Chalk in Hand
A BLURB which starts off, 'Like Herodotus, who travelled on the northern coast of Africa over 2,000 years ago, Mr. Carrington is an excellent observer and a man of insatiable curiosity,' is asking for trouble. My knowledge of Herodotus is minimal, but from what I know of Mr. Car- rington (i.e. this book) I cannot see his obser- vations lasting 2,000 years. His curiosity may be insatiable, but his mind is commonplace and his style thick with clichés; he 'warms to' practically everybody, describes one man as 'resplendent in' what he was wearing, another as 'distinguished by a truly magnificent grey moustache,' and begins the final sentence of his book 'Just a shade wearily, I . .
I had not thought that one could be dull about Tunis and Dougga and Leptis Magna—the temp- tation, as in Sacheverell Sitwoll's Mauretania, is to be too florid—but Mr. Carrington has suc- ceeded.
ANTHONY THWAITE
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