hh

i?

iat

Sa

Pang a ees

Pi ae heel

| ie

iy

ie" wt

iy

i ‘hl H a Nl " i

man

My Ul ae aa K ; ‘ Lt i, iL Ni

ieee A VY CCE. LL Ss TO DISCOVER THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773.

e

IN FIVE VOLUMES.

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

Opus aggredior opimum cafibus, atrox preliis, difcors feditionibus, Ipfé etiam pace fevum. Tacit. Lib. iv. Ann.

o@.

EDINBURG H:

PRINTED BY J. RUTHVEN, FOR. 6. G. J. AND J. ROBINSON, PATERNOSTER-ROW, LONDON. fo

tee

M.DCC,XCc. 4

eed belie

De ee ee

1 BILO~

ie 4 zk

cr 4p

oI <

“yh

ye) HE ftudy and knowledge of the Globe, for _very natural and obvious reafons, feem, in

all ages, to have been the principal and fa-«

wourite purfuit of great Princes ; perhaps they were, - at

VOL. I. a :

DUE Det. C407) Ons

at certain periods, the very fources of that great~ nels.

k i *

Bur as Pride, Ambition, and an, 1 immoderate.

thirft of Conqueft, were the motives of ‘thefe’ ‘Tes

fearches, no real. _adyantage could poflibly accrue é

mankind in etictal: from inquiries proceeding upon:

fuch deformed and noxious principles..

In later times, which have been accounted more:

enlightened, full. a worfe motive fucceeded to that of

ambition; Avarice led the way in all expeditions, cru--

elty and oppreffion followed :. to difcover. and to de-.

-ftroy feemed to mean the fame thing ; and, what was: full more extraordinary, the innocent fufferer was:

ftiled the Barbarian ; while the bloody, lawlefs inva-. der, flattered himfelf with the name of Chriftian:

Wrru Your Majesty’s reign,. which, on many

accounts, will for ever be a glorious zera in the an-

nals of Britain, began the ema ancipation of difcovery

from the imputation of evel and crimes.) ~

ita bain Ce

DPEDICA TIO &.

Er was a golden age, which united humanity and ‘{[cience, exempted men of liberal minds and educa~ tion, employed in the noblett of all occupations, that. of exploring the diftant parts of the Globe, from be-- ing any longer degraded, and rated as little better. than the Buccaneer, or pirate, becaufe they had, till.

then, in manners been nearly fimilar..

Tr is well known, that an uncertainty pat ftill remained concerning the form, quantity, and confift-- _ ence of the earth; and this, in fpite of all their abili-. | ties and improvement, met philofophers in many ma- terial inveftigations and delicate calculations.. Uni-. -verfal benevolence, a diftinguifhing quality of Your- “Mayjzsty, led You to take upon Yourfelf the direc-- tion of the mode, and farnifhing the means of remo-. ving thefe doubts and difficulties for the common. be-- nefit of mankind, who were all alike interefted in

them..

By Your Mayesry’s command, for thefe great pur-- pales, Your fleets penetrated into unknown feas,.

fraught.

DEDICATION fraught with fubjects, equal, if not fuperior, in courage,

{cience, and preparation, to any that ever before had

navigated the ocean.

Bur they poflefled other advantages, in whith, beyond all comparifon,:they excelled former difcover- ers. In place of hearts confufed with fantaftic no- tions of honour and emulation, which conftantly led to bloodfhed, ‘theirs were filled with the moft bene- — ficent principles, with that noble perfuafion, the foun- dation of all charity, not that all men are equal, but | that they are all brethren; and that being fuperior to the favage in every acquirement, it was for that very reafon their duty to fet the example of mildnefs, compaffion, and long-fuffering to a fellow-creature, — becaufe the weakeft, and, by no fault of his own, the

leaft inftructed, and always perfectly im their power.

“Lawse without the ufual, and moft unwarrantable - exceflés, the overturning ancient, hereditary king- doms, without bloodfhed, or trampling under foot, the laws of fociety and hofpitality, Your Mayzsty’s

fubjects, |

PHB t OFA TT ON.

fubjects, biawer, ‘more powerful and inftructed thaa

thofe deftroyers of old, but far more juft, generous,

and humane, ereéted in the hearts of an unknown —

people, while making thefe difcoveries, an empire

founded on peace and love of the fubject, perfectly

confiftent with thofe principles by which Your Ma-_

yesty has always profefled to govern ; more firm and,

durable than thofe eftablifhed by bolts and chains, and.

all dhale black devices of tyrants not even known |

by name, in Your happy and united, powerful and

flourifhing kingdoms.

Wuite thefe great objects were fteadily conduct- ing to the end which the capacity of thofe employed, the juftnefs of the meafures on which they were plan- ned, and the conftant care and fupport of the Public promifed, there fill remained an expedition to be undertaken which had been long called for, by philo-

fophers of all nations, in vain. *

FLeEetTs and armies were ufelefs; even the power

of Britain, with the utmoft exertion, could afford no

VOL. L. b protection: -

dé

We »,

. ta? ,

DEDIG ATION.

protection there, the place was fo unhappily cut off from the reft of mankind, that even Your Mayxesty’s name and virtues had never yet been known or heard

of there.

Tue fituation of the country was barely known, no more: placed under the moft inclement fkies, in part furrounded by impenetrable forefts, where, from the beginning, the beafts had eftablifhed a fovereign- ty uninterrupted by man, in part by vaft deferts of moving fands, where nothing was to be found that had the breath of life, thefe terrible barriers inclofed men more bloody and ferocious than the beafts them- felves, and more fatal to travellers than the fands that encompaffed them ; and thus fhut up, they had been long growing every day more barbarous, and defied, by rendering it dangerous, the curiofity of travellers of every nation.

.

AvTHouGH the leaft confiderable of your Maje- sTy’s fubjects, yet not the leaft defirous of proving my duty by promoting your *Majyesty’s declared

| plan

DED T GA TT GN.

plan of difcovery as much as the weak endeavours of a fingle perfon could, unprotected, forlorn, and alone, or at times aflociated to beggars and banditti, as they offered, I undertook this defperate journey, and did not turn an ell out of my propofed way till I had completed it: It was the firft difeovery attempted in Your Ma jesTY’s reign. From Egypt I penetrated into this country, through Arabia on one fide, paff- ing through melancholy and dreary deferts, ventila- ted with poifonous winds, and glowing with eternal fun-beams, whofe names are as unknown in geogra- phy as are thofe of the antediluvian world. In the fix years employed in this furvey I deferibed a circum- ference whofe greater axis comprehended twenty- two degrees of the meridian, in which dreadful circle | was contained ail that is terrible to the feelings, pre-

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

In laying the account of thefe Travels at Your Mayesty’s feet, I humbly hope I have fhewn to the world of what value the efforts of every indivi- dual of Your Majesty’s fubjects may be; that num-

bers —

BPpEDI(CA TF £ON,

bers are not always neceflary to the performance of great and brilliant actions, and that no difficulties or dangers are unfurmountable to a heart warm with affe€tion and duty to his Sovereign, jealous of the honour of his mafter, and devoted tothe glory of his country, now, under Your Majxsty’s wife, merci- ful, and juft reign, defervedly looked up to as Queen

of Nations. Iam,

SIR,

YOUR MAJESTY’s Moft faithful Subject,

And moft dutiful Servant, Wi:

JAMES BRUCE.

INTRODUCTION.

| 2 pda little the reader may be converfant with an- cient hiftories, 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 fubject of this publication, - from very early ages interefted all fcientific nations: Nor | was this great object /cebly profecuted, as men, the firft for wifdom, for learning, and fpirit (a moft neceflary qualifica- tion in this undertaking) very earneftly interefted themfelves about the difcovery of the fources of this famous river, till difappointment followed difappointment fo faft, and confe- quences produced otherconfequences fo fatal, that the defign was entirely given over, as having, upon the faireft trials, ap- peared impracticable. Even conquerors at the head of im- menfe armies, whohad firftdifcovered and then fubdued great part of the world, were forced to lower their tone here, and dared {carcely to extend their advances toward this difcovery, beyond the limits of bare wifhes. At length, if it was not forgot, it was however totally abandoned from the caufes above mentioned, and with it all further topographical in- quiries in that quarter. |

Upon the revival of learning and of the arts, the curiofity of mankind had returned with unabated vigour towards Vou. I. A this

i INTRODUCTION:

this object, but all attempts had met with the fame difficul- ties as before, till, in the beginning of his Majefty’s reign,,. the unconquerable fpirit raifed in this nation by a long and. glorious war, did very naturally refolve itfelf into a fpirit of adventure and inquiry at the return of peace, one of the: firft-fruits of which was the difcovery of thefe. coy foun- tains *, ull now concealed from the world in general.

Tue great danger and difficulties of this journey were: well’ known, but it was likewife known that. it had been completely performed without. difappointment or. misfor- tune, that it had been attended with.an apparatus: of books and inftruments, which feldom accompanies the travels of an individual ; yet fixteen years had elapfed without any ac- count. appearing, which feemed. to mark an unufual felf- denial, or an abfolute indifference. towards the wifhes of.the: public..

Men, according to their different genius and difpofitions,, attempted by different ways to penetrate the.caufe of this. filence.. The candid, the. learned, that. {pecies. of men, in:

fine, ,

* This epithet given to the {prings from which the Nile rifes, was borrowed: from a very, elegant Englifh’ poem: that appeared in Dr Maty’s Review for May°1786. It-was fent .

to me by my friend Mr Barrington, to.whom it was attributed, although from modefty he

difclaims it. From whatever hand. it comes, the poet is defired to accept of my humble-: thanks. It was received with univerfal applaufe wherever it was circulated, and a confidera-. ble number of copies was printed at the defire of the public. Accident feemed to have- placed it in Dr Maty’s book with peculiar propriety, by having joined it to a fragment of = Asiofto, then firft publithed, in the fame Review. It has fince been attributed to Mr Mafon...

INTRODUCTION. iii

-fine, for whom only it is worth while to travel or to write, fup-

pofing (perhaps with fome degree of truth) that an undefer- ved and unexpected neglect and want of patronage had © been at leaft part of the caufe, adopted a manner, which, being the moft liberal, they thought likely to fucceed ; They endeavoured to entice me by holding out a profpect of a | more generous difpofition in the minds of future minifters, when I| fhould fhew the claim I had upon them by having promoted the glory of the nation. Others, whom! mention only for the fake of comparifon, below all notice on any other ground, attempted to fucceed in this by anonymous letters and paragraphs in the newfpapers; and thereby ab- furdly endeavoured to oblige me to publifh an account of thofe travels, which they affected at the fame time to believe I had never performed,

But it is with very great pleafure and readinefs I do now declare, that no fantaftical or deformed motive, no peevith difregard, much lefs contempt of the judgment of the world, had any part in the delay which has happencd to this publication. 1 look upon their. impatience to tee this work as an earneft of their approbation of it, and a very great honour done tome; and if I had ftill any motive to defer fubmitting thefe obfervations to their. judgment, it could only be that I might employ that interval in polifhing and making them more worthy of their perufal. . The candid and inftruéted public, the impartial and unprejudiced foreigner, are tribunals merit fhould naturally appeal to; it is there it always has found fure protection againft the in- fluence of cabals, and the virulent ftrokes of malice, envy, and ignorance.

A2 . Ir

Gree INTRODUCTION. ‘

Ir is with a view to give every poflible- information ‘to my reader, that in this introduction I lay before him the motives upon which thefe travels were undertaken, the order and manner in which they were executed, and fome account of the work itfelf, as well of the matter as the diftribution of it.

Every one will remember that period, fo glorious to Britain, the latter end of the miniftry of the late Earl of Chatham. I wasthen returned from a tour through the great- eft 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 toa {mall pa-

trimony I had received from my anceftors, in order to em- brace a life of ftudy and reflection, nothing more active appearing then within my*power, when chance threw me

unexpectedly into a very fhort and very defultory converfa-. '

tion with Lord Chatham.

Ir was a few days after this that Mr Wood, then under- fecretary of ftate, my very zealous and fincere friend, in- formed me that Lord Chatham intended to employ me upon

a particular fervice ; that, however, I might go down fora

few weeks to my own country to fettle my affairs, but by all means to be ready upon a call. Nothing could be more flattering to me than fuch an offer; when fo young, to be thought worthy by Lord Chatham of any employment, was doubly a preferment. No time was loft on my fide; but,

juft after my receiving orders to return to London, his

Lordfhip had gone to Bath, and refigned his office..

Tuis

INTRODUCTION. ¥

Tuis difappointment, which was the more fenfible to me, that it was the firft I had met in public life, was pro- mifed to be made up tome by Lord Egremont and Mr George Grenville. The former had been long my friend, but unhappily he was then far gone in a lethargic indifpo- fition, which threatened, and did very foon put a period to his exiftence. With Lord Egremont’s death my expectations vanifhed. Further particulars are unneceflary, but I hope that at leaft, in part, they remain in that breaft where they naturally ought to be, and where I fhall ever think, not to be forgotten, is to be rewarded. |

SEVEN or eight months were paft in an expenfive and fruitlefs attendance in London, when Lord Halifax was pleafed, not only to propofe, but to plan for me a journey of confiderable importance, and which was to take up feve- ral years. His Lordfhip faid, that nothing could be more ignoble, than that, at fuch a time of life, at the height of my reading, health, and activity, I fhould, as it were, turn peafant, and voluntarily bury myfelf in obfcurity and idle-. nefs; that though war was now drawing faft to an end, full as honourable a competition: remained among men of fpirit, which fhould acquit themfelves beft in the danger- ous line of ufeful adventure and difcovery. “ He obferved, that the coait of Barbary, which might be faid to be juft at our door, was as yet but partially explored by Dr Shaw, wio had only illuitrated (very judicioufly indeed) the geogra- phical labours of Sanfon*; that neither Dr Shaw nor San-

fon:

* Fle was long a flaye to the Bey of Conftantina, and appears to haye. been. a man of capa-- city.

Vil INTRODUCTION.

fon 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 feen in great quantities, and of exquifite elegance and per- fection, all over the country. Such had not been their fludy, yet fuch was really the tafte that was required in the prefent times. He wifhed therefore that I fhould be the firft, in the reign juft now beginning, to fet an example of making large additions to the royal collection, and he pled- ged himfelf to be my fupporter and patron, and to make good to me, upon this additional merit, the promifes which had been held forth to me by former minifters for other fervices. |

Tue difcovery of the Source of the Nile was alfo a fub- ject of thefe converfations, 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 [ fhall not fay; but my heart in that inftant did me Juftice to fuggeft, that this, too, was either to be atchieved by me, or to remain, as it had

done for thefe laf two thoufand years, a defiance to all.

travellers, and an opprobrium to geography,

Fortune feemed to enter into this fcheme. At the very inftant, Mr Afpinwall, very cruelly and ignominioufly treated

by the Dey of Algiers, had refigned his confulthip, and Mr °

Ford, a merchant, formerly the Dey’s acquaintance, was na- med in his place. Mr Ford was appointed, and dying a few days after, the confulfhip became vacant. Lord Halifax prefled me to accept of this, as containing all fort of conve- niencies for making the propofed expedition.

e fs 1H THs

INTRODUCTION. | vit

Turs 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 efpe- cially that part neceflary to aftronomy. ‘Fhe tranfit of Ve- nus was at hand. It was certainly known that it would be vifible once at Algiers, and there was great reafon to expect it might be twice. IThadfurnifhed myfelf with.a. large ap- paratus of inftruments, the complete of their kind for the obfervation. In the choice of thefe I had: been aflifted. by my friend Admiral Campbell, and Mr Ruifel fecretary to the Turkey Company; every other neceffary had been provided in proportion. It was apleafure now to know that it was: not from a roek or a wood, but from my own houfe at Al- giers, | could deliberately take meafures to place myfelf in the lift of men of fcience of all nations, who were then pre-. paring for the fame fcientific purpofe..

Tus prepared, I fet out for Italy, through France; and though it was in time of-war, and fome ftrong. objections had been made to particular: paflports folicited by our go- vernment from the French fecretary of ftate,. Monficur de Choifeul moft obligingly waved all fuch exceptions with re- gard to me,, and moft politely aflured me, in a letter ac- companying my. paflport, that thofe difficulties did not in any fhape regard me, but that.| was perfectly at liberty to: pafs through, or remain.in France, with thofe that accom-. panied me, without limiting their number, as fhort or as: long a.time as fhould be. agreeable to me..

“Cn. my arrival, at: Rome I received orders to proceed. to: Naples, there to await his Majefty’s further commands. Sir Charles Saunders, then with a fleet before Cadiz, had orders

| to.

will INTRODUCTION.

to vifit Malta before he returned to England. It was faid, that the grand-mafter of that Order had behaved fo im-

properly to Mr Hervey (afterwards Lord Briftol) in the be~ —

ginning of the war, and fo partially and unjuftly between the two nations during the courfe of it, that an explanation on our part was become neceflary. The grand-mafter no fooner heard of my arrival at Naples, than guefling the errand, he fent off Cavalier Mazzini to London, where he at once made his peace and his compliments to his Majefty upon his acceflion to the throne. |

Noruine remained now but to take poffeflion of my con- fulfhip. I returned without lofs of time to Rome, and thence to Leghorn, where, having embarked on board the Montreal man of war, I proceeded to Algiers.

Wuite at Naples, I received from flaves, redeenied from the province of Conftantina, accounts of. magnificent ruins * they had feen while .traverfing that. country in the camp with their mafter the Bey. I faw the abfolute neceffity there was for affiftance, without which it was impoflible for any

-one man, however diligent and qualified, to do any thing.

but bewilder himfelf. All my endeavours, however, had

hitherto been unfuccefsful to perfuade any Italian to put:

himfelf wilfully into the hands of a people conftantly look- ed upon by them in no better light than pirates.

Wuite I was providing myfelf with inftruments at Lon- don, I thought of one, which, though in a very fmall form and imperfect ftate, had been of great entertainment and ufe to me in former travels.; this is called a Camera Ob- fcura, the idea of which I had firft taken from the Spectacle

3 de

INTRODUCTION. ii

de la Nature of the Abbé Vertot. But the prefent one was conftructed upon my own principles ; I intrufted the execu- tion of the glafles to Meffrs Nairne and Blunt, Mathematical inftrument-makers oppofite to the Exchange, whom I had ufually employed upon fuch occafions, and with whofe ca- pacity and fidelity I had, after frequent trials, the greateft reafon to be fatisfied.

Turs, when finifhed, became a large and expenfive inftru- ment; butbeingfeparatedintotwopieces, the top and bottom, and folding compactly with hinges, was neither heavy, cum- berfome, nor inconvenient, and the charge incurred by the ad- ditions and alterations was confiderably more than compen- fated by the advantages which accrued from them. Its body was an hexagon of fix-feet diameter, with a conical top; in this, asin a fummer-houfe, the draughtfman fat unfeen, and performed his drawing. There is now, I fee, one carried as a fhow about the ftreets, of nearly the fame dimenfions, called a Delineator, made on the fame principles, and feems to be an exact imitation of mine.

By means of this inftrument, 2 perfon of but a moderate fill in drawing, but habituated to the effect of it, could do more work, and in a better tafte, whilft executing views of ruined architecture, in one hour, than the readieft draughtt- man, fo unaffifted, could do in feven; for, with proper care, patience, and attention, not only the elevation, and every part of it, is taken with the utmoft truth and jufteft propor- tion, but the light and fhade, the actual breaches as they fand, vignettes, or little ornamental fhrubs, which generally hang from and adorn the projections and edges of the feveral members, are finely expreffed, and beautiful Icflons given,

Vout % how

x INTRODUCTION.

how to tranfport them with effect to any part where they appear to be wanting.

ANOTHER greater and ineftimableadvantage is, that all land= fcapes, and views of the country, which conftitute the back=-

ground of the picture, are real, and in the reality fhew, very ftrikingly indeed, in fuch a country as Africa, abounding in. picturefque fcenes, how much nature is fuperior to the crea- tion of the warmeft genius or imagination. Momentary mafles of clouds, efpecially the heavier ones, of ftormy {fkies, will be fixed by two or three unftudied ftrokes of a pencil ; and figures and drefs, in the moft agreeable attitudes and folds, leave traces that a very ordinary hand might fpeedily

make his own, of, what is ftill ‘better, enable him with thefe. elements to: ufe the affiftance of the beft artift he can find in: every line of painting, and, by the help of thefe, give to~ each the utmoft poflible perfection ; a practice which I.

have conitantly preferred and. followed with. fuccefs.

Ir is true, this inftrument has a fundamental defect in:

the laws of optics; but this is obvious, and known una-

voidably to exift; and he muft be avery ordinary genius.

indeed, and very lame, both in theory and practice, that can=

not apply the neceflary correction, with little trouble, and: —

in a very fhort time..

I was fo well pleafed with the firf trial of this inftrument: |

at Julia Cefarea, now Sherfhell, about 60 miles from Al- giers, that I commiffioned a fmaller one from Italy, which, though negligently andignorantly made, did me this good: fervice, that it enabled me to- fave my larger and more:

| perfect

INTRODUCTION. xi

perfect one, in my unfortunate fhipwreck at Bengazi*, the ancient Berenice,on the fhore of Cyrenaicum ; and this was of infinite fervice to me in my journey to Palmyra.

Tuus far a great part of my wants were well fupplied, at leaftfuch ascould be forefeen, but [ftilllabouredundermany. Befides that fingle province of ruined architecture, there remained feveral others of equal importance to the public. The natural hiftory of the country, the manners and lan- guages of the inhabitants, the hiftory of the heavens, by a conftant obfervation of, and attention to which, a ufeful and intelligible map of the country could be obtained, were objects of the utmoft confequence.

Pacxine and repacking, mounting and rectifying thefe anftruments alone, befides the attention and time neceflary an ufing them, required what would have occupied one man, ‘af they had been continual, which they luckily were not, and he fufficientiy inftruéted. I therefore endeavoured to— procure fuch a number ef afliftants, that fhould each bear his fhare in thefe feveral departments ; not one only, but three or four if poffible. I was now engaged, and part of ‘my pride was to fhew, how eafy a thing it was to difappoint the idle prophecies of the ignorant, that this expedition would be {pent in pleafure, without any profit to the public. I wrote

to feveral correfpondents,MrLumifden,Mr Strange,Mr Byers, and others in different parts of Italy, acquainting them of my fituation, and begging their affiftance. Thefe gentlemen kindly ufed their utmoft endeavours, but in vain.

B2 Ir

* This will be explained afterwards,

xi INTRODUCTION.

Ir is true, Mr Chalgrin, a young French ftudent in archi- tecture, accepted the propofal, andfentaneat {fpecimen of rec= tilineal architeture. Even this gentleman might have

been of fome ufe, but his heart failed him ; he would have

withed the credit of the undertaking, without the fatigues of the journey. At laft Mr Lumifden, by accident, heard of a young man who was then ftudying architecture at Rome, a native of Bologna, whofe name was Luigi Balugani. I can appeal to Mr Lumifden, now in England, as to the extent of this perfon’s practice and knowledge, and that he knew very little when firft fent to me. In the twenty months which he ftaid with me at Algiers, by afliduous application to proper fubjects under my inftruction, he became a very confiderable help to me, and was the only one that ever F made ufe of, or that attended me for a moment, or ever touched one reprefentation of architecture in any part of my journey. He contracted an incurable diftemper in Paleftine, and died after a long ficknefs, foon after I entered Ethiopia, after having fuffered conftant ill-health from the time he left Sidon.

Waite travelling in Spain, it was a thought which fre- quently fuggefted itfelf to me, how little informed the world yet was in the hiftory of that kingdom and mo- narchy. ‘Fhe Moorith part in particular, when it was moft celebrated for riches and for feience, was fcarcely known but from fome romances or novels. It feemed an under- taking worthy of a man of letters to refcue this period from the oblivion or neglect under which it laboured. Materials were not wanting for this, as a confiderable num- ber of books remained in a neglected and almoft unknown language, the Arabic. I endeavoured to find accefs to fome

of

J a

INTRODUCTION. X1il

of thofe Arabian manufcripts, an immenfe collection of ‘which were every day perifhing in the duft of the efcurial, , and was indulged with feveral converfations of Mr Wall, then minifter, every one of which convinced me, that the objections to what I wifhed were founded fo flrongly in prejudice, that it was not even in his power to remove them.

Aut my fuccefs in Europe terminated in the acquifition of thofe few printed Arabic books that I had found in Hol- _ land, and ‘thefe were rather biographers than general hitfto- rians, and contained little in point of general information. The ftudy of thefe, 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 manufcripts, an opportunity which I did not negleé.

AFTER a year {pent at Algiers, conftant converfation with the natives whilft abroad, and with my manufcripts within doors, had qualified me to appear in any part of the conti- nent without the help of an interpreter. Ludolf* had af- fured his readers, that the knowledge of any oriental lan- guage would foon enable them to acquire the Ethiopic, and I needed only the fame number of books to have made my knowledge of that language go hand in hand with my at- tainments inthe Arabic. My immediate profpect of fetting out on my journey to the inland parts of Africa, had made me double my diligence; night and day there was no re- Jaxation from thefe ftudies, although the acquiring any

fingle

4 =

* Ludolf, lib. i. cap. 15.

X1V IN TRODUC TION.

fingle language had never been with me either an objectof time or difficulty. |

Ar this inftant, inftead of obtaining the liberty I had fo- licited to depart, orders arrived from the king to expect his further commands at Algiers, and not to think of ftirring from thence, till a difpute about paffports was fettled, in which I certainly had no concern, further than as it regard- ed me as his Majefty’s actual fervant, for it had originated entirely from the neglect of the former conful’s letters: di- rected to the fecretary of {tate at home, before my coming to Algiers.

Tue ifland of Minorca had been taken by the French; and when the fort of St Philip furrendered by an article common to all capitulations, it was ftipulated, that all papers found in the fort were to be delivered to the captors. lt happened that among thefe was a number of blank Mediterranean paffes, which fell therefore into the hands of the French, and the blanks were filled up by the French governor and fecretary, who-very naturally wifhed toembroil us with the

Barbary ftates, it being then the time of war with France. |

They were fold to Spaniards, Neapolitans, and other ene- mies of the Barbary regencies. The .check* (the only proof that thefe pirates have of the veflels being a friend) agreed perfectly with the paffport filled up by the French gover- nor, but the captor feeing that the crew of thefe veflels were dark-coloured, wore muftachoes, and {poke no Englifh, carried the veffel to Algiers, where the Britifh conful detect-

ed

* This is a running ‘figure cut through the middle like the check-of a bank note..

> pe PUG ee

INTRODUCTION XV

ed the fraud, and was under the difagreeable neceflity of furrendering fo many Chriftians into flavery in the hands of their enemies.

One or two fuccefsful difcoveries of this kind made the hungry pirates believe that the paffport of every veffel they met with, even thofe of Gibraltar, were falfe in themfelves, and iffued to protect their enemies.- Violent commotions were excited amongft the foldiery, abetted under hand by feveral of the neutral confuls there. By every occa- fion I had wrote home, but in vain; and the Dey could ne- ver be perfuaded of this, as no anfwer airived. Govern- ment was occupied with winding up matters at the end of a war, and this negle& of my letters often brou ght me: into great danger. At laft atemporary remedy was found, whether it originated from home, or whether it was in- vented by the governor of Mahon and Gibraltar, was ne- ver communicated to me, but a furer and more effectual way of having all the nation at Algiers mafiacred could certainly not have been hit upon.

SQUARE pieces Of common paper, about the fize of a quarter-fheet, were fealed with the arms of the governor of Mahon, fometimes with red, fometimes with black. wax,,. as the family circumftances of that officer required. Thefe: were figned by his fignature, counterfigned by that of his fe- eretary,and contained nothing’more than a bare and fimple declaration, that the veffel, the bearer of it, was Britifh proper- ty. Thefepapers were called Pafavants. The cruifer, uninftruc- ted in this when he boarded a veffel, afked for his Mediter- ranean pafs. The mafter anfwered, He had none, he had enly a paffavant, and fhewed the paper, which having no

Beste check,

tél INTRODUCTION.

check, the cruifer brought him and his veffel asa good prize into Algiers. Upon my claiming them, as was my duty, | was immediately called before the Dey and divan, and had it not been from perfonal regard the Turks always fhewed me, I fhould not have efcaped the infults of the foldiery in my way to the palace. The Dey afked me, up- on my word as a Chriftian and an Englifhman, whether thefe written paffes were according to treaty, or whether the word faffavant was to be found in any of our treaties with the Moorifh regencies? All equivocation was ufelefs. I anfwered, That thefe paffes were not according to treaty ; that the word gaffavant was not in any treaty I] knew of with any of the Barbary flates; that it was a meafure ne- ceffity had created, by Minorca’s falling into the hands of the French, which had never before been the cafe, but that the remedy would be found as foon as the greater bufinefs of fettling the general peace gave the Britifh miniftry time to breathe. Upon this the Dey, holding feveral safavanis in his hand, anfwered, with great emotion, in thefe memorable terms, “ The Britifh government know that we can neither read nor write, no not even our own language; we are igno- rant foldiers and failors, robbers if you will, though we do not wiih to rob you; but war is our trade, and we live by that only. Tell me how my cruifers are to know that all thefe different writings and feals are Governor Moftyn’s, or Go- vernor Johnifton’s, and not the Duke of Medina Sidonia’s, or Barcelot’s, captain of the king of Spain’s cruifers?” It was impoffible to anfwer a queition fo fimple and fo dired&. I touched then the inftant of being cut to pieces by the fol- diery, or of having the whole Britifh Mediterranean trade carried into the Barbary-ports. The candid andsopen man- ner in which I had fpoken, the regard and efteem the Dey

i au always

INTRODUCTION. xvii

always had fhewed me, and fome other common methods with the members of the regency, ftaved off the dangerous moment, and were the means of procuring time. Admi- ralty pafles at laft came out, and the matter was happily ad- jufted; but it was an affair the leaft pleafing and the leatt profitable, and one of the moft dangerous in which I was ever engaged.

Aut this difagreeable interval I had given to ftudy, and ‘making myfelf familiar with every thing that could be ne- ceflary to mein my intended journey. The king’s furgeon at Algiers, Mr Ball, a man of confiderable merit in his, pro- feffion, and who lived in my family, had obtained leave to return home. Before I was deprived of this afliftance, I had made a point of drawing from it all the advantages pof- fible for my future travels. Mr Ball did not grudge his time or pains in the inftruétion he gave me. I had made myfelf mafter of the art of bleeding, which I found confift- ed only in alittle attention, and in overcoming that diffi- dence which the ignorance how the parts lie occafions. Mr Ball had fhewn me the manner of applying feveral forts of bandages, and gave me an idea of drefling fome kinds of fores and wounds. Frequent and very ufeful leffons, which I alfo received from my friend Doctor Ruffel at Aleppo, contributed greatly to improve me afterwards in the know- ledge of phyfic and furgery. [had afmall cheft of the moft efficacious medicines, a difpenfary to teach me to com- pound others that were needful, and fome fhort treatifes up- on the acute difeafes of feveral countries within the tro- pics. Thus inftructed, I flatter myfelf, no offence I hope, I did not Mion a greater mortality among the Maho- metans and Pagans abroad, than may be attributed to

WoL. 1 c i fome

=

xviii INTRODUCTION. | q

fome of my brother phyficians among their fellow-Chrifi- _ ans at home. .

Tue rev. Mr Tonyn, the king's chapiain’ at-Algiers, was: abfent upon leave before I arrived. in that. regeney.. The- Proteftant fhipmafters who came into the port,and had. need of fpiritual affiftance, found here a blank that was not: eafily filled up; I fhould therefore have been obliged to» take upon myfelf the difagreeable office of burying: the: dead, and the more chearful, though more troublefome 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 affiflance. .

THERE was a Greek prieft, a native of Cyprus, a very ve=- nerable man, paft feventy years of age, who had attached: himfelf to me from my firftarrival.in Algiers. This man. was ofa very focial’and chearful: temper, and-had, befides, . a more than ordinary knowledge of:his own language. I: had taken him to my houfe as my.chaplain, read Greek. with him daily, and {poke it at times when I could receive. his correction and‘ inftruction.. It was not that I, at this time of day, needed’ to learn: Greek,. I. had tong. un-- derftood that language perfectly ;: what I:wanted was the: pronunciation, and reading by accent, of which the gener-- ality of Englifh fcholars are perfectly ignorant, and to which: it is owing that they apprehend: the Greek: fpoken and: written in the Archipelago-is materially different from. that language which we read in: books, and which a few. weeks converfation in the iflands will teach tl em it isnot. had in this, at that time, no other view tham mere con--. yenience during my paflage through the Archipelago,

| which: .

INTRODUCTION. “xix

*wyhich I intended to vifit, without any defign of continuing

‘or ftudying there: But.the reader will afterwards fee of ~what very material fervice this acquaintance was to me, fo very effential, indeed, that it contributed more to the fuccefs of my views in Abyflinia than any other help that I obtain- ed throughout the whole of it. This man’s name was -Pa- dre Chriftophoro, or.Father Chriftopher. .At my leaving Al- giers, finding himfelf lefs conveniently fituated, he went to Egypt, to Cairo, where he was promoted to be fecond in xank under Mark, patriarch of Alexandria, where I after- wards found him.

‘Business of a private nature had at this time obliged me to prefent myfelf at Mahon, a gentleman having promifed to meet me there; I therefore failed. from Algiers, having taken leave of the Dey, who furnifhed me with every letter

that I afked, with ftrong and peremptory orders to all the officers of his own dominions, prefling recommendatory “ones to the Bey of Tunis and Tripoli, ftates indepen- dent, indeed, of the Dey of Algiers, but over which the circumftances of the times had given hima confiderable in- fluence.

Tue violent difputes about the paffports had rather raif- ed than lowered mein his efteem. The letters were given with the beft grace poflible, and -the orders contained in them were executed moft exactly in all points during my whole ftay in Barbary. Being difappointed in the meeting 2 looked for at Mahon, I remained three days in Quarantine ifland, tho General Townfend, then deputy- governor, by every cil and.attention in his power, ftrove to induce

| 7 ‘cl2 me

xX INTRODUCTION.

me to come on fhore, that he might have an opportunity of

fhewing me ftill more attention and politenefs.

- My mind being now full of more agreeable ideas than what had for fome time paft occupied it, I failed in a {mall

veffel from Port Mahon, and, having a fair wind, in’a fhort |

time made the coaft of Africa, at a cape, or headland, called

Ras el Hamra *, and landed at Bona, a confiderable town, the ancient Aphrodifium +}, built from the ruins of Hippo Re-

gius {, from which it is only two miles diftant. It ftands on

a large plain, part of which feems to have been once over-.

flowed by the fea, Its trade confifts now in the exporta- tion of wheat, when, in plentiful years, that trade is per- mitted by the government of Algiers. I hada delightful

voyage clofe down the coaft, and paffed the fmall ifland Tabarca §, lately a fortification of the Genoéfe, now in the

hands of the regency of Tunis, who took it by furprife,'and made all the inhabitants flaves. The ifland is famous for a coral fifhery, and along the coaft are immentfe forefts of large beautiful oaks, more than fufficient to fupply the ne- ceffities of all the maritime powers in the Levant, if the qua-

lity of the wood be but equal to the fize and beauty of the:

tree.

From Tabarca I failed and anchored at Biferta, the Hippo-

zaritus || of antiquity, and thence went to pay a vifit to. -

Utica, out of refpect to the memory of Cato, without having fanguine expectations of meeting any thing remarkable

there,

* Hippo. Reg. from Ptol. Geog, lib. iv. p. 109. | + Hippo. Reg. id. ib. t Aphrodifium. id. ib, § Thabarca, id. ib. jf Plin. Ep, xxxiii-l, 9.

INTRODUCTION. _ i RARE

there, and accordingly [ found nothing memorable but the name. It may be faid nothing remains of Utica but a heap of rubbith ‘and of fmall ftones; without the city the trenches and approaches of the ancient befiegers are full very perfect.

Arter doubling Cape Carthage I anchored before the fortrefs of the Goletta, a place now of no ftrength, notwith- ftanding the figure it made at the time of the expedition of Charles V. Rowing along the bay, between the Cape and this anchorage, I faw feveral buildings and columns ftill ftanding under water, by which it appeared that old Car- thage had owed part of its deftruction tothe fea, and hence likewife may be inferred the abfurdity of any attempt to reprefent the fite of ancient Carthage-upon paper. It has been, befides, at leaft ten times deftroyed, fo that the ftations, where its firft citizens fell fighting for their liberty, are covered deep in rubbifh, far from being trodden upon by thofe unworthy flaves who now are its matters.

Tunis * is twelve miles diftant from this : It is a large and flourifhing city. The people are more civilized than in Algiers, and the government milder, but the climate is very far from being fo good. Tunis is low, hot, and damp, and deftitute of good water, with which Algiers is fupplied from a thoufand {prings.

I DELIVERED my letters from the Bey, and obtained per- miffion to vifit the country in whatever direction I fhould

ty pleafe, 4

* Liv. Epit. xxx. 1.9,

al

xx INTRODUCTION.

pleafe. I.took with me a French renegado, of.the name .of Ofman, recommended to me by Monfieur Bartheleny de Saizieux, conful of France to that ftate; a gentleman whofe eonverfation and friendfhip furnifh me full with fome of the moft agreeable reflections that refult from my travels. With Ofman I took ten fpahi, or horfe- _foldiers, well armed. with firelocks.and piftals, excellent horfemen, and, as far as Icould ever difcern upon the few occafions that prefented, as eminent for. cowardice, at leaft, as they were for horfemanfhip. This was not the cafe with Ofman, who was very brave, but he needed a fharp look-out, that he did not often embroil us where there was accefs to women or to wine,

“One of the moft agreeable favours T received was from a lady of the Bey, who furnifhed me with a two-wheeled covered cart, exactly like thofe of the bakers in England. In this I fecured my quadrant and telefcope from the wea- ther, and at times put likewife fome.of the feebleft of my attendants. Befides thefe I had ten fervants, two of whom were Irifh, who having deferted from the Spanifh regi- ments in Oran, and being Britifh born, though. flaves, as ‘being Spanith foldiers, were given tome at parting by the Dey of Algiers,

TuE coaft along which I had failed was ‘part of Numidia and Africa Proper, and there I met with noruins. I refol-

ved now to diftribute my inland journey through the king-

dom of Algiers and Tunis. In order to comprehend the whole, 1 firft fet out along the river Majerda, through a ountry perfectly cultivated and inhabited by people under

2 the

INTRODUCTION. Xin

ehe controul of government, this river was the ancient Bag-- rada*.

Arrer pafling a triumphal arch of bad tafte at Bafil-ba, . Tcame the next day to Thuggay, perhaps more properly called-Tucca, and: by the inhabitants Dugga: The reader in> this part fhould have Doctor Shaw’s Work before him, my map of the journey not being yet publifhed ; and, indeed, . after Shaw’s, it is fcarcely neceflary to thofe who need only an itinerary, as, befides. his own obfervations, he had for ba-- fis thofe of Sanfon..

I rounpD at Dugepa a large fcene of ruins, among which: one building was eafily diftinguifhable.. It was a‘ large temple of the Corinthian order, all of Parian marble, the co- | lumns fluted, the cormice highly ornamented in the very beft ftyle of feulpture. In the tympanum isan eagle flying | to heaven,-with ahuman figure upon’ his: back, which, by the many infcriptions that are {till remaining, feems to be intended -for that of Trajan, and the apotheofis:‘of thar em- peror to be the fubject; the temple having been erected by Adrian to that prince, His benefactor and predeceflor.- I: _ {pent fifteen days upon the architecture of this temple with-- out feeling the fmalleft difguft, or forming a with to finith it; itis, with all its parts, ftill unpublifhedin my collection. Thefe beautiful’ and maguificent’ remains of ancient tafte and -greatnefs, fo eafily reached in perfect fafery, by a ride along the Bagrada, full as pleafant and.as fafe as along the Thames

between :

a EEE RE A PB SR LE TET RN SE

* Strabo lib xvii. p. 1189. It fignifies the river of Cows, or Kine. P. Mela lib. i. cap, 7. Sil. It. lib, vi. 1.140. + Ptol. Geog, libs iy, Procop, lib. vis cap. 5. de ARdif..

XX1V INTRODUCTION.

between London and Oxford, were at Tunis totally un- known. Doctor Shaw has given the fituation of the place, without faying one word about any thing curious it con- tains. |

- From Dugga I continued the upper road to Keff *, for- merly called Sicca Venerea, or Venerea.ad Siccam, through the pleafant plains inhabited by the Welled Yagoube. I then proceeded to Hydra, the Thunodrunum f+ of the an- cients. This is a frontier place between the two kingdoms of Algiers and Tunis, as Keff is alfo, It is inhabited by a tribe of Arabs, whofe chief is a marabout, or faint; they are called Welled Sidi Boogannim, the “ fons of the father of flocks.”

Tuese Arabs are immenfely rich, paying no tribute ei- ther to Tunis or Algiers. The pretence for this exemption is a very fingular one. By the inftitution of their founder, they are obliged to live upon lions flefh for their daily food, as far as they can procure it; with this they ftrictly comply, and, in confideration of the utility of this their vow, they are not taxed, like the other Arabs, with payments to the ftate. The confequence of this life is, that they are ex- cellent and well-armed horfemen, exceedingly bold and undaunted hunters. It is generally imagined, indeed, that thefe confiderations, and that of their fituation on the fron- tier, have as much influence in procuring them exemption from taxes, as the utility of their vow.

2 ) "THERE

* Val. Max. lib, ii. cap. 6. § 15. + Ptol. Geog. lib. iv.

INTRODUCTION. XxX¥

Tuere is at Thunodrunum a triumphal arch, which Dr Shaw thinks is more remarkable for its fize than for its tafte or execution ; but the fize is not extraordinary ; on the other hand, both tafte and execution are.admirable. It is, with all its parts, in the King’s collection, and, taking the whole together, is one of the moft beautiful land{capes in black and white now exifting. The diftance, as well as the fore-ground, are both from nature, and exceedingly well calculated for fuch reprefentation.

Berore Dr Shaw’s travels fir{t acquired the celebrity they have maintained ever fince, there was a circumftance that very nearly ruined their credit. He had ventured to fay in converfation, that thefe Welled Sidi Boogannim were eaters of lions, and this was confidered at Oxford, the univerfity where he had ftudied; as a traveller’s licenfe on the part of the Doctor. They took it as a fubverfion of the natural or- der of things, that a man fhould eat a lion, when it had long pafled as almoft the peculiar province of the lion to eat man. The-Doctor flinched under the fagacity and fe- verity of this criticifm ; he could not deny that the Welled Sidi Boogannim did eat lions, as he had repeatedly faid ; but he had not yet publithed his travels, and therefore left it out of his narrative, and only hinted at it after in his ap- pendix.

Wir all fubmuflion to that learned univerfity,I will not difpute the lion’s ticle to eating men; but, fince it is not founded upon patent, no confideration will make me ftifle the merit of Welled Sidi Boogannim, who.have turned the chace upon the enemy. It is an hiftorical fact; and I will not fuffer the public to be mifled by a mifreprefentation

Vou. I. : D of’

ssvi SS NRG ENLaAN.

of it; on the contrary, I do aver, in the face of.thefe fantaf--

tic prejudices, that I have ate the fleth of lions, that is, part

of three lions, in the tents of Welled Sidi Boogannim.. The- firft was a he-lion, lean, tough, fmelling violently of mufk,. and had the tafte which, I imagine, old horfe-flefh would:

have. The fecond was a lionefs, which they faid had that

year been barren. She had a,confiderable quantity of fat- within her; and, had it not been for the mufky f{mell that. the flefh had, though in a lefler degree than the former, ,

and for our foolith prejudices againft it, the meat, when

broiled, would not have been very, bad. The third was a a lion’s whelp, fix or feven months old; it tafted, upon the - whole, the worft of the three. I confefs.I have no defire: of being again ferved with fuch a morfel; but the Arabs, . a brutith and ignorant folk, will, I fear, notwithftanding. the difbelief of the univerfity of Oxford, continue to eat lions:

as long as they exift,

From. Hydra I paffed to the ancient Tipafa *; another- Roman colony, going by the fame name to this day. Here- is a moft extenfive fcene of ruins, There isa large tem-. ple, and a four-faced triumphal arch of the Corinthian or- der, in the very beft tafte; both. of which are now in. the:

collection. of the King.

I ners croffed the river. Myfkianah, which falls: into the. Bagrada, and continuing through one of the moft beautiful.

and beft-cultivated countries in the world, I entered the

eaftern province of Algiers, now called Conftantina, ancient-.

ly.

*-Ptol, Geog. lib, iv. p. 106. a

”

_*

eng eogt

4 , 2) tees poke | j ge ee eee ep) oe ee ee

INTRODUCTION. xxvii

ly the Mauritania Cxfarienfis, whofe capital, Conftantina, is the ancient metropolis of Syphax. It was called Cirta *, and, after Julius Cefar’s conqueft, Cirta Sittianorum, from: Caius Sittius who firft took it. It is fituated upon a high, gloomy, tremendous precipice. Part only of its aqueduct remains: the water, which once was carried into the town, now fpills itfelf from the top of the cliff into a chafm, or narrow valley, above four hundred feet below. The view of it is in the-King’s collection; a band of robbers, the ficures which adorn it, is a compofition from imagination ; all the reft is perfectly real.

Tue Bey was at this time in his camp, ashe was making war with the Hanneifhah, the moft powerful tribe of Arabs in that province. After having refrefhed myfelf in the Bey’s palace I fet out to Seteef, the Sitifit of antiquity, the eapital of Mauritania Sitifenfis, at fome diftance from which I joined the Bey’s army, confifting of about 12,000 men, with four pieces of cannon. After ftlaying a few days with the Bey, and obtaining his letters of recommendation, I proceed- ed to Taggou-zainah, anciently Diana Veteranorum}, as we learn by an infcription on a triumphal arch of the Corin- thian order which I found there. |

From Taggou-zainah I continued my journey nearly firaight S. E. and arrived at Medrafhem, a fuperb pile of building, the fepulchre of Syphax, and the other kings of gies Ste and where, as the Arabs believe, were alfo depo-

ae all | fited

~* Prol, Geog. lib, iv. p. 111. + Prol. Geog. lib. iv. p- 108- $ Vide Itin. Anton.

evil INTRODUCTION,

fited the treafures of thofe kings. A drawing of this monu- ment is ftill unpublifhed in my collection. Advancing ftill to the S. E. through broken ground and fome very barren valleys, which produced nothing but gamie, I came to Jib- bel Aurez, the Aurafius Mons of the middle age. This is not one mountain, but an affemblage of many of the mor. craggy fteeps in Africa.

Here I met, to my great aftonifhment, a tribe, who, if I cannot fay they were fair like Englifh, were of a fhade lighter than that of the inhabitants of any country to the fouthward of Britain. Their hair alfo was red, and their eyes blue. They are a favage and independent people ; it required addrefs to approach them with fafety, which, how- ever, I accomplifhed, (the particulars would take too much room for this place), was well received, and at perfect li- berty to do whatever I pleafed. This tribe is called Neardie.. Each of the tribe, in the middle between their eyes, has z Greek crofs marked with antimony. They are Kabyles:. Though living in tribes, they have among the mountains: huts, built with mud and ftraw, which they call Dafhkras, whereas the Arabs live in tents on the plains. I imagine thefe to be aremnant of Vandals, Procopius* mentions a defeat of an army of this nation here, after a defperate re- fiftance, a remnant of whieh may be fuppofed to have main- tained themfelves in thefe mountains. They with great pleafure confeffed their anceftors had been Chriftians, and feemed to rejoice much more in that relation than in any connection with the Moors, with whom they live in rey

- tual

% Proccp. Bell. Vand. lib. ii. cap. 13,

ere PEPE DAE ey . ee BOTat

INTRODUCTION Ae

tual war: they pay no taxes to the Bey, but live in conftant defiance of him. | |

As this is the Mons Audus of Ptolemy, here too muft be fixed his Lambefa*, or Lambefentium Colonia, which, by a hundred Latin infcriptions remaining on the fpot, it is atteft- ed to have been. It is now called Tezzoute: the ruins of the city are very extenfive. There are feven of the gates fiill ftanding, and great pieces of the walls folidly built with fquare mafonry without lime. The buildings remain- ing are of very different ages, from Adrian to Aurelian, nay even to Maxiriin. One building only, fupported by columns - of the Corinthian.order, was in good tafte; what its ufe was I know not. The drawing of this is in the King’s collec- tion. It was certainly defigned for fome military purpofe, by the fize of the gates; I fhould fufpect a ftable for ele- phants, or a repofitory for catapulta, or other large military machines, though there are no traces left upon the walls in- dicating either. Upon the key-ftone of the arch of the principal gate there is a baflo-relievo of the ftandard of a legion, and upon it an infcription, Legio tertia Augutta, which legion, we know from hiftory, was quartered here. Dr Shaw} fays, that there is here a neat, round, Corinthian temple, called Cubb el Arroufah, the Cupola or Dome of the Bride or Spoufe. Such a building does exift, but it is by no means of a good tafte, nor of the Corinthian order; but of a long difproportioned Doric, of the time of Aurelian, and does not merit the attention of any architect. Dr Shaw

never

* Pol, Geog. lib. iv. p. 151. + Shaw’s Travels, chap. viii, p. 57-

XXX INTRODUCTION.

never was fo far fouth az Jibbel Aurez, fo could only on this from report.

From Jibbel Aurez nothing occurred in the ftyle of ar-. -chite@ture that was material. -Hydra remained on the left hand. I came to Caffareen, the ancient Colonia Scillitana*, | where I fuffered fomething both from hunger and from fear. The country was more rugged and broken than any we. had yet feen, and withal lefs fruitful and inhabited. The Moors of thefe parts.are a.rebellious tribe, called Nemem- fhah, who had fled from their ordinary obligation of attend- ing the Bey, and had declared themfelves on the part of the rebel-meors, the Henneifhah.

‘My intentions now -were to reach Feriana, the Thala + of the ancients, where I expected confiderable fubjects for ftudy ; but in this | was difappointed, and being on the frontier, and in dangerous times, when feveral armies were in the field, I thought it better to fteer any courfe eaft- ward, and avoid the theatre of war.

Journeyine ealt, I.came to Spaitlat, and again got into the kingdom of Tunis. Spaitla is a corruption of Sufferula |}, which was probably its ancient name before it became a Roman colony; fo called from Suffetes, a magiftrature if all the countries dependent upon Carthage. Spaitla has ma- ny infcriptions,-and very extenfive and elegant remains.

There are three temples, two-of them Corinthian, and one of the

® Shaw's Travels, cap. v. p. 119. / “t Sal. Hcl. Jug. § 94. Ly Flor. lib. iii. cap. 1. { Shaw’s Travels, chap. v. p. 118. || Itin. Anton. ps 3.

INTRODUCTION. - Xxxi

tlie Compofite order; a great part of them isentire. A beautiful and perfect capital of the Compofite order, the only perfect one that now exifts, is defigned, in all its parts, in a very large fize ; and, with the detail of the reft of the ruin, is a precious monument of.what that order was, now in the col- lection of the King. .

Docror Suaw, ftruck with the magnificence of Spaitla,- has attempted fomething like the three'temples, in a ftile’ much like what-one would expec from an ordinary -carpen- ter, or mafon. I hope I have done them more juftice, and- f.recommend the ftudy of the Compofite capital, as of the’ Corinthian capital at Dugga, to thofe who really wifh to know the tafte with which thefe two-orders were executed in the time of the Antonines... |

Tue Welled Omran, a lawlefs, plundering tribe, inquieted ” me much in the eight days. I ftaid at Spaitla. . It was.a fair ~ match between coward and coward. With my company, I was inclofed in a {quare in which the three temples ftood,. where there yet remained a precinct of high walls. Thefe~ plunderers would have come in tome, but were afraid of: my fire-arms; and I would have run away from them, had” I not been afraid of meeting their horfe in the plain. I was - almott ftarved to death, when I was relieved by the arrival . of Welled Hafian, and a friendly tribe of Dreeda, that came to my affiftance, and brought me, at once, both fafety and” provifion. -

From. Spaitla I went to Gilma, or Oppidum’ Chilma-. nenfe.’ There is here a large extent of rubbifh and ftones,. but no diftinét trace of any building whatever.

| 4 3 EROM:

Xxxii INTRODUCTION.

From Gilma I paffed to Muchtar, corruptly now fo call- ed. Its ancient name is Tucca Terebinthina*. Dr Shaw + fays its modern name is Sbeeba, but no fuch name is known here. I might have paffed more directly from Spaitla fouth- ward, but a large chain of mountains, to whofe inhabitants I had no recommendation, made me prefer the fafer and plainer road by Gilma. At Tucca Terebinthina are two tri- umphal arches, the largeft of which I fuppofe equal in tafte, execution, and mafs, to any thing now exifting in the world. The leffer is more fimple, but very elegant. They are both,

with all the particulars of their parts, not yet engraved, but.

ftill in my collection,

From Muchtar, or Tucca Terebinthina, we came to Kiffert, which Dr Shaw conjectures to have been the Colonia Affuras of the ancients, by this it fhould feem he had not been there; for there is an infcription upon a triumphal arch of very good tafte, now ftanding, and many others to be

met with up and down, which confirms beyond doubt his_

conjecture to bea juft one. ‘There is, befides this, a fmall fquare temple, upon which are carved feveral inftruments of facrifice, which are very curious, but the execution of thefe is much inferior to the defign. It ftands on the de-

clivity of a hill, above a large fertile plain, ftill called the

Plain of Surfe, which is probably a corruption of its ancient name. Affuras,

From Kiffer I came to Mufti, where there is a trium- phal arch of very good ‘tafte, but perfectly in ruins; the

I " " merit

* Itin. Anton. p. 3. + Shaw’s Travels, cap. v. p. 115. Cel. Geog. Antique, lib. iy. cap. 4. and cap. 5. ps 1186

a

INTRODUCTION. / XXXil

merit of its feveral parts only could be collected from the fragments which lie ftrewed upon the ground. 7

From Mufti * I proceeded north-eattward to Tuberfoke, ‘thence again to Dugga, and down the Bagrada to Tu- nis. 7

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 Car- thage. Thence I came to Jelloula, a village lying below high mountains on the weft; thefe are the Montes Vaflaleti of Ptolemy {, as the town itfelf is the Oppidum Ufalitanum of Pliny. I fell here again into the ancient road at Gilma; and, not fatisfied with what I had feen of the beauties of Spaitla, I paffed there five days. more, correcting and revi- fing what I had already committed to paper. Independent of the treafure I found in the elegance of its buildings, the town itfelf is fituated in the moft beautiful {pot in Barbary, furrounded thick with juniper-trees, and watered by a plea- fant ftream that finks there under the earth, and appears no more. i

Here I left my former road at Caffareen, and proceeding directly S. E. came to Feriana, the road that I had abandon- ed before from prudential motives. Feriana,as has been before obferved, is the ancient Thala, taken and deftroyed - by Metellus in his purfuit of Jugurtha. I had formed, I know not from what reafon, fanguine expediations of ele-

Vou. I. E gant

* Itin. Anton. p. 2. t Ptol. Geog. lib. iy. p. 110,

EXX1V INTRODUCTION.

gant remains here, but in this I was difappointed; I found nothing remarkable but the baths of very warm water* without the town ; in thefe there was a number of fifth, above four inches in length, not unlike gudgeons. Upon trying the heat by the thermometer, I remember to have been much furprifed that they could have exifted, or even not been boiled, by continuing long in the heat of this medium. As.I marked the degrees with a pencil whileI was myfelf naked in the water, the leaf was wetted accidentally, fo that I miffed the precife degree I meant to have recorded, and do not pretend'to.fupply it from memory. The bath is at the head of the fountain, and the ftream runs off to a confider- able diftlance. I think there were about five or fix dozen of © thefe fifh in the pool. I was told likewife, that they went down into the ftream to a certain diftance in the day, and returned: to. the pool, or warmeft and deepeft water, at night.

From Feriana I proceeded S. E.to Gafsa, the ancient Capfaf; and thence to Tozer, formerly Tifurus ||. I then turned nearly N. E. and-entered. a large lake of water called the © Lake of Marks, becaufe in the paflage of it there is a row of large trunks of palm-trees fet up to guide travellers in the road which crofles it. Doctor Shaw has fettled very diftinctly the geography of this place, and thofe about it. It isthe Palus Tritonidis }, as he juftly obferves ; this was the moft barren and unpleafant part of my journey

in

* This fountain is called El Tarmid. Nub. Geog. p. 86. + Sal. Bell. § 94. 4 Itin. Anton, p. 4. + Shaw’s Travels, cap. v. p. 326

INTRODUCTION. XXX¥

in Africa; barren not only from the nature of its foil, but by its having no remains of antiquity in the whole courfe of it. ; |

From this I came'to Gabs, or Tacape®*, after pafling El ' Hammah, the baths which were the Aquas Tacapitanas of ~ antiquity, where the {mall river Triton, by the moifture which it furnifhes, moft agreeably and fuddenly changes the defert fcene, and covers the adjacent fields with all kinds of flowers and verdure.

I was now arrived upon the leffer Syrtis, and continued along the fea-coaft northward to Infhilla, without having made any addition to my obfervations. I turned again to ’ the N. W. and came to El Gemme }, where there is a very large and fpacious amphitheatre, perfect as to the defola- tion of time, had not Mahomet Bey blown up four arches -of it from the foundation, that it might not ferve as a for- trefs to the rebel Arabs. The fections, elevations, and plans, with the whole detail of its parts, are in the King’s collec- tion. 2

T nave ftill remaining, but not finifhed, the lower or fub- terraneous plan of the building, an entrance to which I forced open in my journey along the coaft to Tripoli. This was made fo as to be filled with water by means of a fluice and aqueduét, which are ftill entire. The water rofe up in the arena, through a large fquare-hole faced with hewn- ftone in the middle, when there was occafion for water- games or naumachia. Doctor Shaw +} imagines this was

E2 intended

* Jtin. Anton. p. 4. § Id. Ibid. + Shaw’s Travels, p- 117. Cape 5»

XXXVI INTRODUCTION.

intended to contain the pillar that fupported the velum, which covered the fpectators from the influence of the fun. It might have ferved for both purpofes, but it feems to be too large for the latter, though I confefs the more I have -confidered the fize and conftruction of thefe amphitheatres, the lefs I have been able to form an idea concerning this velum, or the manner in which it ferved the people, how it was fecured, and how it was removed. This was the laft ancient building I vifited in the kingdom of Tunis, and I believe I may confidently fay, there is not, either in the ter- ritories of Algiers or Tunis, a fragment of good tafte of which I have not brought a drawing to Britain.

I continuep along the coaft to Sufa, through a fine coun- try planted with olive-trees, and came again to Tunis, not only without difagreeable accident, but without any inter- ruption from ficknefs or other caufe. Ithen took leave of the Bey, and, with the acknowledgments ufual on fuch occafions, again fet out from Tunis, on a very ferious journey indeed, over the defert to Tripoli, the firft part of which to Gabs was the fame road by which I had fo lately returned. From Gabs | proceeded to the ifland of- Gerba, the Meninx * Infula, or ifland of the Lotophagi.

Doctor Suaw fays, the fruit he calls the Lotus is very frequent all over that coaft. I wifh he had faid what was this Lotus. To fay it is the fruit the moft common on that

-coaft is no defcription, for there is there no fort of fruit whatever ;

* Boch, Chan. lib. i, cap.25. Shaw’s Travels, cap. iy.-p. 114.-

INTRODUCTION, XXXV1i

whatever; no bufh, no tree, nor- verdure of any kind, ex- -cepting the fhort grafs that borders thefe countries before you enter the moving fands of the defert. Doctor Shaw never was at Gerba, and has taken this particular from fome unfaithful ftory-teller. The Wargumma and Noile, two great tribes of Arabs, are mafters of thefe deferts. Sidi ‘Ifmain, whofe grandfather, the Bey of Tunis, had been de- throned and ftrangled by the Algerines, and who was him- felf then prifoner at Algiers, in great repute for valour, and in great intimacy with me, did often ufe to fay, that he ac- counted his having paffed that defert on horfeback as the hardieft of all his undertakings. i

Azsout four days journey from Tripoli I met the Emir Hadje conducting the caravan of pilgrims from Fez and Sus in Morocco, all acrofs Africa to Mecca, that is, from the Weftern Ocean, to the weftern banks of the Red Sea in the kingdom of Sennaar. He was a middle-aged man, uncle to the prefent emperor, of a very uncomely, ftupid kind of countenance. His caravan confifted of about 3000 men,. and, as his people faid, from 12,000 to 14,000 camels, part loaded with merchandife, part with fkins of water, flour, and other kinds of food, for the maintenance of the hadjees;. they were a fcurvy, diforderly, unarmed pack, and when my horfemen, tho’ but fifteen in number, came up with them in the grey of the morning, they fhewed great figns of tre- pidation, and were already flying in confufion. When informed who they were, their fears ceafed, and, after the ufual manner of cowards, they became extremely info-

lent. | At

3

xxviii INTRODUCTION.

, Ar Tripolilmet the Hon. Mr Frazer of Lovat, his Majefty’s - onful in that ftation, from whom I received every fort of

kindnefs, comfort, and affiftance, which I very much need-

ed after fo rude a journey, made with. fuch diligence that. two of my horfes died fome, days after.

I uap hopes of finding fomething at Lebeda, formerly _ . rs ‘Leptis Magna *, three days journey from Tripoli, where are indeed a great number of buildings, many of which are covered by the fands; but they are of a bad tafte, moftly ill-proportioned Dorics of the time of Aurelian. Seven large columns of granite were {hipped from this for France, in the reign of Louis XIV. deftined for one of the palaces he was.then building. The eighth was broken on the way, and lies now upon the fhore. Though I was difappointed at Lebeda, ample amends were made me at Tripoli on my return.

fra

From Tripoli I-fent an Fnglifh fervant to Smyrna with ‘my books, drawings, and fupernumerary inftruments, re- taining only extracts from fuch authors as might:be necef- fary for.me in the Pentapolis, or other parts of the Cyrenai- cum. I then croffed the Gulf of Sidra, formerly known by the name of the Syrtis Major, and arrived at Bengazi, the - ancient-Berenice §, built by Ptolemy Philadelphus.

Tue brother of the Bey of Tripoli commanded here, a young man, as weak in underflanding as he was in health. 2 All

* Jtin. Anton. p. 404. § Prol. Geog. p. 4.

INTRODUCTION. xxxie

All the province was in extreme confufion: Two tribes of: Arabs, occupying the territory to the weft of the town, who’ in ordinary years, and in time of peace, were the fources of its wealth and plenty, had, by the mifmanagement of the Bey, entered into deadly quarrel. The tribe that lived moft to the weftward; and which was reputed the weakeft, Had beat the moft numerous that was neareft. the town, called: Welled‘Abid, and driven: them within. its walls. The in- habitants of Bengazi had for a year: before been la- bouring under a fevere famine, and: by. this accident a- bout four theufand perfons, of all ages and: fexes, were forced in upon them, when perfectly. deflitute of eve- ry neceflary.. Ten or twelve people were found dead every night in the ftreets; and life was faid in many to be fupported by food that human nature fhudders at the thoughts of. Impatient to fly from thefe Thyeftean feafts,. I prevailed upon the Bey to fend me out fome diftance to: the fouthward, among the Arabs where famine. had been: lefs felt..

I: ENCOMPASSED a*great- part of the Pentapolis, vifited the ruins of Arfinoe, and,though Iwas much-more feebly recom- mended than ufual, I happily received neitherinfult norin- jary. Finding nothing at Arfinoe nor Barca, I continued: my’ journey to Ras. Sem; the petrified city, concerning. which: fo many monftrous lies. were told by the ‘Tripoline ambaflador, Caflem Aga, at the beginning of this century, and all believed in England, though they carried falfehood upon the very face of them*. It was not then the age of

“increduliry

Se ee a SE ete te scab call ES ne le DO ae RR PANN SA edt ed

* Shaw’s Travels, fect. vi. p. 1 56.

xl INTRODUCTION.

incredulity, we were faft advancing to the celebrated epoch of the man in the pint- -bottle, and from that time to be as abfurdly incredulous as we were then the reverfe, and with the fame degree of reafon.

Ras Sem is five long days journey fouth from Bengazi; it has no water, except a {pring very difagreeable to the tafte, that appears to be impregnated with alum, and this has given it the name it bears of Ras Sem, or the Fountain of Poifon, from its bitternefs. ‘The whole remains here con- fift in the ruins of a tower or fortification, that feems to be a work full as late as the time of the Vandals. How or what ufe they made of this water I cannot poffibly guefs ; they had no other at the diftance of two days journey. I was not fortunate enough to difcover the petrified men and horfes, the women at the churn, the little children, the cats, the dogs, and the mice, which his Barbarian excellency af- fured Sir Hans Sloane exifted there: Yet, in vindication of his Excellency, I mutt fay, that though he propagated, yet he did not invent this falfehood ; the Arabs who conducted me maintained the fame ftories to be true, till I was within two hours of the place, where I found them to be falfe. I faw indeed mice *, as they are called, of a very extraordi- nary kind, having nothing of petrifaction about them, but agile and active, fo to partake as much of the bird as the beaft.

- Approacninc now the fea-coaft I came to Ptolometa, the - ancient Prolemais {, the work of Ptolemy Philadelphus, the walls

* Jerboa, fee a figure of it in the Appendix. ia: $ Itin, Anton. p. 4.

>

INTRODUCTION. xi

walls and gates of which city are ftill entire. There is a prodigious number of Greek infcriptions, but there remain only a few columns of the portico,and an Ionic temple, in the firft manner of executing that order; and therefore, flight as the remains are, they are treafures in the hiftory of architecture which are worthy to be preferved. Thefe are in the King’s collection, with all the parts that could be recovered. ;

Herel met a {mall Greek junk belonging to Lampedo- fa, a little iland near Crete, which had been unloading corn, and was now ready to fail. At the fame 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 themfelves, and had plundered the caravan of Morocco, of which I have already {fpoken, and that the pilgrims compofing it had moftly pe- rifhed, having been fcattered in the defert without water ; that a great famine had been at Derna, the neighbouring town, to which I intended to go; that a plague had follows ed, and the town, which is divided into upper and lower, was engaged in acivil war. This torrent of ill news was irrefiftible, and was of a kind I did not propofe to wrefile with ; befides, there was nothing, as far as I knew, that me- rited the rifk. I refolved, therefore, to fly from this inhof- pitable coaft, and fave to the public, at leaft, that knowledge and entertainment [{ had acquired for them.

I emBARKED On board the Greek veffel, very ill accoutred, as we afterwards found, and, though it had plenty of fail, it had not an ounce of ballaft. A number of people, men, women, and children, fying from the calamities which at-

Vor, I. F tend

xlii INTRODUCTION.

tend famine, crowded in unknown to me; but the paflage was fhort, the veffel light, and the mafter, as we fuppofed, well accuftomed to thefe feas. The contrary of this, how- ever, was the truth, as we learned afterwards, when too

late, for he was an abfolute landfman; proprietor indeed’

of the veffel, but this had been his firft voyage. We failed at dawn of day in as favourable and pleafant weather as ever I faw at fea. It was the beginning of September, and a

light and fteady breeze, though not properly fair, promifed |

a fhort and agreeable voyage; but it was not long before it turned frefh and cold; we then had a violent fhower of hail, and the clouds were gathering as if for thunder. If obferved that we gained no offing, and hoped, if the wea- ther turned bad, to perfuade the Captain to put into Benga- zi, for one inconvenience he prefently difcovered, that they had not provifion on board for one day.

However, the wind became contrary, and blew a violent ftorm, feeming to menace both thunder andrain. The vef- fel being in her trim with large latine fails, fell violently to leeward, and they fcarce 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 ftruck upon a funken rock, and feemedto be fet down upon it. The wind at that inftant feemed providentially to ealm; but.I no fooner ob- ferved the fhip had ftruck than I began to think of my own fituation. We were not far from fhore, but there was an exceeding great {well at fea. Two boats wererftill towed aftern of them, and had not been hoifted in. Roger M‘€or- mack, my Irifh fervant, had been a failor on board the Mo- narch before he deferted to the Spanifh fervice. He and the other, who had likewife been a failor, prefently unlafh-

-ed

INTRODUCTION, xl

ed the largeft boat, and all three got down into her, follow- ed by a multitude of people whom we could not hinder, and there was, indeed, fomething that bordered on cruelty, in preventing poor people from ufing the fame means that we had done for preferving their lives; yet, unlefs we had killed them, the prevention was impoffible, and, had we been inclined to that meafure, we dared not, as we were upon a Moorifh coaft. The moft that could be done was, te get loofe from the fhip as foon as poffible, and two oars were prepared to row the boat afhore. I had ftript myfelf to a fhort under-waiftcoat and linen drawers; a filk fafh, or girdle, was wrapt round me; a pencil, {mall pocket-book, and watch, were in the breaft-pocket of my waiftcoat; two Moorifh and two Englith fervants followed me; the reft, more wife, remained on board.

We were not twice the length of the boat from the vef- fel before a wave very nearly filled the boat. A howl of defpair from thofe that were in her fhewed their helplefs ftate, and that they were confcious of a danger they could not fhun. I faw the fate of all was to be decided by the very next wave that was rolling in; and apprehenfive that fome woman, child, or helplefs man would lay hold of me, and entangle my arms or legs and weigh me down, I cried to my fervants, both in Arabic and Englifh, We are all loft; if you can {wim, follow me; I then let myfelf 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 diftance as great as poilible. I was a good, ftrong, and practifed fwim- mer, in the flower of life, full of health, trained to “xercife and fatigue of every kind. All this, however, which’might

F 2 have

xliv INTRODUCTION.

have availed much in deep water, was not fufficient when

I came to the furf. I received a violent blow upon my —

breaft from the eddy wave and reflux, which feemed as given me by a large branch of a tree, thick cord, or fome elaftic weapon. It threw me upon my back, made me {wal- low a confiderable quantity of water, and had then almoft fuffocated me.

T avorpep the next wave, by dipping my head and letting it pafs over, but found myfelf breathlefs, exceedingly weary and exhaufted. The land, however, was before me,. and clofe athand. A large wave floated me up. I had the profpect of efcape ftill nearer, and endeavoured to prevent myfelf from going back into the furf. My heart was ftrong,

but flrength was apparently failing, by being involuntarily.

twifted about, and ftruck on the face and breaft by the vio-. lence of the ebbing wave ; it now feemed as if nothing re« mained but to give up the ftruggle, and refign to my def- tiny. Before Idid this I funk to found if I could touch the ground, and found that I reached the fand with my feet, though the water was ftill rather deeper than my mouth. The fuccefs of this experiment infufed into me the ftrength

of.ten men, and I ftrove manfully, taking advantage of

floating only with the influx of the wave, and preferving my ftrength for the ftruggle againft the ebb, which, by finking and touching the ground, I now made more eafy. At laft, finding my hands and knees upon the fands, I fixed my- nails into it, and obftinately refitted being carried back at all, crawling afew feet when the fea had retired. I had perfeccly loft my recollection and underftanding, and after -greeping fo far as to be out of the reach of the fea, I fup-

pote:

INTRODUCTION. xlv

pofe I fainted, for from that time I was totally infenfible of any thing that paffed around me.

In the mean time the Arabs, who live two:fhort miles: from the fhore, came down in crowds to plunder the veffel. One of the boats was thrown afhore, and they had belonging, to them fome others ; there was one yet with the wreck, which fcarcely appeared with its gunnel above water. All the people were now taken on fhore, and thofe only loft who perifhed in the boat. What firft wakened me from this femblance of death was a blow with the butt-end of a: lance, fhod with iron, upon the junéture of the neck with the back-bone. This produced a violent fenfation of pain 3. but it was a mere-accident the blow was not with the point, for the {mall, fhort waiftcoat, which had been made at Al- giers, the fafh and drawers, all in the Turkifh fafhion, made the Arabs believe that I was a Turk ; and after many blows,, kicks, and curfes, they ftript me of the little cloathing I had, and left me naked. They ufed the reft in the fame manner,, then went to their boats to.look for. the bodies of thofe that were drowned.. Pe

Arter thie difcipline Had received, I had: walked, or crawled up among fome white, fandy hillocks, where [| fat down and concealed myfelf as muchas poflible.. The wea- ther was then warm, but the evening promifed to be cooler,. and it was faft drawing.on;,there was great danger to be ap- prehended if I approached the tents where the women were: while I was naked, for in this cafe it was very probable f. would receive another baftinado fomething worfe than the firft. Still I was fo confufed that J had nor recollected I could {peak to them in their own language, and it now on--

ly

xlvi INTRODUCTION.

ly came into my mind, that by the gibberifh, in imi- tation of Turkifh, which the Arab had uttered to me while he was beating and ftripping me, he took me for a Turk, and to this in all probability the ill-ufage was owing.

Aw old man and a number of young Arabs came up to me where | was fitting. I gave them the falute Salam Ali- cum! which was only returned by one young man, in a tone as if he wondered at my impudence. The old man then afked me, Whether I was a Turk, and what I had to do there? I replied, I was no Turk, but a poor Chriftian phy- fician, a Dervifh that went about the world feeking to do good for God’s fake, was then flying from famine, and going to Greece to get bread. He then afked me if I was a Cre- tan? I faid, I had never been in Crete, but came from Tu- nis, and was returning to that town, having loft every thing I had in the fhipwreck of that veffel. Ifaid this in fo def- pairing atone, that there was no doubt left with the Arab that the fact was true. A ragged, dirty baracan was imme- diately thrown over me, and I was ordered up to a tent, in the end of which ftood a long eae thruft through it, a mark of fovereignty.

I ruERe faw the Shekh of the tribe, who being in peace with the Bey of Bengazi, and alfo with the Shekh of Ptolo- meta, after many queftions ordered me a plentiful fupper, of which all my fervants partook, none of them having pe- rifhed. A multitude of confultations followed on their com- plaints, of which I freed myfelf in the beft manner ] could, alledging the lofs of all my medicines, in order to induce

fome of them to feek for the fextant at leaft, but all to no 1 purpofe,

INTRODUCTION. xIvil

purpofe, fo that, after flaying two days among them, the Shekh reftored 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 fecond day in the evening. Thence I fent a compliment to the Shekh, and with it a man from the Bey, intreating that he would ufe all poffible means to fifh up fome of my cafes, for which I affured him he fhould not mifs a handfome re- ward. Promifes and thanks were returned, but I never heard further of my inftruments; all I recovered was a filver watch of Fllicot, the work of which had been taken out and broken,fome pencils, and a {mall port-folio, inwhich were fketches of Ptolemeta; my pocket-book too was found, but my pencil was loft, being in a common filver cafe, and with them all the aftronomical obfervations which I had made in Barbary. I there loft a fextant, a parallactic in- ftrument, a time-piece, a reflecting telefcope, an achromatic one, with many drawings, a copy of M. de la Caille’s ephe- merides down to the year 1775, much to be regretted, as be- ing fuil of manufcript marginal notes ; a {mall camera ob- fcura, fome guns, piftols, a blunderbufs, and feveral other articles.

I FounD at Bengazi a {mall French floop, the mafter of which had been often at Algiers when I was conful there. { had even, as the mafter remembered, done him fome lit- tle fervice, for which, contrary to the cuftom of that fort 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 buta mite compared to the neceflities of the place; it only re-

lieved

xiv INTRODUCTION.

lieved the foldiers for a time, and many people of all ages. and fexes were ftill dying every day.

Tue harbour of Bengazi is full of fifth, and my company

caught a great quantity with a {mall net; we likewife pro-

cured a multitude with the line, enough to have maintain- ed a larger number of perfons than the family confifted of ;

we got vinegar, pepper, and fome {tore of onions ; we had.

little bread itis true, but ftill our induftry kept us very far from flarving. We endeavoured to inftruct thefe wretches, gave them pack-thread, and fome coarfe hooks, by which they might have fubfifted with the fmalleft attention and trouble ; but they would rather ftarve in multitudes, ftriving to pick up fingle grains of corn, that were {cattered upon the beach by the burfting of the facks, or the inattention of the mariners, than take the pains to watch one hour at the flow- ing of the tide for excellent fifh, where, after taking one, they were fure of being mafters of multitudes till it was high water.

Tue Captain of the fmall veffel loft no time. He had

done his bufinefs well, and though he was returning for.

another cargo, yet he offered me what part of his funds I fhould need with great franknefs, We now failed with a fair wind, and in four or five days eafy weather landed at Canea, a confiderable fortified place at the weft end of the ifland of Crete. Here I was taken dangeroufly ill, occafion- ed by the bathing and extraordinary exertions in the fea of Prolometa, nor was J in the leaft the better from the beat- ing I had received, figns of which I bore very long after- wards.

4, i _ From

INTRODUCTION. ©... xlix

From Canea I failed for Rhodes, and there met my books ; I then proceeded to Caftelroffo, on the coaft of Caramania, and was there credibly informed that there were very mag- nificent remains of ancient buildings a fhort way from the fhore, on the oppofite continent. Caramania is a part of Afia Minor yet unexplored. But my illnefs increafing, it was impoflible to execute, or take any meafures to fecure protection, or do the bufinefs fafely, and I was forced to relinguitn this difcovery to {ome more fortunate traveller.

Mr Pzyssonet, French conful at Smyrna, a man not more diftinguifhed for his amiable manners than for his polite tafte in literature, of which he has given {feveral elegant fpecimens, furnifhed me with letters for that part of Gara- mania, or Afia Minor, and there is no doubt but they would have been very efficacious. What increafed the obligation for this kind attention fhewn, was, that I had never feen Mr Peyffonel ; and I am truly mortified, that, fince my arri- val in England, | have had no opportunity to return my grateful thanks for this kindnefs, which I therefore beg that he will now accept, together with a copy of thefe tra- vels, which I have oe my French book{eller to forward to him. ,

From Caftelroffo I continued, without any thing remark- able, till I came to Cyprus; I ftaid there but half a day, and arrived at Sidon, where I was moft kindly received by Mr Clerambaut, brother-in-law to Mr Peyffonel, and French | conful at this place; a man in politenefs, humanity, and — every focial quality of the mind, inferior to none I have ever known. With him, and a very flourifhing, well-informed, and induftrious nation, I continued for fome time, then

Vou. I, Go: in

] INTRODUCTION.

in a weak ftate of health, but ftill making partial excur- . fions from time to time into the continent of Syria, through Libanus, and Anti Libanus; but as I made thefe without | inftruments, and paffed pretty much in the way of the tra- vellers who have defcribed thefe countries before, I leave the hiftory to thofe gentlemen, without fwelling, by entering into particular narratives, this Introduction, already ‘too long.

Wuite at CanealI wrote by way of France, and again while at Rhodes by way of Smyrna, to particular friends both in London and Franee, informing them of my difaftrous fituation, and defiring them to fend me a moveable qua- drant or fextant, as near as poffible to two feet radius, more or lefs, a time-keeper, flop-watch, a reflecting telefcope, and one of Dolland’s achromatic ones, as near as poflible to three-feet reflectors, with feveral other articles which I then. wanted.

I recervep from Paris and London much about the fame time, and as if .it had been dictated by the fame perfon, nearly the fame anfwer, which was this, That everybody was employed in making inftruments for Danifh, Swedith, and: other foreign aftronomers ; that all thofe which were completed had been bought up, and without waiting a confiderable, indefinite time, not! ung couldbe hadthat could be depended upon. At the fame time I was told, to my ereat mortification, that no accounts ot me had arrived from Africa, unlefs from feveral idle letters, which had been in- - duftrioufly wrote by a gentleman whofe name | .abftain from mentioning, firft, becaufe he is dead, and next, out of. refpect to his truly great and worthy relations.. 3s In.

-

INTRODUCTION. li

_ In thefe letters it was announced, that I was gone with a Ruffian caravan through the Curdiftan, where I was to obferve the tranfit of Venus in a place where it was not vi- fible, and that I was to proceed to China, and return by the

- way of the Eaft Indies :—a ftory which fome of his correfpon-

dents, as profligate as himfelf, induftrioufly 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

-myfelf fo treated in return for fo complete a journey as I

had then actually terminated, thought it below me to fa- crifice the beft years of my life to daily pain and danger, when the impreflion it made in the breafts of my country- men feemed to be fo weak, fo infinitely unworthy of them or me. One thing only detained me from returning home; it was my defire of fulfilling my promife to my Sovereign, and of adding the ruins of Palmyra to thofe of Africa, al- ready fecured and out of danger.

In my anger I renounced all thoughts of the attempt to difcover the fources of the Nile, and I repeated my orders no more for either quadrant, telefcope, or time-keeper. _ I had pencils and paper; and luckily my large camera obfcu- ra, which had efcaped the cataftrophe of Prolometa, was ar- rived from Smyrna, and then ftanding before me. I there- fore began to caft about, with my ufual care and anxiety, —

_ for the means of obtaining feafible and fafe methods of re-

peating the famous journey to Palmyra. I found it was neceflary to advance nearer the fcene of action. Mr Abbot, Britith conful for Tripoli in Syria, kindly invited me, and

G2 after

et

hi INTRODUCTION.

after him Mr Vernon, his fucceffor, a very excellent man, to take up my refidence there. From Tripoli there is a trade in kelp carried on to the falt marfhes near Palmyra. The Shekh of Cariateen, a town juft upon the edge of the defert, had a contract with the bafha of Tripoli for a quan- tity of this herb for the ufe of the foap-works. I loft no time in making a friendfhip with this man, but his return

_ amounted to no more than to endeavour to lead me rafhly

into real danger, where he knew he had not confequence enough to give me a moment’s protection.

THERE are two tribes almoft equally powerful who inha- bit the deferts round Palmyra; the one is the Annecy, re- markable for the fineft breed of horfes in the world ; the other is the Mowalli, much better foldiers, but fewer in number, and very httle inferior in the excellence of their horfes. The Annecy poffefs the country towards the S. W.

at the back of Libanus, about Bozra down the Hawran, and.

fouthward towards the borders of Arabia Petrea and Mount Horeb. The Mowalli inhabit the plains eaft of Damafcus 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 moft dangerous time for ftrangers to have any dealings with either. I learned ‘this as a certainty from a friend at Hailia, where a Shekh lives, to whom I was re- commended by a letter, as a friend of the bafha of Damaf- cus. This man maintains his influence, not by a number of forces, but by conftantly marrying a relation of one or both of thefe tribes of Arabs, who for that reafon afiift him in maintaining the fecurity of his road, and he has the care

3 of.

INTRODUCTION. hi

of that part of it by which the couriers pafs from Conftan- tinople into Egypt, belonging to both thefe tribes, who were then at a diftance from each other, and roved in flying fquadrons all round Palmyra, by way of maintaining their right of pafture in places that neither of them chofe at that time to occupy. Thefe, I fuppofe, are what the Englith writers call Wild Arabs, for otherwife, though they are all wild enough, | do not know one wilder than another. This is very certain, thefe young men, compofing the flying par-. ties I {peak of, are truly wild while at a diftance from their campand government; andtheftranger that fallsinunawares ~ - with them, and efcapes with his life, may fet himfelf down. as a fortunate traveller.

_ Returnine from Haffia I would have gone fouthward to Baalbec, but it was then befieged by Emir Youfef prince of the Drufes, a Pagan nation, living upon mount Libanus. Upon that I returned to Tripoli, in Syria, and after fome time fet out for Aleppo, travelling northward along the plain of. Jeune betwixt mount Lebanon and the fea. r |

I visireD the ancient. Byblus, and bathed with pleafure -in the river Adonis. All here is claffic ground. I faw feve- ral confiderable ruins of Grecian architecture all very much defaced. Thefe are already publifhed by Mr Drummond, and therefore I left them, being never defirous of interfer ing with the works. of others.

I passep Latikea, formerly Laodicea ad Mare, and then came to Antioch, and afterwards to Aleppo. The fever and. ague, which I had firft caught in my cold bath at Bengazi, had returned upon me with great violence, after pafling

one:

Liv _ INTRODUCTION.

one night encamped in the mulberry gardens behind Si- don. It had. returned in very flight paroxyfms feveral times, but laid hold of me with more than ordinary violence on my arrival at Aleppo, where I came juft in time to the houfe of Mr Belville, a French merchant, to whom I was addreffed for my credit. Never was a more lucky addrefs, never was there a foul fo congenial to my own as was that of Mr Belville: to fay more after this would be praifing my-

felf. To him was immediately added Doctor Patrick Ruflel, _ phyfician to the Britith factory there. Without the atten- tion and friendfhip of the one, and the {kill and anxiety of the other of thefe gentlemen, it is probable my travels would have ended at Aleppo. I recovered flowly. By the report of thefe two gentlemen, though I had yet feen no- body, I became a public care, nor did I ever pafs more agree- able hours than with Mr Thomas the French conful, his fa- mily, and the merchants eftablifhed there. From Doctor Ruf fell was fupplied with what I wanted, fome books, and much inftruétion. Noboby knew the difeafes of the Eaft fo well; and perhaps my efcaping the fever at Aleppo was not the only time in which | owed him my life.

BEeinc now reftored to health, my firft object was the journey to Palmyra. The Mowalli were encamped at no great diftance from Aleppo. It was without difficulty I'found a fure way to explain my withes, and to fecure the affiftance 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, trouble- fome, uncertain, and expenfive, and that he did not wifh me to undertake it at that time. It is quite fuperfluous in thefe

| cafes

<p oe

INTRODUCTION. Iv

cafes to prefs for particular information; an Arab conduc¢tor,. who proceeds with caution, furely means you well. He told me that he would leave a friend in the houfe of a cer- tain Arab at Hamath*, about half-way to Palmyra, and if in fomething more than a month | came there, and found that Arab, I might rely upon him without fear, and he would conduct me in fafety to Palmyra.

I RETURNED to Tripoli, and at the time appointed fet out for Hamath, found my conductor, and proceeded to Hafiia, | Coming from Aleppo, 1! had not pafled the lower way again by Antioch.- The river which pafles through the plains. where they cultivate their beft tobacco, is the Orontes; ic was fo {wollen with rain; which had fallen in the mountains, that the ford was no longer vifible Stopping at two mifer- able huts inhabited by a bafe fet called (urcomans, I afked the mafter of one of them to fhew me the ford, which he very readily undertook to do, and I went, for the length of fome yards, on rough, but very hard and folid ground. The current before me was, however, fo violent, that | had more than once a defire to turn back, but, not fufpecting any thing, I continued, when on a fudden man and horfe fell. out of their depth into the river.

I wap a rifled gun flung acrofs my fhoulder, with a buff belt and iwivel. As long as that held, it fo embarrafled my: hands and legs that I could not fwim, and muft have funk; but luckily the fwivel gave way, the gun fell to the bottom of the river, and was pickt up in dry weather by order of

the

So TEST TE Oe SEL a ea STIG PAE are * The north boundary of the Holy Land..

Ivy ~\s INTRODUCTION.

the bafha, at the defire of the French merchants, who kept it for a relict. J and my horfe fwam feparately afhore; at a fmall diftance from thence was a caphar*, or turnpike, to

which, when I came to dry myfelf, the man told me, that

the place where I had croffed was the remains of a ftone bridge now entirely carried away ; where [had firft enter- ed was.one of the wings of the bridge, from which I had fallen into the fpace the firft arch occupied, one of the deepeft parts of the river; that the people who had mif- guided me were an infamous fet of banditti, and that I might be thankfulon many accounts that I had made fuch an efcape from them, and was now on the oppofite fide. I

then prevailed on the caphar-man to fhew my fervants the .

right ford.

From Haflia we proceeded with our conductor to Caria- teen, where there is an immentfe {pring of fine water, which overflows into a large pool. Here, to our great furprife, we found about two thoufand of the Annecy encamped, who

were quarrelling with Haffan our old friend, the kelp-mer-.

chant. This was nothing to us; the quarrel between the Mowalli and Annecy had it feems been made up; for an

old man from each tribe on horfeback accompanied us to —

Palmyra: the tribes gave us camels for more commodious travelling, and we pafled the defert between Cariateen and Palmyra in a day and two nights, going conftantly without fleeping.

Just

* Tt is a poft where a party of men are kept to receive a contribution, for maintaining the fecurity of the roads, from all paffengers.

~~

INTRODUCTION, Ivii

Just before we came in fight of the ruins, we afcended a hill of white gritty ftone, in a very narrow-winding road, fuch as we call a pafs, and, when arrived at the top, there opened before us the moft aftonifhing, ftupendous fight that perhaps ever appeared to mortal eyes. The whole plain below, which was very extenfive, was covered fo thick with magnificent buildings as that the one feemed to touch the other, all of fine proportions, all of agreeable forms, all com- pofed of white ftones, which at that diftance appeared like marble. At the end of it ftood the palace of the fun, a building worthy to clofe fo magnificent a fcene.

Ir was impoflible for two perfons to think of defigning ornaments, or taking meafures, and there feemed the lefs occafion for this as Mr Wood had done this part already. . I had no intention to publifh any thing concerning Palmyra ; befides, it would have been a violation of my firft principle not tointerfere with the labours of others; and if this was a rule I inviolably obferved as to ftrangers, every fentiment of reafon and gratitude obliged me to pay the fame refpect to the labours of Mr Wood my friend.

I pivipep Palmyra into fix angular views, always bring- ing forward to the firft ground an edifice, or principal group of columns, that deferved it. The ftate of the buildings are particularly favourable forthis purpofe. The columns are al! uncovered to the very bafes, the foil upon which the town is built being. hard and fixed ground. Thefe views are all upon large paper; the columns in fome of them are a foot long ; the figures in the fore-ground of the temple of the fun are fome of them near four inches, 2 . Vout H BEFORE

Iviii INTRODUCTION.

Berore our departure from Palmyra I obferved its Iati- tude with a Hadley’s quadrant from reflection. The in- ftrament had probably warped in carriage, as the index went unpleafantly, and as it were by ftarts, fo that I will not pretend to give this for an exact obfervation ; 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 diftance from the coaft ina ftraight line ‘being 160 miles, and that remarkable mountainous cape on the coaft of Syria, between Byblus and Tripoli, known by the mame of Theoprofopon, being nearly due weft, or under the:

fame parallel with Palmyra, I conceive the longitude of

that city to be nearly 37° 9’ from the obfervatory of Green- ‘wich.

From Palmyra I proceeded to Baalbec, diftant about 130 miles, and arrived the fame day that Emir Youfef had:

reduced the town and fettled the government, and was de-

camping from it on his return home. This was the- luckieft moment poffible for me, as I was the Emir’s friend, —

and I obtained liberty to do there what I pleafed, and to this indulgence was added the great convenience of the

Emir’s abfence, fo that I was not troubled by the obfervance- of any court-ceremony or attendance, or teazed with im-.

pertinent queftions.

Baatsec is pleafantly fituated in a plain on the welt of Anti Libanus, is finely watered, and abounds in gar- |

dens. It is about fifty miles from Haflia, and about thirty. from the neareft fea-coaft, which is the fituation of the an-

cient Byblus. The interior of the great temple of Baalbec,.

fuppofed to be that of the fun, furpafles any thing at Pal- | - « mayra,

INTRODUCTION, lix

myra, indeed any fculpture I ever remember to have feen in ftone. All thefe views of Palmyra and Baalbec are now in the King’s collection, They are the moft magnificent offering in their line that ever was made by one fubject ta his fovereign.

Passing by Tyre, from curiofity only, I came to be a mournful witnefs of the truth of that prophecy, That Tyre, the queen of nations, fhould be a rock for fifhers to dry their nets on*. Two wretched fifhermen, with miferable nets, having juft given over their occupation with very little fuccefs, I engaged them, at the expence of their nets, to drag in thofe places where they faid fhell-fifh might be caught, in hopes to have brought out one of the famous ‘purple-fifh. I did not fucceed, but in this I was, I believe, as lucky as the old fifhers had ever been. The purple fifh at Tyre feems to have been only a concealment of their Know- _ ledge of cochineal, as, had they depended upon the fifh for their dye, if the whole city of Tyre applied to nothing elfe but fifhing, they would not have coloured twenty yards of cloth in a year. Much fatigued, but fatisfied beyond mea- fure with what I had feen, I arrived in perfect health, and in the gayeft humour poffible, at the hofpitable manfion of M. Clerambaut at Sidon.

I rounp there letters from Europe, which were in a very different ftyle from the laft. From London, my friend Mr Ruffel acquainted me, that he had fent me an excellent reflecting telefcope of two feet focal length, moved by

2 rack-~

* Ezek. chap. xxvi. ver. 5.

1x INTRODUCTION.

rack-work, and the laft Mr Short ever made, which proved a very excellent inflrument; alfo an achromatic telefcope by Dolland, nearly equal to a three-feet reflector, with a foot, or ftand, very artificially compofed of rulers fixed to- gether by fcrews. I think this inflrument might be im- proved by fhortening the three principal legs of it. . If the legs of its fland were about fix inches fhorter, this, without inconvenience, would take away the little fhake it has when ufed in the outer air. Perhaps this defect is not in all te- lefcopes of this conftruction. It is a pleafant inftrument, and for its fize takes very little packing, and is very ma- nageable.

THAvE brought home both thefe inftruments after per- forming the whole journey, and they are now ftanding in my library, in the moft perfect order ; which is rather to be wondered at from the accounts in which moft travellers feem to agree, that metal fpeculums, within the tropics, {pot and ruft fo much as to be ufelefs after a few obfervations made at or near the zenith. The fear of this, and the fra- gility of glafs of achromatic telefcopes, were the occafion of a confiderable expence to me; but from experience I found, that, if a little care be taken, one reflector would be fufficient fora very long voyage. |

From Paris I received a time-piece and a flop-watch made by M. Lepeaute, dearer than Elhicot’s, and refembling his in nothing elfe but the price. The clock was a very neat, portable inftrument, made upon very ingenious, fimple prin- ciples, buc fome of the parts were fo grofsly neglected in the execution, and fo unequally finifhed, that it was not difficult for the meaneft novice in the trade to point out the

caufe

INTRODUCTION. ixi

_caufe of its irregularity. It remains with me in ftatu quo. It has been of very little ufe to me, and never will be of much more to any perfon elfe. The price is, I am fure, ten times more than it ought to be in any light! can confider it.

Att thefe letters ftill left me in abfolute defpair about obtaining aquadrant, and confequently gave me very little fatisfaction, but in fome meafure confirmed mein my refo- lution already taken, to go from Sidon to Egypt; as I had then feen the greateft part of the good architecture in the world, in all its degrees of perfection down to its decline, I withed now only to fee it in its origin, and for this it was neceflary to go to Egypt. _

NorpeEwn, Pococke, and many others, had given very in- genious accounts of Egyptian architecture in general, of the difpofition and fize of their temples, magnificence of their materials, their hieroglyphics, and the various kinds of them, of their gilding, of their painting, and their prefent ftate of prefervation. I thought fomething more might be learnt as to the firft proportions of their columns, and the conftruction of their plans. Dendera, the ancient Tentyra, feemed by their accounts to offer a fair field for this.

I wap atready collected together a great many obfervations on the progrefs of Greek and Roman architecture in differ- ent ages, drawn not from books or connected with fyftem, but from the models themfelves, which § myfelf had mea- fured. I had been long of the opinion, in which Iam ftill further confirmed, that tafle for ancient architecture, found-

ed

Jxii INTRODUCTION.

ed upon the examples that Italy alone can furnifh, was not giving ancient architects fair play. What was to be | learned from the firft proportions of their plans and eleva- tions feemed to have remained untouched in Egypt; after having confidered thefe, I propofed to live in retirement on my native patrimony, with a fair ftock of unexceptionable materials upon this fubjed, to ferve for a pleafant and ufe- ful amufement in my old age. I hope ftill thefe will not be © loft to the public, unlefs the encouragement be in propor- tion 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 leaft fhook thefe refolutions. ‘The Comte de Buffon, Monf. Guys . of Marfeilles, and feveral others well known in the literary world, had ventured to ftate to the minifter, 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 fucceed in removing that opprobrium of travellers and geographers, by difcovering the fources of the Nile, one moft unlucky accident, at a moft unlucky time, fhould fruf- trate the moft promifing endeavours, That prince, diftin- guifhed for every good quality of the heart, for benevolence, beneficence, and a defire of promoting and protecting learning, ordered a moveable quadrant of his own military academy at Marfeilles, as the neareft and moft convenient port of embarkation, to be taken down and fent to me at Alexandria,

Wir this I received a letter from Mr Ruffel, which in- formed me that aftronomers had begun to cool in the fan- guine expectations of difcovering the perm quantity of

4 the

INTRODUCTION. | Ixiii

. ‘the fun’s parallax by obfervation of the tranfit of Beis

from fome apprehenfion that errors of the obfervers would probably be more than the quantity of the equation fought, and that they now ardently wiihed for a journey into A- ‘byffinia, rather than an attempt to fettle a nicety for which: the learned had now begun to think the accuracy of our inftruments was not fufficient. A letter from my correfpon- ‘dent at Alexandria alfo acquainted me, that the quadrant,. and all other inftruments, were in.that city..

Wuar followed is the voyage itfelf, the fubjec of the’ prefent publication. Iam happy, by communicating every ‘previous circumftance that occurred tome, to have doneall im my power to remove the: greateft part of the reafonable doubts and difficulties which might have perplexed the rea- der’s mind, or biafled his judgment in the perufal of the: “narrative of the journey, and in. this I hope I have fucceed-- ed.

I HAVE Now one remaining part of my promife to fulfil, . to account for the delay in the publication. It will. not be’ ~ thought furprifing to any that fhall reflect on the diftant,. dreary, and defert ways by which all letters were necefla- rily to pafs, or'the civil wars then raging-in Abyflinia, the’ robberies and violences infeparableefrom a total diffolution : of government, fuch as happened in my time, that no ac- counts for many years, one excepted, ever arrived in Eu- rope. One letter, accompanied by a bill fora. fum borrow-. ed from a Greek at Gondar, found its way to Cairo; all: the reft had mifcarried: my friends at home gave me up: for dead ; and, as my death muft have happened in circum-

flances difficult to have been proved, my property became ; as

{xiv INTRODUCTION.

as it were an hereditas jacens, without an owner, abandoned in common to thofe whofe original title extended no fur- ther than temporary poffeffion,

A number of law-fuits were the inevitable confequence of this upon my return. One carried on with a very expen- - five obftinacy for the fpace of ten years, by a very opulent and a¢tive company, was determined finally in the Houfe of Peers,in the compafs of a very few hours, by the well- known fagacity and penetration of a noble Lord, who, hap- pily for the fubjects of both countries, holds the firft office in the law; and fo judicious was the fentence, that har- mony, mutual confidence, and good neighbourhood has ever fince been the confequence of that determination,

Oruer fuits fiill remained, which unfortunately were not arrived to the degree of maturity to be fo cut off; they are yet depending ; patience and attention, it is hoped, may bring them to an iffue at fome future time No impu- tation of rafhnefs can poflibly fall upon the decree, fince the action has depended above thirty years. ©

To thefe difagreeable avocations, which took up much time, were added others ftill more unfortunate. The re- len:lefs ague caught at Bengazi maintained its ground at times for a {pace of more than fixteen years, though every remedy had been ufed, but in vain; and, what was wort of all, a lingering diftemper had ferioufly threatened the life of a moft near relation, which, after nine years conftant alarm, where every duty bound me to attention and atrend-

‘ | ance,

INTRODUCTION. Ixy

ance, conducted her at laft, in very early life, "€6 her grave *,

Tue love of folitude is the conftant follower of affliction ; this again naturally turns an inftructed mind to ftudy. My friends unanimoutly affailed me in the part moft acceffible when the fpirits are weak, which is vanity. They repre- fented to me how ignoble it was, after all my dangers and © difficulties were over, to be conquered by a misfortune inci- dent to all men, the indulging of which was unreafonable

. initfelf, fruitlefs in its confequences, and fo unlike the ex- pectation Lhad given my country, by the firmnefs and in-

trepidity of my former character and behaviour. Among

thefe, the principal and moft urgent was a gentleman well. known to the literary world, in which he holds arank near-

ly as diftinguifhed as that to which his virtues entitle him

in civil life; this was the Hon. Daines Barrington, whofe

friendthip, valuable on every account, had this additional

merit, that it had exifted uninterrupted fince the days we

were at {chool. It is to this gentleman’s perfuafions, affift-

ance, protection, and friendfhip, that the world owes this

publication, if indeed there is any merit in it; at leaft,

they are certainly indebted to him for the opportunity of judging whether there is any merit in it or not.

No great time has paffed fince the work was in hand. The materials collected upon the {pot were very full, and. feldom deferred to be fet down beyond the day wherein the events defcribed happened, but oftner, when {peeches

Vot, I. - $e and

* Mrs Bruce died in 1784. ;

Ixvi | INTRODUCTION,

and arguments were to be mentioned, they were noted the inftant afterwards ; for, contrary I believe to what is often | the cafe, I can affure the reader thefe fpeeches and conver-

fations are abfolutely real, and not the fabrication of after- hours. !

Ir will perhaps be faid, this work hath faults; nay, per-

haps, great ones too, and this I readily confefs. ButI muft .—

likewife beg leave to fay, that I know no books of the kind that have not nearly as many, and as great, though perhaps. not of the fame kind with mine. To fee diftincétly and ac- curately, to defcribe plainly, difpaflionately and truly, is all that ought to be expected from one in my fituation, con- ftantly furrounded with every fort of difficulty and dan- ger.

Ir may be faid, too, there are faults in the language 3. more pains fhould have been taken. Perhaps it may be fo; yet there has not been wanting a confiderable de- gree of attention ‘even to this. Ihave not indeed confined. myfeif toa painful and flavith nicety that would have pro- duced nothing but a difageeable fliffnefs in the narrative: © It will be remembered likewife, that one of the motives of my writing is my own amufement, and | would much ra- ther renounce the fubject altogether than. walk in fetters ofmy own forging. ‘The language is, like the fubject, rude and manly. My paths have not been flowery ones, nor would it have added any credit to the work, or entértain- ment to the reader, to employ in it a ftile,proper only to. works of imagination and pleafure. Thefe trifling faults I willingly leave as food to the malice of critics, who per-

haps,

INTRODUCTION. ~~ Agyii

hans, were it not for thefe blemithes, Soul find no other en- joyment in the perufal of the work.

Ir has been faid that parties have been formed again this work. Whether this is really the cafe I cannot fay, nor have I ever been very anxious in the inquiry. They have been harmlefs adverfaries at leaft, for no bad effects, as far as I know, have ever as yet been the confequences ; neither is ita difquifition that I {hall ever enter into, whether this is owing to the want of will or of power. [rather believe it is to the former, the want of will, for no one is fo perfectly inconfiderable, as to want the power of doing mifchief.

Havine now fulfilled my promife to the reader, in giv- ing him the motive and order of my travels, and the reafon why the publication has been delayed, I fhall proceed to the laft article promifed, the giving fome account of the work’ itfelf. The book is alarge one, and expenfive by the num- ber of engravings; this was not at firft intended, but the _journey has proved a long one, and matter has increafed as it were infenfibly unter my hands. It is now come to fill a great chafm in the hiftory of the univerfe. It is not intend- ed to refemble the generality of modern travels, the agree- able and rational amufement of one vacant day, it is calcu- lated to employ a A greater {pace of time.

Tuosz that are the beft acquainted with Diodorus, Hero- dotus, and fome other Greek hiftorians, will find fome very confiderabie difficulties removed; and they that are unac- quainted with thefe authors, and receive from this work the firft information of the geography, climate, and manners of thefe countries, which are little altered, will have no great

12 occafion

Ixviii INTRODUCTION.

occafion to regret they have not fearched for information in more ancient fources.

' Tue work begins with my voyage from Sidon to Alex- andria, and up the Nile to the firft cataract. The reader will not expect that I fhould dwell long upon the particular hiftory of Egypt; every other year has furnifhed us with fome account of it, good or bad; and the two laft publica- tions of M. Savary and Volney feem to have left the fub- ject thread-bare. This, however, is not the only reafon.

Arter Mr Wood and Mr Dawkins had publifhed their Ruins of Palmyra, the late king of Denmark, at his own ex- pence, fent out a number of men, eminent in their feveral profeflions, to make difcoveries in the eaft, of every kind, with thefe very flattering inftructions, that though they might, and ought, to vifit both Baalbec and Palmyra for their own ftudies and improvement, yet he prohibited them to fo far interfere with what the Englifh travellers had done, as to form any plan of another work fimilar to theirs. This. compliment was gratefully received; and, as I was direcily to follow this miffion, Mr Wood defired me to return it, and to abftain as much as poflible from writing on the fame fubjects chofen by M. Niebuhr, at leaft to abftain either from criticifing or differing from him on fuch fubjects. have therefore paffed flightly over Egypt and Arabia; per- haps, indeed, | have faid enough of both: if any fhall he of another opinion, they may have recourfe to M. Niebuhr’s more copious work; he was the only perfon of fix who lived to come home, the reft having died in different parts of Arabia, without having been able to enter sel one ' of the objects of their miffion,

Mx»

INTRODUCTION. - f Ixix

My leaving Egypt is followed by my furvey of the Ara- -bian gulf as far as the Indiam Ocean—Arrival at Mafuah —Some account of the firft peopling of Atbara and Abyfiinia ~—Conjectures concerning language—Firft ages of the In- dian trade—Foundation of the Abyflinian monarchy, and various revolutions till the Jewifh ufurpation about the year goo. Thefe compofe the firft volume.

Tue fecond begins with, the reftoration of the line of So- lomon, compiled from their own annals, now firft tranflated from the Ethiopic; the original of which has been lod- ged in the Britifh Mufeum, to faust the curiofity of the public.

Tue third comprehends my journey from Mafuah to Gondar, and the manners and cuftoms of the Abyflinians, alfo two attempts to arrive at the fountains of the Nile—~ Defcription of thefe fources, and of every thin grelating to that river and its inundation.

THE pete contains my au from the fource a the Nile to Gondar—The campaign ‘of Serbraxos, and revolution that followed—My return through Sennaar and Beja, or the Nubian defert, and my arrival at Marfeilles.

In overlooking the work I have found one circumftance, and | think no more, which is not fufficiently clear, and. may create a momentary doubt in the reader’s mind, al- though to thofe who have been fufficiently attentive to the narrative, I can fcarce think it will do this. The diffi- culty issHow didyou procure funds to fupport yourfelf,

and.

Ixx | INTRODUCTION.

and ten men, fo long, and fo eafily, as to enable you to un- dervalue the ufeful character of a phyfician, and feek nei.” ther to draw money nor protection from it? And how came it, that, contrary to the ufage of other travellers, at Gondar you thaintained a character of independence and equality, efpecially at court ; inftead of crouching, living out of fight as much as poffible, in continual fear of prieits, under the patronage, or rather as fervant to fome men of power.

To this fenfible and well-founded doubt I anfwer with great pleafure and readinefs, as I would do to all o- thers of the fame kind, if I could poffibly divine them :—It is not at all extraordinary that aftranger like me, anda parcel of vagabonds like thofe that were with me, fhould get them- felves maintained, and find at Gondar a precarious. liveli- hood for a limited time. A mind ever fo little polithed and inftructed has infinite fuperiority over Barbarians, and it is _in circumftances like thefe that a man fees the great ad- vantages of education. All ihe Greeks in Gondar were o- riginally criminals and vagabonds; they neither had, nor pretended to any profeflion, except Petros the king’s cham- berlain, who had been a fhoemaker at Rhodes, which pro- feffion at his arrival he darefully concealed. Yet thefe were not only maintained, but by degrees, and without pretending to be phyficians, obtained property, commands, and places. | 7

Hospiratiry is the virtue of Barbarians, who are hofpi- table in the ratio that they are barbarous, and for obvious reafons this virtue fubfides among polifhed nations in the — fame. proportion. If onmy arrival in Abyflinia L aflumed

2 ; a fpirit

es

/

INTRODUCTION. , Txt

a fpirit of independence, it was from policy and reflection. Thad often thought that the misfortunes which had befallen

-other travellers in Abyffinia arofe from the’ bafe eftimation

the people in general entertained of their rank, and the va- lue‘of their perfons. From this idea I refolved to adopt a contrary behaviour. I was going toa court where there was a hing of kings, whofe throne was furrounded by a num- ber of high-minded, proud, hereditary, punctilious nobili- ty. It was impoffible, therefore, too much lowlinefs and humility could pleafe there.

Mr Murray, the ambaflador at Conftantinople, in the fir- man obtained from the grand fignior, had qualified me with the diftinction of Bey-Adzé, which means, not an Eng- lith nobleman (a peer) but a noble Englifhman, and he had added hikewife, that I was a fervant of the king of Great Britain. All the letters of recomimendation, ‘very many and powerful, from Cairo and Jidda, had conftantly echoed this to every part to which they were addrefied. They announced that Iwas not a man, fuch as ordinarily eame to them, to live upon their charity, but had ample means of my own, and each profefied himfelf guarrantee of that fact, and that they themfelves on all occafions were: ready to provide for me, by anfwering my demands... |

Tue only requett of thefe letters was fafety and protection: to my perfon. It was mentioned’ that I was a phyfician, to- introduce a conciliatory cirumftance, that I was above prac- tifing for gain. - That all I did was from the fear of God, from charity, and the love of mankind. [-was a phyfician in the city, a foldier in the field, a courticr every where,. demeaning myfelf, as confcious. that 1 was not unworthy

of

o

lexii INTRODUCTION.

of being a companion to the firft of their nobility, and the king’s ftranger and gueft, which is there a character, as it _ was with eaftern nations of old, to which a certain fort of confideration is due. It was in vain to compare myfelf with them in any kind of learning, as they have none; mufic they have.as little; in eating and drinking they were indeed infinitely my fuperiors; but in one accomplifhment that came naturally into comparifon, which was horfeman- fhip, I ftudioufly eftablifhed my fuperiority.

_ My long refidence among the Arabs had given me more than ordinary facility in managing the horfe; I had brought my own faddle and bridle with me, and, as the reader will find, bought my horfe of the Baharnagafh in the firft days of my journey, fuch a one as was neceflary to carry me, and him I trained carefully, and ftudied from the begin- ning. The Abyflinians, as the reader will hereafter-fee, are the worft horfemen in the world. Their horfes are bad, not equal to our Welfh or our Scotch -galloways. Their furniture is worfe. They know not the ufe of fire-arms on horfeback ; they had never feen a double-barrelled gun, nor » did they know that its effect was limited to two difcharges, but that it might have been fired on to infinity. All this gave me an evident fuperiority. :

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 drefs, and fpeaking the lan- guage eafily and gracefully, I cultivated with the utmoft affiduity the friendfhip of the fair fex, by the moft modeft, - refpectful diftant attendance, and obiequioufnefs in public, 3 abating

INTRODUCTION. Ixxit

abating juft as much of that in private as fuited their humour and inclinations. I foon acquired a great fup- port from thefe at court; jealoufy is not a paflion cf the Abyffinians, who are in the contrary extreme, even to in-

difference.

Besipes the money I had with me, I hadacredit of L.4oo

upon Youfef Cabil, governor of Jidda. I had another upon

a Turkifh merchant there. I had ftrong and general re- commendations, if I fhould want fupples, upon Metical Aga,

firk minifter to the fherriffe of Mecca. This, well managed,

was enough; but when I met my countrymen, the captains of the Englifh fhips from India, they added additional ftrength to my finances; they would have poured gold upon me to facilitate a journey they fo much defired upon

- feveral accounts. Captain Thornhill of the Bengal Mer-

chant, and Captain Thomas Price of the Lion, took the con- duct of my money-aflairs under their direction. Their Sa- raf, or broker, had in his hands all the commerce that pro-

-duced the revenues of Abyflinia, together with great part

of the correfpondence of the eaft; and, by a lucky accident

‘for me, Captain Price ftaid all winter with the Lion at Jid-

da; nay, fo kind and anxious was he as to fend over a fer- vant from Jidda on purpofe, upon a report having been» raifed that I was flain by the ufurper Socinios, though it was only one of my fervants, and the fervant of Metical Aga, who were murdered by that monfter, as is faid, with his own hand. Twice he fent over filver to me when I had plenty of gold, and wanted that metal only to apply it.in

furniture and workmanfhip. Ido not pretend to fay but

fometimes thefe fupplies failed me, often by my negligence Vou. I, K 7 in

Ixxiv INTRODUCTION.

in not applying in proper time, fometimes by the abfence of merchants, who were all Mahometans, conftantly engaged in bufinefs andin journies, and more efpecially on the king’s retiring to Tigré, after the battle of Limjour, when I was abandoned during the ufurpation of the unworthy Socinios. It was then I had recourfe to Petros and the Greeks, but more for their convenience than my own, and very feldom from neceflity. This opulence enabled me to treat upon equal footing, to do favours as well as to receive them,

Every mountebank-trick was a great accomplifhment there, fuch as making fquibs, crackers, and rockets. There was no ftation in the country to which by thefe accomplifh- ments I might not have pretended, had I been mad enough to have ever directed my thoughts that way; and I am cer- tain, that in vain I might have folicited leave to return, had not a melancholy defpondency, the amor patrie, feizcd me, and my health fo far declined as apparently to threaten death; butI was not even then permitted to leave Abyffinia till under a very folemn oath I promifed ta return.

Turs manner of conducting myfelf had likewife its dif- advantages. The reader will fee the times, without their being pointed out to him, in the courfe of the narrative. It had very near oceafioned me to be murdered at Mafuah, but it was the means of preferving me at Gondar, by putting me above being infulted or queftioned by priefts, the fatal rock upon which all other European: travellers had fplit: It would have occafioned my death at Sennaar, had I not been fo prudent as to difguife and lay afide the independent car-

1 ? riage

INTRODUCTION. Ixxv

riage intime. Why fhould I not now fpeak as I really think, or why be guilty of ingratitude which my heart dif- claims. I efcaped by the providence and protection of hea- ven ; and fo little ftore do & fet upon the advantage of my own experience, that I am fatisfied, were J to attempt the fame journey again, it would not avail me a ftraw, or hinder me from perifhing miferably, as others have done, though perhaps a different way.

I nave-only to add, that were it probable, as in my de- cayed ftate of health it is not, that I fhould live to fee a fe- cond edition of this work, all well-founded, judicious re- marks fuggefted fhould be gratefully and carefully attend- ed to; but Ido folemnly declare to the public in general, © that I never will refute or anfwer any cavils, captious, or idle objections, fuch as every new publication feems unavoidably to give birth to, nor ever reply to thofe witti- cifms and criticifms that appear in new{fpapers and periodi- cal writings. What I have written I have written. My readers have before them, in the prefent volumes, all that I {hall ever fay, directly or indireCtly, upon the fubject; and | do, with. out one moment's anxiety, truft my defence to an impartial, well-i.formed, and judicious public.

E 2 CONTENTS.

pet

ah

‘y Re i. ja aihnk ©

mr tlt

adn tng ima

ew

~

i

o* » :

he a 7

UN or oe No Ts

@F THE >

BPR RSet ie OL ML) Mik.

DEDICATION.

INTRODUCTION, Page i

BO. QO. Kasosyt

SHE AUTHOR'S JOURNEY AND VOYAGE FROM SIDON TILL HIS

ARRIVAL AT MASUAH,

MERE 61D. E

THE Author fails. from Sidon—Touches at Cyprus—Arrives at Alexandria—Sets out for Rofetto—Embarks on the Nile, and arrives at Cairo, Page 1

4 | GH.AP

[xxviii CONTENTS.

Cc HA P. IL

Author's Reception at Cairo—Precures Letters from the Bey and the Greek Patriarch—Vifits the. Pyramids—Obfer vations on their Confiruction, P. 24

Ci ANA TP ai

Leaves Caire—Embarks on the Nile for Upper Egypt—Vifits Metra- Lenny and Mobannan—Reajfons for fu pp ofing this the Situation of — Memphis, 43

Got AOR ain

Leaves Metrahenny—Comes to the Sand Holouan—Fal Je Pyra- mid—Thefe Buildings end—Sugar Canes—Kuins of mutilate Reception there, ee

CE AVR, Oe Ngs

Voyage to Upper Egypt continued.-- Afomounein, Ruins there—Cawe Kibcer Ruins--- lvir Norden miftahen--. Achmim-—Convent of Ca=> thoitsem Lenutra = Magnificent Kuins---daventure with a Saint there, “gr

CHAP,

tin

CONTENTS. Ixxix

Co Hl OP Vik

Arrives at Furfbout— Adventure of Friar Chriflopher—Vifits Thebes —Luxor and Carnac—Large Ruins at Edfu and Ejue—Proceeds en wis Voyage, blz

Cel VAP Vin ~ Arrives at Syene---Goes to fee the Cataraéd--- Remarkable Thi

The Situation of Syene—The Aga propofes a vifit to Deir and Jorim—The Author returns to Kenné, I5@

Gibb AR UP: /V TEL,

The Author Jets out fron Kenné—Croffes the Defert of the Thebaid —Vifits the Marble Mosuntains—<Arrives at Coffer on the Red Sea—Tranfattions there,

169

Opa Goes Ma AAG? Da

Voyage to Fibbel Zumrud—Returns to Coffeir—Sails from Cofftir— Foffatecn Ilands—Arrives at Tor, 204

GLE An Psi) Ke

Sails from Tor—Paffes the Elanitic Guif—Sees Raddua—Arrives

at Yambo—Incidents there—drrives at Jidda, 239

CHAP»

xxx - GONTENTS,

GH eae ee

Occurrences at Fidda—Vifit of the Vizir—Alarm of the Fadlory—— ~ a Great Civility of the Englijb trading from India—Polygamy— - Opinion of Dr Arbuthnot ill-founded—Contrary to Reafon and Experience—Leaves Fidda, | OP. 265,

= @ Wo AY Ps AW,

Sails from Fulda—Konfodabh—Ras Heli, Boundary of Arabia Felix — —Arrives at. Loheia—Proceeds to the Straits of the Indian Ocean -—-Arrives there—Returns by Azab to Loheia, — 22Q4\) iaiuat

COR ASP. + OTe

Sails for Mafuah---Paffes a Volcano--- Comes to: Dahalac—Troubled with a Ghoft---Arrives at Mafuah, | Bey

CONTENTS. _ [xxxi

BOOK II ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST AGES OF THEINDIAN AND AFRICAN TRADE—THE FIRST PEOPLING OF ABYSSINIA AND ATe-

BARA—SOME CONJECTURES CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE THERE,

G)Bi A Pit =

Of the Indian Trade in its earlie# Ages—Settlement of Ethiopia Troglodytes—Building of the firft Cities, | P. 36%

C7 HOA YP. IL

Saba and the South of Africa peopledShepherds, their particular Employment and Circumftances——Abyffinia occupied by feven Stran- ger Nations—Specimens of their feveral Languages—Conjettures concerning them, / 381

eras, /P.\ ‘IIT

Origin of Charatters or Letters—Ethiopic the ficft Language.— How and why the Hebrew Leiter was formed, AI?

Vou. I. i SCE A P,

/

Ixxxil | CONTENTS,

COR APP a

Some Account of the Trade-Winds and Monfoons—Application of this to the Voyage to Ophir and Tarfbifo, P, 427

CoH OAD Ps Vv.

Fluétuating State of the India Trade---Hurt by military Expeditions

of the Perfians—Revives under the Ptolemies—Falls to Decay under the Romans, 447

Cer A. YP. et Vib

— Queen of Saba vifits Ferufalem—-Abyfinian Tradition concerning Her —Suppofed Founder of that Monarchy-—Abyfinia embraces the Fewifh Religion——Fewifh Hierarchy ftill retained by the Falafba ---Some Conjectures concerning their Copy of the Old Teftament, 47%

CH AY Po) VIE

Books in ufe in Abyfinia--~Enoch--Abyffinia not converted by the A- pofiles---Converfion from Fudaifm to Ubriftianity by Frumentius, 493 ©

CHAP.

CONTENTS, Ixxxiii

Cw AY Po) VIE

War of the Elephant-—Firft Appearance of the Small-Pox---‘Fews perfecute the Chriftians in Arabia---Defeated by the Abyffinians--- Mahomet pretends a Divine Miffion---Opinion concerning the Ko- ran---Revolution under Fudith---Reftoration of the Line of Solomon

JSrom Shoa, P. 510

TRAVELS

guiensGi

tae

soe f

’

wes lee ae

feet Pme wo he TO DISCOVER THE SOURCE OF THE NILE.

BOOK I.

THE AUTHOR'S TRAVELS IN EGYPT—VOYAGE IN THE RED SEA, TILL HIS ARRIVAL AT MASUAH. .

ee

CHAP. I.

The Author fails from Sidon—Touches at Cyprus—Arrives at Alexan- dria—Sets out for Rofetto—Embarks on the.Nile—and arrives at Cairo. ;

a

GT was on Saturday the 15th of June, 1768, I failed ina & French veffel from Sidon, once the richeft and moft power- ful city in the world, though now there is not remaining a fhadow of its ancient grandeur. We were bound for the iifland of Cyprus ; the weather clear and exceedingly hot, the wind favourable,

Vox. I. A THIS

2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Tus ifland is not in our courfe for Alexandria, but lies to the northward of it ; nor had {, for my own part, any curi-

ofity to fee-it. My mind was intent upon more uncommon,

more diftant, and more painful voyages. But the mafter of the veffel had bufinefs of his own which led him thither 3, with this I the more readily complied, as we had not yet got certain advice that the plague had ceafed in Egypt, and it

ftill wanted fome days to the Feftival of St John, which is; °

fuppofed to put a period to that cruel diftemper *..

We obferved a number of thin, white clouds, moving with: great rapidity from fouth to north, in. direct oppofition to the courfe of the Etefian winds ; thefe were immenfely high. It was evident they came from the mountains of A- byffinia, where, having difcharged their weight of rain, and:

being prefled by the lower current of heavier air from the~

northward, they had mounted to poffefs the vacuum, and re-

turned to reftore the equilibrium to the northward, whence.

they were to come back, loaded with vapour from Mount. Taurus, to occafion the overflowing of the Nile, by breaking. againft the high and rugged mountains of the fouth..

Noruine could be more agreeable to me than that fight,

and the reafoning uponit. Ialready, with pleafure, antici- pated the time in which I fhould be a fpedtator firft, after- wards hiftorian, of this phenomenon, hitherto a myftery through all ages. I exulted in the meafures I had taken, which I flattered myfelf, from having been digefted with greater confideration than thofe adopted by others, would

fecure

* The nuéta, or dew, that falls on St John’s night, is fuppofed to have the virtue to ftop the

plague. I have confidered this in the fequd. DSI ‘

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE y

fecure me from the melancholy cataftrophes that had ter- minated ae hitherto-unfuccefsful attempts.

On the 16th, at dawn of day, I Siwy a high hill, which,from its particular form, defcribed by Strabo *, I took for Mount Olympus +. Soon after, the reft of the ifland, which feemed low, appeared in view. We {fcarce faw Lernica till we an- chored before it. Itis built of white clay, of the fame co- lour as the ground, precifely as is the cafe with Damafcus, fo that you cannot, till clofe to it, diftinguifh the houfes from the earth they ftand upon.

Ir is very remarkable that Cyprus was fo long undifco- vered{; fhips had been ufed in the Mediterranean 1700 years - before Chrift ; yet, though only a day’s failing from the con- tinent of Afia on the north and eaft, and little more from that of Africa on the fouth, it was not known at the building of Tyre, a little before the Trojan war, that is 500 years after fhips had been paffing to and fro in the feas around it. _

Ir was,at its difcovery, thick covered with wood; and what leads me to believe it was not well known, even fo late as the building of Solomon’s Temple, is, that we do not find that Hiram king of Tyre, juft in its neighbourhood, ever had re- courfe toit for wood, though furely the carriage would have been eafier than to have brought it down from the - top of Mount Libanus.

Ag2 THAT

* Strabo, lib, xivs ps 78%, = ¢ It iscalled Mamilho, | + Newton’s Chronol, p. 183,

4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Tuat there was great abundance in it, we know front Eratofthenes*, who tells us it was fo overgrown that it could not be tilled; fo that they firft cut down the timber to be _ ufed in the furnaces for melting filver and copper ; that af~ ter this they built fleets with it, and when they could not even deftroy it this way, they gave liberty to all ftrangers to: cut it down for whatever ufe they pleafed; and not only fo, but they gave them the property of the ground they cleared.

Tunes are fadly changed now. Wood 1s one of the wants: of moft parts of the ifland, which has not become more healthy by being cleared, as is ordinarily the cafe..

Ar + Cacamo (Acamas) on the weit fide of the ifland, the wood remains thick and impervious as at the firft difcovery. Large ftags, and wild boars of a monftrous fize, fhelter them-= felves unmolefted in thefe their native woods; and it de= pended only upon the portion of credulity that I was en- dowed with, that I did not believe thatan elephant had, nor

many years ago, been feen alive there. Several families of

Greeks declared it tome upon oath; nor were there wanting perfons of that nation at Alexandria, who laboured to con- firm the affertion. Had {keletons of that animal been there, I fhould have thought them antediluvian ones. 1 know none could have been at Cyprus, unlefs in the time of Dari- us Ochus, and I donot remember that there were elephants even with him.

‘

In

* Strabo, lib, xiv. p. 684, + Strabo, lib. xiv. p. 780..

“hia

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 5

_ In paffing, I would fain have gone afhore to fee if there were any remains of the celebrated temple of Paphos; but a voyage, fuch as I was then embarked on, ftood in need of | vows to Hercules rather than to Venus, and the matter, fear- ing to lofe his paflage, determined to proceed..

Many medals (fcarce any of them good) are dug up i Cyprus; filver ones, of very excellent workmantfhip, are found near Paphos, of little value in the eyes of antiquarians, being. chiefly of towns of the fize of thofe found at Crete and Rhodes, and all the iflands of the Archipelago. Intaglios there are fome few, part in very excellent Greck ftyle, and gene- rally upon better ftones than ufual in the iflands. I have feen fome heads of Jupiter, remarkable for bufhy hair and beard,. that were of the moft exquifite workmanfhip, worthy of any price. All the inhabitants of the ifland are fubject to fevers, but more efpecially thofe in the neighbourhood of Paphos.

We left Lernica the 17th of June, about four o’clock im the afternoon. The day had been very cloudy, with a wind: at N. E. which frefhened as we got under weigh. Our matter,. a feaman of experience upon that coaft, ran before it to the weftward with all the fails he could fet. ‘Trufling to a fign thar he faw, which he called a bank, refembling a dark eloud in the horizon, he gueffed the wind was to be from:

_ that quarter the next day.

Accorpincty, on the 18th, a little before twelve o’clock,

a very frefh and favourable breeze came from the N..W.

and we pointed our prow directly, as we thought, upom Alexandria.

t ae 8:5

6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Tue coaft of Egypt is exceedingly low, and, if the wea- ther is not clear, you often are clofe in with the land before you difcover it.

A stronc current fets conftantly to the eaftward; and the way the mafters of veffels pretend to know their approach to the coaft is by a black mud, which they find upon the plummet* at the end of their founding-line, about feven leagues diftant from land.

Our mafter pretended at midnight he had found that black fand, and therefore, although the wind was very fair, he chofe to lie to, till morning,.as thinking himfelf near the coaft; although his reckoning, cs he faid, did not agree with what he inferred from his foundings. ;

As Iwas exceedingly vexed at being fo difappointed of making the beft of our favourable wind, I rectified my qua- drant, and found by the paflages of two ftars over the meri- dian, that we were in lat. 32° 1’ 45”, or feventeen leagues diftant from Alexandria, inftead of feven, and that by dif- ference of our latitude only.

From this I inferred that part of the affertion, that it is the mud of the Nile which is fuppofed to fhew feamen their approach to Egypt, is mere imagination; feeing that the

point where we thea were was reaily part of the fea oppo-

fite to the defert of Barca, and had no communication what-

ever with the Nile. ape | sie

* This is an old ftejudice, See Herodotus, lib. its p. go. fect. 5.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 5

‘On the contrary, the Etefian winds blowing all Summer upon that coaft, from the weftward of north, and a current fetting conftantly to the eaftward, it is impoffible that any part of the mud of the Nile can go fo high to the windward “of any of the mouths of that river.

Ir is well known, that the action of thefe winds, and the conftancy of that current, has throwna great quantity of mud, gravel, and fand, into all the ports on the coaft of Syria.

Aut vefltiges of old Tyre are defaced; the ports of Sidon, *Berout, Tripoli, and tLatikea, are all filled up by the accre- tion of fand; and, not many days before my leaving Sidon, Mr de Clerambaut, conful of France, fhewed me the pave- ments of the old city of Sidon, 7 feet lower than the ground upon which the prefent city ftands, and confiderably farther back in the gardens nearer to Mount Libanus.

Tuts every one in the country knows is the effect of that eafterly current fetting upon the coaft, which, as it acts per- pendicularly to the courfe of the Nile when difcharging it- felf, at all or any of its mouths, into the Mediterranean, mutt hurry what it is charged with on towards the coaft of Syria, and hinder it from fettling oppofite to, or making thofe additions to the land of Egypt, which { Herodotus has vain- ly fuppofed.

Tue 20th of June, early in the morning, we had a diftant profpect of Alexandria rifing from the fea. Was not the ftate

of

* Berytus, + Laodicea ad mare. t Herod. lib. ii. p. go

g TRAVELS TO DISCOVER:

of that city perfectly known, a traveller in fearch of anti~. quities in architecture would. think here was a field. for-.; . long fludy and employment.

Ir is in this point of view the town appears moft 'to the- advantage. The mixture-of old monuments, fuch as the- Column of Pompey, with the high moorifh towers’ and | fteeples, raife our expectations of the confequence of the- ruins we are to find, |

Bur the moment we:are in the port the illufion ends, and we diftinguifh the-immenfe Herculean works of ancient - times, now few-in number, from the ill-imagined, ill-con- ftructed, and imperfect buildings, of the feveral barbarous: mafters of Alexandria in later ages. .

THERE are two ports, the Old and the New. The entrance - into the latter is both difficult and dangerous, having a bar; before it; it is the leaft of the two, though it is what is call-.. ed the Great Port, by * Strabo. .

Herre only the European fhips can lie; and, even when; here, they are not in fafety; as numbers of veflels are con-- Rantly loft, though at anchor. .

Asove forty were caft a-fhore and dafhed to pieces: in: March 1773, when I was on my return home, moftly belong- . ing to Ragufa, and the fmall ports in Provence, while little - harm was done to fhips of any nation accuftomed to the - ocean.

* Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 922, .

THE.SOURCE OF THE NILE. GJ

~ Ir was curious ‘to obferve the different procedure of thefe different nations upon the fame accident. As foon as the {quall began to become violent, the mafters of the Ragufan veffels, andithe French caravaneurs, or veflels trading in the Mediterranean, after having put out every anchor and cable they had, took to their boats and fled to the neareft fhore, leaving the veffels to their chance in the ftorm. They knew the furniture of their {hips to be too flimfy-to truft their lives to it.

Many of their cables being made of a kind of grafs call- ‘ed Spartum, could not bear the ftrefs of the veffels or agita- tion of the waves, but parted with the anchors, and the fhips perithed.

‘On the other hand, the Britifh, Danifh, Swedifh, and Dutch: navigators of the ocean, no fooner faw the ftorm beginning, than they left their houfes, took to their boats, and went all hands on board. Thefe knew the fufficiency of their tackle, and provided they were ‘prefent, to obviate unforefeen acci- dents, they had’ no apprehenfion from the weather. They” kmew that their cables were made of good hemp, that their: anchors were heavy and ftrong. Some pointed their yards: . to the wind, and others lowered them upon deck. After- wards they walked to and fro on their quarter-deck with perfeé compofure, and bade defiance to the ftorm. Not one’ man of thefe tired from the fhips, till calm weather, on the morrow, called upon them to affift their feeble and more unfortunate brethren, whofe fhips were wrecked and lay {cattered.on the fhore.

Vou. L |: B Tue

12> TRAVELS TO DISCOVER:

Tuz other port.is the * Eunoftus of the ancients, and.is to. the weftward of the Pharos. [twas called alfo the Port of Africa; is much larger than the former, and hes immedi- ately under part of the town .of Alexandria. It has much. deeper watcr, though a multitude of fhips have every day,, for ages, been throwing a quantity of bellaft into it; and there is no‘doubt, butin time it-will be filled up, and join- ed- to the continent by this means. And pofterity may, pro- bably, following the fyfem of Herodotus (if it fhould be fulk fafhionable) call this as they have done, the reit of. Egypt, | the Gift of the Nile. |

CurisTIAN veffels are not fuffered to enter this port; the. only reafon:is, leaft the Moori/> women fhould be feen taking - the air in the evening.at open windows ; and this has been: thought: to be of weight enough for Chriftian powers to fubmit to it, and:to.over-balance the conftant lofs of fhips, . property, and men.

{ ALEXANDER, returning to Egypt from the Libyan fide, was ftruck with the beauty.and fimmation of thefe two ports. . ¢ Dinochares, an architect who accompanied him, traced: out the plan, and Ptolemy I. built the city.

Tue healthy, though defolate and. bare country round it,. part of the Defert of Libya, was another inducement to pre~- fer this fituation to the unwholefome black mud of Egypt; ; but it had no water; this Prolemy was obliged to bring far

| : above

* Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 922. + Strabo, lib. xvii. p.. 920. Q Cust. lib, iv. cap. 8). $-Plin, lib, v. cap. 10. p.273..

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. i

above from the Nile, by a calith, or canal, vulgarly called the Ganal of Cleopatra, though it was certainly coeval with the foundation of the city; it has no other name at this day.

_ Turs circumftance, however, remedied in the beginning, was fatal to the.city’s magnificence ever after, and the caufe of its being in the ftate it is at this day..

THE importance of its fituation to trade and commerce, miade it a principal objec of attention ‘to each party in every war. It was eafily taken, becaufe it had no water ; and, as it could not be kept, it was deftroyed by the con- queror, that the. temporary pofleffion of it might not turn.

to be a fource of advantage to.an enemy..-

We are not, however, to fuppofe, that the country all around it was as bare in the days of profperity as it is now. Population, we fee, produces a {werd of grafs round ancient: cities in the moft defert parts of Africa, which keeps the fand immoyeable till the place is no longer inhabited.

I apprenenp the numerous lakes’ in Egypt were all. eontrived as refervoirs to lay up a ftore of water for fup- plying gardens and plantations in the months of the Nile’s decreafe. The great effects of a very little water are feen: along the califh, or canal, in‘a number of bufhes that it produces, and thick plantations of date-trees, all in a very luxuriant ftate; and this, no doubt, in the days of the

-Prolemies, was extended further, more attended to, and bet-

ter underftood.

No Ii. Ba Bompzy’s

2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Pompey’s pillar, the obelifks, and fubterraneous cifterns, are all the antiquities we find now in Alexandria; thefe have been defcribed frequently, ably, and minutely.

Tur foliage and capital of the pillar are what feem ge- nerally to difpleafe ; the fuft is thought to have merited more attention than has been beftowed upon the capital,

Tus whole of the pillar is granite, but the capital is of another ftone; and I fhould fufpe& thofe rudiments of leaves were only intended to fupport firmly leaves of me- tal* of better workmantfhip ; for the capital itfelf is near nine feet high, and the work, in proportionable leaves of

ftone, would be not only very large, but, after being finith-.

ed, liable to injuries.

Turs magnificent monument appears, in tafte, to be the work of that period, between Hadrian and Severus; but, though the former ere¢ted feveral large buildings in the eatft, it is obferved of him he never put infcriptions upon them.

Tus has had a Greek infcription, and I think may very probably be attributed to the time of the latter, as a monu- ment of the gratitude of the city of Alexandria for the be- nefits he conferred on them, efpecially fince no. ancient hiftory mentions its exiftence at an earlier period. :

I APPREHEND it to have been brought in a block from the Thebais in Upper Fgypt, by the Nile; though fome have : imagined

* We fee many examples of fuch leaves both at Palmyra and Baalbec.

= ey

ga —s

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 13

imagined it was an old obelifk, hewn to that round form. It is nine feet diameter; and were it but 80 feet high, it. would require-a prodigious obelifk indeed, that could ad-. mit to be hewn to this circumference for fuch a length, fo as perfectly to-efface the hieroglyphics that. miuit have been. very deeply cut in the four faces of. it. |

Tae tomb. of Alexander has been ‘talked of as one of the antiquities of this city. Marmol * fays he faw it in the year: 2540. It was, according to him, a {mall houfe, in form of: a chapel, in the middle of the city, near the church of St:

Mark, and was called Efcander..

Tue thing itfelf is not probable, for all-thofe that made themfelves mafters of Alexandria, in the earlieft times, had’ too much refpect for Alexander, to have reduced his tomb. to fo obfeure a ftate.. It would have been fpared even by: the Saracens ; for. Mahomet fpeaks of Alexander with great ~ refpect, both as a. king and a-prophet. The body was pre- ferved in a-glafs coffin, in + Strabo’s time, having been rob-. bed of the golden one in which it was firft depofited. .

Tue Greeks, for the moft part, are better inftructed in the hiftory of. thefe places than the Cophts, Turks, or Chrifti-. ans ; and, after the Greeks, the Jews.

As I was perfectly. difguifed, having for many years worn the drefs of the Arabs, was under no conftraint, but walked: through the town in all directions, accompanied by any of:

thofe:

* Marmol, lib. xi. cap. 14. p. 276. tom. 3. + Strabo, lib. xvii, p. 922.

Ih TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

thofe different nations I could induce to walk with me ; and,

-as I conftantly fpoke Arabic, was taken for a* Bedowé by all forts of people; but, notwithftanding the advantage this freedom gave me, and of which I daily availed myfelf, I never could hear a word of this monument from either (Greek, Jew, Moor, or Chriftian.

Avexawpria has been often taken fince the time of Cz. far. It was at laft deftroyed by the Venetians and Cypriots, ‘upon, or rather after the releafe of St Lewis, and we may fay of it as of Carthage, Periére ruine, its very ruins appear no longer.

“Tue building of the prefent gates and walls, which fome have thought to be antique, does not feem earlier than the jaft reftoration in the 13th century. Some parts of the gate and walls may be of older date; (and probably were thofe of the laft Caliphs before Salidan) but, except thefe, and the pieces of columns which lie horizontally in different parts of the wall, every thing elfe is apparently of very late times, and the work has been huddled together in great hatte.

Ir is in vain then to expect a plan of the city,or try to trace here the Macedonian mantle of Dinochares; the very veftiges of ancient ruins are covered, many yards deep, by rubbifh, the remnant of the devaftations of later times. Cleopatra, were fhe to return to life again, would fcarcely know where her palace was fituated, in this her own ca- pital.

THERE aa sattacnraauenmene reretnere ag ret cats lel agig ks Lhe te ee eee eae ee

* A peafant Arab.

THE SOURGE OF THE NILE, re

THERE is nothing beautifulor pleafant in the prefent Alex- andria, but a handfome fireet of modern houfes, where a very active and intelligent number of merchants live upon: the miferable remnants of that trade, which made its glory. in the firft times.

Ir is thinly inhabited, and thereis a tradition among the- natives, that, more than once, 1¢ has been in.agitation to.a-- bandon it all.together, and retire to Rofetto,;or:Cairo, but that they have been withheld by the opinion of divers faints: from Arabia, who have aflured them, that Mecca being. de=. ftroyed; (as it muft be as they think. by the Ruffians} Alex- andria is then to become ‘he holy place, and. that Mahomet’s body is to be tranfported thither; when that city is dé ftroyed, the fanctified reliques are to be tranfported to Cai-- rouan,.in the kmgdom. of Tunis: laftly; from Cairouan they are to come to Rofetto, and there to remain till the con- faramation of all things, which is not-then to be. at.a great. diftance.

Pro.emy. places his Alexandria in lat. 30° 31’ and in rounda ¢ numbers in his almagelt, lat. 31° north. —

Ovr Profeffer, Mr Greaves, one. of whofé errands’ into - Egypt was to afcertain the ‘latitude of this place, feems yet, . from fome caufe or other, to have failed in it, for though he had a-brafs fextant of five feet radius, he makes the la- titude of Alexandria, from a mean of.many-obfervations, to - be lat 31° 4’N. whereas the French aftronomers from the. Academy of Sciences have fettled: it at 319'11/2074 fo between’. Mr Greaves and the French there is a. difference of 7720”, | which is toomuch.. There is not any thing, in point of.

fituation,,..

46 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ?

fituation, that can account for this variance, as in the cafe of Ptolemy ; for the new town of Alexandria is built from eaft’ to weft; and as all chriftian travellers neceffarily make their obfervations now on the fame line, there cannot poffibly be any difference from fituation. 3,23

Mr Niesuur, whether from one or more ebfervations he does not fay, makes the latitude to be 31° 12” | Fromia mean of thirty-three obfervations, taken by the three-feet quadrant I have fpoken of, I found it to be 31° 11‘ 16”: So that, taking a medium of thefe three refults, you will have the latitude of Alexandria 31° 11’ 32% or, in’ round num- ber, 31° 11/ 30”, nor do I think there poffibly can be 5” dif- ference. ! of a ylod

. : 1 sila. Dsyouk

By an eclipfe, moreover, of the firft fatellite of Jupiter; opferved on the 23d day of June +1769, I found ats longi tude to be 30° 17’ 30” eaft, from the meridian: of | Green+ wich. ee aD

, We, arrived at Alexandria the oth. of June, and found that the plague had raged in that city and neighbourhood from the beginning of March, and that two days only be- » fore our arrival people had begun to open their houfes and communicate with each other; but it was no matter, St John’s. day was ‘fof, the miraculous nudéta, or dew, had fallen, and every body went about their ordinary bufinefs im fafety, and) without fear. a , | gtk ; ay i od Wirt very great pleafure'l had received’ my inftruments. at Alexandria. I examined them, and, by the perfect ftate in which they arrived, knew the obligations bwas under to

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE uy

tO my correfpondents and friends. Prepared now for any enterprife, I left with eagernefs the thread-bare inquiries into the meagre remains, of this once-famous capital of Egypt. ;

Tue journey to Rofetto is always performed by land, as the mouth of the branch of the Nile leading to Rofetto, call- ed the Bogaz*, is very fhallow and dangerous to pafs, and often tedious; befides, nobody wifhes to be a partner for any time in a voyage with Egyptian rede: if he can pof- ~ fibly avoid it.

Tue journey by land is alfo reputed dangerous, and people travel burdened with arms, which they are deter« miuned never to ufe.

For my part, I placed my fafety, in my difguife, and my behaviour. We-had all of us piftols at our girdles, againft an extremity; but our fire-arms of a larger fort, of which we had great ftore, were fent with our baggage, and other inftruments, by the Bogaz to Rofetto. I had a fmall lance, called a Jerid, in my hand, my fervants were haere any wvifible arms.

We left Alexandria in the afternoon, and about three ‘miles before arriving at Aboukeer,-we met a man, in ape pearance of fome confequence, going to Alexandria.

Von. L G As

—s

* Means a narrow or fhallow entrance of a river from the ocean.

19 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

As we had no fear of him.or his party, we neither court-

ed nor avoided them. We paffed near enough, however, to give them the ufual falute, Salam Alicum; to which the leader of the troop gave no anfwer, but faid to one of his fervants, as in contempt, Bedowé! they are peafants, or coun- try Arabs.. I was much better pleafed with this token that we had deceived them, than if they had returned the falute twenty times.

Some inconfiderable ruins are at Aboukeer, and feem to denote, that it was the former fituation of an ancient city. There is here alfo an inlet of the fea; and the diftance, fome- thing lefs than four leagues from Alexandria, warrants us. to fay that it is Canopus, one of the moft ancient cities in the world; its ruins, notwithftanding the neighbourhood of the branch of the Nile, which goes by that name, have not yet been covered by the increafe of the land of Egypt.

Ar Medea, which we fuppofe, by its diftance of. near

feven leagues, to be the ancient Heraclium, is the paflage or

ferry which terminates the fear of danger from the Arabs; of Libya; and it is here *fuppofed the Delta, or Egypt, be~

gins.

Dr Suawt is obliged to confefs, that between Alexandria and the Canopic branch of the Nile, few or no vefliges are feen of the increafe of the land by the inundation of the river; indeed it would have been a wonder if there had,

ALEXANDRIA,,

* Herod. p. 108. tShaw’s Travels p. 293>.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 19

ALEXANDRIA, and its environs, are part of the defert of Barca, too high to have ever been overflowed by the Nile, from any part of its lower branches; or elfe there would have been no neceflity for going fo high up as above Ro- fetto, to get level enough, to bring water down to Alexan- dria by the canal.

Dr Suaw adds, that the ground hereabout may have been an ifland; and fo it may, and fo may almoft any other place in the world; but there is no fort of indication that it was fo, nor vifible means by which it was formed.

We faw no vegetable from Alexandria to Medea, excepting fome fcattered roots of Abfinthium ; nor were thefe luxu- riant, or promifing to thrive, but though they had not a very ftrong fmell, they were abundantly bitter; and their feaves feemed to have imbibed a quantity of faline particles, with which the foil of the whole defert of Barca is ftrongly impregnated.

We faw two or three gazels, or antelopes, walking one by one, at feveral times, in nothing differing from the fpecies of that animal, in the defert of Barca and Cyrenaicum ; and the * jerboa, another inhabitant “of thefe deferts; but from the multitude of holes in the ground, which we faw at the root of almoft every plant of Abfinthium, we were very certain its companion, the +} Ceraftes, or horned viper, was an inhabitant of that country alfo. 3

C2 From

* See a figure of this animal in the Appendix. ~ See Appendix.

20 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

From Medea, or the Paflage, our road lay through very dry fand; to avoid which, and feck firmer footing, we were obliged to ride up to the bellies of our horfes in the fea. If the wind blows this quantity of duft or fand into the Me-. diterranean, it is no wonder the mouths of the branches of. the Nile are choked up.

Att Egypt is like to this part of it, full of deep duft and: fand, from the beginning of March till the firft of the in- undation. It. is this fine powder and fand, raifed and loofen-. ed by the heat of the fun, and: want of dew, and not being tied faft, as it were, by any root or vegetation, which the Nile carries off with it, and buries in the fea, and which: many ignorantly fuppofe comes from Abyflinia, where every. river runs in a bed-of rock..

Wuen you leave the fea; you ftrixe off nearly at right: angles, and purfue your. journey to the eaftward of north; Here heaps of ftone and trunks of pillars, are fet. up to: guide you.in your toad; through moving fands, which: fiand in hillocks in proper. directions, and which. conduct. you fafely to Rofetto, furrounded on one fide by thefe hills. of fand, which feem ready to cover it.

Roserro is upon that branch of the Nile which-was call- ed the Bolbuttic Branch; and is about four miles from the: fea, It probably obtained.-its prefent name from the Vene- tians, or Genoefe, who. monopolized the trade of this coun- try, before the Cape of Good Hope was difcovered; for it is known. to: the natives by the name.of Rafhid, by which: is meant the Orthodox.

THE:

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, we

Tue reafon of this have already explained, it is fome time or other ta: bea fubftitute to Mecca, and to be bleffed. with all that holinefs, that the poffeiiion. of the reliques, a their prophet can: give a

Dr Suaw* having always in. his mind the ftrengthening- of Herodotus’s hypothefis, shat Egypt is created by the Nile, fays,. that perhaps this was once a Cape, becaufe: Rafhid. has. that meaning. But as Dr Shaw underftood Arabic perfectly well, he mutt therefore: have. known, that Rafhid has no. fuch fignification:in:any of the Oriental Languages. Ras,. indeed; is a head land, or capes, but Raflit has no fuch fig- nification, and. Rafhid a very ee one, as I have al-- ready mentioned. |

RAsHID Puaee Rofetto, is a-large;.clean, neat town, or: village, upon the eaftern fide of the Nile. It is-about-three miles long, much frequented. by ftudious and religious. Mahometans ; among thefe too area confiderable number of. merchants, it being the entrepot between Cairo and.Alex- andria, and’ ve verja; here too the merchants have their factors, who. fuperintend and watch over the ee: which pafles the Bogaz toand from.Cairo..

THERE are Many: gardens; and muchiverdure,; about: Ro- fetto; the ground is low; and‘retaims long the-moifture it: imbibes from: the overflowing of the Nilew.. Here alfo. are many curious plants.and flowers, brought from different. countries, by Furs, and merchants-. Without this, Egypt,

fabject

* Shaw’s Travels, p. 294.

22 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fubject to fuch long inundation, however it may abound in neceffaries, could not boaft of many beautiful produc- tions of its own gardens, though flowers, trees, and plants, were very muchin vogue in this neighbourhood, two hun-

dred years ago, as we find by the obfervations of Profper Alpinus. | |

Tue ftudy and fearch after every thing ufeful or beau- tiful, which for fome time had been declining gradually, fell at laft into total contempt and oblivion, under the brutal reign of thefe laft flaves*, the moft infamous re- proach to the name of Sovereign. |

RosEtTTo is a favourite halting-place of the Chriftian tra- vellers entering Egypt, and merchants eftablifhed there. There they draw their breaths, in an imaginary increafe of freedom, between the two great finks of tyranny, oppref- fion, and injuftice, Alexandria and Cairo.

Roserro has this good reputation, that the people are milder, more tractable, and lefs avaricious, than thofe of the two laft-mentioned capitals ; but I muft fay, that, in my time, I could not difcern much difference.

Tue merchants, who trade at all hours of the day with Chriftians, are indeed more civilized, and lefs infolent, than the foldiery and the reft of the common people, which is the cafe every where, as it is for their own intereft; but

their

* The Mamaluke Beys.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 23

their priefts, and moullahs, their foldiers, and people living in the country, are, in point of manners, juft as bad as the others.

RosetrTo is in lat. 31°24’ 15” N.; it is the place where we embark for Cairo, which we accordingly did on June the 30th. :

TuEReE is a wonderful deal of talk at Alexandria of the danger of pafling over the defert to Rofetto. The fame — converfation is held here. After you embark on the Nile in your way to Cairo, you hear of pilots, and mafters of veffels, who land you among robbers to fhare your plunder, and twenty fuch like ftories, all of them of old date, and which perhaps happened long ago, or never happenca at all. |

Bur provided the government of Cairo is fettled, and you do not land at villages in ftrife with each other, (in which circumftances no perfon of any nation is fafe) you muft be very unfortunate indeed, ifany great accident befal you be- tween Alexandria and Cairo,

For, from the conftant intercourfe between thefe two ci- ties, and the valuable charge confided to thefe mafters of veffels, they are all as well known, and at the leaft as much under authority,as the boatmen on the river Thames ; and, if they fhould have either killed, or robbed any perfon, it muft be with a view to leave the country immediately ; elfe either at Cairo, Rofetto, Fue, or Alexandria, wherever they were firft caught, they would infallibly be hanged,

vic | "OH AP,

a4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

CHAP. IE

Author's Reception at Gairo—Procures Letters from the Bey and the Greek Patriarch—Vifits the Pyramids—Ob/fervations. on their Conftruttion. —

_ ‘JT was in the beginning of July we arrived at Cairo, re- I commended to the very hofpitable houfe of Julian and

Bertran, to whom I imparted my refolution of purfuing.

my journey into Abyflinia..

Tue wildnefs of the intention feemed to ftrike them great=-. ly, on which account they endeavoured all they could to perfuade me againft it, but, upon feeing me refolved, offer- ed kindly their moft effectual fervices..

As the government of Cairo hath always been jealous of this enterprife I had undertaken, and a regular prohibition had been often made by the Porte, among indifferent people, I pretended that my deftination was to India, and no one conceived any thing wrong in that.

Tus intention was not long kept fecret, (nothing can be concealed at Cairo:) All nations, Jews, Turks, Moors, Cophts,. and Franks, are conftantly upon the inquiry, as much after: things that concern other people’s bufinefs as their own.

Tue plan I adopted was to appear in public as feldom as” poflible, unlefs difguifed; and.I foon was confidered as a: 7 Eakir,,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ‘2s

Fakir, or Dervich, moderately {killed in magic, and who ae for nothing but ftudy and books.

- Turs reputation opened me, privately, a channel for pur- ‘chafing many Arabic manufcripts, which the knowledge of the language enabled me to chufe, free from the load of trafh that is generally impofed upon Chriftian purchafers..

Tue part of Cairo where the Frencli are fettled is exceed-: ingly commodious, and fit for retirement.. It confifts of one long ftreet, where all the merchants of that nation live to- gether. It is fhut at one end, by large gates, where there isa guard, and thefe are kept conftantly clofe in the time of the plague.

Ar the other end is a large garden tolerably kept, in which there are feveral-pleafant walks, and feats; all the enjoy-. ment that Chriftians can hope for, among this vile people, reduces itfelf to peace, and quiet; nobody feeks for more. There are, however, wicked emiflaries whoare conftantly em- ployed, by threats, hes, and extravagant demands, to tor- ment them, and keep them from enjoying that repofe, which would content them inftead of freedom, and. more folid happinefs, in their own: country.

I have always confidered the French at Cairo, as a num- ber of honeft, polifhed, and induftrious men, by. fome fa-. tality condemned to the gallies; and I muft own, never did. a fet of people bear their continual vexations with. more fortitude and manlinefs,

Vou. L D THEIR

26 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

Tuer own affairs they keep to themfelves, and, notwith- ftanding the bad profpect always before them, they never fail to put on a chearful face to a ftranger, and protect and help him to the utmoft of their power; as if his little con- cerns, often ridiculous, always very troublefome ones, were the only charge they had in hand.

But a more brutal, unjuft, tyrannical, oppreffive, avari- acious fet of infernal mifcreants, there is not on earth, than are the members of the government of Cairo.

Tuere is alfo at Cairo a Venetian conful, and a houfe of that nation called Pivi, all excellent people.

The government of Cairo is much praifed by fome. It may perhaps have merit when explained, but I never could underftand it, and therefore cannot explain it.

i)

Ir is faid to confift of twenty-four Beys; yet its admirers could never fix upon one year in which there was that number. There were but feven when I was at Cairo, and one who commanded the whole.

Tue Beys are underftoed to be vefted with the fovereign power of the country; yet fometimes a Kaya commands abfolutely, and, though of an inferior rank, he makes his fervants, Beys or Sovereigns. . :

Ar a time of peace, when Beys are contented to be on an eqvality, and no ambitious one attempts to govern the whole, there is a number of inferior officers depending up- on each of the Beys, fuch as Kayas, Schourbatchies, and

the

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE = a7

thie like, who are but fubjects in refpec to the Beys, yet ex- ercife unlimited jurifdiction over the people in the city, and: appoint others to do the fame over villages in the country. .

THere are perhaps four hundred inhabitants in Cairo, who” have abfolute power, and adminifter what they call juttice,. in theirown way, and according to their.own views.

FoRTUNATELY.in my time this many-headed monfter was: no more, there was but one’ Ali Bey,.and there: was neither inferior nor fuperior jurifdiction exercifed, but by his offi- cers only.. This happy flate did not laft long. In order to be a Bey, the perfon muft have been ‘a flave, and bought for: money, at amarket. Every Bey has a great number of fer-. -yants, flaves to him, as he was to others before; thefe are: his guards, and thefe he promotes to places in his houfe-- hold, according as they are qualified...

Tue firt of thefe domeftic charges is that of Hafnadar;. or treafurer, who:governs his whole houfehold; and when-- ever his mafter the Bey: dies, whatever-number of children: he may have, they never fucceed him but. this man mar-- ries his wife, and inherits his dignity and fortune...

Tue Bey is old, the wife is young, & is the hafnadar, upom: whom fhe depends. for-every thing, and whom fhe mutt. look upon as the prefumptive hufband ; and thofe people : who conceal, or coniine their-women, and are jealous, up-.- “on the moft remote occafion, never feel any jealoufy for the. probable confequences of this. paffion, from the exiftence of- fach. connection.

28 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Ir is very extraordinary, to find a race of men in power,. all agree to leave their fucceflion to ftrangers, in preference to their own children, for a number of ages; and that no. one fhould ever have attempted to make his fon fucceed him, either in dignity or eflate, in preference to a flave, whom he has bought for money like a beatt.

Tue Beys themfelves have feldom children, and thofe they have, feldom live. I have heard it as a common obfer- vation, that Cairo is very unwholefome for young children. in general; the proftitution of the Beys from early youth probably give their progeny a worfe chance than thofe of others.

TueE inftant that I arrived at Cairo was perhaps the only . one in which I ever could have been allowed, fingle and un- protected as I was, to have made my intended journey.

Au Bey, lately known in Europe by various narratives of the laft tranfactions of his life, after having undergone many changes of fortune, and been banifhed by his rivals from his capital, at laft had enjoyed the fatisfaction of a re- turn, and of making himfelf abfolute in Cairo,

Tue Port had conftantly been adverfe to him, and he cher ifhed the ftrongeft refentment in his heart. He wifhed nothing fo much as to contribute his part to rend the Ot-. toman empire to pieces. |

A FAVOURAELE opportunity prefented itfelf in the Ruffian. war, and Ali Bey was prepared to go all lengths in fup- port of that power. But never was there an expedition fo

fuccefsful

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 29

fuccefsful and fo diftant, where the officers were lefs in- ftructed from the cabinet, more ignorant of the countries, more given to ufelefs parade, or more intoxicated with plea- fre, than the Ruffians on the Mediterranean then were.

Arrer the defeat, and burning of the Turkifh {quadron, upon the coaft of Afia Minor, there was not a fail appeared that did not de them homage. They were prope ly and advantageoufly fituated at Paros, or rather, I mean, a fqua- dron of fhips of one half their number, would have been properly placed there.

Tue number of Bafhas and Governors in Caramania, very feldom in their allegiance to the Port, were then in ac- tual rebellion ; great part of Syria was in the fame fituation, down to Tripoli and Sidon; and thence Shekh Daher, from

Acre to the plains of Efdraelon, and to the very frontiers of

Egypt

Wir circumftances fo favourable, and a force fo tri- umphant, Egypt and Syria would probably have fallen difmembered from the Ottoman empire. But it was very plain, that the Ruffian commanders were not provided with inftructions, and had no idea how far their victory might have carried them, or how to manage thofe they had conquered.

They had no confidential correfpondence with Ali Bey, though they might have fafely trufted him as he would have trufted them ; but neither of them'were provided with proper negotiators, nor did they ever underftand one ano- ther till it was too late, and till their enemies, taking ad-

vantage

jo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER: vantage of their tardinefs, had rendered the firft and great fcheme impoffible..

Carto Rozertt, a Venetian merchant, 2 young man of capacity and intrigue, had for:-fome years governed the Bey: abfolutely. Had fuch a man been on board the fleet with:

a commiffion, after receiving inftructions from Peterfburgh, .

the Ottoman empire in. Egypt was at an end.

Tue Bey, with all his good fenfe and underflanding, was. ftill a mamaluke, and had the principles of a flave,. Three men of different religions poflefled his confidence and go- verned’ his, councils alk at a time. The one was a.Greek,.

the other a Jew, andthe third an Egyptian Copht, his fecre-.

tary. It would have required a. great deal of difcernment: and penetration to have-determined which of thefe was the. moft worthlefs, or molt lkely to betray him. .

Tue fecretary, whofe name -was Rifk, had the addrefs to: fupplant the other two at the time they thought themfelves: at the pinnacle of their glory; over-awing every Turk, and’ robbing every Chrittian, the Greek was banifhed from Egypt, ,

and the Jew baftinadoed to death. Such is the tenure. of;

Egyptian minitters.

Risx profefled aftrolagy, and the Bey, like all other Turks, .

believed in it. implicitely, and to this folly he facrificed his, own. good: underftanding ; and Rifk, probably in pay to Con-. ftantinople, led him from one wild fcheme to another, till: he undid, him——by the ftars..

THE:

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 33

THE apparatus of inftruments that were opened at the cuftom-houfe of Alexandria, prepoffeffed Rifk in favour of my fuperior knowledge in aftrology.

Tue Jew, who was mafter of the cuftom-houfe, was not only ordered to refrain from towching or raking them out of their places {a great mortification to a Turkifh cuftom- houfe, where every thing is handed about and fhewn) but an order from the Bey alfo arrived that they fhould be fent to me without duty or fees, becaufe they were not-merchan- dife.

I was very thankful for that favour, not for the fake of faving the dues at the cuftom-houfe, but becaufe I was ex- cufed from having them taken out of their cafes by rough and violent hands, which certainly would have broken fome-

thing.

Risk waited upon me next day, and let me know from whom the favour came; on which we all thought this was a hint for a prefent; and accordingly, as I had other bufi- nefs with the Bey, I had prepared a very handfome one.

But I was exceedingly aftonithed when defiring to know the time when it was to be offered ; it not only was refufed, but fome few trifies were fent as a prefent from the fecre- tary with this meflage: “That, when I had rcpofed, he “ would vifit me, defire to fee me make ufe of thefe inftru- “ ments; and, in the mean time, that I might reft confident, that nobody durft any way moleft me while in Cairo, for “ I was under the immediate protection of the Bey.”

in TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

He added alfo, “ That if I wanted any thing I fhould fend’ “ my Armenian fervant, Arab Keer, to him, without trou- “ bling myfelf to communicate my neceflities to the French, “ or truft my concerns to their Dragomen.”

A.ruovucu I had lived for many years in friendfhip and in conftant good underftanding with both Turks and Moors, there was fomething more polite and confiderate in- this than I could account for.

T wap not feen the Bey, it was not therefore any particu~ lar addrefs, or any prepoffeffion in my favour, with which thefe people are very apt to be taken at firft fight, that could’ account for this; I was an abfolute ftranger; I therefore opened myfelf entirely to my landlord, Mr Bertran..

I rorp him my apprehenfion of too much fair weather in the beginning, which, in thefe-climates, generally leads. to a ftorm in the end; on which account, I fufpected fome’ defign; Mr Bertran kindly promifed to found Rifk for me.

At the fame time, he cautioned me equally againft offend ing him, or trufting myfelf in his hands, as being a man: capable of the blackeft defigns, and mercilefs in the execu-. tion of them.

ir was not long before Rifk’s curiofity gave him: a fair opportunity. He inquired of Bertran as to my knowledge of the ftars; and my friend, who then faw perfectly the drift of all his condudt, fo prepoffefied him in favour of my fuperior fcience, that he communicated to him in the in- ftant the great expectations he had formed, to be enabled

by

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 34

‘by me, toforefee the deftiny of the Bey; the fuccefs of the war; and, in particular, whether or not he fhould make hhimfelf mafter of Mecca; to conquer which place, he was about to difpatch his flave and fon-in-law, Mahomet Bey A- bou Dahab, at the head of an army conducting the pilgrims. |

BERTRAN communicated this to me with great tokens of . joy: for my own part, I did not greatly like the profeffion of fortune-telling, where baftinado or impaling might be the reward of being miftaken. | )

Burt I was toid I had moft credulous people to deal with, and that there was nothing for it but efcaping as long as poflible, before the iffue of any of my prophecies arrived, and as foon as I had done my-own bufinefs.

THis was my own idea likewife; I never faw a place I liked worfe, or which afforded lefs pleafure or inftruction than Cairo, or antiquities which lefs anfwered their defcrip- tions. .

In a few days, I received a letter from Rifk, defiring me to go out to the Convent of St George, about three miles — from Cairo, where the Greck patriarch had ordered an apartment for me; that I fhould pretend to the French mer- chants that it was for the fake of health, and that there I fhouid receive the Bey’s orders.

ProviDENCcE feemed to teach me the way I was to go. I went accordingly to St George, a very folitary manfion, but large and quiet, very proper for ftudy, and {till more for Vou. I. 13 executing

34 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

executing a plan which I thought moft. neceflary for my undertaking,

Durine my flay at.Algiers; the Rev. Mr Tonyn, the king’s.

chaplain to that factory, was abfent upon leave. The bigot~-

ted catholic priefts there neither marry, baptize, nor bury the dead-of thofe that are Proteftants.

THERE was a Greek. prieft, *Father Chriftopher, who con- ftantly had offered gratuitoufly to perform thefe functions. The civility, humanity, and good character of the man, led me to take him to refide at: my country houfe, where I lived

the greateft part of-the year; befides that he was of a chear-- ful difpofition, I had practifed much with him both in- fpeaking and reading Greek with the accent, not in ufe in« our fchools, but without which that language, in the mouth, of a ftranger, is perfectly unintelligible all over the Archi--

pelago.

Uron my leaving Algiers to go on my voyage.to Bar-- bary, being tired of the place, he embarked. on board a vef-- fel, and landed at Alexandria, from which foon after he was. called to. Cairo by the Greek patriarch Mark, and made: Archimandrites, which is the fecond dignity in the Greek. church under. the patriarch... He too was well acquainted:

in the houfe of Ali Bey, where all were Georgian and Greck

flaves; and it-was at. his folicitation that Rifk had defired: the patriarch to furnifh-me with an apartment in the Con-.

vent of St George, THE

* Vid. Introduction, |

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 3

Tue next day after my arrival I was furprifed by the vifit of my old friend Father Chriftopher ; and, not to detain the reader with ufelefs circumftances, the intelligence of many vifits, which I fhall comprehend in one, was, that there were many Greeks then in Abyfiinia, all of them in great power, and fome of them in the firft places of the empire; that they correfponded with the patriarch when occafion offered, and, at all times, held him in fuch refpect, that his will, when fignified to them, was of the greateft authority, and that obedience was paid to it as to holy writ.

FATHER CurisTopHer took upon him, with the greateft readinefs, to manage the letters, and we digefted the plan of them; three copies were made to fend feparate ways, and an admonitory letter to the whole of the Greeks then in Abyflinia, in form of a bull.

By this\the patriarch enjoined them as a penance, upon which a kind of yubilee was to follow, that, laying afide their pride and vanity, great fins with which he knew them much infected, and, inftead of pretending to putthemfelves on a foot- ing with me when I fhould arrive at the court of Abyflinia, they fhould concur, heart and hand, in ferving me; and that, before it could be fuppofed they had received inftruc- tions from me, they fhould make a declaration before the king, that they were not in conditien equal to me, that I was _ a free citizen of a powerful nation, and {ervant of a great kings that they were born flaves of the Turk, and, at beft, ranked Hut as would my fervants; and that, in fact, one of their countrymen was in that ftation then with me.

EK 2 AFTER

a6: TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Arter having made that declaration publicly, and done fie, in prefence of their prieft, he thereupon declared to them; that all their paft fins were forgiven.

Aut this the patriarch moft willingly and chearfully per= formed. I faw him frequently when I was in Cairo; and: we had already commenced a great friend{hip:and intimacy.

In the meanwhile, Rifk fent to me, one night about nine o’clock, to come ta the Bey. I faw himthen for the firft time. He was a much younger man than I conceived him. to be; he was fitting upon a:large fofa, covered with crim- fon-cloth of gold; his earban, his girdle, and the head of his dagger, all thick covered: with fine brilliants; one in his

turban, that ferved to {upport a f{prig of brillants alfa, was:

among the largeft I had ever feen..

He entered abruptly into difcourfe: upon the war between:

Rufiia and the Turk, and afked me if I had calculated what

would be the confequence of that war?-I faid,,the Turks. would be beaten by fea and. land wherever they prefented:

themfelves.

Acatn, Whether Conftantinople would be burned or taken?

—I faid, Neither; but peace would be made, after much: bloodthed, with little advantage to either party...

He clapped his hands together, and. {wore an oath in: Turkith,. then turned. to. Rifk, who ftood before him, and faid, That will be fad indeed! but truth is truth, and God is merciful:

Hs

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 33

He. offered me coffee and fweatmeats, promifed me his protection, bade me fear nothing, but, if any body wronged me, to acquaint him by Rifk.

Two or three nights afterwards the. Bey fent for me again. It was near eleven o’clock before I got admittance to him.

I mer thejaniffary Aga going out from him, and a num- ber of foldiers at the door. As I did not know him, I paf- fed him without ceremony, which is not ufual for any per- fon to-do. Whenever he mounts on horfeback, as he was then juft going to do, he has abfolute power of life and

_death, without appeal, all over Cairo and its neighbour- hood..

He flopt me juft at the’ threfhold, and afked one of the Bey’s people who I was? and was anfwered, “ It is Hakim Englefe,” the Englith philofopher,.or phyfician.

He afked me in Turkith, im a very polite manner, if I would come and fee him, for he was not well? I anfwered’ him in Arabic, “ Yes, whenever he pleafed, but could nct then fay, as I had received a meflage that the Bey was wait- ing.” ie replied. in Arabic, i No, no; g0, for God’s fake go;, any time. wiltdo for meé.!

Tue Bey was fitting, leaning forward, with a wax taper in one hand, and reading a {mall flip of paper, which he held. clofe to his face. He feemed to have little light, or weak eyes; nobody was near him; his people had been all difmiffed, or were following the janiflary Aga out.

Hig.

38 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ©

He did not feem to obferve me till I was clofe upon him, and ftarted when I faid, “ Salam.” I told him I came upon his meflage. He faid, I thank you, did I fend for you? and without giving me leave to reply, went on, “O true, I did fo,” and fell to reading his paper again.

Arter this was over, he complained that he had been ill, that he vomited immediately after dinner, though he eat moderately; that his ftomach was not yet fettled, and was afraid fomething had been given him to do him mifchief.

I ret his pulfe, which was low, a~d weak; but very little feverifh. 1 defired he would order his people to look if his ‘meat was dreffed in copper properly tinned; I affured him he was in no danger, and infinuated that I thought he had been guilty of fome excefs before dinner; at which he fmiled, and faid to Rifk, who was ftanding by, “ Afrite! Afrite”! heis a ‘devil! he isa devil! I faid, ff your ftomach is really uneafy from what you may have ate, warm fome water, and, if you pleafe, put a little green tea into it, and drink it till it makes you vomit gently, and that will give you eafe; after which you may take a dith of ftrong coffee, and go to bed, or a glafs of fpirits, if you have any that are good.

He looked furprifed at this propofal, and faid very calm- ly, “ Spirits! do you know I am a Muffulman?’ But I, Sir, faid ],amnone. I tell you what is good for your body, and have nothing to do with your religion, or your foul. He feemed vaftly diverted, and pleafed with my franknefs, and only faid, “ Hefpeaks like.a man.” . There was no word of che war, nor of the Ruffians that night. I went home def

perately

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 59)

perately tired, and peevith at being dragged out, on fo foole- ith an errand.. : |

Next morning, his fecretary Rifk came to me to the con— vent. The Bey was not yet well; and the idea ftill remain-. ed that he had been poifoned.. Rifk told me the Bey had great confidence in me.. I afked him: how the water had operated? He faid he had not yet taken any of it, that he did not know how to make it, therefore he was come at the defire of the Bey, to fee how it was made..

I imMEDIATELY fhewed him this, by infufing fome green: tea in fome warm water. But this was not all, he modeft-- ly infinuated that I was to drink it, and fo vomit myfelf, in: erder tofhew him how to-do with:the Bey.

I excusep myfelf from being patient and phyfician at: the fame time, and told him, I would vomit dim, which would anfwer the fame purpofe of inftruction; neither was - this propofal accepted..

Tue old Greek prieft, Father Chriftopher; coming at the’ fame time, we both agreed to vomit the Father, who would not confent, but.produced a-Caloyeros, or young monk, and* we forced dim to take the water whether he.would or.not.

As-my favour with the Bey was now-eftablifhed by my midnight imterviews, | thought of leaving my ‘folitary mianfion at the convent. I defired Mr:Rifk to procure me ° peremptory letters of recommendation to Shekh.: Haman, . to the governor of Syene, Ibrim, and Deir, in Upper Egypt. PU procured alfo the fame from the janiflaries, to thefe three

} a {t

40 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Jaft places, as their garrifons are from that body at Cairo, which they call their Port. I had alfo letters from Ali Bey, to the Bey of Suez, to the Sherriffe of Mecca, to the Naybe {fo they call the Sovereign) of Mafuah, and to the king of Sennaar, and his minifter for the time being.

Having obtained all my letters and difpatches, as well from the patriarch as from the Bey, I fet about preparing for my journey.

Cairo is fuppofed to be the ancient Babylon%*, at leaft part efit. Itisin lat. 30° 2? 36’’ north, and in long. 391°)26/ Gant, from Greenwich. I cannot affent to what is faid of it, that it is built in form of a crefcent. You ride round it, gar- dens and all, in three hours and a quarter, upon an afs, at

an. ordinary pace, which will be above three miles an hour.

Toe Califh +, or Amnis Trajanus, paffes through the length of it, and fills the lake called Birket el Hadje, the firft fupply of water the pilgrims get in their tirefome jour- ney to Mecca.

On the other fide of the Nile, from Cairo, is Geeza, fo calt- ed, as fome Arabian authors fay, from there having been a bridge there ; Geeza fignities the Paflage.

Asout cleven miles beyond this are the Pyramids, call- ed the Pyramids of Geeza, the defcription of which is in every

*Ptol. Geograph. lib. 4 Cap. §. t+ Shaw’s travels p. 294.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE gr

‘every body’s hands. Engravings of them had been publifh- ed in England, with plans of them upon a large fcale, two years before I came into Egypt, and were fhewn me by Mr Davidfon -conful of Nice, whofe drawings they were.

He it-was too that difcovered the fmall chamber above the landing-place, after you afcend through the long gal- lery of the great Pyramid on your left hand, and he left the ladder by which he afcended, for the fatisfaction of other travellers. But there is nothing in the chamber fur- ther worthy of notice, than its having efcaped difcovery fo amany ages.

I THINK it more extraordinary ftill, that, for fuch a time as thefe Pyramids have been known, travellers were con- tent rather to follow the report of the ancients, than to make ufe of their own eyes.

Yer it has been a conftant belief, that the ftones compo-

fing thefe Pyramids have been brought from the * Libyan - mountains, theugh any one who will take the pains to re- move the fand on thegfouth fide, will find the folid rock there hewn into fteps. t

Anp in the roof of the large chamber, where the Sar- cophagus ftands, as alfo in the top of the roof of the gallery, as you go up into that chamber, you fee large fragments

Vor. I. ae of

* Herod. lib. 2, cap. 8,

Am FRAVELS TO DISCOVE R:-

of the rock, affording an unanfwerable proof, that thofe’-

}

Pyramids weré orice hiigé rocks, ftanding where they now

are; that fome of them, the moft proper from their form, were chofen for the body of the Pyramid; and the others. hewn into fteps, to ferve for the ae epraang and. the ex-.

terior pa of them. wa

CHAP

4

LOC SE OS

tite Ml

London Lublifpad Dee!1°4739. by Ehobinson & lo.

fed}

tl (G

C

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 43

ees TH.

Leaves Cairo—Embarks on the Nile for Upper Egypt-—V ifits Metrabenny and Mobannan—Reafons for fuppojing this the fituation of Memphis.

WAVING now provided every thing neceflary,and taken a

rather melancholy leave of our very indulgent friends,

who had great apprehenfions that we fhould never return ;

and fearing that our ftay till the very exceffive heats were

paft, might involve us in another difficulty, that of mif-

fing the Etefian winds, we fecured .a boat to carry us to Fur- fhout, the refidence of Hamam, the Shekh of Upper Egypt.

‘Tuts fort of veffel is called a Canja, and is one of the moft commodious ufed on any river, being fafe, and expedi- tious at the fame time, nibiciatee at firft fi soe it has.a ftrong appearance of danger.

‘Tuat on which-we embarked- was about roo feet from ftern to ftem, with two mafts, main and-foremaft, and two monftrous Latine fails ; the main-fail yard being about 200 feet in length. 291g OI Dov: MIEGTIG | :

Tur ftradture of this vefldl is° eafily’ conceived, from the draught, plan, and fection. - It'is