Salvete Omnes,
with the post today I would like to bring to your attention the writings of James Silk Buckingham (1786-1855) who in the 1810s made a longish, because it was divided into longer and shorter side trips and excursions, journey starting by ship from Cairo, Egypt, arriving in Ottoman Palestine and then across Western Asia on horseback to Calcutta et al., in British-occupied India.
Master James was a polyglot, fine horseman and brave man, curious about the country and people, and for our purpose also a prolific & willing writer, and thus he wrote numerous pages about his long and adventurous journey across the Western Asia, and had them published in many volumes (all available on Archive world library). So the volume these excerpts come from it titled Travels in Mesopotamia et al, in two volumes, published in 1827.
I decided to bring you, fellow net traveler, to this book first as it contains interesting fragments about the timeless caravan journey across the land we all know as the Fertile Crescent or Mesopotamia.
In the Spring of 1816 our 'Traveller' (original spelling in the book) was in Aleppo, then part of Ottoman Syria, having traveled across Palestine and visited the Arab Bedouin tribes of the Syrian desert, when he decided to join a caravan from Aleppo going southerly to Mosul on the Tigris River in Ottoman Iraq and further down into the Persian realms. In that Spring there was but one 'small' caravan going there, as the big annual caravan was scheduled to leave in September of that year.
So our 'Traveller' was introduced to a merchant from Mosul one Hadjee Abd-el-Rakham, freshly in Aleppo from a pilgrimage cum trading to Mecca. Master Hadjee admitted our James into his party, on one condition that 'he should conform himself, in very respect, to Hadhee's advice and direction, and to take no servant,' just one horse and necessities: like money, arms, personal native costume & other needful things - see below:
fountain near Aleppo |
In this passage James explained why he joined the caravan mode of travel across the Ottoman country, instead of going individually.
Ten to fifteen miles per day, 4-6 hours a day or so, two miles per hour speed must have been difficult, but Mr Buckingham went on explaining his mode of coping with the slowness, -
and in such manner they went on day after day, allowing James Buckingham to observe, take notesand have adventures along the way.
to be continued ..
Valete
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