On his return Barth found plenty of work to do. From 1863 he was Professor of Geography in the University. He founded the Carl Ritter Institute, and was President of the Geographical Society. On completing his book on Africa, he carried his researches farther among the Mediterranean lands. In the autumn of 1858 he travelled over the northern half of Asia Minor, from Trebizond through Cæsarea to Scutari. In 1861 he visited Spain; in 1862, the interior of Turkey in Europe; 1863, the Alps; 1864, Italy; 1865, Turkey again. In that year he died (November 25) after two days’ illness, in the midst of most zealous work. He wrote, beside the present work, “Travels, in the Coasts Bordering the Mediterranean,” vol. i., 1849; “Journey from Trebizond to Scutari,” 1860; “Journey through the Interior of Turkey in Europe,” 1864. His great philological work on the vocabularies of Central Africa was left incomplete, only two parts having been published, 1862-63. G. T. B. PREFACE. On the 5th of October, 1849, at Berlin, Professor Carl Ritter informed me that the British Government was about to send Mr. Richardson on a mission to Central Africa, and that they had offered, through the Chevalier Bunsen, to allow a German traveller to join the mission, provided he was willing to contribute two hundred pounds for his own personal travelling expenses. I had commenced lecturing at the University of Berlin on comparative geography and the colonial commerce of antiquity, and had just at that time published the first volume of my “Wanderings Round the Mediterranean,” which comprised my journey through Barbary. Having undertaken this journey quite alone, I spent nearly my whole time with the Arabs, and familiarized myself with that state of human society where the camel is man’s daily companion, and the culture of the date-tree his chief occupation. I made long journeys through desert tracts; I travelled all round the Great Syrtis, and, passing through the picturesque little tract of Cyrenaica, traversed the whole country towards Egypt; I wandered about for above a month in the desert valleys between Aswán and Kosér, and afterwards pursued my journey by land all the way through Syria and Asia Minor to Constantinople.