Produced by William Thierens
[p.iii] TRAVELS IN ARABIA
[p.v] PREFACE OF THE EDITOR.
SOME years have now elapsed since two distinct portions of Burckhardtsworks (his Travels in Nubia and Syria) were offered to the public, andmost favourably received; their success being insured not only byinstrinsic merit, but by the celebrity of their editor as a scholar andantiquary, a traveller and a geographer. It must not however beinferred, from any delay in publishing the present volume, that itscontents are less worthy of notice than those parts which have alreadyproved so interesting and instructive to a multitude of readers. It wasalways intended that this Journal, and other writings of the samelamented author, should issue successively from the press: There stillremain, says Colonel Leake, in his Preface to the Syrian Journal (p.ii.) manuscripts sufficient to fill two volumes: one of these willconsist of his Travels in Arabia, which were confined to the Hedjaz orHoly Land of the Muselmans, the part least accessible to Christians; thefourth volume will contain very copious remarks on the Arabs of theDesert, and particularly the Wahabys.
[p.vi] Respecting the portion now before the reader, Colonel Leake, inanother place, expresses a highly flattering opinion. Burckhardt, sayshe, transmitted to the Association the most accurate and completeaccount of the Hedjaz, including the cities of Mekka and Medina, whichhas ever been received in Europe. His knowledge of the Arabic language,and of Mohammedan manners, had enabled him to assume the Muselmancharacter with such success, that he resided at Mekka during the wholetime of the pilgrimage, and passed through the various ceremonies of theoccasion, without the smallest suspicion having arisen as to his realcharacter. (See the Life of Burckhardt prefixed to his Travels inNubia, p. lvii. 4to. edition, 1819).
Recommended so strongly, the work of a less eminent traveller would beentitled to our notice: this presents itself with another claim; for themanuscript Journal was partly corrected and prepared for publication bythe learned editor of Burckhardts former writings. But some importantliterary occupations prevented Colonel Leake from superintending theprogress of this volume through the press. His plan, however, has beenalmost invariably adopted by the actual editor; particularly inexpressing with scrupulous fidelity the authors sentiments on alloccasions, and in retaining, without any regard to mere elegance ofstyle or selection of terms, his original language, wherever analteration was not absolutely necessary to reconcile with our system ofphraseology and grammatical construction certain foreign idioms whichhad crept into his English writings. [It was thought expedient, fromcircumstances of typographical convenience tending to facilitate andexpedite the publication of this volume, that the Arabic characterswhich in the original manuscript follow immediately certain words, orappear between the lines or in the margin, should here be placedtogether at the end, as an Index, with references to the pages whereinthey occur.]
[p.vii] The map prefixed to this volume might almost appear superfluous,since the positions of Djidda, Mekka, Medina, Tayf, and Yembo, the chief