Evening star., 1923-06-19
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
BY CAMEL AND CAR TO THE PEA
COCK THRONE. E. Alexander
Powell The Gentry Company,

COCK THRONE. E. Alexander
Powell The Century Company.
We are off again with Alexander
Powell, whose Where the Strange
Trails Go Down" of a year or so ago
made complete capture of readers
generally. This time. however, the
trails" are, in fact, broad highways
stretching back through many CEN
turtles of great history, casting intri-
cate patterns over a land Of surpass-
ing geographic interest and charm.
True. disuse through historic periods
of diverted interest has faded these
tangled path, there to fiattened desert
ways swept trackless by the shifting
sands. But the modern day Of science
and industry and what we call prog
ress Is breaking upon this region. and
under it's spell the old highways are
Frightening and hardening again to
the uses of the age-old human traffc.
4 4
We are, in the company Of this way
wise guide, bound for nearer Asia,
that corner of the earth that links up
the Mediterranean and the Caspian.
This is the ancient gateway through
which Tatar and Hun overran Europe
in a fierce flame of warfare which,
only five short years ago. presented
again an atavistic and woefully be-
lated recrudescence. This corner has
been from time immemorial the bat
tleground Of Asia, jast as, much later,
the low counptries became "the cock
pit Of Europe" Out Of II rise the
names Of great warriors-Thotmes at
hn
other. In between are Tiglath-Pile-
SER NebuchadneZzer, Alexander. Cae-
sar. Omar, Saladin, Tamerlane, and
another and another
And what is II all about? And what
are we doing here? We are merely
going along with this modern knight
errant, who. obviously. finds himself
quite unable to resist any call that
adventure may send out from any
part of the world. Ready at hand, he
has a very special reason here for
this outfaring. Looking up and down
the earth Mr.. Powell can see no quar-
ter more promising for his business
Of sheer adventure than that of nearer
Asia, no corner more sensitive just
now, none more likely to tip either
this way or that under the urge of
new iedas and the conflicts of new
agencies and rivalries Here are
SYRIA, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Persia,
all deep in the highly potential fer
ment of modern politics and industry.
Yet, there remains to this region
far background of gorgeous history
faded now. to be sure, save for occa-
sional peaks and submits of great
achievement or commanding per
sonality. to the drab squalor that
centuries of lost and forgotten gran
deur impose upon exhausted peoples.
What better place than this for such
an adventure? None keener than this
traveller to the picture of a country,
to the eXternals of it's personality.
None keener, besides. to the implica-
tion of these externals in the history
OF a people. A good deal Of the
artist. something of the scientist,
is modernist. alive to the politics
of any situation, in touch with the
currents of modern influence. And
these qualities and powers, in good
blend of keen appreciation and COM
petent management, he puts into fine
use throughout this adventure in the
western borderland of Asia.
The situation, so filled. on the one
hand. with ancient history, and so i'm
pregnated. on the other, with the
modern outlook. suggests the method
of contrast for the seizure and repro
duction of this picturesque and sig
nificant region. And that is the
method which, throughout. Mr.. Powell
uses in striking effect. Indeed, this
method looks out from the title of
the book, pointing to the most ancient
and then to the most modern means
of locomotion. An admirable teacher,
mental truth that interest is the one
essential element in delivering any
sort OF mental goods to another. And,
moreover, that interest responds
more promptly and keenly to the
near than to the remote. So. in pre-
senting one and another of these
divisions-Syria. Arabia or another
Mr.. Powell begins. invariably, where
he sets his feet and with the things
that are at hand. His first activity in
the towns is to arrange for caravans
to promote his further journeyings
This activity brings him up against
Some. of, them talk about their new
status under the mandate imposed at
Paris. Not discussing 1t. mind you.
just letting out their feelings about
1t. They are disappointed. What they
had looked for was independence. II
subordination, why not still under
the Turks. their co-religionists, much
easier and more overlooking than the
highly trained French? Yes. the
French are gradually yielding more
of local self-government. But they
want autonomy. The Syrians-and
these are Syrians-are high -spirite ed
people. with proud history behind
them. 1t Is along this easy and natu-
raj route from the present back into
the past that Mr.. Powell passes In
BRIEF sketch Of the history Of Syria
In this passage. for illustration and
emphasis. he uses the things around
him-ancient quarters set off against
the new to make sharp the contrast
between modern usage and immemo-
rial custom as these are recorded in
traveller goes somewhere eIse-over
into Arabia. maybe. or up into Meso-
potamia.
Whether he rattles along over the
whole or only over parts of these
diverse ways in a decrepit Ford. or
turesaue way of camel back, he is
unfailingly pictorial, setting out
every circumstance and situation
that by Its nature Is calculated to
contribute to the realism of the ad-
venture itself. A wealth of detail
comes In here-the facts and technic
and establishment of caravan
travel: the heat and what to do
about 1t. the water. more precious
than gold and diamonds. the look of
the desert and how 1t behaves to the
alien traveller; these and innumer-
able other elements combine to make
the great picture that each day un-
Then. another destination reached.