In 1955 the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman was truly a medieval Islamic state. The journey made by the author and described in this book could, perhaps, be thought of as the last of the classic journeys of the Arabian peninsula. It was attended by few of the hardships and dangers of its terrible camel-back predecessors, for it was undertaken by motor convoy, led by an Arab prince entirely within his own domains, in an area of the world which had been shuttered against all progress by its traditionalist and autocratic ruler. Jan Morris is the author of Venice, Oxford, Spain, Conundrum and Last Letters From Hav.