450 



Monthly Review of Literature, 



[Oct. 



consul at that place. Scarcely had he thus 

 raised the necessary supplies, when he re- 

 ceived a message from the pasha, accompa- 

 nied with a present of cloth.es and 500 pias- 

 tres, and an order to go to him forthwith. 

 Compliance was of course indispensable. 

 INIahomet had some suspicion of his views ; 

 but a short stay with him seems to have re- 

 moved all unfavourable impressions, and 

 permission was given to proceed with his 

 tour. No time was now lost in proceeding 

 to JMecca, where he arrived during the Rha- 

 madan, in September. A visit to the tem- 

 ple is imperative immediately on arrival, 

 before any other business whatever is at- 

 tended to ; and Burckhardt punctiMously 

 went through the labour of tlie numerous 

 and onerous ceremonies enjoined. These 

 are detailed with the utmost minuteness, 

 and must satisfy the most scrupulous curi- 

 osity. He remained at Mecca, of course, 

 till November, the period of the liadji, or 

 pilgrimage, which consists in a journey to 

 Arafat, a liill of about 200 feet high, rising 

 in the micLst of an extensive plain, about 

 six hours from Mecca. At this place as- 

 sembled 70jOOO persons ; and the ceremo- 

 nies on the spot, and in their way back at 

 Mezdelfe, and 'V^'^ady ]\Iuna, taking up 

 three days, are all described with the same 

 particularity as those of Mecca. We have 

 no space for any thing of the kind ; but the 

 reader, we are confident, will find the wliole 

 story interesting and unique. AVe know 

 not where he can find any thing like it ; 

 and the account, we have no doubt, may be 

 entirely relied on. 



From I\Iecca, Burckhardt went onward to 

 Medina, nearly 300 miles to the north of 

 Mecca, where he visited the temple which 

 covers the tomb of fllahomet. The tomb 

 itself — the coffin rather — is not permitted to 

 be seen ; so that, after all, it may still, ac- 

 cording to the old report, be magnetically 

 suspended. All that JJurckhardt could learn 

 was — no such rei)ort circulates at Medina. 

 He, witli others, looked through a little 

 window into an enclosure, into which ten 

 or fifteen dollars procures admission from the 

 attendant eunuclis. But nothing is gained 

 by this; for within there is still another en- 

 closure, to whicli there appears to be no 

 golden key. According o the reports of 

 the eunuchs, there is within a covering of 

 the same rich and splendid stuff as the siur- 

 rounding curtain ; and, according to the 

 Arabian historian of IMecca, tliis curtain 

 covers a square building of black stones, 

 supported by two pQlars, at the entrance of 

 which are the tombs of Jlahomet, Abou- 

 Beker, and Omar. The tombs are deep 

 holes, and the coffin containing tlie body of 

 Mahomet is cased with silver. This is all 

 that can "be learnt about tlie matter ; for 

 we may be sure Burckhardt spared no pains 

 —it was the especial object of his visit. 



The only places of any importance in 

 Arabia seen by Burckhardt, were Djidda, 

 Tayf, IMecca, Medina, and Yembo ; and 



of all these, the most particular descriptions 

 are given, as to the state of society — trade, 

 employment, habits, government, &c. These 

 places are all within the limits of the holy 

 territory ; but how far further these limits ex- 

 tend, as we said, all his inquiries failed of 

 ascertaining, and books furnish, nothing . 

 but contradictory statements. 



Burckliardt's papers will still, it seems, 

 supply anotlier volume, consisting of details 

 relative to the Arabs of the desert, and espe- 

 cially the A^'ahabys. Wlien these will ap- 

 pear, the reader may calculate. The first . 

 volume, comprising liis account of Nubia, 

 appeared in 1819 ; the second, description 

 of Syria, in 1822 ; the third, of Arabia, in 

 1829 ; and so the fourth may be expected 

 towards the year 1835, unless Mr. Colburn's 

 liberal offers accelerate tlic march ; and mo- 

 ney, we, know, makes tlie mare to go — and 

 may make the African Association. 



Cuma, and other Pcems, by J. R. Best,. 

 Esq. ; 1829 — This Mr. Best is already 

 known as the clever and lively author of two 

 works entitled " Transrhenane," and 

 " Transalpine Memoirs," distinguished as 

 the productions of a Catholic, liberal and 

 enlightened on all points, except, as we 

 Protestants must think, those of liis religious 

 profession. He is the son of a gentleman 

 still better known, as a Protestant clergyman 

 some years ago converted to Catholicism, 

 and as the writer of two or three agree- . 

 able volumes on Italy and France, and 

 a volume of whose reminiscences of other . 

 times, places, and persons, arc now, by the 

 way, before us, which we shall probably no- 

 tice this month. 



Poetry is a perfect drug, now-a-days ; we 

 have lying by us, still unread, though 

 not unglanced at, no less than ten volumes, 

 all of them the productions of new aspirants 

 — several of them probably filled with what, 

 years ago, would have been thought very 

 superior versification ; but not one of them 

 likely to secure a reader or admirer, cer- 

 tainly not a purchaser, out of the family or 

 friendly circles of the writers. Mr. B. as- 

 suredly is not among the worst — he has read 

 poetry tiU the desire, a very common case, 

 grew with him to write himself; and he 

 has dwelt and revelled among the beauties 

 and sunshine of Italy, till nothing but the 

 latitude and language of poetry seemed ca- 

 pable of giving fair vent to his excited feel- 

 ings. The result is a volume — filled with 

 descriptions of the charms that invest the 

 bay and environs of Naples ; and a tale of 

 Byron-passion, with sundry scraps on occa- 

 sional subjects. ]\Iuch of the volume is 

 above mediocritij ; but neither gods, nor 

 men, nor " columa,E," we know, on ad- 

 mitted authority, can tolerate middhng 

 poets ; and, we shall add, now-a-days, none 

 that are not far beyond tlie ken of the mid- 

 dling. Among the occasional pieces we dis- 

 tinguish, " A Continuation of CoUins's 

 Ode on the Passions." He has caught 



