ejus mensis itinere
emetiens.--(pp. 57-68.)]
[p.x] It may perhaps be asked, why our inquisitive traveller did not
learn from some intelligent native the precise extent and limits of
Hedjaz? To this question the following passage (written by Burckhardt,
near the end of his journal, and probably intended for the Appendix,)
may serve as a reply, and show that even the present inhabitants do not
agree in their application of the name Hedjaz. This, says he, is not
used by the Arabian Bedouins in the usual acceptation of the word. They
call Hedjaz exclusively the mountainous country, comprehending many
fertile valleys south of Tayf, and as far as the dwelling-places of the
Asyr Arabs, where the coffee-tree begins to be cultivated abundantly.
This is the general application of the term among all the Bedouins of
those countries; and the towns-people of Mekka and Djidda also use it
in that sense among themselves. But when they converse with foreigners,
whose notions they politely adopt, the name Hedjaz is bestowed on the
country between Tayf, Mekka, Medina, Yembo, and Djidda. The Bedouins
give the name of El Ghor, or the low-land, to the whole province
westward of the mountains from Mekka up to Beder and Yembo; while those
mountains themselves northward of Tayf are called by them Hedjaz-es-
Shám, or the Northern Hedjaz. [This would confirm the derivation of
Hedjaz (mentioned by Golius) from ahhtedjezet, quod (provincia Hhegiaz)
colligata et constricta montibus sit: but others derive it from the
Arabic word yehedjez, because Hedjaz divides Nedjed from Tehama, or
because it connects Yemen with Syria, between which it is situate. As
even the shortest note written by Burckhardt must be considered
valuable, a few lines, that immediately follow the passage above quoted
from his Journal, are here given: I compute the population of the
province usually called Hedjaz, comprising the whole territory of the
Sherif of Mekka, together with that of Medina and the towns situated
therein, and all the Bedouin tribes, at about two hundred and fifty
thousand souls; a number which, I am certain, is rather over than under
rated; the greater part being the Bedouin inhabitants of the mountains,
and principally the strong tribes of Beni Harb.]
[p.xi] On reference to pages 396 and 397, a remark will be found
concerning the different application of this name (Hedjaz) among those
who inhabit the sea-coast and those Bedouins who occupy the interior
country; and it will even appear that doubts have been entertained
whether the sacred city Medina does not belong rather to Nedjed than to
Hedjaz.
From statements so vague as those above quoted, an attempt to trace
exactly the limits of any country must be vain and fallacious: that
region, therefore, which borders on the Red Sea, and which the natives,
we know, entitle unequivocally Hedjaz, is marked in our map, as in
almost every other published hitherto, merely with that name, its first
letter being placed where the editor supposes Arabia Petraea to
terminate, and its last letter where he would separate Hedjaz from
Tehama. [Burckhardt (Syrian Travels p. 511.) quotes Makrizi, the Egyptian
historian, who says, in his chapter on Aila, (Akaba): It is from hence
that the Hedjaz begins: in former times it was the frontier place of the
Greeks, &c.]
To those who seek the most accurate information respecting places but
little known, this work is sufficiently recommended by the name of its
author, and of the country which it describes. The manners of the
Hejazi Arabs have continued, says Sir William Jones, from the time of
Solomon to the present age. [Discourse on the Arabs, Asiat. Researches,
vol. ii.] Our notions of Mecca must be drawn, says Gibbon, from the
Arabians. As no unbeliever is permitted to enter the city, our
travellers are silent; and the short hints of Thevenot are taken from
the suspicious mouth of an African renegado. [Roman Empire, chap. 50.
note 18.]