THE LAND OF UZ.

THE LAND OF UZ By Abdullah Mansur (G. Wyman Bury) Published by Garnet ISBN 1 85964 121 0 Price 14.95 [pounds sterling]

Bury arrived in Aden in 1896 aged 22, a young man intent on a life of adventure. He quickly found his feet in the country and spent a year with the `Abdali tribe, living among them and acquiring their language.

During this time he was given the name of Abdullah Mansur, by which he became widely known throughout the Aden hinterland. Inevitably perhaps, he soon came to the attention of the British authorities in the region, who at first were reluctant to allow him to live in the hinterland but soon made use of him and his local knowledge to compile intelligence reports. Bury was also an enthusiastic naturalist and combined his work for the British government with collecting for the British Museum. All of this is recorded in this book along with his travels, in particular his crossing of the sand seas from Nisad to Wadi Bayhan, the account of which vies with the best of Arabian travel writing.

An official government posting soon followed and Bury's career seemed set to blossom until the bottem fell out of his world when, amid accusations of corruption, he was dismissed from government service. Though the charges brought against him were later found to be false, his career was in ruins and all later attempts at further travel in Aden met with a wall of official resistance. It is no false claim to say that blinkered obstruction to Bury in Aden put back the exploration of the unchartered areas of Arabia by a generation. But in this book -- which was originally published in 1911 -- we are at least able to read some of the work of a man who should have been acknowledged as one of the great Arabian travel writers.