Barefoot Through Mauretania

<p>Odette du Puigaudeau is best known for her major ethnographic work Arts et Coutumes des Maures a detailed study in words and drawings of the cultural world of the nomads of Mauretania. The present work explains how she came to write it. Barefoot Through Mauretania is an account of her first journey across the country by camel in 1933-4 with her life-long companion Marion Sénones. The book records the adventures of the two women during that year often with a touch of humour. Above all however it presents a picture of a way of life that has as they feared almost vanished and their determination that it should be recorded. Odette du Puigaudeau wrote a number of other books on different aspects of nomad life such as the salt caravans and date markets as well as articles on prehistoric rock-drawings and a charming tribute to her pet leopard Rachid.</p>