from every part of the Mussulman world, was a party of Moggrebyns,
or western Africans, who were expected to return home as usual, by
the way of Cairo and the Fezzan; it was believed that the caravan
would take its departure from Egypt in the month of December. As
Mr. Burckhardt had now transmitted to England the last of his
papers relating to his former journeys, it was with the utmost
satisfaction, that he contemplated the prospect, which at length
so opportunely offered, of putting the great purpose of his mission
into execution. Feeling strongly armed, in his long previous course
of study and experience, he entertained hopes, not more sanguine,
than reasonable, of being able to penetrate in safety from Fezzan to
the countries of the Niger; and of at last receiving the reward of
his long perseverance, in the acquirement for the public of some
authentic information, upon the unknown regions of Africa. But
the Divine Providence ordained otherwise. On the 4th of October,
he found the symptoms of dysentery, which had for several days
incommoded him, so much encreased, that he applied for relief to
Dr. Richardson, an English physician, who fortunately happened
at that time to be at Cairo, travelling in the company of Lord
Belmore. Thus it is a satisfaction to know, that our lamented
traveller, in his last illness, had as good advice and assistance
as medicine could supply. The disease however, in spite of all the
remedies administered, continued its progress from bad to worse,
with fatal obstinacy, and without any favourable remission. On
the morning of the 15th, conscious of his danger, he proposed and
obtained the consent of his physician, that Mr. Salt, His Majesty’s
Consul General, should be sent for. “I went over immediately,”
says Mr. Salt, in a letter to the Secretary of the Association,
“and cannot describe how shocked I was, to see the change
which had taken place in so short a time. On the Tuesday before,
he had been walking in my garden with every appearance of health,
and conversing with his usual liveliness and vigour; now he could
scarcely articulate his words, often made use of one for another,
was of a ghastly hue, and had all the appearance of approaching
death. Yet he perfectly retained his senses, and was surprisingly
firm and collected. He desired that I would take pen and paper,
and write down what he should dictate. The following is nearly word
for word what he said: ‘If I should now die, I wish you to draw
upon Mr. Hamilton for two hundred and fifty pounds, for money due
to me from the Association, and together with what I have in the
hands of Mr. Boghoz, (two thousand piastres), ‘make the following
disposition of it. Pay up my share of the Memnon head,’ (this
he afterwards repeated, as if afraid that I should think he had
already contributed enough, as I had once hinted to him). ‘Give
two thousand piastres to Osman’ (an Englishman, whom at Shikh
Ibrahim’s[17] particular request, I had persuaded the Pasha to
release from slavery). ‘Give four hundred piastres to Shaharti my
servant. Let my male and female slaves, and whatever I have in the
house, which is little, go to Osman. Send one thousand piastres to
the poor at Zurich. Let my whole library, with the exception of my
European books, go to the University of Cambridge, to the care of
Dr. Clarke, the librarian; comprising also the manuscripts in the
hands of Sir Joseph Banks. My European books’ (they were only eight
in number) ‘I leave to you’ (Mr. Salt). ‘Of my papers make such
a selection as you think fit, and send them to Mr. Hamilton for the
African Association; there is nothing on Africa. I was starting in
two months time with the caravan returning from Mekka, and going
to Fezzan, thence to Tombuctou, but it is otherwise disposed. For
my affairs in Europe, Mr. Rapp has my will.[18] Give my love to my
friends,’ (enumerating several persons, with whom he was living
upon terms of intimacy at Cairo). ‘Write to Mr. Barker.’—(He
then paused, and seemed troubled, and at length with great exertion
said,) ‘Let Mr. Hamilton acquaint my mother with my death, and
say that my last thoughts have been with her.’ (This subject he
had evidently kept back, as not trusting himself with the mention
of it until the last). ‘The Turks,’ he added, ‘will take my
body, I know it, perhaps you had better let them.’—When I tell
you that he lived only six hours after this conversation, you will
easily conceive what an effort it must have been. The expression of
his countenance when he noticed his intended journey, was an evident
struggle between disappointed hopes, and manly resignation. Less
of the weakness of human nature was perhaps never exhibited upon
a death bed. Dr. Richardson and Osman, who has for some time
lived with him, were both present at this conversation. He ended
by expressing a wish that I should retire, and shook my hand at
parting as taking a final leave. So unhappily it proved; he died
at a quarter before twelve the same night, without a groan. The
funeral, as he desired, was Mohammedan, conducted with all proper
regard to the respectable rank which he had held in the eyes of
the natives. Upon this point I had no difficulty in deciding,
after his own expression on the subject. The Arabic manuscripts
for the University of Cambridge are in a large chest, and shall be
forwarded by the first safe opportunity, together with his papers,
which are few, and appear to be chiefly copies of what I believe
him to have already transmitted.”
To those who have perused the preceding extracts from
Mr. Burckhardt’s correspondence, it will be almost superfluous
to add any remarks upon his character. As a traveller, he possessed
talents and acquirements, which were rendered doubly useful, by his
qualities as a man. To the fortitude and ardour of mind, which had
stimulated him to devote his life to the advancement of science, in
the paths of geographical discovery, he joined a temper and prudence,
well calculated to ensure his triumph over every difficulty. His
liberality and high principles of honour, his admiration of those
generous qualities in others, his detestation of injustice and fraud,
his disinterestedness and keen sense of gratitude[19] were no less
remarkable, than his warmth of heart and active benevolence, which he
often exercised towards persons in distress, to the great prejudice
of his limited means. No stronger example can easily be given of
sensibility united with greatness of mind, than the feelings which he
evinced on his death bed, when his mother’s name, and the failure
of the great object of his travels, were the only subjects upon which
he could not speak without hesitation. By the African Association
his loss is severely felt, nor can they easily hope to supply the
place of one whom birth, education, genius, and industry, conspired
to render well adapted to whatever great enterprize his fortitude
and honourable ambition might have prompted him to undertake. The
strongest testimony of their approbation of his zealous services is
due from his employers, to their late regretted traveller; but it
is from the public and from posterity, that his memory will receive
its due reward of fame; for it cannot be doubted that his name will
be held in honourable remembrance, as long as any credit is given
to those who have fallen in the cause of science.
Although the journeys of Mr. Burckhardt in the parts of Africa,
to the southward of Egypt, together with the oral information
which he obtained, relative to the interior regions situated
to the westward of those countries, are the only parts of his
transmitted papers, which belong in strictness to the objects of
an Association for promoting the discovery of the interior parts of
Africa; yet his remarks upon several parts of Syria, the Holy Land,
and Arabia, are so replete with new and accurate information, that
the Association cannot think itself justified in withholding them
from the public. His travels in Nubia, and all his information upon
the north-eastern parts of Africa, have therefore been selected for
a first volume, and it is in the contemplation of the Association,
to continue the publication of his remarks upon the other countries
described by him, in the order of precedence to which they shall
appear to be entitled, by the novelty or importance of their matter.
There remains only one observation to be made by the member of the
Committee, upon whom has devolved the task of editing the present
volume. Although Mr. Burckhardt was gifted by nature with sagacity
and memory for making accurate observations, and with taste and
imagination to give a lively description of them, it must not be
forgotten, that he wrote in a language which was not his native
tongue, which he did not learn until he was twenty-five years of
age, and in the writing of which he had little exercise, until
he had arrived in those countries, where he very seldom heard it
spoken, and where he had still more rarely any opportunities of
referring to English models of composition. When, in addition to
these great disadvantages, it is considered that the journal which
forms the contents of this volume, was only once transcribed from his
collection of daily notes, and was written, as the traveller himself
states, in the corner of an open court, by the side of his camels,
under the influence of the hot winds of the Desert, and under the
sufferings of an ophthalmia, the reader will easily believe that
the Editor has found it necessary to make some alterations in the
diction of the original manuscript. Some changes of arrangement
have also been occasionally required, in order to bring together
dispersed observations upon the same subject, which, having been
noticed as they occurred, are, as usual in the first transcription
of a traveller’s journal, found in such a desultory and unconnected
state, as could not be agreeable to the reader. In these attempts of
the Editor to present the work to the public in a more perspicuous
form, it has at the same time been his most studious endeavour to
make as few changes as possible; for he would much rather expose
himself to the imputation of having left passages liable to be
criticized for inelegance and an idiom not English, than to that of
having, in the remotest manner, injured the spirit and originality
of the Author’s thoughts and expressions, by an ill-judged attempt
to polish or correct them.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Bomba was a Greek colony under the name of
Plateia. It was the first possession of the Greeks on the coast of
Africa. (Herodot. 1. 4. c. 151.)]
[Footnote 2: This Tripoli is distinguished from the city of which
my fellow traveller is a native, by the appellation of Tarabolaus
fel Shark, or Tripoli of the East.]
[Footnote 3: This letter is addressed to Sir Joseph Banks.]
[Footnote 4: Another part of the nation of the Aenezy, who live
in the Nedjd, are faithful Wahabi, and their chief Ibn Haddali,
is the third in command and esteem amongst that sect.]
[Footnote 5: They have not been published, and it is feared the
greater part of his manuscripts are lost.]
[Footnote 6: No description of this journey of Mr. Burckhardt ever
reached the Association. His epistolary sketch of it was lost on
its way to England: and it seems probable, from the following
extract of a letter from Mr. Barker of Aleppo, to the editor,
(dated London, 4th September, 1819,) that no journal was ever
kept. _Extract._—“One hundred and twenty or one hundred and
fifty miles, below the ruins of Membigeh in the Zor, there is a tract
on the banks of the Euphrates, possessed by a tribe of very savage
Arabs. Not far from them is the village of Sukhne, at the distance
of five days from Aleppo, and of twelve hours from Palmyra, in the
road which Zenobia in her flight took to gain the Euphrates. The
people of Sukhne are sedentary Arabs, of a breed half Fellah and
half Bedouin. They bring to Aleppo alkali and ostrich feathers. It
was upon one of these visits of the Sheikh of Sukhne to Aleppo, that
Burckhardt, after some negotiation, resolved to accept the protection
of the Sheikh, who undertook, upon their arrival at his village,
to place him under the care of a Bedouin of influence, sufficient
to procure him a safe passage through the tribes of the country
which he wished to explore. Burckhardt had reason to be satisfied
both with the Sheikh of Sukhne and with the Arab whom he procured
as an escort, except that in the end, the protection of the latter
proved insufficient. The consequence was, that poor Burckhardt was
stript to the skin, and he returned to Sukhne, his body blistered
with the rays of the sun, and without having accomplished any of
the objects of his journey. It was in this excursion to the desert,
that Burckhardt had so hard a struggle with an Arab lady, who took
a fancy to the only garment which the delicacy or compassion of
the men had left him.”]
[Footnote 7: For these names see _Numbers,_ c. 21, 32.]
[Footnote 8: Twat is a country surrounded by the Great Desert,
in the road from Fezzan to Timbuctou.]
[Footnote 9: The Danish scientific mission to Arabia in the year
1761, consisted of five persons. Niebuhr was the only one who
returned to Copenhagen.]
[Footnote 10: The Bahr el Azrak, or Blue river, is called Bahr el
Akhdar by Makrizi, the Arabian historian.]
[Footnote 11: قُرنه, This word means “Corner,” as being
at the north-west angle of the mountain, where it takes a more
eastern direction.]
[Footnote 12: Pococke has led travellers into error by calling this
place Medinet Abou, “the city of the father.” If such had been
the meaning of the name, it would have been Medinet el Ab. But,
in fact, Habou was, according to tradition, an ancient king, of
whom many wonderful stories are told; and it is the firm belief of
the natives, that the object of the French expedition was to find
out the treasures of Habou. The Arabs, who inhabit Thebes and the
adjacent country, are originally Moggrebyns.]
[Footnote 13: Luxor is abbreviated from El Aksor (الاقصر),
an ancient plural of Qaszer (قصر), which is not to be confounded
with Kasser (كسر), a word meaning _ruins_ generally. I have added
the explanations of these names, because I believe them to be new,
and know them to be accurate. The present Memnonium is now called
Qaszer el Dekaky. Dekaky (دقاقي), the prince who is said to
have built it, had, according to tradition, the largest of the
broken colossi erected to his honour.]
[Footnote 14: Addressed to Mr. Hamilton.]
[Footnote 15: Terrick Hamilton, Esq. who has since published the
translation of a part of Osmay’s work.]
[Footnote 16: Addressed to Sir Joseph Banks.]
[Footnote 17: From the time of his departure from Aleppo,
Mr. Burckhardt had continued to pass by this name.]
[Footnote 18: This refers to a will made previous to his departure
from England, according to which, in case he had advanced into the
interior of Africa, and was not heard of by the 1st of January,
1820, he was to be considered as dead. By this will, after shewing
his gratitude to a relation, to whom he had been indebted while at
Leipzig, he appointed his mother residuary legatee for all sums
which might accrue to him, from his engagements with the African
Association.]
[Footnote 19: His present to the University of Cambridge, of the
choicest collection of Arabic manuscripts in Europe, was intended
as a mark of his gratitude, for the literary benefits, and the
kind attention which he received at Cambridge, when preparing
himself for his travels. Of his disregard of pecuniary matters,
and his generous feeling towards those who were dear to him, a
single example will be sufficient. His father having bequeathed
at his death about ten thousand pounds, to be divided into five
equal parts, one to his widow, and one to each of his children,
Lewis Burckhardt immediately gave up his portion, to increase that
of his mother. If, he said, I perish in my present undertaking,
the money will be where it ought to be; if I return to England,
my employers will undoubtedly find me some means of subsistence.]
[Illustration: BURCKHARDT’S TRAVELS.
_To face page 1_
Map _of the_ COURSE of the NILE _from ASSOUAN to
the Confines of DONGOLA._
This Map has been constructed solely from the Journals of
Mr. Burckhardt in the parts above Ibrim: below Seboua the bearings
of the windings of the River, as taken by Messrs. Legh and Smelt were
of some assistance. The Latitude and Longitude of Syene and Philæ
are certain, having been observed by the French Astronomer Nouet;
for the rest we are guided solely by bearings and distances: future
travellers therefore will contribute easily and essentially to the
correction of this part of African Geography, by a few observations
of Latitude on the parts of the Nile here delineated.
W. M. Leake.
It may be inferred from the account which Herodotus has given of
the Island Tachompso, the lake near it &c. that the Greeks had
very little correct information regarding the country above Syene,
for no such island or lake now exists, nor is there any appearance
or probability of its having ever existed.
The Greek Inscription on the temple of Debod copied by
Messrs. Hamilton and Leake in 1802 and another at Dakke, are the
only ones so old as the time of the Ptolemies: all the others are
of the Roman Empire & some of Christian Times.
The following are the names & distances of the anct. places above
Philæ, as given in the Itinerary of Antoninus
M. P.
From Contra Syene to Parembole 16
Tzitzi 2
Taphis 14
Talmis 8
Tutzis 20
Pselcis 12
Corte 4
Hyero-Sycaminon 4
The modern names Tafa and Korti and the relative distances of
the principal ruins leave little doubt of the Site of all the
above places. The entire District was called Dodescaschœnus by
the Greeks & Romans on account of its length. Making use of the
Thebaic Schœne of 60 Stades (Strabo L. 17. p. 804.) and taking
the English Mile at 8½ Stades, twelve Schœnes will be found to
correspond very accurately with the actual distance from Assouan
to Mahárraka measured along the stream.
The first accurate knowledge of the country beyond the Dodecaschœnus
seems to have been obtained by the military expedition commanded
by Petronius in the reign of Augustus.
Strabo, who travelled in Egypt shortly afterwards has left us
an authentic account of it. He describes the Æthiopians to have
been armed (nearly as the Bisharye now are) with shields, axes,
spears, and swords. Petronius having defeated them in the field, took
Pselca, and from thence, having crossed the sands, which in a more
remote age had proved fatal to Cambyses, he advanced to Premnis,
a strong position. He then marched against Napata, the capital
of Queen Candace, took and destroyed it, and returning to Premnis
fortified that place. Here the Roman Garrison was soon attacked by
Candace, and opportunely relieved by Petronius. Pliny speaking of
these occurrences says “Oppida expugnavit (Petronius) quæ sola
invenerat, quo dicemus ordine, Pselcin, Primin, Aboccin, Phthurin,
Cambusin, Attenan, Stadisin, ubi Nilus præcipitans sese fragore
auditum accolis aufert. Diripuit et Napata. Longissimi a Syene
progressus 870 M. Passus.”
Pliny also gives the distance from Syene to Meroe, as reported
by some ~exploratores~ sent there expressly by Nero, but among
the names there are only two of the places above mentioned,
viz. Hierosycaminon, 54 M. P. and Napata 524 M. P. from
Syene. Little illustration is derived from Ptolemy, who names some
of the places mentioned by Pliny but not in the same order. On the
Western bank above Pselcis, he has Phthur, Abuncis, and Cambysis
Ærarium.
_W. M. L. delt._
_Published as the Act directs, 1st Decr, 1819, by John Murray
Albemarle Street London._
_J. Walker Sculpt._]
JOURNEY
ALONG
THE BANKS OF THE NILE.
FROM ASSOUAN TO MAHASS, ON THE FRONTIERS OF
DONGOLA.
* * * * *
After having visited most of the celebrated ruins in the valley of
the Nile, I arrived at Assouan on the 22d of February, 1813, being
actuated by a strong desire of continuing my journey up the river, as
far as I should be able to do it, without exposing myself to imminent
danger. During a week’s stay at Esne, the last town of note in
Upper Egypt, I had collected a good deal of information concerning
the state of Nubia, and had taken my measures accordingly. Amongst
other arrangements, it became necessary for me to purchase a pair of
good dromedaries, one for myself, and another for the guides, whom I
might hire at the several places I should pass through in Nubia;[1]
I therefore sold the two asses, which had carried me from Cairo to
Esne, and bought, for about 22_l._, two dromedaries which proved upon
trial, to be excellent animals; for during a journey of thirty-five
days, from Assouan to Mahass, and back again, I allowed them only
one day’s rest, and generally rode them ten hours per day. There
is a market for camels in Esne, famous all over Egypt, from being
frequented by the Arabs Bisharye and Ababde, who possess the best
breed of camels in these parts of Africa. The Turkish governor of
Esne, Hassan Beg, a native of Cyprus, furnished me, at my request,
with a strong letter of recommendation to the three brothers, sons
of Soleyman Kashef, who at present govern Nubia: and it was hoped
that the increasing power of Mohammed Aly, the Pasha of Egypt,
would render such a letter from one of his principal officers,
of some weight. I had, besides, a firman from the Pasha himself,
but as it was written in Turkish, which nobody reads in Nubia, and
of a general nature, I placed little reliance upon it, further than
as it contained among other names, those of the castle of Ibrim,
and of its governor, which might be distinguished even by an Arab
reader. The letter upon which I principally founded my hopes of
success, was from the house of Habater, the principal merchants
in Esne, to whom I had been recommended by a friend at Cairo. The
Habater have almost monopolized the Nubian trade in dates; they
act as the chargés d’affaires of the Nubian princes in all
their political transactions with Egypt, and being also Sherifs,
or descendants of the Prophet, and men of large fortunes, they enjoy
great credit, and their recommendation may be useful to travellers
and merchants in the whole route up the Nile, as far as Sennaar.
After an easy journey of four days from Esne, I reached Assouan, the
most romantic spot in Egypt, but little deserving the lofty praises
which some travellers have bestowed on it for its antiquities,
and those of the neighbouring island of Elephantine. Hassan Beg, of
Esne, had given me a letter to the Aga of Assouan, to whom I applied
for a guide to conduct me as far as Derr, where Hassan Kashef,
one of the Nubian chiefs, resides: an old Arab, a native of Nubia,
was soon found for this purpose, and after bargaining a long while,
I at last agreed to give him one Spanish dollar for his services
to Derr, which was considered an ample payment for a journey of
140 miles. I left at Assouan my servant, with the little baggage I
had; and after purchasing some provisions, started, with my guide,
on the 24th of February, carrying nothing with me but my gun,
sabre, and pistol, a provision bag, and a woollen mantle (Heram)
of Moggrebyn manufacture, which served either for a carpet, or a
covering during the night. I was dressed in the Thabaut, or blue
gown, of the merchants of Upper Egypt, having quitted my common
Turkish travelling dress at Esne. After estimating the expenses
which I was likely to incur in Nubia, I put eight Spanish dollars
into my purse, in conformity with the principle I have constantly
acted upon during my travels, namely, that the less the traveller
spends while on his march, and the less money he carries with him,
the less likely are his travelling projects to miscarry. After
a journey of 450 miles up the Nile, from Assouan, and the same
distance down again, I returned with three dollars, having spent
about five dollars, including every expense, except the present to
Hassan Kashef.[2] This must not be attributed to parsimony; I mention
it here as a part of my plan of travelling, and by way of advice to
all travellers who visit unknown and dangerous countries in the East.
_February 24th,_ 1813. I left Assouan at noon, and proceeded by
the tombs of the ancient Saracen town of Assouan, on the east side
of the hill where the French under Desaix raised a bastion. A high
brick tower, dedicated to the memory of the Turkish saint, Shikh
Wanes (شيخ وانس), stands near it. The Turkish sepulchres
cover a space of nearly three miles in circumference. Here a
great number of highly esteemed saints are buried, whose tombs are
visited by devotees from all parts of Egypt. The Cufic tombstones are
innumerable, but the inscriptions upon them are not of a remote date:
and the letters are badly shaped. Makrizi, the Egyptian historian,
relates, that in the year 806 of the Mohammedan æra, 21,000 persons
died of the plague at Assouan; a fact by which we may estimate the
importance of the town in those times. About one mile distant from
the tombs begins the brick wall mentioned by Denon, called Hayt
el Adjour (حيط العجور), which continues along the sandy
plain between the granite rocks, as far as the neighbourhood of the
island of Philæ. The inhabitants say that this wall was built by
a king of the name of Adjour. I think it was intended as a defence
against the inroads of the Bedouins of the eastern mountain, at the
time when a brisk overland transport trade existed between Philæ
and Syene. The natives say that it was originally the embankment
of a canal; and Norden is of opinion that in ancient times, the
bed of the Nile was on this side. But this seems impossible, as the
ground evidently rises from Philæ towards Assouan. On the granite
rocks along the road, hieroglyphic inscriptions are met with, which
increase in numbers as we approach the island. There are also some
illegible Greek inscriptions, which probably once recorded the names
of curious Greek travellers. There is another and longer road from
Assouan to Philæ, along the side of the river, by the Cataract.
After riding about four miles from Assouan, we reached an open
plain, free from rocks, on the west side of which the river flows:
here the ruins of the island of Philæ (انَس الوجود),
Anas el Wodjoud[3]) presented themselves to my view. As there was
no vessel at hand to convey me over to the island, and knowing
that I should pass this way on my return to Assouan, I did not stop
any longer than was necessary to look at the granite rocks, on the
banks of the river, where the famous seat, of which many travellers
have given drawings, principally attracts notice. The small village
opposite Philæ is called Birbe, and is the boundary of Egypt. The
different hamlets, from hence down the river, as far as Assouan,
form part of the territory of Birbe; which, in consequence of old
firmans from the Porte, enjoys an entire exemption from all kinds
of land tax. On the south side of Birbe commences the territory
of the Nubian princes, to which Philæ belongs. The natives, in
the invirons of the Cataract, are an independent race, and boast
of the security which the nature of the ground affords to their
homes; many of them inhabit the islands, and support their families
principally by fishing in the river.