TRAVELS OF THOMAS I.EGH middle ages the Turkish lords of Egypt claimed the right of exercising jurisdiction over Ibrim, and they certainly sent there civil and military officers who attempted to rule over the natives ; the right was, however, of a very shadowy kind, and the Turkish rule was ineffective except, when supported by force, in squeezing gifts from the wretched and half-starved population.

The examination of Ibrim and its remains did not occupy Mr. Legh for many hours, and tinding that the Second Cataract was still a journey of three days to the south, and that there was no food to be had in the neighbourhood, and thinking it hopeless to attempt to penetrate into a country where money began to be of little use, he determined to return to Derr, and to make his way down the Nile. He had, moreover, with him no merchandise which he could barter with the natives, and there was the risk, it he proceeded further south, that he might fall in with some of the Mamluks and their followers, and lose all his clothes, money, and provisions. Everywhere on his journey back to Aswan the natives treated him with civility, and the Egyptians between the First Cataract and Cairo rendered him every assistance, and brought dates, milk, eggs, &c., whenever they were called upon to do so.

It is clear that a considerable change had come over the country since Norden's days, but to have travelled nearly 900 miles up the Nile in 1813 was a feat which any traveller might regard with complacency in the first quarter of the 19th century.

Whilst Mr. Legh was engaged in ascending the Nile, the famous Orientalist and traveller John Lewis Burckhardt was in Cairo planning a journey into the Nubian desert, and arranging to follow the course of the Nile to the Third Cataract. Burckhardt was born at Lausanne in 1784. At the age of sixteen he entered the University of Leipzig, where he studied for four years; from Leipzig he went to Gottingen, which he left in 1805, and then went to Basle. He came to London in 1806, and made an offer of his services to the African Association through Sir Joseph Banks and the Rev. Dr. Hamilton. His offer was accepted by the Association in May, 1808, and in January, 1809, he received instructions from its officials as to the mission on which they had decided to send him. As soon as he had offered his services to the Association he employed himself with great 29