and splendidly drest in the European fashion. I do not wonder that they are compelled to hear so many insulting expressions from the people on these occasions, for our short and straight clothing is, in the eyes of all eastern people, highly indecorous for a man of any respectability, and gold and silver are never seen on their garments. But all other times the Consuls wear the long Turkish dress, and are obliged to do like the eastern Christians and Jews, to dismount at the appointed places, or when they meet any distinguished Turks."

Niebuhr's accounts of the agriculture, the products, the implements and machinery, the trade and manufactures, the dress, manners, and amusements of the Egyptians, are full of interesting, clear, and accurate detail, and are, above all, marked by that perfect fairness and anxiety in no degree to exceed or warp the truth, which was, perhaps, his most striking characteristic. We have space only for a few sentences relating to the trade in gum arabic :

"Among the products with which the Europeans are conversant, is the so called gum arabic, which the Arabs yearly bring to Kahira, in the month of October. They come in two or three small caravans, and the quantity is from six to seven hundred quintals. The trade is entirely in the hands of Mohammedan merchants. The Arabs never bring their wares into the city, but remain about a mile from Kahira, and the merchants must consent to go to them. They do not sell their gum by weight, nor do they show any samples, but keep it in untanned and closely sewed skins. They very rarely suffer a buyer to cut open these skins before the bargain is quite completed, and if any objection is afterwards made to the quality of their gum, they never take it back. Some of these Arabs mix little pebbles, sand, and bits of wood, with their gum. It might happen that they might afterwards be caught in the city, and probably for this reason: they give no credit, but exchange their gum for clothing, arms, or whatever they want, and immediately return to their deserts. I know not whether the Arabs deserve most the reproach of cheaters or of inexperienced dealers. They love freedom and few words. If they understood the art of spreading out their commodities, and calling to all passers by to look at them, those at least who had clean and good gum to sell would get a much higher price for

it than they actually do. Most of it goes to Leghorn and Marseilles. In the months of April, May, and June, come many caravans from Africa, with three different sorts of gum, with elephants' teeth, tamarinds, slaves, parrots, ostrich feathers, and gold dust. They exchange these for linen, glass beads, coral, amber, sabres, and all sorts of clothes, which the Kahirians make according to the taste of the Africans."

The following is his description of the outfit of himself and his companions for their expedition to Mount Sinai.

"We had made careful provision for everything which we thought necessary for the journey before us; we had abundance of eatables, a tent, and beds. Most of the utensils carried on expeditions in these countries have already been described and drawn by other travellers; and, indeed, some of them are so convenient, that they might be introduced into European armies with great advantage. Our little kitchen apparatus was of copper, well tinned inside and out. Our butter we carried in a sort of pitcher made of thick leather. Table-cloths we did not want. A large round piece of leather was our table. This had iron rings attached to its edge, through which a cord was passed: after dinner it was drawn up, slung over a camel, and thus served the double office of a table and a bag. Our coffee-cups (saucers we had none) were carried in a wooden box covered with leather, and wax candles in a similar box, inclosed in a leathern bag. In the lid of this box was a tube, which was our candlestick. Salt, pepper, and spice we also kept in a little wooden box, with several lids screwed one over another. Instead of glasses, we had little copper cups, beautifully tinned within and without. Our lanterns were of linen, and could be folded together like the little paper lanterns which children make in Europe, only that our's had covers and bottoms of iron. Each of us was furnished with a water pitcher of thick leather, out of which we drank: and as we sometimes found no water for two or three days, we carried a good many goat skins filled with it. We also took two large stone water-jars with us, that we might be able to carry water ourselves on the journey from Šuez to Djidda. Our wine we kept in large glass flasks, each holding twenty of our bottles. These vessels appeared to us the best for the purpose; but when a camel falls, or runs against another with his

load, they easily break, and therefore travellers in the East would do better to put their wine and brandy in goat skins. The hides which are used to contain water have the hair on the outside, but those for wine have it on the inside, and are so well pitched, that the liquor acquires no bad taste. And if Europeans do at first feel some disgust at drinking what has been kept in such vessels, they are, at least, freed from the fear of losing their wine, as we did. Wood or coals travellers seldom take with them. At the places where the caravans halt, they generally find the dried dung of beasts, and this they use as firing when they can procure no wood or sticks in the neighbourhood."

In October the party set sail for Suez, on board a Turkish vessel; they landed at Djidda, and reached Lobeia, the first point of their proper destination-the country of Yemen-at the end of the year 1762. On this journey Niebuhr made astronomical, geographical, and geodætical observations, as often as possible, and made some inquiries respecting the currents. Out of these laborious investigations grew the chart of the Red Sea, which, with reference to the circumstances under which it was made, and the means at his disposal, may be regarded as a masterly work.

After some stay in this agreeable town, the party, especially Forskaal and Niebuhr, travelled through western Yemen, in various directions; the former botanizing, the latter ascertaining the geographical situation of places. They then returned to the sea coast to Mokha, where Von Haven died about the end of May, 1763.

At the same time Niebuhr was again attacked by dysentery, and was only saved by the greatest care and temperance. After many delays and difficulties, and before he was perfectly recovered, he set out, undismayed by the danger he ran, with the rest of the party, for the capital, Sana. The climate, and numerous annoyances, which Forskaal had partly brought upon himself, partly aggravated through his caprice, brought on a bilious disorder, of which he died at Jerim, on the 11th of July, 1763.

Niebuhr was the more depressed at his loss from his own protracted illness. He set out, with the two survivors, on the road to Sana, but without the slightest hope of returning, and fearful that no precautions could ensure those papers which were not left in the care of his

English friends at Mokha, reaching Europe. This was a source of much greater anxiety to him than his life, to which he never held with any very great eagerness. He feared the entire frustration of the object, and, with good reason, the injustice which might be done to his and Forskaal's discharge of their duties. This was the only point of time during his whole expedition at which his spirits completely sunk.

At length he found himself in that state of dull resignation into which Europeans in the torrid zone generally sink, when under the influence of sickness and depression. He, who, both earlier and later in his journey, struck into the most toilsome path on the slightest rumour of an inscription or a ruin, could not now be stimulated to quit the high road to copy the Hamjarish inscriptions at Hoddafa;-an omission which any one, who imagines himself in his place, will easily excuse him for; but for which he used bitterly to reproach himself after a lapse of fifty years.

From the same causes the survivors declined the cordial and friendly invitation they received to pass a whole year in Sana and Upper Yemen; which would have been quite agreeable to the original plan. They hastened, on the contrary, to reach the coast before the English ships sailed. Their haste was much too great, for they had to wait the whole month of August, and more, before the vessel in which they were to sail was ready. Mokha, situated in the arid desert of Tehama, is, during summer, a horrible residence, and but few days elapsed before the surviving travellers and their servant were attacked with the fever of the climate.

Bauernfeind and the servant died at

sea.

Cramer reached Bombay, languished for some months, and died. Niebuhr was saved by that extreme abstemiousness which renders a tropical climate as little dangerous to Europeans as to natives. While he was labouring under the dysentery, the physician had told him to abstain from meat, and to eat nothing but bread and a sort of rice soup. This regimen cured his illness. At the end of several weeks the physician learnt, with astonishment, that Niebuhr was patiently continuing a diet by means of which few Europeans could be induced to purchase their lives, even when labouring under dangerous illness.

The merchant to whom the ship

which conveyed Niebuhr from Mokha to Bombay belonged, was Francis Scott, a younger son of the Scotts of Harden, a jacobite family of Roxburghshire. He became his intimate friend. "Five and thirty years afterwards," says his son, "when I studied in Edinburgh, I was received, in all respects, as one of the family in the house of this venerable man, who then lived at his ease in the Scottish capital, on the fortune he had acquired by honourable industry.

"The reception he met with from the English was extremely cordial. Bombay was, indeed, in a very different state from that which it now exhibits. The governor, instead of being a highly cultivated and scientific man, like many of those who have since filled that office, was, in conformity with the old system of the Company, a factor, who had risen by service; the council were men of low education and habits; the officers, for the most part, were men of various nations, who had entered an obscure service as a refuge from disagreeable adventures, or from indigence. Yet, even in this infant colony, the noble English spirit was not imperceptible; and, besides Scott, there were many in whom the vigorous, sensible, upright national character had wrought out for itself an education which cannot be given.

"In Egypt, Niebuhr had first learned to delight in the society of Englishmen; and there was laid the foundation for that mutual attachment, which was permanent, and of which I shall have occasion to speak more hereafter."

Among his most intimate friends were Captain Howe, of the Royal Navy, brother of Admiral Lord Howe, and or General Sir William. From him he received some admirably drawn charts of the Indian seas, and detached parts, roads and harbours of the south-eastern coast of Arabia. He had great pleasure in being able to requite his friend's gift by another, which might serve as a token of his gratitude to the English nation for their hospitality: this was, a copy of his maritime chart of the Red Sea which he had completed at Bombay, and which, from Djidda northwards, was new to the English, no British vessel having as yet navigated that

sea.

A few years afterwards they attempted the navigation of it with the aid of this very chart, Since that time it has been greatly improved and perfected by Englishmen: the eastern shore by Sir Home Popham; the western, which

in Niebuhr's chart is deficient, by the expedition planned by Lord Valentia; the groundwork of these now perfect charts is, however, his.

At Bombay, Niebuhr learned the English language. He also endeavoured to acquire all the information possible from the Parsees and Hindoos, visited the excavated pagodas of Elephanta, and made drawings of the sculptures.

Lastly, he employed himself in arranging his journal, and sent a copy of it through London to Denmark. He also made use of an opportunity to visit Surat.

It was originally settled that the travellers should return by India: when, however, the inclinations which had first prompted Niebuhr to undertake the journey had returned in full force with the return of health, this plan displeased him, and he determined to make his way back overland. To achieve this, he was obliged to relax a little from the intense and wearing application to his original pursuit. From the time he quitted Bombay, where he learnt the death of his friend Mayer, (without whose examination and sanction he did not dare to trust himself, as he might and ought,) he gave up his observations for the longitude; to which he was further induced by the death of his Swedish servant, whom he had taught to assist him in the mechanical part of the observations. This is greatly to be regretted, for Persia and Turkey in Asia still present a wide and untrodden field for observations of this kind. Those who saw what pain this gave him in his old age, rather felt inclined to love and admire his zeal and modesty, than to lament the omission of a work he so much desired to perform.

In December, 1764, after a stay of fourteen months, Niebuhr quitted Bombay, visited Mascat, and made himself acquainted with the state of the remarkable province of Oman. He, however, did not remain there long, but went by Abusheher and Shiraz to Persepolis.

The drawings of the ruins, inscrip tions and bas-reliefs of Persepolis, made by three preceding travellers, had forcibly drawn Niebuhr's attention to them as the most remarkable monument of eastern antiquity: no other, either in Asia or in Egypt, awakened such wellgrounded hopes of being able to understand and interpret historical records

solely for his object. He pursued his studies in pure mathematics, perfected himself in drawing, and sought to acquire such historical information as was attainable with that degree of learning which he had so lately and so imperfectly acquired, without neglecting his more immediate objects. He cultivated practical mechanics with a view to acquiring greater dexterity in handling his instruments, and in various manual operations, the acquirement and practice of which in Europe, except for those whose business they are, is but a waste of time. His attention was, however, principally occupied by the private lessons of Michaelis in the Arabic language, and of Mayer in astronomy. These he remembered with very different feelings. For the grammatical study of languages in general he had but little talent or inclination; but his lessons in Arabic were rendered peculiarly distasteful to him by the fact that, at the end of several months, his teacher had not brought him farther than the first fables of Lokmann, and he soon found out that Michaelis possessed no very great store of Arabic philology or learning. He therefore gave up this course of instruction, which Michaelis never forgave him. Tobias Mayer was undoubtedly one of the first astronomers and mathematicians of his time*. Mayer's zeal for teaching his pupil was as great as Niebuhr's for learning of him. Among all the men with whom he became acquainted in the course of his long life, there was none whom he so loved and honoured as Mayer; and the most intimate friendship subsisted between them. He retained an ardent attachment to Mayer's memory up to the most advanced age, and fate never procured him any pleasure so great, as that of hearing that his first lunar observations reached his beloved teacher on his death-bed, before consciousness had left him, and had cheered and animated his last moments; and that these observations had decided the giving the English premium offered for the

• The results of his labours were published after his death. They consisted principally of a catalogue of 992 stars, and his famous lunar and solar

tables. His valuable theory of the moon, and the laborious calculation of these tables, together with the invention of Hadley's quadrant, in 1731, enabled Maskelyne to bring into general use the method of discovering the longitude by observing the distance of the moon from the sun and certain fixed stars, called the lunar method. Mayer died at the early age of thirty-nine, worn out and exhausted by his incessant exertions in the cause of science.

discovery of the longitude, to the widow of the man to whom he felt that he was indebted for his acquirements in this branch of science. Mayer on his part had no more earnest solicitude than to educate a pupil who would apply his method of determining the longitude, and his, at that time, unprinted lunar tables, of which Niebuhr made a copy.

He probably saw that blind, mechanical attachment to old ways and prejudices would for many years retard the reception of his method, but that, when proved by practical application, it would be impossible to stifle it. Mayer interested himself in the outfit for Niebuhr's journey, so entirely as if it had been his own personal affair, that he divided his quadrants with his own hands. The accuracy of this labour of friendship was proved by the observations which were made with it.

The time appointed for preparation had been prolonged by half a year; and it was not till the Michaelmas of 1760 that he left Göttingen. At Copenhagen he was most kindly received by the minister von Bernstorf, and gained his confidence to a greater degree than the other members of the expedition, who were already assembled there before him. As he received a pension from the king during the time of his preparation, he thought himself bound to purchase all his instruments at his own cost. He esteemed himself most happy to procure them in this manner. Bernstorf, to whose knowledge this accidentally came, pressed upon him compensation for what he had thus expended, and committed the travelling chest to him as a proof of respect for his rigid integrity.

He was at this time appointed lieutenant of engineers, a circumstance which only deserves notice for the sake of a letter which places his modesty and judgment in the most amiable light. "He was," as he wrote to a friend, “led to think of a title for himself by Von Haven's appointment to a professorship of the university of Copenhagen. A similar one had been offered to him, but he held himself unworthy of it. The one he had received appeared to him more suitable. might have had that of captain if he had asked for it; but that, for a young man, would have been too much. As lieutenant, it would be highly creditable to him to make valuable observations; but, as professor, he should feel it dis

He

graceful not to have sufficiently explored the depths of mathematical science." He had at that time no other plan than that of living in his native country, after the accomplishment of his mission, on the pension which was assigned to him. As more than half a century has elapsed since the death of his travelling companions, there can be no impropriety in recording what he thought and related of them.

Von Haven's uselessness as a linguist has already been mentioned. He had moreover chosen a career, for which, on all accounts, no man was less fitted. His sole thought was to return home; his favourite topic was the comfortable life which he there promised himself no ardour for discovery or for observation made him forget the fatigues and privations of the journey, and no one had so many wants, and felt so many privations, as he. A dainty table and good wine were, in his estimation, the greatest blessings of life; and in Arabia, where the travellers found only scanty fare and bad water to appease their hunger and thirst, his discontent arose to a despair which often diverted, but sometimes disgusted his companions. He was by nature indolent, and thought himself fully excused from working under such a climate. He likewise frequently shewed himself haughty and conceited towards Forskaal and Niebuhr; he behaved as if he thought himself the highest and most distinguished of the party; and was greatly offended that Niebuhr had the care of the chest. After his death nothing of the slightest utility was found in his meagre journal.

According to Niebuhr's judgment and testimony, Forskaal was by far the most instructed of the party, and had he returned, would have attained to the highest rank among the contemporary men of science, by his manifold and profound acquirements. He had originally studied theology; his eager and free spirit had led him from Sweden to Germany; for a long time he had devoted himself to speculative metaphysics with great ardour; he likewise pursued the study of eastern languages, and at the same time as much of physics and chemistry, as well as of every branch of natural science, as was then known. The metaphysics of a mind of this stamp must have been very different from the scholastic pedantry of the time: the academical works in

which he published his speculations on these subjects passed at Gottingen for odd-in Sweden, for rather bold and flippant; it is matter of regret that we do not know them. He willingly quitted his country, where, after his return from the university, he met with hostility on every side.

He stood in need of no preparation; the proposal for the journey found him perfectly prepared, and that to a degree in which few ever become so. In laberious industry, contempt of dangers, difficulties, and privations, he resembled Niebuhr. Both felt themselves called upon to observe whatever came before them. Forskaal's learned education, however, gave him a great advantage. He acquired languages much more rapidly and perfectly, and was soon abie to read Arabic works with fluency. His faults were disputatiousness,caprice, and an irascible temper. Mutual respect and equal zeal produced a stable friendship between Niebuhr and him; but the harmony between them was not without some interruptions, until Forskaal on one occasion discovered that his companion's patience was not completely inexhaustable and impassive. Forskaal's papers have been carefully used by his friend, and what they contained of a narrative kind, or illustrative of the manners of the people,is inserted in Niebuhr's works with the author's name. Of the edition of his works on natural history we shall shortly have occasion to speak. It is painful to see how they have been neglected. Besides the systematical descriptions of new plants and their uses, they are rich in admirable observations on vegetable physiology, and in remarks on the husbandry and geological structure of the countries he traversed, particularly of Egypt, of which no such description previously existed. The late Vahl preserved and restored Forskaal's neglected herbarium, so far as it was still possible, and laboured to do justice to his memory. Linnæus manifested an odious spirit of hostility to his old pupil. Forskaal had told Niebuhr that he wished one of the species of plants he discovered (the one called Mimosella, in his Flora) to be named after himself. Niebuhr transmitted this wish of a man who had deserved immortality by his labours, to Linnæus; but instead of paying any attention to it he gave Forskaal's name to another species, also discovered by him, but which conveyed, by its appellation,