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THE BLACK
TENTS OF ARABIA
(My Life Amongst the
Bedouins)
By Carl R.
Raswan
ILLUSTRATED
From the INTRODUCTION:
'My soul is bound
up in this romantic "Arabia Deserta." The great peace and calm of the Arabian
wilderness holds me in thrall-that tremendous quietude, which on the last day of
the creation must have brooded over the whole world. In the desert I breathe
freely and the accumulated ballast of civilized life falls away, like a great
burden from off the shoulders. Even now I am astounded to think how little man
really needs to be happy, and how carefree one is with nothing but the merest
necessities of life.
My expeditions into the desert and my life amongst the
Arabs were not prompted by scientific aspirations; the Arab horse was the
lodestone... It was not even the call of adventure which led my footsteps into
the wilder parts of the Near East, but just the love of horses and in particular
of the splendid Arab horse. So intense was (and is) my passion for this noble
animal, that I wished to meet him in his native pastures and there learn his
history and the secrets of his breeding; and, if there was a secondary interest,
it was to enquire into the wanderings of the Bedouin tribes... I claim one
thing, however, that during my sojourn in Arabia, I lived entirely as a
Bedouin. I had never any need to deny my race or my creed amongst the Arabs. I
was never once the butt of their mockery or scorn, or suffered at their hands
any discourtesy'
Certainly no
contemporary writer or Arabian horse fancier has more first hand experience with
the vanishing nomadic Arab culture than Carl Raswan. Black Tents recounts his
periodic adventures, which spanned over twenty six years, wandering with the
herdsmen and mounted raiders.
Hard cover book in good condition, normal aging dust jacket very poor, copyright 1935,
this is the 1947 Creative Press reissue, 206 pages, illustrated with wonderful photos that were
taken by the author
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