Arabian Sands

Arabian Sands

From Abyssinia I was sent to Syria, where I served in Jabal al Druze and later worked for a year among the tribes. The deserts in which I had travelled had been blanks in time as well as space. They had no intelligible history, the nomads who inhabited them had no...
The Madonna of the Sea

The Madonna of the Sea

There is a Madonna at the bottom of the crystalline waters off the coast of Lampedusa, Italy, standing guard near a gap where two rocks curve in an unfinished embrace. Dead leaves and fish float above her like drifting feathers, shimmering in the swatch of sunlight...
An Outline Of Intellectual Rubbish

An Outline Of Intellectual Rubbish

Politics is largely governed by sententious platitudes which are devoid of truth. One of the most widespread popular maxims is, “human nature cannot be changed.” No one can say whether this is true or not without first defining “human nature.”...
The Etymologicon

The Etymologicon

Heckling is, or once was, the process of removing the knots from wool. Sheep are notoriously lackadaisical about their appearance, so before their wool can be turned into a nice warm jumper it must be combed. It’s easy to see how combing wool and teasing out the knots...
The Elephant’s Journey

The Elephant’s Journey

He dispatched the aide-de-camp to take his orders to the head of the convoy, orders that could be summarized in three almost synonymous words, speed, alacrity, haste, allowing, of course, for the delaying effects of the snow that had begun to fall more thickly now,...