1817.J ~ Royal Institute of France. 248 
contained in the work. It cannot be denied that a Mussulman, 
known to be such, travelling in countries where every European is 
more or less suspected, is a very proper person to give us informa- 
tion respecting the customs, manners, and religious practices, of 
these people ; ideas which from another would not inspire us with 
se much confidence. These details can be appreciated by a great 
number of readers. But what ought particularly to fix the attention 
of the Class are the astronomical, geographical, and meteorological 
observations, the direction of the routes followed by the caravans, 
as travellers are very seldom found capable of publishing such re- 
marks, We see even that our Mussulman has been more than once 
thwarted in his scientific projects, either by the prejudices of those 
who surrounded him, or by other cares which constituted the prin- 
cipal object of his journey, and which to us would have been of 
little consequence, even if the author had given us that information 
respecting it which he reserves to another time. 
The nature of the countries and their soil are described, as might 
have been expected from an attentive observer, who had not always 
an opportunity of stopping where he chose, and still less of making 
those excursions which he would have considered as proper. Bat 
he determines at least by the compass all the changes of direction 
in the road, and furnishes at various distances points whose longi- 
tude and latitude are determined by exact observations, to which he 
adds the declination of the needle. 
The work is divided into three volumes, which form as many 
distinct parts, 
The first contains the sojournment of Ali Bey in the kingdom of 
Morocco. It is terminated by new conjectures on the Atlantis: 
but after having considered this new system, compared with all the 
others which have been written on this subject, one is disposed to 
call to mind the observation of Aristotle, who, comparing this 
section of the Atlantis to that of the wall constructed by the Greeks 
to fortify themselves against the attacks of Hector, adds, that the poct 
who contrived it has himself destroyed it so as not to leave a single 
vestige of it remaining. These conjectures are followed by others 
which may have a better foundation. T hey relate to the existence 
of an inland sea in the centre of Africa, similar to the Caspian Sea. 
The traveller endeavours to strengthen his notion by calculations, 
and by joining together all the proofs which he was able to collect, 
But, notwithstanding his efforts, the conjecture is likely to remain 
long problematical. 
The second volume contains his journey to Alexandria, and new 
and curious details respecting the island of Cyprus, the pilgrimage 
to Mecca, the description of the Temple, and of the Kaaba, or 
House of God. It is terminated by a notice of the Wehabis, and 
of their religious principles. 
In the third volume we have an account of an unsuccessful at- 
tempt of the traveller to penetrate to Medina, his more successful 
journey to Jerusalem, the description of the Temple, the entrance 
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