Traveir in the Middle East. By Captain T. C. Fowle,
40th Pathan. (Smith, Elder, and Co. 7s. 6d. net.)—In his preface Captain Fowls says that his object in writing this book has been to please the reader, and " to answer the question, ` What is it like travelling in the Middle East ? " There can be no doubt that he has succeeded in both these endeavours, for he has an accomplished literary style, which he uses skilfully in order to describe, not only the actual adventures of the road in Turkish Arabia, Syria, and Persia, but to enter into fellowship with the reader, and admit him into the confidence of his thoughts. As he is an Oriental scholar, he perhaps knows in the original the words in which Sadi gives the motive of a traveller for writing a book 'Twee pain to leave a garden all so fair, And not some token to my friends to bear." He lets ua share with him many curious Eastern experiences, telling us of his Oriental friends, and of his chance acquaintances, often helpful, such as the good Samaritan C.— Effendi, an Armenian clerk at Salahiyeh, on the borders of Kurdistan, but sometimes dangerous, like the Bedouin chief, the "shifty-looking Abdul Ariz," from whose clutches he extricated himself on the way from Baghdad to Palmyra. If space allowed us, we could quote some charming and vivid descriptions of life on the open road, in the black booth, of the desert tribes, in the Eastern quarters of Damascus, or in Persian towns, but we must content ourselves with telling our readers of the pleasure to be found In the pages of this book, and in its excellent illustrations and map.
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