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[Illustration: JAMES RICHARDSON ESQ^R.
             _In the Ghadamsee Costume._
ENGRAVED BY GEORGE COOK FROM THE ORIGINAL DRAWING.
            London: Richard Bentley, 1848.]



TRAVELS

IN

THE GREAT DESERT
OF SAHARA,

IN THE YEARS OF 1845 AND 1846.

CONTAINING

A NARRATIVE OF PERSONAL ADVENTURES, DURING A TOUR OF NINE
MONTHS THROUGH THE DESERT, AMONGST THE TOUARICKS
AND OTHER TRIBES OF SAHARAN PEOPLE;

INCLUDING A DESCRIPTION OF

THE OASES AND CITIES OF GHAT, GHADAMES,
AND MOURZUK.

BY JAMES RICHARDSON.

Φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
M.D.CCC.XLVIII.

LONDON
HARRISON AND CO., PRINTERS,
ST. MARTIN'S LANE.

[Illustration: MAP _ILLUSTRATING_ THE TRAVELS AND RESEARCHES _OF
JAMES RICHARDSON IN_ THE GREAT DESERT OF SAHARA _BY_ JAMES WYLD
_GEOGRAPHER TO THE QUEEN London, Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street,
1848._ ENGRAVED BY J. WYLD, CHARING CROSS EAST]




INTRODUCTION.


THE sentiment of Antiquity--that "The life of no man is pleasing to the
gods which is not useful to his fellows,"--has been my guiding principle
of action during the last twelve years of my life. To live for my own
simple and sole gratification, to have no other object in view but my own
personal profit and renown, would be to me an intolerable existence. To
be useful, or to attempt to be useful, in my day and generation, was the
predominant motive which led me into The Desert, and sustained me there,
alone and unprotected, during a long and perilous journey.

But, in presenting this work to the British public, I have to state, that
it is only _supplementary_ and _fragmentary_. If, therefore, any one were
to judge of the results of my Saharan Tour merely by what is here given,
he would do me a great injustice. I had expected, by this time, that
certain Reports on the Commerce and Geography of The Great Desert, as
well as a large Map of the Routes of this part of Africa, would have been
given to the public. It is not my fault that their publication is still
delayed. I can only regret it, because what I am now publishing comes
_first_, instead of _last_, and consequently deranges my plan, the
following pages being, indeed, _supplementary_ to the Reports and Map. I
come, therefore, before the public with no small disadvantage.

With regard to these supplementary and fragmentary extracts from my
journal, I have also to state, they consist only of about two-thirds of
the journal. For the present, I deemed it prudent to suppress the rest.
But this likewise may disturb the harmony and mar the completeness of the
work. However, if these portions of the journal are favourably received,
other extracts may yet be published.

On entering The Desert, my principal object was to ascertain how and to
what extent the Saharan Slave-Trade was carried on; although but a
comparatively small portion of the following pages is devoted to this
subject. I have already reported fully on this traffic, and it was
unnecessary to go over the ground again, which might defeat, by
disagreeable repetitions and endless details, the object which I have in
view,--that of exciting an abhorrence of the Slave-Trade in the hearts of
my fellow countrymen and countrywomen.

In these published extracts from my journal, I have endeavoured to give a
truthful and faithful picture of the Saharan Tribes; their ideas,
thoughts, words, and actions; and, where convenient, I have allowed them
to speak and act for themselves. This is the main object which I have
undertaken to accomplish in this Narrative of my Personal Adventures in
The Sahara. The public must, and will, I doubt not, judge how far I have
succeeded, and award me praise or blame, as may be my desert. If I have
failed, I shall not abandon myself to despair, but shall console myself
with the thought that I have done the best I was able to do under actual
circumstances, and in my then state of health. It would, indeed, ill
become me