MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 123 



putting the great purpose of his mission into exe- 

 cution. Feeling strongly armed in his long previous 

 course of study and experience, he entertained hopes, 

 not more sanguine than reasonable, of being able to 

 penetrate in safety from Fezzan to the countries of 

 the Niger; and of at last receiving the reward of 

 his perseverance in the acquirement, for the public, 

 of some authentic information upon the unknown 

 regions of Africa. 



But Providence had otherwise ordained. On the 

 4th of October, he found the symptoms of dysen- 

 tery, which had for several days incommoded him, 

 so much increased, that he applied for relief to 

 Dr. Richardson, an English physician, who fortu- 

 nately happened at that time to be at Cairo, travel- 

 ling in the company of liord Belmore. The disease, 

 however, in spite of all the remedies administered, 

 continued its progi-ess from bad to worse with fatal 

 obstinacy, and without any favourable remission. 



On the morning of the 15th he proposed, and ob- 

 tained the consent of his physician, that Mr. Henry 

 Salt, then his Majesty's Consul-General in Egj-pt, 

 should be sent for. " I went over immediately 

 (says Mr. Salt, in a letter to the Secretary of the 

 Association), and cannot describe how shocked I 

 was to see the change that had taken place in so 

 short a time. On the Tuesday before, he had been 

 walking in my garden with every appearance of 

 health, and conversing with his usual liveliness and 

 vigour. Now, he could scarcely articulate his 

 words, often made use of one for another, was of a 



