Travels through Arabia and Other Countries in the East

stance, concerning the subjection of the Arabs to the Turks and Persians.

For these reasons, I have decided to give a more detailed and thorough original: "minute and circumstantial" description of a country and a people who deserve to be better known than they currently are. In the first part of my travels, I mentioned some of what I saw myself. However, because my stay in Arabia was so short, I only had time to travel through a few provinces of that vast country. Therefore, I sought information about the rest from various honest and intelligent Arabs. I was most successful in obtaining this information from scholars original: "men of letters" and merchants; those in public office were more preoccupied with their own affairs and generally had a more reserved character.

This method of gathering my information seemed to offer several distinct advantages. It will be equally useful for me to distinguish between what I witnessed firsthand and what I was told by others. In this way, the reader will be able to tell the difference between what I report based solely on my own observations and what I recount based on the collective evidence of many of the nation’s most enlightened people. I will find many more favorable opportunities
of