Note 6 — MEMOIR, &c. (continued 2)

No description of this journey of Mr. Burckhardt ever reached the Association. His epistolary sketch of it was lost on its way to England: and it seems probable, from the following extract of a letter from Mr. Barker of Aleppo, to the editor, (dated London, 4th September, 1819,) that no journal was ever kept. Extract.—“One hundred and twenty or one hundred and fifty miles, below the ruins of Membigeh in the Zor, there is a tract on the banks of the Euphrates, possessed by a tribe of very savage Arabs. Not far from them is the village of Sukhne, at the distance of five days from Aleppo, and of twelve hours from Palmyra, in the road which Zenobia in her flight took to gain the Euphrates. The people of Sukhne are sedentary Arabs, of a breed half Fellah and half Bedouin. They bring to Aleppo alkali and ostrich feathers. It was upon one of these visits of the Sheikh of Sukhne to Aleppo, that Burckhardt, after some negotiation, resolved to accept the protection of the Sheikh, who undertook, upon their arrival at his village, to place him under the care of a Bedouin of influence, sufficient to procure him a safe passage through the tribes of the country which he wished to explore. Burckhardt had reason to be satisfied both with the Sheikh of Sukhne and with the Arab whom he procured as an escort, except that in the end, the protection of the latter proved insufficient. The consequence was, that poor Burckhardt was stript to the skin, and he returned to Sukhne, his body blistered with the rays of the sun, and without having accomplished any of the objects of his journey. It was in this excursion to the desert, that Burckhardt had so hard a struggle with an Arab lady, who took a fancy to the only garment which the delicacy or compassion of the men had left him.”