Arabian Horse In History by Arabian Horse Times

ARABIAN HORSE IN HISTORY

On The Road To Kingdom Come

John Lewis Burckhardt:

by Andrew K. Steen

ARABIAN HORSE IN HISTORY

On The Road To Kingdom Come

John Lewis Burckhardt:

by Andrew K. Steen

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Arabian Horse Times • February 2009

IN THE MOUNTAINS OF TAIF Mohammed Ali, ever cautious, gave orders that his petitioner, whom he knew only as Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdullah, was to bypass Mecca. The guide assigned to Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdullah (a.k.a. John Lewis Burckhardt) was unaware of those orders and led his charge to the very outskirts of the city, giving the European-in-disguise a rare view of its overall appearance. Burckhardt found Mohammed Ali at the ruined castle of Sheikh Ghaleb, seated in a large salon, with the Bosari, Cadi of Mecca on one side and Albanian general Hassan Pasha on the opposite. A number of Bedouin chiefs sat in a half circle in front of them. After concluding his business, Mohammed Ali excused everyone but the Cadi, the physician Bosari, and Burckhardt, who later acknowledged that: “Mohammed Ali knew well, in the Hedjaz, that I was no Muslim, but took no action.” Mohammed Ali voiced his apprehension that with Tsar Alexander’s capture of Paris and Napoleon’s exile, Great Britain would now turn its attentions toward the Middle East and invade Egypt, much as the French had done in 1798. He studied The British Spy with great interest, but Burckhardt’s proposed trip to Mecca was never mentioned. For 10 days, Burckhardt remained in what he later described as polite imprisonment, an unwilling guest of the Cadi, who had been assigned to learn his visitor’s true identity and the real object of his mission. Burckhardt resolved to escape by making a nuisance of himself. He took over the best sleeping room, and requested his meals at the most inconvenient times. During prayers, he chanted the longest chapters he knew from the Koran, much to Bosari’s bewilderment. As a good Moslem, Bosari could not refuse his guest’s requests; however, he could expedite him on his way. At length, the physician became so weary of Burckhardt’s company that he sent him on his journey to Mecca. THE ARABIAN HORSE OF THE HEDJAZ AND YEMEN From Taif, in the mountains east of Mecca, Burckhardt departed with three Albanian soldiers who had pooled their resources of 1,000 Spanish dollars, to speculate with the money in Mecca. Traversing the pilgrim route through the mountains of the Hedjaz, Burckhardt took note of the region’s military and equine resources: “The large tribes of the Zohran, Ghamed, Shomran, Asyr, and Abyda, of which each can muster from six to eight thousand firelocks: their principle strength consists of matchlocks,” he wrote. [Note: The firelock and matchlock were early styles of muskets, so named for the design of

Arabian Horse Times • February 2009

THE ARABIAN HORSE

IN HISTORY

The horses taken in 1810, from the defeated troops of the Pasha of Baghdad, were all sold by them to the horse-dealers of Nejed, and by the latter to the Arabs of Yemen; who are not, it may be here observed, by any means so ... fastidious in choosing blood horses as their northern neighbors.”

Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdullah (a.k.a. John Lewis Burckhardt)

their firing mechanisms.] “Horses are but few in these mountains; yet the Kahtan, Refeydha, and Abyda tribes, who likewise spread over the plains, possess the good Koheyl breed.” Through his conversations, Burckhardt also gained information about the horses of the regions south of Mecca: “The Im·n of Sana, and all the governors of Yemen, derive an annual supply of horses from Nedjed, and the inhabitants of the sea-coast receive considerable numbers,

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by way of Sowakin, from the countries bordering on the Nile. The horses taken in 1810, from the defeated troops of the Pasha of Baghdad, were all sold by them to the horse-dealers of Nejed, and by the latter to the Arabs of Yemen; who are not, it may be here observed, by any means so ... fastidious in choosing blood horses as their northern neighbors.” On September 9, 1814, he re-entered Mecca, which had become a second London for him. He wrote, “During all my journeys in the East, I never enjoyed such perfect ease as at Mecca, and I shall always retain a pleasant recollection of my residence there.” Ironically, only six days after making that declaration, he was forced to return to Jeddah to buy another slave-girl, butter, biscuits and other provisions. These items were three times less expensive in Jeddah than in the valley of the Haji. The insecurity provoked by the Wahabys forced Burckhardt to remain in Jeddah for a full three months. [Note: the Wahabys, or Wahhabi, were a militant sect of Islamic ultra-conservatives whose power threatened Ottoman authority.] It was there that his path crossed

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The Bedouins feared that Saoud or his successor might have seized them; for it had become the custom, upon any slight pretext of disobedience or unlawful conduct, to confiscate a Bedouin’s mare, as a forfeit to the public treasury.

Arabian Horse Times • February 2009

THE ARABIAN HORSE

IN HISTORY

for a second time with James Silk Buckingham, who had avoided the intolerable summer heat by crossing the Red Sea in a fish net, partially suspended in the water! While dining with Buckingham on a merchant ship from Bombay, Burckhardt met and became the instant friend of the expatriate Scotsman Donald Donald. MECCA Back in Mecca, Burckhardt took a room in a quiet quarter of the city where, despite suffering from recurring bouts of malaria, he drafted notes of his extraordinary adventures. During his stay in the sacred city, Burckhardt saw the encampment of one of Mohammed Ali’s wives that reminded him of a scene from One Thousand and One Arabian Nights. He described the set-up as, “enclosed by a wall of linen cloth, 800 paces in circuit, the single entrance to which was guarded by eunuchs in splendid dress.” He wanted to depart after the haj had concluded, but the continued threat of the Wahabys forced him to remain in Mecca. Following the pilgrims’ exodus, the city was almost deserted, but there were heaps of uncollected rubbish everywhere. On the outskirts of Mecca, the stench of camel carcasses, rotting in the sun, became so insupportable that the local inhabitants stuffed cotton in their nostrils. In the mountains that ringed the city, the Wahabys held the high ground and controlled communications, typical of a guerrilla siege. However, Mohammed Ali enticed them down from the mountains, and into a position that was to his advantage. He tempted the Wahabys’ lightly armed cavalry into the open, thereby allowing the Egyptians forces to wheel around and cut off their retreat, as other units attacked from both flanks. In the space of five hours, the crafty Mohammed Ali and his troops had slaughtered 5,000 Wahabys. The 300 prisoners taken alive were impaled on stakes along the road from Mecca to Jeddah. It was the greatest defeat, up to that time, the Wahabys had suffered in their 50-year existence. THE DECLINE OF THE NEDJED BREED With the way opened for travel to Medina, Burckhardt departed Mecca with a small caravan composed mostly of Malays. They rode for what seemed like endless nights,

Arabian Horse Times • February 2009

A map of British explorer Sir Richard Burton’s route from Bombay to Mecca.

through chains of stony hills and a sea of shifting desert sand. On one occasion, an exhausted Burckhardt fell asleep in his camel’s saddle, and did not awake for 11 hours. Passing the village of Mokad he wrote: “We stopped here a quarter of an hour; where we were surrounded by many of the inhabitants; and on remounting my camel, I found that several trifling articles had been pilfered from my baggage. This defile is particularly dreaded by the Hadji caravans; and stories are related of daring robberies committed by the Arabs .... The Arabs dress sometimes like

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A depiction of Cairo, Egypt, by artist David Roberts (1838).

Turkish soldiers, and introduce themselves into caravans on their nighttime marches. In this manner they had, the year before, carried off one of the finest led horses of the Pasha of Damascus, chief of the Syrian caravan. “The Arabs jump from behind the camel of the sleeping hadjy; stuff his mouth with their abbas, and throw down to their companions whatever valuables they find upon him. If discovered, they draw their daggers and cut their way through; for if taken, they can expect no mercy. The usual mode of punishment on such occasions, is to implant them at the moment the caravan starts from the next station, leaving them to perish on the stake, or to be devoured by wild beasts.” Burckhardt also elaborated in his notes about what had become of many of the best Arabian horses of the Nedjed: “During the government of the Wahaby chief, horses became more and more scarce every year among the Arabs. They were sold by their owners to foreign purchasers, who took them to Yemen, Syria, and Basra, from whence the last mentioned place, the Indian market was supplied with Arabian horses. The Bedouins feared that Saoud or his successor might have seized them; for it had become the custom, upon any slight pretext

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of disobedience or unlawful conduct, to confiscate a Bedouin’s mare, as a forfeit to the public treasury. Besides, the possession of a mare imposed an obligation on the Bedouin of being in constant readiness to attend his chief during his wars; therefore many Arabs preferred the alternative of being without horses altogether.” MEDINA AND ITS LACK OF HORSES Finding a scarcity of horses in and around Medina, Burckhardt observed: “The people of Medina keep no horses. Excepting those of the Sheikh el Haram and a few of his suite, I believe there is not one horse kept in the town. In general, these parts of Arabia are poor in horses, because there is no fine pasture for them: the Bedouins to the N. and E. of the town, in the Desert, have, on the contrary, large breeds [herds]. The gardens of Medina might afford pasturage; and formerly, when there were warlike individuals in the town, horses were kept by them. At present the spirit of the Medinans is more pacific; and the few horses yet kept when the Wahabys captured the town, were immediately sold by their owners, to escape the military conscription to which the horsemen in the Wahaby dominions were subjected.”

Arabian Horse Times • February 2009

THE ARABIAN HORSE

IN HISTORY

In Medina, he took lodgings and again encountered the doctor, Yahiya Effendi. Noticing that Burckhardt had some quinine, Effendi asked him to turn the curative powder over to him, as several of Touson Pasha’s staff were down with fever. Both Touson and his mother were in Medina, returning from their pilgrimage and transporting Touson’s gifts, which were valued at more than ₤25,000. Among these gifts were twelve complete suits, a diamond ring worth ₤5,000, and two beautiful Georgian slave girls. According to Burckhardt, Touson was the only member of Mohammed Ali’s large family, “whose breast harbored any noble feelings (…) and even his enemies cannot deny his valor, generosity, filial love and good nature.” YEMBO AND THE PLAGUE Two days after turning over his supply of quinine, Burckhardt regretted his gesture. His fever turned out to be the plague, and he too began vomiting and sweating profusely, as he came down with the sickness. Weak and

Arabian Horse Times • February 2009

“It is a general but erroneous opinion that Arabia is rich in horses, but the breed is limited to the extent of fertile pasture grounds in that country. It is in such parts only that horses thrive, while those Bedouins who occupy districts of poor soil rarely possess any horses.

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Artist David Robert’s rendering of Luxor, Egypt (1838).

dejected, Burckhardt abandoned his plans to return to Cairo overland. He went instead to Yembo, to sail on a dhow to Suez. About the inhabitants of the Red Sea port and their equines, he noted that: “The Yembawys are all armed, although they seldom appear so in public, and they carry usually a heavy bludgeon in their hand. A few of them keep horses; the Djeheyne [tribe] established at Yembo el Kakhel have good breeds [sic] of Nedjed horses, though in small numbers.” It was 18 days before he found a ship bound for Suez, which also unknowingly transported the pestilence. Although several of his fellow passengers died at sea, the plague fortunately did not spread upon the ships’s arrival at Suez. There, Burckhardt joined the caravan of Mohammed Ali’s wife and arrived in Cairo on June 24, 1815, after an absence from that city of two-and-a-half years. He never fully recovered from the plague, and lingered, sickly, in Cairo for two more years, still awaiting a caravan to Timbuktu. The caravan never materialized, allowing Burckhardt to write seven manuscripts about his extensive travels, all of which were published posthumously. The accuracy of his work was such that 40 years later, British explorer Sir Richard Burton copied

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lengthy sections verbatim into his own book about his haji to Mecca. His ‘Notes on the Bedouins and the Wahabys’ contains an entire chapter on the Arabian horse, in which Burckhardt dispels a long-standing myth, and clarifies the chief reason why there were so few horses in southwest Arabia: “It is a general but erroneous opinion that Arabia is rich in horses, but the breed is limited to the extent of fertile pasture grounds in that country. It is in such parts only that horses thrive, while those Bedouins who occupy districts of poor soil rarely possess any horses. It is found, accordingly, that the tribes most rich in horses are those that dwell in the Syrian plains. Horses can there feed, for several of the spring months, upon the green grass and herbs produced by the rain in the valleys’ fertile ground. Such food seems absolutely necessary for promoting the full growth and vigor of the horse. We find that in the Nedjed, horses are not nearly so numerous as in the countries before mentioned, and they become scarce, in proportion, as we proceed towards the south.” In September of 1817, after nearly ten years of planning and preparation on Burckhardt’s part, a caravan from Niger passed through Cairo, on its way to Mecca. Burckhardt was elated when he was able to arrange to join the caravan upon its scheduled return home, via

Arabian Horse Times • February 2009

THE ARABIAN HORSE

IN HISTORY

Sir Joseph Banks

Sir Joseph Banks convict population, thus assuring England’s claim to the continent. was one of Europe’s Throughout his life, Banks dispatched other explorers and preeminent naturalists. botanists to many different parts of the globe. Among the most Born in London on notable were John Lewis Burckhardt, and George Vancouver, February 13, 1743 and who sailed to America’s Pacific Northwest in 1791. In an effort very well-educated, his interests were centered on natural to transport breadfruit from the South Pacific to England’s history. As an informal advisor to King George III, he convinced Caribbean colonies, it was Banks who sent British officer his sovereign to sponsor numerous voyages of discovery. Banks’ William Bligh on an adventure later immortalized by Hollywood botanical achievements, gained when he accompanied Phillips’ screenwriters as The Mutiny On The Bounty. expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador, thrust him into The many adventurers Banks employed included the Scotsman, national prominence. Mungo Park (1771–1806). In 1783, through Banks’ urging, Park Three years later, he accompanied Captain James Cook on obtained the job of assistant surgeon on the Worcester, which his first great voyage to the South Pacific, sailed to Benkulen, in Sumatra. Upon his aboard the HM Bark Endeavour (1769-1771.) return, he presented his sponsor with They traveled first to Brazil and other various rare Sumatran plants. Following parts of South America, then to Tahiti, and Major Daniel Houghton’s death in the finally, on to New Zealand, where a party Sahara in 1790, Banks sponsored Park to of the Maori tribe attacked their ship. In continue Houghton’s search for the River his journal, Cook noted, “This obliged us to Niger. Before Park’s second attempt in fire upon them, and unfortunately either two 1805, he wrote, “I shall set sail for the or three were killed. Joseph Banks, who had east with the fixed resolution to discover taken part in the slaughter, described the day the termination of the Niger or perish in the as the worst in his life ... ” attempt. Though all the Europeans who are The HM Bark Endeavor proceeded to with me should die, and though I were myself Australia, making landfall at Botany Bay, half dead, I will still persevere.” Park did near present day Sydney. While the ship persevere, but he drowned in 1806. Before was undergoing repairs for serious damages his death, however, he managed to send a sustained on the Great Barrier Reef, Banks record of his discoveries back to Banks. collected almost 800 new specimens of In his “Book Of The Horse,” published in Sir Joseph Banks flora along the Endeavour River. Sidney 1886, Sidney mentions that Banks planned Parkinson’s illustrations of these flora to import a number of the Dongola breed became the corpus of Bank’s Florilegium, a work later published of horses from Egypt, but Sidney gives no mention of whether in 35 volumes. Among the many unusual animals the party those plans were ever carried to conclusion. We do know that encountered in Australia were the dingo and the kangaroo, of Banks served as a trustee of the British Museum for 42 years. He which Banks wrote wonderingly, “What to liken him to, I cannot died in 1820; yet, his legacy as a botanist endures, and modern tell.” Banks brought the skins of both animals back to England, world maps are dotted with his surname: Banks Peninsula, on where the equine artist George Stubbs painted Europe’s first New Zealand’s South Island, Banks Island, in Canada’s Northwest renderings of the strange creatures. Territories, and Vanuatu’s Banks Archipelago. Until Australia’s In 1779 Banks urged, before the House of Commons, that recent conversion to plastic currency, all of its five-dollar bills Botany Bay (Australia) was ideal for colonization by the country’s were embellished with Banks’ portrait!

Cairo, in December. Had his fate been different, he would have had the opportunity to finally travel to the River Niger, his long-sought objective. However, one week later, he lay on his deathbed, with his friend Donald Donald seated by his side. Burckhardt died from dysentery at age 32, on October 15, 1817. He was buried as Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdullah, in accordance with his standing as a participant in the haj, and as an Islamic scholar who had studied in Cairo’s great mosque outside Bab-el-Nasr (the Gate of Victory). For many months after his demise became known to his sponsors in London, a steady stream of Burckhardt’s letters trickled into their headquarters, as if they had been written by a ghost.

Arabian Horse Times • February 2009

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Spelling of places and persons’ names vary considerably (Yembo, Yanbo, etc., Jedda, Jeddah, etc., Hejaz, Hedjaz, Hadjaz, Hijaz, etc.,) depending upon the whim of a given author. Moreover, some sources, undoubtedly derived from earlier French and German works, call the protagonist of this story “Jean Louis” or “Jean Ludwig.”

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