PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. THE English Edition of "Burton's Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Meccah" was originally published in three volumes, large octavo. In order to meet the requirements of the American public, both as regards the size and expense of the work, it has been deemed expedient to abridge and condense some chapters. The portions omitted, however, do not affect the narrative or the incidents of the visit to the Holy Places, but chiefly relate to Lieut. Burton's preliminary residence in Egypt, and to historical and ethnological considerations. An Appendix, containing a resumé of former explorations, is also omitted, but its place is supplied by the introductory essay by Bayard Taylor. We believe that the readers of the narrative of Lieut. Burton's singular and dangerous journey will sustain us in the assertion, that no volume of modern travel possesses greater intrinsic interest or originality, while for graphic description it compares favorably with the "Eōthen" of Kinglake, or the "Crescent and the Cross" of Warburton. 821 BROADWAY, N. Y. G. P. PUTNAM & CO. EDITOR'S PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION. THE interest just now felt in everything that relates to the East would alone be sufficient to ensure to the author of "El Medinah and Meccah" the favorable consideration of the Reading Public. But when it is borne in mind that since the days of William Pitts of Exeter (A.D. 1678-1688) no European travellers, with the exception of Burckhardt* and Lieut. Burton,† have been able to send us back an account of their travels there, it cannot be doubted but that the present work will be hailed as a welcome addition to our knowledge of these hitherto mysterious penetralia of Mahommedan superstition. In fact, El Medinah may be considered almost a virgin theme; for as Burckhardt was prostrated by sickness throughout the period of his stay in the Northern Hejaz, he was not able to describe it as satisfactorily or minutely as he did the southern country, he could not send a plan of the mosque, or correct the popular but erroneous ideas which prevail concerning it and the surrounding city. In 1811. Captain Sadlier is not mentioned, as his Frankish dress prevented his entering the city. The reader may question the propriety of introducing, in a work of description, anecdotes which may appear open to the charge of triviality. The author's object, however, seems to be to illustrate the peculiarities of the people,—to dramatize, as it were, the dry journal of a journey,-and to preserve the tone of the adventures, together with that local coloring in which mainly consists "l'education d'un voyage.' It was during a residence of many years in India that Mr. Burton had fitted himself for his late undertaking, by acquiring, through his peculiar aptitude for such studies, a thorough acquaintance with various dialects of Arabia and Persia; and, indeed, his Eastern cast of features seemed to point him out as the very person of all others best suited for an expedition like that described in the following pages. It will be observed that in writing Arabic, Hindoostannee, Persian, or Turkish words, the author has generally adopted the system proposed by Sir William Jones and modified by later Orientalists. But when a word (like Fát-háh for Fatihah) has been "stamped" by general popular use, the conversational form has been preferred; and the same, too, may be said of the common corruptions, Cairo, Kadi, &c., which, in any other form, would appear to us pedantic and ridiculous. Still, in the absence of the author, it must be expected that some trifling errors and inaccuracies will have here and there crept in. |