This took longer than it should have. Burton is, of course, a wealth of information on the Pilgrimage, full of rich detail on the customs and sketches of the various peoples he meets, the phrenology, by which he judges their character, he gives various of the local folk remedies for snake-bite and scorpion stings, he elaborates upon the sexual customs in Latin in the footnotes, and - all that, in some 800+ pages he only devotes a paragraph to gold prospecting.
In no ways does he make the pilgrimage in the least bit appealing. And again, it strikes one, this holiest-of-holies, Mecca, and all the peoples that are on their way, up to every infamy, deception, vice along the journey, the rules are only held in the Mosques...
In any event, interesting, but given the current events it was a hard read.