Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846

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Desert of Sahara, in
by James
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Title: Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and
1846
Author: James Richardson
Release Date: July 17, 2007 [EBook #22094]
Language: English
Character set encoding: UTF-8
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IN THE GREAT DESERT ***

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[Illustration: JAMES RICHARDSON ESQ^R. In the Ghadamsee
Costume. ENGRAVED BY GEORGE COOK FROM THE
ORIGINAL DRAWING. London: Richard Bentley, 1848.]

TRAVELS
IN
THE GREAT DESERT OF SAHARA,
IN THE YEARS OF 1845 AND 1846.
CONTAINING
A NARRATIVE OF PERSONAL ADVENTURES, DURING A
TOUR OF NINE MONTHS THROUGH THE DESERT, AMONGST
THE TOUARICKS AND OTHER TRIBES OF SAHARAN PEOPLE;
INCLUDING A DESCRIPTION OF
THE OASES AND CITIES OF GHAT, GHADAMES, AND
MOURZUK.
BY JAMES RICHARDSON.
Φωνὴ βοῶντος á¼Î½ τῇ á¼Ïήμῳ.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. M.D.CCC.XLVIII.
LONDON HARRISON AND CO., PRINTERS, ST. MARTIN'S
LANE.

[Illustration: MAP ILLUSTRATING THE TRAVELS AND
RESEARCHES OF JAMES RICHARDSON IN THE GREAT DESERT
OF SAHARA BY JAMES WYLD GEOGRAPHER TO THE QUEEN
London, Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, 1848. ENGRAVED
BY J. WYLD, CHARING CROSS EAST]

INTRODUCTION.
THE sentiment of Antiquity--that "The life of no man is pleasing to the
gods which is not useful to his fellows,"--has been my guiding principle
of action during the last twelve years of my life. To live for my own
simple and sole gratification, to have no other object in view but my
own personal profit and renown, would be to me an intolerable
existence. To be useful, or to attempt to be useful, in my day and
generation, was the predominant motive which led me into The Desert,
and sustained me there, alone and unprotected, during a long and
perilous journey.
But, in presenting this work to the British public, I have to state, that it
is only supplementary and fragmentary. If, therefore, any one were to
judge of the results of my Saharan Tour merely by what is here given,
he would do me a great injustice. I had expected, by this time, that
certain Reports on the Commerce and Geography of The Great Desert,
as well as a large Map of the Routes of this part of Africa, would have
been given to the public. It is not my fault that their publication is still
delayed. I can only regret it, because what I am now publishing comes
first, instead of last, and consequently deranges my plan, the following
pages being, indeed, supplementary to the Reports and Map. I come,
therefore, before the public with no small disadvantage.
With regard to these supplementary and fragmentary extracts from my
journal, I have also to state, they consist only of about two-thirds of the
journal. For the present, I deemed it prudent to suppress the rest. But
this likewise may disturb the harmony and mar the completeness of the
work. However, if these portions of the journal are favourably received,
other extracts may yet be published.

On entering The Desert, my principal object was to ascertain how and
to what extent the Saharan Slave-Trade was carried on; although but a
comparatively small portion of the following pages is devoted to this
subject. I have already reported fully on this traffic, and it was
unnecessary to go over the ground again, which might defeat, by
disagreeable repetitions and endless details, the object which I have in
view,--that of exciting an abhorrence of the Slave-Trade in the hearts of
my fellow countrymen and countrywomen.
In these published extracts from my journal, I have endeavoured to give
a truthful and faithful picture of the Saharan Tribes; their ideas,
thoughts, words, and actions; and, where convenient, I have allowed
them to speak and act for themselves. This is the main object which I
have undertaken to accomplish in this Narrative of my Personal
Adventures in The Sahara. The public must, and will, I doubt not, judge
how far I have succeeded, and award me praise or blame, as may be my
desert. If I have failed, I shall not abandon myself to despair, but shall
console myself with the thought that I have done the best I was able to
do under actual circumstances, and in my then state of health. It would,
indeed, ill