DRINKERS OF THE WIND

The author, a young German, went to Arabia twenty years ago. He followed to some extent in Lawrence's footsteps, though holding off from politics. This is his autobiography, with the focus on his quest for fine horses around which his life work revolved. From babyhood he had a passion for horses, and became a finished horseman in boyhood. As a student he travelled in Greece, then had a chance for a job in Cairo -- and his interest in horses led him from Egypt to Africa to Arabia. Here he became blood brother of the Badouina; he knew the desert intimately; his close companion was the fiery stallion, Ghazal, Desert raids -- the discovery of desert horses in their prime -- this comprises the best part of the book. When he writes of the desert people, it is with understanding and sympathy; when he writes of the stallion, of the little mare, of the birth of their foal, it is as poetic and tender as Salten's Bamb, without the fantasy quality. A book for a carefully selected market -- not for everyone.