Burckhardt - Travels in Arabia; Comprehending an Account of Those Territories in Hedjaz Which the Mohammedans Regard as Sacred

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Title: Travels In Arabia An Account Of Those Territories In Hedjaz Which The Mohammedans Regard As Sacred

Author: John Lewis Burckhardt

Release Date: December, 2005 [EBook #9457][Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule][This file was first posted on October 2, 2003]

Edition: 10

Language: English

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRAVELS IN ARABIA ***

Produced by William Thierens

[p.iii] TRAVELS IN ARABIA

[p.v] PREFACE OF THE EDITOR.

SOME years have now elapsed since two distinct portions of Burckhardtsworks (his Travels in Nubia and Syria) were offered to the public, andmost favourably received; their success being insured not only byinstrinsic merit, but by the celebrity of their editor as a scholar andantiquary, a traveller and a geographer. It must not however beinferred, from any delay in publishing the present volume, that itscontents are less worthy of notice than those parts which have alreadyproved so interesting and instructive to a multitude of readers. It wasalways intended that this Journal, and other writings of the samelamented author, should issue successively from the press: There stillremain, says Colonel Leake, in his Preface to the Syrian Journal (p.ii.) manuscripts sufficient to fill two volumes: one of these willconsist of his Travels in Arabia, which were confined to the Hedjaz orHoly Land of the Muselmans, the part least accessible to Christians; thefourth volume will contain very copious remarks on the Arabs of theDesert, and particularly the Wahabys.

[p.vi] Respecting the portion now before the reader, Colonel Leake, inanother place, expresses a highly flattering opinion. Burckhardt, sayshe, transmitted to the Association the most accurate and completeaccount of the Hedjaz, including the cities of Mekka and Medina, whichhas ever been received in Europe. His knowledge of the Arabic language,and of Mohammedan manners, had enabled him to assume the Muselmancharacter with such success, that he resided at Mekka during the wholetime of the pilgrimage, and passed through the various ceremonies of theoccasion, without the smallest suspicion having arisen as to his realcharacter. (See the Life of Burckhardt prefixed to his Travels inNubia, p. lvii. 4to. edition, 1819).

Recommended so strongly, the work of a less eminent traveller would beentitled to our notice: this presents itself with another claim; for themanuscript Journal was partly corrected and prepared for publication bythe learned editor of Burckhardts former writings. But some importantliterary occupations prevented Colonel Leake from superintending theprogress of this volume through the press. His plan, however, has beenalmost invariably adopted by the actual editor; particularly inexpressing with scrupulous fidelity the authors sentiments on alloccasions, and in retaining, without any regard to mere elegance ofstyle or selection of terms, his original language, wherever analteration was not absolutely necessary to reconcile with our system ofphraseology and grammatical construction certain foreign idioms whichhad crept into his English writings. [It was thought expedient, fromcircumstances of typographical convenience tending to facilitate andexpedite the publication of this volume, that the Arabic characterswhich in the original manuscript follow immediately certain words, orappear between the lines or in the margin, should here be placedtogether at the end, as an Index, with references to the pages whereinthey occur.]

[p.vii] The map prefixed to this volume might almost appear superfluous,since the positions of Djidda, Mekka, Medina, Tayf, and Yembo, the chiefplaces of Hedjaz visited by Burckhardt, are indicated with accuracy inthe excellent maps that illustrate his Nubian and Syrian Travels. But asthe reader of this volume cannot reasonably be supposed to haveconstantly at hand, for immediate reference, the two former portions ofour authors works, a map is here given, in the construction anddelineation of which Mr. Sydney Hall has attended to every suggestionoffered by the editor: at whose recommendation the names of places arespelt after Burckhardts manner, however different from that more usualamong us. [Thus in the map as in the letter-press of this volume, Mekkamight have been spelt Mecca; and Hejaz, Jidda, Nejed, would as wellexpress the proper sounds of those words as Hedjaz, Djidda, Nedjed; andat the same time approximate more closely to the original Arabicorthography, by which our English j (as in Jar, James, &c.) isrepresented without the assistance of a d; although the prefixing ofthis letter to the j might prevent a Frenchman from pronouncing it as injour, jamais, &c.]

By the editors advice, also, several places situate beyond the Easternlimits of Hedjaz are included in this map; since Burckhardt, although hedid not visit them himself, has given some original itineraries, inwhich they are mentioned.

That those places do not belong to the region properly denominatedHedjaz, is evident; but how far this region extends eastward cannoteasily be determined; and the same difficulty respecting it occurs invarious directions. The editor, that he might ascertain by whatboundaries we are justified in supposing Hedjaz to be separated fromother provinces of Arabia, consulted a multiplicity of authors, bothEuropean and Oriental. The result, however, of his inquiry has notproved satisfactory; for to each of the neighbouring countries.

[p.viii] certain writers have assigned towns, stations, and districts,which by others of equal authority are placed in Hedjaz.

Such confusion may partly have arisen from the different statements ofthe number, extent, and names of divisions comprised within the samespace; this being occupied, according to European writers, by threegreat regions, the Stony, the Desert, and the Happy Arabia; whileOriental geographers partition it into two, five, six, seven, or moreprovinces, under denominations by no means corresponding insignification to the epithets above mentioned, which we have borrowedfrom the Greeks and Romans.

That it would be a most difficult, or scarcely possible task, to fixprecisely the limits of each Arabian province, is acknowledged by thatexcellent geographer, DAnville; but he seems disposed to confound theregion comprising Mekka, Djidda, and Yembo, (places which, as we know,are unequivocally in Hedjaz,) with Arabia Felix. [DAnville, GographieAncienne.] DHerbelt, in one place, declares Hedjaz to be ArabiaPetraea, [See the Bibliothque Orientale in Hegiaz ou HigiazNomdune province de lArabie, que nous appelons Pierreuse, &c.Richardson also, in his Arabic and Persian Dictionary, explains Hijaz byMecca and the adjacent country, Arabia Petraea; and DemetriasAlexandrides, who translated some portions of Abulfedas Geography intoGreek, (printed at Vienna, 1807, 8vo.) always renders Hedjaz by [Greektext] and in another he identifies it with Arabia Deserta. [LesProvinces de Tahama et dIemamah sont comme au coeur du pays; celle deHegiaz est devenue la plus clebre cause des villes de la Mecque et deMedine, et fait avec les deux dernires que nous avons nommes ce quenous appelons lArabie Dserte.Biblioth. Orient. in Arab.]]