approbation of the past. The same unfavourable circumstances continued, when the "TRAVELS AMONG THE ARAB TRIBES" Succeeded: but these also met with a reception so favourable, as to make me think more lightly of the obstacles which had hitherto impeded my progress than I had before felt justified in doing.

These disadvantages no longer exist. A severe and patient investigation, extended through nearly four years, into the accumulated and reiterated charges, by which the rivals as well as enemies of my reputation had endeavoured to impress the world with an opinion of my bad faith as an author, my worthlessness as a man, and my utter incompetency as a Traveller, either to observe accurately what I heard and saw, or to describe intelligibly even the ordinary objects of curiosity or interest, has led to the most satisfactory result. Two of the individuals who first dared to give utterance to these

aspersions, have, in a British Court of Justice, voluntarily confessed their falsehood, apologized for their misconduct, and submitted to verdicts being recorded against them; and the third has been convicted, before a crowded tribunal, and a jury of his countrymen, of being a false, scandalous, and malicious libeller, by a verdict which adjudged him to pay Four Hundred Pounds damages, and his full portion of the expenses of the legal proceedings, the whole of which, on the three actions tried, are understood to be upwards of Five Thousand Pounds sterling.

The details of the origin, progress, and termination of these trials, are given, for the satisfaction of the curious, in an APPENDIX at the end of the present volume. It is here thought sufficient, therefore, merely to record the fact, in order that the reader may be satisfied, before he enters on the perusal of the present Work, that its author, whatever may be his qualifications, is at least innocent of

the charges framed and propagated by his accusers, and is worthy of the faith and confidence of his fellow-countrymen, as to the originality and fidelity of his descriptions and details. For the rest, he cheerfully submits this portion of his labours, as he has always readily done every other, to the ordeal of Public Opinion, to be neglected, censured, or approved, as its defects or merits may determine.

The circumstances under which this Journey was entered upon and completed being fully explained in the Narrative itself, it is only necessary to premise, that it was performed without the pleasure, and advantage of a European friend, companion, interpreter, servant, or attendant of any sort; that the dress, manners, and language of the country, were adopted, and continued throughout the whole of the way; and that the utmost care was taken to ensure as much accuracy as was attainable, by recording all the observations

that suggested themselves while fresh on the memory, and amid the scenes and events which gave them birth.

It would scarcely be imagined, by those who have not taken the trouble to consult the authors whose accounts of this country exist, how scanty and imperfect is the information they collectively contain on the state and condition of Mesopotamia, even at the periods in which they wrote. Whether it was, that the difficulty of penetrating across its desert tracts, which has always been considerable, occupied all the attention of travellers in providing for their personal safety-or, that journeying as subjects of a different nation, and a different faith, they were unable to escape sufficiently from the observation of those around them, to record their researches without interruption-it is not easy to determine. Perhaps both of these causes may have operated to prevent their bringing away with them the ample details which it has been my good for

of which so little has been said by ancient travellers, and still less by modern ones, I considered that abundance, and even minuteness of detail, would be an error on the safe side; and, under this impression, I have permitted my observations, made on the way, to remain with little or no retrenchment: the opportunities of writing, which I enjoyed during this protracted journey, ren-. dering it unnecessary to wait for further leisure, for the purpose of adding illustrations, or filling up the outline of the Narrative written on the spot.

Journal of the Route was,

Such as the

therefore, on

terminating the Journey at Bagdad, such is it now presented to the Reader; and if he should, from this state of the Narrative, be enabled to enter more readily into the views, and participate more freely in the feelings, of the writer, it cannot fail to increase the pleasure of both.

The Map of Mesopotamia, with a Sketch of