A German Prototype of Colonel Lawrence

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 11, 28 January 1937, Page 9

A German Prototype of Colonel Lawrence

T wo Decades' Experiences Among The Bedouin Arabs

THE Bedouin Arabs are regarded by most people as a race who have little time for the white man, and who resort to horrible means of getting rid of those who venture into their domains. Carl Raswan, a German, has a, different story to tell in "The Black Tents of Arabia," in which he tells of his twenty-two years with those wandering tribes. Raswan first went to North Africa at 18. On his first • visit he spent three years with a Bedouin tribe. At the outbreak of the war he returned to Germany and offered- his services. He was sent to Stamboul, and served with the Turks at the Dardanelles. Raswan says that in the course of his 22 years off and on among the Bedouins of Arabia, migrating, ' hunting, raiding, starving and feasting with them, he experienbed many wonderful friendships. His - constant companion in his wanderings was, he says, the late Colonel Lawrence's book. "My debt to. Lawrence is great," he says, "in that he has been my constant companion thrpugh the pages of his book on my last eight journeys, and has fortified my soul by his incomparable example of perseverance to carry me through the most trying conditions of the desert. I have met many of his old companions, and also enemies, and, whether they loved or feared him, they all agree that 'Aurans' was the most sincere friend that ever came from Europe to take up the Arab cause, though most of them regretted that he did not have a chance to side with Ibn Sua'uad." Raswan says his expeditions into the desert and his life amongst the Arabs were not prompted by scientific aspirations; the • Arab horse was the lodestone. "The 'white patches' on the map did not attract me so much, even though 1 lived for the most part in quite unknown regions, never. or very rarely, visited by Europeans," he says. "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." The present-day scarcity of the true

Arab horse Raswan puts down to these reasons — disappearance of most Arab studs in Europe, due to the exigencies of war; political conditions in Arabia during the last 20 years; Bedouin warfare with modern weapons and automobiles; indifference of Bedouins to pure breeding, a lost art to-day; the demand for Arab racehorses in Poland, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and, India. "We have to breed the pure Arab, to preserve his precious blood, and leave speed to the thoroughbred racehorse," Raswan adds. "For we shall need to draw on the rare blood of the Arab to regenerate certain light saddle and cavalry horses and perhaps other breeds, in various countries; for example, the Morgan and Kentucky horses in America polo horses in Argentine, .cavalry horses in Hungary. For his views on the Arab horse alone this book is of more than little value to the lover of horseflesh. A secondary interest with Raswan was •to inquire into the wanderings of the Bedouin tribes. He says this grew more and more fascinating the further he pro"ceeded, so that he came to study the geographical features of their pasture areas and lines of migration, their historic past and ethnographical peculiarities. He claims that during his sojourn in Arabia he lived entirely as a Bedouin; that he had never - any need to deny his race or his creed amongst the Arabs; that he was never once the butt of their mockery or scorn, or suffered at their hands any discourtesy. "The reason that I was allowed to live with them on the most intimate terms, and was implicitly trusted by them," he" says, "may perhaps be explained by the simple fact that I refrained from mingling in their politics, except when invited to give my opinion in internal tribal affairs. Further, I was careful to adhere to all their cherished customs and" prejudices, particularly those relating to their women. These are strict, and no European can hope to gain the eomplete confidence of a Bedouin without studied observance of , them." Like the desert itself, he adds, discussing the Bedouins, they have, looked upon from outside, a forbidding appearance; but the

closer one lives to them so much more is one astonished at their placid unconcern. His most astounding discovery, and the one that excites his admiration, was the - equanimity with which the Bedouin leads his family and his herds from the oases and cultivated lands into the wilderness and across desert areas, which appear to be absolutely barren. "The first cloud proclaiming the advent of rain lures him irresistibly to the highlands of the Hamad and tlie flint desert, or into the sand dunes of the Nufud," he says. "After the first rains the bold camel-plunderers also leave their tents. With their war mares tied to their racing camels, they rifle out. into the blue, often covering a thousand miles, 'and sit on the roads (as the holy script says) and lie in wait'for booty like an Arab in the desert."' On his first visit Raswan became blood brother to Amir Fuaz, a young prince of the Ruala Arabs, of whom Ibn Su'ad was ruler. Amir Fuaz was then eight, but already had the reputation of being an adroit rider, and a good sfiot. One af ternoon young Fuaz and his friends were shooting with the sling, the ancient weapon with which David slew Goliath. A stone rebounded and struck Raswan on the forehead between the eyes, stunning him. The young Prince was upset; he asked of Raswan the price • of his blood. "Quite unintentionally he had the blood of his' father's guest on his conscience, and he only thought of the satisfaction due to me, before the news of this accident could travel any further," says Raswan recounting this incident. "How much blood was shed — in this case only a few drops— did not matter; the only thing that mattered was the unwritten Bedouin law, that secures to the stranger absolute safety - and inviolability even in the tent of the humblest nomad. The blood-price of a guest is reckoned twice as high as that of a man killed in fight — fifty camels and four mares." Raswan claimed no other price \ than Fuaz's friendship, which was given. Thus, in this unusual, dramatic manner he became blood-brother of Amir Fuaz.