Arab Bedouins
As Described by
A Travel Writer
-By Salim M. Ghadban

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Contents
side
_ Introduction………………………………………………

_ Discussion…………………………………………………..

_Conclusion………………………………………………….


























Introduction

Travel writing is one of the best ways of introducing a foreign people to the world. Colonisers used it in the last three centuries in discovering the countries where there was a possibility to conquer and colonise them. But in the last century and even after the end of the time of colonisation, travel writing had prospered and became very popular. It is now a flourishing literary genre. Academic interest has also increased, as academics considered travel writing as a good source of knowledge. The merits and morality of travel writing was under discussion. To encounter difference and otherness was not a simple matter.
Arabia had been subject to travel writing already before colonisation. In the 18^th century a Danish expedition took to Arabia led actually by Carsten Niebuhr, a German who worked for the Danish government. The expedition group consisted of six persons, only Niebuhr could return alive to Denmark after seven years. Wilfred Thesiger was one of many others who discovered Arabia. He discovered the most dangerous area in Arabia named “Arroube Alkhali” which means “The empty quarter”. The English poet and scholar, Charles Doughty wrote, “Travels in Arabia Deserta” (1888) after he travelled through the Arabian Peninsula between 1876 and 1878. He was in the company of Bedouins. Another example is T. Lawrence, called “Lawrence of Arabia” who was despatched by the English government under WW1 to the region to encourage the Arabs to revolt against the Turks.
In this paper, one will experience an English woman travel writer called Freya Stark who set off to Arabia as a part of an expedition group with two other women in the winter of 1937. Although she has been in the area before, in South Arabia and in Iraq, she was very interested in the journey. What makes the paper more interesting is that it is about a woman travel writer and not a man, which is seldom in the world of travel, especially at a time where there was not so much democracy in the world, and where women were still suppressed. So there is a place for ladies in this field. Actually, some colonisers used their ladies as the only way for establishing contact with Arabic women, especially the elite, to gather information specifically the political ones; as there is a saying in Arabic that means that the Arabic woman is the storing place for her man’s secrets. The paper will discuss how Freya Stark described the Arabs in the region and how she judged them. The discussions will include details, which could be important for understanding the Arabs, how they look, live, work, and entertain themselves. But maybe the most important, how they think. It’s a description of Arabs of South Arabia only, as they could be different from Arabs in other places of Arabia, and from Arabs in the other Arabic countries. South Arabia is now Yemen and Oman. At the end, one will come to a conclusion about the best way to deal with the Arabs and establish a good contact with them, and find out why Arabs and especially Bedouins have power and effect on them who visits them especially if the others have good intentions. Nowadays, Bedouins’ dwelling places experience lots of tourist’s visits.





Discussion

Freya Stark, an English travel writer has been to Arabia in 1937, and has written a book entitled “A Winter In Arabia”. In this book, she describes Arab Bedouins in South Arabia (Yemen and Oman). Before one begins to discuss, it is important to mention that these Bedouins could be a little different from the Bedouins in other parts of Arabia, and more different from Arab Bedouins outside Arabia, although they have many common characteristics.
The first picture one gets about Bedouins from Freya’s book is the disturbances between different tribes in the region. One thinks that maybe most of the book will talk about the internal conflicts between the tribes, but this is far from reality. One finds soon that Freya shows a serious social matter; it is the lack of education of women among Arab Bedouins. When she discusses the matter with a Sayyid (An urban Arab related in his ancestors to prophet Mohammed), he says:
I am not averse to women’s education,” a liberal sayyid told me later in Tarim: “so long as it is not excessive. If it is carried on to the age of nine and then stops, I do not think it can do any harm?” He looked at me anxiously, afraid that perhaps his modern tendencies were carrying him too far.[1]
It is worth mentioning that this urban man’s attitude is considered progressive in relation with an Arab Bedouin. But there are many reasons for the lack of women education among Bedouins. Among these reasons are the traditions, and that Bedouins live mostly in Sahara in small groups where there is no possibility to establish schools. In this later case women and men have the same fate, lack of education.
At that time there was an Arabic women liberation movement in the Arab world led by an Arabic poet called, Hafiz Ibrahim (1872-1932). Before one starts attacking on Bedouins, one should always bear in mind that one is talking about a different time in the past. Most Bedouins nowadays live similar to the urban people or beside cities, with different conditions.
In chapter III in Freya’s book, she describes Qasim, an Arab Bedouin, dressed in a loincloth, white shirt, and white and yellow turban whose end like a plume in the Aden way. Well, most of Bedouins dress themselves in loincloth, but some tribes bear it on the main dress, other tribes bear it under the main dress. Freya stark do not exert herself in doing researches, collecting more information, she only describes what she sees. Moreover, people in the region, whether they are Bedouins or urban, use a white dress in summer and a dark one in winter, because the white colour reflects the heat, while the dark colour absorbs it. It is one of the wisdoms they learned naturally. Stark mentions that the Master of Belhaven criticised Qasim in that he could produce nothing edible beyond stew and tea. She described this judgement as unjust. She has right, Bedouins do the things that they need to do in their simple way of living. They try to live in harmony with their nature. So, they do not need to be clever in doing things they normally do not need to do.
Stark describes Qasim as a man with only little intelligence, and has devotion nearly always found in Arab servants, and was ready to neglect a household duty for a classic poem. When one lives like Bedouin he does not need so much intelligence to tackle his simple life. The lack of education does not mean much to him. But regarding poetry, Arabs in general are known of their fond of it, already many centuries before Islam. It is said that the tribe that experience a poet among its members hold a fireball for a complete month, day and night. The tribe is very proud to have a poet who can criticize and attack on the other rival tribes. He was a tool of war. Moreover, Arab poets used to hold an annual meeting for many days in the now called Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in a place called Ukadh Market or Souq Ukadh, where every poet had the chance to read his poems for the public and competed with his rivals.
Qasim’s bed is described as a blanket. He keeps all he owns in a box, and when he goes to the market, he buys a special dagger. The last can be easily understood when one knows that almost always there was a conflict between two or more tribes in the Sahara. When a tribe is in lack of nutrition or water, it prepares its members for a raid on another tribe, which could open an open war, which could last for years. It is worth mentioning that the information one gets of Freya Stark’s description is mostly direct pieces of information, which is not enough. So one is in need of filling the gap she leaves. Stark says that Bedouins have so many tricks they use to get more money from others, and she describes one of these ones. One cannot deny this, but only understand it, as Bedouins are poor, but otherwise, they are generous and they do not eat until their guest starts to eat. It is shameful to let the guest leave their tent hungry. One finds in Arabic literature a famous story about generosity among Arabs, about a man called “Hatim Altaee” and how he once slaughtered his only horse to provide food for his guest. Stark refers to the many religious expressions that Bedouins use daily. That does not mean that Bedouins are more religious than urban Arabs. It is rather the reverse. Stark passes by some Arabs living in caves and comments that they live like their Stone Age Ancestors. Well, these are maybe not Bedouins. Bedouins like to live in tents and prefer them to anything else. A Bedouin once said: give me a tent, a camel, a saddle to ride, and a beautiful woman, and I will be the happiest man in the world. Stark describes a little shepherdess with her herd returning home. This scene is a typical Bedouin one, as Bedouins live almost on their herds. They consider camel milk as very healthy. Therefore, they do not only use it as food, but also as a cure of many diseases. Returning to Qasim, Stark describes him as a good servant, he feels ashamed if he stands idle and has nothing to do. So she lets him make her bed. So he was happier to work, and she was happier not to do. When Stark meets the Sayyids for the second time she finds them patient and pleasant people. When she asked Qasim whether the Sayyids had eaten during the day (in Ramadan), he replied that only one of them did. Here, it is useful to comment that Islam allowed the Muslim in Ramadan to eat and break the fast if he were on travel, especially for a long distance. One other exception is, when somebody is sick. Stark marks that Qasim has an infallible eye for pork. Eating pork is strictly forbidden in Islam for many reasons. At least, it is considered not healthy. Anyway, a regel in Islam says that necessities allow the forbidden. Before the expedition come to the Tarim Wadi , Stark notices the Sayyids pray one behind the other in white gowns on the stones in the sunrise. Muslims pray in rows, one row behind the other. They should pray on a pure ground, but if the ground is not wet, it is also considered as pure. Of course it will be much better if one has a chance to use a blanket to prey on. In the outskirts of Tarim , she meets some curios children and peasants. They ask her why they do not speak Arabic well, and why they drink water in Ramadan. An old woman wants to be photographed, to send the picture to her son who left her twenty-four years ago, a small boy. She has no others, and her husband was dead.. The woman thanks the expedition and expresses her gratitude, then goes her ways uncomplaining as a sad and gentle soul.
In the region of Kathiri Freya Stark is astonished by the seen of a goatskin full of water. This is a very good invention of Bedouins. It keeps drinking water somehow cold in summer. Otherwise, drinking water would be awful. Stark meets a Bedouin who tells her a story about a tribe, which the R.A.F. bombed their Wadi some months ago. Actually, some tribes were in conflict with the government, and the English used to help the government.
Freya Stark tells that her companion, an archaeologist, was not happy to be in Arabia after comparing it with Egypt where she spent years. The archaeologist criticizes Qasim for not having a clock, although he possesses a pair of tennis shoes. The time is not as important element for Bedouins as for Europeans. Spending few minutes does not mean anything for them. Otherwise, Bedouins have their way in measuring time. They do it by watching the movement of the sun, and by measuring the movement of shades. Bedouins do not understand why Europeans care so much about time.
Stark mentions that R.A.F. was interfering between tribes when a big stealing operation takes place. Stealing herds is not rare in Sahara, especially camels, as a camel is said to be the ship of the Sahara. Stark also mentions that there are some small buildings in Sahara but made only of mud. That is right. Bedouins used these buildings as towers to guard themselves and watch if there is an enemy in the near.
In Shibam, Stark sees a little shop, she describes the commodities and watches a Bedouin from Huridha who came to handle. What Stark needs to know, is that in Arabia, there are some commodities that are not found in other countries. Carsten Niebuhr talked about scores of varieties of grapes found in Yemen. The same can be said about Dates in Arabia, in general. In Southern Arabia, for example, people produce a special kind of rice, called Alasiri, as it grows in Asir region. It is not white; it is brown and tastes very well. That is why it is costly. Nowadays, one kilo Alasirsi rice is sold for 45 riyals, while the kilo of normal rice is sold for less than ten riyals.
Freya Stark encounters a spreading disease between Bedouins. She cures herself in a European way criticising Bedouins by saying that their wisdom is concentrated on the religious texts. She forgets that wisdom which is derived from their experience from living in Sahara. A Bedouin is very clever in identifying a traveller by studying his foot trace. He can put his ear to the ground and hear if somebody is the near miles away. Stark comes some times in small conflicts with Bedouins, but they do not take much time before they are settled. She mentions how Salim attended her when she was sick. She intends to take a present to him. She describes Salim’s house as follows:

I climbed through a dingy entrance up many invisible dark steps with small landings: until Salim’s door opened, and we stood in a tiny room swept and carpeted, with a coffee hearth, and a mortar and two or three cups upon it. Little else in the room, except a pretty wife and a blind sister and a quilt to rest on, but it opens on to a terrace balustrade so that the women may be there invisible and sleep on its coolness in summer.[2]

Stark says that she was welcomed to stay in Salim’s house but she claims that if she had to live on Salim’s income she would rather be there than in London. She conceives herself living in Arabian nights in the 18^th century. She describes Hussain’s (a Bedouin) wife as having her loose and flowery pink brocade tucked in a silver girdle. She looked like an Egyptian head painted on mummy cases. She sat with one knee up and one flat on the ground. Her hair was divided in plaits divided in the middle and two subsidiary partings, one at the front and one at the back. Stark says that she had counted 212 plaits on the head of a small girl. Hussain’s wife spends so much time every day arranging and oiling her curls. She receives the company (expedition’s group) graciously, not bending or showing weakness. It is worth mentioning here that Arabs also shake their hands, but only with the right hand. This custom is valid not only in Arabic lands but also in the Muslims lands, as the left hand is considered as unclean. A friendly atmosphere prevailed. Stark refers to the many delicious dishes which where offered to them, but she does not name any dish or meal. Bedouins also have their special meals. They keep almost a fireball in front of their house or tent, especially when they have a guest. They either cock or make coffee or tea. One can be sure that coffee is the main Bedouins’ drink. There is almost much cardamom in it. One has a short story in memory about an American who came to Arabia to work. He saw Arabs drinking coffee with much cardamom, so he sat a whole big spoon of cardamom in his Nescafe cup. He became sick at the moment, and he was taken to the hospital. His crop was poisoned with cardamoms.
Stark says that in Ramadan, silence prevails outside the houses in the day. When sore throats disease spread in Hadhramaut, Husain said that it was due to the changing of the stars. Stark starts her job by photographing the doors and windows of Shibam and discovering its industries. She means that they were poor in regard to the size of the city. The industry consists of making pots, and dyeing of cottons. She remarks that the pots are still made here without the potter’s wheel. Making Sirs and jars is described, also dyeing. Some Bedouin prefer to wear jol, which needs no boiling. They say it is warm to wear while foreign indigo is cold, but the foreign one now been adopted by the towns, and is the only dye in Shibam. The whole industry is centred in one house. There is only the dyer and his assistants of women inside. Stark notices that they are preparing special beautiful cups like chalices for Ramadan. Stark takes her time in describing the industry in details. She makes her effort not to miss anything. She registers what she sees, but it is difficult to call her work a research. Stark makes friends with the mercenaries who garrison the square watchtower of the jol. Their daggers are decorated with cornelians, their garments are gay and striped, and a sprig of rihan (scent) stuck over one ear, and a twig or two of rak (toothpicks) are put in their turbans. Stark admires a silver armlet worn by one of them. She watches him sitting in the gate of Shibam using a stick in a cartridge case in combing his hair. When she does not hide her admiration, he comes to her to bargain with her trying to sell it. Stark claims that these men are handsome and fearless, and troublesome. They are so different from others. They have thin mouths, long faces, and handsome eyes. When they come to her to complain about their toothache, she explains to them that it is due to a worm inside which only doctors can kill. They sit and talk about their homes in the hills. It takes ten days to reach their area. In regards to the hills, mountains are found in some places in Arabia, in Yemen, Oman, and in Altaif in Saudi Arabia. Otherwise the area is almost flat, and very sandy in the heart of Sahara. In the areas of quick sands, many people are killed every year, swallowed alive by the quick sands. Most of them are shepherds. They are swallowed completely with their herds. Some Travel writers talked and described this situation. Among them is Theisyger who crossed the Empty Quarter (the most dangerous part of the Sahara) four times in the first half of the 20^th century. He was the first discoverer of the Empty Quarter.
Stark mentions a small unusual incident and shows how Bedouins related it to some fable power. In this case, they use to sacrifice a goat or a sheep or any sort of animal. When once a table starts shacking, it did not stop until they sacrificed an animal and ate it. If the table did not stop shacking, then it is a sign of trouble all over the world.
Back to Qasim, Stark gives him a new loincloth as a present to use it in the feast after Ramadan. In the feast Qasim has this cloth on, with rihan in his turban. Stark says that he looked like an apparition of Youth in the frame of the dark stair. He has a cheerful nature and an engaging liveliness in his opinions. Qasim does not like modern things. He looks with scorn on the expedition commodities, and says about the camp beds that they are comfortable for the dead. Freya Starks watches Qasim “a servant”, reading poetry in enthusiasm. She wonders about him. He is delighted to show his poems, beautiful both in red and black script. Stark remarks that to have him and the expedition’s group in the same house, is like the Orient and Occident under one roof. One would very much agree with Stark, Poetry is more important for the Orient than ordinary work. Using machines is not favourable for people in Orient. This makes a gap between what Stark calls the active and contemplative.
Freya Stark watches Qasim straining the soup through an ancient turban that dose not look in good order, but Qasim says he washed it first. It is worth mentioning that water in Sahara is very limited. Therefore Bedouins try to spare it according to circumstances. Sometimes it is more precious than gold when it saves lives. Freya contemplates over Bedouins’ life and remarks that whatever way of life the Europeans choose to live in Arabia, but they should not try to impose different values from theirs on them. Here, one can compare her attitude with the attitude of another travel writer who has been in Arabia in the midst of the 20^th century, Theisyger. He said once, that the best Europeans could do for the Arab Bedouins is not to interfere in their way of life, otherwise they will lose their happiness.
Once Qasim comes to Stark bringing with him a poet and a group of musicians. They sit in a row and wrapped their shawls round knees and shoulders, (They call this the “Arab chair”) and a group of other Bedouins gathered to hear them. Stark describes them,
the piper is an expert both with the single pipe, the madruf, a plain reed from the coast with four stops on one side and one on the other, bound with metal at both ends, and with the double pipe or mizmar, a lovely little instrument made of the inner tubes of an eagle’s feathers. The whole thing is about seven inches long and one wide: The parallel tubes are bound together with gilt wire between each of their five stops, and there is a sort of joint at the top made of the wrappings of a leather thongs, where two smaller reed pipes are fitted in, about two inches long. The feather tubes are semi-transparent, like old horn. The small reed pipes give a great deal of trouble to fit and try and take out. Pieces of paper must be chewed and inserted, and thin rods, which are kept ready tied on with string, are used for poking through when they are clogged- and even in the middle of the song the piper stops to fiddle..[3]
Like most travel writers, Freya Stark has a diary to register her daily observations. Many of the observations mentioned before has been registered in her diary. Stark mentions that after the stay in Hureidha they left at ten in the morning, in the sunlight. She walks down with Alinur, her companion to meet the camels in the town. The Mansab, an Arab leader, is scented with sandalwood pressing both hands in farewell, while his eyes are full of tears; the Mansab of Meshed had come also. The Qadi sat cross-legged on the campstool, copying poems in Stark’s book. While the children came, one finds little Salim, proud and sorrowful, kept away. Qasim forgot his lunch; he sits with tears rolling slowly down his cheeks. A little crowd gathers around them and the camels from 5 a.m. Here, Freya Stark tries to describe how the Arab Bedouins are passionate. Well, they are not only passionate, but also hot- blooded. In general, All Arabs in Southern Arabia are hot-blooded, but there are some tribes in Yemen who are extremely hot-blooded that some times they could be very dangerous to the people around them. If somebody suddenly shouts to one of them:“ Stab!” he will without hesitation draw his dagger and stab the nearest person to him. One has personal experience in such incidents; while I worked with some Yemenis in Abu Dhabi Airport, and I was sitting behind one Yemeni in a bus, somebody suddenly shouted: “ Let us strike!” And I felt a strong strike on my face without doing anything to him. I was very astonished until somebody explained the trick to me.
In Freya Stark’s book “A Winter In Arabia”, on finds many illustrations that help us in constituting a picture about Arabs in South Arabia. It starts with a map on Yemen (the southern part only) then, one finds the following illustrations: The Veiled Woman, The Tarim aquaba, General view of Sibam, Street Scene in Shibam, The feast in Shebam, Adance in Shibam, Feast of the pilgrimage; visit to the tombs, Ravine of Samu’a, Ja’da Bedouin in ‘Amd, Camp of Radhain, Lunch on the Jol, Salim’s friend, The wad of Azzan, The uncle in Bani Hamiar, the guard, A cravan, Nasir the Sultans nephew, and weighing ancher.
The map on Yemen in the book reminds of the map on Yemen put by Carsten Niebuhr in the middle of the 18^th century. Comparing Freya Stark with Carsten Niebuhr, one finds some common characteristics, although, Niebuhr was more fascinating in his job. One can relate this to his freedom as a man to move between Arabs.
In Wadi ‘Amd, Stark wakes up once to see a young Se’ari (a tribe) sitting squat beside her. He has a bracelet on his arm and his knife in his hand. Freya mentions that his tribe has been bombed by the R.A.F recently. His hair’s curls were loose on his shoulders. He looked like a small, solitary brown animal with soft eyes. What is astonishing is that he asked her whether Harold belonged to her tribe. When commenting on this, one can claim that Arab Bedouins do not have much knowledge about the other people’s ways of living, especially the Europeans. They think that all other people outside their world could not be living a much different life. Technology is out of their reach.
Stark describes a camel as an ugly animal seen from above. Well she can easily fall in conflicts with Arabs if she mentions that in front of them. As all know, a camel is very beloved by Arabs in general, and especially Bedouins, That is because of his many benefits to them in the Sahara. In Most countries, one conceives an Arab as one holding or riding a camel. So in a way, one can claim that a camel became a national symbol for Arabs. It can be understood that she hates Arabs as long as she hates camels. The same can be said of other countries’ national symbols.
Freya Stark says that Qasim became an excellent servant. When they reach Zahir, they are received very well. They come to a dark house on a hill and sit down. They sit, around 40 men, round the mud walls of their room for conversation. After an hour of conversation, Freya goes to sleep on a straw mat, with Ali and Qasim. There was another hour of talk in the guest room and then they sleep. Looking on this scene, one can say that when an Arab is dealt with in a fine way and without the feeling of superiority over him he likes very much to serve the others to the uttermost, especially when the others are his guests. Arabs, even before Islam, were famous for the good way of receiving their guests. This must not be understood as a remark of weakness. Normally, when Arabs receive guests, men sit with men, and women with women. It could be easier to sit outside the house if the weather is good. So men sit outside while women sit inside the house. Arabs are talkative, and they like their guests who would like to talk. Arab Bedouins like to discuss their matters in public, and they hold a kind of court outside their houses, where the Sheik acts as their Qadi (Judge).
The scarcity of water between Bedouins is mentioned many times by Stark. This problem is not the same in all places. The region has many places rich with water. In Yemen and Oman one finds many rivers that flood sometimes and create troubles for traffic in winter. One finds many beautiful gardens in these two countries, and good amounts of vegetables and fruits. Yemen was known as “Arabia Felix” in the old ages. Freya Stark comes to a wadi where there is a big spring in it. Arabs used to build dams on it, and lead the water off in canals to distribute it to the regions where there is a need for water. She takes her time in describing the canals. Stark hears about canals build in a smart way in many cities in Yemen. They are built even in the pre-Islamic period and they are in a good status till now.
In regards to one more serious matter, definitely murder, Freya Stark marks that murder in this region is dealt with inside the family. Once, she meets with a girl who shot her father, she sits as nothing has happened but only worried that the Europeans would deal with the matter in their way.
Stark criticise Arab’s generosity to be unreal after meeting Sayyid Ali. He could be a bad example of Arabs. She fells in the same fault, which many others Europeans fell in, definitely, generalisation. One should be careful when dealing with human matters. One gets the feeling that Freya Stark shows us more than one face regarding her relationships with Arabs. She return again to the good humour when she confesses that the best house in the Amid town was borrowed for her reception. Then she has the bad humour again, and claims that the sitting with men was disturbing for her, and when she excuses herself to visit the Harim her situation deteriorates even more so that she would like to die. Later on, one discovers that her situation is not bad because the Arabs are bad, but because she caught a disease. It is the Malaria. She confesses at last that she was frustrated in this land because of illness. She confesses that Ali was a good help for her during her illness period.
There is allegiance that Arabs at that time were not only using slaves but also deal with slave trade. Stark says that one governor of a region was a slave. One would guess that she means that he was black in colour only because slave trade was already abolished since Islam. Stark comments, that it was a mistake to send slaves to govern tribesmen, just because people hate him. Here, Stark could simply be accused for racism. They hate him because he does not know their customs, and he demands a big amount of money from them. People of Amd hold a meeting (Majles) to discuss this matter. They ask Freya Stark for advice.
Every time Stark, or the expedition visits a town she mentions that a meal has been offered to them. She does not talk in details about the meal, the contents, how it is done, and whether it tastes good or bad. In Southern Arabia, Bedouins have different kinds of dishes, which are so different from the dishes in the other Arabic countries. And if one finds a common dish, it will only be an exception.
In the headman’s (Almoqaddam) house, in Amid, Stark notes that his wife covers her face only when a stranger appears. Actually Bedouins in Southern Arabia are different in dealing with this matter. Some women in some tribes wear veil, but most of them cover only their hair. Urban people differ also in this matter. Some cover their hair others do not. Stark does not study the clothes the Bedouins wear in the different regions of Southern Arabia. She does not give us a good idea about the way people greet each other when they meet. In most areas, they do not kiss each other, but only let their noses touch each other, once
, or more.
In the town of Shi’ba , Stark gives us an image of the houses there. They are brown and strong; and what is important is that their windows are very small because people use them to shoot at enemies when they are attacked. Again here, Stark shows her derogatory to the Arabic culture when she says that their library does not deserve a visit.
One notices a map of the Hadhramouth on the first page of Starks book “A Winter In Arabia” but this map is not drawn by her. Travel writers differ in their qualifications, in their relationship to the indigenous people of the countries they visit, and in their passion to their homeland. Some travel writers become very attached to the country they visit so that they consider it as their homeland. Others suffer from homesickness. Comparing Freya Stark with Carsten Niebuhr one notices the following:

Conclusion

Arab Bedouins live a different life from the urban people’s. Their life is humble and simple. Their traditions are different. Their sense of time is a little one.
Freya Stark gives us an image of Arab Bedouins of some sides of their life, but it is far from being a comprehensive one. Stark’s researches are not complete.
Freya Stark shows us more than one face in dealing with the Arabs. Sometimes she looks with superiority and scorns their wisdom; other times she praises them.
The best one can do at the end of this paper is to copy Sir Kinahan Cornwallis advice to them who should come in contact with the Arabs: “The Arab, like most of us, is essentially human; treat him, as he should be treated, as a friend and an equal and you get the best out of him.”



References

- Stark, Freya, “A Winter In Arabia”1945.