Some Books of the Week
THE moral code of the desert Arab and his skill in inter- preting footprints in the sand or gravel are the main themes of Colonel Andre von Dumreicher's exceedingly attractive book on Trackers and Smugglers in the Deserts of Egypt (Methuen, 15s.). The author was for some years before the War in charge of the coastguard camel corps, patrolling the desert to the west and east of the Nile valley and dealing with hashish smugglers and violators of the salt monopoly. He tells his story admirably and shows a sympathy with the nomads that will endear him to most readers. The desert law of an eye for an eye conflicts with the leisurely processes under the Code Napoleon in the Egyptian courts, and the author shows by many examples how harsh the Law seems to the wandering tribesmen. He has strong views, too, about the salt monopoly which he had to enforce. The feats of his trackers, whose methods are explained in detail, seem marvellous. One of his men asked for leave to go in search of his sister's camel which had not returned from the winter grazing. Ile had seen the camel two years before when it was young, but he remembered its footprints, and with this clue alone he rode away for days towards the Red Sea and there found it. Another anecdote relates to a woman who lost three goats when five large flocks of sheep_ and goats were watering at the same time. Out of the hundreds of footmarks which she followed she identified those of the three missing goats and soon caughf.tip the flock to which they had strayed and collected them. To the nomad the desert sand is as legible as a printed book is to us, and the author shows how it is read. -
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