Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah, vol 1 | Page 6

my dear Colonel, this humble return
for your kindness, and ever believe me,
The sincerest of your well wishers,
RICHARD F. BURTON.
[FN#1] These omitted notes and appendices have all been restored to
the present Edition. [FN#2] The brother-in-law, Barakat J'rayj'ray, has
since that time followed suit: educated at the Jesuit college of
Mu'allakah (Libanus) he has settled as a Greek Catholic priest at the
neighbouring town of Zahleh. [FN#3] In 1811. [FN#4] Captain Sadlier
is not mentioned, as his Frankish dress prevented his entering the city.
[FN#5] The orthography of Eastern words has been revised for this
Edition by Mr. Leonard C. Smithers, from Sir R. F. Burton's MS.
Corrections, and in accordance with the orthography of Sir Richard's
most recent Oriental Work, "The Book of the Thousand Nights and a
Night."
[p.1]
PART I.
AL-MISR

CHAPTER I.
TO ALEXANDRIA.
A few Words concerning what induced me to a Pilgrimage.

IN the autumn of 1852, through the medium of my excellent friend, the
late General Monteith, I offered my services to the Royal Geographical
Society of London, for the purpose of removing that opprobrium to
modern adventure, the huge white blot which in our maps still notes the
Eastern and the Central regions of Arabia. Sir Roderick I. Murchison,
Colonel P. Yorke and Dr. Shaw, a deputation from that distinguished
body, with their usual zeal for discovery and readiness to encourage the
discoverer, honoured me by warmly supporting, in a personal interview
with the then Chairman of the then Court of Directors to the then
Honourable East India Company, my application for three years' leave
of absence on special duty from India to Maskat. But they were unable
to prevail upon the said Chairman, the late Sir James Hogg, who,[FN#1]
remembering the fatalities which of late years have befallen sundry
soldier-travellers in the East, refused his sanction, alleging as a
reason[FN#1]
[p.2]that the contemplated journey was of too dangerous a nature. In
compensation, however, for the disappointment, I was allowed the
additional furlough of a year, in order to pursue my Arabic studies in
lands where the language is best learned.
What remained for me but to prove, by trial, that what might be
perilous to other travellers was safe to me? The "experimentum crucis"
was a visit to Al-Hijaz, at once the most difficult and the most
dangerous point by which a European can enter Arabia. I had intended,
had the period of leave originally applied for been granted, to land at
Maskat-a favourable starting-place-and there to apply myself, slowly
and surely, to the task of spanning the deserts. But now I was to hurry,
in the midst of summer, after a four years' sojourn in Europe, during
which many things Oriental had faded away from my memory,
and-after passing through the ordeal of Egypt, a country where the
police is curious as in Rome or Milan-to begin with the Moslem's Holy
Land, the jealously guarded and exclusive Harim. However, being
liberally supplied with the means of travel by the Royal Geographical
Society; thoroughly tired of "progress" and of "civilisation;" curious to
see with my eyes what others are content to "hear with ears," namely,
Moslem inner life in a really Mohammedan country; and longing, if

truth be told, to set foot on that mysterious spot which no vacation
tourist has yet described, measured, sketched and photographed, I
resolved to resume my old character of a Persian wanderer,[FN#2] a
"Darwaysh," and to make the attempt.
[p.3]The principal object with which I started was this: to cross the
unknown Arabian Peninsula, in a direct line from either Al-Madinah to
Maskat, or diagonally from Meccah to Makallah on the Indian Ocean.
By what "Circumstance, the miscreator" my plans were defeated, the
reader will discover in the course of these volumes. The secondary
objects were numerous. I was desirous to find out if any market for
horses could be opened between Central Arabia and India, where the
studs were beginning to excite general dissatisfaction; to obtain
information concerning the Great Eastern wilderness, the vast expanse
marked Rub'a al-Khai (the "Empty Abode") in our maps; to inquire into
the hydrography of the Hijaz, its water-shed, the disputed slope of the
country, and the existence or non-existence of perennial streams; and
finally, to try, by actual observation, the truth of a theory proposed by
Colonel W. Sykes, namely, that if tradition be true, in the population of
the vast Peninsula there must exist certain physiological differences
sufficient to warrant our questioning the common origin of the Arab
family. As regards horses, I am satisfied that from the Eastern coast
something might be done-nothing on the Western, where the animals,
though thorough-bred, are mere "weeds," of a foolish price and
procurable only by chance. Of the Rub'a al-Khali I have heard enough,
from credible relators,