Page 392 - Neglected Arabia 1902-1905

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THE PENETRATION OF ARABIA.*

REV. S. M. ZWEMER, D. D.
Livingstone's words, “the end of the geographical feat is the be­
ginning of the missionary enterprise” are still a prophecy as regards
the interior of Arabia. No other country has so large an area still
unexplored, and all who are interested in this dark land will welcome
the sumptuous volume on the rediscovery and exploration of inland
Arabia, just issued from the press. The author says in his preface
that “he is not among those who have penetrated the Arabian peninsula
and that his personal acquaintance with its inhabitants and their lan­
guage is small.”
But his qualifications for writing the book are sympathy with the
subject and wide reading. The result is a most fascinating, accurate
and lively description of the romantic discovery of the Neglected Penin­
sula—a book that will bring Arabia closer to all who read it. Fifty-
three photographic illustrations and rare maps illuminate the text
The type is a delight to the eye, and the binding appropriate, The
faces of a score of celebrated travelers, from Niebuhr the Dane (1763),
to Hurgronje the Hollander (1885), greet the reader, while the plans
of Arabian towns give us the goal of their journeys.
The first part of the book treats, in seven chapters, of the pioneers—
1
Niebuhr, Ali Bey, Seetzen, Burckhardt, -Sadlier, Arnaud, Wellsted, Von
Wrede, Wallin. The second and larger part tells of their successors,
who are better known, but did not endure more for the cause of science
一Burton, Halevy, Hurgronje, Glaser, Hirsch, Bent, Palgrave, Pelly,
the Blunts, Huber, Euting, Nolde, and the prince of the them all,
Doughty.
The last chapter is about unknown Arabia, and the author, who had
access to every source of information and the maps of all travelers,
says: “From certain scientific points of view, hardly anything in Arabia
is known. Not a hundredth part of the peninsula has been mathemati­
cally surveyed; the altitude of scarcely a single point, even on the

0 Thr Penetr入tion of Arabia : A record of the development of western know­
ledge concerning the Arabian peninsula, by David George Hogarth, M.A” F.R.G.S.,
F.S.A. Illustrated. London, 1904. Price, 7s. 6d.