Travels in Arabia

Swiss explorer and scholar John Lewis Burckhardt (1784–1817) devoted himself to the study of Arabic language and culture, and between 1809 and 1817 he explored Syria, the Hedjaz, the Levant, and Egypt under the assumed name Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdallah. His journeys began with a commission from the London-based African Association to seek the source of the Niger River. Disguised as an Arab and in constant danger of discovery and betrayal, he traveled to sites forbidden to Westerners and kept a diary rich in ethnographic, cultural, geographic, and political observations.
Traveling by camel and donkey as well as on foot, Burckhardt endured profound hardships, including robbery and abandonment by unscrupulous guides and periodic bouts of dysentery, which ultimately killed him at the age of 32. He was buried as a Muslim, and the tombstone bears his assumed name. His enduring achievements include being the first modern European to lay eyes on the ancient Nabataean city of Petra and among the first to describe the customs of the Hadj pilgrimage. Burckhardt's accounts assisted Sir Richard Burton in his subsequent explorations, and they retain their fascinating historic value.​

Swiss explorer and scholar John Lewis Burckhardt (1784–1817) devoted himself to the study of Arabic language and culture, and between 1809 and 1817 explored Syria, the Hijaz, the Levant, and Egypt under the assumed name of Shaikh Ibrahim ibn Abdullah. He was preparing to cross the Sahara when he died in Cairo of dysentery at the age of 32.

Preface of the Editor
The Author’s Introduction
Corrigenda
Djidda
Route from Djidda to Tayf
Residence at Tayf
Journey to Mekka
Arrival at Mekka
Description of Mekka
Quarters of Mekka
Description of the Beitullah, or Great Mosque, at Mekka
Some Historical Notices Concerning the Kaaba, and the Temple of Mekka
Description of Several Other Holy Places, Visited by Pilgrims at Mekka, and In Its Neighbourhood
Remarks on the Inhabitants of Mekka and Djidda
Government of Mekka
Climate and Diseases of Mekka and Djidda
The Hadj, or Pilgrimage
Journey from Mekka to Medina
Medina
Description of Medina
Account of Some Places of Zyara, or Objects of Pious Visitation in the Neighbourhood of Medina
On the Inhabitants of Medina
On the Government of Medina
Climate and Diseases of Medina
Journey from Medina to Yembo
Yembo
From Yembo to Cairo
Appendix
Index of Arabic Words