In Search of Nomads

257 Pages·2004·19.76 MB·English

by  John Ure

SIR JOHN URE has served as a. British Ambassador to Cuba, Brazil and
Sweden. His travel books have included accounts of retracing the
campaigns of Tamerlane in Asia, San Martin in South America,
Captain Morgan in the Caribbean, and Bonnie Prince Charlie in
Scotland. His historical books have included accounts of the Cossacks
and also of various explorers. He writes regular travel articles for the
Daily and Sunday Telegraph and book reviews for the Times Literary
Supplement, and has served on the council of the Royal Geographical
Society and as chairman of the Thomas Cook 'Travel Book of the
Year' panel. His recreation, according to Who's Who, is 'travelling
uncomfortably in remote places and writing about it comfortably
afterwards'. He lives with his family in the weald of Kent, but
periodically visits Arabia and Central Asia as a guest lecturer.
Praise for In Search of Nomads
'An intoxicating mix of anthropology and ripping yarn, bejewelled
with pearls of nomadic wisdom.' Nicholas Crane, Geographical
'A feast of anecdotes and an adventure into a vanished freedom on the
nomad trail.' Publishing News
'This entertaining book chronicles the extraordinary Britons and
Americans who have chosen to seek out and travel with nomads ... at
his most engaging when describing his own experiences with nomadic
peoples.' Christopher Ondaatje, Literary Review
'[Sir John Ure] writes elegantly about these [nomadic tribes] often
from personal experience; but his stroke of genius is to make the
observers and followers of these tribes part of the story too.'
Giles Foden, Condi Nast Traveler
By the same author
Cucumber Sandwiches in the Andes
Prince Henry the Navigator
The Trial of the Tamerlane
The Quest for Captain Morgan
Trespassers on the Amazon
A Bird on the Wing
Diplomatic Bag (editor)
The Cossacks
IN SEARCH OF
NOMADS
AN ENGLISH OBSESSION FROM
HESTER STANHOPE TO BRUCE CHATWIN
John Ure
'To live in one land, is captivitie,
To runne all countries, a wild roguery.'
John Donne, Elegie 111, c. 1595
ROBINSON
London
Constable & Robinson Ltd
3 The Lanchesters
162 Fulham Palace Road
London W6 9ER
vvww.constablerobinson.com
First published in the UK by Constable,
an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd 2003
This paperback edition published by Robinson,
an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd 2004
Copyright © John Ure 2003
The right of John Ure to be identified as
the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988
All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition
that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold,
hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover
other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition
including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in
Publication Data is available from the British Library
ISBN 1-84529-082-8 (pbk)
ISBN 1-84119-308-9 (hbk)
Printed and bound in the EU
13579 10 8642
For Caroline
who shared in the prologue and so much else
Contents
List of Illustrations and Maps ix
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction and Definitions xiii
Preface: Legacy of a Sandstorm . 1
BOOK I: THE MIGRATORY TRIBES OF 15
SOUTHERN PERSIA
The Bakhtiari 17
History and background - Sir Henry Layard - Isabella Bird (Mrs Bishop) -
Mrs Durand - Getrude Bell - Vita Sackville-West - Merian C. Cooper and the
makers of Grass - Sir John Russell
The Qashqai 51
Consul Abbott - Captain Garrod - Vincent Cronin - Bruce Chatwin - the author
with the Qashqai
viii CONTENTS
BOOK II: THE BEDOUIN OF ARABIA
AND THE LEVANT 73
The Bedouin of Arabia: An Exotic Appeal 75
Exotic appeal of the bedouin - Lady Hester Stanhope - Jane Digby - Sir
Richard Burton - W. G. Palgrave - Charles Doughty - Wilfred and Lady Anne
Blunt - T. E. Lawrence - Carl Raswan - Glubb Pasha - Bertram Thomas -
St John Philby - Wilfred Thesiger
BOOK III: THE MONGOL HORSEMEN OF
CENTRAL ASIA 127
Mongolia 129
History and background - Beatrix Bulstrode - Miss Cable and Miss French -
Owen Lattimore
Afghanistan 157
A personal introduction - William Moorcroft - Freya Stark - Bruce Chatwin
and Peter Levi
BOOK IV: THE TUAREG AND THE
MOORS OF THE SAHARA 175
The Tuarag and the Mauritanian Moors of the Sahara 177
History and background - Hugh Clapperton - Gordon Laing - Sir Harry Maclean -
Rennell Rodd - Geoffrey Moorhouse - Michael Asher -
Quentin Crewe
Epilogue 221
Select Bibliography 223
Index 227
List of Illustrations and Maps
Sir Henry Layard
Bakhtiari crossing the Zagros Mountains (from Grass)
Bakhtiari in camp in the foothills of the Zagros (from Grass)
A Bakhtiari tribesman teaches his son to shoot (from Grass)
Vita Sackville-West
Bruce Chatwin
Lady Hester Stanhope
Jane Digby
Sir Richard Burton
Camel train crosses the desert (Tom Owen Edmunds)
Carl Raswan
Wilfred Thesiger
Beatrix Bulstrode
Yurts in Kirgizstan
Loading horses and camels in Mongolia (Paul Harris)
X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
Tuareg preparing for a Saharan camel race (Paul Harris)
Freya Stark (John Murray archive)
On the Karakoram Pass
Alexander Gordon Laing
Hugh Clapperton
A Tuareg guide in the Sahara
Sir Harry 'the Caid' Maclean
The Hoggar Mountains (Tom Owen Edmunds)
Maps
Bakhtiari and Qashqai Country 14
Arabia 74
Central Asia 128
The Sahara 176