TRAVELS OF ALI BEY 
IN 
AFRICA AND ASIA. 
THE AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION. 
44 Praise be to God! The Mightiest! The Immense! 
4< He that teaches us by the art of writing, which has 
44 enlightened the world. Praise be to Him who con- 
44 ducts us to the true faith, to the end of our pilgrim. 
44 age, and to the Sacred Land*"* 
After having passed many years in the Christian 
states, studying there the sciences of nature, and the 
arts most useful to man in society, whatever be his faith 
or the religion of his heart, I determined at last to visit 
the Mahometan countries; and, while engaged in per- 
forming a pilgrimage to Mecca, to observe the manners, 
customs, and nature of the countries through which I 
should pass, in order that I might make the laborious 
journey of some utility to the country which I might at 
last select for my abode* 
* The Arabic adds the titles by which the author was known 
in the Mahometan countries. He was there called assala, religious; 
el emir, the prince; el hakim, learned; cl Jakih, doctor of the law; 
escherij] of the blood of Mohammed; el hach, pilgrim; AH Bey ibn 
Qthman Bey el Abassi, Ali Bey, son of Othman Bey, of the race 
of the Abassides; Hhaddem Beit Allah el Haram* Servant of the 
House of God, prohibited to all infidels. 
VOL. I. # 
