COMPREHENDING - AN ACCOUNT OF THOSE TERRITORIES IN HEDJAZ WHICH THE MOHAMMEDANS REGARD AS SACRED.
BY THE LATE
JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT
PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTING
THE DISCOVERY OF THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA
LONDON : HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, 1829.
[p.v] PREFACE OF THE EDITOR.
SOME years have now elapsed since two distinct portions of Burckhardt's
works (his Travels in Nubia and Syria) were offered to the public, and
most favourably received; their success being insured not only by
instrinsic merit, but by the celebrity of their editor as a scholar and
antiquary, a traveller and a geographer. It must not however be
inferred, from any delay in publishing the present volume, that its
contents are less worthy of notice than those parts which have already
proved so interesting and instructive to a multitude of readers. It was
always intended that this Journal, and other writings of the same
lamented author, should issue successively from the press: "There still
remain," says Colonel Leake, in his Preface to the Syrian Journal (p.
ii.) "manuscripts sufficient to fill two volumes: one of these will
consist of his Travels in Arabia, which were confined to the Hedjaz or
Holy Land of the Muselmans, the part least accessible to Christians; the
fourth volume will contain very copious remarks on the Arabs of the
Desert, and particularly the Wahabys."
[p.vi] Respecting the portion now before the reader, Colonel Leake, in
another place, expresses a highly flattering opinion. "Burckhardt," says
he, "transmitted to the Association the most accurate and complete
account of the Hedjaz, including the cities of Mekka and Medina, which
has ever been received in Europe. His knowledge of the Arabic language,
and of Mohammedan manners, had enabled him to assume the Muselman
character with such success, that he resided at Mekka during the whole
time of the pilgrimage, and passed through the various ceremonies of the
occasion, without the smallest suspicion having arisen as to his real
character." (See the Life of Burckhardt prefixed to his Travels in
Nubia, p. lvii. 4to. edition, 1819).
Recommended so strongly, the work of a less eminent traveller would be
entitled to our notice: this presents itself with another claim; for the
manuscript Journal was partly corrected and prepared for publication by
the learned editor of Burckhardt's former writings. But some important
literary occupations prevented Colonel Leake from superintending the
progress of this volume through the press. His plan, however, has been
almost invariably adopted by the actual editor; particularly in
expressing with scrupulous fidelity the author's sentiments on all
occasions, and in retaining, without any regard to mere elegance of
style or selection of terms, his original language, wherever an
alteration was not absolutely necessary to reconcile with our system of
phraseology and grammatical construction certain foreign idioms which
had crept into his English writings. [It was thought expedient, from
circumstances of typographical convenience tending to facilitate and
expedite the publication of this volume, that the Arabic characters
which in the original manuscript follow immediately certain words, or
appear between the lines or in the margin, should here be placed
together at the end, as an Index, with references to the pages wherein
they occur.]
[p.vii] The map prefixed to this volume might almost appear superfluous,
since the positions of Djidda, Mekka, Medina, Tayf, and Yembo, the chief
places of Hedjaz visited by Burckhardt, are indicated with accuracy in
the excellent maps that illustrate his Nubian and Syrian Travels.
Enter page number
Next
Page 1 of 350
Words from 1 to 581
of 182297
