The Desert Route to India: Being the Journals of Four Travellers by the Great Desert Caravan Route between Aleppo and Basra, 1745-1751

1929

Journals G161 H2 Ser.2 no.63

London: Printed for the Hakluyt Society

Here is part of a narrative by Bartholomew Plaisted (d.1767), a marine surveyor for the East India Company, who was dismissed for being troublesome. He returned to England via India, travelling along the Great Desert Caravan Route, which provided a short cut from the Mediterranean ports to the Indian seas. He began at Basra on 20th April 1750, and reached Aleppo on 23rd July 1750. On this trip of some 1300 km, he estimated the caravan he was with numbered 5000 camels and 1000 men. He also offered a few travel hints: a tent was essential; boiled butter, cheese, and well-cured tongues were far superior to potted meat; and carting along chinaware improper.