Books: Arabian Days

A Saga of Thirst, Hunger and Weariness of the Flesh

The Story. There are books that find their audience instantaneously— and oblivion soon. There are books whose first popularity the years do little to diminish. And there are books whose progress toward a place in the ranks of acknowledged greatness is as gradual and irresistible as the advance of a glacier. Travels in Arabia Deserta* (first published in 1888) belongs in this last rare class. One recognizes that, if any tale of a journey in modern times may stand beside the tale of the wanderings of Ulysses, it is this.

In 1876, after ten years of preparation, Charles Montagu Doughty, poor, not in the best of health, alone, began a journey through the desert portions of Arabia that was to last two years, bring him into contact with tribes hostile to Europeans, subject him to the rigors of a life as severe and comfortless as that of an eremite. Solitude, the blinding heat of the desert, thirst, hunger, every weariness of the flesh he endured. Moreover, he did not attempt to pass among the Arabs in any disguise, but, wherever he went, bluntly proclaimed himself an Englishman and a Christian. Supporting himself largely by the sale of medicines, among people who preferred spells and amulets to the drugs of Western science, he traveled with the Mecca pilgrimage from Damascus as far as Medain Salih, later wandering through the vast, waterless marches of Central Arabia until he reached the hills and oasis of Kheybar—then south again with a caravan to the Mecca region, ending at the English Consulate at Jidda—a two years’ saga of fortitude. And every stone, every plant, every beast on the way he observed with an eye as impartial as an angel’s, set down the history and peculiarities of every tribe he met, passed through enough adventures to shake the soul of an Argive chief. Ten more years went to the writing of his travels. Those 20 years have built him a monument well nigh unique in literary history— the unique and magnificent story of a unique and magnificent exploit—one of the few cases where the man who saw was also the man who could tell.

The Significance. A book in the great manner—subject and portrayal —in its finest passages challenging comparison with the best Elizabethan prose, and yet with an individual, mountainous strength of its own, characteristically craggy, occasionally monotonous, not easy reading—but once made one’s own, a permanent enrichment to the mind. As for its truth, Colonel T. E. Lawrence* says in his preface: ” It is the first and indispensable work upon the Arabs of the desert . . . here you have the desert . . . the true Arabia with its smells and dirt . . . its nobility and freedom.”

Arabia Deserta was first published in 1888 by the Cambridge Press in a limited edition, priced at ten guineas. Its fame increased for years among a small circle of experts, an abbreviated edition was published, and, during the War, it became a military textbook, used by the British in their operations in the East. This is the first complete, reprinted edition.

The Critics. The London Mercury: ” This book is one of the greatest prose works of our time and one of the greatest travel books of any time.”

Colonel T. E. Lawrence: ” A book not like other books, but something particular, a bible of its kind. The book has no date and can never grow old.”

The Author. Charles Montagu Doughty, poet and traveler, is an honorary fellow of Gonville and Caius College (Cambridge), Hon. Litt. D. (Oxford), was recipient of the Royal Founders’ Medal of the Royal Geographical Society. Mr. Doughty’s other books include The Dawn in Britain (epic poem), Adam Cast Forth (poems), The Clouds (poems).

* TRAVELS IN ARABIA DESERTA—Charles M. Doughty—Two Vols.—Boni ($17.50). * Colonel T. E. Lawrence was Adviser on Arab Affairs. Middle East Division, British Colonial Office, 1921-1922.