1827.] [ 417 ] 



MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN. 



Travels in Mesopotamia, by J. S. Buck- 

 ingham ; 1827. This new volume is de- 

 cisive of Mr. Buckingham's qualifications. 

 His pretensions must, in this case, be undi- 

 vided. He was unaccompanied by any Eu- 

 ropean, and therefore can have plundered no 

 Europeanfellow-traveller'scolleetious;andof 

 filching any oriental's, he will not, we suppose, 

 be suspected. Mr. Buckingham comes before 

 the public nownotonlyunimpeached with re- 

 spect to the present journey, but cleared of 

 all former suspicions, by the open or implied 

 confessions of his calumniators. He has suc- 

 cessfully swept away all unworthy suspi- 

 cions; and we venture to say, the volume 

 before us affording as it does ample proofs of 

 industry and research, of observance abroad 

 and diligence at home, of sound sense and 

 cultivated intellect, with no ordinary powers 

 of description will, at the same time, be 

 welcomed with all the confidence for which 

 his expurgation has paved the way. 



This third volume describes his journey 

 from Aleppo to Bagdad, by the way of Beer, 

 Orf f ih (the ancient Edessa, and traditionally 

 the still more ancient Ur of the Chaldees), 

 Mardin, and Mousul along the northern 

 and eastern frontiers, that is, of Mesopo- 

 tamia understanding by Mesopotamia the 

 territories lying between the Euphrates and 

 the Tigris. This is not the customary route 

 of the caravans to Bagdad, but what is 

 better for the curious, for those who like to 

 know what is in this world of ours it is one, 

 which conducts the traveller through all the 

 principal assemblages of people in these re- 

 gions crossing also plains of considerable 

 extent, occupied by tribes of Arabs and Tur- 

 comans, friendly or hostile to each other, 

 some more stationary than others, but all of 

 a. roaming description, and more or less un- 

 safe to encounter ; and besides what is even 

 of more permanent interest, presenting the 

 vestiges of ruined cities and empires Ro- 

 man, Grecian, Assyrian, upward to the de- 

 luge scenes, too, that have seldom been vi- 

 sited by Europeans, and still seldomer de- 

 scribed. 



These are not regions that offer attractions 

 to the tourist. A man must have some strong 

 compelling motive to urge him over arid 

 plains and sun-burnt wastes utterly desti- 

 tute of shade, and of ten even of water; subject 

 to exactions from every person in power, 

 superior or subaltern, and to plunderings from 

 the flying squadrons of lawless hordes ex- 

 posed, moreover, to insult, and mockery, and 

 degradations from the hard ane bigotled re- 

 ligionists, impatient of the Christian creed, 

 and intolerant of European customs. These 

 are hazards which, of course, the dilettante 

 traveller will not incur. The missionary, if he 

 visit similar scenes, is intent upon other ob- 

 jects; and the man of business has no eyes 

 for one-half of the objects, that we, who sit 

 snugly at home, and, content with reading 



M.M. New Series. VOL. III. No- 16. 



about dangers, Instead of encountering them, 

 desire to know something about. We wish 

 to be enabled to compare the state of things 

 now, with the state of things formerly, with 

 the state we read they were in two or three 

 thousand years ago to correct or confirm 

 our old conceptions to estimate the value 

 of the advance, or the causes of retrogression; 

 we wish to be furnished with facts, not 

 merely relative to buildings and numbers, but 

 to domestic habits and public institutions to 

 prevailing opinions and modes of thinking 

 to principles, prejudices whatever will put 

 us in possession of the actual condition of 

 society. These are the things that present 

 materials the best materials for compre- 

 hensive conceptions of human nature that 

 enlarge our views and extend our grasp and 

 ultimately bid us be content with our own 

 lot, or teach us how to mend it. 



In furtherance of these purposes, Mr. 

 Buckingham has done every thing, that the 

 circumstances of his journey, and his short 

 intercourse of three months, would allow. 

 He has the traveller's qualifications in abun- 

 dant measure. He was no stranger in the 

 east. He had besides collected and com- 

 pared all authentic accounts of the countries 

 he was going to visit ; and was thus in pos- 

 session of the useful from the days and 

 books of Xenophon, Diodorus, and Strabo 

 not neglecting the careful researches of D'An- 

 ville, and Rennel, and Gibbon nor the ac- 

 counts of travellers, from the old Spanish Jew, 

 who traversed the country in the twelfth 

 century, down to Niebuhr, who visited 

 some parts of it sixty or seventy years ago 

 the last of any eminence. Yet the informa- 

 tion thus collectively obtained was, he found, 

 scanty and imperfect, leaving ample space 

 for new observers. Mr. B. also had supe- 

 rior facilities for surveying the country. For 

 the greater part of the journey, he travelled 

 with a caravan of considerable strength of 

 course moving slowly under the protection 

 of its chief, a wealthy merchant, returning 

 from Mecca thus covered with the shield of 

 sanctity, and with all the advantages of re- 

 spect and confidence from those around him, as 

 he himself says; and with sufficient leisure and 

 safety to enjoy, unmolested, opportunities of 

 recording whatever appeared worthy of ob- 

 servation, before one series of impressions 

 was obliterated by another train of objects 

 and thoughts. He hud besides the advantage 

 of speaking Hot the language of the coun- 

 try, precisely 'for generally he found the 

 Turkish more in use than the Arabic but a 

 language generally understood, and thus of 

 being his own interpreter ; and what, at 

 least in his case, was no disadvantage he 

 had no European friend, companion, servant, 

 or attendant of any sort ; but, adopting the 

 dress, manners, and language of the country, 

 the whole of the way, was screened from 

 suspicion, for the most part, by his familiarity 

 3 H 



