W .,",-'•'••• ' •'

CASE

^ OF THE

UNIVERSITY

TJBl'E

HATOTLAJLIST'S

Iinlitin\ ( iitrlunn t/H- Gymnatof.

LONDON'. IIKXWY G. BOHI,

YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN

THE

NATUEALIST'S LIBEAEY.

EDITED BY

SIR WILLIAM JARDINE, BART.,

F.B.S.E., F.L.S., ETC., ETC.

OF THE

TINIYEESITY

EESITY \\

ICHTHYOLOGY.

FISHES OF BRITISH GUIANA— PART n.
BY R. H. SCHOMBURGK, ESQ.

EDINBUKGH : .
W. H. LIZARS, 3, ST. JAMES' SQUARE.

LONDON :
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK ST., COYENT GARDEN.

BIOLOGY

LIBRARY

6

CONTENTS.

PAGE

MEMOIR OP BURCKHARDT . • , . 17

THE FISHES OF GUIANA. — INTRODUCTION . 129

DESCRIPTIONS . . . • J31

Guiana Gar-fish.

JBelone Gwa/nensis. Plate I. • • • 131

Red-bellied Sciena.

Scicena? rubella . . • .133

Corvina ..... o 135

The Corvina of the Essequibo.

Corvwa grwmiens. Plate It . . 136

Cychla 138

Large-lipped Cychla.

CycUa Idbrwa. Plate III. . . .139

Banded Cychla.

Cychla fasciata. Plate IV. . , 141

Red-headed Cychla.

Cychla? rutilcms. Plate V. . . '142

Yellow-spotted Cychla.

Cychla jiavo-maculata. Plate VI. . . 145

Black-blotched Cychla.

Cychla nigro-maculata. Plate VII. . . 147

Argus Cychla.

Cychla argus. Plate VIII. . . .149

Triple-banded Cychla.

Cychla trifasciata. Plate IX. . .151

CONTENTS.

Red-spotted Cychla. PAGE

CycUa ? rubro-ocellata. Plate X. . .153

Centrarchus . . . . .155

Cychla-like Centrarchus.

Centrarchus cychla. Plate XL . . , 157

Dark Centrarchus.

Centrarchus niger. Plate XII. . . . 159

Dark-marked Centrarchus.

Centrarchus notatus. Plate XIII. . . 1 60

Black-banded Centrarchus.

Centrarchus^ vittatus. Plate XIV. . . 161

Long-snouted Centrarchus.

Centrarchus W rostratus. Plate XV. . . 163

Blue-finned Centrarchus.

Centrarchus ? cyanopterus. Plate XVI. . . 1 65

Pomotis ... 16"

Black-banded Pomotis.

Pomotis ? fasciata. . . . 169

Bono of the Warrau Indians.

Pomotis t Plate XVII. . . .171

Gymnotus . . . . . .172

Electric Gymnotus.

Gyvmotus ekctri&as. Plate XVIII. . . 173

Irregularly Banded Gymnotus.

Gymnotus fasciatus. Plate XIX. . .174

Trygon ...... 175

Many-spined Trygon.

Trigon histrix ? Plate XX. . . .180

Ocellated Trygon.

Trygon garrapa. Plate XXI. . , .182

Round- winged Trygon.

Trygon strogylopterus. Plate XXII. . . 183

Spine-tailed Elipesurus. *

Elipesurus spinicauda. Plate XXIII. . . 184

Parker's Silurus.

Silurus Parkerii. Plate XXIV. . . 188

Pristigaster . . . . .191

Hydrocyon . . . . .193

CONTENTS.

Blunt-tootned Curimata. PAGE

C'wrimatus obtusidens. Plate XXV. . . 195

Single Ocellated Cychla.

Cychla monoculus. Plate XXVI. . . 197

Cychla of the Oronoco.

Cychla Orinocensis. Plate XXVII. . . 19£

The Pacamah of Guiana.

Lophius ? pacamah. Plate XXVIII. . . 202

The Guavina of Tacarigua.

Erythrinus guavina. Plate XXIX. . . 207

Unarmed Eremophilus.

Eremophilus mutisii. Plate XXX. Fig. 1. . 209
The Pimelodus of the Volcanos.

Pimelodus cydopum. PI. XXX. Kg. 2. . 212

PORTRAIT OF BURCKHARDT * 2

Vignette Title-page .... 3

In all Thirty-two JPlates in this Volume.

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

L0

JOHN LEWIS BuRCKH'AlTDTrtne celebrated Oriental
traveller, although a foreigner by birth, is so inti-
mately associated with the exertions of British
enterprise in the cause of physical and geographical
discovery, that England may justly claim him as
her adopted son. Although not professedly a na-
turalist, yet his labours, like those of Bruce, the
explorer of the Nile, have indirectly contributed to
the advancement of natural science, and established
a claim for him to have his name enrolled among
those eminent men whose lives have been exclu-
sively or professionally devoted to scientific pur-
suits.

Mr. Burckhardt was descended from a highly
respectable Swiss family, and born at Lausanne in
1784. He was the eighth child of Colonel John
Rodolph Burckhardt, commonly called Burckhardt
of Kirshgarten, from the name of his mansion in
the city of Basle, where his ancestors had long re-
sided. Until the unprovoked invasion of Switzer-
land by the Republican arms of France, there was

18 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

no country in Europe in which happiness and con-
tentment more generally prevailed among the inha-
bitants ; for notwithstanding the variety of govern-
ments and independent commonwealths within that
small territory, a mild spirit of liherty pervaded
their several constitutions ; the property of the sub-
ject was secured against every kind of violation;
and so little were the people actuated by the spirit
of conquest, that from the establishment of their
general Confederacy until the disastrous epoch re-
ferred to, they scarcely ever found occasion to
oppose a foreign enemy, and had no commotions
among themselves except such as were easily ter-
minated by the authority of the Helvetic Union.

Such was the fortunate and peaceful condition of
the Swiss cantons wheri Burckhardt of Kirshgarten
began life. His prospects, however, were soon
blighted by the desolating hurricane of the French
revolution, from the very commencement of which
he became involved in a series of difficulties and
dangers which at one time had nearly brought him
to the scaffold. The aggressions of France upon the
Austrian dominions kindled a war which spread its
ravages along the Rhine and beyond the Alps as
far as the Po. After five successive campaigns, the
Imperial legions were driven from the field with
the loss of the Netherlands and Northern Italy,
where Bonaparte had given proof of his extraordi-
nary military talents by defeating in almost every
encounter the bravest troops and the best generals
T the Emperor.

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 19

It was at the close of this war, in 1796-97, that
Colonel Burckhardt found himself marked out as
one of the many victims that were sacrificed to the
demon of revolutionary fury. On the accusation of
having been concerned in betraying the tete-du-pont
at Huningen, near Basle, to the Austrians, when
they besieged that fortress, he was tried for his life
by the French party in his native city ; and al-
though in consequence of the undoubted proofs of
his innocence adduced in court he was released
from prison, he found it impossible to remain in the
power of his enemies, having certain information
that he was among the number of those who were to
be destroyed either by secret machination or open
violence. Quitting his paternal mansion, where he
could no longer reside in safety, he entered into a
Swiss corps in English pay; but was under the
necessity of leaving his wife and children at Basle,
to save the family, if possible, from total ruin.

In this forlorn situation, his son John Lewis be-
came a daily witness of the miseries which the
country suffered from the devastations of the French
Republicans. The effect of these distressing scenes
was to inspire him, at a very early age, with a de-
testation of their principles, and a resolution never
to live under their yoke. So deeply rooted was his
abhorrence of their revolutionary doctrines, that he
longed to serve in the army of some nation which
should be at war with France ; but at his youthful
period of life it was necessary first to complete his
education, which, with the exception of two years

20 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

in an establishment at Neuchatel, had been hitherto
conducted under the care of a domestic tutor re-
siding in the family.

In 1800, our traveller, having then reached the
age of sixteen, was carried by his father to the
University of Leipzig ; and from thence, after a
stay of nearly four years, he was removed to Got-
tingen. In both places, his exemplary conduct and
high sense of honour, his distinguished talents and
ardent zeal for knowledge, insured him universal
respect and esteem ; while a remarkable frankness,
cheerfulness, kindness, and equanimity of temper,
made him particularly beloved by his more intimate
associates. After leaving Gottingen in 1805, he
returned to his father, and also paid a short visit to
his mother, who still remained at Basle. The state
of Europe at that time was such as to hold out but
small chance of enabling him to gratify his military
propensities. There was scarcely a nation on the
continent which was not either subject to the
French, or in alliance with them ; and for this
reason he declined an offer to engage in a diplo-
matic mission, made to him by one of the royal
courts of Germany.

Uncertain what plan to pursue, he at length re-
solved upon proceeding to England, in the hope of
meeting some employment congenial to his wishes
in the service of this country. In the month of
July, 1806, he arrived in London, bringing with
him several excellent letters of introduction, among
which was one from the celebrated Blumenbach,

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. &*

Professor of Natural History at Gottingen, to Sir
Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, and
one of the most active members of the committee
of the Association for promoting discovery in the
interior of Africa. This accidental circumstance
gave a new impulse to the enterprising genius of
Burckhardt, and determined the future course of
his life.

A desire to explore Africa had at an early period
turned the attention of European nations to that
unknown portion of the globe. At first these ad-
venturers were satisfied with making discoveries
along the western coasts ; but hearing afterwards of
the golden treasures stored in the markets of Tim-
buctoo, they directed their researches towards the
central region, in the hope of penetrating to that
mysterious El Dorado of the desert. Portugal, fot
a certain time, took the lead in the career of mari-
time and commercial enterprise, and was foremost
in the grand movement which took place about the
end of the fifteenth century in behalf of science,
civilisation, religion, and industry. Its local posi-
tion, its wars and expeditions against Morocco,
naturally pointed out the western shores of Africa
as the best field for the discovery ; and in a short
time the fertile districts watered by the Senegal and
the Gambia were reached by the Portuguese navi-
gators.

Their progress gradually extended to the Gold
Coast in 1471, and thence to the Congo River,
which they ascended, and opened a friendly inter-

22 MEMOIR OF BURCKHAEDT.

course with the natives \ the king submitting to the
rite of baptism, and allowing free scope to the
Catholic missionaries to erect churches and labour
in the conversion of his subjects. According to
some accounts, their ambassadors penetrated as far
as Timbuctoo, not in quest of worldly riches, but in
prosecuting their indefatigable efforts to trace the
abode of Prester John. If this adventurous journey
failed in its pious object, it gained the Portuguese a
more complete knowledge of Central Africa than
was ever attained in Europe until a very recent
period. Most of this intelligence, however, has
either perished, or still remains locked up in the
national archives.

The Dutch, who had risen in the seventeenth
century to the first rank as a naval power, next
became masters of the trade and settlements of the
western coasts ; but they were soon dispossessed by
their successful rivals, the French and English,
whose avarice was doubly stimulated by the flat-
tering reports, then prevalent in Europe, of the
magnitude of the gold trade carried on at Timbuc-
too and along the Niger, which was represented as
surpassing in value the dazzling treasures of Mexico
and Peru.

According to all the geographical systems of that
age, the great river Niger, which watered the inte-
irior of the continent and carried vast quantities of
that precious metal in its alluvion, was understood
to empty itself into the Atlantic Ocean either by
the Senegal or Gambia, or both. Hence by ascend-

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 23

ing either of those streams, it was deemed possible
to reach the golden city of the wilderness, whose
wealth was considered full compensation for all the
dangers and fatigues to be encountered in approach-
ing it. The accomplishment of this object became
a favourite enterprise with several European na-
tions.

In 1618, an English company was formed for
exploring the Gambia; and that same year, Mr.
Richard Thompson was sent out with a vessel of
1 20 tons, and a cargo worth nearly £, 2000 sterling.
This expedition, however, and several others which
followed, proved unsuccessful, and led to nothing
but a better acquaintance with the inhabitants, ani-
mals, and productions of these hitherto unknown
countries. The only gold heard of, existed in the
descriptions of the natives, in mines which nobody
has yet discovered, or on the roofs of cities which
always happened to lie three or four months' jour-
ney into the interior.

Whilst the English sought to penetrate to Tim-
buctoo by ascending the Gambia, the Senegal was
the branch which the French identified with the
Niger, and by which they endeavoured to attain the
same object. About the year 1626 they founded
the settlement of St. Louis at the mouth of that
river, and this, until lately, continued to be the
capital of their possessions in Africa. M. Janne-
quin, the Sieur Brue, and some other adventurers,
explored the country to the distance of four hundred
miles from the coast, and these efforts were conti-

24 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

nued at intervals till the close of the seventeenth
century. The only geographical fact of any im-
portance, if it deserve the name, was a report that
the Niger did not flow westward by the two sepa-
rate channels of the Gambia and the Senegal, but
was distinct from both these rivers, and passed east-
ward beyond Timbuctoo. This opinion, now found
to be the more correct theory, was adopted by the
learned geographers Delille and D'Anville, although
a contrary belief continued until within these last
few years to prevail generally among the learned in
Europe.

The imperfect success which had attended these
earlier attempts to penetrate the interior of Africa,
and the unseemly blank which still covered the map
of that vast continent, at length roused the attention
of several public-spirited individuals in London,'who
considered it discreditable to a great maritime and
commercial nation, as well as to the sciences upon
which the extension of geographical knowledge de-
pends, that a country so interesting, and opening up
apparently so many new channels for trade, should
be allowed to remain a sort of terra incognita,
whilst the remotest extremities of land and sea in
other quarters of the world had been reached and
explored by British enterprise.

Accordingly, in the year 1788, the individuals
referred to, with a view to remove this reproach,
formed themselves into a Society called the African
Association, for the purpose of promoting disco-
veries in the interior of that extensive continent.

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 25

They subscribed the necessary funds, and sought
out persons duly qualified and possessed of suffi-
cient courage to undertake such distant and perilous
missions. A committee, which afterwards embraced
several noblemen, clergymen, members of parlia-
ment, and men of science, was appointed ; consisting
of Lord Rawdon (afterwards Marquis of Hastings),
Sir Joseph Banks, the Bishop of Llandaff, Mr.
Beaufoy, and Mr. Stuart, who were nominated
managers.

It might be supposed that the mere offer to
defray travelling expenses, which was all the So-
ciety's finances could afford, would be no great
temptation to induce persons endowed with the
requisite qualifications to embark in journeys beset
with dangers and difficulties of no ordinary kind.
Yet it so happened, that men eminently fitted for
the task presented themselves, even in greater num-
bers than the Association could receive. It is true,
that for some time the progress of discovery, from
various unfortunate accidents, was not at all com-
mensurate with the alacrity or the ability evinced
by those ardent adventurers who engaged in pursuit
of this very important object. Ledyard, the first
that offered his services, sailed for Cairo, where he
arrived on the 19th of August, 1788, intending to
proceed to Sennaar, and thence to traverse the entire
breadth of the African continent. But he died in
Egypt, before the caravan was ready to start, with
which he had proposed to take his departure.

The SonHy next entered into terms with Mr.

26 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

Lucas, who bad instructions to take the most direct
route from Tripoli into the interior; but the re-
bellious state of the Arabs obliged him to return,
and he made no farther efforts to prosecute his
journey. The expedition of Major Houghton, who
undertook the attempt to reach the Niger by travel-
ling along the banks of the Gambia, was not more
fortunate ; and on being informed of his death, the
Association accepted the proffered services of Mungo
Park, one of the most courageous and persevering
adventurers that ever set foot in Africa. He set out
on his first journey in May 1795, and returned in
the beginning of 1798, with the reputation of hav-
ing made more splendid discoveries than any of his
predecessors. His second attempt, which was in
1805, was on a larger scale; but it proved his last,
and several years elapsed before any certain tidings
of his fate reached Europe.

Meantime, however, the field of African explora-
tion had been occupied with other adventurers,
under the auspices of the Association. Frederic
Horneman, a student of the University of Gottingen,
having been strongly recommended to Sir Joseph
Banks by Professor Blumenbach, was despatched
in 1797 to Egypt, having previously qualified him-
self by a competent knowledge of the Arabic lan-
guage, and acquiring such other accomplishments as
were fitted to support the character which he in-
tended to assume, of an Arab and a Mussulman,
under which disguise he hoped to elude the effects
of that ferocious bigotry which had opposed so

MEMOIR OF BURCKSARDT. 27

fatal a bar to the progress of his predecessors. He
reached Egypt in September 1797, and next year,
having proceeded westward with the caravan for
Fezzan, he visited Siwah, Mourzouk, and Tripoli.
In 1800, he directed his course southward, and for
two years no accounts of him were received by the
African Association. In 1803, it was reported he
was residing in safety at Kashna, but Major Denham
afterwards learned that he had fallen a victim to
the climate, after penetrating as far as Nyffe on the
Niger, which he was erroneously informed by the
Arabs flowed into the White River, the main artery
of the Nile.

The Society found others willing to undertake
the perilous experiment of African discovery. Mr.
Nicholls, in 1804, had to make his way into the in-
terior from the Gulf of Benin ; while another German,
named Roentgen, also recommended by Professor
Blumenbach, chose the route by Morocco ; but both
died at the very commencement of their journey.

It is not connected with our purpose to give any
account of the numerous subsequent adventurers
who embarked in the same enterprise, either under
the auspices of the Society or in expeditions fitted
out by the British government. The successive at-
tempts made by Riley, Tuckey, Campbell, Laing,
Gray, Ritchie, Lyon, Denham, Oudney, Clapperton,
and the Landers, although directed to the same ob-
ject, were applied to regions very different from
those explored with so much success by the indi-
vidual who forms the subject of this Memoir.

28 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

At the time when Burckhardt arrived in London,
and was introduced to Sir Joseph Banks, the Afri-
can Association had begun to despair of any farther
intelligence from Mr. Horneman, and in course of
the following year they received notice of the death
of Mr. Henry Nicholls at Old Calabar, in the bight
of Benin. The result of the information which
they had obtained from those travellers who had
examined the western parts of Africa, as compared
with that transmitted by -Mr. Horneman from the
east, had now rendered it advisable to make a
new attempt in the latter direction. These wishes
of the Association soon became known to Burck-
hardt, through his acquaintance with some of the
leading members. To a mind like his, equally
characterised by courage, a love of science, and a
spirit of enterprise, such an undertaking held out
peculiar attractions, and accordingly it was not long
before he had made an offer of his services to Sir
Joseph Banks and the Kev. Dr. Hamilton, who was
at that time treasurer and acting secretary of the
Association.

This latter gentleman, perceiving him to be un-
dismayed by the strong representations of danger
which he considered it right to make to a person of
Burckhardt's birth and education, and having found
him admirably adapted to the task by his natural
and acquired attainments, as well as by the vigour
of his constitution, laid his proposal before the
Association at their next general meeting in May
J 808 ; the offer was willingly accepted, and on the

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 29

25th of January, 1809, our traveller received his
instructions, having diligently employed the interval
in London and Cambridge in the study of the
Arabic tongue, and of those branches of science
which were most necessary to discharge with suc-
cess the duties he was about to undertake. He
attended lectures on chemistry, astronomy, mine-
ralogy, medicine, and surgery ; and in the in-
tervals of his studies, he exercised himself by long
journeys on foot, bare-headed, in the heat of the
sun, sleeping on the ground, and living upon vege-
tables and water. To personate the Mussulman
still more nearly, he allowed his beard to grow, and
assumed the Oriental dress.

As an intimate knowledge of Arabic was the most
1 important acquirement of all, Burckhardt was in-
structed to proceed in the first instance to Syria,
I where at the same time that he studied the language
I in one of its purest schools, he might accustom him-
I self to the habits and manners of the people he was
I to mix with, at a distance from those countries
|| which was to be the scene of his researches, and
|i consequently without much risk of being afterwards
recognised. After sojourning two years in Syria,
he was instructed to proceed to Cairo, and thence,
accompanying the Fezzan caravan to Mourzouk by
the same route which Horneman had pursued, he
was directed to make that town the point of his
departure for the interior countries.

On the 2d of March, 18Q9, Burckhardt sailed
from Cowes on board of a merchant ship proceeding

30 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

with the convoy to the Mediterranean ; and ahout
the middle of April he arrived at Malta. While
there, he received intelligence of Dr. Seetzen, a
German physician, who had been sent a few years
before that period by the Duke of Saxe-Gotha into
the Levant to collect manuscripts and Eastern curi-
osities. This accomplished traveller had resided for
some time at Constantinople, Smyrna, Aleppo, Da-
mascus, and Cairo ; and in course of his wanderings
had collected about fifteen hundred manuscripts
and three thousand objects of antiquity which he
had sent to his native place. It appeared that his
design at that time was to proceed from Suez down
the Red Sea, with a view to explore the interior of
Africa, so that Burckhardt considered him as a
rival ; but his schemes were frustrated by his pre-
mature death, and all that has been published of
his travels is a short correspondence between him
and M. de Zach of Saxe-Gotha, which was trans-
lated and printed by the Palestine Association in
1810.

Burckhardt sojourned seven weeks at Malta,
during which he succeeded in equipping himself
thoroughly in the Oriental fashion. In a letter to
Sir Joseph Banks, dated 22d May, 1809, he states
that the dress he had assumed was somewhat Sy-
rian, yet sufficiently differing from the real Syrian
costume to show that he had no wish to pass for a
native. He continued to practise the speaking of
Arabic, and was careful to live retired, for fear of
being recognised and detected. He especially avoided

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 31

all intercourse with the Moors and natives of Bar-
bary ; merely giving them the " Salaam Aleikum"
(peace be witli you) when passing them in the
street. There happened to be a Swiss regiment in
the English service stationed in garrison there, to
many of the officers of which he was personally
known, but he had the satisfaction to find that his
object and destination had not transpired.

From Malta our traveller next proceeded to
Aleppo as an Indian Mahommedan merchant, the
supposed bearer of despatches to Mr. Barker, British
consul there, and agent to the East India Company.
The assumption of this character he thought would
be an excuse for his singularity in speech and
manners, besides being a protection on the road,
and enabling him to escape the exactions of the
custom-house officers.

The person to whom Mr. Burckhardt was recom-
mended was a Greek, acting as British consul at
Cyprus; and accordingly, about the middle of June,
he took his passage on board of a ship bound for
that island ; but as the owner afterwards changed
his mind as to his destination, our traveller pro-
ceeded in another vessel bound for Acre, and un-
certain whether he should touch at Cyprus. Ano-
ther letter of recommendation was procured to a
merchant at Acre, with a second for the Pasha,
should it be required. Scarcely, however, had the
ship quitted Malta, when Burckhardt was informed
that his real destination was the coast of Caramania,
in Asia Minor; that if grain could be purchased

32 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

at an advantageous price at the ports of Natolia or
Tarsus, then only would she proceed to Acre.

Finding complaints and remonstrances in vain,
Burckhardt endavoured to make himself as comfort-
able as he could, and studied to cultivate the good
graces of his fellow travellers. He introduced
himself among them as an Indian Mahommedan
merchant, who had lived from his early years in
England, and was now on his way home ; a story
which appeared credible enough to the passengers,
as well as to the ship's company. Numerous ques-
tions were put relative to India ; and whenever he
was called for a specimen of the Hindu language,
he answered in the worst dialect of the Swiss-Ger-
man, which in its guttural sounds rivalled the
harshest utterance of Arabic.

Every evening, they assembled upon deck to
smoke their pipes and enjoy the cooling sea-breeze.
Story-telling was their principal amusement, and of
course our traveller was called upon to narrate to his
companions the wonders of the farthest east,— -of
the Great Mogul, and the riches of his court, — of
the suttees, or widows burning themselves, — of the
Chinese wall, the great porcelain tower, &c. A
Tripolitan merchant, in his turn, recounted the
wonders of Soudan, — of one nation continually at
war with its neighbours, — of a nation of speaking
sheep, — of another of necromancers, who had lately
defeated a whole army which the King of Bornou
sent against them. In course of these conversations,
Burckhardt learned with certainty that the yearly

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 33

caravan intercourse between Fezzan and Tripoli
was still uninterrupted, although the pilgrims from
Fezzan to Cairo and Mecca had suffered consider-
able inconvenience in consequence of the irruptions
of the Wahabis, with whom the Pasha of Egypt was
then at war. In this manner the time passed agree-
ably enough. On the 15th, the ship made Candia ;
on the 17th, Rhodes was seen at a great distance;
and on the 19th, they anchored in the port of Sa-
talia.

This part of the coast of Caramania is rough and
precipitous; the highest ridges of the mountains
were covered with snow ; they were quite barren,
resembling in their shape and aspect the African
mountains in the Strait of Gibraltar. The town is
built partly on a cliff, and partly on the plain behind
it, with gardens extending three or four miles along
the shore. As the plague then raged in that quar-
ter, they did not land, but departed the same even-
ing; and after sailing for three days along the
Caramanian coast, which was bounded all the way
with a chain of snowy mountains, they anchored on
the 26th at Mersin, about fourteen miles to the
west of Tarsus. The inhabitants are principally
Greeks and Turks, governed by an Aga, who ap-
points subordinate rulers to collect the revenue,
which the chiefs and the Aga divide equally be-
tween them.

At Tarsus, which was seen at a distance by its
groups of trees, the travellers met with a kind re-
ception. " Peace be with you," — " You are wel-
C

34 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

come among us," — " God send you a happy even-
ing,* &c., were compliments which hailed them
from every quarter. The rich merchants treated
them with coffee, ice- water, and lour, which is a
drink made of water mixed with the juice of
liquorice. A musician sung some Turkish airs, ac-
companying himself upon a sort of mandoline. The
inhabitants, though strict Mussulmans, were care-
less of their religious duties, and showed a great
indifference to the precepts of the Koran. The
place is mean in appearance, and its trade incon-
siderable, being sadly fallen off since the days of
Jonah and Ezekiel.

On the 2d of July, Burckhardt took his passage
to Latikia on board an open vessel, resembling
those that ply on the Nile, of which Bruce and
other travellers have given descriptions. At Suedieh
he had the satisfaction to fall in with a caravan
from Aleppo, which had come down to the coast
with Indian goods. He soon formed an acquaint-
ance with the muleteers, and bargained with one of
them for the whole journey. Antakia (Antioch)
lay at no great distance, the road to which passed
through a country famous for the beauties of its
landscape scenery. That ancient capital of the
Greek emperors is situate very picturesquely in a
plain encompassed with two chains of mountains,
and surrounded with gardens and well cultivated
fields. A strong-built bridge leads across the
Orontes immediately into the town.

Instead of going to the khan of the merchants,

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 35

where he had nobody to introduce him, Burckhardt
preferred accompanying his guides to the khan of
the muleteers, which was a large court-yard of a
triangular shape, one side being occupied with
stables, another was used by the muleteers for the
purposes of eating, sleeping, and praying, while .the
third was distributed into small dark cells, which
served as magazines for the goods, places for work-
ing in, &c. In the middle of the area was a large
water-basin, which afforded drink to men and beasts
indiscriminately.

The appearance of a stranger excited considerable
curiosity, and the little cell of which he took pos-
session was speedily beset with troublesome in-
quirers, who unanimously declared that the intruder
was a Frank, and had come to their country for
evil purposes. The muleteer interfered; but his
remonstrances were soon lost in the general cry of
Giaour! (infidel), raised by the other inmates of
the khan, and by the townspeople who had come
to visit their friends. All endeavours at explana-
tion were vain; Burckhardt evidently saw that
their design was to make religion a pretext for ex-
torting money from him. His property fortunately
was mixed up with that of the consul, except a few
trifling articles of luggage and a pocket purse con-
taining the sum necessary for his daily expenses.
The Aga of Antakia sent a dragoman to investigate
the state of affairs, but his spirited conduct, and the
success with which he concealed his Frank origin,
prevented him from being made the victim of im-

36 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

position. During the whole four days that he was
detained in the khan, the people who frequented it
fvere constant in their imprecations against him ;
l)ut at length the departure of the caravan (on the
I0th) relieved him from his unpleasant situation.

The mode and time of removal must have pre-
sented a busy and picturesque scene. The whole
area of the court was divided into small squares of
different sizes, by means of cords, at the ends of
which iron wedges were fastened, which were driven
into the earth up to their heads. Each muleteer
chooses one of these squares, proportionate in size
to the number of his beasts, and loads them in it.
Though the ropes are little more than one inch
above ground, the animals never move out of the
space assigned them ; and thus great order prevailed,
although it was dark when they loaded, and the
whole court crowded with beasts and bales. At
every place where they halt for feeding, the same
cords are extended in front of the animals, to pre-
vent their getting amongst the luggage.

The route of the caravan was across a plain coun-
try on the right bank of the Orontes, the breadth of
which was about fifty yards, and its depth nowhere
more than five feet. A journey of two days, and
a passage over a range of calcareous mountains,
brought them into the eastern plain of Syria. Up
to this period, Burckhardt's companions had re-
garded him as an orthodox Mussulman ; but two of
them having kept a strict watch over all his move-
ments and actions, pretended to discover some

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 37

irregularities in his evening ablutions. This real or
fancied defect lost him the good opinion which by
his manner and conduct he had hitherto maintained.
He was told that he was u haraam" or in a forbid-
den unclean state, and in consequence he was sub-
jected to considerable annoyance ; but it lasted only
a single day, as they were now approaching the
termination of their journey.

Over a wide extended plain rose the castle of
Aleppo, a,t the sight of which the armed horsemen
of the caravan set off in a gallop, repeatedly firing
their muskets. Another hour's march, through
deserted and ruined villages, brought them to the
town ; on entering which all the merchandise must
be weighed at the custom-house khan, in order to
determine the sum due to the muleteer for freight,
as also the amount of duty to be paid for them to
the Grand Seignior. This city continued to be his
principal residence during the two years and a half
which he remained in Syria, chiefly for the purpose
of learning to speak Arabic fluently.

A few days after his arrival he was attacked by
a strong inflammatory fever, occasioned probably
by the want of rest, owing to the quantity of vermin
that had collected on his person. But in a fortnight
his health was restored, and allowed him to proceed
with his studies uninterrupted, with the aid of
young Frank who spoke the language like a natiw,
though he could neither read nor write it. Our
traveller made rapid progress, making daily addi-
tions to his practical knowledge of Arabic, and his

38 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

experience of Oriental society and manners. He
amused himself by attempting a translation, or
rather a metamorphosis, of the story of Robinson
Crusoe into an Eastern tale, under the title of Deir
el Bahr, or the Pearl of the Seas. In common
conversation he soon learned to comprehend almost
any thing that was said, and was able to make
himself understood on most subjects. He likewise
formed an acquaintance with some sheikhs, and other
literary characters amongst the Turks at Aleppo,
who expressed their surprise that " a Frank should
know more of their language than their first Ule-
mas !" — a compliment not particularly flattering,
when we take into account the low state of learning
among the Aleppine literati, few of whom could
compose a line of prose or verse free from gram-
matical blunders.

Although Burckhardt still retained his fictitious
name of Ibrahim ibn Abdallah, he found it no longer
necessary to appear as a Mussulman, or to conceal
his European origin, and wore only such a Turkish
dress as is often assumed in Syria by English
travellers. He had there the comfort of an unmo-
lested intercourse with the Mahommedan population
of the town; at the same time that he was not
prevented from openly accepting the friendship and
protection of Mr. Barker, the British consul, who
received him at his house as a travelling merchant
from his own country.

Besides the convenience of study and other ad-
vantages derived from a residence at Aleppo, he was

MEMOIR OF BURCKIIARDT. 39

anxious still farther to extend his acquaintance with
the natives by making occasional excursions into
Syria, with a view to inspect the state of Arabian
life and manners in the tent and the desert as well
as in the crowded city. And while thus preparing
himself for the ultimate object of his mission, he
was careful to direct his journeys through the parts
of the country which had been the least frequented
by European travellers, so that he had thus the
opportunity of making some important additions to
our knowledge of those regions, of which the geo-
graphy is not less interesting from its connexion
with ancient history, than it is imperfect in conse-
quence of the impediments which modern barbarism
has opposed to scientific researches.

His first intention was to visit the extensive
plains of the Haouran (the original patrimony of
Abraham), where the Bedouin Arabs of the desert
encamp in the spring and summer in search of grass
and water for their cattle, or of corn for their winter
supply. On the eve of his departure, it happened
that an Arab sheikh or chief of the Aenezy tribe,
the most powerful and warlike of their countrymen,
had come to Aleppo for the purpose of receiving the
passage duties on certain goods which were to be
conveyed through his territory by the great caravan
to Bagdad. With this chief Burckhardt formed an
acquaintance, and engaged that he should accom-
pany him by way of Tadmor or Palmyra, home to
his family and tents; and having shown him the

40 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT,

encampments and horses of the Bedouins, he was to
conduct him in safety to Damascus.

Although it is extremely rare for an Arab to
break his word of honour with a stranger to whom
he has promised his protection, this chief did not
fulfil his agreement, having left his protegee on the
third day in charge of some of his men near Hamah,
where they were attacked and stript by a party of
the Monali tribe, who had then a quarrel with the
Aenezys. As a reason for this breach of contract,
the sheikh alleged that he could not possibly carry
him into his own country, as he was afraid of
its being invaded by the approaching army of the
Wahabis, a sect of religious reformers who had then
nearly conquered the whole of Arabia, and were
waging war against all Turks and Mussulmans
who refused to adopt their creed. He offered, how-
ever, to provide him another guide who would con-
duct him to Tadmor and thence to the Haouran.

Having refitted himself at Hamah, our traveller
set out under his new protector and succeeded in
reaching Palmyra, where he spent nearly two days
in contemplating those interesting ruins, and ob-
serving the manners of the Bedouins, who received
him in their encampments with their characteristic
hospitality and kindness. Here he was again de-
serted by his guide, and obliged to join a salt cara-
van, with which he proceeded to Damascus.

His project of visiting the Haouran was now
found to be impracticable, in consequence of the

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 41

disturbances caused by the Wahabis, who for several
years had interrupted the annual pilgrimages to
Mecca, and occasioned a change in the government
of Damascus, where Yussef Pasha, who had been
appointed in 1806, was deposed for appropriating
the greater part of the miri, or land tax, to himself,
instead of transmitting it to the Porte. His suc-
cessor was Soliman, Pasha of Acre, who obtained
his firman by remitting considerable sums of money
to Constantinople, and promising to escort the pil-
grim caravans ; or should that be found impossible,
to make regular payment of the miri, and at all
events to send Yussef s accumulated treasures to
the Grand Seignior. The new governor made his
solemn entrance into Damascus on the 5th of
August 1810 (only a few days before the arrival of
Burckhardt), having then under his command three
pashaliks, — Tripoli, Acre, and Damascus, — which
gave him the possession of nearly all Syria, from
Gaza to Antioch. The sudden changes and revolu-
tions for which the policy of the Ottoman empire
is so remarkable, suggested to the intelligent mind
of Burckhardt the following very appropriate re-
flections as to their cause and consequences.

" It is the misfortune of the Turkish government,
at least in its present decayed state, that popular
virtues in the person of its governors are quite in-
compatible with the Porte's own views. The Sultan
demands supplies, and nothing but supplies ; and the
Pasha, to satisfy him, must press upon the industry of
his subjects. He who is the well-wisher of his people,

42 MEMOIR OP BURCKHARDT.

who contents himself with the ordinary revenue,
and who lets justice preside in his councils, will
undoubtedly incur his sovereign's displeasure, not
because he is just, but because his justice prevents
him from plundering, and transmitting a portion of
the acquired plunder to the Divan to save his ex-
istence ; he has nothing left but silently to resign his
unhappy subjects to the rod of a succeeding despot,
or to declare himself a rebel and contend with his
rival, until the Porte, convinced of the difficulty of
deposing him, patiently waits for a more favourable
opportunity of effecting her purpose. Her principles
are applicable to all persons in office, from the Pasha
down to the Sheikh of the smallest village ; and it
is to them that the rapid decay of Turkey is to be
ascribed. It requires but one year's reign of a man
like Djezzar to destroy the benefits of the four
years' government of a Yussef. The rapidity, how-
ever, with which ease and wealth are seen to reflow
into the re-opened channels of industry, proves that
Syria, on the downfall of the Turkish empire, would
soon regain its former lustre."

The unsettled state of the government having
obliged our traveller to prolong his stay at Damas-
cus for more than six weeks, he resolved again to
visit Baalbec and the Libanus, taking his departure
about the middle of September, with a small caravan
destined for Tripoli. His route lay through Zahle,
a small town on the western side of the valley
Bekaa, near which is a ruined mosque, believed by
the Turks to contain the tomb of Noah. Bekaa is

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 43

the ancient Coelo-Syria, and stretches between the
two mountain chains of the Libanus and the Anti-
Libanus.

At Baalbec Burckhardt remained three days, in-
specting the ruins and copying inscriptions ; but the
celebrated work of Wood and Dawkins, who visited
the place in 1 75 1 , and the subsequent account given
by Yolney (in 1784), rendered it unnecessary for
him to enter into any description of these magnifi-
cent architectural remains. Volney, he remarks,
is incorrect in describing the rock of which the
great temple is constructed, as granite ; it is of the
primitive calcareous kind ; although in different
parts there are fragments of granite columns to be
found. Having lately visited Tadmor, he was
naturally led to draw a comparison between those
renowned monuments of antiquity. " The entire
view (says he) of the ruins of Palmyra, when seen
at a certain distance, is infinitely more striking
than that of Baalbec ; but there is not any one
spot in the ruins of Tadmor so imposing as the in-
terior view of the temple of Baalbec. The temple
of the sun at Tadmor is upon a grander scale than
that of Baalbec, but it is choked up with Arab
houses, which admit only of a view of the building
in detail. The architecture of Baalbec is richer
than that of Tadmor."

The walls of the ancient city may still be traced,
forming a circuit of between three and four miles,
and including a larger space than the present town
ever occupied, even in its most flourishing condi-

44 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

tion. Many of the Damascenes choose their wives
from Baalbec, the women of which are reckoned
the handsomest of the neighbouring country. The
surrounding district is well-watered and extremely
fertile. The inhabitants fabricate white cotton cloth
like that of Zahle, which is used for shirts, and
when dyed blue, for kombazes, or gowns worn by
the men. They have a few dyeing-houses, and had
formerly some tanneries. The property of the peo-
ple consists chiefly of cows, of which every house
has ten or fifteen, besides goats and sheep. The
goats are of a species not common in other parts of
Syria, having long ears, large horns, and long hair,
but not silky like that of the goats of Anatolia.
The breed of Baalbec mules is much esteemed,
some of them being reckoned worth £30 or £35
sterling.

The wandering Arabs, who visit the territory in
quest of summer pasture, pay tribute to the Emir,
at the rate of twelve or fifteen pounds of butter for
each tent. In some parts the villagers cultivate
tobacco, and rear the silk- worm. At Kanobin, the
seat of the patriarch of the Maronites, the convent
derives a considerable income from a custom which
the peasants practise in winter, of suspending their
silk-worms in bags before the portrait of some
favourite saint, whose influence they implore for a
plenteous harvest of silk, — not forgetting a suitable
remuneration to make their prayers more accept-
able.

The territory of Baalbec comprehends on the

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 45

eastern side the range of the Anti-Libanus, and on
the western the Libanus, or Lebanon, as high as the
summits. The whole of the rock is calcareous,
and towards the top the surface is so splintered by
the action of the atmosphere as to have the appear-
ance of layers of slates. Of the famous cedars, so
renowned in the days of Solomon, some specimens
still exist, especially at the foot of the steep declivi-
ties of the higher division of the mountain. " They
stand (says Burckhardt) on uneven ground, and
form a small wood. Of the oldest and best-looking
trees I counted eleven or twelve, twenty-five very
large ones, about fifty of middling size, and more
than three hundred smaller and young ones. The
oldest are distinguished by having the foliage and
small branches at the top only, and four, five, or
seven trunks springing from one base." Some of
these trunks are covered with the names of travel-
lers and persons who have visited them, having
dates marked of the seventeenth century.

Proceeding down the valley to the Druse terri-
tory of Hasbeya, a village at the foot of Jibel el
Sheikh, or Mount Hesma, famous for its wells of
bitumen judaicum, and for the cinnabar found near
it, Burckhardt reached Banias, or Panias, which is
classic ground, being the ancient Caesarsea Philippi,
and the Dan of the Jews ; the neighbouring lake
Houle is the Lacus Samachonitis. The most re-
markable vestiges consist of an old castle, probably
erected in the time of the crusades, — some remains
of the temple of Augustus, built by Herod, — and

46 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

several caverns or niches hewn out of the face of the
perpendicular rock, intended for the reception of
idols or deities, one of which was occupied with a
statue of Pan, as described hy Josephus ; and hence
the appellations of Panias and Paneium given to the
mountain.

In the vicinity are the ruins of the city of Bostra,
sometimes confounded with Bosra in the Haouran ;
both of which are mentioned in the books of Moses.
Lower down is the fertile plain of the Houle, wa-
tered by the rivers Banias and Hasbeya, or the
Jordan. " The source of the Jordan (says Burck-
hardt), or Dhan, as it is here called, is at an hour
and a quarter north-east from Banias. There are
two springs near each other, whose waters unite
immediately below. Both sources are on level
ground, amongst rocks of tufwacke. The larger
source soon forms a river twelve or fifteen yards
across, which rushes rapidly over a stony bed into
the lower plain." A very probable derivation of
the word " Jordan" was suggested by the inhabi-
tants. " I was told (continues Burckhardt) that
the ancient name of the river Banias was Djour,
which, added to the name of Dhan, made Jourdan.
The more correct etymology is perhaps Or Dhan,
in Hebrew, the river of Dan. Lower down, be-
tween Houle and the Lake Tabaria, it is called
Orden by the natives; to the southward of the
Tabaria it bears the name of Sherya, till it falls
into the Dead Sea." This point was the limit of
Burckhardt's first tour in the countries of the Liba-

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 47

nus and Anti-Libanus ; he returned to Damascus
by way of Katana, without meeting with any thing
remarkable, if we except the Kaber Nimroud, a
large heap of stones which tradition records as the
tomb of Nimrod.

After a fortnight's repose, rendered necessary by
fatigue and indisposition, our traveller set out on his
excursion into the plain of the Haouran and the
mountains of the Druses, — a region which scarcely
any European had then visited. He assumed the
dress of the inhabitants, composed of a keffie, and a
sheep-skin over his shoulders. During a laborious
journey of twenty-six days (from November 8th till
December 4th), he explored the country as far as
Bozra, entered the desert to the south-east of that
city, and returned afterwards to Damascus, through
the rocky district called El Ledja. " At every step
(says he) I found vestiges of ancient cities, saw the
remains of many temples, public edifices, and Greek
churches ; met at Shohla with a well-preserved am-
phitheatre, at other places with numbers of stand-
ing columns, and had opportunities of copying many
Greek inscriptions, which may serve to throw some
light on the history of this almost forgotten corner.
The inscriptions are for the greater part of the
Lower Empire, but some of the most elegant ruins
have their inscriptions dated from the reigns of
Trajan and Marcus Aurelius."

At Shohla and Kanouat the architectural remains
are very splendid. A stony district called the Szaffa,
two or three days' journey in circumference, was

48 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

then used as a place of refuge by the Arabs who
fled from the Pasha's troops, or from their pursuers
in the desert. It had no water except the rain
collected in the cisterns. There was only one en-
trance into it through a narrow pass, a cleft between
high perpendicular rocks, not more than two yards
in breadth, which none ever dared to enter as an
enemy. When a tribe intend to remain in it a
whole year, they sow as much wheat and barley as
will serve them for that time on the spots within its
precincts fit for cultivation.

The Ledja, which is from two to three days
journey in length by one in breadth, is also inhabited
by small tribes of pastoral Arabs. It is a strange
wilderness, whose stony soil is covered with heaps
of rocks, amidst which are numerous small patches
of meadow that afford excellent pasture for the cattle.
There are no springs to be met with ; but in winter,
water collects in the wadis and lirkets, or cisterns,
where it is sometimes kept the whole summer. In
the interior parts the rocks are in many places cleft
asunder, so that the whole ridge appears shivered
and in the act of falling down. The layers are
generally horizontal, from six to eight feet or more
in thickness, occasionally covering the hills and in-
clining to their curve, as appears from their fissures,
which often traverse the rock from top to bottom.
Having satisfied his curiosity, and made several
important observations, both as to the geography
and the inhabitants of that region, Burckhardt
returned to Damascus, and thence by Horns and

MEMOIR OP BURCKHAIIDT. 49

itamaii to Aleppo, where he arrived on the 1st *tf
January, 181 1.

His journey to Baalbec had been undertaken
more for his own private gratification than in the
hope of gathering new information ; but his tour
into the Haouran opened up a new field of observa-
tion, the fruits of which were some valuable papers
communicated to the committee of the Afiican As-
sociation, containing a classification of the principal
Arab tribes near the confines of Syria, and a treatise
on the manners and customs of the Bedouins, giving
very interesting details of their encampments, tents,
dress, furniture, diet, arts, arms, industry, educa-
tion, religion, and government.

With a view to render himself still more familiar
with the manners and language of the Arabs, before
proceeding into Ejypt, he had requested of his em-
ployers in London to allow him six months in addi-
tion to the stipulated two years' residence in Syria,
which was readily granted; and on coming back
to Aleppo, he resumed his studies with increased
ardour, in order to qualify him, not merely to
speak, but to act as a Mussulman. In one of his
letters, he writes, " I have completed the perusal of
several of the best Arabic authors, in prose as well
as poetry. I have read over the Koran twice, and
have got by heart several of its chapters and many
of its sentences. I am likewise nearly finishing u
thorough course of the precepts of the Mahomme-
dan religion, a learned Effendi having taken upor.
himself the task of explaining to me the book

i*0 MEMOIR OF BURCKITARDT.

of Ibrahim Halebi, on the religious law? of the
Turks/

Incessant rains and the turbulent state of the
country prevented Burckhardt from undertaking an
excursion, which he had long projected, into the
desert towards the Euphrates. On the 14th of
February, 1812, he left Aleppo, to make another
journey to Damascus, through the valley of the
Orontes and Mount Lebanon, taking the route of
Hamah, and thence crossing to Tripoli, which he
reached on the 3d of March. The Arabs along the
Orontes rear large herds of buffaloes, which are of
small size but very spirited. This animal, it ap-
pears, is no favourite with the Turks, amongst
whom there is a common saying and a belief that
the whole brute creation was converted by their
Prophet to the true faith, except the wild boar and
buffalo ; and on this account both animals are often
called Christians! As the flesh of the buffalo is
much esteemed by the Turks, it seems difficult to
account for this antipathy; Burckhardt suggests,
as the only reason he could learn, that, like the hog,
it has a habit of rolling in the mud, and of plunging
into the marshy ponds, in the summer time, up to
the very nose, which alone remains visible above
the surface.

The city of Tripoli, called Torebolis by the Arabs,
is built on the declivity of the lowest hills of the
Libanus. Many parts of the town bear marks of
the ages of the crusades, amongst which are several
high arcades of Gothic architecture, under which

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. i)l

the streets run. The principal commerce is in silk,
produced upon the mountains ; the next chief article
of exportation is sponges, which are procured on
the sea-shore, the best being found at little depth
of water. The territory of this Pashalik extends
over the greater part of Mount Lebanon ; the
Pasha derives a considerable income from the duties
levied on the peasants who rear silk-worms, and
who are reckoned to pay about twenty or twenty-
five per cent, each, estimated according to the an-
nual produce of the worms. The taxes on the
mulberry trees are calculated in .proportion to those
on the silk. After a pleasant sojourn of ten days at
Tripoli, Burckhardt returned to Damascus, visiting
on his way the mountainous district of Kesrouan,
and its chief the Emir Beshir, who received him
very politely, and spoke with the highest satisfac-
tion of his alliance with Sir Sidney Smith, while
commanding upon that coast, during the? expedition
to Egypt. Along this route, a considerable pro-
portion of the inhabitants consists of that remark-
able people the Druses, whose manners and habits
are quite different from those of the Turks and
Christians. They make a public profession of Mo-
hammedanism, and perform the rites prescribed by
that religion; but in private they curse the Pro-
phet, indulge in wine, and eat food forbidden by
the Koran. They have a special antipathy against
the Franks, chiefly in consequence of a tradition
current among them, that the Europeans will one
day overthrow their commonwealth. This hatred

02 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

has been increased since the invasion of the French
in 1800 ; and the most unpardonable insult which
one Druse can offer to another is to say to him,—
Allah yelelesak baneila, " May God put a hat on
you !" They are licentious and vindictive, but hos-
pitable to strangers and faithful to their promise.
They seldom have more than one wife, but the
obligation of the matrimonial tie is very slight,
judging from the ease with which divorces are
accomplished. It is a custom among them, that if
the woman asks her husband's permission to go
out, and he says " Go," without adding " and come
back," she is thereby divorced; nor can her hus-
band recover her, even though it should be their
mutual wish, until she is married again according
to the Turkish forms, and divorced from her second
husband.

Being now anxious to reach Damascus before the
rain and snow rendered the journey over the moun-
tains impracticable, Burckhardt took leave of the
Emir, and arrived at the city on the 22d of March.
His stay here was prolonged for nearly a month, in
consequence of an unexpected change in the govern-
ment by the dismissal of Soliman Pasha. Having
determined, before finally leaving Syria, to visit the
Haouran once more, in order to examine those parts
which he had not been able to see during his first
tour to that country, and particularly to explore
the ruins of Djerash (Gerasa) and of Ammon
(Philadelphia}, in the ancient Decapolis, he set out
on his journey as soon as the state of the Pashalik

MEMOIR OF BtTRCKHARDT. 5}

was sufficiently tranquil to allow him to proceed
with safety. He took with him a Damascene guide,
who had been seventeen times to Mecca, was well
acquainted with the Bedouins, inured to fatigue,
and not indisposed to favour the object of the
traveller.

At Berak he found two saltpetre manufactories :
the article is procured by boiling the saline earth
dug up among the ruins of the town and in the
neighbouring plain. In finding out the productive
spots, the inhabitants are guided by the appearance
of the ground in the morning before sun-rise ; and
wherever it then appears most wet with dew, the
soil beneath is found impregnated with salt. Pass-
ing along the eastern limit of the Ledja, he pene-
trated as far as Bostra, formerly the capital of
Arabia Provincia, and still, including the ruins,
the largest town in the Haouran. There are the
remains of a splendid mosque, embellished with
numerous elegant arabesque ornaments, and of a
temple with some large Corinthian pillars, equalling
in beauty of execution the finest of those at Baalbec
or Palmyra. Of the vineyards, for which this city
was famous even in the days of Moses, not a vestige
remains.

Proceeding in a westerly direction, Burckhardt
traversed the whole plain as far as the borders of
Djolan, near the lake Tabaria. On this route he
passed Mezareib, a small village with a castle and a
pool of the clearest water, which is supposed to have
been the site of Astaroth (Deut. i. 4., Josh. ix. 10),

54 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

the residence of Og, king of Bashan. It was on
this route that he saw for the first time a swarm of
locusts ; so completely did they cover the surface of
the ground, that his horse killed numbers of them at
every step ; and it was with the greatest difficulty
that he could protect his face from their attacks. In
Syria this species is called djerad nedjdyat^ or flying
locusts, to distinguish them from the djerad dshhof^
or devouring locusts. The former have a yellow
body, a gray breast, and wings of a dirty white,
with gray spots. The latter have white wings and
a whitish gray body. The flying kind are much
less dreaded than the other, because they feed only
on the leaves of trees and vegetables, sparing the
wheat and barley. The Bedouins eat locusts, swal-
lowing them entire. They are never served up as a
dish ; but every one takes a handful of them when
hungry, out of a large sack, into which they are
put, with the mixture of a little salt, after they have
been dried in the sun, and roasted slightly upon the
iron plate used for baking bread.

A journey of four days brought the traveller to
Djerash, formerly one of the principal towns of the
Decapolis, situated on a small river of the same
name which empties itself into the Wadi Zeika>
probably the Jabok of Scripture. The extent and
magnificence of the ruins prove the importance and
magnitude of that ancient city. The ground for
three or four miles in circumference is strewn with
fallen temples, broken capitals, rows of lofty columns,
the remains of theatres, and aqueducts, &c., with

MEMOIR OP BURCKIIARDT. O»

which the streets in many places are entirely blocked
up.

It was Burckhardt's intention to visit Ammon,
but from the terror of the Arabs no guide could be
prevailed with to conduct him beyond the mountains
of Balka. Disappointed in this expectation, he re-
traced his steps northward, reached the lower ex-
tremity of the lake Tabaria, examined the hot
springs in that neighbourhood, and on the 9th of
May arrived at Damascus. This excursion enabled
liiin to collect some valuable observations on the
political divisions of the country, as well as on the
character and customs of the inhabitants of the
Haouran.

The period of Burckhardt's experimental training
in Syria having now come to a close, he made pre-
parations for his immediate departure to Egypt.
Wishing to obtain a better knowledge of the moun-
tains to the east of the Jordan, and being still more
desirous of visiting the almost unknown districts
eastward of the Dead Sea, as well as of exploring
the regions that lie between the latter and the
Red Sea, he resolved to proceed to Cairo by that
route, in preference to the direct road through
Jerusalem and Gaza, where it was not probable
he would obtain much information important for
its novelty.

Although this deviation would retard his progress
a little, he thought the delay would be more than
compensated by the light which he expected to
throw on the geography of those countries, which

56 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

so few Europeans were qualified to explore. u Know-
ing (says he) that my intended way led through a
diversity of Bedouin tribes, I considered it advisable
to equip myself in the simplest manner. I assumed
the most common Bedouin dress, took no luggage
with me, and mounted a mare that was not likely
to excite the cupidity of the Arabs." On the second
day he passed near the lower ridge of the Djibel
el Sheikh, the Mount Herrnon of the sacred writ-
ings, and crossed the Jordan, which here flows in a
narrow bed and with a rapid stream. Next day he
reached Szaffad, the ancient Japhat, a neatly built
town, commanding an extensive view over the
country towards Acre, and in clear weather the sea
is visible from it. Descending the mountain, he
came to a place of refreshment called the Khan
Djob Yussef, or the Khan of Joseph's Well, where
the natives show the pit into which they pretend
that patriarch was let down by his brethren. It is
in a small court-yard, and is about three feet in
diameter, and at least thirty deep, the sides being
lined with masonry. Both Turks and Christians
hold it in great veneration. The former have a
small chapel just by it, and caravan travellers sel-
dom pass without saying a few prayers in honour of
Yussef. The whole of the mountain in the vicinity
is covered with large pieces of black stone, although
the main body of the rock is calcareous ; and to ac-
count for this, the inhabitants have a legend that
the tears of Jacob, dropping on the ground while he
was in search of his son, turned the white stones

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 5J

black ; and hence they give them the name of
*' Jacob's tears."

At a short distance are the town and lake of
Tabaria, of which Burckhardt has given an interest-
ing description. Tabaria is a walled town, with
about four thousand inhabitants, consisting of Jews,
Turks, and a few Christians. It is one of the four
holy cities of the Talmud ; the others being Szaffad,
Jerusalem, and Hebron. It is esteemed sacred
ground, because Jacob is alleged to have resided
here, and because it is situated on the Lake Genne-
sareth, out of which, according to Rabbinical tradi-
tion, the Messiah is to rise.

Jews resort to this place from all quarters of the
globe, in order to pass their days in praying for
their own salvation and that of their brethren who
are occupied in worldly pursuits. The sacred duties
are rendered the more indispensable from a dogma
of the Talmud, thpt the world will return to its
primitive chaos if devotions are not offered up to
the God of Israel at least twice a week in the four
. holy cities. This belief is of considerable pecuniary
advantage to the supplicants, as the missionaries,
whom they send abroad to Spain, Barbary, Egypt,
Greece, Poland, Bohemia, &c. to collect alms, are
in the habit of frightening the rich Jews into a
liberal supply of money, by pleading the danger of
the threatened dissolution of the universe, should
they neglect to keep up these devotional services.
If a pilgrim brings a little money with him, the
cunning of the devout citizens soon deprives him of

58 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

it; for as he is generally impressed with extrava-
gant ideas of the sanctity of the place, he is easily
imposed upon before his enthusiasm begins to cool.
To rent a house in which some learned Rabbi or
saint died, to visit their tombs, to have the sacred
books opened in his presence, or public prayers read
for his salvation ; all these inestimable advantages,
besides various other minor religious tricks, quickly
strip the stranger of his last farthing. He then
becomes dependent upon the charity of his nation,
upon foreign subsidies, or the fervour of some new
comer, as inexperienced as himself.

The Jews here spend almost their whole time in
the schools and synagogues. They possess some
very beautiful copies of the books of Moses, written
upon leather instead of parchment, and perhaps
manufactured at Bagdad, where the best Hebrew
scribes live. " They observe a singular custom in
praying : while the Rabbi recites the Psalms of
David, or the supplications extracted from them,
the people frequently imitate by their voices or ges-
tures the meaning of some remarkable passage ; for
example, when the Rabbi pronounces the words,
* Praise the Lord with the sound of the trumpet,'
they imitate the instrument through their closed
fists. When ' a horrible tempest' occurs, they puff
and blow, to represent a storm ; or should he men-
tion ' the cries of the righteous in distress,' they
all set up a loud screaming; and it often happens,
that while some are still blowing the storm, others
have already begun the cries of the righteous*—

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 59

thus forming a concert which it is difficult for any
but a zealous Hebrew to hear with gravity."

Not far from the town there are hot-baths, much
resorted to from all parts of Syria, being reckoned
very efficacious for rheumatism and constitutional
debility. The water of the lake rises, during the
rainy season, three or four feet above its ordinary
level ; owing, perhaps, to the great number of win-
ter torrents which empty themselves into it. It was
around its borders, or upon its surface, that many
miracles of the Messiah were wrought ; the fishery,
which afforded the means of livelihood to several of
the Apostles, is now totally neglected, and can
scarcely yield employment for a single boat.

A few hours' journey to the westward of the
town is Mount Tor, or Tabor, the scene of the trans-
figuration ; although the exact spot is disputed be-
tween the Greek and Latin Christians, who have
each their own chapel, wherein the sacred event is
commemorated. It is nearly insulated, of a conical
shape, and overtops all the neighbouring summits.
The top is flat and of considerable circuit, the sides,
except towards the south, are covered with a forest
of oak and wild pistachio trees. The view from the
hill is exceedingly beautiful, and has been admired
by all travellers. On one side the expanse of the
Mediterranean is seen in the distance; nearer are
Carmel, the mountains of Gilboa, and Nazareth, the
hills of Samaria on the south ; the sea of Tiberias
on the east, the mount of Beatitude towards the
north, and farther in the same direction, Mount

60 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

Hermon and the snowy peaks of the Anti-Libanus.
Immediately around are the rich and spacious plains
of Esdraelon and Galilee, the most fertile part of the
Land of Canaan, the inheritance where the tribe of
Issachar " rejoiced to pitch their tents."

In this region occurred some of the most memor-
able events of Scripture history. Here it was that
Barak, descending with his ten thousand men from
Tabor, discomfited Sisera with all his chariots. In
the same neighbourhood, Josiah, king of Judah,
fought in disguise against Necho, king of Egypt,
and fell by the arrows of his antagonist. Vespasian
reviewed his legions in the same great plain ; and
from the days of Nebuchadnezzar to the invasion of
Napoleon, it has been a chosen place for encamp-
ments in every contest carried on in Palestine.
When the French entered Syria in 1799, General
Kleber was here attacked by an army of 25,000
Turks. Here, too, is to be fought the great battle
of Armageddon, so well known to all interpreters of
prophecy, which is expected to change the aspect of
the Eastern world.

On leaving Tabaria, Burckhardt proceeded to
Nazareth ; visiting in his route several spots re-
corded in the New Testament, among others the
village of Cana (Kefer Kenna), where the miracle
at the marriage-feast was performed ; and the Ke-
rom Haltun, a small oblong hill, which the Chris-
tians call the mount of Beatitude, where Christ
delivered his sermon, and where they allege the five
thousand were fed. Naszera, or Nazareth, is one

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 61

of the principal towns of the Pashalik of Acre. As
might be expected, it abounds with relics and
legends connected with the parentage and infancy
of the Messiah. Travellers are still shown the
house and workshop of Joseph ; the latter, which
is near the convent, is now a small chapel, perfectly
modern, and white-washed like a Turkish sepul-
chre ; — the synagogue where Christ disputed with
the doctors ;— the precipice from which the monks
aver he leapt down to escape the rage of his towns-
men, who wTere offended at his applications of the
sacred text ; — the table, a long flat stone, on which
it is affirmed he eat meat with his disciples, both
before and after his resurrection, are among the
venerable curiosities pointed out to the devout
pilgrim.

But the principal of these ancient monuments is
the convent of the Latin Friars, a very spacious
and commodious building, within which is the
church of the Annunciation, containing two tolera-
bly good organs, and next to the Holy Sepulchre
at Jerusalem, the finest church in Syria. Here is
shown the spot where the angel stood when he an-
nounced the Messiah to the Virgin. Behind the
\ altar is a subterraneous cavern, divided into small
! grottoes, where Mary is said to have lived; her
i kitchen, parlour, and bed-room are shown ; besides
several other pious wonders, of which the Syrian
Christians have a copious stock, unfounded upon
any authority of Scripture.

At the time of the French invasion, Nazareth

62 MEMOIR OF BTJRCKHARDT.

was occupied by six or eight hundred men. Bona-
parte dined in the town, which was the most north-
ern point of his expedition ; he had come to the
relief of Kleber, who had encountered 25,000 Turks
in the plain of Esdraelon, and returned the same
day to Acre.

As Burckhardt had resolved to visit Szalt, a
strong castle in the mountains of Belka, which he
had not been able to see during his late tour in the
Haouran, it happened fortunately that two petty
merchants from that place came to Nazareth when
he was on the eve of his departure ; he joined their
little caravan ; and after passing the ruins of En-
dor (where the witch's grotto is shown), Nablous,
Beysan (Scythopolis), and Jabbok, the travellers
descended into the Ghor, or valley of the Jordan,
and arrived at Szalt, which is only a few hours'
journey from Djibel Djelaoud, the Gilead of Scrip-
ture history.

The Szaltese are entirely independent of the
Turkish government ; a few of them are artisans,
but the greater number pursue agriculture. In
July and August they collect in the mountains the
leaves of the sumach, which they dry and carry to
the market at Jerusalem, for the use of the tan-
neries. The merchants also buy up ostrich feathers
from the Bedouins, which they sell to great advan-
tage at Damascus. Many hills and ruins in this
district preserve the names of the Old Test? me -nt,
and elucidate the topography of the province that
fell to the lot ef the tribes & Gad and Reuben.

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 63

From the town of Szalt, which stands on the de-
clivity of the mountain, crowned by the castle,
there is a fine view over the Ghor ; Rieha, or Jeri-
cho, is visible at a great distance to the southward ;
and in the neighbouring valley of Mezer Osha, tra-
dition points out the tomb of the Prophet Hosea,
which is in the form of a coffin, thirty-six feet
long, three broad, and three and a half in height.
Both Turks and Christians are in the habit of offer-
ing prayers and sacrifices in honour of the saint.
Visitors generally drop a few paras, which are col-
lected by the guardian ostensibly for defraying the
expense of illuminating the vaulted building which
contains the tomb, and also serves as a mosque.

At the distance of about twenty miles to the
eastward are the ruin? of Ammon, situate in a
valley on both sides of a rivulet that empties itself
into the Zerka. The most remarkable of these is a
large amphitheatre, which is much decayed, and
much inferior to that of Dj crash. Many edifices,
such as churches, temples, columns, arched bridges,
&c., still remain to attest the former splendour of
Ammon ; amongst which is the castle, whose walls
of immense thickness consist of huge blocks of
stones piled up without cement, denoting a very

i remote antiquity. Having with some difficulty
procured a guide, Burckhardt continued his route,

' and in ten days and a half arrived at Kerek, pass-
ing in course of his journey various places men-
tioned in the Old Testament, — Heshbon, Baalmeon,
Medala, Kirjathaim, Mount Nebo, the Plains of

64 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARI>T.

Moab, Diban, Aroer, Rabbath Moab, and the deep
beds of t jvo torrents, El Nale and El Modjib, which
lie supposes to be the Nahaleel and Arnon.

Kerek, which lies a few miles eastward from the
lowrer extremity of the Dead Sea, has long been,
and still is, an important position. The town is
built on the top of a precipice, surrounded on all
sides by a deep and narrow valley, but commanded
by the mountains beyond it. Originally it had only
two entrances, one to the south, and the other to
the north, which were merely long dark passages
cut through the rock. It was anciently the princi-
pal city and fortress of the Nabathean Arabs ; and
during the first ages of their intercourse with the
Greeks, it was known to the latter by the name
of Petra, so often applied by them to barbarian hill-
posts.

When the Macedonians became acquainted with
this part of Syria by means of the expedition which
Antigonus sent out against the Nabatheans under
his son Demetrius, we are informed by Diodorus
that the Arabs placed their old men, women, and
children " upon a certain rock," steep, unfortified
by walls, and admitting only of one access to the
summit. From this description, and its vicinity to the
Lake Asphaltites (the Dead Sea), we may presume
that Kerek is the place here referred to by the
Greek historian ; and that when the increase of
commerce required a situation better fitted for the
growing population and wealth of the Nabatheans,
the appellation of Petra was transferred to another

MEMOIR OP BURCKHARDT.

city, which became the capital of Northe:
and the great entrepot of the trade from India,
Persia, and Arabia, to Egypt and the Mediterranean.
Kerek then became distinguished by its own name
in the Greek form of Charax ; it was afterwards
strongly fortified, and in the time of the crusades
was a stronghold of the Saracens. Its chief or sheikh
is still a powerful personage, and a leading character
in the affairs of the deserts of South Syria. His
conduct to our traveller, as we shall soon find, was
very unfriendly, although he had been particularly
recommended to him by a grandee of Damascus.

The inhabitants of Kerek are esteemed excellent
warriors ; they are hospitable to strangers ; and as
butter is with them a principal article of domestic
consumption, it is considered an unpardonable mean-
ness to sell it, or exchange it for any necessary or
convenience of life ; so much so, that if a man is
known to have transgressed in this respect, his
daughters or sisters would remain unmarried, for
no one would dare to connect himself with the
family of a Baya el Samin, or butter-seller, — the
most insulting epithet that can be applied to a
Kerekein. This people intermarry with the Be-
douins, but they do not treat their wives so affec-
tionately as the Arabs. If one of them happen to
fall sick, and her sickness is likely to prevent her
for some time from taking care of the household
affairs, the husband sends her back to her father s
house with a message that " he must cure her," for,
as he says, " I bought a healthy wife of you, and it

DO MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

is not just that I should be at the expense or trouble
of curing her/' He never provides clothes or arti-
cles of dress for his spouse ; she is in consequence
obliged to apply to her own family, or to rob her
husband of his wheat and barley, and sell it clan-
destinely in small quantities, otherwise she could
not appear decently in public. The inhabitants hold
commercial intercourse with Jerusalem, for which
place a caravan departs every two months.

Burckhardt had not an opportunity of descend-
ing to the borders of the Dead Sea, but he took
notes of the descriptions of it which were given him
by the natives. The hills towards the south abound
in rock-salt, which is washed off by the winter
rains and carried down into the lake. The asphal-
tum, which the Arabs pretend oozes from the fis-
sures in the eastern cliffs, is collected in large pieces
on the rocks below, where the mass gradually in-
creases and hardens until it is rent asunder by the
heat of the sun with a loud explosion, and falling
into the sea, it is carried by the waves in consider-
able quantities to the opposite shore . At the north-
ern extremity of the lake, the stink-stone is found ;
its combustible properties are ascribed by the Arabs
to the magic rod of Moses, whose tomb is not far
from thence. The water of the Dead Sea is so
strongly impregnated with salt, that the skin of the
legs of those who wade across it soon afterwards
peels entirely off.

After remaining nearly three weeks at Kerek,
waiting the departure of the sheikh, Burckhardt set

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 67

out, accompanied by that chief, with an escort of
about forty horsemen. The sheikh pretended he
had business in the mountains of Djebal (the ancient
Gebalene) ; but he soon proved a treacherous friend,
and left our traveller to shift for himself, after plun-
dering him of nearly all his money and property,
although he had sworn by the most solemn oath of
the Bedouins, — laying his hand upon the head of his
little boy and the fore-feet of his mare, — that he
would conduct him to a territory whence he might
proceed with safety to Egypt. Having satisfied
his own cupidity, he recommended his guest to the
care of a Bedouin as avaricious as himself, who
stript him of the remainder of his money, and then
abandoned him to the chances of the desert. In
this situation he encountered many difficulties, and
was obliged to walk from one encampment to ano-
ther, until he found a person who engaged to carry
him to Cairo.

In company with his new guide, he continued
his route along the eastern border of Wadi Ghoeyr,
which divides the district of Gebalene from Djebal
Shera, the Mount Seir of Scripture, in the territory
of the Edomites. This chain of mountains is a
continuation of the eastern Syrian range, which
begins with the Anti-Libanus, joins Mount Her-
mon, forms the valley of the Ghoeyr, passes the
oorder of the Dead Sea, and stretches to the Gulf
of Akaba. The great valley of the Ghoeyr (or Jor-
dan) may be said to extend from the source of that
river to the Bed Sea. It widens about Jericho^

68 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

where its enclosing hills are united to a range of
mountains which open and include the Dead Sea.
At the lower extremity of this lake they again ap-
proach, and leave between them a valley similar to
the northern Ghoeyr in shape, but which the want of
water makes a desert ; whereas the Jordan and its
numerous tributaries render the other a fertile plain.
At a short distance south of the Dead Sea it is in-
terrupted by rocky ground, when it takes the name
of Arabah, which it retains until its termination near
Akaba.

The existence of this lower valley, as Burckhardt
remarks, appears to have been unknown to ancient
as well as modern geographers, although it is a very
remarkable feature in the topography of Syria and
Arabia Petraea ; and is still more interesting for its
productions. Indigo is of common growth ; so is
the coloquintida, the szadder, a species of the
cochineal-tree, the talh or acacia, which produces
the gum-arabic, the tarfa or tamarisk, and the
asheyr or silk-tree, which bears a fruit of reddish-
yellow colour, containing a white substance resem-
bling the finest silk, and used by the Arabs as
matches for their firelocks. It is here also, as well
as in the desert of Mount Sinai, that the manna is
still found. It is called by the natives Assal Bey-
rouk, or the honey of Beyrouk. " It was described
to me," says Burckhardt, " as a juice dropping from
ihe leaves and twigs of a tree called Gharrab, of the
size of an olive-tree, with leaves like those of the
poplar, but somewhat broader. The honey collects

MEMOIR OF BUKCKHARDT. 69

upon the leaves like dew, and is gathered from
them, or from the ground under the tree, which is
often found completely covered with it. According
to some, its colour is brownish ; others said it was
of a grayish hue ; it is very sweet when fresh, but
turns sour after being kept for two days. The
Arabs eat it like honey (or make cakes of it), with
butter ; they also put it into their gruel, and use it
in rubbing their water-skins, in order to exclude
the air."

The fields around Tafyle are frequented by im-
mense numbers of crows ; the eagle (Rakham) is
very common in the mountains, as are also wild
boars. Large herds of mountain goats are met with,
which pasture in flocks of forty or fifty together,
and are killed by the inhabitants for their flesh and
their huge knotty horns, which they sell to the
Hebron merchants, who carry them to Jerusalem,
where they are worked into the handles of knives
and daggers. They are the Steinbock or Bouquetin
of the Swiss and Tyrol Alps ; and when pursued,
it is said they will throw themselves from a height
of fifty feet or more upon their heads, without re-
ceiving any injury. About Kerek and Mount Seir,
the bird Katta (or Tetrao alkatta\ a species of
partridge, is very abundant; they congregate in
such large flocks, that the Arab boys often kill two
or three of them at a time, merely by throwing a
stick among them. " It is not improbable," says
Burckhardt, " that this bird is the Seloua or quail
of the children of Israel."

70 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

But the most interesting feature of Wadi Arabah
is its association with the early history and com-
merce of the Israelites. That this valley gave its
name to the whole peninsula of Arabia, there is
little reason to doubt. As it belonged to the de-
scendants of Ishmael from the earliest ages (Gen.
xxv. 13), it is natural to suppose that these warlike
tribes would give the name of their original domi-
nions to the territories which they conquered, until
it extended over the whole country, which they are
recorded to have subdued as far as Mecca. Moses
repeatedly calls the western wilderness Arabah,
and describes it (Deut. i. 1, 2), with a minuteness
not to be mistaken, as situated " over against the
Eed Sea, between Paran and Tophel, and by the
way of Elath and Ezion-gaber." It was probably
the Kadesh-barnea of the same historian, through
which he retreated southwards when " Edom re-
fused to give Israel a passage through his border,"
(Numb. xx. 21), so that they had no alternative
left but to retrace their steps, following the direc-
tion of the valley as they " journeyed from Mount
Hor (which rises abruptly from the valley, and
where Aaron died), by the way of the Red Sea, to
compass the land of Edom, through the way of the
plain (in Hebrew, Arabah), from Elath, and from
Ezion-gaber," until " they turned and passed through
the wilderness of Moab, and arrived at the brook
Zared," which flows close by Zoar and the lower
end of the lake of Sodom. The preservation of so
many Scripture names, together with the other

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 71

geographical facts derived from the journey of
Burckhardt through these interesting regions, fur-
nish a most satisfactory illustration of the Mosaic
account of the Exodus.

At a later period, Arabah seems to have formed
the " highway" of Jewish commerce. It is pro-
bable that the trade between Jerusalem and the
Arabian Sea was carried on through this valley ;
the caravans, loaded at Ezion-gaber on the upper
point of the Elanitic Gulf with the treasures of
Ophir, the ivory and peacocks of India, might after
a march of six or seven days deposit their cargoes
in the warehouses of Solomon.

The prolongation of the Ghor and the Arabah,
which completes a longitudinal separation of Syria
for three hundred miles, is a very remarkable fea-
ture in the geography of the Holy Land ; indicating
that the Jordan once discharged itself into the Red
Sea about Akaba, and confirming the truth of the
great volcanic convulsion described in the 19th
chapter of Genesis, which interrupted the course of
the river by converting into a bituminous lake
those fertile plains occupied by the cities of Adma,
Elam, Sodom, and Gomorrah; and changing all
the valley to the southward into a sandy desert.
This valley, as Burckhardt remarks, deserves to be
thoroughly known ; its examination would lead to
many interesting discoveries, and ought to be one
of the most important objects of a Palestine tra-
veller.

At this stage of his journey Burckhardt formed

72 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT,

the resolution to visit the remains of one of the
most singular spots in these deserts, perhaps in the
eastern world ; we mean the city of Petra, the an-
cient capital of Idumea, which he had the good
fortune to discover after it had been for a long
series of ages completely hidden from the know-
ledge of Europeans, and its very name almost
effaced from the page of history. These ruins are
situated in Wadi Mousa, a narrow valley at a short
distance eastward from Arabah. He had heard the
country people speak in terms of great admiration
of these antiquities; but from the ferocity of the
Arabs, and the suspicion with which they view all
strangers who can give no better reason than curi-
osity for coming among them, the attempt was
attended with some danger. His guide also took
the alarm, but his reluctance was overcome by
working upon his superstitious feelings. " I pre-
tended," says Burckhardt, " to have made a vow
to slaughter a goat in honour of Haroun (Aaron),
whose tomb (held in great veneration by the Arabs)
I knew was situated at the extremity of the valley ;
and by this stratagem I thought that I should have
the means of seeing the valley in my way to the
tomb. To this my guide had nothing to oppose ;
the dread of drawing upon himself, by resistance,
the wrath of Haroun, completely silenced him."

In a few hours they approached the place, through
a wilderness so dreary and desolate, that we can
scarcely imagine how it was ever adorned with
walled cities, or inhabited by powerful and opulent

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 73

people. The entrance to this celebrated metropolis
of the Stony Arabia (whence it derived the name
of Petraea) is from the eastward, through a deep
ravine, called El Syk ; and it is not easy to conceive
any thing more awfully sublime. The width in
general is not more than sufficient for the passage
of two horsemen abreast, and it forms the channel
of the small stream that watered the city, whose
course was protected by a covering of stone pave-
ment, vestiges of which still remain. On either
hand rises a wall of perpendicular rocks, varying
from four hundred to seven hundred feet in height,
which often overhang at the top to such a degree,
that without their actually meeting, the sky is in-
tercepted, scarcely leaving more light than in a
cavern, for a hundred yards together.

The sides of this romantic chasm, from which
several streamlets issue, are clothed with the tama-
risk, the wild fig, the oleander, and the caper plant,
which sometimes hang down from the cliffs in beau-
tiful festoons, or grow about the path with a luxu-
riance that almost obstructs the passage. Near its
entrance, a bold arch is thrown across it at a great
height ; but whether it be the fragment of an aque-
duct, or part of a road formerly connecting the
opposite cliffs, is not known.

For nearly two miles this natural defile winds its
way, the sides continuing to increase in height as
the path descends ; and in different places grooves
or artificial beds branch off from the rivulet, the
use of which must have been to convey a supply of

74 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

water to the gardens and houses in the higher parts
of the city. The solitude is disturbed by the inces-
sant screaming of eagles, hawks, owls, and ravens,
who have their habitation among the rocks above,
and naturally take the alarm when their lonely
abodes are invaded by strangers.

At every step the scenery discovers more and
more remarkable features. About half-way through
there is a single spot where the area of the ravine
spreads a little, and sweeps into a kind of irregular
circle. Here was the site of a very extraordinary
work of art, to which the Arabs give the name of
Kazr Faraoun, the castle or palace of Pharaoh, al-
though it resembles more the sepulchre than the
residence of a prince. The front of this curious
mausoleum rises in several stories to the height of
sixty or seventy feet, ornamented with columns,
rich friezes, pediments, and large figures of horses
and men. The interior consists of a large chamber,
the walls and roof of which are quite smooth, and
without any decoration. No part of this stupend-
ous temple is built, the whole being hewn from the
solid rock, which is sand-stone of a pale rose-colour;
it looks as if newly from the chisel, without the
tints or weather-stains of age ; and its minutest
embellishments, wherever the hand of man has not
effaced them, are so perfect, that it may be doubted
wrhether any work of the ancients, except perhaps
on the banks of the Nile, has survived with so
little injury from the lapse of time. There is
scarcely a building in our own country, of forty

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 75

years' standing, so fresh and well preserved in its
architecture as the Kazr Faraoun, which Burckhardt
represents as one of the most elegant remains of
antiquity he had found in Syria.

Towards the lower and wider extremity of this
circuitous passage, its sides are sculptured and ex-
cavated in a most singular manner ; and these mo-
numents become more frequent, until at last it has
the appearance of a continued street of tombs. The
sombre perspective is here relieved by a stronger
light, which gradually increases until the ruins of
the city itself burst on the view of the astonished
traveller in their full grandeur; shut in on every
side by barren craggy precipices, from which nu-
merous recesses and narrow valleys branch out in
all directions, terminating in a sort of cul de sac
without any outlet. Tombs present themselves on
every hand, and are even intermixed with the public
and domestic edifices ; so that Petra has been truly
denominated one vast necropolis. It contains above
two hundred and fifty sepulchres, which are occa-
sionally excavated in tiers, one above another ; and
in places where the side of the cliff is so perpendi-
cular that it seems impossible to reach the upper-
most, no access whatever being visible.

There are besides numerous mausoleums of co-
losssal dimensions, and in a state of wonderful pre-
servation. Among these are the KazrBenit Faraoun^
or palace of Pharaoh's daughter, and a theatre with
complete rows of benches, capable of containing
above three thousand spectators, all cut out of the

76 MEMOIR OP BURCKHARDT.

solid rock. The whole ground is strewn with heaps
of hewn stones, foundations of buildings, fragments
of pillars, and vestiges of paved streets, — the sad
memorials of departed greatness. The steep sides
of the rocky girdle that encloses the place is hol-
lowed out into grottos, and dwellings of various
dimensions, wThose entrances are richly and often
fantastically decorated with every order of architec-
ture ; showing how the pride and labour of art has
vied with the rude sublimity of nature. The effect
of the scene is heightened by the appearance of
Mount Hor, towering above this city of sepulchres,
and perforated almost to the top with caverns and
excavations for the dead.

The vast extent of these stupendous ruins corro-
borates the accounts given, both by sacred and pro-
fane writers, of the kings of Petra, their courtly
splendour, and their ancient power. Great must
have been the opulence of a capital that could
dedicate such monuments to the memory of its
rulers. Their magnificence can only be explained by
the immense trade of which it was the common
centre, from the very dawn of civilisation; for
although its ruins present a mixture of Greek and
Roman architecture coeval with the Caesars and
Antonines, many of them are of a much remoter
date ; and there is indubitable evidence that Petra
was a flourishing emporium seventeen hundred
years before the Christian era. It was the point to
which all the trade of Northern Arabia originally
tended, and where the first merchants of the earth

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 77

stored the precious commodities of the East. It
formed the grand entrepot between Palestine and
Egypt, and there is little doubt that the company
of Ishmaelites, with their camels bearing spicery,
balm, and myrrh, to whom Joseph was sold by his
brethern, were the regular caravan that visited its
markets. The famous soothsayer Balaam was a
native of this place, whose inhabitants, even at that
age, were renowned for their learning, their oracu-
lar temple, and their skill in augury. It must have
been the impregnable nature of the situation that
rendered it so celebrated as a commercial depot;
for while it admitted of easy access to beasts of
burden, it might defy the attacks of robbers or ene-
mies, however formidable.

When the Romans conquered Syria, some of their
ablest generals and emperors, amongst whom were
Lucullus, Pompey, Severus, and Trajan, failed in
their attempts to storm Petra. With the fall of
that power in the East, and the new channels
which were opened up for trade, the prosperity of
this famous city declined, until its very position
became unknown, and its name almost forgotten in
Europe. Its once crowded marts ceased to be the
store-house of nations, and until Burckhardt visited
in 1812, the obscurity of a thousand years had
covered its ruins. Since that time the travellers—
Irby, Mangles, Bankes, Legh, &c. — have given
more copious descriptions of these interesting relics ;
and within these few years, the most remarkable
of them have been preserved in the drawings taken

78 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

on the spot by M M. Laborde and Linant ; some
of which may be seen in the later editions of Keith's
Evidence of Prophecy.

Singularly do these magnificent remains illustrate
the words of the inspired volume, which foretold
that wisdom and understanding should perish out
of Mount Seir ; that Edom should be a wilderness,
its cities a perpetual waste, the abode of every un-
clean beast (Isaiah xxxiv. 5. 10. 17). Nowhere
is there a more striking and visible demonstration
of the truth of these divine predictions than among
the fallen columns and deserted palaces of Petra,
whose ruins can now be regarded only as the grave
of Idumaea, in which its former wealth and splen-
dour lie interred. The dwellers in the clefts of the
rock are brought low ; the princes of Edom are as
nothing ; its eighteen cities are swept away ; and
the territory of the descendants of Esau affords as
miraculous a proof of the inspiration of Scripture
history as the fate of the children of Israel.

When Burckhardt had taken as minute a survey
of the ruins as time and circumstances would admit,
he proceeded to the execution of his pretended vow,
and for that purpose hired a guide, for a pair of old
horse-shoes, to conduct him up Mount Hor to the
tomb of Aaron ; but as the sun had gone down, he
was obliged to kill his goat at some distance, for
the sacrifice answers equally well if performed
within sight of the sacred spot. "While he was
slaying the animal, the pious guide commenced
praying aloud : " 0 Har~*vi, look upon us ! it is

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 7^

for you we slaughter this victim. 0 Haroun, pro-
tect us and forgive us ! O Haroun, be content
with our good intentions, for it is but a lean goat !
0 Haroun, smooth our path, and praise be to the
Lord of all creatures !" The force of the supplica-
tion for " smoothing the path" will be better seen
when we explain that the whole of the surrounding
wilderness, once described by an inspired penman
as " the fatness of the earth," is now a desert of
shifting sands, whose surface is covered with black
flints and prickly shrubs ; so that the Bedouins are
obliged to carry in their girdles a pair of small
pincers to extract the thorns from their feet.

It was the intention of the guide to conduct
Burckhardt to Akaba, in the hope of meeting with
some caravan for Egypt ; but to this route he had
strong objections ; afraid that he might meet with
danger or detention from the garrison of Ali Pasha,
stationed there to watch the Wahabis, and who
were extremely suspicious of all strangers. He
therefore preferred to cross the desert direct for
Suez, and had the good fortune to join a small
company of Arabs who were carrying a few camels
to the Cairo market. His destitute condition may
be conceived from his own description : — " My
clothes and linen were worn to rags ; a dirty Icaffye
or yellow handkerchief covered my head; my
leathern girdle and shoes had long been exchanged
by way of presents, against similar articles of an
inferior kind ; so that those I now wore were of
the very worst sort. The tube of my pipe was

80 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

reduced from two yards to a span ; for I had been
obliged to cut off from it as much as would make
two pipes for my friends at Kerek ; and the last
article of my luggage — a pocket handkerchief — had
fallen to the lot of the sheikh of Eldjy at Wadi
Mousa." Having nothing left to excite cupidity,
he expected to be freed from all further demands ;
but in this he was mistaken ; as some of the Arab
ladies took a fancy to the few linen rags (torn from
his shirt) that were bound round his ankles, which
had been wounded by the stirrups : they begged so
hard to have them for making a borkoa or face- veil,
that he was compelled to yield to their impor-
tunities.

Their route lay across the desert of El Ty, to the
northward of Mount Sinai, in which, according both
to the Jewish and Mahommedan tradition, the chil-
dren of Israel wandered for several years, and from
which belief the desert takes its name. Burckhardt
describes it as the most barren and horrid tract of
country he had ever seen. Black flints cover the
chalky or sandy ground, which in most places is
without any vegetation. The talh and the tamarisk
grow here and there, but the hungry camels are
obliged in the evening to wander whole hours out
of the road in order to find withered shrubs, on
which they feed. During ten days they only met
with four springs or wells, three of which were
brackish or sulphureous. They passed a little to
the northward of Suez, and arrived at Cairo (Sep-
tember 4) by the pilgrim road.

MEMOIR OP BURCK11ARDT. 81

Burckhardt's first employment, on reacli ing Egypt,
was to draw up a detailed account of his journey,
which he soon afterwards transmitted to the Asso-
ciation. As he was now on the borders of the
region which was the more immediate object of his
researches, it was desirable that he should be pre-
pared for setting out towards the countries of the
Niger as early as an opportunity might occur. It
happened, at the moment of his arrival, that a
small caravan was on the point of returning from
Cairo, by Timbuctoo, into some of the northern
districts of tLe Great African Desert : and this was
precisely the route in which it was intended he
should commence his travels. But it was not thought
advisable, until he had recovered from his fatigues
and got his plans better arranged, to risk his own
hopes and those of the Association upon such a pre-
carious chance of success as this caravan would have
afforded. Unless a prospect offered, in every respect
favourable, it was not deemed prudent that he should
enter upon his undertaking until a residence of seve-
ral months in Egypt had made him familiar with a
dialect and a system of manners and of policy dif-
fering considerably from those to which he had been
accustomed in Syria. These were his own senti-
ments ; and the committee in London entirely coin-
cided in his views, that nothing was more to be
avoided than the hazarding of his personal safety,
together with the success of his mission, by the
rash step of a hasty and ill-prepared departure.

The delay thus occasioned in his expedition to

82 MEMOIR OF BURCKHABDT.

Fezzan, was made profitable to African geography
in another quarter. " I mean," says he, " to set
out next month by land for Upper Egypt, as soon
as the state of the Nile renders the journey practi-
cable. I shall push on beyond the first cataract,
and follow the course of the river, by the second
and third cataracts, towards Dongola. That coun-
try, farther up than Derr, has never been visited
by any travellers ; yet I am informed by many of
the natives that the borders of the river are full of
ancient temples and other antiquities, resembling
those of Luxor and the Isle of Philae. The present
tranquil state of Egypt renders such an undertaking
of much less danger than it might have been during
the whole of last century ; for the Pasha is com-
pletely master of the country, and is in friendly
intercourse with the princes of Nubia. This jour-
ney will, I hope, make me acquainted with the
character of the Negro nations, and of those who
traffic for slaves, and will thus facilitate my travels
in the interior of the continent/'

The expectations which he had thus formed were
realized to the full. On the llth of January, 1813,
he left Cairo with a guide and letters of recom-
mendation (from Ali Pasha among others) to all
the governors of Upper Egypt. On the 22d of
February he reached Assouan, the Aga of which
procured him a guide up to Derr, the chief place in
Nubia; and thence he proceeded to Mahass, on
the northern frontier of Dongola. As he had fol-
lowed the course of the Nile, he had an opportunity

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 83

of seeing the pyramids, temples, statues, and other
antiquities with which the banks of that celebrated
river abound; of many of them he took plans,
copying inscriptions, and taking notes of the pro-
ductions of the country and the habits of the
people. On the 31st of March he returned to As-
souan, and drew up a journal of his observations,
which he transmitted to London. " It has been
written," he adds, " in a miserable court-yard, on
the side of my camel, under the influence of the
hot Kamsin winds, which now raged in Upper
Egypt."

His descriptions of the character and manners of
the Nubians are curious and valuable ; so also are
his occasional remarks on the natural history of
those countries. The hippopotamus, he says, ia
very common in the Nile, about Dongola ; it is a
dreadful plague, on account of its voracity, and the
want of means in the natives to destroy it. The
peasants eat the flesh, but sell the skin and teeth.
Above Derr, the river has many windings; and
this part of it is reputed a favourite haunt of the
crocodile. Burckhardt saw half-a-dozen of them
lying together on a sand-bank. The flesh of this
steimal is eaten by the Nubians whenever they can
catch it ; which, however, is but seldom. Gazelles
of the common gray species are everywhere in great
numbers ; and hares are not uncommon.

The birds are a small species of partridge with
red legs, wild geese of the largest kind, a few storks,
the eagle, Rakham, crows in abundance, the Katta,

84 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

but in small flights, and clouds of sparrows, which
are the terror of the Nubians, as they devour at
Jeast one-third of the harvest. A species of lap-
wing is also extremely common ; and a white water-
bird of the size of a large goose, called Kork, which
inhabits the sandy islands in flocks of several hun-
dreds together. Burckhardt saw no bird of the
shape of the Ibis ; nor is that part of the country
visited by the bird Zakzak, frequently seen in Up-
per Egypt, which is said to creep into the crocodile's
mouth, and to feed upon the digested food which
that animal throws up from its stomach.

When at Assouan, Burckhardt had projected a
lateral excursion into the Nubian desert towards
the Red Sea, and thence to cross into Arabia, before
setting out on his western tour; but a delay of
several months occurred, in consequence of the dis-
turbed state of the country, which was much in-
fested by robbers, and the scarcity of provisions
along the Nile as far as Sennaar, occasioned by the
locusts, who had entirely devoured the last winter
crops. These causes continued to operate from
May 1813 to August 1814, during which time
Burckhardt was under the necessity of remaining at
Esne, where he still kept his usual disguise of a
poor Mohammedan trader, taking care to be as little
known or noticed as possible.

At length (March 2) the caravan set out, cross-
ing the Nubian desert in twenty-three days' slow
travelling, nearly in the same route by which Bruce
returned from Abyssinia, fifty years before. At

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 85

Berber they regained the Nile, along which they
advanced to Shendey, one of the principal markets
for the slave traders from Egypt, Darfour, Kordofan,
and Sennaar. " It would have been easy for me,"
says Burckhardt, " to have proceeded to Sennaar,
nine days distant from Shendey, and from thence
into Abyssinia, following Brace's track ; but I
wished to visit unknown districts, and I was con-
vinced, from what I had already experienced, that
a tour through those countries would be attended
with expenses which I was little able to bear." As
lie travelled in the guise of a poor merchant, with-
out a servant, and with only a single ass to carry
his provisions and a few articles of traffic, he was
occasionally exposed to some rude treatment on the
part of his companions ; but he enjoyed excellent
health, his severest sufferings arising from want of
water. In approaching the Nile, near Berber, they
were quite sensible of it at two hours' distance, by
the greater moisture in the air. " God be praised,"
exclaimed the Arabs," we smell the Nile again !"
The Nubian desert he represents as in general of a
much less dreary appearance than the great Syrian
desert, and still less so than those of Suez and Tyh.
Ostriches were numerous in some of the plains ; and
\ery large lizards were observed, at least a foot in
length from head to tail.

The dreaded Simoom, or poisonous wind, he
thinks, has been much exaggerated by travellers,
and alleges that the stories of whole caravans perister-

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

iug in those tornadoes, are tales invented by the
Bedouins to frighten the townspeople. " In the
Simoom at Esne," he remarks," the thermometer
mounted to 121° in the shade ; but the air seldom
remains longer than a quarter of an hour in that
state, or longer than the whirlwind passes. The
most disagreeable effect on man is, that it stops
perspiration, dries up the palate, and produces great
restlessness."

He notices another phenomenon of the desert,
which they encountered on the fourteenth day of
their journey. " During the whole march we were
surrounded on all sides by lakes of mirage (mist),
called by the natives soraL Its colour was of the
purest azure, and so clear, that the shadows of the
mountains which bounded the horizon were re-
flected in it with the greatest precision, and the
delusion of its being a sheet of water was thus ren-
dered still more perfect. I had often seen the
mirage in Syria and Egypt, but always found it of
a whitish colour, rather resembling a moving mist,
seldom lying steady on the plain, but in continual
\ibration ; but here it was very different, and had
the most perfect resemblance to water. The great
dryness of the air and soil in this desert, may be the
cause of the difference. The appearance of water
approached also much nearer than in Syria and
Egypt, being not more than two hundred paces
from us ; whereas I had never seen it before at a
distance of less than half a mile. There were at

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 87

one time about a dozen of these false lakes round
us, each separate from the other, and for the most
part in the low grounds."

The people of Berber are a handsome race, hav-
ing nothing of the Negro features about them ; but
their manners are extremely licentious. They all
drink to excess of louza, an intoxicating liquor,
which they call om bullul, or the mother of the
nightingale, because it makes the drunkard sing.
At these scenes of debauchery, quarrels frequently
occur, and generally end in wounds or slaughter.
" Nobody," says Burckhardt, " goes to a Bouza
without taking his sword (or a knife) with him,
and the girls are often the first sufferers in the
fray." This description of character is applicable
in every respect to the inhabitants of Shendey, who
are equally dissipated. Their occupation is chiefly
commerce ; and they carry on a flourishing trade
with Egypt, Sennaar, and Arabia; their principal
commodities being spiceries, drugs, articles of hard-
ware, and slaves.

Their cattle is of a fine breed, but they are much
exposed to the ravages of wild animals. The tiger
and the giraffe are often met with; the latter is
hunted by the Arabs, and is chiefly prized for its
skin, of which the strongest bucklers are made.
There is a species of wild goat which are caught in
nooses, in the same manner as they catch ostriches.
The hippopotami occasionally make their appear-
ance ; they seldom rise above water in the day-time,
but come on shore at night, destroying as much

88 MEMOIR OF BURCKIIARDT.

by the treading of their enormous feet as by their
voracity. The most esteemed whips, called rorbadj,
are made of their skin, which are in general use in
Egypt, the dread of every slave and peasant.

Crocodiles are very numerous ; and at Sennaar
their flesh is brought to the market and publicly
sold. " I once," says Burckhardt, " tasted some of
the meat at Esne ; it is of a dirty white colour, not
unlike young veal, with a slight fishy smell. It
had been taken alive by some fishermen in a strong
net, and was about twelve feet in length. The
governor ordered it to be brought into his court-
yard, where more than a hundred balls were fired
against it without effect, till it was thrown upon its
back and the contents of a small swivel discharged
at its belly, the skin of which is softer." The rhi-
noceros inhabits the neighbourhood of Sennaar, but
never visits the countries of the Nile to the north of
that place. The natives call it om kom^ or the
mother of one horn; so that it is evidently from
this animal that the imaginary unicorn has had its
origin.

After remaining a month (April 17 — May 17) at
Shendey, where he disposed of his whole adventure
of small wares and purchased a slave, — a boy of
fourteen, — he set out with one of the Souakin cara-
vans, in the direction of the Red Sea, passing the
river Atbora (Astaboras) and the country of Toka,
remarkable for its fertility ; the whole soil, like that
of Egypt, being periodically inundated by the tor-
rents rushing down from the Abyssinian mountains.

MEMOIR OF BURCKIIARDT. 89

It was his original intention to have proceeded
down to Massuah, which harhour he would thus
have reached by a northern road, different from
that travelled by Bruce. But he found, notwith-
standing the information received at Shendey, that
there was no commercial intercourse between the
two places. If he had travelled at all, it must have
been in the character of a dervish or beggar ; but
the want of hospitality among the Arabs who in-
habit those parts, rendered even that attempt im-
practicable. He was therefore obliged to abandon
this project, and proceed to Souakin, higher up the
coast, by one of the routes much frequented by the
African pilgrim caravans on their way to Mecca.
In thirteen days he arrived at that port (July 20),
from which he crossed the Arabian Gulf to Jiddah.
At Souakin, he was suspected of being a spy or
refugee of the Mamelouks, with whom Ali, Pasha
of Egypt, was then at war ; and this mistake had
nearly involved him in some danger. The Turkish
Emir, who governed in the Pasha's name, insisted
upon taking his camel from him ; and when he ap-
pealed for justice to the Aga, the latter threatened
! to imprison him and confiscate his whole baggage.
I Fortunately he had provided himself with two fir-
I mans, one from Ali himself, and another from his
son Ibrahim ; and on producing these, which he
had hitherto concealed, the insolence and manners
of the rapacious functionaries were suddenly changed
into the most profound respect ; and it appeared
not a little suprising to the citizens to see a person

90 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

in the dress of a beggar, treated as if he had been
superior to their own rulers.

Had circumstances permitted, Burckhardt in-
tended to proceed, not to Jiddah, but to Mocha,
and thence to Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, where
he expected to join the pilgrim caravan from the
south, in their annual route to Mecca. It had for
some time been a favourite project of his to visit the
interior of the Yemen mountains, where the origin
of most of the Bedouin tribes in Arabia is to be
found, and where their ancient manners are said to
subsist in all their primitive simplicity. The per-
formance of this journey would have been of con-
siderable advantage to Arabian geography, and it
might perhaps have led to interesting facts respect-
ing Arabian history ; but as the Wahabi war was
then raging on the northern confines of that pro-
vince, he was compelled to abandon the idea.

One of his chief motives for travelling in Arabia
was, that he might visit the Hejaz or Holy Land oi
the Moslems, and perform the Mohammedan pilgri-
mage at Mecca ; for it was his firm conviction, that
the title of Hajji or pilgrim (held in great venera-
tion by all the followers of the Prophet), which this
ceremony would give him the right to assume,
would prove of the greatest use to him in his travels
in the interior of Africa, besides being of some ad-
vantage to the cause of science.

It was fortunate, so far as his personal safety and
the facilities of travelling were concerned, that at the
time of his arrival all the principal towns in the

MEMOIR OF BTJRCKHARDT. 91

Hejaz had been retaken from the Wahabis (who
had conquered that province almost ten years be-
fore), and were then in possession of AH Pasha. At
the commencement of the war, the Pasha had
sustained various repulses; but circumstances had
turned out in his favour. Many of the Wahabi
chiefs had been corrupted by the gold of Egypt ;
Ibn Saoud, the ablest arid bravest of their leaders,
had died of fever in April 1814 ; and his son Ab-
dallah was much inferior, either as a statesman or a
warrior, to his father. Having subdued the pro-
vinces on the Red Sea, Ali was at this time prepar-
ing an expedition under his younger son Toussoun
Pasha, at Medina, for penetrating into the interior,
and attacking the sectarian insurgents in their own
capital of Deraiah.

So far, events tended to facilitate Burckhardt's
Arabian tour. The only obstacle he had to en-
counter was some difficulty in obtaining a supply
of money, the letter of credit which he had brought
from Cairo to a person in Jiddah not having been
honoured, under pretext that it was dated eighteen
months back ; but the true cause perhaps was the
raggedness of his own appearance (his clothes by that
time were worn to tatters}, which might have ren-
dered any stranger cautious in committing himself
by advancing money on such suspicious correspond-
ence. To increase his misfortunes, he was seized
with fever, which kept him delirious for several
days, and might have terminated fatally, but for the
attentions of a Greek captain, who had been a

92 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

fellow- passenger with him from Souakin. His ne-
cessities even compelled him to part with his only
slave, whom he had purchased at Shendey for six-
teen dollars, and now sold for forty- eight.

In these circumstances, he had no resource but to
apply to Ali Pasha, who was then at Tayf, a town
eastward of Mecca, distant five days' journey. The
Pasha knew him well in Egypt, and had always
professed to be his friend. Meantime, however, his
situation became known to Yahya Effendi, the phy-
sician of Toussoun Pasha at Jiddah, whom he had
also met at Cairo, and with him he negociated his
bill to the amount of 3,000 piastres (about £100),
which was sufficient for his wants until he received
fresh supplies from Egypt. Nor was this the whole
extent of his good luck, for the Pasha returned a
favourable answer to his letter, and despatched a
messenger with two dromedaries, with an order to
furnish him a new suit of clothes, and a purse of
500 piastres as travelling-money ; requesting, at the
same time, that he would immediately accompany
the messenger to Tayf. The invitation of a Turkish
Pasha is equivalent to a command ; and therefore
he had no alternative but to comply, although it
interfered with the more material objects of his
journey.

The month which he spent at Jiddah enabled
him to furnish a very minute description of the
town and its inhabitants, who are almost exclusively
foreigners. Their chief occupation is commerce, as
this place is not only the port of Mecca, and conse-

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 93

quently much frequented by pilgrims, but also that
of Egypt, India, and Arabia, through which all the
exports from those countries pass that are destined
for the Egyptian markets. They pursue no manu-
factures or trade but those of immediate necessity.
By land they carry on no traffic except with Mecca
and Medina. With the former city, the intercourse
is kept up regularly by caravans which depart every
evening after sunset. The loaded camels take two
nights to perform the journey (about 55 miles) ;
but the ass-caravans, lightly laden, by which letters
are conveyed, go through in one night, and arrive
at Mecca in the morning.

The visit to the Pasha, Burckhardt expected would
have afforded him a good opportunity for seeing the
Arabian capital, the Holy City of Islam, which
none but a true Mussulman, since the days of
Mohammed, had ever been permitted to enter ; but
the messenger had orders to take him by the upper
route, which merely touches the suburbs, while the
other, and more usual road, passes through the
middle of the town. The surrounding country is
covered with sand, and almost wholly destitute of
vegetation ; the hills', equally barren, rising on both
sides, and resembling cocks of hay.

Near Tayf the country improves ; and though the
town itself is concealed with a sandy plain, there
are many beautiful gardens at the foot of the neigh-
bouring mountains, abounding in roses, and cele-
brated over all Arabia. The fruits, consisting of
grapes, figs, quinces,, pomegranates, &c., are deli-

94 MEMOIR OF BTJRCKHARDT.

cious. Here the natives have small pavilions, where
they pass their festive hours; and here the rich
merchants of Mecca, with the Sheriff himself, often
retire during the hot season.

When Burckhardt arrived (August 28th), he
alighted at the house of Bosari, the Pasha's physi-
cian, with whom he had heen well acquainted at
Cairo. As it was then the fast of Ramadan, during
which the Turkish grandees always sleep in the
day-time, he could not be introduced to the Pasha
till sunset. Ali received him very politely, inquired
after his health, and if he brought any news of the
Mamelouks from the Black countries, conversed
with him on every subject but that which most in-
terested him, viz. money.

On European politics he was particularly anxi-
ous to obtain information. He had just heard of
the entrance of the Allies into Paris, and the de-
parture of Bonaparte for Elba. " Bonaparte, he
remarked, behaved like a coward ; he ought to have
sought for death, rather than expose himself in a
cage to the laughter of the universe." The name of
Wellington was familiar to him. " He was a great
general (he said), but he doubted whether, if his
Grace had commanded such bad soldiers as the
Turkish troops are, he would have been able to do
with them as much as he (the Pasha) had done in
conquering Egypt and the Hejaz." Of the English
Parliament he had some notions ; but he entertained
erroneous views as to the foreign policy of Great
Britain ; ^ he supposed that after the downfal of

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 95

Bonaparte, the British army which had been em-
ployed in Spain and the south of France, would in-
vade his dominions : " for (^aid he) the great fish
swallow the small, and Egypt is necessary to Eng-
land m supplying corn to Malta and Gibraltar."
Had it not been for this persuasion, he would have
"been well pleased that the Czar should seize Turkey
and drive the Sultan from the throne.

Whether Ali believed Burckhardt to be sincere in
his profession of the Mahommedan faith, is doubt-
ful. When he first heard of his purpose to visit
the Holy Cities, he observed jocosely, " It is not
the beard alone which proves a man to be a true
Moslem ;" and then turning to the Cadi of Mecca,
who had been to Tayf for his health, and was sitting
beside him, " but you are a better judge in such
matters than I am l" Our traveller, however, had
no objection that his qualifications should be put
to the test; and accordingly, when the two most
learned professors of the law, then in Arabia, were
directed to examine him upon his knowledge of the
Koran, and of the practical as well as doctrinal
precepts of their creed, the result was a complete
conviction in the minds of his hearers, as at his last
two examinations, of his being not only a true but
a very learned Mussulman. After one of these exa-
minations, Burckhardt remarks with some naivete,
" I supped with the Cadi, and then performed the
evening prayers in his company, when I took great
care to chaunt as long a chapter of the Koran as my
memory furnished at the moment."

96 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

He had several interviews with Ali, who sup-
posed him to be a spy or a man of rank, and knew
him to be an Englishman, although he had assumed
the name of Sheikh Ibrahim. He offered no objec-
tions to his performing the pilgrimage ; but declined
giving him a firman authorising him to travel
through the Hejaz, alleging that he did not wish to
interfere personally with his afiairs, and that his
perfect knowledge of Arabic rendered a passport
unnecessary.

From Tayf, Burckhardt returned to Mecca, 172
miles, where he passed the months of September,
October, and November ; during which he had
ample opportunity to observe the appearance of
that renowned city, its buildings, shops, trade, and
manufactures ; to study the manners, character, and
customs of the inhabitants ; their forms of govern-
ment and worship, more especially the grand so-
lemnity of the pilgrimage ; having been the first
Christian that ever ventured to mingle in the sacred
ceremonies of the Kaaba. For the description of
these particulars, the reader must consult the volume
of travels on this subject, which was published in
1829, under the authority of the African Associa-
tion. All that can with propriety be done here,
is merely to give such an outline as will maintain
a sufficient connexion and uniformity in the nar-
rative.

Mecca, dignified by the Arabs with many high-
sounding titles — the Mother of Towns — the Noble
—the Region of the Faithful, &c. — lies in a narrow

MEMOIR OP BTJRCKHARDT. QJ

winding valley, from 100 to 700 yards in breadth,
the main direction of which is from north to south.
The mountains enclosing this valley, and overhang-
ing the town, are from 200 to 500 feet in height,
rugged and completely barren. The houses are lofty
and built of stone of a dark gray colour, with nu-
merous windows facing the streets, which give them
a lively and European aspect. The only public edi-
fice worthy of notice is the great mosque or temple,
which the Moslems call Beitullah, the House of
God. It stands near the middle of the city, and is
of a quadrilateral form, like what the Royal Ex-
change in London was ; but said to be ten times
larger. It is entered by nineteen gates, most of
which have high pointed arches ; those that front
the great inner court are all crowned with small
conical domes, plastered and whitened on the out-
side ; beyond these is a second row of low spherical
cupolas, amounting in all to 152; and above these
rise seven minarets or steeples, from the summits of
which a beautiful view is obtained of the busy
crowds below.

Nearly in the middle of the court stands the
Kaaba, the ark or tabernacle of the Mohammedans,
the black stone in the corner of which is devoutly
kissed by every pilgrim. The millions of salutes it
has received from the lips of the Faithful have worn
the surface round, and to a considerable depth. The
Kaaba is an oblong massive building, the erection
of which is ascribed by the Arabs to Abraham and
Isaac; it is covered with a black silk stuff called
G

98 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

tob, or shirt, which is renewed every year at the
time of the pilgrimage. Near it is the Bir Zem-
zem^ or famous Zerazem well, said to be the same
which the angel pointed out to Hagar and Ishmael
in the wilderness, of which all the Mussulman
hajjis drink copiously, in the belief that it purifies
them of their sins. Linens dipped in this well they
reckon to have a peculiar virtue, and such are con-
stantly seen hanging to dry between the pillars of
the temple. Many purchase their shrouds at Mecca,
persuaded tkat if their corpse be buried in cloth
wetted with the holy water, the peace of the soui
after death will be more effectually secured.

The service of the temple employs a vast number
of the inhabitants, including khatabs, imams, muftis,
muezzins, ulemas, eunuchs, lamplighters, guides,
turnkeys, scavengers, with a host of other menials,
all of whom receive regular pay from the mosque,
besides their share of presents made to it by the
pilgrims. The Meccawees are proud of being na-
tives of the Holy City ; in this respect they con-
sider themselves under the special care of Providence,
and favoured beyond all other nations. In former
times the town is said to have contained more than
100,000 souls; Burckhardt reckoned them under
30,000, besides from 2000 to 4000 Abyssinians
and black slaves. From the barrenness of the sur-
rounding territory, it depends almost entirely on
the lucrative traffic with the haj-caravans, the an-
nual arrival of which converts its dusty streets into
he largest and richest marts in the East.

MEMOIR OP BURCKHARDT. 99

The law of the Koran, it is well kfcjwn, com-
mands every Mussulman, who has the means, to
perform a pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once in his
life. The month set apart for this ceremony is
called Dulhajja, which, as the Arahs use the lunar
calculation, may happen at any period of the year,
and gradually shifts its position through the whole
circle of the seasons. In 1814, it happened in No-
vember. The crowds that assemble on that occasion
from all parts of the Mohammedan world are im-
mense ; in former times they amounted to several
hundred thousands ; but owing to the interruptions

I of the Wahabis, they had considerably fallen off
when Burckhardt travelled in Arabia. He reckoned

i them at more than 80,000, and the number of
camels from 20,000 to 25,000. In general the
regular caravans have fixed periods for their arrival.

I Those from Northern Syria bring the pilgrims of

j the West as far as Barbary and Morocco ; from the
South they come through Nubia and Abyssinia;
the Indians take the route through Yemen or arrive
by sea at Jiddah ; the Persians assemble at Bagdad
and traverse the desert of Nejed ; the Turks, Tar-
fcars, and Syrians start from Damascus, journeying
along the coast of the Red Sea. Most of these de-
votees are merchants, and bring with them, for
traffic, the different wares and precious commodities
of their respective countries.

The awful sanctity of Mecca requires that every
traveller, whether on a religious visit or not, shall
strip off his garments before approaching it in any

100 MEMOIR OP BURCKHARDT.

direction, within several miles, and assume the
Jbram* or pilgrim's cloak, which consists of two
pieces of linen, woollen, or cotton cloth, one of
which is wrapped round the loins, and the other
thrown over the neck and shoulders, leaving the
head and part of the right arm uncovered. On
entering the city, the hajji has a variety of duties
and rites to perform, such as visiting the mosque,
saying a number of prayers, kissing the black stone,
walking seven times round the Kaaba, drinking of
Zemzem water, running between Safa and Meroua,
shaving the head, chanting the talli or pious ejacu-
lations, &c.

When all these solemnities have been gone
through, the pilgrims repair in a body to Mounf
Arafat, a granite rock about two hundred feet high,
and six hours' walk eastward from the city. This
is the grand day of the pilgrimage; and as the
whole surrounding plain is covered with tents,
bazaars, camels, splendid equipages, and busy mul-
titudes of all descriptions, the sight from the hill is
peculiarly inspiring. Here a sermon is preached,
which must finish before sunset ; and then the
dense crowds hurry off, frequently pressing each
other to death, in order to throw stones at the devil
in Wadi Muna, in memorial of his having mali-
ciously whispered into Ishmaers ear that he was to
be slain. This narrow valley is three miles on their
way back to Mecca, and abounds with sacred relics ;
for here tradition alleges Adam was buried, and
here Abraham intended to sacrifice his son, — in

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 101

evidence of which a granite block is still shown,
cleft in twain by the stroke of his knife.

After the " stoning," which is repeated three
days, comes the grand sacrifice of animals, and in
a quarter of an hour, thousands of sheep and goats
are slaughtered ; the law requiring that their throats
be cut in the name of the most merciful God, with
their faces towards the Kaaba. The number of
these victims is sometimes very great. One of the
caliphs is said to have offered 50,000 sheep, beside
40,000 camels and cows; and an old traveller
(Barthema) speaks of 30,000 oxen being slain and
their carcasses given to the poor, " who seemed
more anxious to have their bellies filled than their
sins remitted." On the completion of the sacrifice,
the pilgrims throw off the ihram, and generally put
on their best attire, to celebrate the beiram, or day
of the feast.

The long valley of Mecca is then converted into
a fair ; sheds, booths, and tents being fitted up as
shops for provisions and merchandise of all kinds.
Men of every variety and colour, coming from the
extremities of the earth, mingle here in the inter-
course of business. The Moor and the Indian ex-
change commodities; the Syrian bargains for the
shawls of Cashmere and the silks of Persia; the
Anatolian gives his rich carpets for the red bonnets
or woollen cloaks of Barbary and Morocco; the
stranger from Borneo, or Timbuctoo, exhibits his
wares to the natives of Georgia and Samarcand ;
the Turk finds a purchaser for his trinkets in the

102 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

half-naked Ethiopian or the negro of Guinea ; while
the poor hajjis cry their small stock, which they
carry on their heads, and dispose of for a few dol-
lars to carry them home. The mixture of nations
and tongues, of costumes and commodities, is more
striking here than at Mecca. At night the valley
blazes with illuminations, fireworks, discharges of
artillery, and honfires on the hills. The second day
of the feast ends the pilgrimage to Arafat, when the
devotees return to the city, testifying their delight
by songs, loud talking, and laughter. A repetition
of the same ceremonies already mentioned takes
place ; and before bidding adieu to the capital of
Islam, they must visit the holy places in the town
and suburbs, among which are the birth-places of
Mohammed and several of his kindred, the tomb of
his favourite wife, the spots where his chief miracles
were performed, and where he had some of his
interviews with the angel Gabriel.

In all these religious exhibitions, Burckhardt was
either an actor or an eye-witness. His knowledge
of the Arabic language, and of Mohammedan man-
ners, enabled him to personate the Mussulman with
such success, that he mixed freely with the hajjis,
and passed through the various ceremonies of the
occasion without the smallest suspicion having arisen
as to his real character. On the 18th of January,
1815, he set out with a small caravan of pilgrims
who were going to visit the tomb of the Prophet at
Medina, a journey of ten or eleven days (about 270
miles), mostly through sandy deserts, interspersed

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 103

with irregular ridges of mountains and cultivated
valleys. His project was to remain about three
weeks at that city, and then to return overland to
Egypt, in the hope of being able to visit on his road
some ruins, where he expected to find specimens of
the most ancient Arabian monuments. In this,
however, he was disappointed ; for within a week
after his arrival, he was attacked with a fever of
the nature of a tertian ague, which kept him con-
fined to his carpet until April. As the ceremonies
required of the hajjis are here much easier and
shorter than at Mecca, he had performed them im-
mediately on reaching the place ; it being the law
here, as at Mecca, that all travellers and pilgrims
must visit the mosque and the holy tomb of Mo-
hammed before he undertakes the most trifling
business.

Medina is a well built town, completely sur-
rounded by a wall, and supposed to contain be-
tween 16,000 and 20,000 inhabitants. Its chief
support is drawn from the temple, which resembles
that at Mecca, and contains the ashes of the Pro-
phet. This famous sepulchre is encircled with a
high iron railing, arched overhead, and supported
by columns. Near it are the tombs of the first two
caliphs, Abu Beker" and Omar, of Fatima, the
daughter of Mohammed, and several other saints of
the Arabian calendar. All of these of course are
visited by the pilgrims, from each of whom certain
gifts and fees are exacted. An additional sum is
paid by those who enter within the railing of the

104 MEMOIR OP BURCKHARDT.

Prophet's tomb, as the Moslem divines affirm that a
prayer said there is as efficacious as a thousand said
in any other place, except Mecca.

From the state of weakness to which Burckhardt
was reduced, he found himself obliged to give up
all idea of travelling by land ; and therefore, as
soon as he could support the motion of a camel, he
left Medina and proceeded to Yembo, on the coast
of the Red Sea ; where he arrived on the 27th of
April. Here, as well as at Jiddah, the plague, an
evil hitherto unknown in Arabia, had lately made
its appearance; and its ravages soon became so
great, that these towns were almost entirely de-
serted by their inhabitants. After a stay of two
weeks, he embarked on board a sambouJc, or large
boat, and in twenty days landed at the promontory
of Ras- Mohammed, in the peninsula of Mount
Sinai. From thence he reached Tor, where he had
a severe relapse of fever, and where every thing was
in a bustle of excitement, as the lady of AH Pasha
had arrived there from Yembo only a few days
before. A fortnight's rest was necessary for him
to recover strength sufficient to prosecute his jour-
ney ; after which he continued his route by Suez,
and reached Cairo on the 19th of June, having
been absent nearly two years and a half.

During the subsequent nine months, his attention
was principally devoted to the recruiting of his im-
paired constitution, and to the preparation of his
Nubian and Arabian travels for the Association.
In February, 181J, he transmitted to London the

MEMOIR OF DUitCKHARDT. 105

journal of his tour from Upper Egypt and Jiddah ;
and in October of the same year he sent the Com-
mittee a variety of papers, forming part of the
information he had obtained during his journey
through Arabia. They comprised, 1 st, Some further
fragments on the Bedouins, in continuation of the
remarks he had made on former occasions ; 2d, A
short history of the "Wahabis, principally of Mo-
hammed Ali's late campaign in the Hejaz ; 3d, A
few notes to his former journals.

The pains he took to study the character and
habits of the Bedouins, showed how deep an interest
he felt in that singular people. " I believe (says
he) that very little of their real state is known in
Europe, either because travellers have not suffi-
ciently distinguished them from Arabs in general,
or because they have attempted to describe them
without having had the advantage of seeing them
at leisure in their own tents in the interior of the
desert. Their nation is the original stock from
which Syria, Egypt, and Barbary derive their pre-
sent population; and for this reason alone they
deserve to be inquired into. But they acquire a
still greater interest when we consider, that amidst
the utter depravity of manners and morals, and the
decline of laws and civil institutions throughout the
Mahommedan world, the Bedouins are the only
Eastern nation who have preserved their ancient
customs, and who still continue to be what they
were 1200 years ago, when their emigrating tribes
conquered part of Asia, Africa, and Europe."

106 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

Early in 1817, he sent home the journals of his
travels in the Hojaz, together with some notices on
the interior of Africa, a translation from Macrizi's
History of Egypt, containing some documents on
the geography and inhabitants of Nubia and the
Nile countries. In many of the regions which he
visited, he had been anticipated by other travellers,
with some of whom he formed a personal acquaint-
ance. He found Salt and Belzoni labouring among
the antiquities of Egypt ; of the efforts of the latter
in clearing away the rubbish from the pyramids,
temples, sphinxes, obelisks, &c., he has given some
interesting details in his letters to the Association.
Dr. Seetzen, a German, had preceded him only a
few years in his route through Syria, Arabia Petraea,
Mount Sinai, and the Hejaz, to Mecca ; but he was
poisoned near Mocha, in September 1811, as has
been already stated, and no part of his travels was
ever published, except short fragments of his tour
along the Jordan, by the Dead Sea, to Jerusalem.'

As Burckhardt's recovery was not so expeditious
as his medical attendant had led him to expect, he
determined to try the air of Alexandria, where he
hoped the sea-breezes, and the society of Colonel;
Missett, would effectually re-establish his health.
The change was of so much benefit (aided by the
advice of Dr. Morgan, physician to Lady Hester'
Stanhope), that in a few weeks he was so far con-
valescent as to enable him to return to Cairo, with
the view of making preparation for the exploration
of Africa. Several months, however, elapsed, with

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 307

out bringing the Moggrebeyn or Western caravan,
although the usual period of its yearly arrival had
then passed by. This disappointment was not a
little tantalizing ; and as the capital of Egypt was
then in a very disturbed state, owing to the attempts
of the Pasha to drill his troops according to the
European tactics ; and was, moreover, assailed with
another visitation of the plague, which had raged
there for three successive years, Burckhardt con-
sidered it prudent to quit the infected banks of the
Nile for a time, and seek for refuge among the
Bedouins of Mount Sinai. This tour, besides avoid-
ing the pestilence, he expected would give him an
opportunity of pushing on as far as Akaba, and
tracing the direction of the eastern branch of the
Red Sea, which he believed had never been seen by
European travellers.

On the 20th of April he left Cairo, in company
with some Bedouins, who were returning to their
mountains with corn which they had purchased in
Egypt. In crossing the desert to Suez (between
seventy and eighty miles), they found the road in
many places covered with flints, petrosilex, pebbles,
petrified wood, and large trunks of trees half-buried
in the sand. From these appearances, Burckhardt
conjectured, that before Pharaoh Necho dug the
canal between the Nile and the Red Sea, the com-
munication between Arsinoe, or Clysma (near Suez),
and Memphis, may have been carried on this way ;
and that stations may have been established on the
spots covered with these petrifactions.

108 MEMOIR OP BURCKHARDT.

Suez is an unhealthy town, surrounded by bar-
ren wastes ; the air is bad, occasioned by the saline
nature of the earth, and the extensive low grounds
on the north and north-east sides, which are filled
with stagnant water by the tides. It carries on a
small trade with Egypt and Arabia, and might rise
to some importance, were it to become an entrepot
in the regular steam communication between Great
Britain and India.

From this town, Burckhardt continued his route
along the inner coast of the Gulf, in the same direc-
tion which the Israelites travelled after their mira-
culous passage through the Red Sea. Several places
are identified with the events recorded in the Exo-
dus. The Ayoun Mousa, or wells of Moses, still
afford a copious supply of sweet water to the Arabs.
A little farther on is the well of Howara, the Marah
of Scripture, whose bitter waters were sweetened by
Moses, and which the Israelites reached at the end
of three days' march in the desert. The neighbour-
ing valley of Wadi Gharendel, which contains date-
trees, tamarisks, acacias of different species, and the
thorny shrub, called Gharkad, was probably Elim
with its u twelve springs and seventy palm-trees/
The Hamman Faraoun, or baths of Pharaoh, record
the fate of that adventurous monarch ; and the
superstitious Arabs call the Gulf the Bahr el Kol-
zoum, or Sea of Destruction, in whose roaring waters
they still pretend to hear the cries and wailings of
the drowned Egyptians. The exact spot where this
event happened, as well as the precise time of march

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 109

and different encampments of the chosen race, have
become too obscure, through time and change, to
be traced with accuracy. That it must have been
in the neighbourhood of Suez is obvious, as the
breadth of the Gulf lower down is too great (ten
or twelve leagues) to have been traversed by the
Hebrew fugitives in a single night, with so many
encumbrances as they carried with them.

This is the opinion of Burckhardt, and of nu-
merous other oriental travellers. Referring to the
distance, and comparing natural facts with the
statements of the Bible, he comes to the following
conclusion : — u In moving with a whole nation, the
march (about forty miles) may well be supposed to
have occupied three days ; and the bitter well at
Marah corresponds exactly with that of Howara.
This is the usual route to Mount Sinai, and was
probably therefore that which the Israelites took
on their escape from Egypt ; provided it be admit-
ted that they crossed the Red Sea near Suez, as
Niebuhr (the Danish traveller) with good reason
conjectures. There is no other road of three days'
march on the way from Suez towards Sinai ; nor is
there any other well absolutely bitter, on the whole
of this coast, as far as Ras Mohammed. The com-
plaints of the bitterness of the water by the children
of Israel, who had been accustomed to the sweet
water of the Nile, are such as may be daily heard
from the Egyptian servants and peasants who travel
in Arabia."

With respect to the means employed by Moses

110 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

to sweeten the waters, Burckhardt frequently in-
quired among the Bedouins whether they possessed
any means of effecting such a change, by throwing
wood into if, or by any other process ; but he could
never learn that such an art was known. He sug-
gests, however, that the effect might have been
produced by the rod being of the Gharkad, which
grows in this neighbourhood, in the same manner as
is done by the juice of pomegranate grains. This
supposition is not inconsistent with the miracle as
related by Moses (Exod. xv. 25), " and the Lord
showed him a tree, which when he had cast into
the waters, the waters were made sweet." The
Gharkad berry is juicy and refreshing, resembling
a ripe gooseberry in taste; and when the crop is
abundant, the Arabs make them into a conserve.

On the 1st of May they approached the central
elevation of Mount Sinai, which had been visible
for several days. This group forms an irregular
circle of thirty or forty miles in diameter ; and it is
difficult to imagine a scene more wild and desolate.
" Abrupt cliffs of granite (says Burckhardt), from
six to eight hundred feet in height, whose surface
is blackened by the sun, surround the avenues lead-
ing to the elevated platform to which the name of
Sinai is specifically applied. These cliffs enclose
the holy mountain on three sides, leaving the east-
ward only more open to the view. The narrow
defile, by which the ascent is gained, is bounded
on either hand with perpendicular rocks, and strewn
with sand an** pebbles, brought down by the tor-

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARBT. Ill

rents which rush from the upper region in the
winter-time. The sacred mountain consists of two
elevations, called by the Arabs Gebel Mousa and
' Gebel Katerin (the Mounts of Moses and St. Ca-
therine), which have generally been identified with
Sinai and Horeb. Both terminate in a sharp peak,
the planes of which do not exceed fifty or sixty
paces in circumference. The latter is the higher of
the two, and its summit commands a very extensive
prospect of the adjacent country.

The whole of the surrounding wilderness is a
collection of naked rocks and craggy precipices,
interspersed with valleys and ravines, often desti-
tute of verdure, yet occasionally adorned with trees
and gardens fragrant with the richest perfumes.*
On either hand may be seen the two arms of the
Red Sea, a part of Egypt, and northward to within
a few days' journey of Jerusalem. There is some
doubt as to whether the Mount of Moses or of
St. Catherine is the identical Sinai ; and this con-
fusion has arisen from the indiscriminate application
of the names to both. Other two lofty mountains,
more to the westward, called Serbal and Shomar,
have also been considered as having rival preten-
sions to the distinction of having witnessed the
promulgation of the decalogue ; but these claims

* Burckhardt says, speaking of the gardens in some of these
ravines, " The verdure was so brilliant, and the blossoms of the
orange-trees diffused so fine a perfume, that I was transported
in imagination from the barren cliffs of the wilderness to the
luxurious groves of Antioch."

112 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

do not seem to be well founded ; and after all the
theories and conjectures of travellers on the subject,
the probabilities are stronger in favour of Gebel
Katerin and Gebel Mousa than of any other.

Some sceptics have objected, that if this were
really the mountain where Moses received the
Tables of the Law, it would be found to exhibit
traces of the awful phenomena which attended the
manifestation of the Divine presence, in the visible
symbols of fire and earthquake and volcanic erup-
tion. Burckhardt, however, could not detect the
slightest vestige of these supernatural appearances ;
though there are islands in the Red Sea, and places
on the coast of the Gulf of Akaba, which retain
marks of volcanic action. But objections such as
these are entitled to little weight; for we do not
read of any actual discharge from the mountain.
It is described, indeed, as having " quaked greatly,"
and " burned with fire," and emitted smoke like a
furnace ; but these appearances were not the effect
of any natural convulsion ; they were rather the
sublime accompaniments which the Deity chose to
make the evidence and the harbingers of his pre-
sence,— the cloudy pavilion within which he received
the leader and lawgiver of his chosen people.

The inhabitants pretend to identify with these
mountains and deserts many of the scenes and
events related in Scripture history. The convent
which bears the name of its vice-patroness, St. Ca-
therine, stands in a narrow valley at the foot of the
mount, and is alleged to have been built by the

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 113

Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great,
on the spot where the Lord appeared to Moses in
the burning bush. It is still occupied by a few
monks, most of whom are natives of the Greek
islands. On the highest pinnacle of Gebel Mousa
are the remains of a church, under the pavement of
which the Arabs believe that the original tables of
the ten commandments are buried ; and they have
made excavations on every side, in the hope of
discovering them. Here also is the Convent of
St. Elias, erected on the spot where Elijah was fed
by the ravens. At no great distance, a block of
granite is shown (apparently detached from Mount
Sinai) as being the Rock of Meribah, out of which
water issued when struck by the rod of Moses.
The head of the golden calf (now changed into
stone), which the Israelites worshipped; the place
where the brazen serpent was elevated; the burial-
place of Moses and Aaron ; the pulpit and petrified
pot or kettle of Moses; and a rock resembling a
chair, on which he sat and beheld the fight between
Joshua and the Amalekites ; are among the sacred
spots pointed out to the credulity of travellers and
pilgrims.

It is obvious that little dependence can be placed
on local tradition. Burckhardt expresses his dis-
appointment at being able to trace so very few of
the ancient Hebrew names of the Old Testament
in the modern geography of the peninsula. With
the exception of Sinai and a few others, the ap-
pellations are all of Arabic derivation; and the

114 MEMOIR OP BURCKHARDT.

incongruous union of Moses and St. Catherine is
a proof how little reliance is to be placed upon
them.

After visiting the sacred mountains, with their
different objects of curiosity and veneration, Burck-
hardt had intended to proceed to Akaba; but in
this he was disappointed, as the Pasha of Egypt
had refused to grant him a firman, alleging, as on
a former occasion, that he was sufficiently well
acquainted with the language and manners of the
Arabs to require any other recommendation. The
danger of proceeding without this passport obliged
him to retrace his steps, after he had penetrated to
Sherm on the inner coast of the Gulf, nearly as far
down as Ras Mohammed. From this point he
travelled along the shore until within a short dis-
tance of its northern extremity, which he learned
had only a single termination, instead of being
forked, or divided into two branches as is usually
laid down in our maps.

This excursion was not without other advantages
to geography and natural science. It was near
Sherm that he met, for the first and only time in
the peninsula, with volcanic rocks. Serpents, too, ,
he was told, are very common in these parts, and
traces of them were seen crossing each other in
various directions. The fishermen are so afraid of
them, that they extinguish their fires before going
to sleep, because the light is known to attract them.
The Israelites passed near Akaba, when they jour-
neyed from Mount Hor, by way of the Red Sea, to

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 115

compass the land of Edom,* where the prevalence
of these reptiles at the present day is a remarkable
illustration of the fact mentioned by Moses (Num-
bers xxi. 4, 6), that " the Lord sent fiery serpents
among the people." t Scorpions, too, are numerous ;
and another venomous reptile, like a huge spider, to
which the Bedouins give the name of Abou Ha-
nakein, or the two-mouthed. Burckhardt describes
it as about four inches and a half in length, with
five long legs on both sides, covered like the body
with setae of a light yellow colour. The head is
long and pointed, with large black eyes ; the mouth
is armed with two pair of fangs, one above the
other, recurved, and extremely sharp. It is said to
be attracted by fire; and the bite, if not always
mortal, produces swelling, vomiting, and the most
excruciating pains.

On the same coast, and in the lower valleys, a
kind of large lizard is found, called Dhob, which
has a scaly skin of a yellow colour, of which the
natives make tobacco-pouches. The largest are about
eighteen inches in length ; they live in holes in the
sand, and run fast, but are easily caught by dogs.
Hares, gazelles, wolves, and leopards are found, but

* The steep side of the western mountain, from the plain of
Akaba, corresponds very accurately with the " ascent" of Akrab-
bim," mentioned in Numbers xxxiv. 4.

^ The translation of fiery or flying serpents is somewhat
inaccurate. The meaning of the Hebrew is, " serpents whose
bite causes death by inflammation." Burckhardt observes,
that the Arabic version of the Pentateuch is more correct than
ours, by rendering it " serpents of burning bites."

116 MEMOIR OF BTJRCKHARDT.

not very common. The Arabs spoke of a voracious
animal called Slyb, supposed by them to be a breed
between the leopard and the wolf; and of another
beast of prey, called Wober, said to be of the size of
% large dog, with a pointed head like a hog, and
Inhabiting only the most retired parts of the penin-
sula. The wild goats are abundant, and require as
much enterprise and patience in the hunter to
catch them as the chamois of the Alps.

In some of the valleys, fennel grows three or four
feet high; the Bedouins eat the stalks raw, and
pretend that it cools the blood. The tamarisk, or
tarfa, is met with ; and though it is a common tree
in the East, in Nubia, and in every part of Arabia,
Burckhardt remarks that he never heard of its
producing manna, except in Mount Sinai. The
Bedouins still call it mann, and gather it in the
month of June. It is collected before sunrise, when
it is coagulated ; but it dissolves as soon as the sun
shines upon it. When they have cleaned away the
leaves and dirt that adhere to it, they boil it, and
strain it through a coarse cloth ; after which it is
put into leathern skins, and preserved for use during
the year. The apple, pear, and apricot trees grow
only in the elevated regions of the Upper Sinai;
while the valleys produce cucumbers, gourds, me-
lons, onions, tobacco, hemp for smoking, &c.

Among other antiquities in the peninsula, of
which Burckhardt gives some account, are the nu-
merous inscriptions with which the rocks in several
places are almost entirely covered The most cele-

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 117

brated of these is the Gebel Mokkateb, or written
mountains, not far from Sinai, which were disco-
vered about the beginning of the last century, and
excited a considerable sensation in Europe. Ex-
pectations were entertained that these unknown
inscriptions might furnish some testimony concern-
ing the passage of the Israelites through the desert,
or their residence in that country. But on a
nearer inspection, these sanguine hopes vanished ;
the carvings, with which the whole sandstone cliffs
are thickly covered, to the height of twelve or
fifteen feet, and several miles in length, were found
to contain little else than the names of travellers
and pilgrims, with rude figures of goats and camels,
ill-engraven in Greek, Jewish, and Arabic cha-
racters.

Burckhardt is of this opinion, although he is not
certain that the uncouth drawings of the animals
may not have been the work of the Israelites. " It
appears (says he) that each pilgrim, in passing,
wrote his name ; and the inscribed rocks are con-
stantly found, on the sides of the different great
roads leading from Suez to Gebel Sinai, usually near
the resting-places, which were chosen where some
impending cliff afforded shelter from the sun, and
where the same convenience still induces travellers
to halt. In the lower part of the mountain, the
inscriptions are cut in sandstone; in the higher,
upon granite. The characters have no depth ; but
upon granite, even this would be a labour exceed-
ing the strength and leisure of ordinary pilgrims,

118 MEMOIR OF BtJRCKHARDT.

The want of water precludes the idea of an army
having passed that way, the soldiers of which might
have wished to perpetuate their names. Perhaps
some of the drawings of animals, particularly those
of camels and mountain-goats (beden\ may have
been done by the Israelite shepherds. I saw similar
drawings, without inscriptions, upon rocks not far
from Akaba. Upon the whole, these inscriptions
appear to me to have a strong resemblance to some
I have seen in Nubia, written in the ancient Egyp-
tian current character ; some letters, at least, appear
to be common to both. My opinion is, that they
were the work of Egyptian Christians, or perhaps
Jews, during the first centuries of our era." Besides
those of Wadi Mokkateb, he met with innumerable
and well-written inscriptions on the declivity and
on the summit of Mount Serbal, which he supposes
to have been in former times the principal place of
devotion and pilgrimage, as artificial steps lead to
the top, which terminates in a platform of about
130 feet in circumference.

The excursion to Mount Sinai was the last jour-
ney which Burckhardt accomplished. From the
time of his return to Cairo, in June 1816, till his
death, in October 1817, be continued to reside in
the Egyptian capital, occupied in preparing various
papers for the Association; and in other employ-
ments connected with Arabic literature and his tra-
velling pursuits. In May 1817 he sent to London
the journal of his last tour, apologising for the bulk
to which it had extended by the importance of the

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 119

region which it described, and the greater facilities
for writing which he enjoyed. " This small country
(says he), so important to the history of mankind,
has never before been described in detail. The
commentary on the route of the Israelites, which I
have annexed to it, I submit with much diffidence
to the perusal of the Committee, as I cannot but
feel apprehensive, that what strikes me to be correct,
may not appear equally so to persons who have not
visited the desert, and have not travelled with the
Bedouins. Should my opinions meet with appro-
bation, I shall be particularly gratified in having
been able to elucidate some obscure points of early
history, and to vindicate the authenticity of the
sacred historian of the Beni Israel, who will never
be thoroughly understood, as long as we are not
minutely informed of every thing relative to the
Arabian Bedouins, and the country in which they
move and pasture."

With regard to his opportunities for writing, his
explanation of that circumstance illustrates the
general mode in which he usually took notes during
all his travels. Even when accompanying numerous
caravans, he had never permitted any of his com-
panions to see him write, knowing that if their
suspicions were once raised, it would render them
less open in their communications with him. The
only instances in which he had departed from this
rule was in Syria and Egypt, and in his first visit
to Nubia. From the Arabs he was particularly
careful to conceal his pursuits, as they uniformly

J20 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

believe every stranger who uses writing implements
to be a necromancer, who will steal their hidden
treasures or inflict evils on their country.

Such being the case, Burckhardt had to resort to
many little ingenious stratagems, not to lose entirely
the advantage of taking his memoranda on the spot.
He had accustomed himself to write when mounted
on his camel, and proceeding at an easy walk.
Throwing the wide Arab mantle over his head, as
if to protect himself from the sun, as the Bedouins
do, he could take notes under it unobserved, even
though another person rode close by him. His
journal books being only about four inches long and
three broad, were easily carried in his waistcoat
pocket ; and when taken out, could be concealed in
the palm of the hand. Sometimes he dismounted
and walked a little in front, or turned aside, and
feigned to couch down in the Arab fashion, hidden
under his cloak ; again, at halting-places, he would
stretch himself on the ground as if to sleep, throw-
ing his mantle over him ; and by these artifices he
succeeded in keeping pretty full accounts of what
he saw or heard, without exciting observation or
suspicion.

Only once, near Sinai, he was discovered by
his guide. Having had no opportunity of taking
notes for two days, he turned aside for a short
time; but remained so long, that Ayd's curiosity
was roused, and approaching on tiptoe, he came
close behind him without being perceived, and sud-
denly lifting up the cloak, he detected his friend

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 12]

with a book in his hand. " What is this ?" he ex-
claimed ; " What are you doing T " You write
down our country," he continued, in a passionate
tone, " our mountains, our pasturing places, and
the rain which falls from heaven ; other people
have done this before you, but I, at least, will never
become instrumental to the ruin of my country."
Burckhardt assured him that he had no bad inten-
tions towards the Bedouins, for whom he enter-
tained the greatest esteem ; and then appealing to
his superstitious credulity, he informed him that he
was only using secret charms for the preservation
Df their lives ; " For (said he), had I not occasion-
ally written down some prayers ever since we left
Toba (where they were in danger of being attacked),
we should most certainly have been killed ; and it
is very wrong in you to accuse me of that which, if
I had omitted, would have cost us our lives." At
this reply Ayd was startled, and seemed nearly satis-
fied. " Perhaps you say the truth (he observed),
but we all know that some years since, several
men, God knows who they were (alluding to Sect'
zen and M. Agnotti), came to this country, visited
the mountains, wrote down every thing, — stones,
plants, animals, even serpents and spiders; and
since then, little rain has fallen, and the game has
greatly decreased." These opinions prevail, not only
in the peninsula of Sinai, but among the Bedouins
of Nubia. They believe that a sorcerer, by writing
down certain charms, can stop the rains, and trans-
fer them to his own country ; and even conjure out

122 MEMOIR OP BTJRCKHARDT.

gold from the ruins of temples, by secretly marking
tbe stones under which it is hid.

The letters which Burckhardt wrote to London,
during his stay in Cairo, contain many valuable
observations on the events which occurred about
that time in Egypt and Arabia ; such as the pro-
secution and termination of the Wahabi war by the
destruction of Deraiah, their capital; the govern-
ment and manners of the Egyptians ; the researches
of Belzoni, Bankes, and Salt among the ruins on the
Nile ; the geography and statistics of the surround-
ing regions ; and, generally, upon those topics which
were his principal objects of inquiry, as agent of
the African Association. One cause of regret only
existed, his detention in Egypt by the non-arrival
of the Fezzan caravan, which he ascribed to the
increased demand for black slaves on the coast of
Barbary, to replace the white slaves so gloriously
delivered by the English fleet and the redaction of
Algiers.

In the pilgrimage to Mecca of the year 1817>
among the hajjis that visited the temple from every
part of the Mohammedan world, was a party of
Moggrebeyns, or "Western Africans, who were ex-
pected to return home, as usual, by way of Cairo
and Fezzan. It was believed the caravan would
take its departure from Egypt in the month of De-
cember; and as Burckhardt had now transmitted
the last of his journals to England, it was with the
utmost satisfaction that he contemplated the pro-
spect, which at length so opportunely offered, of

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 123

putting the great purpose of his mission into exe-
cution. Feeling strongly armed in his long previous
course of study and experience, he entertained hopes,
not more sanguine than reasonable, of being able to
penetrate in safety from Fezzan to the countries of
the Niger; and of at last receiving the reward of
his perseverance in the acquirement, for the public,
of some authentic information upon the unknown
regions of Africa.

But Providence had otherwise ordained. On the
4th of October, he found the symptoms of dysen-
tery, which had for several days incommoded him,
so much increased, that he applied for relief to
Dr. Richardson, an English physician, who fortu-
nately happened at that time to be at Cairo, travel-
ling in the company of Lord Belmore. The disease,
however, in spite of all the remedies administered,
continued its progress from bad to worse with fatal
obstinacy, and without any favourable remission.

On the morning of the 15th he proposed, and ob-
tained the consent of his physician, that Mr. Henry
Salt, then his Majesty's Consul-General in Egypt,
should be sent for. " I went over immediately
(says Mr. Salt, in a letter to the Secretary of the
Association), and cannot describe how shocked I
was to see the change that had taken place in so
short a time. On the Tuesday before, he had been
walking in my garden with every appearance of
health, and conversing with his usual liveliness and
vigour. Now, he could scarcely articulate his
words, often made use of one for another, was of a

124 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

ghastly hue, and had all the appearance of approach-
ing death. Yet he perfectly retained his senses, and
was surprisingly firm and collected. He desired
that I would take pen and paper and write down
what he should dictate."

After instructing Mr. Salt to draw the money
(£250) due to him by the Association, and to dis-
pose of it partly to defray some necessary expenses,
and partly in small gratuities to his servants, he
proceeded, " Send one thousand piastres to the poor
at Zurich. Let my whole library, with the excep-
tion of my European books, go to the University of
Cambridge, to the care of Dr. Clarke the librarian,
comprising also the MSS. in the hands of Sir Joseph
Banks. My European books (they were only eight
in number) I leave to you (Mr. Salt) ; of my papers
make such a selection as you think fit, and send
them to Mr. Hamilton (the Secretary) for the Afri-
can Association. There is nothing on Africa : I was
for starting in two months' time with the caravan
returning from Mecca, and going to Fezzan ; thence
to Timbuctoo; but it is otherwise disposed. For
my affairs in Europe, Mr. Rapp has my will. *
Give my love to my friends (enumerating several

* This refers to a will made previous to his departure from
England, according to which, in case he had advanced into the
interior of Africa, and was not heard of by the 1st of January,
1 820, he was to be considered as dead. By this will, he ap-
pointed his mother residuary legatee for all sums that might
accrue to him from his engagements with the African Associa-
tion.

MEMOIR OP BURCKHARDT. 125

persons with whom he was living in terms of inti-
macy at Cairo) ; write to Mr. Barker ;" — he then
paused and seemed troubled, and at length with
great exertion said, " Let Mr. Hamilton acquaint
my mother with my death, and say that my last
thoughts have been with her. (This subject he had
evidently kept back, as not trusting himself with
the mention of it till the last.) The Turks (he
added) will take my body. I know it ; perhaps
you had better let them." — " When I tell you
(continues Mr. Salt) that he lived only six hours
after this conversation, you will easily conceive
what an effort it must have been. The expression
of his countenance, when he noticed his intended
journey, was an evident struggle between disap-
pointed hopes and manly resignation. Less of the
weakness of human nature was perhaps never ex-
hibited upon a death-bed. Dr. Richardson and
Osman (an Englishman whom he had persuaded
the Pasha to release from slavery), who has for
some time lived with him, were both present at this
conversation. He ended by expressing a wish that
I should retire, and shook my hand at parting, as
taking a final leave. So, unhappily, it proved ; he
died at a quarter before twelve the same night,
without a groan. The funeral, as he desired, was
Mohammedan, conducted with all proper regard to
the respectable rank which he had held in the eyes
of the natives."

His dying requests were faithfully executed. His
Arabic manuscripts (the choicest collection in Eu«

126 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

rope), were despatched to Cambridge by the fi
safe opportunity. This present was intended as a
mark of his gratitude for the literary benefits and
the kind attention which he had received there
when preparing himself for his travels. A remem-
brance of favours was indeed one of the prominent
traits of his noble mind. His liberality and high
principle of honour, his detestation of injustice and
fraud, his disinterestedness and keen sense of grati-
tude, were no less remarkable than his warmth of
heart and active benevolence, which he often exer-
cised towards persons in distress, to the great preju-
dice of his limited means.

Of this disregard of pecuniary matters, a single
example will be sufficient. His father having be-
queathed at his death about £ 10,000, to be divided
into five equal parts, one to his widow, and one to
each of his children, Lewis immediately gave up his
portion to increase that of his mother. " If I perish
(said he) in my present undertaking, the money
will be where it ought to be ; if I return to Eng-
land, my employers will undoubtedly find me some
means of subsistence." The strong feeling of affec-
tion which he cherished towards his relations, and
the enthusiasm with which he devoted his life to
the advancement of geographical discovery, were
strikingly manifested on his death-bed, when he
could not mention without hesitation his mother's
name, and the failure of the great object of his
mission.

As a traveller, he possessed no common talents

MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 127

and acquirements. To fortitude and ardour of
mind, lie joined a temper and prudence well calcu-
lated to ensure his triumph over every difficulty.
Though the exploration of Africa has been reserved
for other adventurers ; and though the great geo-
graphical problem of that continent has been solved
since his death, his memory will receive its due
reward of fame; for it cannot be doubted that he
will be held in honourable remembrance so long as
any credit is given to those who have fallen in the
cause of science. The journeys he made, and the
oral information he obtained relative to the regions
southward and westward of Egypt, were valuable
at the time, though now superseded by later and
more extended observations. With respect to Ara-
bia, his description of that country, of the manners
and customs of the people, of the horse, the camel,
and various other productions, is the most accurate
and complete that has ever been received in Eu-
rope. The discoveries he made in Syria and the
ancient Idumaea, have thrown a valuable light on
the early history and wanderings of the Israelites,
as well as greatly improved our knowledge of sacred
geography, by ascertaining many of the Hebrew
sites in the once populous but now deserted region
formerly known by the names of Edom, Moab, Am-
mon, and the country of the Amorites.

After his death, his journals were published by
the Association, though not exactly in their chrono-
logical order. In 1819, appeared his Travels in
Nubia; in 1822, his Tours in Syria, the Holy

128 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT.

Land, and the Peninsula of Mount Sinai; in
his Travels in Arabia; and in 1831, his Notes on
the Bedouins, including materials for a History of
the Wahabis, giving an account of the origin and
religious tenets of that sect, and the expedition of
Ali Pasha which ended in their suppression. The
three first of these publications were in quarto, and
the last in two volumes octavo.

INTRODUCTION

FISHES OF GUIANA,

.TLIBSON

OF THE r

UNIV*ftSfTY

IN pursuance of TiK6~~pfon'"sftated at the conclu-
sion of the First Yolume of " THE FISHES OF
GUIANA," we now resume the subject, in describ-
ing the remaining part of Mr. Schomburgk's
Drawings, and allotting to them, as nearly as we
can, in the absence of specimens, their proper
station.

We shall conclude this Yolume with a sum-
mary of the species which have been observed by
other Naturalists in the Fresh Waters of South
America, so that the Yolumes may be made as
useful as possible, in the present state of our
knowledge of the Ichthyology of those immense
rivers.

130

POSTSCEIPT,

LETTERS have been received by the Geographical
Society from Mr. Schomburgk, by which it ap-
pears that he had explored the river Takutu to its
source, in about 1° 45' N. Lat. The Takutu is a
tributary of the Rio Branco, into which it falls at
San Joachim ; and its source is so far to the east-
ward, that Mr. Schomburgk procured bearings of
his old acquaintance, the Wauguwai and Amucu
Mountains, near the junction of the Yuawauri with
the Essequibo. The highest mountains are gra-
nitic, with masses of quartz, but no igneous rocks
were seen. Mr. Schomburgk has made observa-
tions on the magnetic intensity at Waraputa, at
Pirara, and near the sources of the Takutu, &c.
One of the silver medals of the Sodete de ' Geo-
graphie of Paris has been awarded to Mr. Schom-
burgk for his researches in Guiana.

131

DESCRIPTIONS.

THE first fish which we have to notice, and which
naturally follows those with which we concluded
the previous Volume, will belong to the Esoces or
Pikes ; these fish have heen placed by some authors
before the Salmon, by others after them and fol-
lowing the true Herrings ; in either place, however,
they show some alliance, particularly in their ha-
bits. The fish alluded to is referrible to the genus
JBelone of Cuvier, and may now stand here as

GUIANA GAR-FISH.

PLATE I.

L. GERAL, Pira-poco (a general name for a sliarp snouted
fish). Schomb. Drawngs, No. 56.

THIS drawing exhibits the same form as that of
the Esox cancilla of Hamilton Buchanan's Fishes of
the Ganges, pi. xxvii., and apparently also of the
two other fishes he describes under the same genus.

132 GUIANA GAR-FISH.

From the European examples of Belone, these as
well as the Guiana fish differ in the tail being
rounded or fan-shaped instead of being forked ; the
anal fin is also shorter than the dorsal, which is
not so in the others; and in Swainson's system
these are made to assist in generic value. The
European species of Belone are sea fishes, but those
of India alluded to, inhabit, according to Buchanan
the ponds, ditches, and smaller streams. That o:
Ouiana " seldom exceeds fifteen inches in length,
and was taken in the river Padauiri m February ,
it feeds on insects, beetles,. and wood-ants. The
scales^artTTeTy small and deciduous". The intestines
are straight, and the air-bladder is single and ex-
tends to the anal fin." The upper jaw is slightly
shorter than the under, and the edges of both are
represented as thickly set with minute teeth. The
colour of the whole fish is a uniform dark olive,
paler on the sides, and inclining to bluish on the
belly. The ventral fins are tipped with orange-red,
and the anal has a band of the same colour along
its outer edge.

133

RED-BELLTEP SCIENJL

Sciana? rubella.

MACUSI, Cova ; WARRAU, Oborahai ; CREOLE, Bashaw ;
L. GERAL, Piscada.

THIS fish undoubtedly belongs to the Scicenoides of
Cuvier and Valenciennes, having a double dorsal fin;
but without specimens, it is extremely difficult to
refer it to any of their individual divisions. It is al-
lied to Cormna^ Ombrina, and Mwropogon^ and will
most probably be found to range in one of these,
several species being found in the estuaries of the
South American coasts, and in the lakes and rivers
of the New World. " This fish, about twojeet in
length, is taken plentifully in most of the rivers of
Guiana, and is much esteemed for food ; they are
particularly plentiful in the Barima and Corentyn
rivers^where, at some seasons of the year, they are
the principal animal food of the Warrau Indians.
The scaling is rather small ; opercle terminates in a
point ; the gill-covers and whole head are entirely
covered with scales ; eyes yellow ; nostrils double,
and placed near them ; teeth fine, in single rows.
The body is silvery blue on the back, varying to
rose-colour on the belly and tail ; lateral line much

134 RED-BELLIED SCIENA.

bent. (The dorsal, pectoral, and ventral fins are
blue, of a darker shade than the back ; the anal fin,
with the tail, is rose-colour.) They are fished for
with long lines, which are towed after a canoe,
pulled quickly : the hooks are baited with small
fish ; sometimes with featners, resembling an arti-
ficial fly."

D. 9/34— P. 16— -V. 6— A. 2/6— C. 22— Br. 5.

135

CORVINA.

"We have next a fish which we arrange in the
genus Corvina of^Cuvier, and the Brazilian Fishes.
The^ greater number of species inhabit the sea; but
we have some in the estuaries of the Ganges, and
also in the lakes of North America. The fish given
by Spix, C. adusta, is from the Brazilian seas ; it is
represented of a uniform olive-brown, paler be-
neath, tinted with reddish yellow about the head
and opercula.

" CORVINA, Cuvier. — Corpus elongatum plus minusve com-
pressum squamis non adeo magnis undique tectum.
Caput minus compressum, squamis variae magnitudinig
omnino abductum ; rostrum inflatum obtusissimum,
parva prominens, cavernosum. Operculum postice acu-
leatum, latum ; suboperculum angustum, praeoperculum
aculeis majoribus minoribusve armatum. Membrana
branchiostega lata, radiis 7. Apertura branchialis sat
magna. Os mediocre sub rostri apice, arcuatum, supra
in ossibus intermaxillaribus et infra in mandibularibus
lata fascia dentium velutinorum minutissiorum arma-
tum. Pinnae dorsales duae ; anterior aculeis gracillibus
longioribus, posterior longior radiis fissis basi tantum
squamatis suffulta. Pinna caudalis basi plus minusve
equamata. Pinna analis parva antice aculeis majoribus
minoribusve armata. Pinnae ventrales longe accumi-
natae, acuieo primo tenui ; pectorales longiores accumi-
natae."

136

THE CORVINA OP THE ESSEQUIBO.

Corvina grwwiens.

PLATE II.

•

ARAWAAK, Durro-durro ; Carib, Spoca; L. GERAL, Piracuta.
Schomb. Drawings, No. 2.

THE fish represented on the opposite plate appears
to range in the genus to which we have referred it,
and resembles, in form and shape, the C. adusta of
Spix. The drawing wants the scaling which in that
species and in some others, represented on the plates
of Cuvier and Valenciennes, seem to cover the whole
cheeks and snout. Several species make a hoarse
noise and have received their provincial appellations
in consequence ; the (7. ronchus of Valenciennes is
thus named ; at Maracaibo, it is called " el ronco"
and " el roncador ;" and at St. Domingo and Suri-
nam, other species have received synonimous appel-
lations.

" The fish from which the drawing was taken
was killed at Comacca Island, in the Essequibo, in
September ; the flesh is good, but bony ; they are
taken by the hook and line, as well as shot with
the arrow, but are not very plentiful. They make
a curious grating noise under a canoe, when she

THE COR VINA OF THE ESSEQUIBO. 137

is tied up near their haunts. The colour is of a
silvery blue ; the dorsal and anal fins spotted with
black ; the scaling of moderate size, fringed, and
adhesive ; lateral line straight and near the middle
of the body ; head depressed ; ventral fins a little
behind the pectoral. Nostrils double, and situate
near the eye; eyes oval with the iris red; the
mouth terminal, jaws nearly equal; teeth fine, in
single rows in both jaws ; gill-covering scaled, and
smooth at the edges. Feeds on insects and small
fish, and is generally found among the rapids."

In some of the species the air-bladder is described
as fringed with numerous appendices ; in others, such
as C. oscula^ Yal., it is quite simple, and very large.
The stomach of this fish presented pyloric appendices,
and was filled with the debris of fresh- water shells.
In the C. nigrita^ Val., the air-bladder is large and
lengthened to a narrow point ; on each side of the
anterior part, there arises a small short process,
which divides into five branches ; from the two in-
terior of these spring two very short branches;
while the three others, equally divided, are prolonged
into lengthened filaments, which are retained by a
fatty cellular tissue upon the sides of the bladder.

D. 9/32— P. 14— V. 6— A. 1/7— C. 15— Br. 4.

138

CYCHLA.

In the " Brazilian Fishes " we have two forms of
Cychla represented, one of a lengthened form, strong
lips, and a long dorsal fin ; the other of a deeper
form, with the dorsal fin undulated where the sepa-
ration takes place, in these fishes having that mem.
her divided, and having the body marked with
conspicuous ocellated spots or markings. The ex-
amples will be noticed in succession, but we give
first the characters of Agassiz, which agree best
with the first or lengthened form, — resembling that
of Latilus or Pinguipes, but with a short anal fin.

" CYCHLA, Agassiz. — Corpus elongatura, subcompressum,
squamis minoribus obductum. Linea lateralis inter-
rupta. Caput productum, subacuminatum. Operculum
poetice accuminatum, suboperculum postice prolonga-
tum, nee non buccae squamatae. Os magnum surdum
subinflexum ; ossa intermaxillaria ambitum oris superi-
orem totum sustinentia valde protractitia, ut et mandi-
bularia fascia lata dentium velutinorum obsita. Pharynx
neque dentibus velutino armatus. Membrana bran-
chiostega radiis 5. Pinna dorsalis longa ; pars ejus an-
terior aculeata posteriore molli longior. Pinna analis
brevis. Pinna caudalis rotundata."

The annexed Plate, taken from the fishes of
Spix and Agassiz, will exhibit this form. There
is an uncoloured drawing in the Collection, which
we venture to refer to it, though that represented
on the former is said to inhabit the Brazilian sea.

139

LARGE-LIPPED CYCHLA.

Cychla labrina, AGASSIZ.

PLATE III.

Cychla labrina, Spix, tab. xlii. p. 99. — WIRRAF, Saboa.
&cnomo. Jbrauwngs, No. 21 ?

WE have an uncoloured sketch, which we refer to
the fish of Spix above quoted, though some diffe-
rences occur, such as the absence in our sketch of
any markings on the tail, dorsal and anal fins, and
in the more angular form of the posterior extremity
of the latter members. The notes which accompany
the Number are as follow : " This fish is common in
the lower as well as upper parts of the rivers ; they
are good food, and grow to six or seven inches long ;
they take bait. The figure, as represented by Spix,
is of a blackish olive, which would probably be
much brighter if seen when the fish was newly
taken.

" Another species," Mr. Schomburgk continues,
" very much resembling this, was killed in the
Padauiri, but differs in the number of rays and
vertebrae ; it grows to the length of eighteen inches ;
:he flesh is good, and it takes bait readily, but does

140 LARGE-LIPPED CYCHLA.

not bite in the night, hence it is called " Sunfish."
The body is long and nearly round ; the snout flat-
tened ; nostrils single ; lips fleshy ; teeth all fine,
in double or triple rows. Gill-covers smooth-edged
and scaly, opercle pointed. Eye placed near the
middle of the head, coloured orange and black ; air-
bag single, and as long as the cavity of the body."

Of the first, or what we consider C. labrina, the
following fin formula is given ; the remarks on the
second species may, we think, have reference to our
next Plate, on which there is BO Number or Notes.
The formula of the fins of the first is*

D. 19/14— P. 16— V. 1/6— A. 3/11— C. 16— Br. 5— Vert. 34.

141

BANDED CYCHLA.

CycJda fasciata.

PLATE IV.

No Number or Notes accompany this drawing.
The colour of the entire fish, together with the fins,
is of a dull blackish blue, paler beneath, and on the
first part of the dorsal fin, the body being trans-
versely banded with numerous dark bands ; in the
drawing they amount to thirty. The iris is coloured
bright orange-red, and appears very conspicuous in
the dark fish. The first and second rays of the
pectoral fin are of a pale yellowish brown, and ap-
pear strong, — almost spines.

The next fish, of a similar form, will present a
striking contrast in its brilliant colouring

142

RED-HEADED CYCHLA.
Cychla f rutUcm.

PLATE V.
Schwib. Drawings, No. 71.

OUR Notes are also very scanty in regard to this
species, but the Drawing is more than usually mi-
nute. " It was taken in the Rio Branco in April
The teeth were, a row in each jaw, and some in i
front ; tongue round and fleshy. The scaling was •
very small, fringed, and deciduous. Small fish were
found in the stomach. The air-bag single, pointed,
and as long as the body." The upper half of the
head and body is of a delicate pale green, continued
on the rays of the dorsal, anal, and caudal fins, the
membranous parts of which are bluish grey. The
lower half of the head, the breast, and ventral fin,
are rich vermilion-red, darker on the upper lip and
edges of the opercle and preopercle ; the remaining
part of the lower half of the body, to the centre of
the insertion of the anal fin, is pale rose-colour,
shading into the green above. The extremity of the
body, below the curved part of the lateral line, is
gree»i*h grey ; the pectoral fin is wood-brown ; at

IlED-HEADED CYCHLA. 143

the insertion of the tail and termination of the
lateral line, there is a round spot of deep black,
and a dull band of the same colour bounds the soft
extremity of the anal fin.

This last fish, in many parts of its form, and in
its bright colour, resembles the Serrani, and it is
possible that it may stand described under that
generic appellation ; at the same time, our drawing
and short notes agree with the characters we have
printed from the Brazilian Fishes.

The second form of Cychla, and that to which
we feel inclined to restrict the appellation, is repre-
sented by the C. monoculus, Spix, tab. Ixiii., by
those described in the second volume of Humboldt's
Zoological Rescearches, and by the C. ocellaris of
Schneider. It belongs to the Labrince. The fishes
composing it are all brightly and gaily coloured, and
are remarkable for their very decided banded and
ocellated markings, which also prevail in all the
species of which we now possess drawings. This
genus of Bloch and Cuvier, to which most modern
Ichthyologists refer these fishes, is not recognised by
Valenciennes, who seems to have distributed them
through other groups. In the Histoire Naturelle des
Poissons, he says, " Mais le genre Cychla, compose
d'abord d'une maniere trop vague a ete reduit par
nous, a des especes de la famille des Labres." With-
out having examined specimens, we should not like

144 GENUS CYCHLA.

to differ from such authority ; at the same time, the
forms represented in these works and drawings ap-
pear very natural in every respect, and would seem
entitled to a generic separation. At the end of the
volume, we have brought together the other species
which have been represented by Humboldt and
Spix, and now represent those which were found by
Mr. Schomburgk.

I

145

YELLOW-SPOTTED CYCHLA.

Cychla Jlavo-maculata.

PLATE VI.

9intado. — L. GERAL, Lucanari. Schomb. Drawings, No. 45.

THIS beautiful fish inhabits the Rio Negro and
adauiri, and is preferred to most others for the
eJicacy of its flesh. The scaling is rather small,
liptical, slightly fringed, and adhesive ; lateral
le arched until over the ventral fin, when it bends
the middle of the body, and runs thence to the
til (see Drawing) ; head compressed ; ventral fins
aced under the pectoral ; air-bag long, covering
ie spine the whole length of the cavity of the
ody ; nostrils single, round, situate near the eye ;
round, iris black and yellow, and situate over
ie gape of the mouth ; tongue pointed, fleshy ;
wer jaw slightly produced ; teeth fine, thickly
in each jaw; intestines straight. The gill-
)ening is semilunar, the cover having all the
ones scaled ; the roe is moderate-sized and double.
b lives but a short time after being taken from
ie water, takes bait and the artificial fly rudely
onstructed by the Indians; it will also bite at a
id pepper or a red rag. They are perfect ty-
K

146 YELLOW-SPOTTED CYCHLA.

rants when they are plentiful, and being a swil
swimming fish, destroy great numbers of smaUe
fishes. The body is greenish lake, with three blac
bars, three rows, and several scattered yellow spots
on the head several black spots, and a peacock
eye on the insertion of the tail. Dorsal fin and up
per part of tail, indigo spotted with light blue ; VCD
tral, anal, and lower half of caudal fin vermilion
pectoral greenish ; gill-rays vermilion ; belly lighte
than the other parts of the body. They grow t
two feet in length." The formula of the fins is,—

D. 15/16— P. 16— V. 1/5— A. 10— C. 20— B*. &,

M ft

BLACK-BLOTCHED CYCHLA.

Oyckla nigro-mawlafa.

PLATE VII.
L. GKRAL, Lucanari. Schomb. Drawings, No. 46.

** THIS is another species having the same habits and
residing in the same situations with the last ; they
are taken in the same way, and are equally esteemed
for the table ; they grow to about eighteen inches
in length. The head is compressed, but differs
from the last in having a lump on the top ; the
body and head are irregularly spotted with black,
which vary in different individuals; a peacock-
eye at the insertion of the tail; body greenish
yellow, light on the belly and sides; gill-rays,
ventral, anal, and lower half of caudal fin, vermi-
lion ; upper half of caudal fin, and dorsal, indigo ;
the scaling is small and slightly fringed, elliptical,
and adhesive; the lateral line is divided; ventral
fins under the pectorals ; air-hag single, as long as
the cavity of body ; nostrils single, near the eyes ;
eyes round, over the gape, with red and yellow iris ;
the lower jaw is produced; teeth as in No. 45
(the last) ; intestines form no flexures, but are

BLACK-BLOTCHED CYCHLA.

straight; opercles scaly, with smooth edges; g
opening semilunar ; the milt double, half the lent
>f the cavity of the body; roe also double, of
like length. Lives half an hour when taken fr<
the water." The formula of the fins is,—

D. 16/17-P. 14-V, 1/5-A. 3/1 1-C. 36 ?_Br. 5-
, Itf i

149

ARGUS CYCHLA.

Oychla argua, VALENCIENNES ?

PLATE VIII.

{7. argus, Val., Humb. Zool. Ob*, ii. p. 169. — ARAWAAK and
MACUSI, Lucanani ; L. GERAL, Lucanari ; CREOLE, Sun-fish.
Schomb. Drawings, No. 47.

" THIS species is found in the Essequibo as well as
in the Rios Branco and Negro, resembles the last in
its habits, being found in the same situations. The
gill-rays, throat, ventral, anal, and half of caudal fin,
vermilion ; tail with a peacock-eye ; large spots of
black on the sides, edged with yellow, giving it a
gilt appearance ; the upper part of caudal fin and
dorsal is indigo spotted with light blue ; the eye
y "" ^w, situate over the gape ; nostrils near the eye ;
Wer jaw slightly produced; teeth as in the two
last species; opercles scaly, with smooth edges;
scaling small, elliptical, and adhesive ; lateral line
divided as last; ventral fins under the pectorals;
air-bag single, length of the cavity of the body;
anus situate near the anal fin; gill-opening semi-
lunar ; roe double ; half the length of the cavity of
the body. It lives only half an hour after being

150 ARGUS CYCHLA.

taken from the water, and is taken in the same wa]
as Nos. 45 and 46, also with the arrow."

To the conclusion of Humboldt's observations 01
these fishes, Valenciennes adds the description of on
from the Museum of the Garden of Plants, whicl
seems to agree with the above Number of Schom
burgk's drawings. He states the spots to be ocel
lated with white, with, however, a? The spirit
may have withdrawn the colour. The formula c
the fins of the Parisian specimen is,
•

D. 18/15— P. 12— V. 6— A, */&-€» !&

151

TRIPLE-BANDED CYCHLA.

Cychla trifasciata.

PLATE IX.
L. GERAL, Lucanari Grande. Schomb. Drawings^ No. 59.

OUR Notes relative to this species are very scanty ;
" it was met with in the Rio Negro and in the
Padauiri in the month of February; it continues
alive only a short time when removed from the water;
its food, other fishes ; teeth are thickly set in both
jaws ; tongue pointed and fleshy ; the intestines
straight." The drawing is of the same size with
the others, the outline somewhat similar ; but there
is a sudden rise immediately posterior to the head,
after which it falls again and rises before the insertion
of the second portion of the dorsal fin ; after which
it is suddenly narrowed, as in the others, to the in-
sertion of the tail. The colour of the drawing above
is a dark olive -green, shading into yellow, slightly
tinged with green on the lower half of the fish, or
below the lateral line, which bends somewhat, fol-
lowing the dorsal outline. The opercula and head
are marked with irregular shaped spots of black,
and the middle of the fish is crossed with three dark,
nearly equidistant, oval marks, the first arising

152 TRIPLE-BANDED CYCHLA.

nearly after the insertion of the pectoral fin. Above
the lateral line at the insertion of the tail, a large
black spot, ocellated or surrounded with an inter-
rupted yellow ring. The dorsal fin and upper lobe of
the tail is indigo blue, the latter spotted between the
rays with black ; the pectorals of a greenish yellow ;
the throat and rays of the branchiae, anal and ventral
fins, and lower lobe of the tail, vermilion red. Al-
though some of the other specimens are banded
with black, we have designated this fish from these
markings, which alone stand out from a dull uni-
formly coloured surface, without the interruption of
numerous spots of any other colour.

s=iijl

153

RED-SPOTTED CYCHLA,

Cychla? rulro-ocdlata.

PLATE X.
L. GERAL, Acarra. Schomb. Drawmgs, No. 38.

THIS fish, in its form commencing to vary from
those which we have considered as typical of
Cychla, will lead us on to the next ; it is altogether
a deeper fish, but retains traces of the bands so pre-
valent in the others, the brilliant colours, and is
marked with the peculiar ocellated spots we have
observed throughout ; the anal fin also is of much
greater extent, and the three first rays are spined
or strong. The lateral line, however, as repre-
sented in the figure, is parted towards the tail.
Mr. Schomburgk observes, " This is also a native
of the Rio Negro and its tributaries, and is called
Acarra, which is the common name for the whole
genus. It is a beautiful fish, greenish on the back
and yellow on the belly, variously banded and spot-
ted with black; the caudal fin is scaly half its
length, and spotted "with vermilion; on its insertion
is a peacock-eye, and another on the soft rays of
the dorsal fin ; the eye is bright orange, and situate
near the middle of the head; the gill-lid scaly;

154 RED-SPOTTED CYCHLA.

teeth fine, and in both jaws ; lower jaw a little pro-
duced; lateral line parted. The scaling is rather
large, fringed, elliptical, and not very adhesive; the
head compressed and ventral fins a little behind the
pectorals ; the nostrils single, and situate at half
distance from the eye ; the snout and tongue pointed.
They are taken by the hook and with arrows, anc
are good and well-tasted fish." The peacock-eyes,
or ocellated spots, are dark vermilion-red with
large black centre, and the base of the soft part ol
the dorsal, the anal fin, the whole base of the tail,
and part of the extremity of the body, are thickly
but irregularly studded with small spots of the same
red tint. We have little doubt also that the teeth
and their distribution in this fish are different from
the preceding ones under the same generic name,
and consider that an examination of specimens
would place it distinct. The formula of the fins is

D. 12/19— P. 18— V. 1/5— A. 3/14 -C. 16.

155

CENTRARCHUS.

Allied in form to the fishes we have just de-
scribed, we have one or two species which ap-
pear to belong to the form denominated by Cuvier
and Valenciennes Centrarchus, and of which they
give the Cychla cenea of Lesseur as typical. They
place this form, and that to which we have referred
another fish, Pomotis, next each other, and discuss
them in the same chapter, distinguishing that which
we have now before us principally by the greater
aumber of spines to the anal fin, while in Pomotis
they are few, generally three in number, and the
operculum is terminated in an ear-like membrane,
which has suggested the generic name. Both forms,
so far as known, are found chiefly in the fresh
waters of North America, feed on insects and
aquatic larvee, and several of them are used for the
table. The characters given in the " Histoire Na-
turelle des Poissons " are nearly as follows :

" CENTRARCHUS. — Has the body oval, compressed; a single
dorsal fin ; teeth " en velours," upon the jaws, anterior
to the vomer, upon the palatine bones, and on the base
of the tongue, the preoperculum entire, end of the oper-
culum in two flat points."*

* Translated from Hist. Nat. des Poiss. iii. p. 84.

156 CENTRABCHU8.

In the new edition to Cuvier, by his pupils, the
characters are given, " Acanthopterigiens percoides
a six rayons branchiaux, a un seule dorsale, a pre-
opercule lisse, et a dents en velours sur les ma-
choires, sur les palatins, sur le chevron du vomer, et
sur le base de la langue."

157

CYCHLA-LIKE CENTRARCHUS

Centrarckw cychla.

PLATE XL
L. GERAL, Accari. Schomb. Drawings, No. 62.

WE have placed this fish as a Centrarchus, but ac-
knowledge that we have done so merely because it
recedes from the type of Cychla as given by Cuvier
and Humboldt ; as we have repeatedly had occa-
sion to remark, it is impossible from the drawings
to fix the genera with certainty, particularly when
they depend on some of the minute distinctions of
the teeth and their position, as employed through-
out the volumes of the " Histoire Naturelle des
Poissons ;M and of the present fish and that which
follows, the plates are given to direct attention, and
for the use of future travellers; for we have no
doubt that from the figures we have given, the fish
would be at once again recognised ; and from the
generic characters, printed from Valenciennes, it
maybe ascertained whether we are correct, or 'if
not, in what points they vary from them. In the
markings, this fish still exhibits the banding of
many of the Cychloe, and dark spots, but without
any of the ocellation so prevalent in the others;

158 CYCHLA-LIKE CENTRARCHUS.

the colours, though still bright, are not nearly so
vivid ; the angles of the opercle and pre-opercle are
more accumulated, and run almost to blunt spines.
The scanty notes supply us with the following in-
formation : " Rio Negro ; caught in March ; takes
bait ; good fish for the table ; grows twelve inches
long; worms found in stomach/' The colouring
will be best understood from the figure. The body
is of a deep greenish grey, having indications of
seven dark bands, which are interrupted in the
middle or on the lateral line ; a single conspicuous
black spot is placed near the insertion of the tail ;
the lower part of the body, below the pectorals and
anterior to the anal fin, is vermilion-red ; the dorsal
and anal fins are pale indigo-blue, barred with red-
dish brown at their posterior extremities. The
formula of the fins are,

D. 15/12— P. 14— V. 1/6— A. 5/10— C. 16.

159

DARK CENTRARCHUa

Centrarchus nvw.

PLATE XII.

OP this species we do not possess available Notes,
and a representation of the drawing is given to
complete the Ichthyology of the Guianese waters so
far as our materials will allow, and to call the at-
tention of other travellers to the wanting points.
The figure of this fish is in length six inches and
three-quarters, in depth about three ; the colour is
entirely a dark bluish black, paler beneath ; and on
the belly, anterior to the ventral fins, the edges of
the mouth, and the borders of the opercula and pre-
opercula, indigo blue; the iris is coloured orange-
red ; the dorsal fin is represented as having seventeen
spiny rays, ten soft; the ventral with six spiny,
eight soft, and both without any appearance of
spotting. The ventral fin has a strong round spine
before the first soft ray, which considerably exceeds
the others in length. Taken in the Rio Negro in
February.

160

DARK-MARKED CENTRARCHU&

Centrarchus notatus.
PLATE XIII.

THIS species, of which we have no Notes, somewha
resembles the C. ceneus of Valenciennes, but the head
is covered with a dark spotting, and there is no
large spot on the opercle. In length it is eight inches
and a half, in depth three and a half. The colour is
a uniform olive-brown, five indistinct handed marks
running below the middle of the fish, the last entirely
across at the termination of the dorsal and anal fins.
At the base of each scale there is a dark rich umber-
brown spot, and the whole lower part of the head
and opercula are marked with rather large irregu-
larly rounded spots of the same colour. The dorsal
and anal fins are large, and are marked between the
rays with dark spots which run in bands. The tail
is similarly spotted; the ventral fins are length-
ened.

D. 16/12— A. 7/12— C. 16.

BLACK-BANDED CENTRARCHUS.

Centrarchus ? vittatus.

PLATE XIV.

NEITHER of this fish have we any Notes; the
drawing alone, finished with considerable detail, 13
before us ; the general form is that of the two pre-
ceding species, but the scaling is proportionally
larger, and the caudal fin, very slightly forked, has
the lower lobe shorter than the upper. The jaws
are equal, and appear furnished with minute teeth
on their edges; the outline of the opercula is
rounded, and the anal fin seems to possess only throe
spiny rays, which, in the system of Valenciennes,
would bring it near to or in the genus Pomotis.
The general colours are represented to be bluish
green on the fins and upper parts, shading into sil-
very on the belly, and the whole is marked with
darker bands of the common tint. The opercula
and upper lobe of the tail are spotted with pale blue ;
and below, rather in front of the eye, and between
it and the maxillary bone, there are three oblong
streaks of bluish green, the last reaching to the
angle of the mouth ; but the most conspicuous mark-
ing in the fish is a line of about a quarter of aa

162 BLACK-BANDFP CEMRARCHUS.

inch in breadth, of a deep black colour; running from
the upper part of the operculum, or opposite the
eye, to the centre of the tail ; and having on the
extremity of the body, above its termination, a
circular spot of the same colour. The iris is pale
yellow. The dorsal fin, so far as we can count from
the drawing, has fourteen spiny and ten soft rays ;
the anal 3/7 ; the ventral 1/5 ; the first being of con-
siderable strength ; the first soft ray prolonged con-
siderably beyond the rest. Length of the drawing
is nearly five inches, depth two inches.

I

163

LONG-SNOUTED CENTRARCHUS.

Centrarchus ? ? rostrcttus.

PLATE XV.
L. GERAL, Acarra. Sclwmb. Drawings, No. 60.

THIS prettily marked fish is also accompanied with
few details ; " it was taken in the Rio Negro in
February ; the teeth are a single row in each jaw ;
the gill-covers have five rays ; the scales are large,
elliptical and adhesive. Above, the colouring is
clear olive, shading off about the lateral line, be-
neath which the lower half of the first is silvery ;
the tail also is olive, shading at the base into indigo-
blue, and having a narrow band of the same colour
near the extremity of the body ; the remaining fins
are yellowish brown and olive, and on the anal
olive between the rays ; on the dorsal having the
caudal aspect of the spiny rays tipped with reddish
orange. The mouth and snout are rather lengthened ;
the jaws even ; the opercula terminate posteriorly
in a slightly accuminated point or angle, and the
space between the pectoral and ventral fins are
marked with small irregular blotches of reddish
orange ; on the angle of the preoperculum there is
$a irregular roundish spot of black, and on the

164 LONG-SNOUTED CENTRARCHUS.

centre of the body there are two large oval spots of
the same conspicuous colour. The iris is coloured
orange. Length of the drawing four inches four-
tenths, depth one inch and a half.

D. 13/9— P. 14-V. 24— A. 3/8-C. 16-Vert. 24.

165

BLUE-FINNED CENTRARCHUS.
Oentrarchus 1 cyanopterus.

PLATE XVI.

MACUSI, Camarapaca ; L. GERAL, Acara Tinga (" Tinga" is
Stinking). Schomh. Drawings t No. 1 9.

WE place this fish with Centrarchus, as appearing
nearer to it than any other ; though we are by no
means satisfied that it will stand here ; there ap-
pear to be only three spines to the anal fin. " This
fish is a native of the Essequibo, and is drawn of
the natural size ; the colour light green, varying to
blue on the side, and dull rose on the belly; th»
eye is large, yellow, and red, and situate near the
top of the head; the gill- lid scaled, with smooth
edges and edged with rose colour ; pectoral fins rose 3
ventral, placed under the pectoral, blue spotted with
brown ; dorsal and caudal ditto ; anal blue spotted
with rose ; the jaws are equal ; lips fleshy ; teeth
fine single rows ; lateral line divided. They live an
hour after being taken from the water, take bait, and
prefer creeks and still waters to the fast running
streams. Great numbers of them are annually de-
stroyed, together with other fish, by poisoning their
resorts when the rivers are low. Of this species I

166 BLUE-FINNED CENTRARCHUS.

have seen two middle sized canoe-loads killed at one
time; they are well-flavoured but bony, and are
said not to exceed the size of the one represented.
I have seen one much like this in the river Padauiri,
a tributary of the Rio Negro, 12 inches in length ;
it had two or three blue stripes on the head, but I
had not the means with me to make a drawing of
it. The scaling is large and slightly fringed."

167

POMOTIS.

The next fish which occurs, we cannot determine
generically with satisfaction; it ranges among or
near to the Centrarchi of Valenciennes, and would
come close to Pomotis of that author, were it not
for the numerous spines on the anterior part of the
anal fin, which in that genus is rather artificially
restricted to three or four ; the teeth scarcely appear
to agree with either. Pomotis^ in which we pro-
visionally place it, is found in the fresh waters of
North America, consisting there of a single species,
of which there is a good figure in the Northern
Zoology of Dr. Richardson ; a second species is in-
dicated by Valenciennes from Buenos- Ayres. One
of the distinguishing marks is the ear-like flap
which extends along the posterior margins of the
opercula; and it is probable that from the little
development of this part and other modifications of
structure, that it may range more properly with
Centrarchus. The present title, however, will call
attention to the presence of Pomotis in South Ame-
rica, and we add the characters.

" POMOTIS, Cuvier. — Body broadly oval, compressed ; dorsal
fin slightly emarginate; the hinder part of the anal

168 POMOTIS.

with a sheath of scales at their base, the spines of these
fins moderate ; an elongated membrane or flap at the
angle of the operculum ; caudal fin lobed ; ventral s un-
der the pectoral, with a pointed basal scale." P. vul-
ris, Swain.

UNIVERSITY

169

BLACK-BANDED POMOTIS.

Pomotis ? fasciatus.

PLATE XVII.
L. GEBAL, Acarra. Schomb. Drawings, No. 37.

THE scaling of this fish is middle-sized, fringed,
elliptical, and adhesive; the lateral line divided,
one part arched till under the last spiny ray of
dorsal fin, the other beginning when that ends, and
moving straight to the middle of the tail ; a little
lower it is of a greenish brown with a broad black
•stripe running along the middle of the body; the
webs of the fins are bluish, caudal fin somewhat
rounded ; eye large, and situate near the top of
the head ; iris orange ; teeth fine, and thickly set
in both jaws ; tongue pointed ; nostrils single, near
the snout ; gill-lid covered with scales, the opening
semilunar ; the ventral fins are placed nearly under
the pectorals. They take the hook, baited with small
fish, readily ; and are much used for food in the
Ixios Padauiri and Negro. The air-bag is double,
one half oval and the other pointed and long ; milt
double, half the length of the cavity of the body ;
! intestines make three flexures. The appendage to
the gill-flap appears like a prolongation of the edge

170 BLACK-BANDED POMOTIS.

as a membrane, with a regularly rounded outline,
but with no jutting-out appendage as in P. vul-
garis ; the teeth, though fine, are represented of
considerable length, particularly on the upper jaw.
The length of the drawing is eight and a half, the
depth four inches ; the colour of the fish yellowish
umber-brown, interrupted by the broad black line
running along the centre of the body. The formula
of the fins is,

D. 16/14— P. 13— V. 1/5— A. 8/12— C. 16— Br. 6.

We possess a slight uncoloured sketch of another
fish, which appears nearer to Pomotis than the last ; ;
the teething is represented as more minute ; there
appears to be a slight auricle to the operculum, and
the anal fin has only three spiny rays. We give
an outline also to direct attention, with Mr. Schom-
burgk's short notes.

171

BONO OF THE WARRAU INDIANS.

Pomotis ? low.

PLATE XVIII.

ARAWAAK, Siballi;* WARB-VW Bono; MACUSI, Misshaw ; L.
GERAL, Accara Pishuna. &chomb. Drawings, No. 1 7.

THIS fish is found in all the rivers of Guiana, and
in pools and marshes ; the colour is a hluish black ;
it is taken with the hook, and great numbers are
killed by the negroes when the trenches on the
estates get dry ; they are indifferent food, being dry
and bony. The body is compressed ; mouth rather
small ; jaws equal, and armed with single rows of
fine teeth; the eye is red; opercles scaly, with
smooth edges ; nostrils single ; lateral line divided,
one part arched running near the back for two-
thirds of its length, the other commencing lower
and running straight to the middle of the tail ; the
tail is a little rounded, scaling large and rough,
fringed, and adhesive. Length of the drawing six
inches, depth two and a half.

D. 14/10— P. 13— V. 1/5— A. 3/8— C. 16— Br. 5.
* Siballi is the Arawaak name for many species. SCHOMB,

172

GYMNOTUS.

Of this remarkable and far-famed form two ex-
amples occur, one the G. electricus,* the other a
small species of a dark colour, and crossed with
black diagonal bands. The notes relating to either,
we regret to say, are extremely scanty, and no
mention is made, either of any aversion in the na-
tives to secure them, or of any particular mode ot
capture employed by them.

* See account of its electric properties, from Humboldl
given in Vol. XXVII. of the " Naturalist's Library,"1 and whicl
the Vignette Title of our present Volume is intended t
illustrate.

173

ELECTRIC GYMNOTUS.

PLATE XVIII.

L. GERAL, Porraki. Schomb. Drawings, No. 58.

" TAKEN in the Rio Negro in February; body long
and slimy ; lips fleshy, roof of the mouth warty ;
tongue round, fleshy," — is all the note attached tr>
the above number. The drawing is coloured of a
deep bluish green above, shaded to a dull ochraceons
colour on the snout, lips and anterior third of the
lower parts becoming paler in the middle half of the
body ; the anal fin is of a deeper shade than the
upper part of the body, but at its origin patches
of the ochraceous or yellow colour of the head ap-
pear on it; the lower lip protrudes considerably
beyond the upper.

We are not aware of a goo coloured figure of
this species.

174

IRREGULARLY BANDED GYMNOTUS.

Gywwotus Jasciatus.

PLATE XIX.

Schornb. Drawings, No. 35.

" THIS species was found in the Rio Branco. The
body is long, head depressed, lower jaw considerably
larger than the upper ; it is devoid of dorsal, ventral,
and caudal fins ; the pectoral, situate near the head,
the anal reaching nearly the whole length of the
body. The body is compressed, ending at a keel
at the anal fin; scaling very small, deciduous,
elliptical ; lateral line running above the middle of
the body ; nostrils double, one pair on the snout,
and one pair further back ; eyes situate nearer the
snout than the middle of the head, small, and of a
dark colour; the tongue round and fleshy; teeth
double rows, five in both jaws ; the gill-lids smooth
and opening in an oval hole. It lives an hour or
more after being taken from the water, is used for
food, and is taken with small hooks baited with
worms. The intestines are long, and have appen-
dices attached to the stomach and intestines. There
are several species of this fish, varying in colour

^

]

£*ui

GENUS TRYGON. 175

and size, found in the rivers of Guiana, but none
have now come under notice on this expedition but
the specimen from which the drawing was made,
which is of the natural size ; it differs in colour from
all the others."

Humboldt discovered another small species of
Gymnotus in the river Madelina, which he has
named G. cequilaliatus^ to distinguish it from the
others, which have a considerable inequality in ihe
length of the lips, or rather jaws. It is used as
food, and in some parts it was considered as a luxury.
It possessed no galvanic properties. The form is
somewhat like that which we have now figured,
but at the caudal extremity tapers nearly to a
narrow thread, from which it has received the pro-
vincial appellation of " El Raton." The colour
above is dark olive, shading into silvery below the
lateral line.

We have now examined all the drawings belong-
ing to one great natural division of fishes, those with
osseous skeletons ; in the fresh waters of any country
the cartilaginous species are of rare occurrence, their
large size and predaceous habits requiring for them
a wider range ; several species of small rays, however,
are found at a considerable distance inland in several
of the Guiana rivers ; three, those of which we pos-
sess drawings, approach nearest to the genus Trygvn,
while a fourth we can reconcile with no characters
to wm>\h we have access; and it is possible that

176 GENUS TRYGON.

these entirely fresh-water skates may be found to
vary considerably in their structure and economy.
Of the first, our author thus writes : —

" "We are informed by Linnaeus that the Rai/a^
or Rays, are exclusively inhabitants of the seas. I
think a species has since been described by D'Or-
bigny as inhabiting fresh-water rivers ; Guiana,
however, possesses several species, which conse-
quently will prove new to Ichthyology. Their form
is not different from those of the salt-water rays,
and they are generally armed with spines; some
with the back more or less spiny, tuberculous, or
smooth. The spine or prickle, in the fresh- water
Trygon is an equally dangerous weapon as that of
its congeners which inhabit the sea, and wounds
inflicted with it cause frequently severe inflamma-
tion. As they generally frequent such places of the
river where the bottom is sandy, and in which they
bury themselves, in order the easier to entrap their
prey, the Indians use the greatest precaution when
they are obliged to draw their canoes over such
shallow places. I have known several instances
where, nevertheless, wounds have been inflicted,
and a swelling of the part, and in some instances
feverish symptoms have been the consequence. The
Indians use sometimes the leaves of the aromatic
guava (Pisldium parviflorum, Beuth), which grows
so abundantly among the rocks in the rivers of the
interior, and after having pounded them, they are
put on the wound, but I do not think with much
eflect, at least not in those cases where I saw it

GENUS TRYGON. 177

applied ; laudanum in the first instance, and after-
wards warm poultices of cassada-bread to subdue
the inflammation, appeared to me the most effec-
tive remedy. The pain which the wound causes to
the individual appears to be excruciating ; no won-
der, therefore, that the Indian is likewise under the
idea that the spine which inflicts that wound is
poisonous. The spine being serrated on each side
with barbs and hooks, recurved towards the base,
it may be expected that the wound becomes dan-
gerous from its jagged nature, while the extraction
must cause additional laceration. Dr. Hancock has
known the part to mortify and to slough off, and
then the healing process went on favourably. I
have no doubt that much depends upon the state of
health of the individual who is wounded, and the
cases which I have witnessed fortunately never
came to those extremes.

" The spines are sometimes double, and I bara
seen an instance where there were three. One is
generally larger than the other; no doubt a prori
sion of Nature, that in case one was to break off,
the animal may not be entirely deprived of its wea-
pon of defence. These barbs are deciduous, and
their size depends much on that of the individual.
The Indians of the interior use these spines to arm
their arrows with; but among many hundreds
which I have seen, none reached the length of
three inches.

I nowhere observed these rays in such abun-
dance as in the river Tacutu, when that river was,

178 GENUS TRYGON.

;n April 1839, on its lowest level. As they afford
tolerably good eating, we took some pains to secure
them. The Indian is always armed with a sharp-
pointed pole, which he thrusts before him when he
is wading through shallow water which he thinks
frequented by the sting-ray. The yellow colour of
that fish, so much like the sand in which it buries
itself, makes it the more dangerous; and as it
strikes with the swiftness of an arrow, the wound
itself would be frequently the first token of the
approaching danger. The pole, therefore, serves as
a protection to dislodge the ray, which darts swiftly
forward when it finds that the enemy is superior in
strength. The Indian rushes after it, and is gene-
rally skilled enough to pierce and transfix the ray
with the pointed pole. His first operation, if he
has been successful, is to cut off the tail with its
dangerous weapon, which he cuts afterwards out,
ind preserves it carefully for arrow-points.

" I have frequently observed that the rays, no
doubt in consequence of the anguish when secured
and transfixed by the poles, brought forth young
ones. The embryos are, no doubt, as this is the
case with Squall, developed in the ova-ducts or in
the uterus. The spawn is otherwise wrapped in a
strong flat shell of horny substance.

" Shagreen is prepared from several species of
rays in Europe ; whether the rays of Guiana would
ever become of economical use in that regard is
much to be questioned, although they are to be
found in such numbers; nor will they prove of

GENUS TRYGON. 17&

much interest to the gourmand; but I and my
companions have fared on a worse dish than a
stewed or boiled sting-ray during our peregrina-
tions; we have never despised it when it con-
stituted part of our entertainment in the wilds of
Guiana."

220

MANY-SPINED TRYGON.
Trigon Tiistrix ? D'ORBIGNY.

PLATE XX.

Trigon histiix, D'Orbig. Voy. dans TAm. Meriod. Poiss. pi. 13 ?
— CARIB, MACUST, and WARRAU, Siparri; PORTUGUESE,
Araya ; L. GERAL, Jawawure. Schomb. Drawings, No. 1 4.

THE drawing before us approaches very near to the
figure given by D'Orbigny under the name we have
quoted ; but the dark markings of the same shape,
do not seem to be surrounded by a pale ring as they
are in that figure. On our drawings there are two
distinct large spines on the tail ; in the others they
appear as if united, while at the same time double.
The dorsal aspect also, of the tail, is only repre-
sented and described as spined ; while, in the figure
alluded to, the sides also have each a row nearly to
the very tip. In our plate the lower fish will serve
to shew the kind of marking represented by D'Or-
bigny.

" This species was killed in the River Roowa,
and measures twelve inches in diameter. The
*~feir is greenish brown, irregularly spotted over
ike body with black ; on the tail is a row of fixed

MANY-SPINED TRYGON. 181

spines and two moveable ones, the latter two or
three inches in length, which, from their poisonous
quality, and their being serrated, inflict a most
severe wound, sometimes causing; fever, and is
very difficult to heal ; they frequent the shallows
where there are sand-banks, and persons wading
there are often stung by them; they dig round
holes, five or six inches in depth, in which they lay
sometimes partly covered with sand. They are
good food, and are taken by the hook and with the
arrow. This fish is from two to three inches in
thickness, whereas some of the others do not mea-
sure more than one and a quarter. The eyes are
prominent ; breathing holes, five on each side of the
mouth; nostrils double, near the mouth; mouth
semilunar ; teeth, a file-like process. They feed on
animal food, perhaps sometimes on vegetable, as
their means of securing the former do not seem
adapted for procuring a plentiful supply."

The letter-press to the Ichthyological plates of
D'Orbigny has not yet appeared, so that we are ig-
norant of his observations regarding the fish, to
which we have temporarily referred Mr. Schom-
burgk's drawing.

182

OCELLATED TRYGON.

Trygon garra/pa.

PLATE XXI.

L. GEBAL, Raya Garrapa. Schorrib. Drawings, No. 69.

ALL the information that we have regarding this
beautiful Trygon is, that it has " a series of rough
flat teeth, in each jaw, like a file," and that it was
taken in the Rio Branco in April. The general
colour of the drawing is a yellow umber- brown,
margined round the disk with pale scienna-red, the
whole covered with yellowish white spots sur-
rounded with a dark margin, large in the centre of
the body, and gradually decreasing in size outwards,
where they also become more numerous ; a single
row of weak spines runs along the upper ridge of
the tail, which is also armed about its middle with
one large serrated spine. In the drawing the length
of the tail about equals that of the body from its
insertion to the snout.

183

BOUND-WINGED TRYGOK.

PLATE XXII.
Raya pintada. Sckomb. Draurings, No. 70.

" TAKEN in the Rio Branco in April," is all the in-
formation we possess in regard to this curious spe-
cies. It is remarkable for its rounded form, the
diameter taken either way being nearly equal ; the
tail also only nearly equals about a third of the
diameter, and, thick at its insertion, becomes rather
suddenly attenuated, and is slender to the tip, which
is armed at a short distance from its extremity with
a single serrated spine. The colour is a yellowish
umber-brown, with a narrow border of dull reddish
brown ; the whole surface covered over with irre-
gular markings and freckles of dark umber-brown.

184

SPINE-TAILED ELIPESURU&

PLATE XXIII.

Sc7umb. Drawings, No. 36.

" THIS ray was found in the Rio Branco at Fort
San Joaqium, and here it is called Naree-naree; it
was eighteen inches long, but very thin, and was
without the horny spine which is generally found
on this genus; a number of spiny excrescences
cover the tail, which is much shorter than usual ;
it is of an ochreous colour ; the eyes are prominent,
and nostrils very large ; like others of the species,
they dig holee in the sand, in which they lie flat,
and there await their prey. They are used for food,
but are not preferred to others, and in the dry season,
when other fish are plentiful, they are seldom
killed. They are about eighteen inches by fourteen
and a half or fifteen, in diameter/'

The form is altogether remarkable in the short or
deficient tail, an organ among the rays which is
generally in one way or other marked by consider-
able developments. These seem to be here confined
to the strong spiny excrescences which cover its base,

RIVERS OF SOUTH AMERICA. 185

and are the only organs of defence with which the
animal is furnished. The form of the body is more
oval than those we have been examining ; the colour
is uniformly of a bright ochreous yellow, covered
with a series of dark reticulated markings.

These conclude the drawings which were en-
trusted to our care by Mr. Schomburgk, and from
them and the contents of these volumes generally,
some idea will have been gained of the forms of the
fishes which inhabit the rivers of the northern parts
of South America; but although many of them
have been considered as new to science, a very large
proportion indeed, when it is considered that Ich-
thyology was, as it were, only a secondary object
with our traveller, we consider that there are still
ample stores of novelty. In such an extent of water
as that which flows in those mighty streams, the
excursions of all the travellers who have yet tra-
versed parts of them are as nothing ; hundreds of
fishes are yet unknown, and thousands of living
creatures, of remarkable forms and structure, still
remain to reward the zeal and energy of the natu-
ralist who will trust himself amidst the privations
incident to such expeditions, or will brave the seve-
rity of climate and the pest of some of the minor
classes of these beings. " On peut executer sur
1' Amazon, le Rio Negro, et TOronoque au naviga-

J86 RIYERS OF SOUTH AMERICA.

tion non interrompue de 1400 lieus sans sortir du
domain des etablismens monastiques," writes Hum-
boldt; and what a field is there not here, without
crossing the boundary from comparative civilization,
for every species of investigation. Again, the same
author states, " Le Cassiquare, par example, forme
une ligne navigable entre deux bassins de rivieres *
(I'Amazone et 1'Oronoque) dans 1'area est a 190,000
lieues-carrees. La temperature, la profondure, et la
vitesse aes eaux, leur limpidite, leur proprietes chi-
miauea le lit des fleuves tantot bossux, tantot rem-
pli d ecueils influent puissant sur 1'organization
animale." If arrangements can be made to exceed
these bounds, and to trace these rivers to their
scources, there is another as extensive field entered
upon, and ground altogether unbroken to be sur-
veyed. The dangers and difficulties are undoubt-
edly great, but the rewards just as undoubtedly
certain. After making these remarks, and before
closing the volume, we have thought it right to bring
together a few of the species observed by Humboldt
and more lately by D'Orbigny, and which do not
seem to have occured to Mr. Schomburgk ; so that
as little of our present knowledge as possible may
be withheld from future investigators ; and we shall
take them in the order which has been already
followed.

Among the Loricaringe and Siluridse, with which
we commenced our first volume, we introduced a
short notice of most of the allied fishes which should

DB. TRAIL'S SILURUS. 187

come among them ; but in the Transactions of the
Wernerian Society, there is a description and figure
of a Silurus which does not seem to he alluded to
in the volumes of Valenciennes, Dr. Trail has
obligingly furnished us with his original notes and
drawing, and a copy from the latter is now intro-
duced.

188

BARKER'S SILURU&

PLATE XXIV.

Silurus ParJccrii, Dr. Trail, Trans. Wern. Soc. vol. vi. p. 66c.

THIS species will range among the Bagn or Fime-
lodi ; at the same time, we have kept the generic
name which Dr. Trail applied. His description is
as follows : — " It would appear to be a common
species in the muddy waters of the rivers of Guiana
where they mingle with the sea ; and it is found at
a considerable distance from the coast. When taken,
it is used as an article of food. When received,
the specimen measured, in length, three feet four
inches ; at the circumference of the first dorsal fin,
one foot eleven inches ; and it weighed twenty-seven
pounds.

" The true Dutch name is undoubtedly Geelbmck,
or yellow-belly. The upper parts are of a fine olive-
green ; the sides and belly of a rich yellow. The
body is thickest at the first dorsal fin ; and its sec-
tion there would be nearly circular. It tapers quick-
ly, yet equally, towards the tail, where it is slender ;
the head is broad, flat, and compressed. The vertex
is defended by a rough bony plate of considerable

j
I

PARKER'S SILURTJS. 189

firmness, which sends off two posterior appendices
towards the upper part of the branchial apertures ;
the middle of its posterior margin is notched to re-
ceive the apex of a very strong heart-shaped bone,
the lobes of which reach the base of the dorsal fin.
This shield or plate is rough, with bony granulations,
of a larger size than those of the armour of the head,
and is obtrusely carinated towards its posterior
part.

" The head is very broad ; the mouth is wide,
terminal, and furnished with numerous minute teeth,
which are rather intended for holding fast, than
biting the prey of the animal. These teeth are
thickly placed on the edges of the mouth, in such
a manner as to resemble the hairs of a very stiff
brush. They are arranged in two groups about half
an inch wide, on each jaw, reaching along the whole
aperture of the mouth, and are divided in front by
a single furrow. Two convex, oblong bones, of con^
siderable size, and furnished with similar teeth, form
the osseous palate of the fish. The eyes are small,
placed rather above the line of the mouth, and more
than an inch and a half from its angles. There are
six tentacula or cirrhi on the lips. The longest pair
are on the upper jaw, very near the angles of the
mouth, and measure full eight inches in length. The
next pair are more than an inch below the lower
jaw-bone, and measure four inches and a half. The
shorter pair are placed near the middle of the lower
jaw, and measure two inches and a half.

" The first ray of pectoral and first dorsal fins con-

190 PARKER'S SILURUS.

sists of a strong and slightly incurvated bony spine,
with a rough granular surface and a serrated con-
cave edge; the sharp apices of these spines form
powerful weapons of offence and defence for the
naked body of the fish. The pectoral spine is a
little more curved than that of the dorsal fins : all of
these spines are moveable, apparently by means of
strong muscles. The length of the dorsal spine is
six inches and a half, that of the pectoral spines
nearly six inches. Besides its bony spine, there are
seven rays in the first dorsal fin ; but there are no
rays in the second, which is adipose, but not very
thick. The number of rays in each pectoral fin,
exclusive of the spine, is eleven. The two ventral
fins are three inches apart, and each of them seems
to have six rays. The ventral and anal fins have a
deep red colour in the recent fish ; the latter has
eighteen rays. The tail is deeply forked, and has
thirty rays. The lateral line is slightly waved ;
the air-bladder lies below the heart-shaped bony
shield, and is attached to the first vertebra." It was
named by Dr. Trail in honour of Charles S. Parker,
Esq. of Liverpool.

191

PRISTIGASTER..

Among our drawings, there were few which had
been arranged by any ichthyologists among the
Clupeadse, a very great proportion of which are
marine in their habits. The only genus included in
the Brazilian fishes which has any claim is a re-
markable one, destitute entirely of ventral fins, and
Caving the ridge of the belly furnished with a line
of prominent serrated processes, from which the
generic name of Pristigaster has been given. The
fish represented is the P. Martii, Agass. It is a
small herring-formed fish, with the belly round and
much protruding, and lined with the serratures
which appear like a fringe ; the anal fin unusually
long. The back and upper part of the fish ia
bluish grey, shading into silvery white ; the scaling
very large ; length of the fish, three inches. The
genus will be always distinguished by the abdominal
processes and the want of the ventral fins. It was
found in the mouths of the river Amazon. For-
mula of the fins,

D. 3/12— P. 12— A. 48.

D'Orbigny has figured another fish, under the
same generic name, P. jlavipennis, having very

192 GENUS

small ventrals ; but baring as yet no letter-press to
this work, we have no information beyond the
figure, which has also a rounded belly, though not
so disproportionate, and strong serrated processes.
The pectoral, dorsal, and caudal fins are tinted with
yellow.

The Salmonida, in particular forms, as we have
seen, appear rather extensively; these, however,
are none of them typical, and Humboldt, when al-.
luding to the geographical distribution of fishes in
those countries, remarks that " no species of Salmo
inhabits the Andes which I have examined." Ano-
dus and Calceus take the place of Coregonus and
represent the Herriugs, while the deep-formed Ser-
rasalmones and Tetragonopteri are analogous to the
Cyprini and Salmon Carps, though much more vora-
cious and formidably armed.

In addition to those we have noticed in the pre-
vious volume, there is introduced, in the Brazilian
fishes, two species of Anodus, said to inhabit the
rivers of Brazil. The one A. elongatu*t a fish of
considerable elegance, closely resembling in form
some of the Coregoni, olive above shading "into a
golden colour; also A. latior, likewise resembling
some of the deeper formed European Coregoni,
nearly of the same colours with the last, but with
very small scaling. The second dorsal fin in both
these fishes is fimbriated at its posterior apex.

J93

HYDROCYON,

The genus Hydrocyon seems to exist in consider-
able abundance in many of the rivers, though few
specimens were procured in Guiana;* and in the
Brazilian fishes, Raphiodon of Agassiz takes its
place. He has characterised it,

" RAPHIODON, Agassiz. — Caput parvum, compressissimnm.
Oculi magni laterales. Os maximum oblique desoen-
dens. Dentes validissimi, acutissime, cum minoribus
alternantes, in ossibus intermaxillaribus minoribus mar-
ginem tantum anteriorem maxillae superioris confor-
mantibus, et in mandibula ; ossa maxillaria superiora
longa, angusta. Lateralia dentibus minoribus obsita.
Lingua magna, prominens, apice libera. Apertura
branchialis maxima. Membrana branchiostega radiis 4
gracilibus. Caput elongatum, compressum, squamis
parvis abductum ; abdomen acute carinatum sed non
serratum. Pinnae pectorales magna?, ventrales parvae,
analis latissima."

Both the specimens which are figured (but under
the name of Cyonodon (have very strongly armed
jaws and a wide mouth ; the ventrals very small ;
while the anal fin covers more than a third of the
lower line of the fish. In many of these we have
some dark spot or other marking, as we have seen
so frequently among the fishes from those parts of
South America.

* See Vol. I. p. 227.

194 CURIMATUS.

We have also several species of the genus Saurum
remarkable for their large reptile-looking head, fur-
nished with numerous teeth. These are represented
hoth in the Brazilian Fishes and by D'Orbigny ; but
the genus is of more marine habits, frequenting the
coasts, and the mouths of the rivers, which they
appear to visit at certain periods, as stated of L.
longirostris, probably for the purpose of spawning.

In addition to the drawings of Mr. Schomburgk,
one or two which were not made under his immediate
inspection, and for the accuracy of which he could
not vouch, were also put into our hands; one of
these, a bold uncoloured sketch, so strongly resembles
a fish figured by D'Orbigny, Curimatw oltusidens^
that we think it right to give a figure from his
Plate.

// \^ Or Int

((TJNIVEESITY

V ) y

195

BLUNT-TOOTHED CURIMATA.

Owrimatus obtiisidens, D'ORBIGNY.

PLATE XXV.

Civrimatus obtusidens, D'Orbig. Atlas, pi. 8.

Two species are ulaced bv D'Orbigny, armed with
strong teeth, and distinguished by these weapons
being in the one sharp-pointed, in the other blunt.
They seem to stand near to Characinus, but having
no characters or descriptions, we do not know the
modifications of form or the views which D'Orbigny
takes of their situation. The fish we have repre-
sented is of a rather elegant salmon-form, is coloured
greyish above, shading into silvery, the lower fins
being yellow ; but it is chiefly conspicuous by three
oval dark spots placed on the lateral line, the first
below the dorsal fin, the last on the insertion of the
tail. The species named acutidens is nearly of the
same colours, but the head is more disproportionally
large, and the body is deeper from the dorsal fin
downwards; the lateral line is also marked with
three spots, somewhat similar, though slightly dif-
fering in their position.

196 CYCLJLA.

Upon the same Plate we have also the figure of a
fish to which the generic name Pacu is applied,
P. lineatus; it will range apparently among the
salmon carps or Prochilodi ; it is a handsome spe-
cies, olive shading to silvery, and it is marked
longitudinally with twelve dark narrow lines. The
colouring may have perhaps been somewhat lost in
transportation.

In the genus Cychla, and in that form to which
we have considered it as more particularly restricted,
we have seen that the rivers of Guiana were parti-
cularly rich ; a single species of this form is repre-
sented in the Brazilian F&K*,

197

SINGLE-OCELLATED CYCHLAr

Cychla monoculus, AGASSIZ.

PLATE XXVI.

Cychla monoculus, Agass. Spix, Pise. Bras. tab. lxi& p. 100.

AND we have been induced to give a figure of it as
a marine species, if it should eventually be found
to continue generically associated with those of the
rivers. No information is given respecting it, whether
it occasionally or at certain times enters the rivers ;
u Habitat in Mari Brasilicce" is all our informa-
tion. The form appears to agree ; the ground
colour, above olive shading into reddish yellow,
is marked with the usual bands, and there is a
single occellated spot on the base of the tail, car-
rying through also that kind of spotting. Formula
of the fins,

D. 15/16— P. 15— V. 6— A. 3/11— C. 5/13/5.

In the second volume of Humboldt's Zoological
Researches, three species of Cychla are described,
from the Oronoco, which seem all distinct from th<;

J98 RIVERS OP GUIANA.

drawings we have had under examination, though
they are characterised by similar bands and ocel-
lated spots; one of these, of very rich colouring,
has been represented, and we now give a copy from
+he figure.

199

CYCHLA OF THE ORONOCO.

Cychla Orinocencis, HUMBOLDT.

PLATE XXVII.

Cychfa Orinocencis, le Pavon du Rio Negro, Hiimb. Zool. Oba.
ii. p. 167, pi. xlv.

" C'EST le plus beau poisson de revieres que nous
ayons vu. II atteint de 1 a 3 pieds de longeur, et
appartient a la famille des percoides a dorsale
unique et continue. Les taches blues, bordees d'un
cercle d'or, brillent du plus vif eclat. Elles rappel-
lent, comme indique le nom Espanol de ce poisson,
les yeux de la que du paon. En examinant avec
un loupe les ecailles qui forment les zones blues et
cloiees, on est frappe de cette action particuliere
des vaisseaux qui traversent les ecailles, et dans
lesquelles le pigment qui forme les zones de la
tache se depose vers la pointe, vers le milieu, on
vers la base, selon que 1'exige le contour de la
figure entiere. Quelle est cette action chimique
(voltaique) que semble emaner d'un centre coni-
mun ? »Se fluide qui circule dans un meme vaisseau
prend il des teintes differentes, selon Tinfluence
locale des parois et des tegumens de ces vaiseaux,
ou cbaque pigment est-il depose par des organes

200 CYCIILA ATABAPENSI8.

particulieres ? Ces memes questions de physiologic
se presentent lorsqu'on examine les taclies a bandes
concentriques formees par la poil de quelques mam-
miferes carnivores, et par le bosses de plumes des
oiseaux, surtout du Phasianus argus^ du P. pictus,
et des oiseaux de proie nocturnes."

The Baron adds, that he had frequently eaten
this fish on the banks of the Oronoco and Rio Negro;
and that it proved an agreeable food. It was named
by the Caridaquere Indians " Saupa." The tem-
perature of the Rio Negro was at this time 24° of
the Centigrade thermometer.

Other two species are slightly described, from the
rivers in the same districts, and names were at the
time imposed upon them in reference to the parts
where they were much sought after by the indi-
genous Indians as an agreeable food.

C. ATABAPENSTS, Povondu Rio Atabasso^ is found
in those parts of the Oronoco where the waters are
not thick or muddy ; but the varieties having the
finest flavour are those of the river Atabasso, where
the waters are dark and chrystalline. It is of the
same form with the last ; but, instead of the four
spots, has four very large transverse bands, of a
bluish black, bordered with golden. — It is added in
a note that M. Valenciennes supposes with propriety
that the C. atabapensis is the C. ocellaris of Schnei-
der. The comparison of our copy of Schneider's
plate with the above short descriptive characters,
may help this decision. The other species is,

C. TEMENSIS. 201

C. TEMENSIS. Povon du Temi. Of the same form,
without transverse bands, but with four rows of
small yellow spots. A single very large spot upon
the tail.

Among the drawings alluded to as not made under
the superintendence of Mr. ^chomburgk, we have
a slightly coloured sketch, which we wish to intro-
duce for the sake ot recording and drawing attention
to the form.

202

THE PACAMAH OF GUIANA.

Lopiius ? pacamak.

PLATE XXVIIL

THE drawing approaches nearer to the form of Lo-
phius than any other, though we have no traces of
the long filaments on the anterior part of the head,
neither of a first dorsal fin. The drawing is of a
uniform olive, blotched with a darker shade ; the
pectoral fins represented disproportionally large.
The provincial or native name, by which it may be
again recognized, is that which we have provisionally
applied as a specific title, " Pacamah." Perhaps it
may range with Batrarchus.

With the exception of the " Voyage dans 1'Ame-
rique Meridionale" of D'Orbigny, where unfortu-
nately we have not yet the letter-press which is to
accompany the Plates, we have a greater number
of species noticed in the two volumes of Zoological
Researches by the Baron Humboldt than by any
other author ; many of them did not occur to our
traveller within the range which he took, and al-
though several of them are beyond the limits which

GUAPUCHA. 203

the title of our volumes indicate, a short summary
of them, taken from the two volumes alluded to,
and particularly from the memoir entitled " Re-
serches sur les Poissons Fleuvatiles de rAmerique
Meridioiiale," may be useful.

In writing of the distribution of fishes, and com-
paring that of South America with the Alpine parts
of Europe, he remarks, *6 no species of Salmo in-
habits any parts of the Andes which I have exa-
mined; the last fishes which are met with in the
rivulets and lakes, at 1 400, or J 600 toises, are of
the genus Paecilia, Pimelodus, and two genera of a
very remarkable foTm,Eremophilits and Astroblepus;
at 1800 or 1900 toises the Alpine lakes under the
equator no longer contain fishes; and he does not
attribute this fact to the ice which covers the lakes,
for the Laguna de Mica, on the plain of Antisana,
east of Quito, at an elevation of 2100, is free from
ice almost at all seasons ; yet, if we understand the
Paron correctly, it is destitute of fishes.

Near Santa-Fe de Bogota, a small fish was pro-
cured, under the native name of Guapitcka. It was
found, perhaps exclusively, at an elevation of 1360
toises above the level of the sea, in the cool waters of
the little stream Bogota, which traverses the plateau
of Santa Fe, and precipitating itself by the celebrated
Fall of Tequendama, mingles its waters under the
name of Rio Tocama, with those of the Magdalena.
The species is referred by Valenciennes to the genus
Pecilia, Cuv., a group of small fishes inhabiting
the fresh- waters of South America, characterised by

204 CURIM vrus AMAZONUM.

a depressed head, and the muzzle, as it were, in the
shape of an angle, and by having five rays to the
gill membrane ; the body is compressed and covered
with rather large scales, which occur also on the head
and opercula, which are without either spines or den-
ticulations ; and several of the species are known to
be viviparous. Humboldt has named his species
P. Bogotensis, from three to four inches long, of a
yellowish green, with a longitudinal silvery stripe
running nearly along the centre of the body; the
tail bifid ; swimming-bladder double. In addition,
Valenciennes mentions another species from the
fresh waters of Brazil, about two inches in length,
of a dull green, yellowish beneath, and marked on
each side with a black spot, anterior to the dorsal
fin.

A single species of the genus Fundulus, Lacep ,
is considered to inhabit the fresh waters of Brazil,
F. BraziliensiS) Yalenc. In this genus the dorsal
and anal fins are opposite ; the teeth, many on each
lip, setaceous ; gill-membrane with four rays. By
some it has been placed among the Esoces. The
genus is chiefly North American, the type Colitis
heteroclita, Linn.

A fine species, CURIMATUS AMAZONUM, Le Bo-
quichico de I'Amazone, was taken in the High Ma-
ragnon, opposite the cataract of Keetema, at an
elevation of 200 toises. This species Valenciennes
considers very nearly allied to the Salmo edentulus,
Bloch., which he places in the same genus. Hum-
boldt's fish is of a greenish white, silvery; with large,

PIMELODUS ZUNGARA. 205

round, and loose scales; no teeth. Length about
seventeen inches. Formula of the fins,

D. 8/10— P. 14— V. 9— C. 20— Br. 4.

As elsewhere in these regions, the Siluridae seem
to have been frequent ; one large species is described
and figured, and four others are slightly indicated,
all differing, with perhaps one exception, from those
which we have already described.

PIMELODUS ZUNGARO. Le Zungaro de VAmazone.
It was found in the Amazon near to Tomependa,
and was said by the natives, who use it as food, to
reach a size of six or seven feet in length. It pos-
sesses two d >rsal fins; is of an olive colour, marked
all over with black spots, and is furnished with six
cirrhi, — two on the upper, four on the lower jaw.
The fin formula is given,

1st D. 7 ; 2d D. adip.— P. 13— V. 10— -A. 10— C. 22— Br. 4.

A species of Serra-salmo, of considerable size, is
described under the name of " Le poisson Caribe de
1'Oronoque ;" it approaches nearest to the S. piranha
of the previous volume, being pale coloured, the
back and dorsal fin greenish, the ventral and anal
fins orange. In manners it agrees with S. niger ;
the observations of Humboldt confirming those of
Mr. Schomburgk in regard to the rapacious habits
of several of the genus, which attack, not only
animals, but the natives, while bathing and swim-
ing, " emportant des morceaux de chair consider-
ables*

206 PACU.

Humboldt also met with the pacu, perhaps one
of those described by Schomburgk; it is styled
" Le paco de I'Amazone," myletes paco. The form
compressed, the outline of the back arched ; the
colour greenish white, the body covered with small
scales. He confirms the accounts of the exquisite
flavour which these fish are said to possess, although
the accessary ribs are numerous and troublesome.

a
1

207

THE GUAVINA OF TAOARIGUA.

Erytkrinus guavi'na^ HUMBOLDT.

PLATE XXIX.

A SPECIES of Erythrinus, or of a fish allied some-
what to it, was procured in Lake Valencia or Taca-
rigua, at an elevation of 220 toises above the sea.
It is named provisionally Eryihrmus guavina ; but
M, Valenciennes, in his Notes, seems to have some
hesitation in referring it to the old genus, thinking
that it may form the type of one entirely new. It
is a remarkable species, extremely voracious ; the
teeth pointed, stand in an arrangement of one
large, with a smaller on each side, or to appear-
ance, in the sketch, of a tricuspid tooth ; under the
throat there is a loose fleshy dependent membrane,
of which the use is not hinted at ; the scales large,
round, and loosely imbricated, the centre and mar-
gins olive. It is about twenty inches in length. The
colours are said to be a silvery yellow, the fins
green, and in the Plate these are represented as
barred narrowly and transversely with a darker
shade. It is said to be the prey of a large Saurian
reptile called, by the native inhabitants, Bava. We
have thought it would assist researches by giving a
figure from Humboldt's representation of this curious
fish, and would also invite attention to the large
Saurian.

208 SMABIS LINEATUS.

A fibh from the Laguno do Colluca, which Baron
Humboldt was assured was of fresh-water, is re-
ferred by Valenciennes to the Spare JBreton of
Lacepede, and named Smarts lineatus, — " White ;
the back greenish ; the body with eight or nine
longitudinal bands." It is provincially named Mox-
ara, but there appears to be a little doubt whether
the lake, not far distant, is entirely without com-
munication with the sea.

These are the principal species mentioned in the '
paper by Humboldt previously alluded to ; but we
have yet to notice the remarkable form Eremophiliis^
a fish supposed to belong to the family of the
Loaches, but regarding which M. Valenciennes has
expressed his views in a paper added to the second
volume of the " Reserches."

209

UNARMED EREMOPHILUS.

Erenwpliilus mutisii, HUMBOLDT.

PLATE XXX. FIG. 1.

Eremophilus mutisii, Capitame de Bogota, Humb. Obs. Zool.
i. p. 17; Valen.ii. 341.

THE EREMOPHILUS was discovered by Humboldt in
the little river Bogota, which forms the famous cata-
ract of Tequendama, in the kingdom of New Grena-
da, at an elevation of 1347 toises ; and is named as
above, as a record of the solitude which reigns at
these great elevations, and in the waters, which are
scarcely inhabited by any other living creature.
M. Valenciennes having examined specimens from
the same localities, afterwards procured for him by
the interest of M. Humboldt, has considered this
fish as belonging to the Siluridae, representing an
unarmed form among them. Our figure will give
an idea of the form of this singular fish ; the body
is covered with a strong mucus; the colour is a
greyish blue, spotted with olive-green ; these spots,
of an undulated form, are in some species of a yel-
lowish tint; the head is flattened; and the mouth,
placed at the extremity of the snout, is narrow;
the upper lip, lengthened and folded, exceeds the

210 UNARMED EREMOPHILUS.

under, and is furnished with six fleshy barbules, of
which the exterior are longest; two others, short
and partly tubular, are placed above the nostrils ;
the extremity of the lips furnished with hair-like
teeth; the eyes very small, and covered with a
semi-transparent membrane, as in the Gymnoti and
Murence. The length of this fish is from ten to
twelve inches. It forms an agreeable aliment, and
is eaten by the inhabitants of the capital of Santa-
Fe during Lent. M. Valenciennes adds, regarding
its internal structure, which appeared not to be
easily made out from the state of his specimens, that
the intestinal canal was simple, long, folded four
times upon itself, and having numerous bands be-
tween each fold ; the oesophagus and stomach firm,
a long tube which occupies three-fourths of abdo-
minal cavity. There is no swimming-bladder. The
formula of the fins is,

D. 4/11— P. 9— A. 3— C. 11/13/12— Br. 6.

Another fish, very nearly allied, has been procured
by Valenciennes from the vicinity of Rio Janeiro.

A very curious fish was also discovered in the
little river Palace, near to Passayan, to which M.
Humboldt has given the name of Astroblepus grix-
alvii ; Valenciennes, though he had not seen addi-
tional specimens, considered that it also belongs to the
Silurian family : a very short description is given of
this species. The length of Humboldt's specimen is
about fourteen inches ; the colour is blackish olive,
-** form, particularly that of the head, rather broad

ASTROBLEPUS GRIXALVII. 21 i

and flat ; the eyes, as indicated by the name, placed
vertically, and very small; the mouth terminal,
having a barbule at each angle ; all the fins having
the first ray lengthened to a short filament, which
is also the case with the two exterior ravs of the
tail. The formula of the fins is,

P. 10— A. 7— C. 12— Br. 4.

Another fish, having very remarkable facts at-
tached to its history, is also described by this great
traveller; and we are not aware that subsequent
researches have thrown aay further light upon its
history; it if

212

THE PIMELODUS OF THE VOLCANOS.

Pimelodus cyclopum, HUMBOLDT.

PLATE XXX. FIG. 2.

THIS small species, about four inches in length (a
variety appearing scarcely to exceed two inches), is
found in the rivulets and lakes in the kingdom of
Quito, at an elevation of 1700 toises, and where
the temperature of the water is about 10* of the
Centegrade thermometer. It is of an olive colour,
marked with small dark spots; the mouth large,
is terminal, and is furnished with two barbules on
the upper jaw ; the eyes, very small, are placed in
the middle of the head; and the skin is covered
with a thick and strong mucus. It is occasionally
eaten, but only by the lower classes of Indians, the
mucosity of the skin rendering it very disgusting.
The formula of the fins is,

1st D. 6— P. 9— V. 5— A. 7— C. 12— Br. 4.

The singular fact in the history of this fish is,
that from the volcanos in the vicinity it is, during
the periodical eruptions, discharged in thousands;
and in a state so perfect, as to show little muti-

THE PIMELODUS OP THE VOLCANOS. 213

lation either from scorching or from the effects of
the hot water with which it is discharged. Baron
Humboldt states, that in turning over the records
kept by the small villages in the vicinity of Coto-
paxi, he found mentioned, that, on the lands of
the Marquis Selvalegre, so large a quantity was
thrown, that a putrid odour was spread over the
country. The almost extinct volcano of Imbaburu,
in 1691, discharged thousands over the plains sur-
rounding the village of Ibarra, and to the miasmita
which occurred from them, fevers were attributed ;
and from another volcano, in 1698, thousands were
also thrown, encased in argillaceous balls. Humboldt
is of opinion that these volcanos contain subterra-
nean lakes, from whence the supply is afforded, the
numbers in the little rivulets around being com-
paratively small ; he adds, many of these rivulets
may communicate with these subterranean caverns ;
and, that the first Pimelodi which have stocked
them must have ascended against the stream. In
supposing this to account for the numbers destroyed
by eruptions, we must conceive their producers to
be very abundant. Does the spawn and the young
also, in part at least, afford nourishment to the
adults ? or in what manner does a fish supposed to
have been indigenous to the open streams support
itself in these subterranean abodes ? or has it been
the reverse, and have the " waters under the earth"
supplied the comparatively few specimens which
exist in the small streams ? We do not gather from
the text that Humboldt saw specimens of the fish

214 THE PIMELODTJS OF THE VOLCAKOS.

which had been expelled ; and it is only from the
united testimony of the inhabitants that he con-
siders the snbterranean fish identical with that
existing in the streams, of which the native name
is Prenadella.

.-A\ i

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