In August (1880) the Burtons paid a visit to Ober Ammergau, which was just then attracting all eyes on account of its Passion Play. Burton's object in going was "the wish to compare, haply to trace some affinity between, this survival of the Christian 'Mystery' and the living scenes of El Islam at Mecca," while Mrs. Burton's object may be gauged by the following prayer which she wrote previous to their departure from Trieste: "O Sweet Jesu... Grant that I, all unworthy though I be, may so witness this holy memorial of thy sacrificial love, Thy glorious victory over death and hell, that I may be drawn nearer to Thee and hold Thee in everlasting remembrance. Let the representation of Thy bitter sufferings on the cross renew my love for Thee, strengthen my faith, and ennoble my life, and not mine only, but all who witness it." Then follows a prayer for the players.

Burton found no affinity between the scenes at Ober Ammergau and those at Mecca, and he was glad to get away from "a pandemonium of noise and confusion," while Mrs. Burton, who was told to mind her own business by a carter with whom she remonstrated for cruelly treating a horse, discovered that even Ober Ammergau was not all holiness. Both Burton and his wife recorded their impressions in print, but though his volume 326 appeared in 1881, hers 327 was not published till 1900.