Travels in Arabia Deserta [Textbook Binding]

Charles M. Doughty (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1960

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1888. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XX. . Damsels to wed. Fair women. The people of Teyma untaught. Their levity noted by the Beduins. The well camels. Labourers at the ruined haddaj. Beduins swimming in the haddaj. Project to rebuild the haddaj. Ibn Bashid's Resident. Ibn Rashid a Hakim el-Aarab. The Medina government cast their eye» upon Teyma. Unreasonable patients. Oasis ophthalmia. The evil eye. Exorcism. Zelots in Ramathdn. The ruined site of Mosaic Teyma. Reported necropolis of antique Teyma with inscriptions. The seven ancient boroughs of this province. A. new well-ground. African slave-blood in the Peninsula. The Arabian bondage is mild. Ramathdn ended. Bairam festival. A whistler. The music of Damascus. The Fukara arrive. Beduins of Bishr flocking into the town. The date-gathering. An Harb dancing woman. Misshel's words. Better news of the Moahtb. The visit of Homed and Wdyil to Ibn Itashid. Nomad butchers. MShsan's petition. The " wild ox " or wothyhi. The ancient archery. The Aarab friends are slow to further the Nasrany's voyage. The Bishr at Teyma. An Heteymy sheykh. Dispute with Zeyd's herdsman. Last evening at Teyma. Zeyd. In the field, where we dwelt, I received my patients. Here I found the strangest adventure. A young unwedded woman in Teyma, hearing that the stranger was a Dowlany, or government man, came to treat of marriage: she gave tittun to Me'hsan's wife and promised her more only to bring this match about; my hostess commended her to me as 'a fair young woman and well grown; her eyes, billah, egg-great, and she smelled of nothing but ambergris.' The kind damsel was the daughter of a Damascene (perhaps a kella keeper) formerly in this country, and she disdained therefore that any should be her mate of these heartless villagers or nomad people. We hav...

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Textbook Binding
• Publisher: Peter Smith Pub (July 1960)
• ISBN-10: 0844657506
• ISBN-13: 978-0844657509
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,167,242 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gives Meaning to the Phrase "Travel Classic", November 15, 2001

By 

Thomas F. Ogara (Jacksonville, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Travels in Arabia Deserta (Textbook Binding)

There are few travel books that can stand up to the depredations of time - indeed, travel literature by its nature tends to be ephemeral. We may peruse the Victorian travelers, but mainly to get a sense of the exotic, from a time when it still was that way.

Fewer travel books still can claim to have had a conscious impact beyond their own genre. One thinks of Stendahl's travels in the South of France, Radishchev's journey from Petersburg to Moscow, or Stephens and Catherwood in the Yucatan. But Doughty is in a class by himself.

This remarkably eccentric man with the remarkably eccentric writing style set off into one of the last fringes of society, to a world where the art of the word was cultivated and where a man's worth was set by his speech. He is not an easy read. Yet his writing reflects the sense of a major intellect from one culture confronted by a tradition which is very old, very venerable and yet totally alien from that in which he was raised. That he sought to explain it by creating a new way of writing is perhaps not remarkable.

Many writers of the last century have been quite vocal about the debt that they owe him; one sometimes wonders if this is honored more in the breach than we would like to believe. But try him on for size, but be prepared to be patient. You will find that his style will win you over if you are.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Travelogue as Tea; Sand as History, January 12, 2000

By 

jack schaaf (Falls Church, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Travels in Arabia Deserta (Textbook Binding)

Doughty, who had many disciples, including the sphinxlike T.E.Lawrence, wrote in a style which he described as a response to the confines presented by the Victorian language. Lawrence, when composing his great oasis "Seven Pillars of Wisdom," too, offered his own form of revelling, a sort of aversion to the literal strictures of Edwardianism which the former described as "granular." Here, "Travels in Arabia" is instructive, even highly enjoyable; the two-volume set (some of which include maps) is replete with Doughty's self-styled descriptions of the then still-remote middle eastern world as well, what was once considered a great adventure story for the well-read. No, he did not dictate the specifics of the type on the page, but he did manage to produce something to Travel and History as comparable to Fraser's "Golden Bough" was to anthropology; easy to admire but impossible to believe. It is very enjoyable, erudite in its own way and meant to be digested as with Henry James or tea, slowly to fully appreciate. Strongly recommend

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Doughty was not fair with the Bedw, April 4, 2006

By 

Fahad Abu Shamah "FAB" (KSA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Travels in Arabia Deserta (Textbook Binding)

Doughty had reflected his belief throughout his journey and I am not surprised. He decreased the Bedw traditions and tried to link it completely to the teaching of Islam. He knew from the beginning that the Bedw tradition especially in the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula has nothing to do with the teaching of Islam. It was basically their culture. He did used the Bedw to serve his purpose since he wrote this book only to the western readers at that time to capture their imagination of the Arabian desert and to lay down the first step toward the colonization period that took place 30 years later.
Doughty in his book has described the Bedew life with many details that have shocked me. Since he lived with my great grandfather (Tollog) during his stay on al Harra, I was able to tell how close he was to reflect the real life of my tribe.
If we ignore his belief's reflection in his writing, we can conclude that his book is truly a masterpiece in detailing the life of one of the most isolated part of the world in 1800 century.