The text has been carefully revised, and the “baggage of notes” has been materially lightened.1 From the Appendix I have removed matter which, though useful to the student, is of scant2 general interest. The quaint3 and interesting “Narrative and Voyages of Ludovicus Vertomannus, Gentleman of Rome,” need no longer be read in extracts, when the whole has been printed by the Hakluyt Society. (The Travels of Ludovico di Varthema in Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Arabia Felix, in Persia, India, and Ethiopia, A.D. 1503 to 1508. Translated from the original Italian edition of 1510, with a Preface by John Winter Jones, Esq., F.S.A., and edited, with notes and an Introduction, by George Percy Badger4, late Government Chaplain in the Presidency5 of Bombay. London.) On the other hand, I have inserted after the Appendix, with the permission of the author, two highly interesting communications from Dr. Aloys Sprenger, the well-known Orientalist and Arabist, concerning the routes of the Great Caravans6. My friend supports his suspicions that an error of direction has been made, and geographers7 will enjoy the benefit of his conscientious8 studies, topographical and linguistic9.
The truculent10 attacks made upon pilgrims and Darwayshes call for a few words of notice. Even that learned and amiable11 philanthropist, the late Dr. John Wilson of Bombay (“Lands of the Bible,” vol. ii., p. 302) alludes12, in the case of the Spaniard Badia, alias13 Ali Bey al-Abbasi, to the “unjustifiable fanciful disguise of a Mohammedan Pilgrim.” The author of the Ruddy Goose Theory (“Voice of Israel from Mount Sinai”) and compiler of the “Historical Geography of Arabia” has dealt a foul15 blow to the memory of Burckhardt, the energetic and inoffensive Swiss traveller, whose name has ever been held in the highest repute. And now the “Government Chaplain” indites16 (Introduction, p. xxvii.) the following invidious remarks touching17 the travels of Ludovico di Varthema — the vir Deo carus, be it remarked, of the learned and laical Julius Caesar Scaliger:
“This is not the place to discuss the morality of an act involving the deliberate and voluntary denial of what a man holds to be truth in a matter so sacred as that of Religion. Such a violation18 of conscience is not justifiable14 by the end which the renegade (!) may have in view, however abstractedly praiseworthy it may be; and even granting that his demerit should be gauged20 by the amount of knowledge which he possesses of what is true and what false, the conclusion is inevitable21, that nothing short of utter ignorance of the precepts22 of his faith, or a conscientious disbelief in them, can fairly relieve the Christian23, who conforms to Islamism without a corresponding persuasion24 of its verity25, of the deserved odium all honest men attach to apostasy26 and hypocrisy27.”
The reply to this tirade28 is simply, “Judge not; especially when you are ignorant of the case which you are judging.” Perhaps also the writer may ask himself, Is it right for those to cast stones who dwell in a tenement29 not devoid30 of fragility? The second attack proceeds from a place whence no man would reasonably have expected it. The author of the “Narrative of a Year’s Journey through Central and Eastern Arabia” (vol. i., pp. 258-59) thus expresses his opinions:—
“Passing oneself off for a wandering Darweesh, as some European explorers have attempted to do in the East, is for more reasons than one a very bad plan. It is unnecessary to dilate31 on that moral aspect of the proceeding32 which will always first strike unsophisticated minds. To feign33 a religion which the adventurer himself does not believe, to perform with scrupulous34 exactitude, as of the highest and holiest import, practices which he inwardly ridicules35, and which he intends on his return to hold up to the ridicule36 of others, to turn for weeks and months together the most sacred and awful bearings of man towards his Creator into a deliberate and truthless mummery, not to mention other and yet darker touches, — all this seems hardly compatible with the character of a European gentleman, let alone that of a Christian.”
This comes admirably a propos from a traveller who, born a Protestant, of Jewish descent, placed himself “in connection with,” in plain words took the vows37 of, “the order of the Jesuits,” an order “well-known in the annals of philanthropic daring”; a popular preacher who declaimed openly at Bayrut and elsewhere against his own nation, till the proceedings38 of a certain Father Michael Cohen were made the subject of an official report by Mr. Consul-General Moore (Bayrut, November 11, 1857); an Englishman by birth who accepted French protection, a secret mission, and the “liberality of the present Emperor of the French”; a military officer travelling in the garb39 of what he calls a native (Syrian) “quack40” with a comrade who “by a slight but necessary fiction passed for his brother-in-law2”; a gentleman who by return to Protestantism violated his vows, and a traveller who was proved by the experiment of Colonel (now Sir Lewis) Pelly to have brought upon himself all the perils41 and adventures that have caused his charming work to be considered so little worthy19 of trust. Truly such attack argues a sublime42 daring. It is the principle of “vieille coquette, nouvelle devote”; it is Satan preaching against Sin. Both writers certainly lack the “giftie” to see themselves as others see them.
In noticing these extracts my object is not to defend myself: I recognize no man’s right to interfere43 between a human being and his conscience. But what is there, I would ask, in the Moslem44 Pilgrimage so offensive to Christians45 — what makes it a subject of “inward ridicule”? Do they not also venerate46 Abraham, the Father of the Faithful? Did not Locke, and even greater names, hold Mohammedans to be heterodox Christians, in fact Arians who, till the end of the fourth century, represented the mass of North-European Christianity? Did Mr. Lane neverconform by praying at a Mosque47 in Cairo? did he ever fear to confess it? has he been called an apostate48 for so doing? Did not Father Michael Cohen prove himself an excellent Moslem at Wahhabi-land?
The fact is, there are honest men who hold that Al-Islam, in its capital tenets, approaches much nearer to the faith of Jesus than do the Pauline and Athanasian modifications49 which, in this our day, have divided the Indo-European mind into Catholic and Roman, Greek and Russian, Lutheran and Anglican. The disciples50 of Dr. Daniel Schenkel’s school (“A Sketch51 of the Character of Jesus,” Longmans, 1869) will indeed find little difficulty in making this admission. Practically, a visit after Arab Meccah to Angle-Indian Aden, with its “priests after the order of Melchisedeck,” suggested to me that the Moslem may be more tolerant, more enlightened, more charitable, than many societies of self-styled Christians.
And why rage so furiously against the “disguise of a wandering Darwaysh?” In what point is the Darwaysh more a mummer or in what does he show more of betise than the quack? Is the Darwaysh anything but an Oriental Freemason, and are Freemasons less Christians because they pray with Moslems and profess52 their belief in simple unitarianism?
I have said. And now to conclude.
After my return to Europe, many inquired if I was not the only living European who has found his way to the Head Quarters of the Moslem Faith. I may answer in the affirmative, so far, at least, that when entering the penetralia of Moslem life my Eastern origin was never questioned, and my position was never what cagots would describe as in loco apostatae.
On the other hand, any Jew, Christian, or Pagan, after declaring before the Kazi and the Police Authorities at Cairo, or even at Damascus, that he embraces Al-Islam, may perform, without fear of the so-called Mosaic53 institution, “Al-Sunnah,” his pilgrimage in all safety. It might be dangerous to travel down the Desert-line between Meccah and Al-Madinah during times of popular excitement; but the coast route is always safe. To the “new Moslem,” however, the old Moslem is rarely well affected54; and the former, as a rule, returns home unpleasantly impressed by his experiences.
The Eastern world moves slowly — eppur si muove. Half a generation ago steamers were first started to Jeddah: now we hear of a projected railroad from that port to Meccah, the shareholders55 being all Moslems. And the example of Jerusalem encourages us to hope that long before the end of the century a visit to Meccah will not be more difficult than a trip to Hebron.
Ziyadeh hadd-i-adab!
RICHARD F. BURTON.
London, 31st March, 1879.
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1 lapse | |
n.过失,流逝,失效,抛弃信仰,间隔;vi.堕落,停止,失效,流逝;vt.使失效 | |
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2 scant | |
adj.不充分的,不足的;v.减缩,限制,忽略 | |
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3 quaint | |
adj.古雅的,离奇有趣的,奇怪的 | |
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4 badger | |
v.一再烦扰,一再要求,纠缠 | |
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5 presidency | |
n.总统(校长,总经理)的职位(任期) | |
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6 caravans | |
(可供居住的)拖车(通常由机动车拖行)( caravan的名词复数 ); 篷车; (穿过沙漠地带的)旅行队(如商队) | |
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7 geographers | |
地理学家( geographer的名词复数 ) | |
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8 conscientious | |
adj.审慎正直的,认真的,本着良心的 | |
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9 linguistic | |
adj.语言的,语言学的 | |
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10 truculent | |
adj.野蛮的,粗野的 | |
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11 amiable | |
adj.和蔼可亲的,友善的,亲切的 | |
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12 alludes | |
提及,暗指( allude的第三人称单数 ) | |
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13 alias | |
n.化名;别名;adv.又名 | |
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14 justifiable | |
adj.有理由的,无可非议的 | |
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15 foul | |
adj.污秽的;邪恶的;v.弄脏;妨害;犯规;n.犯规 | |
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16 indites | |
vt.写(文章,信等)创作,赋诗,创作(indite的第三人称单数形式) | |
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17 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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18 violation | |
n.违反(行为),违背(行为),侵犯 | |
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19 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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20 gauged | |
adj.校准的;标准的;量规的;量计的v.(用仪器)测量( gauge的过去式和过去分词 );估计;计量;划分 | |
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21 inevitable | |
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的 | |
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22 precepts | |
n.规诫,戒律,箴言( precept的名词复数 ) | |
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23 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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24 persuasion | |
n.劝说;说服;持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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25 verity | |
n.真实性 | |
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26 apostasy | |
n.背教,脱党 | |
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27 hypocrisy | |
n.伪善,虚伪 | |
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28 tirade | |
n.冗长的攻击性演说 | |
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29 tenement | |
n.公寓;房屋 | |
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30 devoid | |
adj.全无的,缺乏的 | |
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31 dilate | |
vt.使膨胀,使扩大 | |
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32 proceeding | |
n.行动,进行,(pl.)会议录,学报 | |
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33 feign | |
vt.假装,佯作 | |
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34 scrupulous | |
adj.审慎的,小心翼翼的,完全的,纯粹的 | |
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35 ridicules | |
n.嘲笑( ridicule的名词复数 );奚落;嘲弄;戏弄v.嘲笑,嘲弄,奚落( ridicule的第三人称单数 ) | |
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36 ridicule | |
v.讥讽,挖苦;n.嘲弄 | |
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37 vows | |
誓言( vow的名词复数 ); 郑重宣布,许愿 | |
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38 proceedings | |
n.进程,过程,议程;诉讼(程序);公报 | |
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39 garb | |
n.服装,装束 | |
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40 quack | |
n.庸医;江湖医生;冒充内行的人;骗子 | |
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41 perils | |
极大危险( peril的名词复数 ); 危险的事(或环境) | |
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42 sublime | |
adj.崇高的,伟大的;极度的,不顾后果的 | |
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43 interfere | |
v.(in)干涉,干预;(with)妨碍,打扰 | |
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44 Moslem | |
n.回教徒,穆罕默德信徒;adj.回教徒的,回教的 | |
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45 Christians | |
n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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46 venerate | |
v.尊敬,崇敬,崇拜 | |
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47 mosque | |
n.清真寺 | |
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48 apostate | |
n.背叛者,变节者 | |
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49 modifications | |
n.缓和( modification的名词复数 );限制;更改;改变 | |
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50 disciples | |
n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 );门徒;耶稣的信徒;(尤指)耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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51 sketch | |
n.草图;梗概;素描;v.素描;概述 | |
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52 profess | |
v.声称,冒称,以...为业,正式接受入教,表明信仰 | |
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53 mosaic | |
n./adj.镶嵌细工的,镶嵌工艺品的,嵌花式的 | |
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54 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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55 shareholders | |
n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 ) | |
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