THE 
EDINBUEGH 
PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL. 
Art. l.^Account of the Captivity of Alexander Scott, 
among the Wandering Arabs of the Great African Desert, 
for a Period f nearly Six Years. Drawn up by T. S. 
Traill, M.D., F. R. S.E. (Continued from p, 54, and 
concluded.) 
-About a month after their arrival on the Bahar, the party to 
which Scott belonged, having taken leave of some of the pil- 
grims by shaking hands, and kissing the top of the head, left 
El Tah Sidna Mahommed El Hezsh, embarking in the same 
boat which brought them thither, and which had been, in the 
interval, employed in carrying over passengers as they arrived. 
Scott remarked, that the opposite shore of the lake was not 
visible, even in the clearest weather, from El Hezsh, on account 
of the lowness of the land. There being more wind than 
when they came, and it being fair, they placed two oars across 
each other by way of a mast, and spread on them a long nar- 
row blanket, such as they wrap round their bodies, as a sail. 
They left the shore of El Hezsh, a little after mid-day, and 
arrived on the opposite side at day-break the next morning, (as 
he supposes, about six o’clock). In this voyage they had the 
advantage of sail and oars, and continued under way all night. 
Scott had no conversation with the boatmen during this re- 
crossing of the Bahar. On account of his refusal to change 
his religion, he was not permitted to speak to them, and was 
refused every indulgence. 
VOL. IV. NO. 8. APRIL 1821. 
p 
