Excerpt from Wanderings in Arabia, Vol. 1 of 2

No critical estimate could sum up better than the above the characteristics of Arabia Deserta. And it is for the sake of the appeal that this great book should make to a wider audience than the few who feel enthusiasm for Arab things that I have sought and obtained the author's sanction to make the abridgment of his narrative here presented. It is, indeed, in the conviction that the book has only to become known to the English public to be hailed by all for what it is - a masterpiece second to none in our literature of travel - that I have attempted the task of abridgment. And here the writer must confess that he knows no other book of travel which makes him so proud that the author is an Englishman. Gentleness, courage, humanity, endurance, and the insight of genius, these were the qualities that carried Doughty safely through his strange achievement of adventuring alone, a professed Chris tian, amid the fanatical Arabians. That he proclaimed his race and faith wherever he went is a supreme testimony to the firm ness of his spirit and to the magnetism of a frank and mild nature that evoked so often in response the humanity underlying the Arabs' fanaticism. His narrative, indeed, testifies how much milk of human kindness the solitary stranger could count upon finding in the breast of all but the most fanatical Mohammedans. But it is surely less the author's valuable discoveries than the intense human interest of his book that will bring him enduring fame What an unforgettable picture it is, that of this Englishman of an old-fashioned stamp adventuring alone for many long months in the deserts of Arabia, going each day not very sure of his life, yet obstinately proclaiming to all men, to sheykhs and shepherds, to fanatical tribesmen in every encampment, that he is a N asrany, a Christian With a pistol hidden in his bosom, and a few gold pieces in his purse, with a sack of clothes and books and drugs thrown on the hired camel of his rafiks, or wandering guides.

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