Arabia Felix
Subtitle: across the "empty quarter" of Arabia
By: With a foreword by T. E. Lawrence (T. E. S.) and appendix by Sir Arthur Keith
Contributors: Keith, Arthur, Sir, 1866-1955
Publisher: J. Cape
Published: 1932
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 396
Subjects: Social life and customs; Description and travel
Description: Thomas had some anthropological interests and believed in the pseudoscience of racial types and craniofacial measuring. He documented or described the peoples in the Rubʻ al-Khali, taking note not only of their skull sizes but also local distinctions between social classes, exorcisms, hunting practices, Islamic and non-Islamic spiritual beliefs, a wife's role and duties, female circumcision, tribal dances, mourning ceremonies, food customs, some local cures for the ailments of people and animals, "the psychology and ethics of the blood-feud," and war, among many other topics. His photographs of the people are scattered throughout the text.