page_title: Carl Raswan
section_title: First trip to the Middle East
hierarchical_section_title: Carl Raswan / First trip to the Middle East
caption_attribution_description: Carl Raswan (rechts) mit seinem Blutsbruder Prinz Amir Fuaz (Mitte) im Zelt der Ruala-Beduinen.
context_page_description: Carl Reinhard Raswan, born Carl Reinhard Schmidt, was one of the greatest connoisseurs and patrons of the asil Arabian horse. He authored numerous books on Arabian horses and the Bedouin people who raised them. A scholar of Arabian bloodlines, he also published the Raswan Index, an extensive compilation of Arabian horse pedigree and strain information. He advocated tolerance and understanding of Bedouin ways of life and culture in Arabia.
context_section_description: Inspired by the writings of Lady Anne and his studies of ancient artwork, Raswan returned from Greece and soon began to study everything related to Arabia, and in a few years he mastered both the language as well as the writing to a native level.   Raswan first traveled to the Middle East in 1911 on an invitation to Egypt from his cousin, who handled an Import/Export operation in Cairo. He traveled via Trieste and Alexandria to Cairo and saw for the first time the beauty and diversity of the Middle East.   By 1912, Raswan had moved up to a job as an assistant at the Santa Stefano farm near Ramle, east of Alexandria, where he was responsible for irrigation techniques and farm issues, working extensively with the problems facing the rural population.  His then 16-year-old sister, Charlotte Schmidt, followed Raswan to Egypt to help him to take over the financial management at Ramle.
  On their excursions on horseback in the area around Alexandria, Raswan and his sister first made the acquaintance with the Bedouins in the area. One day they met Sheikh Ammer Ibn-el-Aide of the Would Ali tribe, who rode a small Arabian stallion named Ghazal (Arabic for gazelle). In the tent of Sheikh Raswan first learned about the customs and family life of the Bedouin, and where he also became acquainted with Marzuki, the former equerry to the Egyptian king Tewfik (also Taufik).
  In his ongoing search for the "dream horse", Raswan was invited by Marzuki to join him as an assistant on a trip to Jerusalem and Damascus. On this journey, he had his first opportunity to be in contact with the horse-breeding Bedouin tribes. Sheikh Ammer loaned Raswan his stallion Ghazal for this trip. The friendship between the Sheikh and Raswan became so close that he was nicknamed "Aziz" (Arabic for "Dear"). This nickname also helped Carl Raswan later in other contacts with the Bedouin. During this journey, which lasted about one year, Raswan learned many ways to deal with the nomadic tribes of Arab Bedouin.  He learned much about their ways of life, religion, and made a study to understand the social fabric of the Bedouin tribes.
  During this first journey, his interest in the Arabian horse and his experiences in the desert led to the blood brotherhood between Raswan and young Bedouin Prince Fawaz as-Shaalan (Fuaz). This close relationship continued until the death of Raswan. During this trip, as Raswan later wrote in his book "Drinkers of the Wind", he finally realized in the stallion Ghazal, a representative of the asil Arabian horse, his "dream horse."  Sheikh Ammer later gave Ghazal to Raswan as a gift.
caption: Carl Raswan (right) in the tent of the Bedouin chief Ruala along with Raswan's blood brother, Prince Fuaz, 1930
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