- Hashish: A Smuggler's Tale

by Henry de Monfreid

Other authorsHelen Buchanan Bell (Translator)
Paperback, 2007

Status

Available

Call number

916.0431

Collection

Publication

Penguin Classics (2007), Paperback, 224 pages

Description

"Henry de Monfreid was a nobleman, writer, smuggler and adventurer who travelled the world during the 1920s with his wife and young daughter in search of excitement and quick money. First seeking his fortune by becoming a collector and merchant of the fabled Gulf pearls, he was then drawn into the shadowy world of arms trading, slavery and drugs. When he decided to set out on his own, transporting hashish from Piraeus to Suez, his daring and initiative compensated for his lack of knowledge and experience. Written with an engaging wit and charm, Hashish describes de Monfreid's fail-safe hiding places for contraband, how to catch a water turtle, and the aphrodisiac properties of shark meat - and is alive with the people he encountered on his travels, from paunchy customs officials and Bedouin camel-drivers, to a marooned Dankali fisherman and a jovial Greek undertaker."--BOOK JACKET.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member copyedit52
To date (Dec 08) it appears that I am the only one in LT to have read this book, in this or any of its other titles: "Hashish: A Smuggler's Tale," "Hashish: Autobiography of a Red Sea Smuggler," and merely "Hashish" ... including French readers. A shame, since this is as lucid and well-written a
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book as anything I've ever read.
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LibraryThing member varielle
This is a memoir by French adventurer Henry de Monfried detailing the history of one of his more high risk business enterprises. He was a French nobleman in the 1920s who had all sorts of misadventures trying various get rich quick schemes while dragging his poor wife and child around to some of
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the most disagreeable spots on the planet. Who knew there was money to be made if you could corner the market on top shells from the Indian Ocean? Or how badly they could stink? Then he got the bright idea of dealing in the subject of his title and many trials ensue. He manages to survive, else how would he have written this autobiography? His observations of people and the attitudes of these declining colonial times were entertaining and enlightening. His honesty concerning his own behavior is surprising. He had no shame about his schemes and thoughts and shares them with the reader, such as mentioning how he snuck around his Greek host's house in the middle of the night trying to figure out how to get to the pretty servant girl or how to get around customs officials. He's a cad, but a charming one.
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Language

Original publication date

1931

Physical description

224 p.; 7.81 inches

ISBN

0141442107 / 9780141442105

Local notes

French title: La croisière du hachich
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