government of India, by which I was so unjustly, without a trial or a hearing, banished from that country, while I was proceeding in an action for damages against those slanderers, in the Supreme Court of Justice at Calcutta ; when, no justification being in the slightest degree proved, damages were awarded against them accordingly. These remarkable documents, placed as they are in illustrative juxtaposition, will, it is hoped, reward the attention of even the most indolent and indifferent; and it is, therefore, with a view to lessen the chances of their escaping the reader's attention, that I advert to them so pointedly in the Preface; again repeating my urgent request, that he will examine the evidence therein developed, for himself, and let it have its due weight on his mind, in estimating the real merits of the question. I pass from this subject, to advert to a few of the more prominent circumstances connected with the preparation of the present volume, and on which I desire to found my claim to some degree of indulgence for any imperfections which it may be supposed to display. The notes of the journey, copious as they were in their original form, were taken under all the disadvantages of Asiatic travelling, which are now so well known as to require little more than a bare mention a bare mention to be immediately understood. They continued in this state, from the period of their being first made in 1816, up to the moment of my quitting India in 1823. The same may be said of the sketches, which were rude and a imperfect even at first, as I never pretended to greater skill in this, than the capacity to preserve a general idea, in outline, of remarkable buildings and striking views, and never intended these for any thing more than to assist my memory in preserving more accurate recollections of the scenes to which they related. It must be evident, however, that after a lapse of seven years, (my mind, during that period, being wholly engrossed with pursuits of so different a nature, that these had never any share whatever in my thoughts,) the difficulty of retouching, enlarging, and filling up, either the one or the other class of such materials, must be extremely great. With this conviction, I preferred not attempting it to any extensive degree; and though I feel that this will be considered a defect in the estimation of those who desire to see all works sent from the hands of their authors in the most polished state; yet, to those who value Books of Travels chiefly for the vivid freshness and reality of the descriptions, and the rigorous fidelity with which impressions received on the spot are preserved, I am also persuaded that this roughness and boldness of the original picture will be far more acceptable than a more highly polished tablet, in which the spirit might have been refined away by too much care in the subsequent retouching. The original notes were put into form for publication, with such slight emendations only as the connection of the narrative required, on my late voyage from India to England; and, as I was then altogether without books of reference connected with the countries to which these notes relate, there are much fewer illustrations and quotations from older writers in the present volume than in the former one. The abundance of these was urged by some, indeed, as giving the Travels in Palestine too learned and heavy a character for a volume aiming at popularity. Such a defect (if indeed it be one), will not at least be observable in the present; though I have not wholly overlooked the interest which such illustrations, when sparingly and appropriately given, possess even for the general reader, and have accordingly introduced them where they appeared to me most required. way. The map of Syria, with the route pursued by me through it, has been constructed by Mr. Sydney Hall, from the manuscript journals of my track, and from the numerous sets of bearings and distances taken by me at almost every station of note on the It will be found to include a considerable number of places, the names of which are entirely new, and the positions of which occupy points that were hitherto blank in our best maps of the country in which they are situated. The Vignettes at the head of the Chapters were drawn partly from rude sketches made on the spot by myself; partly from written descriptions of particular scenes, carefully noted in sight of them, and afterwards embodied into form; and in a very few instances from portions only of the beautiful views of Casas, in the western parts of Syria; which will still be new to the greatest number of English readers. These last, however, do not amount to more than six out of the twenty-eight which the present volume contains.* They are all appropriately illustrative of the * They are those at Chapters 1. 20. 21. 23. 26. 27.;-and are thus purposely indicated to prevent misrepresentation. costume, architecture, manners, and natural scenery of the several portions of country described in the chapters to which they are prefixed, and as such it is hoped that they will be approved. The whole of these have been drawn on the wood, by W. H. Brooke, Esq., of Percy Street, an artist of the most distinguished and justly deserved celebrity in this particular branch of his profession, and of exquisite taste and great power in every other department of the labours of the pencil. They have been engraved by different hands, and vary, therefore, in the merit of their execution; but even in this respect they are generally so well executed that they cannot fail to be acceptable. The greatest attraction of the present volume, will, however, undoubtedly be its containing the fullest and most accurate descriptions of numerous ruined towns and cities in the Great Plain of the Hauran, the ancient Auranites, the very names of many of which have not before been made public; as well as faithful pictures of the state of manners in these highly interesting and almost untrodden regions, which are likely to afford matter of agreeable consideration to readers of all classes. In the hope that this portion of my labours will be found still more worthy than preceding ones of the approbation of the world, I consign it to the tribunal of public opinion, to receive its just sentence of neglect, of censure, or of praise. J. S. BUCKINGHAM. Cornwall Terrace, Regent's Park, |