452 THE AFRICAN ASSOCIATION. 
wish to promote the objects of the Association. 
The members, therefore, made no hesitation in 
avaihng themselves of his proposal. He left Eng- 
land on the 2d of March 1809, and on the 6th of 
July following arrived at Aleppo. We shall fol- 
low the thread of history, though it goes down 
lower than the period of which we are treating. 
He spent three years in Syria, preparing himself 
by an intimate observation of Arabic language 
and manners, for his future destination. He 
made frequent and long residences among the 
Bedouins of the desert ; he also took excursions 
into the Hauran and the Lesge, visited the ruins 
of Palmyra and Baalbec, and passed some time 
among the Turkmans. On the 18th June 1812 
he set out for Cairo, not by the beaten road along 
the sea-coast, but through Arabia Petrea, and 
across the great desert El-Ty. He reached Cairo 
on the 4th September, but finding that no caravan 
was soon likely to set out for Fezzan or Darfoor, 
he made an excursion up the Nile, beyond the 
Egyptian frontier, as far as Dar el Mahas on the 
borders of Dongola. He also made a journey 
across Nubia to Suakem and Jidda. His next 
excursion was* into Arabia, where he visited the 
cities of Mecca and Medina, in the former of 
which he resided three months. He there ac-" 
quired full information as to the rise and history 
of the Wahabees. His last journey was to Mount 
