ABSTRACT
A pungent phrase attributed to Thoreau has been teasing my mind for several days. The philosopher of Walden, speaking in his superior fashion of travel, once said, “It is not worth while going round the world to count the cats in Zanzibar.” It is a remark that strikes sharply home, for there are all too many travel books which are little more than an account of the number of things seen, or the number of miles travelled, with a result achieved which could only be expected. Such travel books are all too often devoid of understanding, their authors having failed utterly in the effort to catch the essential spirit of the countries visited.
