Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah, vol 1 | Page 2

parted with the Copyright of my
husband's famous translation of the "Arabian Nights" to the Publishers,
and they are arranging to bring out that work at an early date, and as
nearly as possible uniform in appearance with the Memorial Edition.
The ornamentations on the binding are, a figure of my husband in his
Arab costume, his monogram in Arabic, and, on the back of the book,
the tent which is his tomb.
Both the publishers and myself have to thank Mr. Smithers for the
infinite trouble he has taken in collating the first, second, third and
fourth editions of the ‘Pilgrimage' with Sir Richard's own original
annotated copies. All the lengthy notes and appendices of the first
edition have been retained, and these are supplemented by the notes
and appendices in the later editions, as well as by the author's MS.
notes. He has adopted Sir Richard's latest and
[p.xvii]most correct orthography of Arabic words, and has passed the
sheets through the press. Following my husband's plan in "The
Thousand Nights and a Night," he has put the accents on Arabic words
only the first time of their appearance, to show how they ought to be;
thinking it unnecessary to preserve throughout, what is an eyesore to
the reader and a distress to the printer. So it is with Arabic books,-the
accents are only put for the early student; afterwards, they are left to the
practical knowledge of the reader. All the original coloured illustrations
of the first edition, and also the wood engravings of the later issues, are
reproduced for the first time in one uniform edition. The map and plans
are fac-similies of those in the latest (fourth) edition. In fact, everything
has been done to make this book worthy of its author and of the public's
appreciation.
For those who may not know the import of "A Pilgrimage to
Al-Madinah and Meccah," in 1853, they will not take it amiss when I
say that there are Holy Shrines of the Moslem world in the far-away
Desert, where no white man, European, or Christian, could enter (save

as a Moslem), or even approach, without certain death. They are more
jealously guarded than the "Holy Grail," and this Work narrates how
this Pilgrimage was accomplished. My husband had lived as a Dervish
in Sind, which greatly helped him; and he studied every separate thing
until he was master of it, even apprenticing himself to a blacksmith to
learn how to make horse-shoes and to shoe his own horses. It meant
living with his life in his hand, amongst the strangest and wildest
companions, adopting their unfamiliar manners, living for nine months
in the hottest and most unhealthy climate, upon
[p.xviii]repulsive food; it meant complete and absolute isolation from
everything that makes life tolerable, from all civilisation, from all his
natural habits; the brain at high tension, but the mind never wavering
from the role he had adopted; but he liked it, he was happy in it, he felt
at home in it, and in this Book he tells you how he did it, and what he
saw.
Sir Richard Burton died at the age of 70, on the 20th October, 1890.
During the last 48 years of his life, he lived only for the benefit and for
the welfare of England and of his countrymen, and of the Human Race
at large. Let us reverently raise up this "Monument," aere perennius, to
his everlasting memory.
ISABEL BURTON. May 24, 1893.
[p.xix]PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
AFTER a lapse of twenty-five years, a third edition of my Pilgrimage
has been called for by the public, to whom I take this opportunity of
returning thanks. Messrs. Mullan have chosen the very best opportunity.
My two publications concerning the Khedival Expeditions to Midian
("The Gold Mines of Midian," and "The Land of Midian Revisited"),
are, as I have stated in the Preface, sequels and continuations of this
Pilgrimage from which the adventures forming their subject may be
said to date.
The text has been carefully revised, and the "baggage of notes" has
been materially lightened.[FN#1] From the Appendix I have removed
matter which, though useful to the student, is of scant general interest.
The quaint and interesting "Narrative and Voyages of Ludovicus
Vertomannus, Gentleman of Rome," need no longer be read in extracts,
when the whole has been printed by the Hakluyt Society. (The Travels
of Ludovico di Varthema in Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Arabia

Felix, in Persia, India, and Ethiopia, A.D. 1503 to 1508. Translated
from the original Italian edition of 1510, with a Preface by John Winter
Jones, Esq., F.S.A., and edited,
[p.xx]with notes and an Introduction, by George Percy Badger, late
Government Chaplain in the Presidency of Bombay. London.) On the
other hand, I have inserted after the Appendix,