[Footnote 6: 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.”] [Footnote 7: For these names see _Numbers,_ c. 21, 32.] [Footnote 8: Twat is a country surrounded by the Great Desert, in the road from Fezzan to Timbuctou.] [Footnote 9: The Danish scientific mission to Arabia in the year 1761, consisted of five persons. Niebuhr was the only one who returned to Copenhagen.] [Footnote 10: The Bahr el Azrak, or Blue river, is called Bahr el Akhdar by Makrizi, the Arabian historian.] [Footnote 11: قُرنه, This word means “Corner,” as being at the north-west angle of the mountain, where it takes a more eastern direction.] [Footnote 12: Pococke has led travellers into error by calling this place Medinet Abou, “the city of the father.” If such had been the meaning of the name, it would have been Medinet el Ab. But, in fact, Habou was, according to tradition, an ancient king, of whom many wonderful stories are told; and it is the firm belief of the natives, that the object of the French expedition was to find out the treasures of Habou. The Arabs, who inhabit Thebes and the adjacent country, are originally Moggrebyns.]