English travellers on an Arabian landscape I SAUDI ARABIA Ohe deerts and tribes of what Is toay modern Saudia Arabia have Inspired a number of classic works of prose and travel from the pens of past British visitors. Among the first was Charles Doughty, author of the classic study of bedouin life, Arabia Deserta, first published in 1888. Another was T E Lavwrence, who left a colourful description of life in the Hejaz more than half a century ago in Seven Pillars of Wisdom. A third was Wilfred Thesig- er, whose graphic account of a double crossing of the dreaded Empty Quarter by camel - Arabian Sands - has become a post-war classic of travel litera- ture. Lawrence revered Doughty, and was consciously influenced in his prose style by that of Arabia Deserta. As an Oxford undergraduate he visited the veteran Arabian traveller to seek his advice on desert travel. Thesiger, who has been described as the last of the great Arabian travellers, has himself in turn clearly been influenced b. both his predecessors. The following extracts are taken from their works. Wilfred Thesiger: Arabian Sands As I struggled up the slope, knee-deep in shifting sand, my heart thumped wildly and my thirst grew worse. I found it difficult to swallow; even my ears felt blocked, and yet I knew it would be many intolerable hours before I could drink ... The range at the far side seemed even higher than the one on which we stood, and behind it were others. I looked round, seeking instinctively for some escape.. . But in that infinity of space I could see no living thing, not even a withered plant to give me hope. "There is nowhere to go," I thought. 9 T. E. Lawrence: Seven Pillars of Wisdom XThe style of architecture was like crazy Elizabethan halftinber work, in the elaborate Cheshire fashion, but gone gimcrack to an incredible degree. House fronts were fretted, pierced and pargetted till they looked as though cut out of cardboard for a romantic stage-setting. Every storey jutted, every window leaned one way or other; often the walls sloped... One would say that for years Jidda had not been swept through by a firm breeze; that its streets kept their air from year's end to year's end, from the day they were built for so long as the houses should endure. Charles Doughty: Arabia Deserfa An hour before the dawn we heard shouted, "THE REMOVE!". The people rise in haste, the smouldering watch- fires are blown to a flame, and more sticks are cast on to give us light; there is a harsh hubbub of men labouring; and the ruckling and braying of a multitude of camels. Yet a minute or two and all is up; riders are mounted, and they which remain afoot look busily about them on the dim earth, that nothing be left. They drive forth, and a new day's march begins; to last through the long heat till evening. English travellers on an Arabian landscanoe