BOOK I.

TRAVELS

TO DISCOVER THE

SOURCE OF THE NILE,

In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773.

IN FIVE VOLUMES.

BY JAMES BRUCE OF KINNAIRD, ESQ. F. R. S.

[Illustration]

VOL. I.

_Opus aggredior opimum casibus, atrox prœliis, discors seditionibus,

Ipsâ etiam pace sœvum._ TACIT. Lib. iv. Ann.

EDINBURGH:

PRINTED BY J. RUTHVEN,

FOR G. G. J. AND J. ROBINSON, PATERNOSTER-ROW,

LONDON.

M.DCC.XC.

[Illustration]

TO THE

KING.

SIR,

The study and knowledge of the Globe, for very natural and obvious

reasons, seem, in all ages, to have been the principal and favourite

pursuit of great Princes; perhaps they were, at certain periods, the

very sources of that greatness.

But as Pride, Ambition, and an immoderate thirst of Conquest, were the

motives of these researches, no real advantage could possibly accrue to

mankind in general, from inquiries proceeding upon such deformed and

noxious principles.

In later times, which have been accounted more enlightened, still a

worse motive succeeded to that of ambition; Avarice led the way in

all expeditions, cruelty and oppression followed: to discover and

to destroy seemed to mean the same thing; and, what was still more

extraordinary, the innocent sufferer was stiled the Barbarian; while

the bloody, lawless invader, flattered himself with the name of

Christian.

With Your MAJESTY‘s reign, which, on many accounts, will for ever be

a glorious æra in the annals of Britain, began the emancipation of

discovery from the imputation of cruelty and crimes.

It was a golden age, which united humanity and science, exempted

men of liberal minds and education, employed in the noblest of all

occupations, that of exploring the distant parts of the Globe, from

being any longer degraded, and rated as little better than the

Buccaneer, or pirate, because they had, till then, in manners been

nearly similar.

It is well known, that an uncertainty had still remained concerning the

form, quantity, and consistence of the earth; and this, in spite of

all their abilities and improvement, met philosophers in many material

investigations and delicate calculations. Universal benevolence, a

distinguishing quality of Your MAJESTY, led You to take upon Yourself

the direction of the mode, and furnishing the means of removing these

doubts and difficulties for the common benefit of mankind, who were all

alike interested in them.

By Your MAJESTY‘s command, for these great purposes, Your fleets

penetrated into unknown seas, fraught with subjects, equal, if not

superior, in courage, science, and preparation, to any that ever before

had navigated the ocean.

But they possessed other advantages, in which, beyond all comparison,

they excelled former discoverers. In place of hearts confused with

fantastic notions of honour and emulation, which constantly led to

bloodshed, theirs were filled with the most beneficent principles, with

that noble persuasion, the foundation of all charity, not that all men

are equal, but that they are all brethren; and that being superior to

the savage in every acquirement, it was for that very reason their duty

to set the example of mildness, compassion, and long-suffering to a

fellow-creature, because the weakest, and, by no fault of his own, the

least instructed, and always perfectly in their power.

Thus, without the usual, and most unwarrantable excesses, the

overturning ancient, hereditary kingdoms, without bloodshed, or

trampling under foot the laws of society and hospitality, Your

MAJESTY‘s subjects, braver, more powerful and instructed than those

destroyers of old, but far more just, generous, and humane, erected in

the hearts of an unknown people, while making these discoveries, an

empire founded on peace and love of the subject, perfectly consistent

with those principles by which Your MAJESTY has always professed to

govern; more firm and durable than those established by bolts and

chains, and all those black devices of tyrants not even known by name,

in Your happy and united, powerful and flourishing kingdoms.

While these great objects were steadily conducting to the end which the

capacity of those employed, the justness of the measures on which they

were planned, and the constant care and support of the Public promised,

there still remained an expedition to be undertaken which had been long

called for, by philosophers of all nations, in vain.

Fleets and armies were useless; even the power of Britain, with the

utmost exertion, could afford no protection there, the place was so

unhappily cut off from the rest of mankind, that even Your MAJESTY‘s

name and virtues had never yet been known or heard of there.

The situation of the country was barely known, no more: placed

under the most inclement skies, in part surrounded by impenetrable

forests, where, from the beginning, the beasts had established a

sovereignty uninterrupted by man, in part by vast deserts of moving

sands, where nothing was to be found that had the breath of life,

these terrible barriers inclosed men more bloody and ferocious than

the beasts themselves, and more fatal to travellers than the sands

that encompassed them; and thus shut up, they had been long growing

every day more barbarous, and defied, by rendering it dangerous, the

curiosity of travellers of every nation.

Although the least considerable of your MAJESTY‘s subjects, yet not

the least desirous of proving my duty by promoting your MAJESTY‘s

declared plan of discovery as much as the weak endeavours of a single

person could, unprotected, forlorn, and alone, or at times associated

to beggars and banditti, as they offered, I undertook this desperate

journey, and did not turn an ell out of my proposed way till I had

completed it: It was the first discovery attempted in Your MAJESTY‘s

reign. From Egypt I penetrated into this country, through Arabia on one

side, passing through melancholy and dreary deserts, ventilated with

poisonous winds, and glowing with eternal sun-beams, whose names are as

unknown in geography as are those of the antediluvian world. In the six

years employed in this survey I described a circumference whose greater

axis comprehended twenty-two degrees of the meridian, in which dreadful

circle was contained all that is terrible to the feelings, prejudicial

to the health, or fatal to the life of man.

In laying the account of these Travels at Your MAJESTY‘s feet, I humbly

hope I have shewn to the world of what value the efforts of every

individual of Your MAJESTY‘s subjects may be; that numbers are not

always necessary to the performance of great and brilliant actions,

and that no difficulties or dangers are unsurmountable to a heart warm

with affection and duty to his Sovereign, jealous of the honour of

his master, and devoted to the glory of his country, now, under Your

MAJESTY‘s wise, merciful, and just reign, deservedly looked up to as

Queen, of Nations. I am,

SIR,

YOUR MAJESTY’s

Most faithful Subject,

And most dutiful Servant,

JAMES BRUCE.

INTRODUCTION.

However little the reader may be conversant with ancient histories,

in all probability he will know, or have heard this much in general,

that the attempt to reach the Source of the Nile, the principal

subject of this publication, from very early ages interested all

scientific nations: Nor was this great object _feebly_ prosecuted,

as men, the first for wisdom, for learning, and spirit (a most

necessary qualification in this undertaking) very earnestly interested

themselves about the discovery of the sources of this famous river,

till disappointment followed disappointment so fast, and consequences

produced other consequences so fatal, that the design was entirely

given over, as having, upon the fairest trials, appeared impracticable.

Even conquerors at the head of immense armies, who had first discovered

and then subdued great part of the world, were forced to lower their

tone here, and dared scarcely to extend their advances toward this

discovery, beyond the limits of bare wishes. At length, if it was

not forgot, it was however totally abandoned from the causes above

mentioned, and with it all further topographical inquiries in that

quarter.

Upon the revival of learning and of the arts, the curiosity of mankind

had returned with unabated vigour towards this object, but all

attempts had met with the same difficulties as before, till, in the

beginning of his Majesty’s reign, the unconquerable spirit raised in

this nation by a long and glorious war, did very naturally resolve

itself into a spirit of adventure and inquiry at the return of peace,

one of the first-fruits of which was the discovery of these coy

fountains[1], till now concealed from the world in general.

The great danger and difficulties of this journey were well known,

but it was likewise known that it had been completely performed

without disappointment or misfortune, that it had been attended with

an apparatus of books and instruments, which seldom accompanies the

travels of an individual; yet sixteen years had elapsed without any

account appearing, which seemed to mark an unusual self-denial, or an

absolute indifference towards the wishes of the public.

Men, according to their different genius and dispositions, attempted

by different ways to penetrate the cause of this silence. The candid,

the learned, that species of men, in fine, for whom only it is worth

while to travel or to write, supposing (perhaps with some degree of

truth) that an undeserved and unexpected neglect and want of patronage

had been at least part of the cause, adopted a manner, which, being

the most liberal, they thought likely to succeed: They endeavoured to

entice me by holding out a prospect of a more generous disposition in

the minds of future ministers, when I should shew the claim I had upon

them by having promoted the glory of the nation. Others, whom I mention

only for the sake of comparison, below all notice on any other ground,

attempted to succeed in this by anonymous letters and paragraphs in the

newspapers; and thereby absurdly endeavoured to oblige me to publish

an account of those travels, which they affected at the same time to

believe I had never performed.

But it is with very great pleasure and readiness I do now declare,

that no fantastical or deformed motive, no peevish disregard, much

less contempt of the judgment of the world, had any part in the delay

which has happened to this publication. I look upon their impatience

to see this work as an earnest of their approbation of it, and a

very great honour done to me; and if I had still any motive to defer

submitting these observations to their judgment, it could only be that

I might employ that interval in polishing and making them more worthy

of their perusal. The candid and instructed public, the impartial and

unprejudiced foreigner, are tribunals merit should naturally appeal to;

it is there it always has found sure protection against the influence

of cabals, and the virulent strokes of malice, envy, and ignorance.

It is with a view to give every possible information to my reader,

that in this introduction I lay before him the motives upon which

these travels were undertaken, the order and manner in which they were

executed, and some account of the work itself, as well of the matter as

the distribution of it.

Every one will remember that period, so glorious to Britain, the

latter end of the ministry of the late Earl of Chatham. I was then

returned from a tour through the greatest part of Europe, particularly

through the whole of Spain and Portugal, between whom there then was

an appearance of approaching war. I was about to retire to a small

patrimony I had received from my ancestors, in order to embrace a life

of study and reflection, nothing more active appearing then within my

power, when chance threw me unexpectedly into a very short and very

desultory conversation with Lord Chatham.

It was a few days after this that Mr Wood, then under-secretary of

state, my very zealous and sincere friend, informed me that Lord

Chatham intended to employ me upon a particular service; that,

however, I might go down for a few weeks to my own country to settle

my affairs, but by all means to be ready upon a call. Nothing could be

more flattering to me than such an offer; when so young, to be thought

worthy by Lord Chatham of any employment, was doubly a preferment. No

time was lost on my side; but, just after my receiving orders to return

to London, his Lordship had gone to Bath, and resigned his office.

This disappointment, which was the more sensible to me, that it was

the first I had met in public life, was promised to be made up to

me by Lord Egremont and Mr George Grenville. The former had been

long my friend, but unhappily he was then far gone in a lethargic

indisposition, which threatened, and did very soon put a period to his

existence. With Lord Egremont’s death my expectations vanished. Further

particulars are unnecessary, but I hope that at least, in part, they

remain in that breast where they naturally ought to be, and where I

shall ever think, not to be forgotten, is to be rewarded.

Seven or eight months were past in an expensive and fruitless

attendance in London, when Lord Halifax was pleased, not only to

propose, but to plan for me a journey of considerable importance,

and which was to take up several years. His Lordship said, that

nothing could be more ignoble, than that, at such a time of life,

at the height of my reading, health, and activity, I should, as it

were, turn peasant, and voluntarily bury myself in obscurity and

idleness; that though war was now drawing fast to an end, full as

honourable a competition remained among men of spirit, which should

acquit themselves best in the dangerous line of useful adventure and

discovery. “He observed, that the coast of Barbary, which might be said

to be just at our door, was as yet but partially explored by Dr Shaw,

who had only illustrated (very judiciously indeed) the geographical

labours of Sanson[2]; that neither Dr Shaw nor Sanson had been, or

had pretended to be, capable of giving the public any detail of the

large and magnificent remains of ruined architecture which they both

vouch to have seen in great quantities, and of exquisite elegance and

perfection, all over the country. Such had not been their study, yet

such was really the taste that was required in the present times. He

wished therefore that I should be the first, in the reign just now

beginning, to set an example of making large additions to the royal

collection, and he pledged himself to be my supporter and patron, and

to make good to me, upon this additional merit, the promises which had

been held forth to me by former ministers for other services.”

The discovery of the Source of the Nile was also a subject of these

conversations, but it was always mentioned to me with a kind of

diffidence, as if to be expected from a more experienced traveller.

Whether this was but another way of exciting me to the attempt I shall

not say; but my heart in that instant did me justice to suggest, that

this, too, was either to be atchieved by me, or to remain, as it had

done for these last two thousand years, a defiance to all travellers,

and an opprobrium to geography.

Fortune seemed to enter into this scheme. At the very instant, Mr

Aspinwall, very cruelly and ignominiously treated by the Dey of

Algiers, had resigned his consulship, and Mr Ford, a merchant, formerly

the Dey’s acquaintance, was named in his place. Mr Ford was appointed,

and dying a few days after, the consulship became vacant. Lord Halifax

pressed me to accept of this, as containing all sort of conveniencies

for making the proposed expedition.

This favourable event finally determined me. I had all my life

applied unweariedly, perhaps with more love than talent, to drawing,

the practice of mathematics, and especially that part necessary to

astronomy. The transit of Venus was at hand. It was certainly known

that it would be visible once at Algiers, and there was great reason to

expect it might be twice. I had furnished myself with a large apparatus

of instruments, the completest of their kind for the observation. In

the choice of these I had been assisted by my friend Admiral Campbell,

and Mr Russel secretary to the Turkey Company; every other necessary

had been provided in proportion. It was a pleasure now to know that

it was not from a rock or a wood, but from my own house at Algiers, I

could deliberately take measures to place myself in the list of men of

science of all nations, who were then preparing for the same scientific

purpose.

Thus prepared, I set out for Italy, through France; and though it

was in time of war, and some strong objections had been made to

particular passports solicited by our government from the French

secretary of state, Monsieur de Choiseul most obligingly waved all

such exceptions with regard to me, and most politely assured me, in a

letter accompanying my passport, that those difficulties did not in any

shape regard me, but that I was perfectly at liberty to pass through,

or remain in France, with those that accompanied me, without limiting

their number, as short or as long a time as should be agreeable to me.

On my arrival at Rome I received orders to proceed to Naples, there to

await his Majesty’s further commands. Sir Charles Saunders, then with

a fleet before Cadiz, had orders to visit Malta before he returned to

England. It was said, that the grand-master of that Order had behaved

so improperly to Mr Hervey (afterwards Lord Bristol) in the beginning

of the war, and so partially and unjustly between the two nations

during the course of it, that an explanation on our part was become

necessary. The grand-master no sooner heard of my arrival at Naples,

than guessing the errand, he sent off Cavalier Mazzini to London, where

he at once made his peace and his compliments to his Majesty upon his

accession to the throne.

Nothing remained now but to take possession of my consulship. I

returned without loss of time to Rome, and thence to Leghorn, where,

having embarked on board the Montreal man of war, I proceeded to

Algiers.

While at Naples, I received from slaves, redeemed from the province

of Constantina, accounts of magnificent ruins they had seen while

traversing that country in the camp with their master the Bey. I saw

the absolute necessity there was for assistance, without which it was

impossible for any one man, however diligent and qualified, to do any

thing but bewilder himself. All my endeavours, however, had hitherto

been unsuccessful to persuade any Italian to put himself wilfully into

the hands of a people constantly looked upon by them in no better light

than pirates.

While I was providing myself with instruments at London, I thought

of one, which, though in a very small form and imperfect state, had

been of great entertainment and use to me in former travels; this is

called a Camera Obscura, the idea of which I had first taken from the

Spectacle de la Nature of the Abbé Vertot. But the present one was

constructed upon my own principles; I intrusted the execution of the

glasses to Messrs Nairne and Blunt, Mathematical instrument-makers

opposite to the Exchange, whom I had usually employed upon such

occasions, and with whose capacity and fidelity I had, after frequent

trials, the greatest reason to be satisfied.

This, when finished, became a large and expensive instrument; but being

separated into two pieces, the top and bottom, and folding compactly

with hinges, was neither heavy, cumbersome, nor inconvenient, and the

charge incurred by the additions and alterations was considerably more

than compensated by the advantages which accrued from them. Its body

was an hexagon of six-feet diameter, with a conical top; in this, as in

a summer-house, the draughtsman sat unseen, and performed his drawing.

There is now, I see, one carried as a show about the streets, of nearly

the same dimensions, called a Delineator, made on the same principles,

and seems to be an exact imitation of mine.

By means of this instrument, a person of but a moderate skill in

drawing, but habituated to the effect of it, could do more work, and in

a better taste, whilst executing views of ruined architecture, in one

hour, than the readiest draughtsman, so unassisted, could do in seven;

for, with proper care, patience, and attention, not only the elevation,

and every part of it, is taken with the utmost truth and justest

proportion, but the light and shade, the actual breaches as they stand,

vignettes, or little ornamental shrubs, which generally hang from and

adorn the projections and edges of the several members, are finely

expressed, and beautiful lessons given, how to transport them with

effect to any part where they appear to be wanting.

Another greater and inestimable advantage is, that all landscapes, and

views of the country, which constitute the background of the picture,

are real, and in the reality shew, very strikingly indeed, in such a

country as Africa, abounding in picturesque scenes, how much nature

is superior to the creation of the warmest genius or imagination.

Momentary masses of clouds, especially the heavier ones, of stormy

skies, will be fixed by two or three unstudied strokes of a pencil; and

figures and dress, in the most agreeable attitudes and folds, leave

traces that a very ordinary hand might speedily make his own, or, what

is still better, enable him with these elements to use the assistance

of the best artist he can find in every line of painting, and, by the

help of these, give to each the utmost possible perfection; a practice

which I have constantly preferred and followed with success.

It is true, this instrument has a fundamental defect in the laws of

optics; but this is obvious, and known unavoidably to exist; and he

must be a very ordinary genius indeed, and very lame, both in theory

and practice, that cannot apply the necessary correction, with little

trouble, and in a very short time.

I was so well pleased with the first trial of this instrument at

Julia Cæsarea, now Shershell, about 60 miles from Algiers, that I

commissioned a smaller one from Italy, which, though negligently and

ignorantly made, did me this good service, that it enabled me to

save my larger and more perfect one, in my unfortunate shipwreck at

Bengazi[3], the ancient Berenice, on the shore of Cyrenaicum; and this

was of infinite service to me in my journey to Palmyra.

Thus far a great part of my wants were well supplied, at least such as

could be foreseen, but I still laboured under many. Besides that single

province of ruined architecture, there remained several others of equal

importance to the public. The natural history of the country, the

manners and languages of the inhabitants, the history of the heavens,

by a constant observation of, and attention to which, a useful and

intelligible map of the country could be obtained, were objects of the

utmost consequence.

Packing and repacking, mounting and rectifying these instruments alone,

besides the attention and time necessary in using them, required

what would have occupied one man, if they had been continual, which

they luckily were not, and he sufficiently instructed. I therefore

endeavoured to procure such a number of assistants, that should each

bear his share in these several departments; not one only, but three

or four if possible. I was now engaged, and part of my pride was to

shew, how easy a thing it was to disappoint the idle prophecies of the

ignorant, that this expedition would be spent in pleasure, without

any profit to the public. I wrote to several correspondents, Mr

Lumisden, Mr Strange, Mr Byers, and others in different parts of Italy,

acquainting them of my situation, and begging their assistance. These

gentlemen kindly used their utmost endeavours, but in vain.

It is true, Mr Chalgrin, a young French student in architecture,

accepted the proposal, and sent a neat specimen of rectilineal

architecture. Even this gentleman might have been of some use, but his

heart failed him; he would have wished the credit of the undertaking,

without the fatigues of the journey. At last Mr Lumisden, by accident,

heard of a young man who was then studying architecture at Rome, a

native of Bologna, whose name was Luigi Balugani. I can appeal to Mr

Lumisden, now in England, as to the extent of this person’s practice

and knowledge, and that he knew very little when first sent to me.

In the twenty months which he staid with me at Algiers, by assiduous

application to proper subjects under my instruction, he became a very

considerable help to me, and was the only one that ever I made use of,

or that attended me for a moment, or ever touched one representation

of architecture in any part of my journey. He contracted an incurable

distemper in Palestine, and died after a long sickness, soon after I

entered Ethiopia, after having suffered constant ill-health from the

time he left Sidon.

While travelling in Spain, it was a thought which frequently suggested

itself to me, how little informed the world yet was in the history of

that kingdom and monarchy. The Moorish part in particular, when it was

most celebrated for riches and for science, was scarcely known but from

some romances or novels. It seemed an undertaking worthy of a man of

letters to rescue this period from the oblivion or neglect under which

it laboured. Materials were not wanting for this, as a considerable

number of books remained in a neglected and almost unknown language,

the Arabic. I endeavoured to find access to some of those Arabian

manuscripts, an immense collection of which were every day perishing in

the dust of the escurial, and was indulged with several conversations

of Mr Wall, then minister, every one of which convinced me, that the

objections to what I wished were founded so strongly in prejudice, that

it was not even in his power to remove them.

All my success in Europe terminated in the acquisition of those few

printed Arabic books that I had found in Holland, and these were

rather biographers than general historians, and contained little in

point of general information. The study of these, however, and of

Maracci’s Koran, had made me a very tolerable Arab; a great field was

opening before me in Africa to complete a collection of manuscripts, an

opportunity which I did not neglect.

After a year spent at Algiers, constant conversation with the natives

whilst abroad, and with my manuscripts within doors, had qualified

me to appear in any part of the continent without the help of an

interpreter. Ludolf[4] had assured his readers, that the knowledge of

any oriental language would soon enable them to acquire the Ethiopic,

and I needed only the same number of books to have made my knowledge

of that language go hand in hand with my attainments in the Arabic. My

immediate prospect of setting out on my journey to the inland parts

of Africa, had made me double my diligence; night and day there was

no relaxation from these studies, although the acquiring any single

language had never been with me either an object of time or difficulty.

At this instant, instead of obtaining the liberty I had solicited to

depart, orders arrived from the king to expect his further commands at

Algiers, and not to think of stirring from thence, till a dispute about

passports was settled, in which I certainly had no concern, further

than as it regarded me as his Majesty’s actual servant, for it had

originated entirely from the neglect of the former consul’s letters

directed to the secretary of state at home, before my coming to Algiers.

The island of Minorca had been taken by the French; and when the fort

of St Philip surrendered by an article common to all capitulations,

it was stipulated, that all papers found in the fort were to be

delivered to the captors. It happened that among these was a number

of blank Mediterranean passes, which fell therefore into the hands of

the French, and the blanks were filled up by the French governor and

secretary, who very naturally wished to embroil us with the Barbary

states, it being then the time of war with France. They were sold to

Spaniards, Neapolitans, and other enemies of the Barbary regencies.

The check[5] (the only proof that these pirates have of the vessels

being a friend) agreed perfectly with the passport filled up by the

French governor, but the captor seeing that the crew of these vessels

were dark-coloured, wore mustachoes, and spoke no English, carried the

vessel to Algiers, where the British consul detected the fraud, and

was under the disagreeable necessity of surrendering so many Christians

into slavery in the hands of their enemies.

One or two successful discoveries of this kind made the hungry pirates

believe that the passport of every vessel they met with, even those

of Gibraltar, were false in themselves, and issued to protect their

enemies. Violent commotions were excited amongst the soldiery, abetted

under hand by several of the neutral consuls there. By every occasion

I had wrote home, but in vain, and the Dey could never be persuaded

of this, as no answer arrived. Government was occupied with winding

up matters at the end of a war, and this neglect of my letters often

brought me into great danger. At last a temporary remedy was found,

whether it originated from home, or whether it was invented by the

governor of Mahon and Gibraltar, was never communicated to me, but

a surer and more effectual way of having all the nation at Algiers

massacred could certainly not have been hit upon.

Square pieces of common paper, about the size of a quarter-sheet, were

sealed with the arms of the governor of Mahon, sometimes with red,

sometimes with black wax, as the family circumstances of that officer

required. These were signed by his signature, countersigned by that

of his secretary, and contained nothing more than a bare and simple

declaration, that the vessel, the bearer of it, was British property.

These papers were called _Passavants_. The cruiser, uninstructed in

this when he boarded a vessel, asked for his Mediterranean pass. The

mailer answered, He had none, he had only a passavant, and shewed the

paper, which having no check, the cruiser brought him and his vessel

as a good prize into Algiers. Upon my claiming them, as was my duty,

I was immediately called before the Dey and divan, and had it not

been from personal regard the Turks always shewed me, I should not

have escaped the insults of the soldiery in my way to the palace. The

Dey asked me, upon my word as a Christian and an Englishman, whether

these written passes were according to treaty, or whether the word

_passavant_ was to be found in any of our treaties with the Moorish

regencies? All equivocation was useless. I answered, That these passes

were not according to treaty; that the word _passavant_ was not in

any treaty I knew of with any of the Barbary states; that it was a

measure necessity had created, by Minorca’s falling into the hands of

the French, which had never before been the case, but that the remedy

would be found as soon as the greater business of settling the general

peace gave the British ministry time to breathe. Upon this the Dey,

holding several _passavants_ in his hand, answered, with great emotion,

in these memorable terms, “The British government know that we can

neither read nor write, no not even our own language; we are ignorant

soldiers and sailors, robbers if you will, though we do not wish to rob

you; but war is our trade, and we live by that only. Tell me how my

cruisers are to know that all these different writings and seals are

Governor Mostyn’s, or Governor Johnston’s, and not the Duke of Medina

Sidonia’s, or Barcelot’s, captain of the king of Spain’s cruisers?” It

was impossible to answer a question so simple and so direct. I touched

then the instant of being cut to pieces by the soldiery, or of having

the whole British Mediterranean trade carried into the Barbary ports.

The candid and open manner in which I had spoken, the regard and esteem

the Dey always had shewed me, and some other common methods with the

members of the regency, staved off the dangerous moment, and were the

means of procuring time. Admiralty passes at last came out, and the

matter was happily adjusted; but it was an affair the least pleasing

and the least profitable, and one of the most dangerous in which I was

ever engaged.

All this disagreeable interval I had given to study, and making myself

familiar with every thing that could be necessary to me in my intended

journey. The king’s surgeon at Algiers, Mr Ball, a man of considerable

merit in his profession, and who lived in my family, had obtained leave

to return home. Before I was deprived of this assistance, I had made

a point of drawing from it all the advantages possible for my future

travels. Mr Ball did not grudge his time or pains in the instruction he

gave me. I had made myself master of the art of bleeding, which I found

consisted only in a little attention, and in overcoming that diffidence

which the ignorance how the parts lie occasions. Mr Ball had shewn me

the manner of applying several sorts of bandages, and gave me an idea

of dressing some kinds of sores and wounds. Frequent and very useful

lessons, which I also received from my friend Doctor Russel at Aleppo,

contributed greatly to improve me afterwards in the knowledge of physic

and surgery. I had a small chest of the most efficacious medicines, a

dispensary to teach me to compound others that were needful, and some

short treatises upon the acute diseases of several countries within

the tropics. Thus instructed, I flatter myself, no offence I hope, I

did not occasion a greater mortality among the Mahometans and Pagans

abroad, than may be attributed to some of my brother physicians among

their fellow Christians at home.

The rev. Mr Tonyn, the king’s chaplain at Algiers, was absent upon

leave before I arrived in that regency. The Protestant shipmasters who

came into the port, and had need of spiritual assistance, found here

a blank that was not easily filled up; I should therefore have been

obliged to take upon myself the disagreeable office of burying the

dead, and the more chearful, though more troublesome one, of marrying

and baptizing the living; matters that were entirely out of my way, but

to which the Roman Catholic clergy would contribute no assistance.

There was a Greek priest, a native of Cyprus, a very venerable man,

past seventy years of age, who had attached himself to me from my first

arrival in Algiers. This man was of a very social and chearful temper,

and had, besides, a more than ordinary knowledge of his own language.

I had taken him to my house as my chaplain, read Greek with him

daily, and spoke it at times when I could receive his correction and

instruction. It was not that I, at this time of day, needed to learn

Greek, I had long understood that language perfectly; what I wanted

was the pronunciation, and reading by accent, of which the generality

of English scholars are perfectly ignorant, and to which it is owing

that they apprehend the Greek spoken and written in the Archipelago is

materially different from that language which we read in books, and

which a few weeks conversation in the islands will teach them it is

not. I had in this, at that time, no other view than mere convenience

during my passage through the Archipelago, which I intended to visit,

without any design of continuing or studying there: But the reader will

afterwards see of what very material service this acquaintance was to

me, so very essential, indeed, that it contributed more to the success

of my views in Abyssinia than any other help that I obtained throughout

the whole of it. This man’s name was Padre Christophoro, or Father

Christopher. At my leaving Algiers, finding himself less conveniently

situated, he went to Egypt, to Cairo, where he was promoted to be

second in rank under Mark, patriarch of Alexandria, where I afterwards

found him.

Business of a private nature had at this time obliged me to

present myself at Mahon, a gentleman having promised to meet me

there; I therefore sailed from Algiers, having taken leave of the

Dey, who furnished me with every letter that I asked, with strong

and peremptory orders to all the officers of his own dominions,

pressing recommendatory ones to the Bey of Tunis and Tripoli, states

independent, indeed, of the Dey of Algiers, but over which the

circumstances of the times had given him a considerable influence.

The violent disputes about the passports had rather raised than lowered

me in his esteem. The letters were given with the best grace possible,

and the orders contained in them were executed most exactly in all

points during my whole stay in Barbary. Being disappointed in the

meeting I looked for at Mahon, I remained three days in Quarantine

Island, though General Townsend, then deputy-governor, by every

civility and attention in his power, strove to induce me to come on

shore, that he might have an opportunity of shewing me still more

attention and politeness.

My mind being now full of more agreeable ideas than what had for some

time past occupied it, I sailed in a small vessel from Port Mahon,

and, having a fair wind, in a short time made the coast of Africa, at

a cape, or headland, called Ras el Hamra[6], and landed at Bona, a

considerable town, the ancient Aphrodisium[7], built from the ruins of

Hippo Regius[8], from which it is only two miles distant. It stands

on a large plain, part of which seems to have been once overflowed by

the sea. Its trade consists now in the exportation of wheat, when, in

plentiful years, that trade is permitted by the government of Algiers.

I had a delightful voyage close down the coast, and passed the small

island Tabarca[9], lately a fortification of the Genoese, now in the

hands of the regency of Tunis, who took it by surprise, and made all

the inhabitants slaves. The island is famous for a coral fishery, and

along the coast are immense forests of large beautiful oaks, more than

sufficient to supply the necessities of all the maritime powers in the

Levant, if the quality of the wood be but equal to the size and beauty

of the tree.

From Tabarca I sailed and anchored at Biserta, the Hippozaritus[10] of

antiquity, and thence went to pay a visit to Utica, out of respect to

the memory of Cato, without having sanguine expectations of meeting any

thing remarkable there, and accordingly I found nothing memorable but

the name. It may be said nothing remains of Utica but a heap of rubbish

and of small stones; without the city the trenches and approaches of

the ancient besiegers are still very perfect.

After doubling Cape Carthage I anchored before the fortress of the

Goletta, a place now of no strength, notwithstanding the figure it

made at the time of the expedition of Charles V. Rowing along the

bay, between the Cape and this anchorage, I saw several buildings

and columns still standing under water, by which it appeared that

old Carthage had owed part of its destruction to the sea, and hence

likewise may be inferred the absurdity of any attempt to represent the

site of ancient Carthage upon paper. It has been, besides, at least ten

times destroyed, so that the stations, where its first citizens fell

fighting for their liberty, are covered deep in rubbish, far from being

trodden upon by those unworthy slaves who now are its masters.

Tunis[11] is twelve miles distant from this: It is a large and

flourishing city. The people are more civilized than in Algiers, and

the government milder, but the climate is very far from being so good.

Tunis is low, hot, and damp, and destitute of good water, with which

Algiers is supplied from a thousand springs.

I delivered my letters from the Bey, and obtained permission to visit

the country in whatever direction I should please. I took with me a

French renegado, of the name of Osman, recommended to me by Monsieur

Bartheleny de Saizieux, consul of France to that state; a gentleman

whose conversation and friendship furnish me still with some of the

most agreeable reflections that result from my travels. With Osman

I took ten spahi, or horse-soldiers, well armed with firelocks, and

pistols, excellent horsemen, and, as far as I could ever discern upon

the few occasions that presented, as eminent for cowardice, at least,

as they were for horsemanship. This was not the case with Osman, who

was very brave, but he needed a sharp look-out, that he did not often

embroil us where there was access to women or to wine.

One of the most agreeable favours I received was from a lady of the

Bey, who furnished me with a two-wheeled covered cart, exactly like

those of the bakers in England. In this I secured my quadrant and

telescope from the weather, and at times put likewise some of the

feeblest of my attendants. Besides these I had ten servants, two of

whom were Irish, who having deserted from the Spanish regiments in

Oran, and being British born, though slaves, as being Spanish soldiers,

were given to me at parting by the Dey of Algiers.

The coast along which I had sailed was part of Numidia and Africa

Proper, and there I met with no ruins. I resolved now to distribute my

inland journey through the kingdom of Algiers and Tunis. In order to

comprehend the whole, I first set out along the river Majerda, through

a country perfectly cultivated and inhabited by people under the

controul of government, this river was the ancient Bagrada[12].

After passing a triumphal arch of bad taste at Basil-bab, I came the

next day to Thugga[13], perhaps more properly called Tucca, and by the

inhabitants Dugga. The reader in this part should have Doctor Shaw’s

Work before him, my map of the journey not being yet published; and,

indeed, after Shaw’s, it is scarcely necessary to those who need only

an itinerary, as, besides his own observations, he had for basis those

of Sanson.

I found at Dugga a large scene of ruins, among which one building was

easily distinguishable. It was a large temple of the Corinthian order,

all of Parian marble, the columns fluted, the cornice highly ornamented

in the very best style of sculpture. In the tympanum is an eagle flying

to heaven, with a human figure upon his back, which, by the many

inscriptions that are still remaining, seems to be intended for that

of Trajan, and the apotheosis of that emperor to be the subject, the

temple having been erected by Adrian to that prince, his benefactor and

predecessor. I spent fifteen days upon the architecture of this temple

without feeling the smallest disgust, or forming a wish to finish it;

it is, with all its parts, still unpublished in my collection. These

beautiful and magnificent remains of ancient taste and greatness, so

easily reached in perfect safety, by a ride along the Bagrada, full as

pleasant and as safe as along the Thames between London and Oxford,

were at Tunis totally unknown. Doctor Shaw has given the situation of

the place, without saying one word about any thing curious it contains.

From Dugga I continued the upper road to Keff[14], formerly called

Sicca Venerea, or Venerea ad Siccam, through the pleasant plains

inhabited by the Welled Yagoube. I then proceeded to Hydra, the

Thunodrunum[15] of the ancients. This is a frontier place between the

two kingdoms of Algiers and Tunis, as Keff is also. It is inhabited by

a tribe of Arabs, whose chief is a marabout, or saint; they are called

Welled Sidi Boogannim, the “sons of the father of flocks.”

These Arabs are immensely rich, paying no tribute either to Tunis or

Algiers. The pretence for this exemption is a very singular one. By

the institution of their founder, they are obliged to live upon lions

flesh for their daily food, as far as they can procure it; with this

they strictly comply, and, in consideration of the utility of this

their vow, they are not taxed, like the other Arabs, with payments to

the state. The consequence of this life is, that they are excellent

and well-armed horsemen, exceedingly bold and undaunted hunters. It

is generally imagined, indeed, that these considerations, and that of

their situation on the frontier, have as much influence in procuring

them exemption from taxes, as the utility of their vow.

There is at Thunodrunum a triumphal arch, which Dr Shaw thinks is more

remarkable for its size than for its taste or execution; but the size

is not extraordinary; on the other hand, both taste and execution are

admirable. It is, with all its parts, in the King’s collection, and,

taking the whole together, is one of the most beautiful landscapes in

black and white now existing. The distance, as well as the fore-ground,

are both from nature, and exceedingly well calculated for such

representation.

Before Dr Shaw’s travels first acquired the celebrity they have

maintained ever since, there was a circumstance that very nearly ruined

their credit. He had ventured to say in conversation, that these

Welled Sidi Boogannim were eaters of lions, and this was considered

at Oxford, the university where he had studied, as a traveller’s

license on the part of the Doctor. They took it as a subversion of the

natural order of things, that a man should eat a lion, when it had

long passed as almost the peculiar province of the lion to eat man.

The Doctor flinched under the sagacity and severity of this criticism;

he could not deny that the Welled Sidi Boogannim did eat lions, as he

had repeatedly said; but he had not yet published his travels, and

therefore left it out of his narrative, and only hinted at it after in

his appendix.

With all submission to that learned university, I will not dispute

the lion’s title to eating men; but, since it is not founded upon

patent, no consideration will make me stifle the merit of Welled

Sidi Boogannim, who have turned the chace upon the enemy. It is an

historical fact; and I will not suffer the public to be misled by a

misrepresentation of it; on the contrary, I do aver, in the face of

these fantastic prejudices, that I have ate the flesh of lions, that

is, part of three lions, in the tents of Welled Sidi Boogannim. The

first was a he-lion, lean, tough, smelling violently of musk, and had

the taste which, I imagine, old horse-flesh would have. The second

was a lioness, which they said had that year been barren. She had a

considerable quantity of fat within her; and, had it not been for the

musky smell that the flesh had, though in a lesser degree than the

former, and for our foolish prejudices against it, the meat, when

broiled, would not have been very bad. The third was a lion’s whelp,

six or seven months old; it tasted, upon the whole, the worst of the

three. I confess I have no desire of being again served with such a

morsel; but the Arabs, a brutish and ignorant folk, will, I fear,

notwithstanding the disbelief of the university of Oxford, continue to

eat lions as long as they exist.

From Hydra I passed to the ancient Tipasa[16], another Roman colony,

going by the same name to this day. Here is a most extensive scene of

ruins. There is a large temple, and a four-faced triumphal arch of the

Corinthian order, in the very best taste; both of which are now in the

collection of the King.

I here crossed the river Myskianah, which falls into the Bagrada,

and continuing through one of the most beautiful and best-cultivated

countries in the world, I entered the eastern province of Algiers,

now called Constantina, anciently the Mauritania Cæsariensis,

whose capital, Constantina, is the ancient metropolis of Syphax.

It was called Cirta[17], and, after Julius Cæsar’s conquest, Cirta

Sittianorum, from Caius Sittius who first took it. It is situated

upon a high, gloomy, tremendous precipice. Part only of its aqueduct

remains: the water, which once was carried into the town, now spills

itself from the top of the cliff into a chasm, or narrow valley, above

four hundred feet below. The view of it is in the King’s collection;

a band of robbers, the figures which adorn it, is a composition from

imagination; all the rest is perfectly real.

The Bey was at this time in his camp, as he was making war with the

Hanneishah, the most powerful tribe of Arabs in that province. After

having refreshed myself in the Bey’s palace I set out to Seteef, the

Sitifi[18] of antiquity, the capital of Mauritania Sitifensis, at

some distance from which I joined the Bey’s army, consisting of about

12,000 men, with four pieces of cannon. After staying a few days with

the Bey, and obtaining his letters of recommendation, I proceeded to

Taggou-zainah, anciently Diana Veteranorum[19], as we learn by an

inscription on a triumphal arch of the Corinthian order which I found

there.

From Taggou-zainah I continued my journey nearly straight S. E.

and arrived at Medrashem, a superb pile of building, the sepulchre

of Syphax, and the other kings of Numidia, and where, as the Arabs

believe, were also deposited the treasures of those kings. A drawing

of this monument is still unpublished in my collection. Advancing still

to the S. E. through broken ground and some very barren valleys, which

produced nothing but game, I came to Jibbel Aurez, the Aurasius Mons of

the middle age. This is not one mountain, but an assemblage of many of

the most craggy steeps in Africa.

Here I met, to my great astonishment, a tribe, who, if I cannot say

they were fair like English, were of a shade lighter than that of the

inhabitants of any country to the southward of Britain. Their hair

also was red, and their eyes blue. They are a savage and independent

people; it required address to approach them with safety, which,

however, I accomplished, (the particulars would take too much room for

this place), was well received, and at perfect liberty to do whatever

I pleased. This tribe is called Neardie. Each of the tribe, in the

middle between their eyes, has a Greek cross marked with antimony. They

are Kabyles. Though living in tribes, they have among the mountains

huts, built with mud and straw, which they call Dashkras, whereas the

Arabs live in tents on the plains. I imagine these to be a remnant of

Vandals. Procopius[20] mentions a defeat of an army of this nation

here, after a desperate resistance, a remnant of which may be supposed

to have maintained themselves in these mountains. They with great

pleasure confessed their ancestors had been Christians, and seemed to

rejoice much more in that relation than in any connection with the

Moors, with whom they live in perpetual war: they pay no taxes to the

Bey, but live in constant defiance of him.

As this is the Mons Audus of Ptolemy, here too must be fixed his

Lambesa[21], or Lambesentium Colonia, which, by a hundred Latin

inscriptions remaining on the spot, it is attested to have been. It

is now called Tezzoute: the ruins of the city are very extensive.

There are seven of the gates still standing, and great pieces of the

walls solidly built with square masonry without lime. The buildings

remaining are of very different ages, from Adrian to Aurelian, nay even

to Maximin. One building only, supported by columns of the Corinthian

order, was in good taste; what its use was I know not. The drawing of

this is in the King’s collection. It was certainly designed for some

military purpose, by the size of the gates; I should suspect a stable

for elephants, or a repository for catapulta, or other large military

machines, though there are no traces left upon the walls indicating

either. Upon the key-stone of the arch of the principal gate there is a

basso-relievo of the standard of a legion, and upon it an inscription,

Legio tertia Augusta, which legion, we know from history, was quartered

here. Dr Shaw[22] says, that there is here a neat, round, Corinthian

temple, called Cubb el Arrousah, the Cupola or Dome of the Bride or

Spouse. Such a building does exist, but it is by no means of a good

taste, nor of the Corinthian order; but of a long disproportioned

Doric, of the time of Aurelian, and does not merit the attention of any

architect. Dr Shaw never was so far south as Jibbel Aurez, so could

only say this from report.

From Jibbel Aurez nothing occurred in the style of architecture that

was material. Hydra remained on the left hand. I came to Cassareen,

the ancient Colonia Scillitana[23], where I suffered something both

from hunger and from fear. The country was more rugged and broken than

any we had yet seen, and withal less fruitful and inhabited. The Moors

of these parts are a rebellious tribe, called Nememshah, who had fled

from their ordinary obligation of attending the Bey, and had declared

themselves on the part of the rebel-moors, the Henneishah.

My intentions now were to reach Feriana, the Thala[24] of the ancients,

where I expected considerable subjects for study; but in this I was

disappointed, and being on the frontier, and in dangerous times, when

several armies were in the field, I thought it better to steer my

course eastward, and avoid the theatre of war.

Journeying east, I came to Spaitla[25], and again got into the

kingdom of Tunis. Spaitla is a corruption of Suffetula[26], which was

probably its ancient name before it became a Roman colony; so called

from Suffetes, a magistrature in all the countries dependent upon

Carthage. Spaitla has many inscriptions, and very extensive and elegant

remains. There are three temples, two of them Corinthian, and one of

the Composite order; a great part of them is entire. A beautiful and

perfect capital of the Composite order, the only perfect one that now

exists, is designed, in all its parts, in a very large size; and, with

the detail of the rest of the ruin, is a precious monument of what that

order was, now in the collection of the King.

Doctor Shaw, struck with the magnificence of Spaitla, has attempted

something like the three temples, in a stile much like what one would

expect from an ordinary carpenter, or mason. I hope I have done them

more justice, and I recommend the study of the Composite capital, as

of the Corinthian capital at Dugga, to those who really wish to know

the taste with which these two orders were executed in the time of the

Antonines.

The Welled Omran, a lawless, plundering tribe, inquieted me much in the

eight days I staid at Spaitla. It was a fair match between coward and

coward. With my company, I was inclosed in a square in which the three

temples stood, where there yet remained a precinct of high walls. These

plunderers would have come in to me, but were afraid of my fire-arms;

and I would have run away from them, had I not been afraid of meeting

their horse in the plain. I was almost starved to death, when I was

relieved by the arrival of Welled Hassan, and a friendly tribe of

Dreeda, that came to my assistance, and brought me, at once, both

safety and provision.

From Spaitla I went to Gilma, or Oppidum Chilmanense. There is here

a large extent of rubbish and stones, but no distinct trace of any

building whatever.

From Gilma I passed to Muchtar, corruptly now so called. Its ancient

name is Tucca Terebinthina[27]. Dr Shaw[28] says its modern name is

Sbeeba, but no such name is known here. I might have passed more

directly from Spaitla southward, but a large chain of mountains, to

whose inhabitants I had no recommendation, made me prefer the safer and

plainer road by Gilma. At Tucca Terebinthina are two triumphal arches,

the largest of which I suppose equal in taste, execution, and mass, to

any thing now existing in the world. The lesser is more simple, but

very elegant. They are both, with all the particulars of their parts,

not yet engraved, but still in my collection.

From Muchtar, or Tucca Terebinthina, we came to Kisser[29], which Dr

Shaw conjectures to have been the Colonia Assuras of the ancients, by

this it should seem he had not been there; for there is an inscription

upon a triumphal arch of very good taste, now standing, and many others

to be met with up and down, which confirms beyond doubt his conjecture

to be a just one. There is, besides this, a small square temple, upon

which are carved several instruments of sacrifice, which are very

curious, but the execution of these is much inferior to the design.

It stands on the declivity of a hill, above a large fertile plain,

still called the Plain of Surse, which is probably a corruption of its

ancient name Assuras.

From Kisser I came to Musti, where there is a triumphal arch of very

good taste, but perfectly in ruins; the merit of its several parts

only could be collected from the fragments which lie strewed upon the

ground.

From Musti[30] I proceeded north-eastward to Tubersoke, thence again to

Dugga, and down the Bagrada to Tunis.

My third, or, which may be called my middle journey through Tunis, was

by Zowan, a high mountain, where is a large aqueduct which formerly

carried its water to Carthage. Thence I came to Jelloula, a village

lying below high mountains on the west; these are the Montes Vassaleti

of Ptolemy[31], as the town itself is the Oppidum Usalitanum of Pliny.

I fell here again into the ancient road at Gilma; and, not satisfied

with what I had seen of the beauties of Spaitla, I passed there five

days more, correcting and revising what I had already committed to

paper. Independent of the treasure I found in the elegance of its

buildings, the town itself is situated in the most beautiful spot in

Barbary, surrounded thick with juniper-trees, and watered by a pleasant

stream that sinks there under the earth, and appears no more.

Here I left my former road at Cassareen, and proceeding directly S. E.

came to Feriana, the road that I had abandoned before from prudential

motives, Feriana, as has been before observed, is the ancient

Thala, taken and destroyed by Metellus in his pursuit of Jugurtha.

I had formed, I know not from what reason, sanguine expectations of

elegant remains here, but in this I was disappointed; I found nothing

remarkable but the baths of very warm water[32] without the town; in

these there was a number of fish, above four inches in length, not

unlike gudgeons. Upon trying the heat by the thermometer, I remember to

have been much surprised that they could have existed, or even not been

boiled, by continuing long in the heat of this medium. As I marked the

degrees with a pencil while I was myself naked in the water, the leaf

was wetted accidentally, so that I missed the precise degree I meant to

have recorded, and do not pretend to supply it from memory. The bath is

at the head of the fountain, and the stream runs off to a considerable

distance. I think there were about five or six dozen of these fish in

the pool. I was told likewise, that they went down into the stream to a

certain distance in the day, and returned to the pool, or warmest and

deepest water, at night.

From Feriana I proceeded S. E. to Gafsa, the ancient Capsa[33], and

thence to Tozer, formerly Tisurus[34]. I then turned nearly N. E. and

entered a large lake of water called the Lake of Marks, because in the

passage of it there is a row of large trunks of palm-trees set up to

guide travellers in the road which crosses it. Doctor Shaw has settled

very distinctly the geography of this place, and those about it. It

is the Palus Tritonidis[35], as he justly observes; this was the most

barren and unpleasant part of my journey in Africa; barren not only

from the nature of its soil, but by its having no remains of antiquity

in the whole course of it.

From this I came to Gabs, or Tacape[36], after passing El Hammah, the

baths which were the Aquas Tacapitanas of antiquity, where the small

river Triton, by the moisture which it furnishes, most agreeably and

suddenly changes the desert scene, and covers the adjacent fields with

all kinds of flowers and verdure.

I was now arrived upon the lesser Syrtis, and continued along the

sea-coast northward to Inshilla, without having made any addition to

my observations. I turned again to the N. W. and came to El Gemme[37],

where there is a very large and spacious amphitheatre, perfect as to

the desolation of time, had not Mahomet Bey blown up four arches of it

from the foundation, that it might not serve as a fortress to the rebel

Arabs. The sections, elevations, and plans, with the whole detail of

its parts, are in the King’s collection.

I have still remaining, but not finished, the lower or subterraneous

plan of the building, an entrance to which I forced open in my journey

along the coast to Tripoli. This was made so as to be filled with water

by means of a sluice and aqueduct, which are still entire. The water

rose up in the arena, through a large square-hole faced with hewn-stone

in the middle, when there was occasion for water-games or naumachia.

Doctor Shaw[38] imagines this was intended to contain the pillar that

supported the velum, which covered the spectators from the influence of

the sun. It might have served for both purposes, but it seems to be too

large for the latter, though I confess the more I have considered the

size and construction of these amphitheatres, the less I have been able

to form an idea concerning this velum, or the manner in which it served

the people, how it was secured, and how it was removed. This was the

last ancient building I visited in the kingdom of Tunis, and I believe

I may confidently say, there is not, either in the territories of

Algiers or Tunis, a fragment of good taste of which I have not brought

a drawing to Britain.

I continued along the coast to Susa, through a fine country planted

with olive trees, and came again to Tunis, not only without

disagreeable accident, but without any interruption from sickness

or other cause. I then took leave of the Bey, and, with the

acknowledgments usual on such occasions, again set out from Tunis, on a

very serious journey indeed, over the desert to Tripoli, the first part

of which to Gabs was the same road by which I had so lately returned.

From Gabs I proceeded to the island of Gerba, the Meninx[39] Insula, or

Island of the Lotophagi.

Doctor Shaw says, the fruit he calls the Lotus is very frequent all

over that coast. I wish he had said what was this Lotus. To say it is

the fruit the most common on that coast is no description, for there is

there no sort of fruit whatever; no bush, no tree, nor verdure of any

kind, excepting the short grass that borders these countries before you

enter the moving sands of the desert. Doctor Shaw never was at Gerba,

and has taken this particular from some unfaithful story-teller. The

Wargumma and Noile, two great tribes of Arabs, are masters of these

deserts. Sidi Ismain, whose grandfather, the Bey of Tunis, had been

dethroned and strangled by the Algerines, and who was himself then

prisoner at Algiers, in great repute for valour, and in great intimacy

with me, did often use to say, that he accounted his having passed that

desert on horseback as the hardiest of all his undertakings.

About four days journey from Tripoli I met the Emir Hadje conducting

the caravan of pilgrims from Fez and Sus in Morocco, all across Africa

to Mecca, that is, from the Western Ocean, to the western banks of the

Red Sea in the kingdom of Sennaar. He was a middle-aged man, uncle to

the present emperor, of a very uncomely, stupid kind of countenance.

His caravan consisted of about 3000 men, and, as his people said, from

12,000 to 14,000 camels, part loaded with merchandise, part with skins

of water, flour, and other kinds of food, for the maintenance of the

hadjees; they were a scurvy, disorderly, unarmed pack, and when my

horsemen, tho’ but fifteen in number, came up with them in the grey of

the morning, they shewed great signs of trepidation, and were already

flying in confusion. When informed who they were, their fears ceased,

and, after the usual manner of cowards, they became extremely insolent.

At Tripoli I met the Hon. Mr Frazer of Lovat, his Majesty’s consul in

that station, from whom I received every sort of kindness, comfort, and

assistance, which I very much needed after so rude a journey, made with

such diligence that two of my horses died some days after.

I had hopes of finding something at Lebeda, formerly Leptis Magna[40],

three days journey from Tripoli, where are indeed a great number of

buildings, many of which are covered by the sands; but they are of a

bad taste, mostly ill-proportioned Dorics of the time of Aurelian.

Seven large columns of granite were shipped from this for France, in

the reign of Louis XIV. destined for one of the palaces he was then

building. The eighth was broken on the way, and lies now upon the

shore. Though I was disappointed at Lebeda, ample amends were made me

at Tripoli on my return.

From Tripoli I sent an English servant to Smyrna with my books,

drawings, and supernumerary instruments, retaining only extracts from

such authors as might be necessary for me in the Pentapolis, or other

parts of the Cyrenaicum. I then crossed the Gulf of Sidra, formerly

known by the name of the Syrtis Major, and arrived at Bengazi, the

ancient Berenice[41], built by Ptolemy Philadelphus.

The brother of the Bey of Tripoli commanded here, a young man, as weak

in understanding as he was in health. All the province was in extreme

confusion. Two tribes of Arabs, occupying the territory to the west of

the town, who in ordinary years, and in time of peace, were the sources

of its wealth and plenty, had, by the mismanagement of the Bey, entered

into deadly quarrel. The tribe that lived most to the westward, and

which was reputed the weakest, had beat the most numerous that was

nearest the town, called Welled Abid, and driven them within its walls.

The inhabitants of Bengazi had for a year before been labouring under

a severe famine, and by this accident about four thousand persons, of

all ages and sexes, were forced in upon them, when perfectly destitute

of every necessary. Ten or twelve people were found dead every night

in the streets, and life was said in many to be supported by food that

human nature shudders at the thoughts of. Impatient to fly from these

Thyestean feasts, I prevailed upon the Bey to send me out some distance

to the southward, among the Arabs where famine had been less felt.

I encompassed a great part of the Pentapolis, visited the ruins of

Arsinoe, and, though I was much more feebly recommended than usual, I

happily received neither insult nor injury. Finding nothing at Arsinoe

nor Barca, I continued my journey to Ras Sem, the petrified city,

concerning which so many monstrous lies were told by the Tripoline

ambassador, Cassem Aga, at the beginning of this century, and all

believed in England, though they carried falsehood upon the very face

of them[42]. It was not then the age of incredulity, we were fast

advancing to the celebrated epoch of the man in the pint-bottle, and

from that time to be as absurdly incredulous as we were then the

reverse, and with the same degree of reason.

Ras Sem is five long days journey south from Bengazi; it has no water,

except a spring very disagreeable to the taste, that appears to be

impregnated with alum, and this has given it the name it bears of Ras

Sem, or the Fountain of Poison, from its bitterness. The whole remains

here consist in the ruins of a tower or fortification, that seems to

be a work full as late as the time of the Vandals. How or what use

they made of this water I cannot possibly guess; they had no other

at the distance of two days journey. I was not fortunate enough to

discover the petrified men and horses, the women at the churn, the

little children, the cats, the dogs, and the mice, which his Barbarian

excellency assured Sir Hans Sloane existed there: Yet, in vindication

of his Excellency, I must say, that though he propagated, yet he did

not invent this falsehood; the Arabs who conducted me maintained the

same stories to be true, till I was within two hours of the place,

where I found them to be false. I saw indeed mice[43], as they are

called, of a very extraordinary kind, having nothing of petrifaction

about them, but agile and active, so to partake as much of the bird as

the beast.

Approaching now the sea-coast I came to Ptolometa, the ancient

Ptolemais[44], the work of Ptolemy Philadelphus, the walls and gates

of which city are still entire. There is a prodigious number of Greek

inscriptions, but there remain only a few columns of the portico, and

an Ionic temple, in the first manner of executing that order; and

therefore, slight as the remains are, they are treasures in the history

of architecture which are worthy to be preserved. These are in the

King’s collection, with all the parts that could be recovered.

Here I met a small Greek junk belonging to Lampedosa, a little island

near Crete, which had been unloading corn, and was now ready to sail.

At the same time the Arabs of Ptolometa told me, that the Welled Ali,

a powerful tribe that occupy the whole country between that place and

Alexandria, were at war among themselves, and had plundered the caravan

of Morocco, of which I have already spoken, and that the pilgrims

composing it had mostly perished, having been scattered in the desert

without water; that a great famine had been at Derna, the neighbouring

town, to which I intended to go; that a plague had followed, and the

town, which is divided into upper and lower, was engaged in a civil

war. This torrent of ill news was irresistible, and was of a kind I did

not propose to wrestle with; besides, there was nothing, as far as I

knew, that merited the risk. I resolved, therefore, to fly from this

inhospitable coast, and save to the public, at least, that knowledge

and entertainment I had acquired for them.

I embarked on board the Greek vessel, very ill accoutred, as we

afterwards found, and, though it had plenty of sail, it had not an

ounce of ballast. A number of people, men, women, and children,

flying from the calamities which attend famine, crowded in unknown

to me; but the passage was short, the vessel light, and the master,

as we supposed, well accustomed to these seas. The contrary of this,

however, was the truth, as we learned afterwards, when too late, for

he was an absolute landsman; proprietor indeed of the vessel, but this

had been his first voyage. We sailed at dawn of day in as favourable

and pleasant weather as ever I saw at sea. It was the beginning of

September, and a light and steady breeze, though not properly fair,

promised a short and agreeable voyage; but it was not long before it

turned fresh and cold; we then had a violent shower of hail, and the

clouds were gathering as if for thunder. I observed that we gained no

offing, and hoped, if the weather turned bad, to persuade the Captain

to put into Bengazi, for one inconvenience he presently discovered,

that they had not provision on board for one day.

However, the wind became contrary, and blew a violent storm, seeming

to menace both thunder and rain. The vessel being in her trim with

large latine sails, fell violently to leeward, and they scarce would

have weathered the Cape that makes the entrance into the harbour of

Bengazi, which is a very bad one, when all at once it struck upon

a sunken rock, and seemed to be set down upon it. The wind at that

instant seemed providentially to calm; but I no sooner observed the

ship had struck than I began to think of my own situation. We were

not far from shore, but there was an exceeding great swell at sea.

Two boats were still towed astern of them, and had not been hoisted

in. Roger M‘Cormack, my Irish servant, had been a sailor on board the

Monarch before he deserted to the Spanish service. He and the other,

who had likewise been a sailor, presently unlashed the largest boat,

and all three got down into her, followed by a multitude of people whom

we could not hinder, and there was, indeed, something that bordered

on cruelty, in preventing poor people from using the same means that

we had done for preserving their lives; yet, unless we had killed

them, the prevention was impossible, and, had we been inclined to that

measure, we dared not, as we were upon a Moorish coast. The most that

could be done was, to get loose from the ship as soon as possible, and

two oars were prepared to row the boat ashore. I had stript myself to

a short under-waistcoat and linen drawers; a silk sash, or girdle, was

wrapt round me; a pencil, small pocket-book, and watch, were in the

breast-pocket of my waistcoat; two Moorish and two English servants

followed me; the rest, more wise, remained on board.

We were not twice the length of the boat from the vessel before a wave

very nearly filled the boat. A howl of despair from those that were

in her shewed their helpless state, and that they were conscious of a

danger they could not shun. I saw the fate of all was to be decided

by the very next wave that was rolling in; and apprehensive that some

woman, child, or helpless man would lay hold of me, and entangle my

arms or legs and weigh me down, I cried to my servants, both in Arabic

and English, We are all lost; if you can swim, follow me; I then let

myself down in the face of the wave. Whether that, or the next, filled

the boat, I know not, as I went to leeward to make my distance as great

as possible. I was a good, strong, and practised swimmer, in the flower

of life, full of health, trained to exercise and fatigue of every kind.

All this, however, which might have availed much in deep water, was

not sufficient when I came to the surf. I received a violent blow upon

my breast from the eddy wave and reflux, which seemed as given me by a

large branch of a tree, thick cord, or some elastic weapon. It threw me

upon my back, made me swallow a considerable quantity of water, and had

then almost suffocated me.

I avoided the next wave, by dipping my head and letting it pass over,

but found myself breathless, exceedingly weary and exhausted. The

land, however, was before me, and close at hand. A large wave floated

me up. I had the prospect of escape still nearer, and endeavoured to

prevent myself from going back into the surf. My heart was strong, but

strength was apparently failing, by being involuntarily twisted about,

and struck on the face and breast by the violence of the ebbing wave:

it now seemed as if nothing remained but to give up the struggle, and

resign to my destiny. Before I did this I sunk to sound if I could

touch the ground, and found that I reached the sand with my feet,

though the water was still rather deeper than my mouth. The success of

this experiment infused into me the strength of ten men, and I strove

manfully, taking advantage of floating only with the influx of the

wave, and preserving my strength for the struggle against the ebb,

which, by sinking and touching the ground, I now made more easy. At

last, finding my hands and knees upon the sands, I fixed my nails into

it, and obstinately resisted being carried back at all, crawling a few

feet when the sea had retired. I had perfectly lost my recollection

and understanding, and after creeping so far as to be out of the reach

of the sea, I suppose I fainted, for from that time I was totally

insensible of any thing that passed around me.

In the mean time the Arabs, who live two short miles from the shore,

came down in crowds to plunder the vessel. One of the boats was thrown

ashore, and they had belonging to them some others; there was one

yet with the wreck, which scarcely appeared with its gunnel above

water. All the people were now taken on shore, and those only lost who

perished in the boat. What first wakened me from this semblance of

death was a blow with the butt-end of a lance, shod with iron, upon

the juncture of the neck with the back-bone. This produced a violent

sensation of pain; but it was a mere accident the blow was not with the

point, for the small, short waistcoat, which had been made at Algiers,

the sash and drawers, all in the Turkish fashion, made the Arabs

believe that I was a Turk; and after many blows, kicks, and curses,

they stript me of the little cloathing I had, and left me naked. They

used the rest in the same manner, then went to their boats to look for

the bodies of those that were drowned.

After the discipline I had received, I had walked, or crawled up among

some white, sandy hillocks, where I sat down and concealed myself as

much as possible. The weather was then warm, but the evening promised

to be cooler, and it was fast drawing on; there was great danger to be

apprehended if I approached the tents where the women were while I was

naked, for in this case it was very probable I would receive another

bastinado something worse than the first. Still I was so confused that

I had not recollected I could speak to them in their own language, and

it now only came into my mind, that by the gibberish, in imitation

of Turkish, which the Arab had uttered to me while he was beating and

stripping me, he took me for a Turk, and to this in all probability the

ill-usage was owing.

An old man and a number of young Arabs came up to me where I was

sitting. I gave them the salute _Salam Alicum!_ which was only returned

by one young man, in a tone as if he wondered at my impudence. The old

man then asked me, Whether I was a Turk, and what I had to do there? I

replied, I was no Turk, but a poor Christian physician, a Dervish that

went about the world seeking to do good for God’s sake, was then flying

from famine, and going to Greece to get bread. He then asked me if I

was a Cretan? I said, I had never been in Crete, but came from Tunis,

and was returning to that town, having lost every thing I had in the

shipwreck of that vessel. I said this in so despairing a tone, that

there was no doubt left with the Arab that the fact was true. A ragged,

dirty baracan was immediately thrown over me, and I was ordered up to a

tent, in the end of which stood a long spear thrust through it, a mark

of sovereignty.

I there saw the Shekh of the tribe, who being in peace with the Bey of

Bengazi, and also with the Shekh of Ptolometa, after many questions

ordered me a plentiful supper, of which all my servants partook, none

of them having perished. A multitude of consultations followed on

their complaints, of which I freed myself in the best manner I could,

alledging the loss of all my medicines, in order to induce some of them

to seek for the sextant at least, but all to no purpose, so that,

after staying two days among them, the Shekh restored to us all that

had been taken from us, and mounting us upon camels, and giving us a

conductor, he forwarded us to Bengazi, where we arrived the second day

in the evening. Thence I sent a compliment to the Shekh, and with it

a man from the Bey, intreating that he would use all possible means

to fish up some of my cases, for which I assured him he should not

miss a handsome reward. Promises and thanks were returned, but I never

heard further of my instruments; all I recovered was a silver watch

of Ellicot, the work of which had been taken out and broken, some

pencils, and a small port-folio, in which were sketches of Ptolemeta;

my pocket-book too was found, but my pencil was lost, being in a common

silver case, and with them all the astronomical observations which I

had made in Barbary. I there lost a sextant, a parallactic instrument,

a time-piece, a reflecting telescope, an achromatic one, with many

drawings, a copy of M. de la Caille’s ephemerides down to the year

1775, much to be regretted, as being full of manuscript marginal notes;

a small camera obscura, some guns, pistols, a blunderbuss, and several

other articles.

I found at Bengazi a small French sloop, the master of which had been

often at Algiers when I was consul there. I had even, as the master

remembered, done him some little service, for which, contrary to the

custom of that sort of people, he was very grateful. He had come there

laden with corn, and was going up the Archipelago, or towards the

Morea, for more. The cargo he had brought was but a mite compared to

the necessities of the place; it only relieved the soldiers for a

time, and many people of all ages and sexes were still dying every day.

The harbour of Bengazi is full of fish, and my company caught a great

quantity with a small net; we likewise procured a multitude with the

line, enough to have maintained a larger number of persons than the

family consisted of; we got vinegar, pepper, and some store of onions;

we had little bread it is true, but still our industry kept us very

far from starving. We endeavoured to instruct these wretches, gave

them pack-thread, and some coarse hooks, by which they might have

subsisted with the smallest attention and trouble; but they would

rather starve in multitudes, striving to pick up single grains of corn,

that were scattered upon the beach by the bursting of the sacks, or the

inattention of the mariners, than take the pains to watch one hour at

the flowing of the tide for excellent fish, where, after taking one,

they were sure of being masters of multitudes till it was high water.

The Captain of the small vessel lost no time. He had done his business

well, and though he was returning for another cargo, yet he offered

me what part of his funds I should need with great frankness. We now

sailed with a fair wind, and in four or five days easy weather landed

at Canea, a considerable fortified place at the west end of the island

of Crete. Here I was taken dangerously ill, occasioned by the bathing

and extraordinary exertions in the sea of Ptolometa, nor was I in the

least the better from the beating I had received, signs of which I bore

very long afterwards.

From Canea I sailed for Rhodes, and there met my books; I then

proceeded to Castelrosso, on the coast of Caramania, and was there

credibly informed that there were very magnificent remains of ancient

buildings a short way from the shore, on the opposite continent.

Caramania is a part of Asia Minor yet unexplored. But my illness

increasing, it was impossible to execute, or take any measures to

secure protection, or do the business safely, and I was forced to

relinquish this discovery to some more fortunate traveller.

Mr Peyssonel, French consul at Smyrna, a man not more distinguished for

his amiable manners than for his polite taste in literature, of which

he has given several elegant specimens, furnished me with letters for

that part of Caramania, or Asia Minor, and there is no doubt but they

would have been very efficacious. What increased the obligation for

this kind attention shewn, was, that I had never seen Mr Peyssonel; and

I am truly mortified, that, since my arrival in England, I have had no

opportunity to return my grateful thanks for this kindness, which I

therefore beg that he will now accept, together with a copy of these

travels, which I have ordered my French bookseller to forward to him.

From Castelrosso I continued, without any thing remarkable, till I

came to Cyprus; I staid there but half a day, and arrived at Sidon,

where I was most kindly received by Mr Clerambaut, brother-in-law to

Mr Peyssonel, and French consul at this place; a man in politeness,

humanity, and every social quality of the mind, inferior to none I

have ever known. With him, and a very flourishing, well-informed, and

industrious nation, I continued for some time, then in a weak state

of health, but still making partial excursions from time to time into

the continent of Syria, through Libanus, and Anti Libanus; but as I

made these without instruments, and passed pretty much in the way of

the travellers who have described these countries before, I leave

the history to those gentlemen, without swelling, by entering into

particular narratives, this Introduction, already too long.

While at Canea I wrote by way of France, and again while at Rhodes

by way of Smyrna, to particular friends both in London and France,

informing them of my disastrous situation, and desiring them to send me

a moveable quadrant or sextant, as near as possible to two feet radius,

more or less, a time-keeper, stop-watch, a reflecting telescope, and

one of Dolland’s achromatic ones, as near as possible to three-feet

reflectors, with several other articles which I then wanted.

I received from Paris and London much about the same time, and as

if it had been dictated by the same person, nearly the same answer,

which was this, That everybody was employed in making instruments for

Danish, Swedish, and other foreign astronomers; that all those which

were completed had been bought up, and without waiting a considerable,

indefinite time, nothing could be had that could be depended upon. At

the same time I was told, to my great mortification, that no accounts

of me had arrived from Africa, unless from several idle letters, which

had been industriously wrote by a gentleman whole name I abstain from

mentioning, first, because he is dead, and next, out of respect to his

truly great and worthy relations.

In these letters it was announced, that I was gone with a Russian

caravan through the Curdistan, where I was to observe the transit of

Venus in a place where it was not visible, and that I was to proceed to

China, and return by the way of the East Indies:--a story which some of

his correspondents, as profligate as himself, industriously circulated

at the time, and which others, perhaps weaker than wicked, though

wicked enough, have affected to believe to this day.

I conceived a violent indignation at this, and finding myself so

treated in return for so complete a journey as I had then actually

terminated, thought it below me to sacrifice the best years of my life

to daily pain and danger, when the impression it made in the breasts of

my countrymen seemed to be so weak, so infinitely unworthy of them or

me. One thing only detained me from returning home; it was my desire

of fulfilling my promise to my Sovereign, and of adding the ruins of

Palmyra to those of Africa, already secured and out of danger.

In my anger I renounced all thoughts of the attempt to discover the

sources of the Nile, and I repeated my orders no more for either

quadrant, telescope, or time-keeper. I had pencils and paper; and

luckily my large camera obscura, which had escaped the catastrophe

of Ptolometa, was arrived from Smyrna, and then standing before me.

I therefore began to cast about, with my usual care and anxiety, for

the means of obtaining feasible and safe methods of repeating the

famous journey to Palmyra. I found it was necessary to advance nearer

the scene of action. Mr Abbot, British consul for Tripoli in Syria,

kindly invited me, and after him Mr Vernon, his successor, a very

excellent man, to take up my residence there. From Tripoli there is a

trade in kelp carried on to the salt marshes near Palmyra. The Shekh of

Cariateen, a town just upon the edge of the desert, had a contract with

the basha of Tripoli for a quantity of this herb for the use of the

soap-works. I lost no time in making a friendship with this man, but

his return amounted to no more than to endeavour to lead me rashly into

real danger, where he knew he had not consequence enough to give me a

moment’s protection.

There are two tribes almost equally powerful who inhabit the deserts

round Palmyra; the one is the Annecy, remarkable for the finest breed

of horses in the world; the other is the Mowalli, much better soldiers,

but fewer in number, and very little inferior in the excellence of

their horses. The Annecy possess the country towards the S. W. at the

back of Libanus, about Bozra down the Hawran, and southward towards

the borders of Arabia Petrea and Mount Horeb. The Mowalli inhabit the

plains east of Damascus to the Euphrates, and north to near Aleppo.

These two tribes were not at war, nor were they at peace; they were

upon what is called ill-terms with each other, which is the most

dangerous time for strangers to have any dealings with either. I

learned this as a certainty from a friend at Hassia, where a Shekh

lives, to whom I was recommended by a letter, as a friend of the basha

of Damascus. This man maintains his influence, not by a number of

forces, but by constantly marrying a relation of one or both of these

tribes of Arabs, who for that reason assist him in maintaining the

security of his road, and he has the care of that part of it by which

the couriers pass from Constantinople into Egypt, belonging to both

these tribes, who were then at a distance from each other, and roved in

flying squadrons all round Palmyra, by way of maintaining their right

of pasture in places that neither of them chose at that time to occupy.

These, I suppose, are what the English writers call Wild Arabs, for

otherwise, though they are all wild enough, I do not know one wilder

than another. This is very certain, these young men, composing the

flying parties I speak of, are truly wild while at a distance from

their camp and government; and the stranger that falls in unawares with

them, and escapes with his life, may set himself down as a fortunate

traveller.

Returning from Hassia I would have gone southward to Baalbec, but it

was then besieged by Emir Yousef prince of the Druses, a Pagan nation,

living upon mount Libanus. Upon that I returned to Tripoli, in Syria,

and after some time set out for Aleppo, travelling northward along the

plain of Jeune betwixt mount Lebanon and the sea.

I visited the ancient Byblus, and bathed with pleasure in the river

Adonis. All here is classic ground. I saw several considerable ruins of

Grecian architecture all very much defaced. These are already published

by Mr Drummond, and therefore I left them, being never desirous of

interfering with the works of others.

I passed Latikea, formerly Laodicea ad Mare, and then came to Antioch,

and afterwards to Aleppo. The fever and ague, which I had first

caught in my cold bath at Bengazi, had returned upon me with great

violence, after passing one night encamped in the mulberry gardens

behind Sidon. It had returned in very slight paroxysms several times,

but laid hold of me with more than ordinary violence on my arrival at

Aleppo, where I came just in time to the house of Mr Belville, a French

merchant, to whom I was addressed for my credit. Never was a more lucky

address, never was there a soul so congenial to my own as was that of

Mr Belville: to say more after this would be praising myself. To him

was immediately added Doctor Patrick Russel, physician to the British

factory there. Without the attention and friendship of the one, and the

skill and anxiety of the other of these gentlemen, it is probable my

travels would have ended at Aleppo. I recovered slowly. By the report

of these two gentlemen, though I had yet seen nobody, I became a public

care, nor did I ever pass more agreeable hours than with Mr Thomas the

French consul, his family, and the merchants established there. From

Doctor Russel I was supplied with what I wanted, some books, and much

instruction. Nobody knew the diseases of the East so well; and perhaps

my escaping the fever at Aleppo was not the only time in which I owed

him my life.

Being now restored to health, my first object was the journey to

Palmyra. The Mowalli were encamped at no great distance from Aleppo.

It was without difficulty I found a sure way to explain my wishes,

and to secure the assistance of Mahomet Kerfan, the Shekh, but from

him I learned, in a manner that I could not doubt, that the way I

intended to go down to Palmyra from the north was tedious, troublesome,

uncertain, and expensive, and that he did not wish me to undertake it

at that time. It is quite superfluous in these cases to press for

particular information; an Arab conductor, who proceeds with caution,

surely means you well. He told me that he would leave a friend in the

house of a certain Arab at Hamath[45], about half-way to Palmyra, and

if in something more than a month I came there, and found that Arab, I

might rely upon him without fear, and he would conduct me in safety to

Palmyra.

I returned to Tripoli, and at the time appointed set out for Hamath,

found my conductor, and proceeded to Hassia. Coming from Aleppo,

I had not passed the lower way again by Antioch. The river which

passes through the plains where they cultivate their best tobacco,

is the Orontes; it was so swollen with rain, which had fallen in

the mountains, that the ford was no longer visible. Stopping at two

miserable huts inhabited by a base set called Turcomans, I asked the

master of one of them to shew me the ford, which he very readily

undertook to do, and I went, for the length of some yards, on rough,

but very hard and solid ground. The current before me was, however,

so violent, that I had more than once a desire to turn back, but, not

suspecting any thing, I continued, when on a sudden man and horse fell

out of their depth into the river.

I had a rifled gun flung across my shoulder, with a buff belt and

swivel. As long as that held, it so embarrassed my hands and legs that

I could not swim, and must have sunk; but luckily the swivel gave

way, the gun fell to the bottom of the river, and was pickt up in dry

weather by order of the basha, at the desire of the French merchants,

who kept it for a relict. I and my horse swam separately ashore; at a

small distance from thence was a caphar[46], or turnpike, to which,

when I came to dry myself, the man told me, that the place where I

had crossed was the remains of a stone bridge now entirely carried

away; where I had first entered was one of the wings of the bridge,

from which I had fallen into the space the first arch occupied, one of

the deepest parts of the river; that the people who had misguided me

were an infamous set of banditti, and that I might be thankful on many

accounts that I had made such an escape from them, and was now on the

opposite side. I then prevailed on the caphar-man to shew my servants

the right ford.

From Hassia we proceeded with our conductor to Cariateen, where there

is an immense spring of fine water, which overflows into a large

pool. Here, to our great surprise, we found about two thousand of the

Annecy encamped, who were quarrelling with Hassan our old friend, the

kelp-merchant. This was nothing to us; the quarrel between the Mowalli

and Annecy had it seems been made up; for an old man from each tribe on

horseback accompanied us to Palmyra: the tribes gave us camels for more

commodious travelling, and we passed the desert between Cariateen and

Palmyra in a day and two nights, going constantly without sleeping.

Just before we came in sight of the ruins, we ascended a hill of

white gritty stone, in a very narrow-winding road, such as we call a

pass, and, when arrived at the top, there opened before us the most

astonishing, stupendous sight that perhaps ever appeared to mortal

eyes. The whole plain below, which was very extensive, was covered so

thick with magnificent buildings as that the one seemed to touch the

other, all of fine proportions, all of agreeable forms, all composed

of white stones, which at that distance appeared like marble. At the

end of it stood the palace of the sun, a building worthy to close so

magnificent a scene.

It was impossible for two persons to think of designing ornaments, or

taking measures, and there seemed the less occasion for this as Mr Wood

had done this part already. I had no intention to publish any thing

concerning Palmyra; besides, it would have been a violation of my first

principle not to interfere with the labours of others; and if this was

a rule I inviolably observed as to strangers, every sentiment of reason

and gratitude obliged me to pay the same respect to the labours of Mr

Wood my friend.

I divided Palmyra into six angular views, always bringing forward

to the first ground an edifice, or principal group of columns, that

deserved it. The state of the buildings are particularly favourable for

this purpose. The columns are all uncovered to the very bases, the soil

upon which the town is built being hard and fixed ground. These views

are all upon large paper; the columns in some of them are a foot long;

the figures in the fore-ground of the temple of the sun are some of

them near four inches.

Before our departure from Palmyra I observed its latitude with a

Hadley’s quadrant from reflection. The instrument had probably warped

in carriage, as the index went unpleasantly, and as it were by starts,

so that I will not pretend to give this for an exact observation; yet,

after all the care I could take, I only apprehended that 33° 58´ for

the latitude of Palmyra, would be nearer the truth than any other.

Again, that the distance from the coast in a straight line being 160

miles, and that remarkable mountainous cape on the coast of Syria,

between Byblus and Tripoli, known by the name of Theoprosopon, being

nearly due west, or under the same parallel with Palmyra, I conceive

the longitude of that city to be nearly 37° 9´ from the observatory of

Greenwich.

From Palmyra I proceeded to Baalbec, distant about 130 miles, and

arrived the same day that Emir Yousef had reduced the town and settled

the government, and was decamping from it on his return home. This was

the luckiest moment possible for me, as I was the Emir’s friend, and

I obtained liberty to do there what I pleased, and to this indulgence

was added the great convenience of the Emir’s absence, so that I was

not troubled by the observance of any court-ceremony or attendance, or

teazed with impertinent questions.

Baalbec is pleasantly situated in a plain on the west of Anti Libanus,

is finely watered, and abounds in gardens. It is about fifty miles

from Hassia, and about thirty from the nearest sea-coast, which is

the situation of the ancient Byblus. The interior of the great temple

of Baalbec, supposed to be that of the sun, surpasses any thing

at Palmyra, indeed any sculpture I ever remember to have seen in

stone. All these views of Palmyra and Baalbec are now in the King’s

collection. They are the most magnificent offering in their line that

ever was made by one subject to his sovereign.

Passing by Tyre, from curiosity only, I came to be a mournful witness

of the truth of that prophecy, That Tyre, the queen of nations, should

be a rock for fishers to dry their nets on[47]. Two wretched fishermen,

with miserable nets, having just given over their occupation with very

little success, I engaged them, at the expence of their nets, to drag

in those places where they said shell-fish might be caught, in hopes to

have brought out one of the famous purple-fish. I did not succeed, but

in this I was, I believe, as lucky as the old fishers had ever been.

The purple fish at Tyre seems to have been only a concealment of their

knowledge of cochineal, as, had they depended upon the fish for their

dye, if the whole city of Tyre applied to nothing else but fishing,

they would not have coloured twenty yards of cloth in a year. Much

fatigued, but satisfied beyond measure with what I had seen, I arrived

in perfect health, and in the gayest humour possible, at the hospitable

mansion of M. Clerambaut at Sidon.

I found there letters from Europe, which were in a very different style

from the last. From London, my friend Mr Russel acquainted me, that he

had sent me an excellent reflecting telescope of two feet focal length,

moved by rack-work, and the last Mr Short ever made, which proved a

very excellent instrument; also an achromatic telescope by Dolland,

nearly equal to a three-feet reflector, with a foot, or stand, very

artificially composed of rulers fixed together by screws. I think this

instrument might be improved by shortening the three principal legs

of it. If the legs of its stand were about six inches shorter, this,

without inconvenience, would take away the little shake it has when

used in the outer air. Perhaps this defect is not in all telescopes of

this construction. It is a pleasant instrument, and for its size takes

very little packing, and is very manageable.

I have brought home both these instruments after performing the

whole journey, and they are now standing in my library, in the most

perfect order; which is rather to be wondered at from the accounts

in which most travellers seem to agree, that metal speculums, within

the tropics, spot and rust so much as to be useless after a few

observations made at or near the zenith. The fear of this, and the

fragility of glass of achromatic telescopes, were the occasion of a

considerable expence to me; but from experience I found, that, if a

little care be taken, one reflector would be sufficient for a very long

voyage.

From Paris I received a time-piece and a stop-watch made by M.

Lepeaute, dearer than Ellicot’s, and resembling his in nothing else

but the price. The clock was a very neat, portable instrument, made

upon very ingenious, simple principles, but some of the parts were so

grossly neglected in the execution, and so unequally finished, that it

was not difficult for the meanest novice in the trade to point out the

cause of its irregularity. It remains with me in statu quo. It has been

of very little use to me, and never will be of much more to any person

else. The price is, I am sure, ten times more than it ought to be in

any light I can consider it.

All these letters still left me in absolute despair about obtaining

a quadrant, and consequently gave me very little satisfaction, but

in some measure confirmed me in my resolution already taken, to go

from Sidon to Egypt; as I had then seen the greatest part of the good

architecture in the world, in all its degrees of perfection down to its

decline, I wished now only to see it in its origin, and for this it was

necessary to go to Egypt.

Norden, Pococke, and many others, had given very ingenious accounts of

Egyptian architecture in general, of the disposition and size of their

temples, magnificence of their materials, their hieroglyphics, and the

various kinds of them, of their gilding, of their painting, and their

present state of preservation. I thought something more might be learnt

as to the first proportions of their columns, and the construction of

their plans. Dendera, the ancient Tentyra, seemed by their accounts to

offer a fair field for this.

I had already collected together a great many observations on the

progress of Greek and Roman architecture in different ages, drawn not

from books or connected with system, but from the models themselves,

which I myself had measured. I had been long of the opinion, in which

I am still further confirmed, that taste for ancient architecture,

founded upon the examples that Italy alone can furnish, was not

giving ancient architects fair play. What was to be learned from

the first proportions of their plans and elevations seemed to have

remained untouched in Egypt; after having considered these, I proposed

to live in retirement on my native patrimony, with a fair stock of

unexceptionable materials upon this subject, to serve for a pleasant

and useful amusement in my old age. I hope still these will not be lost

to the public, unless the encouragement be in proportion to what my

labours have already had.

I now received, however, a letter very unexpectedly by way of

Alexandria, which, if it did not overturn, at least shook these

resolutions. The Comte de Buffon Mons. Guys of Marseilles, and several

others well known in the literary world, had ventured to state to

the minister, and through him to the king of France, Louis XV. how

very much it was to be lamented, that after a man had been found who

was likely to succeed in removing that opprobrium of travellers and

geographers, by discovering the sources of the Nile, one most unlucky

accident, at a most unlucky time, should frustrate the most promising

endeavours. That prince, distinguished for every good quality of the

heart, for benevolence, beneficence, and a desire of promoting and

protecting learning, ordered a moveable quadrant of his own military

academy at Marseilles, as the nearest and most convenient port of

embarkation, to be taken down and sent to me at Alexandria.

With this I received a letter from Mr Russel, which informed me

that astronomers had begun to cool in the sanguine expectations of

discovering the precise quantity of the sun’s parallax by observation

of the transit of Venus, from some apprehension that errors of the

observers would probably be more than the quantity of the equation

sought, and that they now ardently wished for a journey into Abyssinia,

rather than an attempt to settle a nicety for which the learned had now

begun to think the accuracy of our instruments was not sufficient. A

letter from my correspondent at Alexandria also acquainted me, that the

quadrant, and all other instruments, were in that city.

What followed is the voyage itself, the subject of the present

publication. I am happy, by communicating every previous circumstance

that occurred to me, to have done all in my power to remove the

greatest part of the reasonable doubts and difficulties which might

have perplexed the reader’s mind, or biassed his judgment in the

perusal of the narrative of the journey, and in this I hope I have

succeeded.

I have now one remaining part of my promise to fulfil, to account

for the delay in the publication. It will not be thought surprising

to any that shall reflect on the distant, dreary, and desert ways by

which all letters were necessarily to pass, or the civil wars then

raging in Abyssinia, the robberies and violences inseparable from a

total dissolution of government, such as happened in my time, that

no accounts for many years, one excepted, ever arrived in Europe.

One letter, accompanied by a bill for a sum borrowed from a Greek at

Gondar, found its way to Cairo; all the rest had miscarried: my friends

at home gave me up for dead; and, as my death must have happened in

circumstances difficult to have been proved, my property became as

it were an _hereditas jacens_, without an owner, abandoned in common

to those whose original title extended no further than temporary

possession.

A number of law-suits were the inevitable consequence of this upon my

return. One carried on with a very expensive obstinacy for the space

of ten years, by a very opulent and active company, was determined

finally in the House of Peers, in the compass of a very few hours, by

the well-known sagacity and penetration of a noble Lord, who, happily

for the subjects of both countries, holds the first office in the law;

and so judicious was the sentence, that harmony, mutual confidence,

and good neighbourhood has ever since been the consequence of that

determination.

Other suits still remained, which unfortunately were not arrived to the

degree of maturity to be so cut off; they are yet depending; patience

and attention, it is hoped, may bring them to an issue at some future

time. No imputation of rashness can possibly fall upon the decree,

since the action has depended above thirty years.

To these disagreeable avocations, which took up much time, were added

others still more unfortunate. The relentless ague caught at Bengazi

maintained its ground at times for a space of more than sixteen years,

though every remedy had been used, but in vain; and, what was worst of

all, a lingering distemper had seriously threatened the life of a most

near relation, which, after nine years constant alarm, where every duty

bound me to attention and attendance, conducted her at last, in very

early life, to her grave[48].

The love of solitude is the constant follower of affliction; this again

naturally turns an instructed mind to study. My friends unanimously

assailed me in the part most accessible when the spirits are weak,

which is vanity. They represented to me how ignoble it was, after all

my dangers and difficulties were over, to be conquered by a misfortune

incident to all men, the indulging of which was unreasonable in

itself, fruitless in its consequences, and so unlike the expectation

I had given my country, by the firmness and intrepidity of my former

character and behaviour. Among these, the principal and most urgent

was a gentleman well known to the literary world, in which he holds a

rank nearly as distinguished as that to which his virtues entitle him

in civil life; this was the Hon. Daines Barrington, whose friendship,

valuable on every account, had this additional merit, that it had

existed uninterrupted since the days we were at school. It is to this

gentleman’s persuasions, assistance, protection, and friendship, that

the world owes this publication, if indeed there is any merit in it;

at least, they are certainly indebted to him for the opportunity of

judging whether there is any merit in it or not.

No great time has passed since the work was in hand. The materials

collected upon the spot were very full, and seldom deferred to be set

down beyond the day wherein the events described happened, but oftner,

when speeches and arguments were to be mentioned, they were noted the

instant afterwards; for, contrary I believe to what is often the case,

I can assure the reader these speeches and conversations are absolutely

real, and not the fabrication of after-hours.

It will perhaps be said, this work hath faults; nay, perhaps, great

ones too, and this I readily confess. But I must likewise beg leave to

say, that I know no books of the kind that have not nearly as many,

and as great, though perhaps not of the same kind with mine. To see

distinctly and accurately, to describe plainly, dispassionately and

truly, is all that ought to be expected from one in my situation,

constantly surrounded with every sort of difficulty and danger.

It may be said, too, there are faults in the language; more pains

should have been taken. Perhaps it may be so; yet there has not been

wanting a considerable degree of attention even to this. I have not

indeed confined myself to a painful and slavish nicety that would have

produced nothing but a disagreeable stiffness in the narrative. It will

be remembered likewise, that one of the motives of my writing is my own

amusement, and I would much rather renounce the subject altogether than

walk in fetters of my own forging. The language is, like the subject,

rude and manly. My paths have not been flowery ones, nor would it have

added any credit to the work, or entertainment to the reader, to employ

in it a stile proper only to works of imagination and pleasure. These

trifling faults I willingly leave as food to the malice of critics,

who perhaps, were it not for these blemishes, would find no other

enjoyment in the perusal of the work.

It has been said that parties have been formed against this work.

Whether this is really the case I cannot say, nor have I ever been

very anxious in the inquiry. They have been harmless adversaries at

least, for no bad effects, as far as I know, have ever as yet been

the consequences; neither is it a disquisition that I shall ever

enter into, whether this is owing to the want of will or of power. I

rather believe it is to the former, the want of will, for no one is so

perfectly inconsiderable, as to want the power of doing mischief.

Having now fulfilled my promise to the reader, in giving him the motive

and order of my travels, and the reason why the publication has been

delayed, I shall proceed to the last article promised, the giving some

account of the work itself. The book is a large one, and expensive

by the number of engravings; this was not at first intended, but the

journey has proved a long one, and matter has increased as it were

insensibly under my hands. It is now come to fill a great chasm in the

history of the universe. It is not intended to resemble the generality

of modern travels, the agreeable and rational amusement of one vacant

day, it is calculated to employ a greater space of time.

Those that are the best acquainted with Diodorus, Herodotus, and some

other Greek historians, will find some very considerable difficulties

removed; and they that are unacquainted with these authors, and receive

from this work the first information of the geography, climate, and

manners of these countries, which are little altered, will have no

great occasion to regret they have not searched for information in

more ancient sources.

The work begins with my voyage from Sidon to Alexandria, and up the

Nile to the first cataract. The reader will not expect that I should

dwell long upon the particular history of Egypt; every other year has

furnished us with some account of it, good or bad; and the two last

publications of M. Savary and Volney seem to have left the subject

thread-bare. This, however, is not the only reason.

After Mr Wood and Mr Dawkins had published their Ruins of Palmyra,

the late king of Denmark, at his own expence, sent out a number of

men, eminent in their several professions, to make discoveries in the

east, of every kind, with these very flattering instructions, that

though they might, and ought, to visit both Baalbec and Palmyra for

their own studies and improvement, yet he prohibited them to so far

interfere with what the English travellers had done, as to form any

plan of another work similar to theirs. This compliment was gratefully

received; and, as I was directly to follow this mission, Mr Wood

desired me to return it, and to abstain as much as possible from

writing on the same subjects chosen by M. Niebuhr, at least to abstain

either from criticising or differing from him on such subjects. I have

therefore passed slightly over Egypt and Arabia; perhaps, indeed, I

have said enough of both: if any shall be of another opinion, they may

have recourse to M. Niebuhr’s more copious work; he was the only person

of six who lived to come home, the rest having died in different parts

of Arabia, without having been able to enter Abyssinia, one of the

objects of their mission.

My leaving Egypt is followed by my survey of the Arabian gulf as far as

the Indian Ocean--Arrival at Masuah--Some account of the first peopling

of Atbara and Abyssinia--Conjectures concerning language--First ages of

the Indian trade--Foundation of the Abyssinian monarchy, and various

revolutions till the Jewish usurpation about the year 900. These

compose the first volume.

The second begins with the restoration of the line of Solomon, compiled

from their own annals, now first translated from the Ethiopic; the

original of which has been lodged in the British Museum, to satisfy the

curiosity of the public.

The third comprehends my journey from Masuah to Gondar, and the manners

and customs of the Abyssinians, also two attempts to arrive at the

fountains of the Nile--Description of these sources, and of every thing

relating to that river and its inundation.

The fourth contains my return from the source of the Nile to

Gondar--The campaign of Serbraxos, and revolution that followed--My

return through Sennaar and Beja, or the Nubian desert, and my arrival

at Marseilles.

In overlooking the work I have found one circumstance, and I think no

more, which is not sufficiently clear, and may create a momentary doubt

in the reader’s mind, although to those who have been sufficiently

attentive to the narrative, I can scarce think it will do this. The

difficulty is, How did you procure funds to support yourself, and

ten men, so long, and so easily, as to enable you to undervalue the

useful character of a physician, and seek neither to draw money nor

protection from it? And how came it, that, contrary to the usage of

other travellers, at Gondar you maintained a character of independence

and equality, especially at court; instead of crouching, living out

of sight as much as possible, in continual fear of priests, under the

patronage, or rather as servant to some men of power.

To this sensible and well-founded doubt I answer with great pleasure

and readiness, as I would do to all others of the same kind, if I could

possibly divine them:--It is not at all extraordinary that a stranger

like me, and a parcel of vagabonds like those that were with me, should

get themselves maintained, and find at Gondar a precarious livelihood

for a limited time. A mind ever so little polished and instructed has

infinite superiority over Barbarians, and it is in circumstances like

these that a man sees the great advantages of education. All the Greeks

in Gondar were originally criminals and vagabonds; they neither had,

nor pretended to any profession, except Petros the king’s chamberlain,

who had been a shoemaker at Rhodes, which profession at his arrival

he carefully concealed. Yet these were not only maintained, but by

degrees, and without pretending to be physicians, obtained property,

commands, and places.

Hospitality is the virtue of Barbarians, who are hospitable in the

ratio that they are barbarous, and for obvious reasons this virtue

subsides among polished nations in the same proportion. If on my

arrival in Abyssinia I assumed a spirit of independence, it was

from policy and reflection. I had often thought that the misfortunes

which had befallen other travellers in Abyssinia arose from the base

estimation the people in general entertained of their rank, and the

value of their persons. From this idea I resolved to adopt a contrary

behaviour. I was going to a court where there was a _king of kings_,

whose throne was surrounded by a number of high-minded, proud,

hereditary, punctilious nobility. It was impossible, therefore, too

much lowliness and humility could please there.

Mr Murray, the ambassador at Constantinople, in the firman obtained

from the grand signior, had qualified me with the distinction of

Bey-Adzè, which means, not an English nobleman (a peer) but a noble

Englishman, and he had added likewise, that I was a servant of the king

of Great Britain. All the letters of recommendation, very many and

powerful, from Cairo and Jidda, had constantly echoed this to every

part to which they were addressed. They announced that I was not a man,

such as ordinarily came to them, to live upon their charity, but had

ample means of my own, and each professed himself guarantee of that

fact, and that they themselves on all occasions were ready to provide

for me, by answering my demands.

The only request of these letters was safety and protection to my

person. It was mentioned that I was a physician, to introduce a

conciliatory circumstance, that I was above practising for gain.

That all I did was from the fear of God, from charity, and the love

of mankind. I was a physician in the city, a soldier in the field,

a courtier every where, demeaning myself, as conscious that I was

not unworthy of being a companion to the first of their nobility,

and the king’s stranger and guest, which is there a character, as

it was with eastern nations of old, to which a certain sort of

consideration is due. It was in vain to compare myself with them in

any kind of learning, as they have none; music they have as little;

in eating and drinking they were indeed infinitely my superiors; but

in one accomplishment that came naturally into comparison, which was

horsemanship, I studiously established my superiority.

My long residence among the Arabs had given me more than ordinary

facility in managing the horse; I had brought my own saddle and

bridle with me, and, as the reader will find, bought my horse of

the Baharnagash in the first days of my journey, such a one as was

necessary to carry me, and him I trained carefully, and studied from

the beginning. The Abyssinians, as the reader will hereafter see,

are the worst horsemen in the world. Their horses are bad, not equal

to our Welsh or our Scotch galloways. Their furniture is worse. They

know not the use of fire-arms on horseback; they had never seen a

double-barrelled gun, nor did they know that its effect was limited to

two discharges, but that it might have been fired on to infinity. All

this gave me an evident superiority.

To this I may add, that, being in the prime of life, of no ungracious

figure, having an accidental knack, which is not a trifle, of putting

on the dress, and speaking the language easily and gracefully, I

cultivated with the utmost assiduity the friendship of the fair sex, by

the most modest, respectful distant attendance, and obsequiousness in

public, abating just as much of that in private as suited their humour

and inclinations. I soon acquired a great support from these at court;

jealousy is not a passion of the Abyssinians, who are in the contrary

extreme, even to indifference.

Besides the money I had with me, I had a credit of L.400 upon Yousef

Cabil, governor of Jidda. I had another upon a Turkish merchant there.

I had strong and general recommendations, if I should want supplies,

upon Metical Aga, first minister to the sherriffe of Mecca. This,

well managed, was enough; but when I met my countrymen, the captains

of the English ships from India, they added additional strength to my

finances; they would have poured gold upon me to facilitate a journey

they so much desired upon several accounts. Captain Thornhill of

the Bengal Merchant, and Captain Thomas Price of the Lion, took the

conduct of my money-affairs under their direction. Their Saraf, or

broker, had in his hands all the commerce that produced the revenues

of Abyssinia, together with great part of the correspondence of the

east; and, by a lucky accident for me, Captain Price staid all winter

with the Lion at Jidda; nay, so kind and anxious was he as to send

over a servant from Jidda on purpose, upon a report having been raised

that I was slain by the usurper Socinios, though it was only one of my

servants, and the servant of Metical Aga, who were murdered by that

monster, as is said, with his own hand. Twice he sent over silver to me

when I had plenty of gold, and wanted that metal only to apply it in

furniture and workmanship. I do not pretend to say but sometimes these

supplies failed me, often by my negligence in not applying in proper

time, sometimes by the absence of merchants, who were all Mahometans,

constantly engaged in business and in journies, and more especially on

the king’s retiring to Tigré, after the battle of Limjour, when I was

abandoned during the usurpation of the unworthy Socinios. It was then I

had recourse to Petros and the Greeks, but more for their convenience

than my own, and very seldom from necessity. This opulence enabled me

to treat upon equal footing, to do favours as well as to receive them.

Every mountebank-trick was a great accomplishment there, such as making

squibs, crackers, and rockets. There was no station in the country

to which by these accomplishments I might not have pretended, had I

been mad enough to have ever directed my thoughts that way; and I am

certain, that in vain I might have solicited leave to return, had not a

melancholy despondency, the _amor patriæ_, seized me, and my health so

far declined as apparently to threaten death; but I was not even then

permitted to leave Abyssinia till under a very solemn oath I promised

to return.

This manner of conducting myself had likewise its disadvantages. The

reader will see the times, without their being pointed out to him,

in the course of the narrative. It had very near occasioned me to be

murdered at Masuah, but it was the means of preserving me at Gondar,

by putting me above being insulted or questioned by priests, the fatal

rock upon which all other European travellers had split: it would

have occasioned my death at Sennaar, had I not been so prudent as to

disguise and lay aside the independent carriage in time. Why should

I not now speak as I really think, or why be guilty of ingratitude

which my heart disclaims. I escaped by the providence and protection

of heaven; and so little store do I set upon the advantage of my own

experience, that I am satisfied, were I to attempt the same journey

again, it would not avail me a straw, or hinder me from perishing

miserably, as others have done, though perhaps a different way.

I have only to add, that were it probable, as in my decayed state

of health it is not, that I should live to see a second edition of

this work, all well-founded, judicious remarks suggested should be

gratefully and carefully attended to; but I do solemnly declare to

the public in general, that I never will refute or answer any cavils,

captious, or idle objections, such as every new publication seems

unavoidably to give birth to, nor ever reply to those witticisms and

criticisms that appear in newspapers and periodical writings. What

I have written I have written. My readers have before them, in the

present volumes, all that I shall ever say, directly or indirectly,

upon the subject; and I do, without one moment’s anxiety, trust my

defence to an impartial, well-informed, and judicious public.

CONTENTS

OF THE

FIRST VOLUME.

DEDICATION.

INTRODUCTION, Page i

BOOK I.

THE AUTHOR’S JOURNEY AND VOYAGE FROM SIDON TILL HIS

ARRIVAL AT MASUAH.

CHAP. I.

_The Author sails from Sidon--Touches at Cyprus--Arrives at

Alexandria--Sets out for Rosetto--Embarks on the Nile, and

arrives at Cairo_, 1

CHAP. II.

_Author’s Reception at Cairo--Procures Letters from the Bey and

the Greek Patriarch--Visits the Pyramids--Observations on their

Construction_, 24

CHAP. III.

_Leaves Cairo--Embarks on the Nile for Upper Egypt--Visits

Metrahenny and Mohannan--Reasons for supposing this the

Situation of Memphis_, 43

CHAP. IV.

_Leaves Metrahenny--Comes to the Island Halouon--False

Pyramid--These Buildings end--Sugar Canes--Ruins of

Antinopolis--Reception there_, 69

CHAP. V.

_Voyage to Upper Egypt continued--Ashmounein, Ruins there--Gawe

Kibeer Ruins--Mr Norden mistaken--Achmim--Convent of

Catholics--Denaera--Magnificent Ruins--Adventure with a Saint

there_, 91

CHAP VI.

_Arrives at Furshout--Adventure of Friar Christopher--Visits

Thebes--Luxor and Carnac--Large Ruins at Edfu and Esné--Proceeds

on his Voyage_, 114.

CHAP. VII.

_Arrives at Syene--Goes to see the Cataract--Remarkable

Tombs--The Situation of Syene--The Aga proposes a visit to

Deir and Ibrim--The Author returns to Kenné_, 150

CHAP. VIII.

_The Author sets out from Kenné--Crosses the Desert of the

Thebaid--Visits the Marble Mountains--Arrives at Cosseir

on the Red Sea--Transactions there_, 169

CHAP. IX.

_Voyage to Jibbel Zumrud--Returns to Cosseir--Sails from

Cosseir--Jassateen Islands--Arrives at Tor_, 204

CHAP. X.

_Sails from Tor--Passes the Elanitic Gulf--Sees Raddua--Arrives

at Yambo--Incidents there--Arrives at Jidda_, 239

CHAP. XI.

_Occurrences at Jidda--Visit of the Vizir--Alarm of the Factory--Great

Civility of the English trading from India--Polygamy--Opinion

of Dr Arbuthnot ill-founded--Contrary to Reason and

Experience--Leaves Jidda_, 265

CHAP. XII.

_Sails from Jidda--Konsodah--Ras Heli, Boundary of Arabia Felix--Arrives

at Loheia--Proceeds to the Straits of the Indian Ocean--Arrives

there--Returns by Azab to Loheia_, 294

CHAP. XIII.

_Sails for Masuah--Passes a Volcano--Comes to Dahalac--Troubled

with a Ghost--Arrives at Masuah_, 327