By Desert Ways to Baghdad

A travel narrative follows two travelers sketching an overland route through Anatolia and across the Taurus, descending along the Euphrates and Tigris to Baghdad and then crossing the Syrian desert toward Damascus. The account blends episodic journey scenes — mule and araba travel, a goat-skin raft on the Tigris, brushes with brigands and religious fanatics — with descriptive studies of ruins and landscapes such as Babylon and Palmyra, and encounters that reveal local hospitality and social customs. Intermittent reflections on time, travel methods, and archaeological interest knit the memoir-like chapters into a portrait of passage through ancient sites and contemporary life in the Near East.