Unconscionable Maps no longer satisfied…that vast Map was Useless…In the deserts of the West, still today, are the Tattered Ruins of that Map, inhabited by Animals…
-Suarez Miranda, Viajes de varones prudentes (Del rigor en la ciencia, Borges)
It need not take a prudent man- nor an imprudent Khawaja- to know that maps of the desert are essentially useless, even a child’s map decorated with fanciful drawings of camel caravans and palm trees. I left my own map somewhere behind, just past Abu Simbel, its dry tattered paper used as fire starter on green acacia branches when no other wood could be found and we were eager to boil tea.
