"Camel Conveying a Bride to Her Husband", from A narrative of travels in Northern Africa,...

In 1818, Lieutenant George Francis Lyon ambitiously volunteered to accompany his fellow Briton and secretary to the consul in Paris, Joseph Ritchie, on a poorly organized and ill-fated expedition to reach central Africa from Tripoli. While Ritchie soon succumbed to the harshness of the Sahara, Lyon survived dysentery and the extremity of the desert heat to publish an account of his journey upon his return to London two years later. This image, illustrated from Lyon's own sketches, depicts a camel topped by an elaborate structure adorned with carpets, shawls, and ostrich feathers, delivering an encased bride in procession to her new husband's home.