OHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT

Travels in Nubia

_I.--On the Eastern Bank of the Nile_

John Lewis Burckhardt was born at Lausanne, Switzerland,
Nov. 24, 1784. He declined a diplomatic appointment in
Germany, and came to England in 1806, bringing with him
letters of introduction to Sir Joseph Banks, from
Professor Blumenbach, the celebrated naturalist of
Goettingen. He tendered his services as an explorer to the
Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior
Parts of Africa. His offer was accepted, and Burckhardt
left England on March 2, 1809, and proceeded to Syria,
where, disguised as an Indian Mohammedan merchant, he
spent two and a half years, learning among Arab tribes
different dialects of Arabic. In 1812, he went to Egypt,
intending to join a caravan for Fezzan in order to explore
the sources of the Niger; but, being frustrated in that,
he made his two expeditions into Nubia which form the
subject of the present epitome. In June, 1815, he returned
to Cairo, and prepared his journals for publication. After
making a tour to Suez and Sinai in 1816, he was suddenly
cut off by dysentery in Cairo on October 15, 1817.
Although he did not learn English until he was twenty-four
years of age, Burckhardt's journals are written with
remarkable spirit, more especially considering that his
notes had all to be taken secretly.

I left Assouan on February 24, 1813, to make my journey through Nubia.
Assouan is the most romantic spot in Egypt, but little deserving the
lofty praise which some travellers have bestowed upon it for its
antiquities and those of the neighbouring island of Elephantine. I
carried with me nothing but my gun, sabre, and pistol, a provision bag,
and a woollen mantle, which served either for a carpet or a covering
during the night. I was dressed in the blue gown of the merchants of
Upper Egypt. After estimating the expense I was likely to incur in
Nubia, I put eight Spanish dollars into my purse in conformity with the
principle I have consistently acted upon during my travels--viz., that
the less the traveller spends while on the march, and the less money he
carries with him, the less likely are his travelling projects to
miscarry.

After crossing the mountain opposite Philae, I passed the night in the
house of a sheikh at Wady Debot, where I first tasted the country dish
which during my journey became my constant food--viz., thin unleavened
and slightl