104 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 



Prophet's tomb, as the Moslem divines afErm that a 

 prayer said there is as efficacious as a thousand said 

 in any other place, except Mecca. 



From the state of weakness to which Burckhardt 

 was reduced, he found himself obliged to give up 

 all idea of travelling by land ; and therefore, as 

 soon as he could support the motion of a camel, he 

 left Medina and proceeded to Yembo, on the coast 

 of the Eed Sea ; where he arrived on the 27th of 

 April. Here, as well as at Jiddah, the plague, an 

 evil hitherto unknown in Arabia, had lately made 

 its appearance; and its ravages soon became so 

 great, that these towns were almost entirely de- 

 serted by their inhabitants. After a stay of two 

 weeks, he embarked on board a samlouk^ or large 

 boat, and in twenty days landed at the promontory 

 of Ras Mohammed, in the peninsula of Mount 

 Sinai. From thence he reached Tor, where he had 

 a severe relapse of fever, and where every thing was 

 in a bustle of excitement, as the lady of Ali Pasha 

 had arrived there from Yembo only a few days 

 before. A fortnight's rest was necessary for him 

 to recover strength sufficient to prosecute his jour- 

 ney ; after which he continued his route by Suez, 

 and reached Cairo on the 19th of June, having 

 been absent nearly two years and a half. 



During the subsequent nine months, his attention 

 was principally devoted to the recruiting of his im- 

 paired constitution, and to the preparation of his 

 Nubian and Arabian travels for the Association. 

 In February, 1816, he transmitted to London the 



