Page I

translated

FOREWORD When I started to write these travel stories, I did not think that I would limit myself to Palestine. I had also visited Syria, and I proposed to make an account of what I had seen. But other work prevented me from carrying out my first design. I always wanted to resume the work, and was always prevented. In the end, I grew tired of waiting for spare time which would never come. I therefore resigned myself to publishing today only half of my voyage; but it is by far the most interesting half. Moreover, it forms a

Original French

AVANT-PROPOS Lorsque j'ai commencé à écrire ces récits de voyage, je ne pensais pas me borner à la Palestine. J'avais visité également la Syrie, et je me proposais de rendre compte de ce que j'y avais vu. Mais divers travaux sont venus m'empêcher de mettre à exécution mon premier dessein. Je comptais toujours le reprendre, et toujours j'en étais empêché. A la fin, je me suis lassé d'attendre des loisirs qui ne venaient pas. Je me résigne donc à ne publier aujourd'hui qu'une moitié de mon voyage ; mais c'est de beaucoup la moitié la plus intéressante. Elle forme d'ailleurs un ensemble

Notes. First page of the author's foreword (Avant-propos), unnumbered in print; the foreword is paginated in roman numerals (II and III appear on the following pages). Charmes explains that he is publishing only the Palestine half of a journey that also took in Syria. The faint text across the top is show-through from the previous leaf and has not been transcribed. The sentence is cut off at the foot of the page and continues on the next ("complet").