WILD LOVERS OF THE DESERT.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3381, 4 July 1927, Page 8

WILD LOVERS OF THE DESERT.

ARCADIA IN ALGERIA

The portrait of an Englishman in Arab dress, with a string of war medals across his long black cloak, and a decoration hung round his neck, forms the frontispiece to a*new book, written by a man who lias abandoned European dreams glory and greatness, and has, for some years, lived in the North African desert

The author is Major Ronald V. C. Bodley, late of the‘6oth Rifles, and his book, “Algeria from Within,’’ has just been published. Major Bodley comes of a famous Devonshire family, and his father was Mr J. E. C. Bodley, the historian.

“I have few ambitions,” writes Major Bodley, in an introduction, “beyond living simply and far away from the world, and if this work exists at all, it is because I have wished that people should know Algeria as it really is.

“Once upon a time I had great ideas about worldly position, and the sound of long titles; I believed that greatness was to he achieved in the capitals of Europe, or on battlefields, but I know that this is not so. “Southern Algeria, with all its charm, with all 'its capricious moods, has, like some lovely woman, taken me iii its arms, and 1 am doubtful if it will ever let me go. “Let this book, therefore, be read in the spirit in which it has been written by one who, having seen life in many parts of the globe, has found peace and solution to all worldly difficulties among the rustling palm trees and broad expanses of the Sahara.” Major Bodley appears, however, not to have forsaken all the conveniences of European life. There its a photograph of him on horseback in the oasis of Laghout, on the southern fringe of Algeria, and in this picture ho wears an ordinuary jacket, knee breeches, leggings, and a soft hat. “There are few men in the world,” he writes, “who are such ardent lovers ns the Arabs, and few women who know as well the art of holding a man and making him dance to their tune. “The Arab goes quite mad when ho is in love, and forsakes his home and his people to live the life of a lone savage. In the meanwhile the object of his adoration is laughing at him coldly, without the smallest emotion and without any encouragement. The lover can continue performing the utmost follies—the woman won’t flinch if she doesn’t love him.”