the co(a)st of incense

freya stark begins with the description (in sohrab and rustrum) of the oxus.

it is the period round late december 1934 to february 1935 - she is away to explore the hadhramaut (the south of saudi arabia);

‘it is, to the geographer, the picture of his life ... to us, who delight in maps, the idea of life inclines to be spatial - we see it moving from point to point, like a road if we are disposed to attribute its shaping to men, like a river if we have more feeling for the unexpectedness of nature. because I have lived free of institutions or the ‘planned economy’, I incline to the river...’

this from the coast of incense: autobiography 1933-39.

in her books about it we find a similar structure, the same journey is recounted in the southern gates of arabia: a journey in the hadhramaut, there she begins with writings of a 1st century greek captain, a practical book, of ports and goods - the periplus of the the erithraean sea - a book she reads while onboard the ship carrying her there.

in her autobiography we find rivers and routes but also houses and hosts. she takes photographs (not here) but there are sketches.

27th january she shares a dish with the locals before hearing one of the children has come down with measles - she comes down with measles (and then with lung complaints) to go with the dysentry. she abandons a visit to shabwa - a german explorer has got there ahead of her and already published a book about it.

meanwhile, over the water, sylvia pankhurst is in ethiopia - wheras freya stark harbours illusions about the benefits of british rule sylvia has no such illusions. soon the second world war will come and the region will be up for redivision by the british, the french and the germans to produce the states that we know today. freya will work in a british propoganda unit.