The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-19 00:00:00

THE SUNs LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JUNE 19, 1854.

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

At the last meeting of the session of this society, Sir
Roderick I. Murchison, Vice-President, in the chair, the
papers road were :--
1. Late Tour to Medina and Mecca, made by Lieutenant
R. Burton, of the Indian Army, at the expense of the society,
with route from Yamba on the Red Sea. Condensed by Sir
Gardner Wilkinson.

The object of Lieutenant Burton's journey in Arabia was to
cross the Peninsula from El Medeeneh to Muscat, or from
Mecca to Makulla on the Indian Ocean ; but finding the state
of the country too unsettled at the time, and his leave of ab-
sence too short to admit of his waiting for a more propitious
moment, he was only enabled to perform the two short jour-
neys from Yambo (Emba) to Medeeneh, and from this last to
Mecca. The former of these is the subject of the present
•ommunication, _ .

After noticing his departure from Southampton, in April,
1853, and his arrival in Cairo, he describes the precautions
he adopted for travelling through the " Holy Land" of Arabia,
so rigidly forbidden to Christians, and the disguise he assumed
for this purpose. During his stay at Cairo he became an In-
dian doctor, and having supplied himself with " one of those
preposterous outfits, thought necessary for all Eastern travel-
'ers to the Hedjaz, which can only find a parallel in the baggage
of our East India cadets," he proceeded to Suez, where by
good fortune a young man of Mecca and a respectable party of
‘ledeeneh people, believing him to be what his second clis-
mise proclaimed, an Affghan pilgrim, became his friends,
Ind offered to take him to their native city. By this means
ho was enabled to reach Medeeneh without suspicion, and at
the " prophet's burial place" managed to visit the mosque,
to sketch the town, and to visit all the consecrated environs
with the exception of Itha,ybar. At Meeca, too, he had after-
wards an opportunity of seeing all the ceremonies of the Haj
',Hadj), made a plan of the Kaabah, and, after visiting the
nest interesting objects of that holy city, returned to Egypt
with the title and character of a real Hadjji ; which may do
aim good service on some futuro occasion in these countries.
The narrative of his journey from Suez must be given in his
)wn words, though somewhat curtailed in order to accommo-
late it to the necessary limits of this paper:—
" We embarked on board the Golden Wire, a pilgrim ship,
iclonging to a merchant of 'i4uez. Her rig and build, like that
.3f all the Red Sea craft, have a general resemblance to the
Indian pattituar, which I believe to be the most ancient shape
in the Eastern world after the Catamaran' and the loni,'
or hollowed mango trunk. The Western Arabs still know only
two kinds of vessels, the Sambuk'" and the Baghlah,'t
differing in tonnage, not in shape ; while the Eastern Arabs
have almost as many varieties of craft as we have. This arises
from the circumstance that timber for ship building is not to
be found on the shore of the Red Sea, for which reason the
people never were and are not a nation of mariners ; whereas
the inhabitants of Oman, Hadramaut, and Yemen easily sup-
plied their want of wood by trading for teak with Malabar.
This traffic, which began doubtless in early ages, gave the
Eastern Arabs a spirit of adventure familiarising- them with
navigation, afforded them an opportunity of colonising, and
op.uled India to their energy and industry.
" The owner of the Golden Wire had agreed to take 60
passengers-La cargo quite sufficient, with the mountainous
heap of baggage, for au open decked vessel of about 75 tons.
Favoured by fortune, he filled it with 130 human beings,
mostly Bedawin, from Ei-Maghrab (' Western' Africa), per-
haps the greatest ruffians in Islam.
" I will not describe the daily fights we witnessed, and had
sometimes to join in. Two men were stabbed in the port of
Suez, and before we were halfway between Egypt and Jambe,
the second class generally made an energetic attempt to share
with the first the lofty loop of the Golden Wire. But we re-
ceived them with our quarterstaves, and after au elegant little
defence of our vantage ground, we forced them to beat a re-
treat, when, in token of their repentance, they kissed our
heads, shoulders, audknees, and having promised not to offend
again during the rest of the voyage, they contented themselves
with cursing us. We crept slowly down the coast of the Red
Sea, and on the sth day we slanted across the Gfiruloemdflm,ollefeeorAitGitaeais...-
bb ae pions wu
mentionedmheann , i(n3i
(Mountain
t ahiinlcourseof
f toEhf.
eo Romans),
omm iawn aoyconversation,aahn onemaos oue
l
d
covered with remains of ancient buildings. They might be
worth exploring, and since BurckLardt's glorious restoration
of Petra to the world, and that profoundest of Arab travellers
Dr. George Wallin of Finland, there has been no discovery in
this region more interesting than would be the remains of a
Roman civilization in the wilds of Arabia. Near Muway,ah
gold is still found. A Hadji of Cairo extracted with quicksilver
no less than 6 drachms of dust out of 52 of sand collected in
a torrent bed, and according to the testimony of the ancients,
the precious metal was at one time plentiful in Arabia.
" We made Yamboo on the 12th day aster leaving Suez, and
tottered ashore with cramped legs ; some feverish, others co-
vered with boils, and all suffering from the burning heat of
the sun. Abstemiousness had been my safeguard during this

voyage, as on my two subsequent journeys, and the pilgri-
mage time, when my bare head and almost naked body were
expose.' to tie fires of au Arabian September. As precau-
tions I avoided washing, because warm water debilitates and
cold gives fever ; a little oil or melted butter and occasionally
a bath of lukewarm water and henna paste to coal the skin
were found amply sufficient. For thirst, I neither chewed
bullets nor washed hands, face, or feet, nor anointed my jaws
with clarified butter, nor drank great quantities of liquid;
the only remedy is patience, and after suffering for an hour
or two the task is an easy one. When the skin is burned by
the sun, white of eggs cures the sore, which, if not attended
to in these regions, may become very serious. And as i>l hot
climates cold is injurious, it is as well not to be underdressed
by day, and at night to sleep with a sheet drawn over the
head as well as the body.
_ _

and wore obliged to be content to lose twelve men, besides
camels and other beasts of burden. After an hour
of hurrying on, we passed Shuhada, an unremarkable spot,
with a few ruined walls, and a cluster of graves, each an
oval of rough stone, containing the martyrs,' crowned with
glory in ono of the Prophet's plundering expeditions ; and iu
thirty minutes reached Bir-el-Hindi, a favourite halting-
place, where some forgotten ' Indian' had dug a well. We
jogged ou, scarcely out of the cut-throat gorge, and the nests
of the Hem'dah ; and then, leaving the ravine, we struck off
northward into a well-trodden road, running over stony
rising ground. The heat became sickening. At no time is
the sun in these regions more dangerous than between eight
and ten a.m. and it was eleven o'clock before we encamped.
The station Suwaykeh is a rugged plain covered with stones,
coarse gravel, and thorn trees, and surrounded by rocks pin-
nacle-shaped and calcareous on a granite base. We pitched
our tent under a villanous mimosa, the tree whose shade is
compared by these poetical thieves to the false ono that
deserts you when most needed ; and on the 25th of July, as
day dawned,. finding all my friends were hurrying on with
reckless haste, I enquired if more robbers were there ? No,'
replied a neighbour, we are walking upon our eyes; in a
minute we shall sight El Medeeneh.' Rapidly we crossed the
muse-loved ravine El Akeek. It was dry as summer's dust,
and its beautiful trees' were stunted firewood. Presently we
came to a mudarrag, a broad flight of steps,' and at its
summit, passing through alane of lava with steep banks, we
suddenly beheld the Holy City' lying upon the plain before
us. We halted our beasts as if by word of command, and all of
us, tired and hungry as we were, dismounted and sat down to
enjoy the view. Numerous were the poetical exclamations
of those around me, whilst their features worked with excite-
ment and their eyes swam with tears. I now fully under-
stood the meaning of the dark phrase in the Moslem ritual,
When his (the. pilgrim's) sight falls upon the trees of El-
Medeeneh, let him raise his voice and bless the Prophet with
the choicest offerings.' In all the fair view before us, no
feature was more striking after the desolation of the journey
than the gardens and palm-groves of the town. 'We reached
El-Medeeneh on the 25th of July, thus taking nearly eight
days to travel about 13Q miles.
" My computation of the stages is

From Yambo to Muzanhal Mlles.
16
Bir-said •
El-Hamra • ***
14

-64 half-way.
El-Hamra to Bir-Abbas
......... ...... 24
Suwaykeh ..... 22
El-Medeeneh 20
—66
•

Total 130
"My camel men were of the Herb tribe, corrupted by
Turkish example, and the profession of taking in pil-
grims. They made no difficulty in answering my questions
about the country. To obviate curiosity I had an extract
of Arab genealogies, and always began my questions with
You men of Harb, on what lineage do you pride your-
selves ? ' Notes must be kept private, and sketches must
not be seen ; but these people do not object to a learned man
writing in a manuscript, as if commenting upon it, and
he may also retire into solitude. The best pretext to avoid
company is Saudo, a black,',i.e., a melancholic tempera-
ment, all Orientals, especially the Arabs, being subject to
fits of nervous depression, when they fly to solitude as to a
friend.
" Before I conclude I will not omit to mention some of the
secondary objects of my journey, which were to find out if a
market for purchasing hores could be established, to obtain
information concerning the great eastern desert, and to in-
quire about the existence of perennial streams, as well as the
disputed slope of the country. Of the first 1 can say that I
feel satisfied El-Hejaz (the lledjaz) cannot supply India with
horses. These anim ds, though bred in the holy land of
Arabia, are rats,' as slender stunted bloods are generally
called, of fabulous price, and to be bought only when neces-
sity compels their owners to part with them. 2. Of the
great eastern desert, marked in our maps as Ruba-el-Khali,
or the uninhabited region, I have heard from credible
sources that its horrid depths swarm with a large and half-
starved population, amongst whom a hardy and daring
explorer will find it possible to travel ; and that it is a sys-
tem of rocky hills, semi-fertile ravines and valleys, sand
deserts, and plains of hard clay covered with thin vegetation
from a scanty winter rain. At El-Medeeneh I heard a
tradition that in days of yore a high road ran from the city,
passing through this wild region, to Hadramant; it had,
however, been deserted for ages, and my informant con-
sidered ma demented, when I talked of travelling by it.
3. I am satisfied that, despite all geographers between
Ptolemy and Jomard, Arabia, so rich in ravines or winter
streams and mountain rills, contains nothing that can pro-
perly may be called a river, and I have reason to believe that,
Bthaegagaednetio•almdeeccliay.ityNofr; Arabia
is yntoortßh ittotesro
ethno-
lozical researches I propose to detail at some future time,
and my next communication will be the itinerary from El-
aunthd—oftib•oelins,
Mecleeneli to Mecca.—l have the honour to be, sir, your
most obedient servant.

" RicriAnn F. BURTON,
Lieutenant Bombay Army.
"To Dr. Shaw, Secretary to the Royal Geographical So-
ciety.

-(Sigued)

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE RACES.

PROGRAMME OE THE SPORT.

TUESDAY.

The TRIAL STAKES of 5 sovs. each, with 20 added ; two-
yr-olds, sst ; three, 7st 41b ; four, Bst 51b ; five, 9st ;
six and aged, 9st 31b; mares and geldings allowed 31b.
The winner to be sold for 200 sovs., if demanded, &c.,
and the second to save his stake. T.Y.C.
The NORTH DERBY of 10 sovs. each, p.p., with 100
added, for three•yr-olds ; colts, Bst 71b ; fillies, Bst
91b. Certain winners extra. The second to receive
50 sovs. out of the stakes. Once round 18 subs.
Marley Hill Horatio Melcombe
Flying Frenchman Honeysuckle Aribbas
Amalgamation Brown Brandy Neville
The Norseman British Queen Biilinghara
Ervcina Orangeblossom Monimia
Jujube Meteora The Bee
The MEMBERS' PLATE HANDICAP of 5 sovs, each, with
900 added. Certain winners extra. The second to
save his stake. Mile and a quarter. 26 subs.

Age st lbl Age st lb
Kohinoor . 5 8 7 Dalkeith 5 6 7
Vindex
Captain Cornish... 4 7 8 Merry Monk 3 6 0
Lough Bawn ...... 6 7 6 Tommy
Merry Bird
Revolver 5 7 0 Eva - 3 5 12
Donskoy 4 7 0 Maude Mary 3 5 12
The Skinner
Itch 4 6 10 The Jealous One... 3 5 10
Ammonia
Early Bird , 3 6 9 Miss Allen 3 5 7
The Surveyor 5 6 9 Gamelad 3 5 5
The General
The TYRO STAKES of 10 sovs each, p.p., with 50 added,
for two-yr-olds ; colts, Bst 71h ; fillies, Bst 41b. Cer-
tain winners extra. The second to save his stake:
_ T.Y.C. 22 subs.

Lady Alicia
Saraband
Flight

Chisel
Cockspur
Abercrombie

Lord Alfred (2
lb ex.)
Great Prophet
Maid of the \Voids
Oakwood •
Courteney
Nettle

Neoptolernus
Jack Sheppard
Scipio
Westminster

Marco Spada
The So!e Star
Dragon
The Corfiote

Lily I Orion
The. SELLING STAKES of 3 sous each, with 30 added, for
three•yr•olds and upwards. One mile. 6 subs., or
no engagement.