The Gold-Mines of Midian and the Ruined Midianite Cities. a Fortnight's
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
\ McKEW PARR COLLECTION MAGELLAN and the AGE of DISCOVERY PRESENTED TO BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY • 1961 r^ Y^, ,-^^ctusJ-c^-- If! Ufa- THE GOLD-MINES OF MIDIAN THE RUINED MIDIANITE CITIES. — — — THE INNER LIFE OF SYRIA, PALESTINE, AND THE HOLY LAND. By Mrs. Richard Burton. IVitk Photographic Portraits of Captain Burton and the Author, and with Coloured Ilhcstratiotis and Map. Second Edition, 2 vols, demy 8vo. Price 243-, "Vivid pictures of the outer as well as the Inner Life of Syria." Pall Mall Gazette. " Her account of harem life is one of the best and most truthful that has yet appeared." Academy. "Vivid, clever, and brilliant sketches of Damascus and the Mahom- medan and Christian races of Syria." Edinburgh Review. C. Kegan Paul & Co., i. Paternoster Square, London. : THE GOLD-MINES OF MIDIAN AND THE RUINED MIDIANITE CITIES. A FORTNIGHTS TOUR IN NORTH-WESTERN ARABIA. BY RICHARD F. BURTON, MEMBRE DE l'iNSTITUT EGYPTIEN. LONDON C. KEGAN PAUL & CO., i, PATERNOSTER SQUARE. 1878. — .1^ I5-O VAj / L ji\ ^C^ * ' We have the authority of Niebuhr, that the precious metals are not found or known to exist in Arabia, which has no mines either of gold or silver."— Crichton's Histojy of Arabia, ii. 403. " Namentlich sind es die Arabir, welche den grossten Theil des in Alterthum vorhandenen Goldes unter die menschen geschlendert haben."—Sprenger, Alte Geographic, etc., p. 299. " Peregrinatio notitiam dabit gentium, novas tibi montium formas ostendit, inusitata spatia camporum et ii-riguas perennibus aquis valles, et alicujus fluminis sub observatione naturam. " L. Anncei SenectE, Epist. civ. HIS HIGHNESS ISMAIL I., KHEDIV OF EGYPT, A RULER WHOSE LOVE OF PROGRESS AND WHOSE PRINCELY HOSPITALITY HAVE MADE THE NILE-VALLEY, ONCE MORE, THE RESORT OF SCIENCE • AND THE DELIGHT OF TRAVELLERS, Cfjese ^agfs ARE RESPECTFULLY AND GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED. 197679 TO THE READER. The present publication should be considered a sequel and a continuation of my " Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah," from which the adven- ture forming its subject may be said to date. I have, therefore, dwelt at some length upon the mighty changes, the growths, and the developments of the last quarter century, which has produced the "Greater Egypt" of the present day: contenting myself, however, with contrasting the actual Alex- andria, Cairo, and Suez with my descriptions of the same places in 1853-54. The tale of the Mining-Cities of Midian reads, they say, like a leaf from the "Arabian Nights." Yet it is sober truth. My object has been to avoid, as much as possible, all play of fancy and the exag- gerations of an explorer's enthusiasm. It is hardly necessary to state that my assertions are borne out viii TO THE READER. by the Report of the Mineralogists officially ap- pointed by H.M. the Viceroy of Egypt: and the labours of H.E. Gastinel-Bey and of M. George Marie have been carefully consulted before sending this volume to print. How little is known of the country may be learned from the words of my friend Professor Aloys Sprenger,* the most scientific topographer of " Arabia : Es (die Station in oder bei Ayntani) ist reich an Palmen, trieb einst Feldbau, und es gibt Stellen, wo man {in Rmnen ?) Gold fand." The mineral wealth of the land is equally ignored by the savajtt Herr Albrecht Zehme,t the most modern geographical and historical "Sketcher" of the Penin- sula. Finally, the heart of Ancient Midian was Rlippell in traversed by Dr. Edward 182 6, J and by Dr. George Aug. Wallin in 1847 ;§ not to mention such names as Burckhardt, Wellsted, and (| Lieutenant (I.N.) Carless, who also surveyed the coast under Captain Moresby (I.N.), and my old * Vdige 22, Die alte Geographie Arabiens. Bern. Huber, 1875. t Ai'abien und die Araber seit hundert Jahren. Halle, 1875. X Reisen in Nubien Kerdofa?i, etc. i vol. Wilmans, Frank- furt, A.M. 1829. § *' Notes taken during a Journey through part of Northern Arabia:" Journal R.G.S., vol. xx. of 1850. " Lieutenant R., Travels in Arabia." 2 vols. London : II J. Murray, 1838. TO THE READER. ix and lamented friend Dr. Beke, whose last writings are quoted in a note to chap. xii. Yet, apparently, none of them ever fanned a pound of sand, broke a stone, or noticed an atom of metal. It is not easy to explain how a naturalist like Ruppell could overlook the structure of the rocks, and pass through the old Ophir without suspecting the existence of the masses of metal around and below him. But at that time he was a fresh arrival, and the completely novel aspects of oriental scenery and life possibly bewildered him. / Those who remember their sensations during their first month in India will understand what I mean. As regards the Ruined Cities, he was evidently not allowed to visit them by his escort, the Huwaytat—in those days a somewhat turbulent and dangerous tribe, fond of domineering^ over strangle visitors. With respect to the gold in quartz and porphyry, Sprenger suggests, with much probability, that Ruppell, like the men of his day, some twenty years before the discoveries in California and Australia awoke the attention of the world, never dreamt of such trea- sures and paid no attention to the geological features which denote the presence of the precious metal. The other travellers seem to have been wholly innocent of natural history. X TO THE READER. Gold has been connected with our earhest ideas of the Arabian peninsula, since William, the bio- grapher of Thomas Becket, said, " Araby sends us gold." All have read in youth of \\\^ plenas Arabum domos, and Icci beatis nunc Arabum invides gazis. We, the members of the Khedivial Expedition, feel not a little proud of our new work in an old land ; and we may rejoice in having added a name to the long list of mines and places given by the exhaustive Professor Sprenger. The Reconnaissance, to call it by its true title, was hurriedly organized, while the advancing hot season left us little time for making collections. The choicest samples of metals were submitted, after return, to H.H. the Khediv; and the rest of the samples were sent for analysis to the Laboratory in the Cairene Citadel. My bottle full of reptiles and insects was forwarded to Dr. Smith of the British Museum; the land-shells of Wady Aynunah to Mr. Priory, J. Gwyn Jeffreys of Ware Herts, who has so often lent me his valuable assistance ; and a few sheets of dried plants, after being inspected by my friend and fellow-traveller. Dr. Carlo de Marchesetti of Trieste, were transmitted to Professor Balfour of Edinburgh. The photographed inscription found on the march to the " White Mountain " was sub- TO THE READER. xi mitted to Professor Sprenger, to Dr. Socin of Bale, and to Mr. C. Knight Watson, of Burlington House. Finally, Mr. Reginald Stuart Poole, Keeper of the Coins at the British Museum, obligingly transcribed for me the Kufic inscription upon the glass piece bought at Burj Ziba. My many other obligations acknowledged in the following pages have been ; and, if any have been neglected, I would here offer an apology. The matter of the volume may be considered virtually new. After the return of the Expedition to Egypt a few brief and scattered notices appeared in the Press of England and the Continent. The information had been gathered by "interviewing," and nothing appeared under my own name. For this mystery there were reasons which now no longer exist. I therefore place the whole recital before the Public, without reserve or after-thought, merely warning it that my volume begins with the begin- ning of a subject which will probably go far. When these pages shall be in the reader's hands, I shall once more be examining the " Land of Midian;" attempting, under the auspices of His Highness the Viceroy of Egypt, to investigate the particulars of which the generals are here described ; xii TO THE READER. to trace the streams of wealth to their hidden sources ; and to begin the scrutiny to which all such exploring feats should lead. I have therefore left the MS. in the hands of my wife, who has undertaken to see it through the Press. V PREFACE. Dear Reader, Captain Burton is in Arabia, in the Land of Midian, once more, and I am left behind—much against the grain — in order to bring this book through the Press, that you may know what was done last year ; and besides the hopes of pleasing you, the thought that I am contributing the only service in my power towards his great undertaking makes me bear my disappointment quietly. My task will be finished in a few days, and I shall then take the first steamer from Trieste to Suez, where I hope to be allowed to join the Expedition. The volume you are about to read requires but little explanation. Captain Burton, in his old Arab days, wandering about with his Koran, came upon this "Gold Land," though I remark that in his recital he modestly gives the credit to others. xiv PREFACE. He was a romantic youth, with a chivalrous con- tempt for " filthy lucre," and only thought of " winning- his spurs." So, setting a mark upon the spot, he turned away and passed on. A foreigner will exclaim, "How EngHsh!" when he reads that he kept his secret for twenty-five years, and that when he saw Egypt in distress for gold, the same chivalry which made him disdain it before, made him ask leave to go to Egypt, seek H.H.