and amused themselves with firing in the hut, and Burckhardt every moment expected that a random ball would put an end to his travels.' Having proceeded up the Nile almost as far as Dongola, he turned towards the north, and at Kolbe swam across the river, 'holding by his camel's tail with one hand, and urging on the beast with the other.' He then visited Ybsambul, Mosmos, Derr, and Assouan, where he remained till the 2d of March, 1814; his whole expenditure during the time of his stay, for himself, his servant, dromedary, and ass, not exceeding one shilling and sixpence per day.
Having assumed the character of a poor trader and a Turk of Syria, he on the day above-mentioned, set out with a caravan, through the deserts of Nubia, to Berbery and Shendy, as far as Suakim, on the Red sea, whence he performed his pilgrimage to Mecca by way of Jidda. During this journey, in the course of which he had an opportunity of confirming many of the statements of Bruce, he endured a series of hardships and sufferings scarcely inferior to those of Park in Africa. Whilst mad with thirst in the burning desert, he beheld the mocking mirage; and if he escaped burial beneath the overwhelming sand, lifted like a wave by the tempestuous blast, it was doubtful whether he had not yet a more dangerous foe to meet in the plundering Arab. At Damer, he cried beads for sale, to procure provisions for his ass; at Jidda, his finances were so low, that he was compelled to sell his slave, and he had already thoughts of resorting to manual labor, when he fortunately obtained three thousand piastres (about £100) by giving a bill upon Cairo. Crocodile's flesh occasionally formed part of his food, and the dangers of the desert he found no greater than the inconveniences. Though almost worn out with fatigue, 'I was obliged,' he says, 'every day, to fetch and cut wood, to light a fire, to cook, to feed the ass, and finally to make coffee; a cup of which, presented to my companions, was the only means I possessed of keeping them in a tolerable good humor.' In his way through the Nubian desert, he relates a singular custom of the Arab guides, for the purpose of extorting small presents from travelers. 'They alight,' he says, 'at certain spots, and beg a present; if it be refused, they collect a heap of sand, and mould it into the form of a diminutive tomb, and then placing a stone at each of the extremities, they apprise the traveler that his tomb is made; meaning, that henceforth there will be no security for him in this rocky wilderness.
Our traveler remained at Mecca from the 9th of September until the 15th of January, 1815, during which time he accurately noted the manners and customs of the holy city, without his real character being discovered, though it had been previously suspected by the pasha of Tayef, who jocosely observed, 'It is not the beard alone which proves a man to be a true Moslem.' On the 28th, Burckhardt reached Medina, which he quitted on the 21st of April, in a state of great mental depression, and still suffering from the recent attack of an intermittent fever. To add to his dejection, he found, on his arrival at Yambo, the plague in its most virulent shape: and being unable to procure a boat, he was obliged to remain a witness of its horrors for more than a fortnight, during which time, he says, 'the air, night and day, was filled with the piercing cries of those who had been bereaved of the objects of their affection.' At length, on the 24th of June, he reached Cairo, where, after having recruited his health, he employed himself in drawing up an account of his travels. In the spring of 1816, he
