Mr. Burckhardt accomplished. From the time of his return to Cairo
in June 1816, to that of his death in October 1817, he continued
to reside in the Egyptian capital, occupied in preparing various
papers for the Association; and in other employments connected with
Arabic literature, and his travelling pursuits. The letters which he
addressed during this period to the Committee, shew how deeply he
felt the disappointment, caused by the non-arrival of any caravan
from the interior, by the return of which, he might have proceeded
upon the ultimate object of his mission. His letters contain also
a series of valuable observations upon the events which occurred
about that time in Egypt and Arabia, together with many remarks
upon the manners and government of Egypt, and upon those subjects
which were his principal objects of enquiry, as an agent of the
African Association. The remarks of a person who unites good sense
and judgment to local knowledge and experience, are of the highest
value in countries where every branch of enquiry presents results
so different from our preconceived notions, founded upon what we
have been accustomed to in Europe; where accurate information is
very difficult to acquire; and where, consequently, the remarks
of the transient traveller are often replete with error. These
considerations are a sufficient excuse for laying before the reader
the most interesting parts of the last epistolary communications
of Mr. Burckhardt to the Association. They are contained in the
following extract from his letters, all of which, except the last,
are addressed to Mr. Hamilton, the Secretary.
_Cairo, October 15th,_ 1816.
I have the honour of transmitting to the Committee of the African
Association some papers, forming part of the information obtained
by me, during my journey through Arabia. They consist of, 1st. Some
further fragments on the Bedouins of Arabia, in sequel to those
forwarded on former occasions. 2nd. A history of the Wahabi, and
principally of Mohammed Aly’s late campaign in the Hedjaz. 3rd. A
few notes to my former journals.
The repeated notices I have transmitted concerning the Bedouins of
Arabia, will show how much I am interested about them. I believe
that very little of their real state is known in Europe, either
because travellers have not sufficiently distinguished Bedouins
from Arabs in general, or because they have attempted to describe
them without having had the advantage of seeing them at leisure in
their own tents, in the interior of the desert. Their nation is the
original stock, from which Syria, Egypt, and Barbary derive their
present population, and for this reason alone they deserve to be
enquired into; but they acquire a still greater interest when we
consider, that amidst the utter depravity of manners and morals,
and the decline of laws and civil institutions throughout the
Mohammedan world, the Bedouins are the only Eastern nation who
have preserved unchanged their ancient customs, and the manners
of their forefathers and who still continue to be what they were
twelve hundred years ago, when their emigrating tribes conquered
part of Asia, Africa, and Europe. I am aware that my description
of the Bedouins is not calculated to be acceptable to the public
in general, as it contains nothing but dry facts: my only object
has been to fill up a vacuity in our knowledge of the East, and I
flatter myself that those who are interested in obtaining a knowledge
of this part of the world will not be displeased at what I have done.
You will forgive my having forwarded the papers in so imperfect
a state. Although my general health is at present very good, my
eyes are far from being as I wish them to be; and since my severe
ophthalmic attacks in Upper Egypt, I have repeatedly suffered from
them, and have lately had again a severe inflammation.
I see that Aly Bey el Abbasi has got the start of me in his
description of Mekka, but I hope to be able to give some information
in addition to his. I have lately had an opportunity of perusing
his work; little as I like the style in which it is written and
the pretensions of its author, yet I find it incumbent upon me to
state, that after a minute examination of it, I find no reason to
doubt the general veracity of Aly Bey; what he says of himself in
Syria, Egypt, and the Hedjaz, I know to be true, although he has
not always thought proper to state the whole truth. I could tell
you many anecdotes to prove how little he imposed, with his almost
utter ignorance of Arabic, upon the sharp-sighted natives of these
countries; but he was perhaps to be excused in fancying that he did,
as those who partook of his bounty would be the last to hint to
him their real thoughts on this subject, and whether Bey or not, he
was a Mussulman, and that was sufficient. His method of travelling
was very injudicious; surrounded with so much pomp, it was almost
impossible for him to make many interesting observations, for a
Turkish grandee is never left alone, and his numerous dependents are
spies upon all his actions. The plan which he gives of the mosque at
Mekka is very correct; that of the town is much less so, as you will
see by comparing it with that which accompanies my description of the
city. All his views of Hedjaz and Syria are drawn from memory; that
of Wady Muna is the only one slightly resembling the reality. He has
made one very curious mistake, which is, that he persuades himself
that he was at Mekka, when the Wahabi took possession of that town,
an event which happened three years before his arrival there. I
am indignant at his daring to question the veracity of Mr. Browne,
(by whose side he is a mere pigmy,) upon so trivial a fact as that
of the existence of carpets in one of the mosques of Cairo, where
I actually saw carpets spread not longer ago than yesterday.
To advert to another more humble African adventurer,—I have lately
seen the Quarterly Review of the Travels of Adams to Tombuctou,
(which the Africans call Timbuctou,) but not the work itself. From
what I have heard related in Egypt, and the Hedjaz, by several Felata
Bedouins coming as Hadjis, from the neighbourhood of Timbuctou,
by the way of Tunis, I believe that Adams’s description of that
town is correct. One of them told me it was half as large as Cairo,
and built of low mud houses, such I believe as are common all
over Soudan. As to his river, I likewise heard that the Timbuctou
river flows westward. The old story, that it is the same river with
the Egyptian Nile was also repeated, which of course is in direct
contradiction to the former supposition. The truth seems to be, that
the ignorant Africans finding the two rivers to resemble each other,
in size, in productions, and in the regularity of their inundation,
conclude them to be the same. The name of La Mar Zarah, which
he ascribes to the river of Timbuctou, I believe to be misspelt
for Bahr El Ahmar El Sahára; (بحر الاحمر الصحرا)
or the Red River of the Desert.[10] This epithet is perhaps applied
to it in the same manner, as Abiadh, Azrak, Akhdar, “white, blue,
green,” are given to the different branches of the Nile. La Mar
Zarah is said to be of a muddy colour, and the Egyptians describe
the Nile by the word Ahmar, at the time when it first begins to
rise and to become muddy.
The names of the King and Queen of Timbuctou seem to shew that
they are Mohammedans. Woolo seems to be Wouli, which in Arabic,
means Governor or Ruler (والي), and is given to all their
governors, and Fatima is evidently a Moslim name. That Adams did
not see them pray, is no proof to the contrary; he might reside
for months at Berber or Shendy without witnessing any sort of
public worship. There are however some of his statements which
struck me as quite impossible, and convinced me of his want of
veracity, at least with regard to them. I can never believe that
twenty-three persons travelling on foot, with women and children,
can cross a waterless desert of thirty days journey, without any
other supply of water than what was loaded upon four camels; nor
again, that twenty eight persons could travel in the same manner,
for twenty-nine days, with four camels only partly loaded with
water. Such powers of abstinence, neither Arabs nor Nubians, nor
their camels possess; every person who has travelled in a caravan
of camels, will disbelieve such assertions. After eight days the
water kept in the best Soudan water skins is partly evaporated,
and the remainder, from the continual shaking, is reduced to a thick
black mud, which extreme necessity alone can make one swallow. The
best camels for transport, known in the countries which I have
visited, are the Darfour breed. They are never longer than ten or
twelve days on their road to Egypt, without water, and even in that
journey many of them perish of thirst. The daily supply of one quart
would afford little relief to an animal which when thirsty swallows
fifty or sixty, and after several days thirst, one hundred pounds
of water. Four camel loads of water would in North-eastern Africa,
even among the Nubian merchants, who carefully reckon every pound
weight to be loaded upon their camels, be thought a scanty allowance
for twenty-eight persons, even if they were mounted on camels, for a
journey of five or six days. It is not by a daily allowance of half
a pint mixed with urine, that a pedestrian traveller in the sands
of Africa can hope to support his strength, through the continued
exertions of such a journey; nor shall I ever believe that the Moors
are so much superior to the Nubians, although they may be rather
stronger than Aly Bey el Abbassi, who was perishing with thirst
in a desert of Barbary, of one day’s journey across, fainting at
four P. M. after having drank at noon a large draught. Stories of
long journeys without water are to be placed in the same class with
those of hot winds, overwhelming sands, and the miraculous swiftness
of camels, &c. &c. They all originate in the fancy of Bedouins,
who at the expense of truth, thus indulge the curiosity of the
inhabitants of the towns, gaping at the wonders of the desert. They
can be contradicted only by the few who have actually crossed the
deserts, while they will be constantly corroborated by those who
draw their information only from bragging Arabians or Moors.
I am certain that you take a lively interest in the travels of the
unfortunate Seetzen, who was poisoned five years ago in Yemen. His
labours, I can assure you, have been very extensive, and conducted
in a most enlightened manner. His intimate acquaintance with all
branches of natural history was applied with indefatigable zeal
to countries the most difficult of access, and he had many times
nearly become a martyr to those pursuits, before he met with his
ultimate fate. It has fallen to my lot to trace his footsteps,
in many hitherto unknown parts of Syria and Arabia Petrӕa, and
again in the Hedjaz; these, together with what I heard from the
Europeans who knew him at Aleppo, Damascus, and Cairo, as well
as from many Arabs on the road, have inspired me with as great
a respect for his private character, as the dispersed memoirs
of his researches already published, must give every reader for
his literary acquirements. Although endowed with a lively fancy,
and even with considerable poetical talents, he was a man of plain
truth. If sometimes over fond of speculating upon the facts which
he had collected, yet I am certain that in stating those facts,
he observed the strictest adherence to truth, and I have not the
smallest doubt, that if he had lived to publish the mass of knowledge
which he had acquired during his travels, he would have far excelled
all travellers, who ever wrote on the same countries. Mr. Salt has
lately shewn me a letter which he received in 1811, from Mr. Rutland,
then factor at Mokha, acquainting him with the death of Seetzen,
which had just taken place, and making mention, at the same time,
of several papers which he had left as a present to Mr. Rutland,
who adds that as they are in German he cannot read them. As
Mr. Seetzen would hardly have thought it worth while to make such
a present to a person who could so little appreciate its value,
I am much inclined to suspect they were only left in his hands as a
deposit. Exact designs and descriptions of Mekka and other places,
vocabularies of eighteen African languages, &c. are stated to be
among the number. Seetzen’s friends at Cairo, according to the
common practice of Levantines, amongst whom most of the pseudo
Franks established in these parts must be classed, entirely forgot
him as soon as he was beyond their threshold, and it thus happened
that although his death took place as far back as September, 1811,
in the vicinity of Mokha, where it was of public notoriety, and
that although since the beginning of 1811, no news whatever had been
heard of him at Cairo, yet nobody thought proper to write to Mokha,
for further enquiry, and as late as July 1815, nothing was known
here of his fate. I then received a letter from Mokha, giving some
details of the death of Mr. Seetzen, which I forwarded immediately
to Vienna, accompanying it with a letter of my own to Mr. Hammer,
which he, without being authorized to it, abridged and published,
together with the other paper.
An Italian physician of the name of Cervelli, now established as a
merchant at Alexandria, made four years ago some interesting travels
in the North of Africa; he was attached to the son of Yousef Pasha
of Tripoli, in the capacity of physician, and his patron being sent
by his father to reduce Fezzan, the chief of which had been dilatory
in the payment of the tribute, Cervelli accompanied the Pasha’s
son upon that expedition; they first went from Tripoli by land to
Derne, near to which Mr. Cervelli saw the splendid ruins of Cyrene,
at least what he supposed to be the remains of that town; they went
from Derne to Augila, and from thence to Fezzan, where they remained
about six weeks, and then returned over a chain of mountains,
where he found snow, (for it was in winter,) by Sokhne to Tripoli.
He heard of two English travellers having been at Fezzan, of whom
one died, and the other was never heard of after his departure for
Soudan; the name of Hornemann was unknown to Mr. Cervelli. This
gentleman, although not a man of letters, possesses natural talents,
and a good deal of vivacity and good nature; he told me that he
took many notes, that he has not yet drawn up a journal, but that
he has some intention of publishing his travels: I never could get
him to shew me any of his papers, but I know that he possesses some,
together with a few sketches of drawings; as his time is now totally
occupied by commercial pursuits, I doubt, whether he will ever have
leisure to work up his journal, and therefore, being well persuaded
of the interest which his tour would excite, I have done my best to
get possession of his papers, and offered him a thousand piastres for
them, under the formal promise that if ever they should be published,
it should be under his own name. Since his departure for Alexandria,
I have charged Mr. Thurburn, formerly secretary to Colonel Missett,
and now a partner in the house of Briggs and Co. a gentleman of
much information, to renew the negociation with Mr. Cervelli. He
has lately informed me, that Mr. Cervelli refuses to part with his
papers; but has promised to employ his evenings in arranging them,
as he wishes to publish them himself.
I feel the greatest regret, in being obliged to inform you, in
closing this letter, that I have no well founded hopes of being
able to leave Egypt before next spring. It would be tedious to enter
into all the disappointments I have experienced, by the non-arrival
of the western caravan. If the Committee believes that I am not a
trifler in my duty, they will not doubt that nothing but imperious
circumstances could so long detain me at Cairo. If, on the contrary,
my prolonged stay in this city should give rise to any doubts of
the sincerity of my intentions, I feel that nothing that I could
say on the subject could possibly remove them.
_Cairo, 20th February,_ 1817.
By the present conveyance, I have the honour of transmitting to the
Committee, my journals in the Hedjaz, together with some notices on
the interior of Africa, and a translation from Macrizi, containing
some documents on the history and geography of Nubia and the Nile
countries; which may serve to illustrate my travels in Nubia.
You will be pleased to hear that the colossal head from
Thebes has at last, after many difficulties, safely arrived at
Alexandria. Mr. Belzoni, who offered himself to undertake this
commission, has executed it with great spirit, intelligence,
and perseverance. The head is waiting now at Alexandria for a
proper conveyance to Malta. Mr. Salt and myself have borne the
expenses jointly, and the trouble of the undertaking has devolved
upon Mr. Belzoni, whose name I wish to be mentioned, if ever ours
shall on this occasion, because he was actuated by public spirit
fully as much as ourselves. The Committee need not be under any
apprehension, that this transaction has caused my name to become
of public notoriety in Egypt; which would certainly have been the
case, if it had been known that I had a hand in the business, for
during the fortnight the head remained at Boulak, the vessel was
constantly crowded by swarms of visitors, of all classes. Nobody
knows that I have had any thing to do with it. The Kahirines ascribe
it entirely to Mr. Salt and Mr. Belzoni, who, they say, send it to
England to have it taken to pieces, in order to find the invaluable
jewel which it contains. The residence of the French Savans in Egypt
has not taught them to form better notions, and the same kind of
belief which caused the Shikh of Tedmor to resist my carrying off
a small mutilated bust, found near the portico at Palmyra, still
operates in every part of Egypt.
The peasants of Gourne reported to me, that the French had in vain
endeavoured to carry off this head: and that they had even cut a
hole in the lower part of the bust, to blow off part of the stone,
and render it thus more transportable. I am ignorant for what
reason they relinquished that scheme, but it is somewhat curious
to find that in the drawing which they have given of that head,
in their great work, they have represented it as it would probably
have been, after the lower part should have been destroyed.
The discoveries of Mr. Belzoni in Upper Egypt, are too
interesting not to deserve notice here. He has half cleared the
temple of Ebsambal in Nubia, of the sands that obstructed it. The
frontispiece of the temple, which has thus been discovered, is full
of hieroglyphics; of the four colossi which stand before it, the
face of one only (which I have mentioned in my journal), remains
perfect; one of the three others has been reduced by mutilation to
a mere lump of rock.
Behind Gourne[11] he has discovered a new tomb of the kings, about
one mile distant from the most western “insulated tomb,” as
the French laid it down in their map. He says it is beautiful,
and larger than any of the others, with a sarcophagus in it. All
the paintings are done upon a white stucco, adhering loosely to
the wall, and thus easily to be removed.
By digging at Gourne, in the plain between the Memnonium, and Medinet
Habou,[12] in a western direction from the two sitting colossi, about
half a mile distant from them, he found a mutilated colossal head of
granite, of much larger dimensions than the one he carried off, or
any other at Thebes, being from ten to twelve feet across the front.
You remember the small pond, within the enclosure of the interior
part of the temple of Karnak, towards the side of Luxor,[13] which
encircles on three sides an elevated ground. A row of Andro-sphynxes,
or whatever they may be called, stand there, which the French had
dug up, and of which Mr. William Banks carried off last year the
two best. In digging farther on in the line in which these statues
stood, Mr. Belzoni has discovered eighteen others, of similar shape,
but of much superior workmanship, all in beautiful preservation;
he has brought down six of them to Mr. Salt, who had furnished
him with money for the express purpose of procuring antiquities;
besides the commission to carry off the head. By the side of these
figures he has found another statue, of a hard, large grained sand
stone: it is a whole length naked figure, sitting upon a chair,
with a ram’s head upon the knees; the face and body entire;
with plaited hair falling down to the shoulders. This is one of
the finest, I should say the finest Egyptian statue I have seen;
the expression of the face is exquisite, and I believe it to be
a portrait. From the beautiful preservation of all these figures,
which is so rare in Egypt, Mr. Belzoni argues, that the Egyptians
used this place to hide their idols, when the Persians came to
destroy them, and he hopes, in going up a second time to Thebes,
to find at the same place other treasures. He has likewise found
at Karnak, the four sided monument, with figures in high relief
on three sides of it, of which the French talk so highly in their
work, and of which they have given a drawing. But it was in quite a
different place from that indicated by them, for Mr. Belzoni found
it under ground far to the east of the adytum of Karnak. This,
with a dozen of Sphinxes, he has been obliged to leave on the shore
of the river near Karnak, the boat being already over loaded. The
head alone weighs, I believe, from twelve to fifteen tons.
Mr. Belzoni, who is as enterprising as he is intelligent,
high-minded, and disinterested, further informs us, that he has dug
up the colossus, indicated by the French upon their map of Karnak,
as laying on the N. W. side of the abovementioned pond, under the
name of “Colosse renversé.” He has turned it up, and finds it
to be a torso without head, or feet, about thirty feet in length,
of beautiful workmanship; he says that he has seen nothing in Egypt,
not even excepting our head, that can be compared to it, as it
is a true imitation of nature, not done in the usual hard style,
but according to the best rules of art.
If Mr. Belzoni had had a flat bottomed boat at his command, he
is confident that he should have been able to float down one of
the small obelisks of Philӕ, about twenty five feet in length. He
handles masses of this kind with as much facility as others handle
pebbles, and the Egyptians who see him a giant in figure, for he
is six feet and a half high, believe him to be a sorcerer. Manual
labour is so very cheap in Upper Egypt, that a little money goes
a great way: the hire for a Fellah per day, is about four-pence;
although upwards of one hundred Fellahs were occupied for many days
with our head, and that we paid one hundred pounds for the boat only,
and made a present to Mr. Belzoni, small indeed, but as much as our
circumstances permitted, the total expense incurred by us, as far
as Alexandria, does not amount to more than three hundred pounds,
and Mr. Belzoni’s whole expedition, to about four hundred and
fifty pounds. The Pasha of Egypt is luckily not yet aware of the
value of these statues; if he was, he would probably imitate Wely
Pasha of the Morea, and ask for passage money, for he extends his
extortions over every article of Egyptian produce, and condescends
even to farm out the trade of camel and sheep’s dung. Mr. Belzoni,
who is known in England as a hydraulic engineer, and is married
to an English woman, who has accompanied him to Egypt, entered
last year the service of the Pasha, as a mechanic, but not being
able to contend with the intrigues of a Turkish court, and too
honourable to participate in them, he was dismissed as unfit for
his business, and five months of pay still remain due to him. So
much for the Pasha’s encouragement of European artists. They are
enticed into his service by his emissaries in the Mediterranean,
but are soon left to bewail their credulity.
You will find in the notes accompanying my translation of Macrizi,
the account of some other very interesting discoveries, in the
Eastern mountains of Upper Egypt; and last month, the old and so
often visited pyramid of Djize was so well rummaged, that much
curious new matter has come to light. Mr. Caviglia, an Italian, and
Mr. Kabitch, a German, settled here, formed the project of exploring
the well in the great pyramid. In the course of the operation,
they have discovered that a continuation of the descending passage
leads to a chamber under the centre of the pyramid, and they find
that no other well descends into the passage.