The journey that made Richard Burton famous as a traveller and explorer in the nineteenth century was a pilgrimage to Mecca, which he carried out disguised as a Pashtun tribesman from what is now north-western Pakistan or Afghanistan. Having spent seven years with the army of the East India Company, Burton was familiar with the customs and languages, but the journey was difficult and his caravan was attacked by bandits. This account describes a journey forbidden to non-Muslims made by one of the great travellers and adventurers of the nineteenth century.