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 

 important acquirement of all, Burckhardt was in- 

 structed to proceed in the first instance to Syria, 

 where at the same time that he studied the language 

 in one of its purest schools, he might accustom him- 

 self to the habits and manners of the people he was 

 to mix with, at a distance from those countries 

 which was to be the scene of his researches, and 

 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 ]\Iarch, 1809, Burckhardt sailed 

 from Cowes on board of a merchant ship proceeding 



