Portrait of a Desert: The Story of an Expedition to Jordan. By Guy Mountfort. Illustrated by Eric Hosking. Collins, London, 1965. 192 pages; 68 plates ( n in colour) incorporating 116 monochrome and 26 colour photos; 8 line-drawings and a map. 36s. This is an account of the expedition of many talents which Mr. Mountfort led to Jordan at the invitation of King Hussein in the spring of 1963, Jordan's conservation problems are all too familiar in an age when human pressure is bearing more and more heavily on natural resources. The larger mammals have been almost completely exter minated by indiscriminate shooting (with shameful assistance in the past by British soldiery). Running parallel with this has been the des truction of natural habitats, with the felling of woodlands by man and the clearing of desert scrub by both man and the all-devouring goat. This, coupled with inefficient land husbandry, has accelerated the pro cess of soil erosion and, if this is allowed to continue, the point will soon be reached where the land is incapadle of supporting the human population, swollen as it has been by so many refugees from old Palestine. This was the background against which Mr. Mountfort and his team were asked to advise how the natural resources of Jordan could best be preserved and developed for the benefit of the country. And what wonderful natural resources these are! The scenery ranges from the near-tropical vegetation of the Jordan valley with its two large lakes to
Volume: 
Issue 4

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