Travels in Arabia [Paperback]

John Lewis Burckhardt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 26, 2004 | ISBN-10: 1414285191 | ISBN-13: 978-1414285191

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ROUTE FROM DJIDDA TO TAYF On the 24th of August, 1814, (llth of Ramadhan, A. H. 1230.) I set out from Djidda, late in the evening, with my guide and twenty camel-drivers of the tribe of Harb, who were carrying money to Mekka for the Pasha's treasury. After having left the skirts of the town, where the road passes by mounds of sand, among which is the cemetery of the inhabitants, we travelled across a very barren, sandy plain, ascending slightly towards the east; there are no trees in it, and it is strongly impregnated with salt to about two miles from the town. After threehours' march, we entered a hilly country where a coffee-hut stands near a well named Raghame. We continued in a broad and winding valley amongst these hills, some sandy and some rocky, and, at the end of five hours and a half, stopped for a short time at the coffee-hut and well called El Bcyadhye. Of these wells the water is not good. From thence, in one hour and a half, (seven hours in all,) we reached a similar station called El Fertiyne, where we overtook a caravan of pilgrims, who were accompanying goods and provisions destined for the army: they had quitted Djidda before us in the evening. The coffee-huts are miserable structures, with half-ruined walls, and coverings of brushwood ; they afford nothing more than water and coffee. Formerly, it is said, there were twelve coffee-houses on this road, which afforded refreshments of every kind to the passengers between Djidda and the holy city ; but as the journey is now made chiefly during the night, and as the Turkish soldiers will pay for nothing unless by compulsion, most of these houses have been abandoned. The few that still remain are kept by some of the Arabs of the Lahyan tribe, (a branch of the Hodheyl Arabs,) and Metarefe, whosefamilies are Bedouins,...

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 402 pages
• Publisher: IndyPublish (April 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1414285191
• ISBN-13: 978-1414285191
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating account of Arabia in the 1800's, May 2, 2010

By 

Marina (Va., USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: TRAVELS IN ARABIA (UPDATED w/LINKED TOC) (Kindle Edition)

A fluent Arabic speaker with in-depth knowledge of the culture, customs and politics of the Near East of his time, Burkhardt is amongst the few westerners to have gained access to the holy cities of Mekka and Medina. He describes in great detail his travels, the trials and tribulations he faces, and the politics and livelihoods of the various tribes, towns and countries he visited. This account of his travels in Arabia is particularly interesting as it describes a pre-petrodollar Arabia, destitute and primitive, dependant on help from the rulers of other Muslim countries. A situation which is the opposite of what we know today.. The lessons of history.