Enterprise and Adventure/The Disguises of John Lewis Burckhardt
THE DISGUISES OF JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT.
One of the most energetic, far-seeing, and persevering of all explorers was John Lewis Burckhardt. He was of an eminent family settled at Basle, who were rained by the troubles consequent upon the overrunning of Europe by the troops of the French Republic. Coming to England in 1806, young Burckhardt brought letters of introduction to Sir Joseph Banks, which led to his being selected by a learned society to travel in the East for the extension of our knowledge of the geography of that continent.
The natural and acquired talents of Burckhardt, the ardour with which he embraced the idea, and his naturally vigorous constitution, marked him out as a fit person for undertaking the perils of travel in unknown countries; but as yet he was little prepared for the duties of a scientific explorer. Convinced himself of this fact, Burckhardt set to work to prepare himself with a perseverance which strongly indicates the energy of the man. He immediately began to apply himself to the difficult study of the Arabic language, and of those branches of science which were likely to be most useful to him in his travels. He allowed his beard to grow, and began to wear the Oriental dress even before he left England—being determined to accustom himself to appear at ease in that attire. Meanwhile he attended lectures both in London and Cambridge, on chemistry, astronomy, mineralogy, medicine and surgery, and in the intervals of his studies exercised himself by long journeys on foot, bareheaded in the heat of the sun, sleeping upon the ground, and living upon vegetables and water.
Burckhardt then proceeded to Syria, where he familiarized himself by degrees with the Arabic language, and gradually acquired the habit of Oriental manners at a distance from the countries which were to be the scene of his travels, and consequently without much risk of being afterwards recognized. For this purpose he remained two years and a half, chiefly at Aleppo, where he assumed the name of Ibrahim Ibn Abdallah. In a journey which he made during this time in the countries to the east and south of the Dead Sea, he had the satisfaction of discovering the remains of an ancient city, consisting of a great number of buildings and monuments excavated in the rocks, a singularity which, with other circumstances, marked the place, in the opinion of the learned, for the site of Petra, the ancient capital of Arabia Petra. During this journey he assumed the character of an Arab physician in search of medicinal herbs, in which guise he obtained an introduction to the native chiefs.
When finally he set himself to travel in Arabia and Nubia, he assumed the character of a Dervish, and took nothing with him but a camel, some provisions, and a few gold coins, hidden in a woollen cloak. In those wild countries to have the appearance of being rich would have been greatly to increase the dangers of his journey, and in many cases he preferred to rely for a free passage from one part to another, from the charity of the Turkish merchants travelling with their caravans. His knowledge of the Arabic language, and of Mohammedan manners, enabled him to assume the Mussulman character with such success that he resided at Mecca during the whole time of the pilgrimage, and passed through the various ceremonies of the occasion without the smallest suspicion having arisen as to his real character, a feat which has been imitated in our times by Captain Burton. Upon one occasion a Pasha, holding his head quarters at Sayf, near Mecca, thought proper to put the stranger's qualifications as a Mussulman to the test, by directing the two most learned professors of the law then in Arabia to examine him upon his knowledge of the Koran, and of the practical as well as doctrinal precepts of their faith; but the result appears to have been a complete conviction upon the minds of his hearers, or at least of the two examiners, of his being not only a true, but a very learned Mussulman. Important, however, as were the experience and information acquired by his journey in Arabia, they were too dearly purchased; for there is little doubt that his constitution never recovered from the effects of that climate so pernicious to Europeans.
When, at length, he found opportunities of starting upon the chief object of his travels, the exploration of the Nile, he quitted his Turkish dress, and attired himself in the blue gown of the merchants of Upper Egypt. He carried nothing with him for himself and his servant but a gun, a sabre, a pistol, a bag filled with provisions, and a woollen mantle, which served either for a carpet or a covering during the night. In one journey of nine hundred miles he took with him only eight Spanish dollars, of which he returned with three; five dollars, or about £1 15s. sterling, having defrayed the whole expenses of his journey. "This," he says, "I mention as apart of my plan of travelling, and by way of advice to all travellers who visit unknown and dangerous countries in the East." While at Esne, on another occasion, waiting for a caravan, and not wishing to be known, he kept as little company as possible, dressed himself in the poorest dress of an inhabitant of Egypt, his daily expenses for himself, servant, dromedary, and ass, amounting to only one shilling and sixpence. Yet, with all this, he could not help incurring the dangerous suspicion of being a rich man, or having had the good luck to find a treasure, a common notion among Orientals. He was fearful of engaging in any traffic, because his person would then have become generally known. But in those countries everybody is either a cultivator or a merchant, and to be able to live without begging and without work appeared strange, and exposed him to the suspicion of having chests full of dollars.
In many parts travelling would have been absolutely impracticable without assuming this Oriental character. At Shendz, he found it necessary to affect the greatest sanctity of manners, imitating, as far as possible, the Mohammedan Fakirs, whose character is the more respected in those countries from their enjoying the reputation of great learning, and of exemplary private conduct. "In those countries," says Burckhardt, "the traveller must consider himself as surrounded by some of the most worthless of the human race: amongst whom he must think himself fortunate if he can discover any less depraved than the rest whom he can place some degree of confidence in." Above all, he dared not be seen making notes. He knew that if he had been detected by his companions with his journal in his hand it would have destroyed all his hopes of success. It was only while travelling through the deserts that he could take notes with tolerable ease. Here, mounted on his ass or dromedary, he pushed on ahead of the caravan, and then alighted under some tree or rock, where he remained unobserved, apparently occupied only in smoking his pipe until the caravan came up. On all these occasions, however, Burckhardt was provided with firmans or letters sufficient to inspire respect if any person in authority had sought to molest him. These he never exhibited except in the last resort, as they necessarily betrayed his disguise in some degree. On one occasion, when at Sonakim, in Arabia, he was ordered to be arrested, and to have his hands tied, and be thrust into a prison. Concealment was now useless, and Burckhardt drew his firmans from a secret pocket in his cloak, written on long scrolls in Turkish and Arabic. The production of these imposing documents wrought an immediate change in the tone of the Arab functionary. After kissing both the scrolls and placing them to his forehead, he protested that it was the good of the public alone that had led him to treat him as he had done. He then inquired the cause of the traveller's appearance; "for by this time," says Burckhardt, "my dress, which had not been very splendid when I set out on my journey, was literally in rags."
In his Nubian wanderings, Burckhardt succeeded in penetrating to the banks of the Astobaros, and thence crossed the desert to Sanakin, on the shore of the Red Sea. This, and a former journey along the Nile towards Dongola, were, unfortunately, the only travels in the unexplored regions of the interior of Africa which he accomplished; but his tour in Arabia, the last he performed, though not productive of additions to our geographical knowledge, enabled him to collect a vast deal of information of the highest interest.