Mr. Salt's zeal, and opportunities of information and
observation, have left little to be desired: and from Mr. Pearce, who
resided fourteen years in the country, many particulars may be gathered,
which only a long residence, and that intimacy and amalgamation with the
natives which Mr. Pearce accomplished, can furnish accurately, minutely,
and fully.
VIII. ASIA.
Several circumstances concurred to direct the travels of the dark and
middle ages to Asia. Pilgrimages to the Holy Land;--the wish to
ingratiate the Tartar chiefs, which was naturally felt by the European
powers, when the former were advancing towards the western limits of
Asia; and subsequently, and perhaps consequently, the spirit of
commercial enterprise, were amongst the most obvious and influential
circumstances which led to travels into this quarter of the world, from
the ninth to the fifteenth centuries. Although the travellers during
this period were by no means, in general, qualified to investigate the
physical peculiarities of the countries they visited, and are even
meagre, and often inaccurate in detailing what was level to their
information and capacities, yet, as has been justly observed, "there is
a simplicity in the old writers, which delights us more than the studied
compositions of modern travellers;" to say nothing of the interest which
the first glimpses of a newly discovered country never fail to impart.
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