In Ethiopia with a Mule

by Dervla Murphy

Overview

Dervla Murphy set out with her pack-mule Jock on a hazardous trek through Ethiopia's remote and hostile regions. Inspired by stories of Prester John and the Queen of Sheba, she hoped to find beauty, danger, solitude, and mystery. Instead, she encountered rough terrain, exhaustion, illness, and the disorder of the Ethiopians' domestic affairs - all of which she conquered with endurance and good humor. Despite being robbed three times, Murphy found the Ethiopian highlanders were unusually hospitable. Out of her dependence on them and her increasing familiarity with their way of life grew a close and warm understanding. On reaching Addis Ababa, she concluded that affection for Ethiopia's people was the richest reward of her journey.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781906011673
Publisher:	Eland Publishing
Publication date:	10/19/2012
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

135684

Table of Contents

	Map	xii
	Prologue	1
1.	Finding my Four Feet	10
2.	Tamely through the Tembien	31
3.	Gunmen for the Guest	63
4.	On the Roof	92
5.	Timkat and Traffic	117
6.	Gondar	138
7.	Tribulations around Lake Tana	152
8.	Vengeance is Mine	173
9.	The Natives were Hostile	190
10.	Mapless in Lasta	204
11.	Wading through Wollo	228
12.	Mournfully to Manz	250
	Epilogue	272
	Index	283

Editorial Reviews

Overwhelmed by the natural beauty and often daunting landscape, yet unimpressed by the people or the achievements of their country, Murphy, veteran travel writer and author of Cameroon with Egbert, South from the Limpopo, and several other works, travels Ethiopia on foot, bicycle, mule, and automobile in this, her 1968 account. Frequently drunk, occasionally funny, always indignant, Murphy is an original. But this volume is not; and the Ethiopia of 1966-67 that led to the original 1968 publication is not the Ethiopia of 2004. Time may often appear to stand still in Africa, and Ethiopia may be a perfect testimony to that impression, but 37 years is enough time for something to happen, even in Ethiopia. This work does nothing for the reader interested in the present and contains little of true historical value. But if you are a large public library with none of Murphy's works and are short on Eurocentric African travelogs, then acquire a volume and affix a clear warning label: "unaltered reprint of a nonclassic." Edward K. Owusu-Ansah, CUNY Coll. of Staten Island Lib., NY Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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