Book description
Disguised as a Persian dervish, Sir Richard Burton (1821-1890) set out
to become the first Christian to penetrate the Muslim shrines of Medina
and Mecca - a reckless stunt that would have resulted in his being
executed if discovered. Endlessly observant, amused, boastful and
engaging, Burton here describes his time in Cairo (including a memorable
drinking contest with a ferocious Albanian mercenary captain), his
crossing of the Red Sea in a crazily overloaded pilgrim boat and his
arrival in the fabled Nejd. Great Journeys allows readers to travel both
around the planet and back through the centuries - but also back into
ideas and worlds frightening, ruthless and cruel in different ways from
our own. Few reading experiences can begin to match that of engaging
with writers who saw astounding things: Great civilisations, walls of
ice, violent and implacable jungles, deserts and mountains, multitudes
of birds and flowers new to science. Reading these books is to see the
world afresh, to rediscover a time when many cultures were quite strange
to each other, where legends and stories were treated as facts and in
which so much was still to be discovered. Sir Richard Francis Burton
(1821-1890) was a British explorer, spy, linguist, sexologist,
translator and writer. He was known for his travels and explorations
within Asia and Africa as well as his extraordinary knowledge of
languages and cultures.
