Mr. Bertram Thomas has achieved fame by his daring journeys
in South-East Arabia, including the first crossing of the great desert known as the " Empty Quarter." He is, too, an excellent writer, and no one who cares for true adventure should miss his Alarms and Excursions in Arabia (Allen and Unwin, 15s.). In this delightful book he records two exciting episodes in Iraq, before and after the Armistice, camel journey, in Oman with the Sultan, whom he serves as Prime Ministers a punitive expedition against a troublesome chief, and, best of all, a most hazardous expedition along the south coast of Arabia through regions never before visited by a European. Mr. Thomas knows and likes the nomad Arabs, and describes them with sympathy and humour, though he does not conee' -their failings.. t• Liberty is the Badu's darling passion, and this, though it involves a hungry and thirsty existence, he prefers to the comfort and -material rewards that go with servitude. But he has to preserve that liberty with his own right arm- Feuds, family, tribal and factional, are without beginning and without end."
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