Porter (Port) Moseby

Port Moresby is one of two main characters in The Sheltering Sky and the one the plot follows through the first two books. He is an American writer who travels throughout Africa with his wife, Kit, and their friend, Tunner.

When Port arrives in Oran, Algeria, he and Kit are all but estranged from each other. They sleep in separate rooms, and she generally succumbs to his since he always gets his way in the end. One night in Oran, after a fight, Port follows an Arab acquaintance outside the city and has sex with a young prostitute who robs him.

After this, Port grows tired of Oran and insists the group move to Boussif, to which he drives with two disgusting Australians, the Lyles. From there, they head to Ain Krorfa, where Port - tired of the cloying Tunner - concocts a ruse to enlist...