Page 19 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

XX*

Retrospective consideration of the history and the culture
of the country and a school and adult education system
oriented in this direction were considered suitable means to
this end. The government, which has even created a spe­
cial department for this purpose, also furthers historical,
archeological, geographical and ethnological research, is
engaged in the restoration of important buildings in all
parts of the country and has drawn up, and already partly
realized, a programme for the preservation of traditional
handicrafts (copper and silver smiths, weavers, dyers, and
tanners). In this context, travel reports from previous cen­
turies and thus works like Wellsted’s “Travels in Arabia”
arouse considerable interest. The new edition will be especi­
ally well received here as it can be directly used in school
and adult education classes.

Final Comment

The reader who is familiar with the standard international
transcription will, on reading Wellsted’s two volume work,
at first undoubtedly be confused by the one Wellsted uses.
However, no standardization has up until now been agreed
upon in the Arab countries, so that different transcriptions
are used for maps and official publications from country to
country. For this reason a revision of the spelling of Arab
names and concepts— although originally envisaged in the
form of annotations—has been dispensed with for this edi­
tion. Similarly, the reader who is familiar with the regions
dealt with in these volumes, may feel that some of the
explanations of, among other things, tribal structure, vege­
tation, the layout of settlements, the kinds of housing and
irrigation techniques are outdated and need to be com­
mented on. Such supplementary comments have also been
dispensed with, however, as Wellsted’s work is to be under-