T HIS book is the story of a journey through an almost unknown land, and my first thanks are due to Wilfred Thesiger for allowing me to travel with him into his private paradise.
Secondly to the only other European who shares much of Thesiger’s knowledge. He first towered on my horizon as a namesake against whose memory the Arabs measured me to my discredit, as a man who could shave with three strokes of a razor and had learned their language in a week. To him, Gavin Young, I owe much for help in avoiding technical inaccuracies in the manuscript.
To all the Iraqis, from the highest to the lowest who showed almost unvarying kindness, courtesy, and hospitality, go my respectful salutations and warm gratitude; and in apology for quoting the efforts of a few to speak my language I would add that I think they must have found my attempts at theirs as funny.
Having a particular ennui for the type of travel book that reads “The people do not build houses; they live (hudl) in tents (rî z) which they fold up (slamm) when they want to move (scipp) …” I have avoided using Arabic words except where they are strictly necessary; it would in any case be a presumption on the part of one who knows as little of the language as I. For terms that are of real importance the serious student may refer to Wilfred Thesiger’s deeply informative contribution to the Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society, January 1954, from which its author and the Society have kindly allowed me to quote two passages and to base my map upon his.
For reasons that will not require explanation it has seemed undesirable to give to all characters their true names, and thus it has appeared pointless to include an index to a book which is, perhaps, in any case too much of a personal narrative to merit one.
I am indebted to the following for permission to quote copyright material: Mr. Alan Hodge for an extract from his poem “The World of Nowhere”; Messrs. Hamish Hamilton, Ltd. for an extract from “The Journey”, from Collected Poems by Kathleen Raine; the Editor of New Statesman and Nation for an extract from “Death of a Rat” by Anthony Thwaite, which appeared in the 8 September, 1956 issue of New Statesman and Nation; and Mr. Wilfrid Thesiger and the Royal Central Asian Society for material from the January 1954 issue of the Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society.