DARING MARSH ARABS.

Hokitika Guardian, 20 February 1928, Page 4

DARING MARSH ARABS.

LONDON, Jan. 2. Haji Rikknn. dweller in tlio malarial swamps of Southern Iraq, pedlar and occasional receiver of stolen goods, is an entertaining rascal, and lie is drawn with notable skill and directness. The hook deals with two of the wildest and least known federations of Arab tribes, and for the light which it throws on the people and country for whose protection Great Britain is a mandatory it is genuine interest and importance. The conditions under which the marsh Arabs lire are not attracting, hut in this malarious swamp, tormented by Hies and by the insects innumerable bred in the mud—the ground of his hut often oozing water at erer.v step, and every sanitary precaution neglected—the marsh Arab attains a surprisingly high physical level. i

s For (ho .inarshmcu. notorious since the time ol Hiirun ;ii Rashid for loot--1 ing river craft, tlic British occupaJ tion during the war was a golden age : 1 it seemed to the Arabs that all the river boats in the world were hoi tic, 1 assembled on the Tigris. Never had such hourly temptation presented it--1 self. Scorning the protection of dnrlc- ‘ ness, they would spring in broad day- * light out of the reeds on to a pass--1 ing barge, seize what lay to hand, and dive overboard in defiance of the vol- ’ ley which so seldom found its mark. Ihe railway, when it came, at first inspired terror, hut soon marslimen learned to swing themselves up on to trucks as the train slowed down at a curve in the line, and topple to the ground a few hags of wheat or sugar. Ma.ii ikkan avoided these exploits. His true talent lay elsewhere. Tn those days (he told his biographer) many persons found themselves in jx>s- ' sessin ol goods for which they had no use; these I bartered to such as had ' need of them.