VAMBERY^S narrative 249 



where they had a large tract of land to roam over, 

 and vividly as the picture of them endures in memory, 

 they were not there at their best — not as they are 

 sometimes seen by those who traverse the vast, empty, 

 desolate waste places of the world, where the animal 

 is native and in perfect harmony with a barren, 

 harsh environment. Even in such a book of travel 

 as that of Vambery, who saw and endured so much 

 to satisfy an almost mystical desire and passion for 

 an intimate personal knowledge of the fierce fanatical 

 peoples he visited, yet who tells it all in the driest, 

 briefest, most commonplace manner and language 

 — even he gives you a thrill when he recounts his 

 experiences of the wild ass. 



On the second occasion of his seeing a herd he was 

 in a town of the remote desert, when one day the 

 wild cry that the enemy was coming was given. A 

 cloud of dust appeared on the horizon — their dreaded 

 enemy was on his way to destroy them! Every man 

 rushed to get his weapons, the women snatched up 

 their little ones from the road and fled screaming 

 with terror into their houses, and all was panic and 

 wild confusion; for all knew that the swift-coming 

 cloud of dust meant a bloody fight and perhaps, to 

 follow it, every conceivable outrage and atrocity. 

 Meanwhile the dusty cloud rushed on, and only when 

 close to the ramparts came to a stand, when it was 

 seen that the raiders were wild asses. For the space 

 of a minute or two they stood motionless, staring at 

 the town and people who had gathered there, then 

 tossing their heads they wheeled round and rushed 



