Class J.^_2,0_7 Book_JZ^.7 Gwri^MN^ canauGHT deposjt. i / ^^- J"/Vf A TYPICAL ARAB OF YEMEN Arabia: The Cradle of Islam Studies in the Geography, People and Politics of the Peninsula with an account of Islam and Mission-work BY REV. S. M. ZWEMER, F.R.G.S. INTRODUCTION BY REV. JAMES S. DENNIS, D.D. New York Chicago Toronto Fleming H. Revell Company Publishers of Evangelical Literature 36486 Librt*/y of Conoress AUG 20 1900 Copyright entry Sta*ND CO^Y. Ufriivtod to OKOtW DIVISION, SEP 21 lyuu 80140 Copyright, 1900 by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY DEDICATED TO The ^'Student Volunteers'' of America IN MEMORY OF THE TWO AMERICAN VOLUNTEERS WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES FOR ARABIA PETER J. ZWEMER AND GEORGE E. STONE And Jesus said unto him : This day is salvation come to this house, for- asmuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. — Luke xix. 9, 10. Introductory Note THE author of this instructive volume is in the direct line of missionary pioneers to the Moslem world. He fol- lows Raymond Lull, Henry Martyn, Ion Keith-Falconer, and Bishop French, and, with his friend and comrade the Rev. James Cantine, now stands in the shining line of succession at the close of a decade of patient and brave service at that lonely outpost on the shores of the Persian Gulf, Others have followed in their footsteps, until the Arabian Mission, the adopted child of the Reformed Church in America, is at present a compact and resolute group of men and women at the gates of Arabia, waiting on God's will, and intent first of all upon fulfilling in the spirit of obedience to the Master the duty assigned them. These ten years of quiet, unflinching service have been full of prayer, observation, study, and wistful survey of the great task, while at the same time every opportunity has been im- proved to gain a foothold, to plant a standard, to overcome a prejudice, to sow a seed, and to win a soul. The fruits of this intelligent and conscientious effort to grasp the situation and plan the campaign are given to us in this valuable study of "Arabia, the Cradle of Islam." It is a missionary contribu- tion to our knowledge of the world. The author is entirely familiar with the literature of his subject. English, German, French, and Dutch authorities are at his command. The less accessible Arabic authors are easily within his reach, and he brings from those mysterious gardens of spices into his clear, straightforward narrative, the local coloring and fragrance, as well as the indisputable witness of original medieval sources. The ethnological, geographical, archeological, commercial, and 1 2 • INTRODUCTORY NOTE political information of the descriptive chapters brings to our hands a valuable and readable summary of facts, in a form which is highly useful, and will be sure to quicken an intelligent interest in one of the great religious and international problems of our times. His study of Islam is from the missionary standpoint, but this does not necessarily mean that it is unfair, or unhistorica), or lacking in scholarly acumen. Purely scientific and aca- demic study of an ethnic religion is one method of approaching it. It can thus be classified, labelled, and put upon the shelf in the historical museum of the world's religions, and the result has a value which none will dispute. This, however, is not the only, or indeed the most serviceable, way of examining, esti- mating and passing a final judgment upon a religious system. Such study must be comparative ; it must have some standard of value ; it must not discard acknowledged tests of excellence ; it must make use of certain measurements of capacity and power ; it must be pursued in the light of practical ethics, and be in harmony with the great fundamental laws of religious ex- perience and spiritual progress which have controlled thus far the regenerative processes of human development. The missionary in forming his final judgment inevitably com- pares the religion he studies with the religion he teaches. He need not do this in any unkind, or bitter, or abusive spirit. On the contrary, he may do it with a supreme desire to un- cover delusion, and make clear the truth as it has been given to him by the Great Teacher. He may make a generous and sympathetic allowance for the influence of local environment, he may trace in an historic spirit the natural evolution of a religious system, he may give all due credit to every worthy element and every pleasing characteristic therein, he may re- gard its symbols with respect, and also with all charity and con- sideration the leaders and guides whom the people reverence ; yet his own judgment may still be inflexible, his own allegiance unfaltering, and he may feel it to be his duty to put into plain, INTRODUCTORY NOTE 3 direct, and vigorous prose his irreversible verdict that Chris- tianity being true, Islam is not, Buddhism is not, Hinduism is not. There he stands ; he is not afraid of the issue. His Master is the one supreme and infallible judge, who can pronounce an unerring verdict concerning the truth of any religion. He has ventured to bear witness to the truth which his Master has taught him. Let no one lightly question the value of the con- tribution he makes to the comparative study of religion. The spirit in which our author has written of Islam is marked by fairness, sobriety, and discrimination, and yet there is no mistaking the verdict of one who speaks with an authority which is based upon exceptional opportunities of observation, close study of literary sources and moral results, and undoubted honesty of purpose. It may not be out of place to note the hearty, outspoken satisfaction with which the author regards the extension of British authority over the long sweep of the Arabian coast line. His admiration and delight can only be fully understood by one who has been a resident in the East, and has felt the blight of Moslem rule, and its utter hopelessness as an instrument of progress. Let this book have its hour of quiet opportunity, and it will broaden our vision, enlarge our knowledge, and deepen our in- terest in themes which will never lose their hold upon the at- tention of thoughtful men. James S. Dennis. Preface THERE are indications that Arabia will not always remain in its long patriarchal sleep and that there is a future in store for the Arab. Politics, civilization and missions have all begun to touch the hem of the peninsula and it seems that soon there will be one more land — or at least portions of it — to add to "the white man's burden." History is making in the Per- sian Gulf, and Yemen will not forever remain, a tempting prize, — untouched. The spiritual burden of Arabia is the Moham- medan religion and it is in its cradle we can best see the fruits of Islam. We have sought to trace the spiritual as well as the physical geography of Arabia by showing how Islam grew out of the earlier Judaism, Sabeanism and Christianity. The purpose of this book is especially to call attention to Arabia and the need of missionary work for the Arabs. There is no dearth of literature on Arabia, the Arabs and Islam, but most of the books on Arabia are antiquated or inaccessible to the ordinary reader ; some of the best are out of print. The only modern work in English, which gives a general idea of the whole peninsula is Bayard Taylor's somewhat juvenile " Travels in Arabia.''^ In German there is the scholarly com- pilation of Albrecht Zehm, '^Arabic und die Araber, seit hundert jahren,'' which is generally accurate, but is rather dull reading and has neither illustrations nor maps. From the missionary standpoint there are no books on Arabia save the biographies of Keith-Falconer, Bishop French and Kamil Abd- ul-Messiah. This fact together with the friends of the author urged their united plea for a book on this " Neglected Peninsula," its peo- ple, religion and missions. We have written from a missionary 5 6 PREFACE viewpoint, so that the book has certain features which are in- tended specially for those who are interested in the missionary- enterprise. But that enterprise has now so large a place in modern thought that no student of secular history can afford to remain in ignorance of its movements. Some of the chapters are necessarily based largely on the books by other travellers, but if any object to quotation marks, we would remind them that Emerson's writings are said to contain three thousand three hundred and ninety three quota- tions from eight hundred and sixty-eight individuals ! The material for the book was collected during nine years of resi- dence in Arabia. It was for the most part put into its present form at Bahrein during the summer of 1899, in the midst of many outside duties and distractions. I wish especially to acknowledge my indebtedness to W. A. Buchanan, Esq., of London, who gave the initiative for the preparation of this volume and to my friend INIr. D. L. Pierson who has generously undertaken the entire oversight of its pub- lication. The system for the spelling of Arabic names in the text fol- loAvs in general that of the Royal Geographical Society. This system consists, in brief, in three rules : (i) words made famil- iar by long usage remain unchanged ; («) vowels are pronounced as in Italian and consonants as in English ; (3) no redundant letters are written and all those written are pronounced. We send these chapters on their errand, and hope that espe- cially the later ones may reach the hearts of the Student Volun- teers for foreign missions to whom they are dedicated; we pray also that the number of those who love the Arabs and labor for their enlightenment and redemption may increase. S. M. ZWEiMER. Bahrein, Arabia, Table of Contents PAGE I The Neglected Peninsula . ; . . . ij Arabia the centre of Moslem world — Its boundaries — The coast — Physical characteristics — Climate — Water-supply — Geology — The Wadys — Mountains — Deserts. II The Geographical Divisions of Arabia . . -25 Natural divisions — Provinces — Political geography — Important flora and fauna — Population. Ill The Holy Land of Arabia — Mecca . . . .30 Its boundaries — Sacredness — European travellers — Jiddah — Its bombardment — The pilgrimage — Mecca — Its location — Water- supply — Governor — The Kaaba — The Black Stone — Zemzem — Duty of pilgrimage — The pilgrims — The day of sacrifice — The certificate — Character of Meccans — Temporary marriages — Superstitions — Mishkash — Schools of Mecca — Course, .„of- study. IV 45 The Holy Land of Arabia — Medina .... Taif — Heathen idols — The road to Medina — Sanctity of Medina — The prophet's mosque — Was Mohammed buried there ? — The five tombs — Prayer for Fatima — Living on the pilgrims — Character of people — Yanbo — Importance of Mecca to Islam. V Aden and an Inland Journey . . . . .53 The gatevirays to Arabia Felix — Aden — Its ancient history — For- tifications — Tanks — Divisions — Population — Journey inland — Wahat — The vegetation of Yemen — A Turkish customhouse — The storm in the wady — Taiz — The story of the books. 7 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS VI PAGE Yemen : the Switzerland of Arabia . . . .62 The Jews of Yemen — From Taiz to Ibb and Yerim — Beauty of scenery — Climate — All's footprint — Damar — Sana — Com- merce and manufactures — Roda — From Sana to the coast — The terraces of Yemen — Suk-el Khamis — Menakha — Bajil — Hodeidah. VII The Unexplored Regions of Hadramaut . . .72 Von Wrede's travels — Halevy — Mr. and Mrs. Bent's journeys — Makalla — Incense-trade — The castles and palaces — Shibam — Shehr and its ruler — Hadramaut and the Indian archipelago. VIII Muscat and the Coastlands of Oman . . . • 78 Boundaries — Population — Government — Muscat — Heat — The forts — The town — The gardens — Trade — The coast of Oman — The pirate-coast — The Batina — Sib, Barka, Sohar — From Muscat to Ras-el-Had — Sur — Carter's exploration — The Mah- rah and Gharah tribes — Frankincense. IX The Land of the Camel . . . . . .88 " The mother of the camel " — Importance of the camel to Arabia — Tradition as to creation — Species — The dromedary — An il- lustration of design — Products of the camel — Characteristics — The interior of Oman — Chief authorities — Fertility — Caravan- routes — Peter Zwemer's journey — Jebel Achdar. X The Pearl Islands of the Gulf . . , -97 Ancient history of Bahrein — Origin of name — Population — Menamah — The fresh-water springs — The pearl-fisheries — Superstitions about pearls — Value and export — Method of div- ing — Boats — Apparatus — Dangers to the divers — Mother-of- pearl — Other manufactures — Ruins at Ali — The climate — Po- litical history — English protection. TABLE OF CONTENTS XI The Eastern Threshold of Arabia . . . .no The province of Hassa — Katar — The Route inland — Ojeir — Journey to Hofhoof — The two curses of agriculture — The capital of Hassa — Plan of the town — Its manufactures — Curi- ous coinage — The government of Hassa — Katif — Its un- healthfulness. XII The River-Country and the Date- Palm . . .119 The cradle of the race — Boundaries of Mesopotamia — The Tigris-Euphrates — Meadow lands — The palms — Their beauty — Fruitf ulness — Usefulness — Varieties of dates — Value — Other products — Population — Provinces and districts — The government. XIII The Cities and Villages of Turkish- Arabia . . .128 Kuweit — Fao — Aboo Hassib — Busrah — The river navigation — A journey — Kurna — Ezra's tomb — Amara — The tomb of the barber — The arch of Ctesiphon — Bagdad, past and present — Population — Trade — Kelleks. XIV A Journey Down the Euphrates . . . .136 Journey to Hillah — The route — Kerbela — Down the Euphrates — Diwaniyeh — The soldier-guard — Amphibious Arabs — Sa- mawa — Ya Ali, Ya Hassan ! — Nasariya — Ur — The end of our journey — The future of Mesopotamia. XV The Interior — Known and Unknown .... 143 What it includes — Its four divisions — ( x ) " The empty quarter " — Ignorance of this part of Arabia — (2)Nejran — The Dauasir- valley and other wadys — Halevy's travels — Aflaj — The Ro- man expedition to Nejran — (3) Nejd — Its proper limits — The zephyrs of Nejd — Soil — Vegetation — Animals — The ostrich — The horse — The chief authorities on this part of Arabia — The population of Nejd — The character of government — In- tercourse with Mesopotamia — Chief cities — Hail — Riad — (4) Jebel Shammar — The Bedouin-tribes — Division — Character and customs — Robbery — ^Universal poverty. 10 TABLE OF CONTENTS XVI PAGE "The Time of Ignorance" . . . . .158 Why so-called — The golden age of literature — The influence of Christianity and Judaism — Tribal constitution of society — Commerce — Incense — Foreign invasions — Political commotion — The condition of women — Female infanticide — The veil — Rights of women — Marriage choice — Polygamy and Polyan- dry — Two kinds of marriage — Did Islam elevate woman ? — Writing in " the days of ignorance " — Poetry — Mohammed's opinion of poets — The religions — Sabeanism — The Pantheon at Mecca — Jinn — Totemism — Tattooing — Names of idols — Allah — Decay of idolatry — The Hanifs. XVII Islam in its Cradle — The Moslem's God . . . 169 Different views — Carlyle — Hugh Broughton — Borrowed ele- ments of Islam — The God of Islam — Palgrave's portrait — At- tributes of God — What God is not — Analysis of Islam — Bor- rowed elements of Islam. XVIII The Prophet and his Book . . . . .179 The prophet of Islam — Birth of Mohammed — His environment — Factors that helped to make the man — Political, religious and family factor — Khadijah — Mohammed's appearance, mind and character — His transgression of law — His sensuality — His murders — Expeditions — Mohammed, as he became through tradition — His glories, favor and power as an intercessor — How Moslems regard the Koran — Its character according to Dr. Post, Goethe and Noldeke — Its names — Contents — Origin — Recension — Its beauties — Its defects — Its omissions. XIX The Wahabi Rulers and Reformers . . . .191 The story of past century — The Wahabis — Character of teaching —The preacher and the sword — Taking of Mecca and Me- dina — Kerbela — Mohammed Ali — The Hejaz campaign — Ghalye — Turkish cruelty — English expedition — Peace — The Wahabi dynasty — Abdullah bin Rashid — Rise of Nejd king- dom — Character of rule — Hail conquers Riad. TABLE OF CONTENTS 11 XX PAGE The Rulers of Oman ...... 202 Oman rulers — Seyid Said — Feysul bin Turki — The rebels take Muscat — Arab warfare — European diplomacy. XXI The Story of the Turks in Arabia .... 206 Hejaz — The Sherifs of Mecca — Othman Pasha — Threats to assassinate him — Turkish troops in Asir — Losses — The con- quest of Yemen — Turkish rule — Rebellions — The rebellion of 1892 — Bagdad, Busrah and Hassa — Taxes — The Turks and Bedouins — The army — Character of rule. XXII British Influence in Arabia . . . . .218 British possessions — Aden — Socotra — Perim — Kuria Muria islands — Bahrein — Her naval supremacy — In the Gulf — German testimony — Survey of coasts — Telegraph and posts — Slave- trade — Commerce — British India S. N. Co. — Gulf trade — The rupee — Trade of Aden — Overland railway — Treaties with tribes — The Trucial League — England in Oman — Aden — Makalla — Method of " protection " — British consuls and agents. XXIII Present Politics in Arabia . . . . . 233 Hejaz — Future of Yemen — France in Oman — Russia in the Gulf — The Tigris-Euphrates Valley — The greater kingdom — God's providence in history. XXIV The Arabic Language ...... 238 Wide extent — Its character — Renan's opinion — The Semitic family — Their original home — The two theories — Table of the group — The influence of the Koran on the Arabic language — Koran Arabic not pure — Origin of alphabet — Cufic — Ca- ligraphy as an art — Difficulty and beauty of Arabic speech — Its purity — Literature — Difficulty of pronunciation — Of its gram- mar — Keith Falconer's testimony. 12 T^BLE OF CONTENTS XXV PAGE The Literature OF THE Arabs . . . . -251 Division of its literature — The seven poems — The Koran — Al Hariri — Its beauty and variety — Arabic poetry in general — Influence of Arabic and other languages — English influence on the Arabic — The Arabic Bible and a Christian literature. XXVI The Arab ........ 258 Origin of tribes — Two theories — Yemenite and Maadite — The caravan routes — Bedouinsand townsmen — Clark's classification — Genealogies — Tribal names — Character of Arabs — Influence of neighbors — Their physique — Their aristocracy — Intolerance — Speech — Oaths — Robbery — Privilege of sanctuary — Gener- osity — Blood-revenge — Childhood — Fireside talk — Marriage among Bedouins — Position of women — Four witnesses — I Doughty — Burckhardt — Lady Ann Blunt — Hurgronje — Woman despised — The kinds of dwelling — Tents and houses — Dress — The staple foods — Coffee, tobacco and locusts. XXVII Arabian Arts and Sciences ..... 274 Music of the Arabs — War chants — Instruments of music — Songs — Kaseedahs in Yemen — Mecca chants — Science oiAikar and Wasm — Tracking camels — Tribal marks — Medical knowledge of the Arabs — Diseases — Remedies — A prescription — The Koran's panacea — A Mecca M. D. — Amulets — Superstitions. XXVIII The Star- Worshippers of Mesopotamia .... 285 Where they live — Their peculiar religion — Their language — Literature — A prayer-meeting of the Star Worshippers — Strange ceremonies — The dogmas —Gnostic ideas — Priest- hood — Baptisms — Babylonian origin. XXIX Early Christianity in Arabia ..... 300 Pentecost — Paul's journey — The Arabs and the Romans — Chris- tian tribes of the North — Mavia — Naaman's edict — Chris- tianity in Yemen — Character of Oriental Christianity — The TABLE OF CONTENTS 13 PAGE Collyridians — Theophilus — Nejian converts — Martyrs — Abraha, king of Yemen — Marching to Mecca — The defeat — End of early Christianity — The record of the rocks. 314 XXX The Dawn of Modern Arabian Missions Raymond Lull — Henry Martyn — Why the Moslem world was neglected — Claudius Buchanan's sermon — The Syrian mis- sions — Doctor Van Dyck — His Bible translation — Henry Martyn, the pioneer — His Arabian assistant — Visit to Muscat — His Arabic version — Anthony N. Groves — Dr. John Wilson of Bombay — The Bible Society — Opening of doors — Major-Gen- eral Haig's journeys — Arabia open — Dr. and Mrs. Harpur and the C. M. S. — A call to prayer — Bagdad occupied — The pres- ent work — Missionary journeys to the Jews — William Lethaby at Kerak — The North Africa mission among the nomads — Samuel Van Tassel — The Christian Missionary Alliance — Mackay's appeal from Uganda — The response. XXXI Ion Keith Falconer and the Aden Mission . . • 331 Keith Falconer's character — Education — At Cambridge — Mission work— His " eccentricity " — Leipzig and Assiut — How he came to go to Arabia — His first visit — Plans for the interior His second voyage to Aden— Dwelling — Illness — Death The influence of his life— The mission at Sheikh Othman. XXXII Bishop French the Veteran Missionary to Muscat . . 344 "The most distinguished of all C. M. S. missionaries" — Re- sponds to Mackay's appeal — His character — His letters from Muscat — His plans for the interior — Death — The grave. XXXIII The American Arabian Mission . . ... . 353 Its origin— The student band— The first plan— Laid before the church — Organization — The Missionary Hymn— James Can- tine — Syria — Cairo — Aden — Kamil — Journeys of exploration to the Gulf and Sana — Busrah— Dr. C. E. Riggs— Death of Kamil — Opposition from government — Home administration — 14 r.-//i/.f OF CONTENTS Inihreiu oooupied-^-laues of work — Muscat — Journey through Yeiucn Tho ii\ission transferred to the Refornicil Church — Tumbles at Muscat and l>usrah — Pr. Worrall — lourneys in Oman — Scripture-sales — I'ii-st fruits — Reinforcements, X.WIV In Mkmoriam . . . . • . .367 Teter John Zwemer — George E, Stone. XWV Probijrms of the Arabian Fiki n . . . . . 374 The »::eneral ]Mvblein of misssions to Moslems — The Arabian pivblem — What jv^rt of Arabia is accessible — Turkish Arabia — Its accessibility — l.inutations — The accessibility of inde- pendent Arabia — Clinvatt^ — Moslem fanaticism — English in- fluence — Illiteracy — The Bedou ins — The present missionary force — Its utter inadevjuacy — Methods of work — Medical missions — Schools — Work for women — Col^xirtage — Preach- ing — Contiwei-sy — What should be its character — The atti- tude of the Moslem mind — Fate of converts — Thoughtless and thoughtful Mi^slems — The Bible as dynamite — The right men for the work. XXWl Thb Outlook FOR Missions TO M0S1.RMS . . . .391 Two views of work for Moslems — Christian fatalism — Results in Mivslem lands — India — Pei-sia — Constantinople — Sumatra and JaNti — Other signs of progress — The significance of persecution — Character of converts- Vivmise of God for victory over Islam — Christ or Mohammed — Missionary promises of the Old Testament — The Rock of Jesus' Sonshij^ — Special promises for Arabia — Hag5\r and Ishmael — The prayer of Abraham — The sign of the covenant with Ishmael — The third i-evelation of God's love — The sca»s of Islimael — Kedar and Nebaioth — The promises — Seba and Sheba — The siMritual boundaries of Arabia — Da Costa's jx>em — Faith like Abraham — that Ish- mael might live before thee. AITENDIX I— Chronolooicai Tablk .... 4*-^ «« II — Tribes of North Arabia . . .413 III-- An Akaiuan BuuioGKArHY . . . 414 IXPKX 437 List of Illustrations PAGE A 'ryfif;Ai, A I' A I) of Ykmkn Frontispiece ViKW OK MicccA ANij riiK Sackeij Mosque i . I IIK RKI'iriKO lOMH or LVK AT JIDDAII j '^ ' MOHAMMKUAN PiLOKIMS AT MECCA -| The Sackkij Wki.i. OF Zkmzkm AT Mecca j -^ I'lUiRiMs akouno thk Kaaua jn TiiE Sacred Mosque AT Mecca " 34 TiiK Mecca Certificate— A Passport to Heaven . . " 40 (■"iiRisTiAN Coins used as an Amulet kyMeccan Women 43 A Woman of Mecca 1 . A Mkccan Woman in her Bkiime Costume J '^ 6 44 Travei.i.ino in Southern Araiua -^ The Keith Falconer Memorial Church in Aden . . J ^ An Arabian Comi'Ass 71 A Castle IN IIadramaut 77 The Harbor AND Castle AT Muscat ' • • ' \ rr ■ Ready FOR A Camel Ride IN THE Desert / "^^ A Branch of the Incense Tree 87 Tenoof FROM THE East 95 The ViLLAOE OF Menamah, Bahrein Islands 1 ... II I. f facing- 100 A Bahrein IIardor Ijoat j •=" A Date Orchard near I5usrah ■» > " 122 Dates CRowiNf; on a Date-Palm / The Tomh of Ezra on the Tigris River •) Ruins of the Arch of Ctesiphon near Bagdad . . . j -^ A Public Khan in Turkish-Arabia | Arab Pilgrims on Board a River Steamer J Four Flags that Rule Arabia 217 CuFic Characters 243 Modern Copybook Arahic -» Ordinary Unvowelled Arabic Writing j Mogrebi Arabic of North Arabia 245 15 140 16 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Persian Style of Writing 246 Title Page of an Arabic Christian Paper 257 Churning Butter in a Bedouin Camp Facing 266 Tribal Marks of the Arabs 279 Manaitic Cursive Script 287 Passage from the Sacred Book of the Mand^ans . . 299 Facsimile Copy of the Arabian Missionary Hymn . . 358 The Old Mission House at Busrah -> The Kitchen of the Old Mission House, Busrah . . j ^'^""S' 36° Four Missionary Martyrs of Arabia " 368 /- The Bible Shop at Busrah -1 Interior of a Native Shop j " ^ "^ The Rescued Slave Boys at Muscat -> The Arabian Mission House at Muscat J * ^°° MAPS AND DIAGRAMS Ptolemy's Ancient Map of Arabia Facing 25 Ali Bey's Plan of the Prophet's Mosque at Mecca . " 36 Plan of the Interior of the Hujrah at Medina . . 49 Map of the Islands of Bahrein 98 Neibuhr's Map of the Persian Gulf Facing no Palgrave's Plan of Hofhoof 113 Diagrams of Missionary Work for Arabia 380, 381 Modern Map of Arabia End of book. VIEW OF MECCA AND THE SACRED MOSQUE THE REPUTED TOMB OF EVE AT JIDDAH THE NEGLECTED PENINSULA •' Intersected by sandy deserts and vast ranges of mountains it presents on one side nothing but desolation in its most frightful form, while the other is adorned with all the beauties of the most fertile regions. Such is its position that it enjoys at once all the advantages of hot and of temperate climates. The peculiar productions of regions the most distant from one another are produced here in equal perfection. What Greek and Latin authors mention concerning Arabia proves by its obscurity their ignorance of almost everything respecting the Arabs. Prejudices relative to the in- conveniences and dangers of travelling in Arabia have hitherto kept the moderns in equal ignorance." — M. Niebuhr (1792). ■^TTHAT Jerusalem and Palestine are to Christendom this, and vastly more, Mecca and Arabia are to the Moham- medan world. Not only is this land the cradle of their religion and the birthplace of their prophet, the shrine toward which, for centuries, prayers and pilgrimage have gravitated ; but Arabia is also, according to universal Moslem tradition, the original home of Adam after the fall and the home of all the older patriarchs. The story runs that when the primal pair fell from their estate of bliss in the heavenly paradise, Adam landed on a mountain in Ceylon and Eve fell at Jiddah, on the western coast of Arabia. After a hundred years of wandering they met near Mecca, and here Allah constructed for them a tabernacle, on the site of the present Kaaba. He put in its foundation the famous stone once whiter than snow, but since turned black by the sins of pilgrims ! In proof of these state- ments travellers are shown the Black stone at Mecca and the tomb of Eve near Jiddah. Another accepted tradition says that Mecca stands on a spot exactly beneath God's throne in heaven. Without reference to these wild traditions, which are soberly 17 18 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM set down as facts by Moslem historians, Arabia is a land of perpetual interest to the geographer, and the historian. Since Niebuhr's day many intrepid travellers have surveyed the coasts and penetrated into the interior, but his charge that we are ignorant of the real character of the vast peninsula is still true as far as it relates to the southern and southeastern districts. No traveller has yet crossed the northern boundary of Hadramaut and explored the Dahna desert, also called the Roba-el-Khali, or "empty abode." The vast territory be- tween the peninsula of Katar and the mountains of Oman is also practically a blank on the best maps. Indeed the only note- worthy map of that portion of the peninsula is that of Ptolemy reproduced by Sprenger in his " Alte Geographie Arabiens." Arabia has well-defined boundaries everywhere except on the north. Eastward are the waters of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Ormuz and the Gulf of Oman. The entire southern coast is washed by the Indian Ocean which reaches to Bab-el-Mandeb "The Gate-of-teaxs," from which point the Red Sea and the Gulf of Akaba form the western boundary. The undefined northern desert, in some places a sea of sand, completes the isolation which has led the Arabs themselves to call the peninsula their "Island " (Jezirat-el-Arab). In fact the north- ern boundary will probably never be defined accurately. The so-called "Syrian desert." reaching to about the thirty-fifth parallel might better be regarded as the Arabian desert, for in physical and ethnical features it bears much greater resemblance to the southern peninsula than to the surrounding regions of Syria and Mesopotamia. Bagdad is properly an Arabian city and to the Arabs of the north is as much a part of the peninsula as is Aden to those of the southwest. The true, though shift- ing, northern boundary of Arabia would be the limit of Nomad encampments, but for convenience and practical purposes a boundary line may be drawn from the Mediterranean along the thirty-third parallel to Busrah. Thus the shores of Arabia stretch from Suez to the Euphrates THE NEGLECTED PENINSULA 19 delta for a total length of nearly 4,000 miles. This coast- line has comparatively few islands or inlets, except in the Persian Gulf. The Red Sea coast is fringed by extensive coral reefs, dangerous to navigation, but from Aden to Muscat the coast is elevated and rocky, and contains several good harbors. Eastern Arabia has a low, flat coast-line made of coral-rock with here and there volcanic headlands. Farsan, off the Tehamah coast, famous as the centre for Arab slave-dhows ; Perim, where English batteries command the gate of the Red Sea; the Kuria-Muria group in the Indian Ocean; and the Bahrein archipelago in the Persian Gulf, are the only impor- tant islands. Socotra, although occupied by an Arab popula- tion and historically Arabian, is by geographers generally at- tached to Africa. This island is however under the Indian government, and, once Christian, is now wholly Mohammedan. The greatest length of the peninsula is about 1,000 miles, its average breadth 600, and its area somewhat over 1,000,000 square miles. It is thus over four times the size of France or larger than the United States east of the Mississippi River. Arabia, until quite recently, has generally been regarded as a vast expanse of sandy desert. Recent explorations have proved this idea quite incorrect, and a large part of the region still considered desert is as yet unexplored. Palgrave, in his " Central Arabia " gives an excellent summary of the physical characteristics of the whole peninsula as he saw it. Since his time Hadramaut has been partially explored and the result con- firms his statements : "The general type of Arabia is that of a central table-land surrounded by a desert ring sandy to the south, west and east, stony to the north. This outlying circle is in its turn girt by a line of mountains low and sterile for the most, but attaining in Yemen and Oman considerable height, breadth and fertility; while beyond these a narrow rim of coast is bordered by the sea. The surface of the midmost table-land equals somewhat less than one-half of the entire peninsula; and its special demarkations are much affected, 20 /IRABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM nay often absolutely fixed, by the windings and inrunnings of the Nefud (sandy desert). If to these central highlands or Nejd, taking that word in its wider sense, we add whatever spots of fertility belong to the outer circles, we shall find that Arabia contains about two-thirds of cultivated or at least of cultivata- ble land, with a remaining third of irreclaimable desert, chiefly on the south." From this description it is evident that the least attractive part of the country is the coast. This may be the reason that Arabia has been so harshly judged, as to climate and soil and so much neglected by those who only knew of it from the cap- tains who had touched its coast in the Red Sea and the Per- sian Gulf. Nothing is more surprising, than to pass through the barren cinder gateway of Aden up the mountain passes into the marvellous fertility and delightful climate of Yemen. Arabia like the Arab, has a rough, frowning exterior but a warm, hospitable heart. From the table-land of Nejd, which has an average elevation of about 3,000 feet above the sea, there is a gradual ascent southward to the highlands of Yemen and Oman where there are mountain peaks as high as 8,000 and 10,000 feet. This diversity of surface causes an equal diversity of climate. The prevailing conditions are intense heat and dryness, and the world-zone of maximum heat in July embraces nearly the en- tire peninsula. On the coast the heat is more trying because of the moisture from the enormous evaporation of the land- locked basins. During part of the summer there is scarcely any difference in the register of the wet-and dry-bulb ther- mometer. In the months of June, July and August, 1897, the averages of maximum temperature at Busrah were 100°, 1031^° and 102° F. ; and the minimum 84°, 86^° and 84° F. Nejd has a salubrious climate, while in Yemen and Oman on the highlands the mercury even in July seldom rises above 85°. In July, 1892, I passed in one day's journey from a shade tem- perature of 110° F. on the coast at Hodeidah to one of 55° at THE NEGLECTED PENINSUU 21 Menakha on the mountains. At Sanaa there is frost for three months in the year, and Jebel Tobeyk in northwest Arabia is covered with snow all winter. In fact, all northern Arabia has a winter season with cold rains and occasional frosts. The geology of the peninsula is of true Arabian simplicity. According to Doughty it consists of a foundation stock of plu- tonic (igneous) rock whereon lie sandstone, and above that limestone. Going from Moab to Sinai we cross the strata in the reverse order, while in the depression of the gulf of Akaba the three strata are in regular order although again overtopped by the granite of the mountains. Fossils are very rare, but coral formation is common all along the coast. Volcanic for- mations and lava (called by the Arabs, harrat) crop out fre- quently, as in the region of Medina and Khaibar. In going by direct route from the Red Sea (Jiddah) to Busrah, we meet first granite and trap-rock, overtopped in the Harrat el-Kisshub by lavas, and further on at Wady Gerir and Jebel Shear by basalts; at the Nefud el Kasim (Boreyda) sandstones begin until we reach the limestone region of Jebel Toweyk. Thence all is gravel and sand to the Euphrates. Arabia has no rivers and none of its mountain streams (some of which are perennial) reach the seacoast. At least they do not arrive there by the overland route, for it is a well-estab- lished fact that the many fresh water springs found in the Bahrein archipelago have their origin in the uplands of Arabia. At Muscat, too, water is always flowing toward the sea in abundance at the depth of ten to thirty feet below the wady- bed; this supplies excellent well-water. In fact the entire region of Hasa is full of underground water-courses and per- ennial springs. Coast-streams are frequent in Yemen during the rain-season and often become suddenly full to overflowing dashing everything before them. They are called sayl, and well illustrate Christ's parable of the flood which demolished the house built upon the sand. The great wadys of Arabia are its characteristic feature, 22 ARABU, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM celebrated since the days of Job, the Arab. These wadys, often full to the brim in winter and black by reason of frost but entirely dried up during the heat of summer, would never be suspected of giving nourishment to even a blade of grass. They are generally dry for nine and ten months in the year, during which time water is obtained from wells sunk in the wady-bed. Wady Sirhan runs in a southeasterly direction from the Hauran highlands to the Jauf district on the edge of the great Nefud ; it is fed by the smaller Wady er-Rajel. Wady Dauasir which receives the Nejran streams drains all of the Asir and southern Hejaz highlands northward to Bahr Salumeh, a small lake, the only one known in the whole pen- insula. The Aftan is another important wady running from the borders of Nejd into the Persian Gulf. This wady-bed is marked on some maps as a river, flowing into the Persian Gulf apparently by two mouths. It doe's not exist to-day. The most important water-bed in Arabia is the celebrated Wady er- Ruma, only partly explored, which flows from Hejaz across the peninsula for nearly 800 miles in a northwesterly direction toward the Euphrates. Were there a more abundant rainfall this wady would reach the Shat-el-Arab and give unity to the now disjointed water-system of Mesopotamia and north Ara- bia.^ For obvious reasons the caravan routes of Arabia generally follow the course of the wadys. Arabia is also a land of mountains and highlands. The • May not this wady have been once a noble stream perhaps, as Glaser conjectures, the fourth of the Paradise rivers? (Gen ii. 10-14.) Upon the question as to where the ancient Semites located Pai-adise Glaser says that it was in the neighborhood of the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris, on the Arabian side. There the sacred palm of the city of Eridu grew ; there according to the view of the ancient Arabs the two larger wadys of Cen- tral Arabia opened. The one is the Wady er-Ruma or the Gaihan ; and the other is the Wady ed- Dauasir, a side wady of which in the neighbor- hood of Hamdani still bears the name of Faishan (Pishon). — See " Re- cent Research in Bible Lands," by H. V. Hilprecht, (Philadelphia, 1897). See also The Sunday-School Times, Vol. XXXIII., No. 49, THE NEGLECTED PENINSULA 23 most clearly developed system is the extensive range skirting the Red Sea at a distance of from one to three days' journey from the coast. South of Mecca there are peaks of over 8,000 feet ; and beyond, the range broadens out to form the Yemen highlands, a corner of the peninsula worthy of its old name "Arabia Felix." The mountains along the south coast are more irregular and disconnected until they broaden out a sec- ond time between Ras el Had and Ras Mussendum to form the highlands of Oman. Along the gulf coast there are no moun- tains except an occasional volcanic hill like Jebel Dokhan in Bahrein and Jebel San am near Zobeir. The Nejd is crossed by several ridges of which the best known is Jebel Shammar running nearly east and west at an altitude of about 6,000 feet. Jebel Menakib, Jebel Aared, Jebel Toweyk and Jebel Athal are other ranges south of Jebel Shammar and also running in a similar direction toward the southwest and northeast. The Sinai peninsula is a rocky lime- stone plateau intersected by rugged gorges and highest toward the south in the region of Sinai proper. Next to its wadys and mountains Arabia is characterized chiefly by the so-called Harrat or volcanic tracks already mentioned. These black, gloomy, barren regions occupy a much wider extent of north Arabia than is generally supposed. The largest is Harrat Khaibar, north of Medina, the old cen- tre of the Jews in the days of Mohammed. It is over 100 miles in length and in some parts thirty miles wide. A wil- derness of lava and lava-stones with many extinct crater heads, craggy, and strewn with rough blocks of basalt and other igne- ous rocks. In some places the lava beds are 600 feet deep. Signs of volcanic action are still seen at Khaibar, smoke issuing from crevices and steam from the summit of Jebel Ethnan. A volcanic eruption was seen at Medina as late as 1256 a. d.^ ^ and the hot and sulphur springs of Hasa and Hadramaut seem to indicate present volcanic action. ' Samhudi's History of Medina. (Arabic text p. 40, sqq.) 24 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM The sandy-tracts of the so-called Arabian deserts are termed by the Arabs themselves nefud (drained, exhausted, spent), the name given on most maps. The general physical features of this "desert" are those of a plain clothed with stunted, aromatic shrubs of many varieties, but their value as pasture is very unequal, some being excellent for camels and sheep, others absolutely worthless. Some nefuds abound in grasses and flowering plants after the early rains, and then the desert "blossoms like the rose." Others are without rain and barren all year ; they are covered with long stretches of drift- sand, carried about by the wind and tossed in billows on the weather side of the rocks and bushes.^ Palgrave asserts that some of the nefud sands are 600 feet deep. They prevail in the vast unexplored region south of Nejd and north of Hadra- maut including the so-called "Great Arabian Desert." Abso- lute sterility is the dominant feature here, whereas the northern nefuds are the pasture lands for thousands of horses and sheep. 1 These wastes are also termed Dakhna, Ahkaf, and Hamad according to the greater or less depth or shifting nature of the sands or the more or less compact character of the soil. CopurtahU'J, 1X0, bu Fleming U. RcivU CM'itana V II THE GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS OF ARABIA '"P'HE division of Arabia into provinces has always been -*■ rather according to physical geography than political boundaries. The earliest division of the peninsula, and in some respects the most correct, was that of the Greek and Ro- man writers into Arabia Deserta and Arabia Felix. The lat- ter epithet was perhaps only a mistaken translation of El- Ye- men — the land on "the right hand," that is south of Mecca, for the Orientals face east. This is contrasted with Syria which in Arabic is called ^^ Es-Sham " or the land "to the left" of Mecca. The third division, Arabia Petrcea, or " Stony Ara- bia," first appears in Ptolemy and is applied to the Sinai dis- trict. He limits Arabia Deserta to the extreme northern desert and so his map of the entire peninsula bears the title of Arabia Felix. The great geographer anticipated all modern maps of Arabia by naming the regions according to the tribes that in- habit them ; a much more intelligent method than the drawing of artificial lines around natural features and dubbing them with a name to suit the cartographer. The Arab geographers know nothing of this threefold divi- sion into sandy, stony, and happy-land. They divide the Island-of- the- Arabs (Jezirat-el-Arab) into five provinces.^ The first is called El-Yemen and includes Hadramaut, Mehrah, Oman, Shehr, and Nejran. The second El-Hejaz, on the west coast, so called because it is the barrier between Tehama and Nejd ; it nearly corresponds to our Hejaz, excluding its 1 " Kitab Sinajet-el-Tarb " by Nofel Effendi (Beirut 1890). The author follows the older Arabic authorities. 35 26 ARABU, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM southern portion. The third is Tehama, along the coast, between Yemen and Hejaz. The fourth is Nejd, a term loosely applied to all the interior table-lands. The fifth is called Yemama or ' Arudh because it extends all the "wide" way between Yemen (Oman) and Nejd. It is important to distinguish between this Arabian division and that now nearly everywhere adopted on the maps of the Occident ; much con- fusion has arisen when this distinction was not made. The modern division of the peninsula into seven provinces : Hejaz, Yemen, Hadramaut, Oman, Hasa, Irak and Nejd, is according to political geography and serves all practical pur- poses, although it is not strictly accurate. Hejaz, the Holy- land of Arabia, includes the sacred cities of Mecca and Me- dina. Yemen is bounded by the line of fertility on the north and east so as to include the important region of Asir. Ha- dramaut has no clearly defined boundaries and stretches north- ward to the unknown region of the Dahna. Oman is the peninsula between the southern shore of the Gulf and the Indian Ocean, while Hasa covers the entire coast district north of El-Katar peninsula (on some maps called El-Bahrein), Irak-Arabi or Irak is the northern river-country politically cor- responding to what is called " Turkish- Arabia. " As to the present division of political power in Arabia, it is sufficient here to note that the Sinai peninsula and 200 miles of coast south of the Gulf of Akaba is Egyptian; Hejaz, Yemen and Hasa are nominally Turkish provinces, but their political boundaries are shifting and uncertain. The present Shereef of Mecca at times dictates to the Sublime Porte while the Bedouin tribes even in Hejaz acknowledge neither Sultan nor Shereef and waylay the pilgrim caravans that come to the holy cities unless they receive large blackmail. In Yemen the Arabs have never ceased to fret under the galling yoke of the Turk since it was put on their shoulders by the capture of Sana in 1873. The insurrection in 1892 was nearly a revolu- tion and again this year (1899) all Yemen is in arms. It is THE GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS OF ARABIA 27 very suggestive that in the present revolt some of the Arabs made use of the EngUsh flag to secure sympathy. In Hasa, the real sovereignty of Turkey only exists in three or four towns while all the Bedouin and many of the villagers yield to the Dowla, neither tribute, obedience nor love. Irak alone is actually Turkish and yields large revenue. But even here Arab-uprisings are frequent. Nominally, however, Tur- key holds the fairest province on the south, the religious centres on the west and the fertile northeast of Arabia, — one- fifth of the total area of the peninsula. The remainder of Arabia is independent of Turkey. Petty rulers calling themselves Sultans, Ameers or Imams have for centuries divided the land between them. The Sultanate of Oman and the great Nejd-kingdom are the only important governments, but the former lost its glory when its seat of power and influence was transferred to Zanzibar. Nejd in its widest sense is governed to-day by Abd-el-Aziz bin Mitaab the nephew of the late Mohammed bin Rashid, King Richard of Arabia, who gained his throne by the massacre of seventeen possible pretenders. The territory of this potentate is bor- dered southward by Riad and the Wahabi country. North- ward his influence extends beyond the Nefud, right away to the Oases of Kaf and Ittery in the Wady Sirhan (38° E. Long., 31° N. Lat.) east of the Dead Sea. The inhabitants of these oases acknowledge Abd-el-Aziz as their suzerain paying him a yearly tribute of four pounds (^20.00) for each village. The people of the intervening district of Jauf also acknowl- edge his rule which reaches westward to Teima. He also commands the new pilgrim-route from the northeast which formerly passed through Riad but now touches Hail, the capi- tal of Nejd. The Wahabi movement has collapsed and their political power is broken, although their influence has extended to the furthest confines of Arabia. The only foreign power dominant in Arabia, beside Turkey, is England, Aden became a British possession in 1838 and 28 ARABU, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM since then British influence has extended until it now embraces a district 200 miles long by forty broad and a population of 130,000. The Island of Perim in the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, the Kuria-Muria Islands on the south coast, and Socotra are also English. All the independent tribes on the coast from Aden to Muscat and from Muscat to Bahrein have made ex- clusive treaties with Great Britian, are subsidized by annual payments or presents and are "protected." Muscat and Bahrein are in a special sense protected states since England's settled policy is to have sole dominion in the Persian Gulf. She has agencies or consulates everywhere ; the postal system of the Persian Gulf is British ; the rupee has driven the piastre out of the market and as ninety-eight per cent, of the com- merce is in English hands the Persian Gulf may yet become an English lake. Arabia has no railroads, but regular caravan routes take their place in every direction. Turkish telegraph service exists be- tween Mecca and Jiddah in Hejaz ; between Sanaa, Hodeidah and Taiz in Yemen ; and along the Tigris-Euphrates between Bagdad and Busrah connecting at Fao (at the delta) with the submarine cable to Bushire and India. Of the fauna and flora of Arabia we will not here speak at length. The most characteristic plants are the date-palm of which over 100 varieties are catalogued by the Arab peas- antry, and which yields a staple food. Coffee, aromatic and medicinal plants, gums and balsams, have for ages supplied the markets of the world. Yemen is characterized by tropical luxuriance, and in Nejd is the ghatha tree which grows to a height of fifteen feet, and yields the purest charcoal in the world. Among the wild animals were formerly the lion and the panther, but they are now exceedingly rare. The wolf, wild boar, jackal, gazelle, fox, monkey, wild cow (or white ante- lope) ibex, horned viper, cobra, bustard, buzzard and hawk are also found. The ostrich still exists in southwest Arabia but is THE GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS OF ARABIA 29 not common. The chief domestic animals are the ass, mule, sheep, goats, but above all and superior to all, the camel and the horse. The exact population of a land where there is no census, and where women and girls are never counted is of course unknown. The Ottoman government gives exaggerated estimates for its Arabian provinces, and travellers have made various guesses. Some recent authorities, omitting Irak, put the total popula- tion of Arabia as low as 5,000,000. A. H. Keane, F. R. G. S., gives the following estimate : ^ Turkish Arabia : Hejaz, 3,500,000 Yemen, 2,500,000 Independent Arabia • Oman, 1,500,000 Shammar, Bahrein, etc., 3,500,000 11,000,000 Albrecht Zehm in his book " Arabien seit hundert Jahren," arrives at nearly the same result : Yemen and Asir, 2,252,000 Hadramaut, 1,550,000 Oman and Muscat, 1,350,000 Bahrein Katif, Nejd, 2,350,000 Hejaz, Anaeze, Kasim, and Jebel Shammar, 3,250,000 10,752,000 But undoubtedly both of these estimates, following Turkish authorities, are too high, especially for Hejaz and Yemen. A conservative estimate would be 8,000,000 for the entire penin- sula in its widest extent. The true number of inhabitants will remain unknown until further explorations disclose the real character of southeastern Arabia, and until northern Hadra- maut yields up its secrets. In this, as in other respects, the words of Livingstone are true : " The end of the geographical feat is the beginning of the missionary enterprise." 'Geography of Asia (Vol II., p. 460), 1896. Ill THE HOLY LAND OF ARABIA — MECCA " The Eastern world moves slowly — eppnr si tmiove. Half a generation ago steamers were first started to Jiddah : now we hear of a projected rail- way from that port to Mecca, the shareholders being all Moslems. And the example of Jerusalem encourages us to hope that long before the end of the century a visit to Mecca will not be more difficult than a trip to Hebron." — Burton (1855). " Our train of camels drew slowly by them : but when the smooth Mecca merchant heard that the stranger riding with the camel men was a Nasrany, he cried ' Akhs ! A Nasrany in these parts ! ' and with the hor- rid inurbanity of their jealous religion he added, ' Ullah curse his father ! ' and stared on me with a face worthy of the Koran." — Doughty (1888). TT is a rule laid down in the Koran and confirmed by many -*• traditions that the sacred territory enclosing the birth- place and the tomb of the prophet shall not be polluted by the visits of infidels. " O believers ! only those are unclean who join other gods with God ! Let them not therefore after this their year come near the Sacred Mosque." (Surah ix. 27.) Mohammed is reported to have said of Mecca, "What a splendid city thou art, if I had not been driven out of thee by my tribe I would dwell in no other place but in thee. It is not man but God who has made Mecca sacred. My people will be always safe in this world and the next as long as they respect Mecca." (Mishkat book XL., ch. xv.) The sacred boundaries of Mecca and Medina not only shut out all unbelievers, but they make special demands of "purity and holiness ' ' (in the Moslem sense) on the part of the true believers. According to tradition it is not lawful to carry weapons or to fight within the limits of the Haramein, Its 30 MOHAMMEDAN PILGRIMS AT MECCA THE SACRED WELL OF ZEMZEM AT MECCA THE HOLY LAND OF ARABIA— MECCA 31 grass and thorns must not be cut nor must its game be molested. Some doctors of law hold that these regulations do not apply to Medina, but others make the burial-place of the prophet equally sacred with the place of his birth. The boundaries of this sacred territory are rather uncertain. Abd ul Hak says that when, at the time of the rebuilding of the Kaaba, Abraham, the friend of God, placed the black stone, its east, west, north and south sides became luminous, and wherever the light ex- tended, became the boundaries of the sacred city ! These limits are now marked by pillars of masonry, except on the Jiddah and Jairanah road where there is some dispute as to the exact boundary. The sacred territory of Medina is ten or twelve miles in diameter, from Jebel 'Air to Saoor. Outside of these two centres all of the province of Hejaz is legally accessible to in- fidels, but the fanaticism of centuries has practically made the whole region round Mecca and Medina forbidden territory to any but Moslems. In Jiddah Christians are tolerated because of necessity, but were the Mullahs of Mecca to have their way not a Prankish merchant or consul would reside there for a single day. Despite these regulations to shut out ''infidels" from wit- nessing the annual pilgrimage and seeing the sacred shrines of the Moslem world, more than a score of travellers have braved the dangers of the transgression and escaped the pursuit of fanatics to tell the tale of their adventures.^ Others have lost 1 The first account of a European visiting Mecca is that of Ludovico Bartema, a gentleman of Rome, who visited the city in 1503; his narra- tive was published in 1555. The first Englishman was Joseph Pitts, the sailor from Exeter, in 1678; then followed the great Arabian traveller, John Lewis Burckhardt, 1814; Burton in 1853 visited both Mecca and Medina; H. Bicknell made the pilgrimage in 1862 and T. F. Keane in 1880. The narratives of each of these pilgrims have been published, and from them, and the travels of Ali Bey, and others, we know something of the Holy Land of Arabia. Ali Bey was in reality a Spaniard, called Juan Badia y Seblich, who visited Mecca and Medina in 1807 and left a 32 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM their life in the attempt even in recent years. Doughty * tells of a Christian who was foully murdered by Turkish soldiers when found in the limits of Medina in the summer of 1878. Burton at one time barely escaped being murdered because they suspected him of being an unbeliever. Jiddah, the harbor of Mecca, is distant from the sacred city about sixty-five miles, and is in consequence the chief port of debarkation and embarkation for pilgrims. It has a rather pretty and imposing appearance from the sea, the houses being white and three or four stories high, surrounded by a wall and flanked by a half dozen lazy windmills of Dutch pattern ! Its streets are narrow, however, and indescribably dirty, so that the illusion of an Oriental picture is dispelled as soon as you set foot on shore. The sanitary condition of this port is the worst possible; evil odors abound, the water supply is pre- carious and bad, and a shower of rain is always followed by an outbreak of fever. The population is not over 20,000 of every Moslem nation under heaven, Galilee of "the believers." Its commercial importance, which once was considerable, has altogether declined. The opening of the Suez canal and the direct carrying of trade by ocean steamers dealt the deathblow to the extensive coast-trade of both Jiddah and the other Red Sea ports. The people of Jiddah, like those of Mecca, live by fleecing pilgrims, and when the traffic is brisk and pilgrims affluent they grow rich enough to go to Mecca and set up a larger establishment of the same sort. There are hotel-keepers, drummers, guides, money-changers, money-lenders, slave-deal- long account of his travels in two volumes illustrated by many beautiful engravings. Burton's account of his pilgrimage is best known, but Burck- hardt's is more accurate and scholarly. Of modern books, that of the Dutch scholar, Snouck Hurgronje, who resided in Mecca for a long time, is by far the best. His Mekka, in two volumes, is accompanied by an atlas of photographs and gives a complete history of the city as well as a full account of its inhabitants and of the Java pilgrimage. iVol, II., p. 157. THE HOLY LAND OF ARABIA-MECCA 33 ers and even worse characters connected with the annual trans- fer of the caravans of hajees (pilgrims) from the coast inland. The number of pilgrims arriving at Jiddah by sea in 1893 was 92,625. In 1880 Mr. Blunt collected some interesting statistics of the total numbers attending the pilgrimage at Mecca/ and his investigations prove that the overland caravans are steadily becoming smaller. Before any pilgrims are allowed to enter Jiddah harbor they are compelled to undergo ten days' quarantine at Kamaran, an island on the west coast of Arabia ; this is the first woe. At Jiddah they remain only a few days and then having secured their Mutawwaf or official guide they proceed to Mecca. The > TABLE OF MECCA PILGRIMAGE, 1880. (From Blunt's " Future of Islam.") Nationality of Pilgrims. Arriving by Sea. Arriving by Land. 8,500 5,000 1,000 1,000 6,000 3,000 3,000 5,000 22,000 2,000 1,000 6,000 15,000 2,500 12,000 100 61,750 31.500 Total Moslem Pop. represented. Ottoman Subjects (excluding Ara- bia) .... Egyptians From " Barbary States " . . . . Yemen Arabs Oman and Hadramaut Nejd, etc., Arabs Hejaz (including Mecca) .... Negroes from Sudan " " Zanzibar Malabari from Cape of G. Hope . Persians Indians (British Subjects) .... Malays and Javanese Chinese Mongols "I Russians, Tartars, etc >■ Afghans and Baluchis .... J (included in Ottoman Haj.) 22,000,000 5,000,000 18,000,000 2,500,000 3,000,000 4,000,000 2,000,000 10,000,000 1,500,000 8,000,000 40,000,000 30,000,000 15,000,000 6,000,000 5,000,000 3,000,000 Total pilgrims present at Arafat 93.250 175,000,000 34 j4RABU, the cradle OF ISLAM road is barren and uninteresting in the extreme. Halfway to Mecca is El Had where the road divides ; one branch leads to Taif, the only fertile spot in this wilderness province, and the other proceeds to Mecca, the ancient name of which was Bakkah. Were we to believe one half of what is said by Moslem writers in praise of Mecca it would prove the Holy City to be a very paradise of delights, a centre of learning and the para- gon of earthly habitations. But the facts show it to be far otherwise. The location of the city is unfortunate. It lies in a hot sandy valley absolutely without verdure and surrounded by rocky barren hills, destitute of trees or even shrubs. The valley is about 300 feet wide and 4,000 feet long, and slopes toward the south. The Kaaba or Beit Allah is located in the bed of the valley and all the streets slope toward it, so that it is almost closed in on every side by houses and walls, and stands as it were in the pit of the theatre. The houses are built of dark stone and are generally lofty in order to accom- modate as many pilgrims as possible in the limited space. The streets are nearly all unpaved and in summer the sand and dust are as disagreeable as is the black mud in the rainy sea- son. Strangely enough, although the city itself and even the Kaaba have more than once suffered from destructive floods that have poured down the narrow valley, Mecca is poorly provided with water. There are few cisterns to catch the rains and the well water is brackish. The famous well of Zemzem has an abundance of water but it is not fit to drink. ^ The best water is brought by an aqueduct from the vicinity of Arafat six or seven miles distant and sold for a high price by a water-trust which annually fills the coffers of the Shereef of 1 Professor Hankin in the British Medical jfournal for June, 1894, pub- lished the result of his analysis of Zemzem water as follows : " Total solid in a gallon, 259; Chlorine, 51.24; Free ammonia, parts per mil- lion, 0.93 ; Albuminoid ammonia, .45. It contains an amount of solids greater than that in any well water used for potable purposes." THE HOLY LAND OF ARABIA— MECCA 35 Mecca. This official is the nominal and often the real gover- nor of the city. He is chosen from the Sayyids or descendants of Mohammed living in Hejaz or secures the high office by- force. His tenure of office is subject to the approval and au- thority of the Turkish Sultan, whose garrisons occupy the fort near the town. The Sacred Mosque, (Mesjid el Haram) containing the Kaaba or Beit Allah is the prayer-centre of the Mohammedan world and the objective point of thousands of pilgrims every year. According to Moslem writers it was first constructed in heaven, 2,000 years before the creation of the world. Adam, the first man, built the Kaaba on earth exactly under the spot occupied by its perfect model in heaven. The 10,000 angels appointed to guard this house of God seem to have been very remiss in their duty for it has often suffered at the hands of men and from the elements. It was destroyed by the flood and rebuilt by Ishmael and Abraham. The legends connected with its construction and history fill many pages of the Moslem tra- ditions and commentaries. The name Kaaba means a cube ; but the building is not built true to line and is in fact an un- equal trapezium.^ Because of its location in a hollow and its black-cloth covering these inequalities are not apparent to the eye. The Kaaba proper stands in an oblong space 250 paces long by 200 broad. This open space is surrounded by colonnades used for schools and as the general rendezvous of pilgrims. It is in turn surrounded by the outer temple wall with its nineteen gates and six minarets. The Mosque is of much more recent date than the Kaaba which was well known as an idolatrous Arabian shrine long before the time of Mohammed. The Sacred Mosque and its Kaaba contain the following treasures ; the Black-Stone, the well of Zemzem, the great pulpit, the staircase, and the Kuhattein or two small mosques of Saab and * Its measurements, according to AH Bey, are 37 ft. 2 in., 31 ft. 7 in., 38 ft. 4 in., 29 ft. and its height is 34 ft. 4 in. 36 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM Abbas. The remainder of the space is occupied by pavements and gravel arranged to accommodate and distinguish the four orthodox sects in their devotions. The Black-Stone is undoubtedly the oldest treasure of Mecca. Stone-worship was an Arabian form of idolatry in very ancient times and relics of it remain in many parts of the peninsula. Maximus Tyrius wrote in the second century, " the Arabians pay homage to I know not what god which they represent by a quadrangular stone." The Guebars or ancient Persians assert that the black stone was an emblem of Saturn and was left in the Kaaba by Mahabad. We have the Moslem tradition that it came down snow-white from heaven and was blackened by the touch of sin — according to one tradition, that of an impure woman, and according to another by the kisses of thousands of believers. It is probably an aerolite and owes its reputation to its fall from the sky. Moslem historians do not deny that it was an object of worship before Islam, but they escape the moral difficulty and justify their prophet by idle tales concern- ing the stone and its relation to all the patriarchs beginning with Adam. The stone is a fragment of what appears like black volcanic rock sprinkled with irregular reddish crystals worn smooth by the touch of centuries. It is held together by a broad band of metal, said to be silver, and is imbedded in the southeast corner of the Kaaba five feet from the ground. It is not generally known that there is a second sacred stone at the corner facing the south. It is called Rakn el Yemeni or Yemen pillar and is frequently kissed by pilgrims although according to the correct ritual it should only be saluted by a touch of the right hand. The well of Zemzem is located near the Makam Hanbali, the place of prayer of this sect. The building which encloses the well was erected in a. h. 1072 (a. d. 1661) and its interior is of white marble. Mecca perchance owes its origin as an old Arabian centre to this medicinal spring with its abundant supply of purgative waters for the nomads to-day go long distances All BEY'S PJUN OF THE PKOFHETS MOSOTTE AX HiCCCAJ^.. B^jymSim^^^U^a^ pcaOKMCr CALLED BAIT ALUB. QB GQ&StBDUSfi ,• BaAJfUtfj/hoh ALI BEY'S PLAN OF THE PROPHET'S MOSQUE AT MECCA THE HOLY LAND OF ARABIA— MECC/i 37 to visit sulphur and other springs in various parts of Arabia. The well of Zemzem is one of the great sources of income to the Meccans. The water is carried about for sale on the streets and in the mosques in curious pitchers made of unglazed earth- enware. They are slightly porous so as to cool the water, which is naturally always of a lukewarm temperature, and are all marked with certain mystical characters in black wax. Crowds assemble around the well during the pilgrimage and many coppers fall to the share of the lucky Meccans who have the privilege of drawing the water for the faithful. The pilgrimage to Mecca should be performed in the twelfth lunar month of the calendar called Dhi el Haj. It is incum- bent on every believer except for lawful hindrance because of poverty or illness. Mohammed made it the fifth pillar of re- ligion and more than anything else it has tended to unify the Moslem world. The Koran teaching regarding the duties of pilgrims at the Sacred Mosque, is as follows: "Proclaim to the peoples a Pilgrimage. Let them come to thee on foot and on every fleet camel arriving by every deep defile." (Surah xxii. 28.) "Verily As Safa and Al Marwa are among the signs of God : whoever then maketh a pilgrimage to the temple or visiteth it shall not be to blame if he go round about them both." (ii. 153.) " Let the pilgrimage be made in the months already known and who so undertaketh the pilgrimage therein let him not know a woman, nor transgress nor wrangle in the pilgrimage. ... It shall be no crime in you if ye seek an increase from your Lord (by trade) ; and when ye pass swiftly on from Arafat then remember God near the holy Mosque. . . . Bear God in mind during the stated days ; but if any haste away in two days it shall be no fault to him, and if any tarry it shall be no fault in him." (Surah ii. passim.) From the Koran alone no definite idea of the pilgrim's duties can be gleaned; but fortunately for all true believers the Prophet's perfect example handed down by tradition leaves nothing in doubt and prescribes every detail of conduct with 38 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM ridiculous minuteness. The orthodox way is as follows : ar- rived within a short distance of Mecca the pilgrims, male and female, put off their ordinary clothing and assume the garb of a hajee. It consists of two pieces of white cloth one of which is tied around the loins and the other thrown over the back ; sandals may be worn but not shoes and the head must be left uncovered. (In idolatrous days the Arabs did not wear any clothing in making the circuit of the Kaaba.) On facing Mecca the pilgrim pronounces the niyah or " intention " : " Here I a«r, O Allah, here I am; No partner hast Thou, here I am; Verily praise and riches and the kingdom are to Thee; No partner hast Thou, here am I." After certain legal ablutions the pilgrim enters the Mosque by the Bab-el-salam and kisses the Black-Stone making the circuit, running, around the Kaaba seven times. (In idolatrous days the Arabs did this in imitation of the motions of the planets ; a remnant of their Sabean worship.) Another special prayer is said and then the pilgrim proceeds to Makam Ibrahim, where Abraham is said to have stood when he rebuilt the Kaaba. There the hajee goes through the regular genuflections and prayers. He drinks next from the holy well and once more kisses the Black-Stone. Then follows the running between Mounts Safa and Merwa. Proceeding outward from the Mosque by the gate of Safa he ascends the hill reciting the 153d verse of the Surah of the Cow. "Verily Safa and Merwa are the signs of God." Having arrived at the summit of the mount he turns to the Kaaba and three times recites the words : " There is no god but God ! God is great ! There is no god save God alone ! He hath performed His promise and hath aided His servant and put to flight the hosts of in- fidels by Himself alone ! " THE HOLY LAND OF ARABIA— MECCA 39 He then runs from the top of Safa through the valley to the summit of Merwa seven times repeating the aforesaid prayers each time on both hills. This is the sixth day, on the evening of which the pilgrim again encompasses the Kaaba. On the next day there is a sermon from the grand pulpit. On the eighth day the pilgrim goes three miles distant to Mina, where Adam longed for his lost paradise (!) and there spends the night. The next morning he leaves for Arafat, another hill about eleven miles from Mecca, hears a second sermon, return- ing before nightfall to Muzdalifa, a place halfway between Mina and Arafat. The following day is the great day of the pilgrimage. It is called the day of Sacrifice and is simultaneously celebrated all over the Moslem world. ^ Early in the morning the pilgrim proceeds to Mina where there are three pillars called, the "Great Devil," the "Middle Pillar" and the "First One." At these dumb idols the "monotheist" flings seven pebbles and as he throws them says : "In the name of Allah and Allah is mighty, in hatred of the devil and his shame, I do this." He then performs the sacrifice, a sheep, goat, cow or camel according to the means of the pilgrim. The victim is placed facing the Kaaba and a knife plunged into the animal's throat with the cry, Allahu Akbar. This ceremony concludes the pilgrimage proper ; the hair and nails are then cut and the ihram or pilgrims' garb is doffed for ordinary clothing. Three days more are sometimes counted as belonging to the pilgrim- age, the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth days, called Eyyam-u- tashrik, or days of drying flesh, because during them the flesh of the sacrifices is cut into slices and dried in the sun to be eaten on the return journey. After the Meccan pilgrimage most Moslems go to Medina to visit the tomb of Mohammed ; the Wahabees however consider 1 This religion which denies an atonement and teaches that Christ was not crucified yet has for its great festival a feast of sacrifice to commem- orate the obedience of Abraham and the substitute provided by God ! 40 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM this 'Miifidelity" and honor of the creature more than of the Creator. Other Moslems base their conduct on the saying of the prophet himself, Man yithajja iva lam ye-zi/r/ii fakad jefani, "who goes on Haj and does not visit me has insulted me ! " The Meccans call themselyes " neighbors of God " and the people of INIedina "neighbors of the prophet." For long ages a hot rivalry has existed between the two cities, a rivalry which, beginning in the taunt or jest, often ends in bloodshed. The pilgrim, having completed all legal requirements, is sure to visit the proper authorities and secure a certificate to proA'e to his countr}Tiien that he is a real Hajee and to sub- stantiate his religious boasting in days to come. The certifi- cate is also required when one goes on pilgrimage for a deceased Moslem or a wealthy Moslem who is bedridden. In such a case the substitute has all the pleasures (!) of the jour- ney at the expense of his principal but the merit goes to the man who pa}*^ the bills and who naturally craves the receipt. The certificate is of vai'ious forms and contains crude pictures of the holy places and verses from Koran. Needless to relate these certificates cost money, as does everything at Mecca save the air you breathe. No honest Moslem ever spoke with praise of the citizens of IMecca ; many are their proverbs to prove why wickedness flourishes in the courts of Allah. And European travellers agree that of all Orientals the Meccans take the palm for thoroughgoing rascal- ity. Ali Bey dilates on the lewdness of the men and the loose- ness of the women of Mecca. Hurgronje unblushingly lifts the veil that hides the corruption of the sacred temple service with its army of eunuch police, and pictures the slave-market in full swing within a stone's throw of the Kaaba. Burton thus char- acterizes the men who live on their religion and grow fat (figuratively) by unveiling its m}-steries to others : "The Meccan is a covetous spendthrift. His wealth, lightly won, is lightly prized. Pay, pensions, stipends, presents, and the ' Ikram ' here, as at Medina, supply the citizen with the 6 Ibid,, pp. 61-64. 'J. ma., p. 102. ^Ibid., p. II. PLATE IV. PLATE in. PLATE n. PLATE L i« pictured the Mcsjed, or Mosque of Taif, tlic altar of Ishmael, the P territory. There are also pictured the birthplaces of Mohauuuocl. Ali II PLATE n. pictures the quadraiiRular court of the Mecca of a basin, and is buried in the earth. The name of Abraham is connec are the praying places of the Malikls, the llanafys, the Hanbalys and th PLATE 111. shows representations of the Holy Places of £ Silman, the tomb of Oihman, and various other shrines. PLATE IV. contains the Holy Shrines of Jerusalem. Th in the black circle is the " Rock of God," or the "Suspended Stone," n shears which cut off the life of men. At the bottom is the great Brid^ since on it depends one's eternal destiny. Around this area are picture TJJE MECCA CliKTlFlCATE, which is given to pilgrims to the sacred city, is looked upon by Moslems as practically a passport to heaven. It is! especially interesting because of the inside view which it gives of the Mohammedan re ligion. At the top of each pa.Ke are quotations from the . _^ PLATE r. has, at the right-hand upper corner, the representiuion of the Mosque of Muzdalifa and tents of the Pilgrims; to the left of this, the Mosque of Nimr, near Mount Arafat, and below it, the Mahmals of Syria and Egypt, i.f , palanquins carried on camels, surmounted "^y "ags- o e g^ ^^^^ Mount Arafat, a sacred mountain about 12 miles northeast of Mecca, whic , ;„ Moslem tradition, is said to be the place where Adam and Eve met after the fall. The three pillars of Mini represented below, are ancient pagan shrines, at each of which every pilgrim must hurl seven stones at ine . .j. t- , - ' ' me of Abd-el Kader in Bagdad, and at the extreme right the Dome of ''Our Lord' Hassein al Kerbela. where thousands of corpses of deceased Persians are brought jlearly to be buried. It is northwest of Uagdad, and \ Abi Talib, Abu Bekr, and Fatimeh, and the Tomb of Amina and Khadijah; also two bell-shaped hills, Jebel Thaur and Jebel Nur. | ■ h ? h c • h s wide ft is in the shape aram, within which is the circular colonnade, enclosing the A'aaZ/a or ^,?jV ^//a/i, the I ouse of God. Below the representation of the Kaaba is depicted the famous station of Abraham, a stone 20 inc^es^oj^ Around the circle I with it from the tradition that he first built the Kaaba. Below this may be notice ,": the famous " Beer Zemzem," or Well of Zemzem, which is claimed to be the water 'J'n'cii t g Farewell of Wisdom etc etc.,— besides various shrines, iiafi-is, the four great sects of Islam. Around the quadrangle are 20 gates, such as Ball su-Nebi, Gate of the Prophet, Gate of Abraham, of Peace, of Abbas, of the Mare, the ^'"'c. f ' ,, „f la\am the mosques of Hamzch, Abu Bekr, Ali and ./<«t. of vast length, the width of a hair, and sharp as a razor, over which every morlial must walk barefooted. At the right of it is the pit of Jehennam or hell, and to t :)mbs of David, Solomon, Moses and Jacob, and in the right-hand upper corner is se«.n Jebel, Toor Sina, or Mount Sinai. THE HOLY LAND OF ARABIA— MECCA 41 means of idleness. With him everything is on the most expen- sive scale, his marriage, his religious ceremonies, and his house- hold expenses. His house is luxuriously furnished, entertain- ments are frequent, and the junketings of the women make up a heavy bill at the end of the year. It is a common practice for the citizen to anticipate the pilgrimage season by falling into the hands of the usurer. The most unpleasant peculiari- ties of the Meccans are their pride and coarseness of language. They look upon themselves as the cream of earth's sons, and resent with extreme asperity the least slighting word concern- ing the Holy City and its denizens. They plume themselves upon their holy descent, their exclusion of infidels, their strict fastings, their learned men, and their purity of language. In fact, their pride shows itself at every moment ; but it is not the pride which makes a man too proud to do a dirty action. The Meccans appeared to me distinguished, even in this foul- mouthed East, by the superior licentiousness of their language. Abuse was bad enough in the streets, but in the house it be- came intolerable. ' ' ^ Temporary marriages which are a mere cloak for open pros- titution are common in Mecca and are indeed one of the chief means of livelihood to the natives.^ Concubinage and divorce are more universal than in any other part of the Moslem world ; ^ sodomy is practiced in the Sacred Mosque itself* and the suburbs of the city are the scene of nightly carnivals of iniquity, especially after the pilgrims have left and the natives are rich with the fresh spoils of the trafdc.^ As might be expected, superstition grows rife in such a soil and under such circumstances. All sorts of holy-places, legends, sacred rocks, 1 This is the testimony of Captain Burton, the man who translated an unexpurgated text of the Arabian nights and left behind a book in manu- script which his wife had the good sense to destroy and so prevent its publication. 2 Hurgronje, p. 5, Vol. II. ^Ibid,, p. 102. •» Ibid., p. il. 5 Ibid., pp. 61-64. 42 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM trees and houses abound. Every Moslem saint who tarried in the city or died there has left something to be remembered and honored. Gross ignorance coupled with equal conceit seems to be the universal characteristic of the people of Mecca. Modern science is laughed at and everything turns, on the Ptolemaic system, around the little world of the Koran. Jinn are exor- cised ; witches and the evil-eye are avoided by amulets ; in short all the superstitious practices of the Moslem world are cultivated in this centre of world-wide pilgrimage. Astrology still usurps the place of astronomy and it is considered blas- phemy to profess to know the hour of an eclipse or the day of the new moon before it is revealed from heaven. Alchemy is the science that attracts the Meccan physician more than the marvels of surgery ; potions of holy -writ or talismans are still in use for sprains and dislocations. Their ignorance of geogra- phy and history beyond the confines of the pilgrim-world is pathetic. One of the chief Mullahs asked Hurgronje "how many days was the caravan journey from Moskop (Russia) to Andalusia (Spain)?" A government printing-press has been opened at Mecca in recent years and an official gazette is pub- lished ; but even Turkish civilization and learning are consid- ered far from orthodox for their ways partake too much of those of the "infidels" of the rest of Europe. Photography is a forbidden art and money with "images" of queens and em- perors is only used with the prayer is tag fir allah, " I ask par- don of God." On the other hand many old European coins no longer current are looked upon as being doubly valuable as amulets and charms. One of these, the Mishkash is supposed to have special virtues for newly-married women. "The irony of history," as Hurgronje remarks, "was not satisfied that at Medina the grave of Mohammed who cursed saint-worship should become a centre of pilgrimage, but added the circumstance that at Mecca, IMoslem women, who reject images and Christ-worship, should prize as an amulet the im- THE HOLY LAND OF ARABIA— MECCA 43 age of Jesus and an Evangelist." Of course, the women themselves are in total ignorance of the inscription and char- acter of the coin. There is a great abundance of schools at Mecca but no education. Everything is on the old lines, beginning and end- A CHRISTIAN COIN USED AS AN AMULET BY MECCAN WOMEN.' ing with the Koran, that Procrustean bed for the human intel- lect. " The letter killeth." And it is the /eUer first, foremost and always that is the topic of study. The youth learn to read the Koran not to understand its meaning, but to drone it out professionally at funerals and feasts, so many chapters for so many shekels. Modern science or history are not even mentioned, much less taught, at even the high-schools of Mecca. Grammar, prosody, calligraphy, Arabian history, and the first elements of arithmetic, but chiefly the Koran com- mentaries and traditions, traditions, traditions, form the curric- ulum of the Mohammedan college. Those who desire a post- graduate course devote themselves to Mysticism (Tassawqf) or join an order of the Derwishes who all have their represent- ative sheikhs at Mecca. The method of teaching in the schools of Mecca, which can be taken as an example of the best that Arabia affords, is as follows. The child of intellectual promise is first taught his alphabet from a small wooden board on which they are written ' This coin is called Mishkash and is a Venetian coin of Duke Aloys Mocenigo I. (1570-77 A. D.). On one side the Duke is kneeling before St. Mark the patron saint of Venice and on the other is the image of Christ surrounded by stars. 44 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM by the teacher ; slates are unknown. Then he learns the Abj'ad or numerical value of each letter — a useless proceeding at present as the Arabic notation, originally from India, is everywhere in use. After this he learns to write down the ninety-nine names of Allah and to read the tirst chapter of the Koran ; then he attacks the last two chapters, because they are short. The teacher next urges him through the book, making the pupil read at the top of his voice. The greatest strictness is observed as to pronunciation and pauses but nothing what- ever is said to explain the meaning of the words. Having thus yiVz/VAt"./ the Koran, that is, read it through once, the pupil takes up the elements of grammar, learning rules by rote both of sarf (inflection) and nahw (s}^ltax). Then follow the lib- eral sciences, al-mantik (logic\ al-hisiib (arithmetic), al-jabr (algebra), al-maana iva'l beyan (rhetoric and versification), al-fikh (jurisprudence), al-akaid (scholastic theology), at- tafsir (exegetics^, ////; ul-usul (science of sources of interpre- tation) and lastly, the capstone of etiucation, a!-ahadith (^tra- ditions). Instruction is given by lectures; text -books are seldom used ; lessons begin in the morning and continue for a few hours ; in the afternoon they are interrupted by prayer- time. Even at Mecca the favorite place for teaching is in the Mosque-court where constant interruptions and distractions must make it pleasant for a lazy pupil. IV THE HOLY I.ANlJ OF AHAIilA — MEDINA " WJtliiii llic sanctuary or Ijounds of tlie city all sins are forbidden ; but the several schools advocate different degrees of strictness. The Imam Malik, for instance, allows no latrinu; nearer to El Medina than Jebel Ayr, a distance of about three miles. lie also forbids slaying wild animals, but at the same time he specifies no punishment for the offence. All authors strenuously forbid, within the boundaries, slaying man, (except invaders, infidels and the sacrilegious) drinking spirits and leading an immoral life. In regard to the dignity of the sanctuary there is but one opinion ; a number of traditions testify to its honor, praise its people and threaten dreadful things to those who injure it or them." — Burton. A BOUT seventy miles southeast of Mecca is the small but "^^^ pleasant town of Taif, to which the pashas condemned for the murder of Abdul Aziz Sultan were banished. It is one of the most interesting and attractive towns of all Arabia, being surrounrled by gardens and vineyards from which Mecca has been supplied for ages. The tropical rains last from four to six weeks at Taif, and good wells abound to water the gardens when the rains cease, so that the place is famous for its garden- produce. In close proximity to the barren Mecca district Taif is a paradise for the pilgrim and a health resort for the jaundiced, fever-emaciated Meccan. At Taif Doughty saw three old stone idols of "the days of ignorance" ; El Uzza, a block of granite some twenty feet long; another called Ilubbal, with a cleft in the middle, "by our Lord Aly's sword- stroke" ; and El Lat, an unshapely crag of grey granite. These were earlier stone-gods of the Arab, and now lie for- saken in the dirt, while their brother-god, the famous Black- Stone, receives the reverence of millions ! 45 •JG ^R.-{Bl.-(. THE CRADLE OF ISLAM The road from Mecca to Kl Medina — " ///f- city" — so called because the prophet chose it as his home in time of per- secution — leads nearly due north. It is an uninteresting, and for the most part, a forsaken country that separates the rival cities. Burton -writes that it reminded him of the lines, " Full many a waste I've wandered o'er, Clouib many a crag, crossed, many a shore, But, by my halidome A scene so rude, so wild as this. Yet so sublime in barrenness, Ne'er did my wandering footsteps press, Where'er I chanced to roam." There are two caravan-routes, both of which are used by the pilgrims, but the eastern road is used most frequently.^ The region between Mecca and Medina is the home of the ancient poets of Arabia and is classic ground. The seven Moallakat or suspended poems thid their scene in this region. Lebid wrote : *' Deserted is the village — waste the halting place and home, At Mina, o'er Rijam and Chul wild beasts miheeded roam. On Rayyan hill the channel lines have left their naked trace. Time-worn as primal writ that dints the mountain face." El Medina, formerly called Yafhrib, is now also called Ei Murunvera, the "illuminated," and devout Moslems com- monly claim to see, on approaching the city, a luminous haze hanging over its mosques and houses. The legends and superstitions that cluster around the last resting-place of the Prophet are not less in number nor less credible than those that glorify the place of his birth, although the town is only about >The western or coast ixsute goes by Koleis, Rabek, Mastura, and near Jebel Eyub (Job's Mountain) over Jebel Siibh, then to Suk-es-Safra and Suk el Jedid to Medina. The eastern road was the one taken by Burton, and goes by way of El Zaribah, El Sufena, El Suerkish, etc., a distance 34S miles. THE HOLY LAND OF ARABIA— MEDINA 47 half the size and contains 16,000 inhabitants. It consists of three principal divisions : the town proper, the fort and the suburbs. It is surrounded by a wall forty feet high ; the streets are narrow and unpaved ; the houses are flat-roofed and double- storied. The current dispute, however, for many centuries has been regarding the relative sanctity and importance of the two cities, Mecca and Medina. A visit to Medina is called Ziyarat, as that to Mecca is called Haj ; the latter is obligatory by order of the Koran, while the former is meritorious on the authority of tradition. The orthodox further stipulate, that circumambu- lation around the prophet's tomb at Medina is not allowed as around the Kaaba at Mecca nor should men wear the ihram, nor kiss the tomb. On the other hand, to spit upon it or treat it with contempt, as the Wahabees did, is held to be the act of an infidel. To quote again from Burton : " The general con- sensus of Islam admits the superiority of the Beit Allah at Mecca to the whole world ; and declares Medina to be more venerable than every part of Mecca, and consequently all the earth, except only the Beit Allah. This last is a juste milieu view by no means in favor with the inhabitants of either place." The one thing that gives Medina claim to sanctity is the prophet's tomb, and yet there is some doubt as to whether he is really buried in the mosque raised to his honor ; of course every Moslem, learned or ignorant, believes it, but there are many arguments against the supposition.^ One of these argu- ' These arguments may be stated briefly as follows : 1. A tumult followed the announcement of the prophet's death, and Omar threatened destruction to any one who asserted it. Is it probable that a quiet interment took place ? 2. Immediately after Mohammed's death a dispute about the suc- cession arose, in the ardor of which, according to the Shiahs, the house of Ali and Fatima, near the present tomb, were threatened by fire. 3. The early Moslems would not be apt to reverence the grave of the 48 /iRABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM ments alone would have little value against so old a tradition and practice, but their cumulative force cannot be denied, and throws serious doubt on the question whether the present mosque of the prophet contains any trace of his remains. On the other hand pious IMoslems affirm that the prophet is not prophet, as do those of Liter date, when tradition has exalted him above the common humanity. The early Moslems were inditlerent as to the e.\act spot. 4. The shape of the prophet's tomb was not known in early times, nor is it given in the traditions ; so that we tind convex graves in some lands and flat in others. 5. The accounts of the learned among the Moslems are discrepant as to the burial of Mohammed. 6. Shiah schismatics had charge of the sepulchre for centuries, and because of its proximity to the graves of Abubekr and Omar, it was in their interest to remove the body. 7. Even the present position of the grave, with relation to other graves, is in dispute, because the tomb-chamber (^Hujrah) is closely guarded by eunuchs, who do not allow any one to enter. 8. The tale of the blinding light which surrounds the prophet's tomb seems a plausible story to conceal a defect. 9. Mohammed el Halebi, the Sheikh-el Ulema of Damascus, assured Burton that he was permitted to pass the door leading into the tomb- chamber, and that he saw no trace of a sepulchre. 10. Moslem historians admit that an attempt was made in A. H. 412 to steal the bodies of Mohammed and the two companions by the third Fatimite Caliph of Eg)'pt ; they relate marvels connected with the failure of the attempt, and assert that a trench was dug deep all around the graves and filled with molten lead to prevent the theft of the body. 11. In A. H. 654 the mosque was destroyed by a volcanic eruption, according to the Moslem historians, but the tomb-chamber escaped all damage ! Again in A. H. SS7 it was struck by lightning. " On this occasion," says El Samanhudi (quoted by Burckhardt) " the interior of the liujrah (tomb-chamber) was cleared and three deep graves were found in the inside full of rubbish, but the author of this historj-, who himself entered it, saw no trace of tombs." The same author declared that the coffin containing the dust of Mohammed was cased with silver. 12. Lastly the Shiah and Sunni accounts of the prophet's death and burial are contradictory as to the exact place of burial. THE HOLY LAhtD OF ARABIA— MEDINA 49 really dead, but " eats and drinks in the tomb until the day of resurrection," and is as much alive as he ever was. The Mesjid-el-Nebi or prophet's mosque at Medina is about 420 feet long by 340 broad. It is built nearly north and south and has a large interior courtyard, surrounded by porticoes. From the western side we enter the Rauzah or prophet's garden. On the north and west it is not divided from the rest of the por- tico ; on the south side runs a dwarf wall and on the east it is bounded by the lattice-work of the Hiijrah. This is an irregu- lar square of about fifty feet separated on all sides from the walls of the Mosque by a broad passage. Inside there are said to be three tombs carefully concealed inside the iron railing by a heavy curtain arranged like a four-post bed. The Hujrah has four gates, all kept locked except the fourth which admits only the officers in charge of the treasure, the eunuchs who sweep the floor, light the lamps and carry away the presents thrown into the enclosure by devotees. It is commonly asserted that many A W — 401 1 X 5 v;;;:;.;;".. -\ N^ .^d 1 ad 1 ici 1 . 1. Mohammed 2. Abu beKr 3. Omar 4.Fatimah 5. (The dotted space left empty for JE5U5XJMebi'lsa.) REPORTED ARRANGEMENT OF THE INTERIOR OF THE HUJRAH. early Moslem saints and warriors desired the remaining space for their grave, but that by Mohammed's wish it is reserved for 'Isa on his second coming and death. The story of a coffin suspended by magnets has of course no foundation in fact and may have arisen from the crude drawings of the tombs. 50 /iRABU, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM The ziyarah at the Mosque consists in prayers and ahns-giv- ing with silent contemplation on the sacred character of Mo- hammed. The following sample "prayer" offered at the shrine of Fatima, gives some idea of what is to Christian ears a blasphemous service : ' ' Peace be upon thee, O daughter of the apostle of Allah ! Thou mother of the excellent seed. Peace be upon thee thou Lady amongst women. Peace be upon thee, O Fifth of the people of the Prophet's garment ! A pure one, O virgin ! Peace be on thee, O spouse of our Lord, Ali el Murtaza, O mother of Hasan and Hussein, the two Moons, the two Lights, the two Pearls, the two princes of the youth of Heaven, the Coolness of the eyes of true believers ! etc., etc." The prayers offered at the prophet's grave are more fulsome in their praise and of much greater length. What would the camel-driver of Mecca say if he heard them ? As at Mecca so at Medina the townspeople, one and all, live on the pilgrims. The keeper of the Mosque is a Turkish Pasha with a large salary and many perquisites ; there are treasurers and professors and clerks and sheikhs of these eunuchs kept on salary. Sweepers and porters, all eunuchs, and guides as at Mecca who live by backsheesh or extortion. Water-car- riers here too peddle about the brackish fluid by the cupful to thirsty pilgrims. Those who are not in the service of the Mosque usually keep boarding-houses, or sell prayers which are to be made once a year at the prophet's tomb, for the absent pilgrim. Most of the officials receive their salaries from Con- stantinople and Cairo. The population of Medina is not less a mixed multitude than that of Mecca ; here also the observation of Zehm holds true, "every pilgrimage brings new fathers." Burton testifies, "It is not to be believed that in a town garrisoned by Turkish troops, full of travelled traders, and which supports itself by plundering Hajis the primitive virtues of the Arab could exist. The Meccans, a dark people, say of the INIadani, that their hearts are as black as their skins are white. This is of course THE HOLY LAND OF ARABIA—MEDINA 51 exaggerated ; but it is not too much to assert that pride, pug- nacity, a pecuhar point of honor, and a vindictiveness of won- derful force and patience, are the only characteristic traits of Arab character which the citizens of El Medina habitually dis- play." Intoxicating liquors are made at Medina and sold, al- though not openly. There are two colleges with " libraries " at Medina and many mosque-schools. In Burckhardt's day he charged the town with utter ignorance and illiteracy, but now they devote them- selves apparently to literature, at least in a measure. The climate of Medina is better than that of Mecca and the winters are cold and rigorous. Mohammed is reputed to have said, "he who patiently endures the cold of El Medina and the heat of Mecca, merits a reward in paradise." Returning from the lesser pilgrimage to Medina the traveller can retrace his steps to Mecca, and thence to Jiddah, or go to the nearer port of Yanbo (Yembo) and thence return home by steamer or sailing-vessel. The distance by camels' route, be- tween Medina and the port is 132 miles, six stages, although a good dromedary can make it in two days. At Yanbo the sultan's dominions in Arabia begin, for the coast northward pertains to Egypt. The town resembles Jiddah in outward appearance, has 400 or 500 houses built of white coral rock, dirty streets and a precarious water supply. Sadlier, (1820) after his journey across the peninsula, visited Yanbo, and de- scribes it as " a miserable Arab seaport surrounded by a wall " ] Yanbo has, however, a good harbor, and was in earlier days, a large and important place ; it has been identified with lambia village on Ptolemy's map a harbor of the old Nabateans. Thus ends our pilgrimage through the Holy Land of Arabia. Let us in conclusion ponder the words of Stanley Lane Poole as to the place which Mecca and the pilgrimage holds in the Mohammedan religion. "It is asked how the destroyer of idols could have reconciled his conscience to the circuits of the Kaaba and the veneration of the Black-Stone covered with 52 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM adoring kisses. The rites of the pilgrimage cannot certainly be defended against the charge of superstition ; but it is easy to see why Mohammed enjoined them. . . . He well knew the consolidating effect of forming a centre to which his followers should gather, and hence he reasserted the sanctity of the Black-Stone that ' came down from heaven ' ; he or- dained that everywhere throughout the world the Moslem should pray looking toward the Kaaba, and enjoined him to make the pilgrimage thither. Mecca is to the Moslem what Jerusalem is to the Jew. It bears with it all the influence of centuries of associations. It carries the Moslem back to the cradle of his faith and the childhood of his prophet. . . . And, most of all, it bids him remember that all his brother Moslems are worshipping toward the same sacred spot ; that he is one of a great company of believers united by one faith, filled with the same hopes, reverencing the same thing, wor- shipping the same God." V ADEN AND AN INLAND JOURNEY " Aden is a valley surrounded by the sea ; its climate is so bad that it turns wine into vinegar in the space of ten days. The water is derived from cisterns and is also brought in by an aqueduct two farsongs long." — Ibn-el-Mojawir. (A. D. I200.) A RABIA is unfortunate because, like a chestnut-burr, its "^^^ exterior is rough and uninviting. In scenery and climate, Yemen fares worst of all the provinces. The two gateways to Arabia Felix are very infelix. What could be more dreary and dull and depressing than the ' ' gloomy hills of darkness ' ' that form the background to Aden as seen from the harbor ? There is no verdure, no vegetation visible ; everywhere there is the same appearance of a cinder heap. And where can one find a more filthy, hot, sweltering, odorous native town than Hodeidah ? Yet these two places are the gateways to the most beautiful, fertile, populous and healthful region of all Arabia. Yemen is best known of all the provinces, and has been quite thoroughly explored by a score of intrepid travellers.^ Most people, however, travelling in a P. and O. Steamer, call- ing at Aden for coal, remain in total ignorance of the fair highlands just beyond the dark hills that hide the horizon. 1 Niebuhr, 1763; Seetzen, 1810; Cruttenden, 1836; Dr. Wolff, 1836; Owen, 1857; Botta, 1837; Passama, 1842; Arnaud, 1843; Van Maltzan, 1871; Halvey, 1870; Millingen, 1874; Renzo Manzoni, 1879; Glaser, 1880; Defler, 1888; Haig, 1889; Harris, 1892; and later travellers. Defler is the authority on the flora, Glaser on the antiquities, Manzoni on the Turks and their government, Haig on the agricultural population, and Harris tells of the recent rebellions. Niebuhr's magnificent volumes are still good authority on the geography and natural history of Yemen. 53 54 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM Yemen extends from Aden to Asir on the north and eastward into Hadramaut for an indefinite distance. On the earlier maps Arabia Felix stretched as far as Oman — a great moun- tainous region with a temperate climate. An Arabian author, describing Yemen as it was before the time of Mohammed, wrote: "Its inhabitants are all hale and strong, sickness is unknown, nor are there poisonous plants or animals ; nor fools, nor blind people, and the women are ever young ; the climate is like paradise and one wears the same garment summer and winter." The massive rock promontory of volcanic basalt called Aden, has from time immemorial been the gateway and the strong- hold for all Yemen. It is generally agreed that Ezekiel, the prophet, referred to Aden when he wrote : " Haran and Canneh and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur and Chil- mad, Avere thy merchants." The place was fortified and its wonderful rock cisterns were probably first constructed by the early Himyarites. A Christian church was erected at Aden by the embassy of the Emperor Constantius, a. d. 342, and Aden was for a long time in the hands of the Christian kings of Yemen. Then it fell a prey to the Abyssinians and next to the Persians, about the time when Mohammed was born. Albuquerque in 15 13 with his Portuguese warriors laid siege to Aden for four days, but in spite of scaling-ladders and gun- powder could not take the town. The Mameluke Sultans of Egypt also failed to capture this fortress. In 1838 the English took it by storm and have held the place ever since. Aden is now a British settlement, a commercial-centre, a coaling-station and a fortress ; the last most emphatically. All the latest improvements in engineering and artillery have been put to use in fortifying the place. The ride from Steamer- Point to "the crater" or from the telegraph-station to the " Crescent " gives one some idea of the vast amount of money and labor expended to shape this Gibraltar and make it im- pregnable from land and sea. The isthmus is guarded by ADEN AND AN INLAND JOURNEY 55 massive lines of defence, strengthened by a broad ditch cut out of the solid rock ; bastions, casements and tunnels all serve one purpose ; batteries, towers, arsenals, magazines, barracks ; mole-batteries toward the sea, mines in the harbor, obstruction piers and subservient works ; — everything tells of military strength, and the town has always a warlike aspect in perfect accord with its forbidding physical geography. The inhabited peninsula is an irregular oval about fifteen miles in circumference ; it is in reality a large extinct crater formed of lofty precipitous hills the highest peak of which, Shem Shem, has an altitude of nearly i,8oo feet. The varieties of rock are numerous, and vary in color from light brown to dark green. Pumice and tufas are very com- mon ; the former is an article of export. Water is very scarce, and there is almost no rainfall during some years. When there is a shower, the nature of the soil and the immense water- shed for so small an area cause heavy torrents to pour down the valleys. These rare occasions are utilized to fill the huge tanks near Aden camp. The tanks were built as early as 600 A. D. by the Yemenites who built besides the celebrated dam at Marib, and the many similar structures in various parts of Yemen. Water is also brought by an aqueduct from Sheikh Othman, seven miles distant, but the majority of the popula- tion is supplied from the government condensers. In spite of the desert character of the soil and the aridity of the climate Aden is not entirely without natural vegetation. Thomas Anderson of the Bengal Medical Service enumerates ninety- four species of plants found on the Aden peninsula, some of which are entirely unique. Most of the plants, however, are desert-dwellers with sharp thorns, an aromatic odor, and yield gums and resins. The Aden settlement has four centres of. population ; Steamer- Point, the Crescent, the town of Maala and the "Camp" or Aden proper. A road, the only road in fact, extends from Steamer-Point on the west to Aden proper on the east, and no 56 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM one can boast of having seen Aden who has not taken the ride in a geri from the landing-pier to the tanks. The Aden horses are of all creatures most miserable for the geri-drivers whip their horses much, but feed them little. The Crescent is a semi- circular range of houses and shops crowded against the moun- tain side; with a Hotel de I'Univers and a Hotel de I'Europe (both equally " Grand ") ; cafes, shops, banks, and offices. The post office, hospital, churches and barracks are further wett toward the telegraph-station. A drive of about two miles brings us to the native town of Maala. Here the road forks, the lower one leading to the barrier-gate and Sheikh Othman, and the upper ascending the mountain through the gate of the fortifications and by a sharp declivity leading down to the town of Aden. It is not an Oriental town in its administration, but it has all the motley character of Port Said on its streets. Europeans, Americans, Africans, Asiatics and mixed races are all represented in the crowd of the market or the loungers in the streets. The total population is 30,000, including Chinese, Persians, Turks, Egyptians, Somalis, Hindus, Parsees, Jews and Arabs from every part of the peninsula. Aden is a great centre for native shipping, and the dhows and buggalows that sail every year from the Persian Gulf to Yemen and Jiddah alway call at Aden en route. Also from Oman and Hadramaut the modern Sinbads run their craft into Aden to exchange produce or to lay in supplies for their voyages to the coast of Africa. The distance from Aden to Yemen's old capital, Sana is nearly 200 miles in a direct line, but on my second journey thither, in 1894, I was obliged to take a roundabout journey to Taiz, because of an Arab uprising. This and the moun- tainous character of the country made the distance over 250 miles. This route passes through, or near, all the important towns of Yemen south of Sana. With my Bedouin companion, Nasir, I left Sheikh Othman early on the second morning of July. We reached a small TRAVELLING IN SOUTHERN ARABIA THE KEITH FALCONER MEMORIAL CHURCH IN ADEN ADEN AND AN INLAND JOURNEY 57 village, Wahat, at noon, the thermometer registering 96° in the shade. After a short rest we mounted the camels at seven o'clock in the evening for an all-night journey. Our course was through a barren region, and at daylight we entered Wady Mergia, with scanty vegetation, resting at a village of the same name under a huge acacia tree. The next day we entered the * mountains, where rich vegetation showed a cooler climate. We passed several villages, Dar El Kadim, Khoteibah, Suk-el-Juma and others. As this was said to be a dangerous part of the road all the caravan, which we joined at Wahat, was on the look- out, with lighted rope-wicks for their flint-locks swinging from their shoulders and looking in the dark like so many fireflies. At three a. m. we had ascended to the head of the wady and rested for the day at Mabek. All the houses here are of stone, the booths of date-mats and twigs being only found on the maritime plain of Yemen. During the night there had been talk among the wild Arabs of the village of holding me as a hostage to obtain money from the English at Aden ! But Nasir quieted them with a threefold Bedouin oath that I was not a govern- ment official nor an Englishman, but an American traveller. The day after leaving Mabek brought us to the beginning of the happy valleys of Yemen, very different from the torrid coast. A country where the orange, lemon, quince, grape, mango, plum, apricot, peach, apple, pomegranate, fig, date, plantain and mulberry, each yield their fruit in season ; where wheat, barley, maize, millet and coffee are staple products and where there is a glorious profusion of wild flowers — called "grass " by the unpoetic camel-drivers. A land whose moun- tains lift up their heads over 9,000 feet, terraced from chilly top to warm valley with agricultural amphitheatres, irrigated by a thousand rills and rivulets, some of them peren- nial, flowing along artificial channels or leaping down the rocks in miniature falls. A land where the oriole hangs her nest on the dark acacia, the wild doves hide in clefts of the rock and the chameleon sports his colors by the wayside under the tall 58 /iRABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM flowering cactus. Such is Yemen. The vegetation of Arabia FeHx begins just before reaching Mufallis, on this route, where a Turkish castle and customhouse proclaim the boundary of Ottoman aggression. Beautiful was the air and scenery on our march. Arab peasants were at work in the fields, plowing ^ with oxen, repair- ing the walls of the terraces and opening the water-courses. The women were all unveiled and had the picturesque cos- tume universal in southern Yemen ; their narrow trousers were fastened at the waist and ankles, while over their shoulders hung long mantle-like garments, low in the neck, girded, and fringed at the bottom with embroidered cloth of green or red. Here they wear a kind of light turban, but on the Hodeidah coast broad-brimmed straw hats cover the heads of the Yemen belles as they urge their donkeys to market. At sunrise we were in sight of the highest peaks to the left of the wady-bed. One of them is crowned by a walli or saint's- tomb of Saled bin Taka. These tombs are common in Yemen and thousands of people visit them annually to ask intercession, each saint having a special day in the Moslem calendar. At Mocha the grave of the Arab sheikh Abu-el-Hassan Shadeli, who first discovered the use of coffee, is highly honored by dis- tant pilgrims. At eight o'clock on the morning of July fourth we reached the burj called Mufallis and had our first experience of Turkish rule in Yemen. Unexpectedly we here stumbled upon a Turkish customhouse, which I had thought was located at Taiz, as the boundary of Turkish Yemen on my maps did not extend further south. An unmannerly negro, calling himself Mudeer of Customs, looked out of a port-hole and demanded my ascent. Through dirt and up darkness I reached his little room and stated my errand and purpose. No kind words or • The Yemen plow is shaped like an English plow in many respects; although it has only one handle its coulter is broad and made of iron, a great improvement over the crooked stick of Mesopotamia, ADEN AND AN INLAND JOURNEY 59 offered backsheesh would avail; ''all the baggage must be opened and all books were forbidden entrance into Yemen by a recent order," so he affirmed. First, therefore, I unscrewed the covers of the two boxes with an old bowie-knife. The books, after having been critically examined by eyes that could not read, were seized ; next my saddle-bags were searched, and every book and map was also confiscated. I was refused even a receipt for the books taken, and to every plea or question the only reply was, to go on to Taiz and appeal to the Governor. Despoiled of our goods, we left the "customhouse" at eleven a. m., taking an old man on a donkey armed with a spear, as guide and defence, because Nasir heard that there was disturbance in this quarter. At two o'clock we rested for half an hour under the shade of a huge rock in the bed of the wady, and then warned by peals of thunder, we hastened on, hoping to reach Hirwa before dark. In less than an hour, how- ever, the sky was black, rain fell in torrents, and we found it hopeless to attempt to urge the slow camels on through the wady. There was no shelter in sight, so we crouched under a small tree halfway up the mud bank. The rain turned to hail — large stones that frightened the camels so that they stam- peded — and we became thoroughly chilled. When the storm ceased, our donkey man came with looks of horror to tell us that his poor beast had fallen down the slope and was being swept away by the torrent ! What had been a dry river bed half an hour before, was now a rushing rapids. We decided to climb up the terraces to a house which we saw on the mountain side. The camels had preceded us, and after a vigorous climb over mud-fields and up the rocks we reached the house and hospitality of Sheikh Ali. Over the charcoal fire, after drinking plenty of kishr, (made from the shell of the coffee bean,) we had to listen to a long discussion concerning the lost donkey. Finally, matters were smoothed over by my offering to pay one-half the price of the animal on condition that our guide should proceed with us to Hirwa. 60 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM The next day we were off early. Because of the steep ascents I was obliged to walk most of the way, and I sprained my ankle severely. It did not pain me until night, when it was swollen and kept me "on crutches" for several days. Hirwa is a small Arab village with a weekly market, and we found shelter in the usual coffee-shop characteristic of Yemen. The follow- ing day we reached Sept Ez zeilah, where we found cleaner quarters than the night before. At about midnight a war party of Bedouins came and frightened the peaceful villagers with de- mands for food, etc. They had just returned from setting fire to a small castle, and, numbering sixty hungry men, were not to be intimidated. They were about to force their way into our quarters when Nasir and the women promised to give them food. Within, I kept quiet and listened to the noise of grind- ing and baking and coffee-pounding. Without, some of the Arabs seized a cow belonging to a poor woman and butchered it for their feast. At this there was a crying of women and barking of dogs and swearing of oaths by the Great Allah, such as I hope never to hear again. Finally, the Arabs went away with full stomachs, and we slept a broken sleep for fear they might return. The next day we proceeded to Taiz, and ar- rived at noon, one week after leaving Aden. The Mutasarrif Pasha, or Governor, was satisfied with my passports, and expressed his regrets that the books had been seized at Mufallis, but such was the law. He would, however, allow me to send for them for inspection. What is written here in four lines was the work and patience of four weary days ! A soldier was sent to Mufallis ; I was obliged to entrust him with money to pay the custom dues ; to hire a camel to carry the books ; finally to pay for two sticks of sealing wax (price in Taiz one rupee) with which to seal the books and maps lest they be tampered with — all this at the order of the enlightened government of the Sublime Porte ! The first mes- senger never reached Mufallis ; on the road he was attacked by Arabs, stabbed in the neck, robbed of his rifle, and carried ADEN Am AN INLAND JOURNEY 61 back to the military hospital at Taiz. Then there was more delay to find and send a second soldier with the same camel and money and sealing wax, but with a new rifle. He returned with the books safely after five days ! No Turk could set a value on a book, and so the law is that books are taxed by weight, boxes included. The customs receipt was attached for " 200 kilograms Jewish books (at twenty piastres a kilo.), value, 4,000 piastres, and custom dues amounting to 288 piastres." In the same document I was spoken of as "the Jew, Ishmail, Dhaif Ullah," — a rather curious combination oi names. I was called a " Jew " because of the case of Hebrew New Testaments ; Ishmail was the equivalent for Samuel ; and Dhaif Ullah, my Arabic cognomen. VI YEMEN : THE SWITZERLAND OF ARABIA " If the Turks would clear out of Yemen, a wonderful field for com- merce would be thrown open, for the Turkish government is vile and all cultivators are taxed to an iniquitous extent," — Ion Keith Falconer. ^^T^HILE waiting at Taiz I had an opportunity to study ^ Yemen town life and the system of government, as well as to learn a little about the cultivation of coffee and kaat, the two chief products of this part of Yemen. Taiz has not often been visited by travellers from the Occi- dent, and is a most interesting place. It is a large fortified village of perhaps 5,000 inhabitants, the residence of a Muta- sarrif whose authority extends from the province of Hodeidah to the Aden frontier including Mocha and Sheikh Seyyid on the coast, recently abandoned by France. The place has five gates, one of which has been walled up, and five large mosques in Byzantine style. The largest Mosque is called El Muzafer, and has two large minarets and twelve beautiful domes. Taiz was once a centre of learning and its libraries were celebrated all over Arabia. Firozabadi, the Noah Webster of the Arabic language, taught in Taiz and edited his "Ocean" dictionary ^ there. He died at the neighboring town of Zebid, in 1414 a. d., and his grave is honored by the learned of Yemen. The bazaar is not large, but the four European shops kept by Greek merchants are well supplied with all ordinary articles of civilization. One public bath, in splendid condition, and a military hospital show Ottoman occupation. The fort holds perhaps 1,300 soldiers and the residence of the Mutasarrif is in a beautiful and comfortable little building outside of the town. 62 YEMEN: THE SIVITZERLAND OF ARABIA 63 The mosques were once grand but are now ruined and a home for bats ; the famous Hbraries have disappeared and the sub- terannean vaults of the largest Mosque formerly used as por- ticoes for pupils are now Turkish horse-stables. There is a post office and telegraph ; the post goes once a week to Hodeidah via Zebid and Beit el Fakih, and the telegraph in the same di- rection a little more rapidly when the wires are in order. Taiz is girt around by Jebel Sobr, the highest range of mountains in southern Yemen. Hisn Aroos peak, near the town, has an elevation of over 7,000 feet. According to Niebuhr and Defler, on a clear day one can look from the sum- mit of this peak across the lowlands and the Red Sea into Africa. I was unable to reach the summit as my Arab guide failed me and the days were misty and frequent rains fell. Taiz is the centre of kaat-culture for all Yemen, and coffee comes here on its way to Hodeidah or Aden. Amid all the wealth of vegetation and fruitage every plant seems familiar to the tourist save kaat. It is a shrub whose very name is un- known outside of Yemen, while there it is known and used by every mother's son, as well as by the mothers and daughters themselves. Driving from Aden to Sheikh Othman, one first learns the name. Why are those red flags hoisted near the police stations, at intervals on the road, and why are they hauled down as soon as those camels pass ? Oh, they are tak- ing loads of kaat for the Aden market, and the flags are to prevent cheating of the customs. Over 2,000 camel loads come into Aden every year, and each load passes through English territory by " block-signal " system, for it is highly taxed. As to its tise, step into a kahwah in any part of Yemen shortly be- fore sunset, and you will see Arabs each with a bundle of green twigs in his lap, chewing at the leaves of kaat. At Taiz I first had an opportunity to meet the Jews of the interior of Yemen. Altogether they number perhaps 60,000 in the whole province. They live mostly in the large towns and very few are agriculturists. They are a despised and down-trodden 64 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM race, but they say at Sana, that their condition is not so bad under the Turks as it was under the Arab rulers before 187 1. The accounts of their origin are discrepant. Some say they are descended from the Jews of the Dispersion, but others hold that they were immigrants from the North over 900 years ago. They are more cleanly, more intelhgent and more trustworthy than the Arabs ; and although they are out of all communication with the rest of the world and in ignorance of their European countrymen they are not ignorant of Hebrew and rabbinic learning. Their synagogue near Taiz is a low stone building, twenty-five by fifteen feet. For furniture it has only a few curtains of embroidered texts, a printed diagram of the ancient candlestick, with the names of the twelve tribes, and a high reading-desk. Such are all the synagogues of Yemen. At Taiz the Jews seemed to have grown content under long centuries of oppression and taxation. Many of the old Moslem laws against infidels, such as those forbidding them to ride, to carry weapons or wear fine clothes in public, are still rigorously enforced by custom if not by the government. The Jew is universally despised, yet he cannot be spared, for nearly all artisan work is in Jewish hands. The Moslem Arab has learned nothing from the Jew outside of the Koran ; but, alas! the Jew has imbibed many foolish customs and superstitions foreign to his creed from Islam. When the Hebrew Scriptures reached Taiz I was again dis- appointed, for the Governor would not permit the boxes to be opened, but they were to be sent sealed and under guard to Sana. I afterward learned that the "guard" was for me as well as the books, and that the soldier carried a letter with this accusation written : " This is a converted Jew, who is corrupt- ing the religion of Islam, and sells books to Moslems and Jews." I had no alternative but to proceed to Sana; taking a Damar Arab as servant, having dismissed the Aden camels. I left Taiz on a mule July 26th, and arrived at Seyanee the YEMEN: THE SIVITZERLAND OF /IRABIA 65 same day. The following night we reached Ibb. Here I was forced to lodge outside of the town, as the guard had in- structions not to let me "see things." I endured this im- patiently, until I learned that our servant had been imprisoned on our arrival because he told me the names of the villages on the route ! I then appealed to the Mayor, and on virtue of my passports demanded the right of going about the town and the release of my servant. After some delay, both requests were granted. The incident is one of many to show the suspicion with which a stranger is regarded by the authorities in Yemen. On Saturday the soldier and I hastened on to reach the large town of Yerim before Sunday, and rest there, waiting for the baggage camel. It was a long ride of twelve hours, but through a delightful country everywhere fertile and terraced with coffee plantations and groves of kaat. Yerim, with perhaps 300 houses, lies in a hollow of the Sumara range of mountains. It has a fortress and some houses of imposing appearance, but the general aspect of the town is miserable. A neighboring marsh breeds malaria, and the place is proverbially unhealthy in this otherwise salubrious region. Niebuhr's botanist, Forskal, died here on their journey in 1763. The road from Ibb to Yerim has perhaps the finest scenery of any part of Yemen; never have I seen more picturesque mountains and valleys, green with verdure and bright with blossoms. Scabiosa, bluebells, forget-me-nots, golden-rod, four-o' clocks and large oleander-trees — " All earth was full of heaven And every bush afire with God." The cacti -plants were in full bloom, and measured twenty feet against the mountain passes. Two thousand feet below one could hear the sound of the water rushing along the wady- bed or disappearing under the bridges that span the valleys. While high above, the clouds were half concealing the summit of the " Gazelle Neck " (Unk el-Gazel). 66 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM Sunday, July 29th, was a cold day at Yerim; early in the morning the temperature went down to 52°, and at night two blankets were needed. Not until nine o'clock was it warm enough for the Yerim merchants to open their shops. A Jewish family, en route for Taiz, were stopping with us at the caravansari, and at night I spoke for over two hours with them and the Arabs about Christ. There was no interruption, and I was impressed to see the interest of a Jew and Arab alike in what I told them from Isaiah liii., reading it in Arabic by the dim candle light, amidst all the baggage and beasts of an Oriental inn. At the little village of Khader, eight miles from Waalan, angry words arose from the "guard" be- cause I tried to speak to a Jew. When I spoke in protest they began to strike the Jew with the butt end of their rifles,^ and when the poor fellow fled, my best defence was silence. On my return journey, I inadvertently raised trouble again, by mentioning that Jesus Christ and Moses were Jews — which the Arabs considered an insult to the prophets of God. On the road beyond Yerim we passed a large boulder with an irregular impression on one side. This is called All's foot- print, and the Arabs who pass always anoint it with oil. The steep ascents and descents of the journey were now behind us. From Yerim on to Sana the plateau is more level. Wide fields of lentils, barley and wheat take the place of the groves of kaat and coffee; camels were used for ploughing, and with their long necks and curious harness, were an odd sight. The next halt we made was at Damar, 8,000 feet above sea- level. It is a large town, with three minaret-mosques and a arge bazaar; the houses are of native rock, three and four- stories high, remarkably clean and well-built. Inside they are whitewashed, and have the Yemen translucent slabs of gypsum 1 It was not pleasant for an American to notice that nearly all the Turkish rifles in Yemen were " Springfield 1861." The same weapons that were employed to break the chains of slavery in the southern states, are now used to oppress the peaceful Yemenites. YEMEN: THE SIV ITZERLAND OF ARABIA 67 for window-panes. From Daraar the road leads northeast over Maaber and the Kariet en-Nekil pass to Waalan ; thence, nearly due north, to Sana. From Damar to Waalan is thirty- five miles, and thence to the capital, eighteen miles more. The roads near the city of Sana are kept in good repair, although there are no wheeled vehicles, for the sake of the Turkish artillery. On Thursday, August 2d, we entered Sana by the Yemen gate. Three years before I had entered the city from the other side, coming from Hodeidah ; then in the time of the Arab rebellion and now myself a prisoner, I was taken to the Dowla and handed over to the care of a policeman until the Wall heard my case. After finding an old Greek friend from Aden, who offered to go bail for me, I was allowed liberty, and for nineteen days was busy seeing the city and visiting the Jews.' Sana, anciently called Uzal, and since many centuries the chief city of Yemen, contains some 50,000 inhabitants and lies stretched out in a wide, level valley between Jebel Nokoom and the neighboring ranges. It is 7,648 feet above sea-level. The town is in the form of a triangle, the eastern point consist- ing of a large fortress, dominating the town, and built upon the lowest spur of Nokoom, The town is divided into three walled quarters, the whole being surrounded by one continuous wall of stone and brick. They are respectively the city proper, in which are the government buildings, the huge bazaars, and the residences of the Arabs and Turks ; the Jews' quarter ; and Bir-el-azib, which lies between the two, and contains gardens and villas belonging to the richer Turks and Arabs. The city had once great wealth and prosperity, and to-day remains, next to Bagdad, the most flourishing city in all Arabia. The shops are well supplied with European goods, and a large 1 Of the work among the latter, and my experiences in distributing the New Testament, a report was published by the Mildmay Mission; we therefore omit reference to it here. y 68 /IRABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM manufacture of silk, jewelry and arms is carried on. The gov- ernment quarter, with its cafes, billiard-rooms, large Greek shops, carriages, bootblacks, and brass-band reminds one of Cairo. Sana has forty-eight mosques, thirty-nine synagogues, twelve large public-baths, a military hospital with 200 beds, and is the centre of trade for all northern Yemen and northwestern Hadramaut, as well as for the distant villages of Nejran and fertile Wady Dauasir. Arabs from every district crowd the bazaars, and long strings of camels leave every day for the Hodeidah coast. On August 14th I took an early morning walk to Rhoda, a village about eight miles north of Sana, and in the midst of beautiful gardens. From Roda the direct caravan route leads to Nejran, and from the outskirts of the village, looking north, an inviting picture met the eye. A fertile plateau stretched out to the horizon, and only two days' journey would bring one into the free desert beyond Turkish rule. But this time the way across the peninsula was closed by my bankruptcy ; robbed at Yerim in the coffee-shop, and already in debt at Sana, it would have been impossible to proceed, except as a dishonest dervish. On the 2 1 St of August I left Sana for Hodeidah, receiving a loan of twenty dollars from the Ottoman government, to be paid back at the American consulate. We followed the regular postal route, the same which I had travelled on my first journey. The plateau or table-land between Sana' a and Banan is a pasture country. The Bedouins live in the stone-built villages and herd their immense flocks on the plain; camels, cows and sheep were grazing by the hundreds and thousands. After Banan begins the difficult descent to the coast down break- neck mountain stairways rather than roadways, over broken bridges, and through natural arches. Fertile, cultivated moun- tain slopes were on every side, reminding one of the valleys of Switzerland. In one district near Suk-el-Khamis the whole mountain-side for a height of 6,000 feet was terraced from top to bottom. General Haig wrote of these terraces : " One can YEMEN: THE SIVITZERLAND OF ARABIA 69 hardly realize the enormous amount of labor, toil and perse- verance which these represent. The terraced walls are usually from five to eight feet in height, but toward the top of the mountain they are sometimes as much as fifteen or eighteen feet. They are built entirely of rough stone, laid without mortar. I reckon on an average that each wall retains a ter- race not more than twice its own height in width, and I do not think I saw a single breach in one of them unrepaired." ^ In Yemen there are two rainy seasons, in spring and in au- tumn, so that there is generally an abundance of water in the numerous reservoirs stoced for irrigation. Yet, despite the ex- traordinary fertility of the soil and the surprising industry of the inhabitants, the bulk of the people are miserably poor, ill- fed and rudely clothed, because they are crushed down by a heartless system of taxation. Every agricultural product, im- plement and process is under the heavy hand of an oppressive administration and a military occupation that knows no law. The peasantry are robbed by the soldiers on their way to market, by the custom-collector at the gate of each city, and by the tax-gatherer in addition. On the way to Sana my soldier-companion stopped a poor peasant who was urging on a little donkey loaded with two large baskets of grapes ; he emptied the best of the grapes into his saddle-bags, and then beat the man and cursed him because some of the grapes were unripe ! No wonder we read of rebellions in Yemen, and no wonder that intense hatred lives in every Arab against the very name of Turk. From Suk-el-Khamis, a dirty mountain village,^ with an ele- vation of over 9,500 feet, the road leads by Mefak and Wady Zaun to the peculiarly located village of Menakha. At an altitude of 7,600 feet above sea-level, it is perched on a narrow ridge between two mountain ranges. On either side of the one 1 Geog. Soc. Proceedings, 1887, p. 482. 2 Defler says in his diary that this place has " une odeur atroce et des legions de puces et de punaises." I also had an all-night's battle. 70 ^R.-ffil.t, THE CR.-inU: OF 1SI..-1M street that forms the backbone of the summit ai'e precipices 2,000 foot (loop. So narrow is tlio town that there are places \vhero ono can stand and ga.o down both sides of the abyss at the same tin\e, Vo roach it from the west there is only one path zigzagging up the mountain-side, and froni the east it can only be approached by a narrow track cut in the fiice of the precipice and winding up for an ascent of 2,500 feet, Mon- akha is the centre of the cofTco trade ; it has a population of 10,000 or more, onc-thiril of which are Jews. Thcro are four (""irook merchants, the Turks had 2,000 troops garrisoned in the town, and the bazaars wore ocpial to those of Tai/. Its exact elevation is given by Dotlor. after eighteen observations, as 7.616 feet above soa-lovol. From Monakha to the coast is only two long ilays' jour- ney; three by camel. The first stage is to Hejjeila, at the foot of the high ranges ; thence to Bajil. a village of 2,000 peo- ple, and along the barren, hot phi in to llodoidah. At Hajil the people are noiu^ly all shepherds, and the main industry is dyeing cloth and weaving straw. Here one sees the curious Yemen straw hats worn by tlic women, anil here also the peas- ant-maidens wear no veils. Vet they are of purer heart and life than the black-clouted and covered women of the Turkish towns. Hodeidah by the sea is very like Jiddah in its general ap- pearance. The streets are narrow, crooked and indescribably filthy. The "Casino" is a sort of Greek hotel for strangers, and the tlnest house in the city is that of Sidi .Varon, near the sea, with its fmo front and marble courtyard. The population is of a \ery mixed character ; east of the city in a separate quarter live the Akhdam Arabs, whose origin is uncertain, but who are considered outcasts by all the other Arabs. They are not allowed to carry arms and no Arali tribe intermarries with them. From Hodeidah there is a regular lino of small steamers to Aden, and the b'gyptian Rod Soa coasting steamers also call YEMEN: THE SWITZERLAND OF ARABIA 71 here fortnightly. The trade of Ilodeidah was once flourishing, but here too I'urkish misrule has brought deadness and dull- ness into business, and taxation has crushed industrial enter- prise. AN ARABIAN COMPASS. -J VII THE UNEXPLORED REGIONS OF HADRAMAUT " As when to them who sail Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past Mozambic, off at sea northeast winds blow Sabean odors from the spicy shore Of Araby the blest."— yl/z7/t7«, "1 X 7E must take at least a glimpse of the almost unknown ~ region called Hadramaut.^ This is a strip of territory stretching between the great desert and the sea from Aden east- ward to Oman. Our knowledge of the interior of this region was almost a perfect blank until some light was thrown on it by the enterprising traveller A. Von Wrede in 1843. The coast is comparatively well known, at least as far as Makalla and Shehr. The land rises from the coast in a series of ter- races to Jebel Hamra (5,284 feet), which is connected on the northeast with Jebel Dahura, over 8,000 feet high. Adolph Von Wrede sailed from Aden to Makalla and thence penetrated inland as far as Wady Doan the most fertile spot of all South Arabia. This wady flows northward through the land of the Bni Yssa and the district is bordered on the west by Belad-el-Hasan and on the east by Belad-el-Hamum. But how far this region extends northward and whether the sandy desert of El Ahkaf (quicksands) really begins with the Wady Rakhia, a branch of the Doan are points on which Von Wrede throws no light and which are still uncertain. In 1870 1 Hadramaut is a very ancient name for this region. Not only does Ptolemy place here the Adraniitce in his geography, but there seems little doubt that Hadramaut is identical with Hazarmaveth, mentioned in the tenth chapter of Genesis. 72 THE UNEXPLORED REGIONS Of HADRAMAUT 73 the French Jew, Joseph Halevy, made a bold attempt to pene- trate mto Hadramaut from Yemen. Since then little was added to our knowledge of Hadramaut until 1893 when Shibam, the residence of the most powerful Sultan of Hadramaut was visited by Theodore Bent and his wife. In 1897 they made a second journey into the same region which cost Mr. Bent his health and afterward his life. From the account of these jour* neys we quote a few paragraphs which set forth clearly the in- teresting character of this almost unknown country.^ "Immediately behind Makalla rise grim arid mountains of a reddish hue, and the town is plastered against this rich-tinged background. By the shore, like a lighthouse, stands the white minaret of the Mosque, the walls and pinnacles of which are covered with dense masses of. seabirds and pigeons ; not far from this the huge palace where the Sultan dwells reminds one of a whitewashed mill with a lace-like parapet ; white, red and brown are the dominant colors of the town, and in the harbor the Arab dhows with fantastic sterns rock to and fro in the unsteady sea, forming altogether a picturesque and unusual scene. "Nominally Makalla is ruled over by a Sultan of the Al Kaiti family, whose connection with India has made them very English in their sympathies, and his Majesty's general appear- ance, with his velvet coat and jewelled daggers, is far more Indian than Arabian. Really the most influential people in the town are the money-grubbing Parsees from Bombay, and it is essentially one of those commercial centres where Hindustani is spoken nearly as much as Arabian, We were lodged in a so-called palace hard by the bazaar, which reeked with mys- terious smells and was alive with flies ; so we worked hard to get our preparations made and to make our sojourn in this un- congenial burning spot as short as possible, . . . 1 " The Hadramaut : a Journey " by Theodore Bent. Nineteenth Century, September, 1894. Also Mrs. Bent's "Yafei and Fadhli countries," Geographical Journal, '^vXy, 1898. 74 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM " Leaving these villages behind us, we climbed rapidly higher and higher, until, at an elevation of over 5,000 feet, we found ourselves at last on a broad level plateau, stretching as far as the eye could reach in every direction, and shutting off the Hadramaut from the coast. This is the ' mons excelsus ' of Pliny ; here we have the vast area where once flourished the frankincense and the myrrh. Of the latter shrub there is plenty left, and it is still tapped for its odoriferous sap ; but of the former we only saw one specimen on the plateau, for in the lapse of ages the wealth of this country has steadily disap- peared ; further east, however, in the Mahra country, there is, I understand, a considerable quantity left. " Near Hajarein are many traces of the olden days when the frankincense trade flourished, and when the town of Doani, which name is still retained in the Wady Doan, was a great emporium for this trade. Acres and acres of ruins, dating from the centuries immediately before our era, lie stretched along the valley here, just showing their heads above the weight of superincumbent sand which has invaded and over- whelmed the past glories of this district. The ground lies strewn with fragments of Himyaritic inscriptions, pottery, and other indications of a rich harvest for the excavator, but the hostility of the Nahad tribe prevented us from paying these ruins more than a cursory visit, and even to secure this we had to pay the Sheikh of the place nineteen dollars ; and his greet- ing was ominous as he angrily muttered, ' Salaam to all who believe Mohammed is the true prophet.* " At Assab they would not allow us to dip our vessels in their well, nor take our repast under the shadow of their Mosque : even the women of this village ventured to insult us, peeping into our tent at night, and tumbling over the guys in a manner most aggravating to the weary occupants. "Our troubles on this score were happily terminated at Haura, where a huge castle belonging to the Al Kaiti family dominates a humble village surrounded by palm groves. With- THE UNEXPLORED REGIONS OF HADR/tMAUT 75 out photographs to bear out my statement, I should hardly dare to describe the magnificence of these castles in the Hadramaut. That at Haura is seven stories high, and covers fully an acre of ground beneath the beetling cliff, with battlements, towers, and machicolations bearing a striking likeness to Holyrood. But Holyrood is built of stone, and Haura, save for the first story, is built of sun-dried bricks ; and if Haura stood where Holyrood does, or in any other country save dry, arid Arabia, it would long ago have melted away. . " One of the most striking features of these Arabian palaces is the wood-carving. The doors are exquisitely decorated with intricate patterns, and with a text out of the Koran carved on the lintel ; the locks and keys are all of wood, and form a study for the carver's art, as do the cupboards, the niches, the sup- porting beams and the windows, which are adorned with fret- work instead of glass. The dwelling-rooms are above, the ground floor being exclusively used for merchandise, and the first floor for the domestics." Concerning the chief town of the interior of Hadramaut Mr. Bent writes as follows : " Then he sent us to reside for five more days in his capital of Shibam, which is twelve miles distant from Al Katan, and is one of the principal towns in the Hadramaut valley. It is built on rising ground in the centre of the narrowest point of the valley, so that no one can pass between it and the cliffs of the valley out of gunshot of the walls. This rising ground has doubtless been produced by many generations of towns built of sun-dried bricks, for it is the best strategical point in the neigh- borhood. Early Arab writers tell us that the Himyarite popu- lation of this district came here when they abandoned their capital at Sabota, or Shabwa, further up the valley, early in our era, but we found evident traces of an earlier occupation than this — an inscription and a seal with the name ' Shibam ' en- graved on it, which cannot be later than the third century, B. c. And as a point for making up the caravans which started 76 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM from the frankincense-growing district, Shibam must always have been very important. "The town of Shibam offers a curious appearance as you approach ; above its mud-brick walls with bastions and watch towers appear the tall whitewashed houses of the wealthy, which make it look like a large round cake with sugar on it. Outside the walls several industries are carried on, the chief of which is the manufacture of indigo dye. The small leaves are dried in the sun and powdered and then put into huge jars — which reminded us of the Forty Thieves — filled with water. Next morning these are stirred with long poles, producing a dark blue frothy mixture ; this is left to settle, and then the in- digo is taken from the bottom and spread out on cloths to drain ; the substance thus procured is taken home and mixed with dates and saltpetre. Four pounds of this indigo to a gallon of water makes the requisite and universally used dye for garments, the better class of which are calendered by beat- ing them with wooden hammers on stones." ' Of the coast town of Shehr and its ruler Mr. Bent says : "Shehr is a detestable place by the sea, set in a wilderness of sand. Once it was the chief commercial port of the Hadra- maut valley, but now Makalla has quite superseded it, for Shehr is nothing but an open roadstead and its buildings are now falling into ruins. Ghalib, the eldest son and heir of the chief of the Al Kaiti family, rules here as the viceregent of his father, who is in India as jemadar or general of the Arab troops, chiefly all Hadrami, in the service of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Ghalib is quite an Oriental dandy, who lived a life of some rapidity when in India, so that his father thought it as well to send him to rule in Shehr, where the capabilities for mischief are not so many as at Bombay. He dresses very well in various damask silk coats and faultless trousers ; his swords and daggers sparkle with jewels ; in his hand he flour- ishes a golden-headed cane; and, as the water is hard at Shehr, he sends his dirty linen in dhows to Bombay to be washed." THE UNEXPLORED REGIONS OF HADRAMAUl 77 The Arabs of Hadramaut have been still more in contact with Java than with India. Large colonies of Hadramis em- igrated to the Dutch Archipelago more than a century ago ; intermarriage between the Javanese and the Arabs is very com- mon ; and the Mohammedanism of the Dutch East Indies is entirely of the Hadramaut type. These interesting facts were first brought to light by Van den Berg, a Dutch scholar in his elaborate work on this province of Arabia and the Arab col- onies in Java.^ His account of Hadramaut is a compilation from the lips of the Arab immigrants, but the description of the manners and customs of the people and their religious peculiarities is from personal observation. Altogether, in spite of minor geographical inaccuracies, the book is the best single volume on Southern Arabia and tells the story of Islam in the Dutch Archipelago as it is to-day. The Arabs have always been a strong race at colonizing but it is well to note that the influence of Hadramaut on Java and Sumatra to-day is not less than that of Oman on Zanzibar and East Africa in the last century. Even Hadramaut will not always remain undiscov- ered and unremembered. The incense-country of antiquity has a future before it even as it has had a glorious past. A CASTLE IN HADRAMAUT. ' Le Hadramont et les Colonies Arabes dans le Archipel Indien par L. W. C. Van den Berg. Batavia, 1886. By order of the Government. VIII MUSCAT AND THE COASTLANDS OF OMAN " Oman is separated from the rest of Arabia by a sandy desert. It is, in fact, as far as communication with the rest of the world is concerned, an island with the sea on one side and the desert on the other. Hence its people are even more primitive, simple and unchanged in their habits than the Arabs generally. Along the coast, however, especially at Muscat they are more in contact with the outer world." — General Haig. TN Arab nomenclature Oman applies only to a small district in the vicinity of Muscat, but the name is generally given to the entire southeastern section of the Arabian peninsula, in- cluding everything east of a line drawn from the Kuria-Muria islands to the peninsula of Katar, anciently called Bahrein. Thus defined it is the largest province of Arabia and in some respects the most interesting. Historically, politically and geographically Oman has always been isolated from the other provinces. Turkish rule never extended this far nor did the later caliphs long exercise their authority here. The whole country has for centuries been under independent rulers called Imams or Seyyids. The population, which is wholly Arab and Mohammedan, (save in the coast towns) was derived originally from two different stocks known to the Arabs as Kahtani and Adnani or the Yemeni and Muadi. These names have changed since the beginning of the eighteenth century to Hinani and Ghaffiri. The Yemen tribes came first and are most numerous. The two rival races have been in open and continuous feud and antagonism and have kept the country in perpetual turmoil. They even inhabit separate quarters in some of the towns, according to Colonel Miles. In Somail, about fifty miles inland from Muscat a broad road marks the division between the two clans. These two parent stocks are 78 MUSCAT AND THE CO AST LANDS OF OMAN 79 subdivided into some 200 different tribes and these again into sub-tribes or "houses." Each family-group has its own Sheikh, a hereditary position assumed by the eldest male in the family. Very few of the tribes of Oman are nomadic ; the greater part live in towns and villages along the wady-beds. With the exception of fruits of which there is a great variety and abundance, dates are the sole food product and the chief ex- port of the province. Rice is imported from India. The total population of Oman is estimated by Colonel Miles not to ex- ceed 1,500,000. There are numerous towns of 5,000 to 10,- 000 inhabitants ; Muscat and Mattra are the chief towns on the coast, and are practically united as they are only two miles apart. The climate of Oman on the coast is excessively hot and moist during a large part of the year, although the rainfall here is only six to ten inches annually; in the interior the heat is greatly tempered by the elevation, the rainfall is much greater and the climate as pleasant as in the highlands of Yemen. The Omanese state was at its greatest height of power at the beginning of the present century. Then the Sultans of Muscat exercised rule as far as Bahrein to the northwest, had posses- sion of Bunder Abbas and Linga in Persia, and called Socotra and Zanzibar their own. At this time the Oman Arabs began their extensive journeys in Africa and, urged by the enormous profits of the slave-trade, explored every corner of the great in- terior of the Dark Continent. At present the authority of the Sultan at Muscat, Seyyid Feysul bin Turki, does not extend far beyond the capital and its suburbs. In the early years of the Oman Sultanate, Nizwa was the capital, afterward Rastak became the seat of government, but since 1779, Muscat has been at once the capital and the key, the gateway and the citadel of the whole country. On ap- proaching Muscat in a British India steamer, the land is first sighted, looming up in one mass of dark mountain ranges; 80 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM closer, one portion of this mass directly over the town of Mus- cat is seen to be of a dark brown color, crag on crag, serrated and torn in a fantastic manner and giving the harbor a most picturesque appearance. The town itself shows white against the dark massive rocks, on the summits of which are perched numerous castles and towers. But, though presenting a pleas- ing prospect from a distance, a nearer view reveals the usual features of large Oriental towns, — narrow, dirty streets, unat- tractive buildings, and masses of crumbling walls under the torrid heat of a burning sun and amid all the sweltering sur- roundings of a damp climate. The heat of Muscat is proverbial. John Struys, the Dutch- man, who visited this town in 1672, wrote that it was " so in- credibly hot and scorching that strangers are as if they were in boiling cauldrons or sweating tubs." A Persian, named Abd- er-Razak, being a Persian, was able to surpass all others in ex- aggerated description and wrote of Muscat in 1442, " The heat was so intense that it burned the marrow in the bones, the sword in its scabbard melted like wax, and the gems that adorned the handle of the dagger were reduced to coal. In the plains the chase became a matter of perfect ease, for the desert was filled with roasted gazelles ! " It is said that a black bulb thermometer has registered 189° F. in the sun at Mus- cat and 107° even at night, is not unusual during the hottest part of the year. The bare rocks form a parabolic mirror to the sun's rays from the south and west; add to this the facts that the hills shut off the breezes and that Muscat lies on the Tropic of Cancer in the zone of greatest heat. According to the witness of a resident, "the climate of Muscat is bad be- yond all description. For about three months in the year, from December to March, it is tolerably cool at night but after the latter month' the heat becomes intense and makes Muscat rank but little after the Infernal Regions. There is a short break in the hot weather about the middle of July which gen- erally lasts a month." THE HARBOR AND CASTLE AT MUSCAT READY FOR A CAMEL RIDE IN THE DESERT MUSCAT AND THE CO AST LAWS OP OMAN 81 The most conspicuous buildings of Muscat are the two forts, the reUcs of the Portuguese dominion, which stand out boldly on each side of the town about loo feet above the sea. They command not only the sea-approach, but the town itself and are only accessible by a fine stairway cut out of the natural rock. The guns that bristle from the forts are nearly all old and comparatively harmless. Several of them are of brass and' bear the royal arms of Spain; one is dated 1606. In the fort to the right of the harbor, one can still see the ruins of a Portuguese chapel. When Pelly visited it in 1865 the follow- ing inscription was legible : AVE MAR. GRASA P._EA Qs ~ECUM Etc. . . . Its translation given by him reads: "Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Don Phillip III., King of Spain, Don Juan de Acuna of his council of war and his captain- general of the artillery in the year 1605, in the eighth year of his reign in the crown of Portugal, ordered through Don Quarte Menezes, his commissioner of India, that this fortress should be built." The Sultan has also a town residence in half decay like all the other stone-built but mud-cemented houses of the natives. The only residences well-built and durable are those of the British resident and the American consul. The former occu- pies the choice location, in a rock cleft, where breezes blow from two directions. The bazaar of Muscat has little to boast of; one of the chief industries is the manufacture of Hilawi or Muscat candy-paste, which to the acquired taste is delicious, but to the stranger smells of rancid butter and tastes like sweet wagon-grease. The town is cut off from the plain behind by a substantially built wall which stretches from hill to hill. This wall is pierced with two gates which are always guarded and closed a couple of hours after sunset. The moat outside the wall is dry. Beyond it are houses and hundreds of mat huts princi- / 82 MABU, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM pally inhabited by Beluchis and Negroes. The American mis- sion house is also outside of the wall, in this quarter. About a third of a mile beyond are the gardens of Muscat and the wells, protected by a tower and guard. "The gardens" are always visited at sunset by the strollers for exercise, but they are hardly large enough " to supply a week's food for loo self- respecting locusts of normal appetite." The population of Muscat is of very mixed character, Arabs, Beluchis, Banian- Traders, Negroes, Persians, and every other nation that frequents this port of transit. The Arabic spoken in all Oman is a dialect quite different from that of Nejd or Yemen but the Arabic of Muscat is full of pigeon-English and pigeon-Hindustani. The extensive and long intercourse with Zanzibar and East Africa has also had its influence on the speech and habits of the Muscat Arab trader. The present trade is still very considerable, although less than a century ago. It is mostly with India, there being little direct trade with England. The chief exports are dates, fruit, shark-fins, fish, and salt; the imports, rice, sugar, piece-goods, coffee, silk, petroleum and arms. The largest export is of dates which nearly all go to the American Market. Besides the large number of steamers which call at this port, the native merchants own several old British sailing vessels, some of them noted clippers in their day, which make one or two voyages a year and bring profit to their owners. Native boats also trans- port cargoes landed at Muscat, to the less frequented ports. This adds to the importance of Muscat as an entrepot for Oman. Mattra is the terminus of the caravan-routes from the interior and is in communication with Muscat by a narrow mountain path and by sea. The so-called Pirate coast stretches along the northern boundary of Oman on the Persian Gulf from El Katar to Ras Musendum and was, even as early as Ptolemy's day, in- habited by wild, lawless Arabs. On his map of Arabia they are named Ichthiophagoi, or fish-eaters. Niebuhr wrote of this MUSCAT JND THE COASTUNDS OF OMJM 83 part of Oman, "Fishes are so plentiful upon the coast and so easily caught, as to be used not only for feeding cows, asses, and other domestic animals, but even as manure for the fields." Sir John Malcolm, in his quaint sketches of Persia wrote forty years ago : "I asked who were the inhabitants of the barren shore of Arabia that we saw. He answered with apparent alarm, 'they are of the sect of Wahabees and are called Jowasimee. But God preserve us from them, for they are monsters. Their occupation is piracy, and their delight mur- der, and to make it worse they give you the most pious reasons for every villainy they commit. They abide by the letter of the sacred volume, rejecting all commentaries and traditions. If you are their captive and offer all to save your life they say, No ! It is written in the Koran that it is not lawful to plunder the living ; but we are not prohibited from stripping the dead — so saying they knock you on the head.' " Thanks to English commerce and gunboats these fanatic Wahabis have become more tame, and most of them have long given up piracy and turned to pearl-diving for a livelihood. Hindu traders have settled among them, foreign commerce reaches their bazaars, and the black tent is making room for the three or four important towns of Dabai, Sharka, Abu Thubi and Ras-el-Kheima, with growing population and in- creasing wealth. The cape of Musendum and the land back of it, called Ras-el-Jebel is very mountainous, but beyond Ras-el-Kheima, the coast is low and flat all the way up the gulf. The villages are all built near the entrance of salt-water creeks or marshes, which serve as harbors at high-tide. For the most part the coast is unfertile, but near Sharka there are palm- groves, and further inland are oases. The islands off this coast are most of them uninhabited. The Batina coast is the exception to all the maritime plains that surround so large a part of the peninsula ; in western and eastern Arabia these low sandy plains are nearly barren of all S4 M/tBlA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM vegetation, but here extensive date plantations and gardens extend almost to the very ocean beach. Back of the rising plain are the lofty ranges of Jebel Akhdar. This fertile coast begins at Sib, about twenty-five miles from Muscat, and extends for 150 miles to the neighborhood of Khor Kalba with an average width of about twelve miles. It has many towns and villages ; the principal ones are the following. Sib is a scattered town chiefly built of mat-huts with two small detached forts. It has a very small bazaar, but extensive date-groves and gardens. Back of Sib on the way up the coast one sees the great bluff of Jebel Akhdar, 9,900 feet high, and visible over 100 miles out at sea. Barka has a lofty Arab fortress, but for the rest mat- huts among date-plantations characterize its general appear- ance. Large quantities of shell fish are collected and sent inland; the bazaar is good and some Banian traders are settled here. Passing several islands the next town is Suaik. After it the larger town of Sohar, with perhaps 4,000 people. This town is walled with a high fort in the middle, the resi- dence of the Sheikh. A high conical peak, of light color, rises conspicuously about twelve miles west of the town, and with the surrounding date gardens and other trees makes a pretty picture, altogether more green than one would expect on Arabian coasts. Beyond Sohar the chief villages are, in order, Shinas, Al Fujaira, Dibba. The two latter are already beyond the Batina and are between the high cliffs and the deep sea. Going from southeast Muscat down the coast toward Ras- el-Had we first pass the little village of Sudab and Bunder Jissa. The latter is of interest as the place the French were trying to acquire for a coaling-station from the Sultan of Mus- cat last year. It has a good anchorage, is only five miles from Muscat, and an island precipice, 140 feet high, guards the en- trance. After this, Karyat, Taiwa, Kalhat and smaller villages passed, we reach Sur. This large, double town is situated on a khor or backwater, with two forts to the westward. The in- MUSCAT AND THE CO AST LANDS OF OMAN 85 habitants, numbering perhaps 8,000, consist of two clans of the Bni Bu Ali and the Bni Janaba, often at feud with each other. The country inland is partly cultivated and date groves abound. Sur has always been a place of trade and enterprise and its buggalows visit India, Zanzibar and the Persian Gulf. The people are all bold sailors since many generations. But Sur also has the unenviable reputation of being even now the centre of illicit slave-trading. Beyond Sur is the headland of Jebel Saffan and Ras-el-Had, the east- ernmost point of Arabia, almost reaching the sixtieth degree of longitude. For a knowledge of the coast beyond Ras-el-Had we are in- debted to the papers of Assistant Surgeon H. J. Carter in the journal of the Bombay branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.^ The two great Arab tribes that dwell on this coast are the Mahrah and the Gharah ; the former really belong to Hadra- maut, but the boundaries drawn on the maps are purely arti- ficial and have no significance. Neither tribe is dependent on the Oman Sultan or acknowledges any allegiance to him. The Mahrah are descended from the ancient Himyarites and occupy a coast-line of nearly 140 miles from Saihut to Ras Morbat; their chief town is Damkut (Dunkot) on Kamar bay. In stature the Mahrahs are smaller than most Arabs, and by no means handsome; in their peculiar mode of Bedouin saluta- tion they put their noses side by side and breathe softly ! They subsist by fishing and are miserably poor ; their plains, mountains and valleys, except close to Damkut, are sandy and barren. Religion they have scarcely any, and Carter says that they do not even know the Moslem prayers, and are utterly ignorant of the teachings of Mohammed. Their dialect is soft and sweet, and they themselves compare it to the language of the birds; it is evidently a corrupted form of the ancient ' Notes on the Mahrali Tribe with vocabulary of their language ; notes on the Gharah tribe ; geography of the southeast coast of Arabia ; — July, 1845, J^'y> 1847; ^"^d January, 1851, in the journal of the Society. 86 /IRABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM Himyaric and therefore of great importance in the study of philology.^ The Gharah tribe inhabit the coast between Moseirah island and the Kuria-Muria islands. Their country is mountainous and cavernous and consists of a white stratified limestone for- mation 4,000 or 5, 000 feet above the sea-level. The upper part of the mountains are covered with good pasturage and their slopes with a dense thicket of small trees among which frankincense and other gum trees are plentiful. The whole tribe are troglodytes, "cave-dwellers," since nature gives them better dwellings than the best mud-hut, and cooler than the largest tent of Kedar. They are largely nomadic, however, and shift from cave to cave in their wanderings. Their ward- robe is not an incumbrance as it consists of a single piece of coarse blue cotton wrapped around the loins like a short kilt. The women wear a loose frock of the same texture and color with wide sleeves, reaching a little below the knee in front and trailing on the ground behind ; the veil is unknown. Children go about entirely naked. Both men and women tattoo their cheeks. For weapons they have swords, spears, daggers, and matchlocks. Their food consists of milk, flesh and honey with the wild fruits of the mountains. This entire region has been justly celebrated for honey since the days of the Greek geographers who enumerate honey and frankincense as its chief products. The wild honey of South V Arabia collected from the rocks and packed in large dry gourds, is fit for an epicure. On Ptolemy's map of Arabia the region inland from this coast is called Libanotopheros Regie, the place of incense ; and by Pliny is termed regio thurifera, the region of frankincense. From the earliest times this has been the country that produces real frankincense in abundance. Once its export was a source of wealth to the inhabitants, for incense Avas used in the temples of Egypt and India as well as by the 1 The most characteristic difference between Mahri and Arabic is the substitution of Shin (sh) for Kaf(V) in many words. MUSCAT AND THE COASTLANDS OF OMAN 87 Jews, and by all the nations of antiquity. So important was this commerce in the early history of the world that Sprenger de- votes several pages in his Ancient Geography of Arabia to de- scribing the origin, extent, and influence of frankincense on civilization. The Arabs were then the general transport agents between the east and the west, /. e., India and Egypt. The Queen of Sheba's empire grew rich in frankincense-trade ; she brought to Solomon "spices in abundance," nor was there "any such spice" or brought in "such abundance" as that which Queen Sheba gave to Solomon, (b. c. cir. 992.) The rise of Islam, the overthrow of the old Himyarite king- dom, the discovery of the passage round the Cape of Good Hope, all these cooperated to destroy the ancient importance and prosperity of Southern Arabia. At present, frankincense is still exported, but not in large quantities. The gum is pro- cured by making incisions in the bark of the shrub in May and December. On its first appearance it comes forth white as milk, but soon hardens and discolors. It is then collected by men and boys, employed to look after the trees by the different families who own the land on which they grow. A BRANCH OF THE INCENSE TREE. IX THE LAND OF THE CAMEL "To see real live dromedaries my readers must, I fear, come to Arabia, for these animals are not often to be met with elsewhere, not even in Syria ; and whoever wishes to contemplate the species in all its beauty, must prolong his journey to Oman, which is for dromedaries, what Nejd is for horses. Cashmere for sheep, and Tibet for bulldogs." — Palgrave. A LL Oman, but especially the region just described, is called ''■' "^^^ among the Arabs Uvi-el-ibl, "mother of the camel." Palgrave, Doughty and other Arabian travellers agree that the Oman dromedary is the prince of all camel-breeds, and Doughty says they are so highly esteemed at Mecca as to fetch three times the price of other camels. Unless one knows something about the camel one can neither understand the Arab nor his language ; without the camel, life in a large part of Arabia would at present be impossible ; with- out the camel the Arabic language would be vastly different. According to Hammer Purgstall, the Arabic dictionaries give this animal 5,744 different names; there is not a page in the lexicon but has some reference to the camel. The Arabs highly value the camel, but do not admire its form and shape. There is an Arab tradition, cited in Burton's " Gold Mines of Midian," to the effect that when Allah deter- mined to create the horse, He called the South Wind and said, " I desire to draw from thee a new being, condense thyself by parting with thy fluidity." The Creator then took a handful of this element, blew upon it the breath of life, and the noble quadruped appeared. But the horse complained against his Maker. His neck was too short to reach the distant grass blades on the march ; his back had no hump to steady a sad- dle ; his hoofs were sharp and sank deep into the sand ; and THE LAND OF THE CAMEL 89 he added many similar grievances. Whereupon Allah created the camel to prove the foolishness of his complaint. The horse shuddered at the sight of what he wanted to become, and this is the reason every horse starts when meeting its caricature for the first time. The camel may not be beautiful, (although the Arabic lexicon shows that the words for ''pretty " and "came/^' are related) but he is surpassingly useful. This animal is found in Persia, Asia Minor, Afghanistan, Beluchistan, Mongolia, Western China, Northern India, Syria, Turkey, North Africa and parts of Spain, but nowhere so gen- erally or so finely developed as in Arabia. The two main species, not to speak of varieties, are the Southern, Arabian one-humped camel and the Northern, Bactrian two-humped camel. Each is specially adapted to its locality. The Bac- trian camel is long-haired, tolerant of the intense cold of the steppes and is said to eat snow when thirsty. The Arabian species is short-haired, intolerant of cold, but able to endure thirst and extreme heat. It is incredible to Arabs that any camel-kind should have a double hump. A camel differs from a dromedary in nothing save blood and breed. The camel is a pack-horse; the dromedary a race-horse. The camel is thick-built, heavy-footed, ungainly, jolting ; the dromedary has finer hair, lighter step, is easy of pace and more enduring of thirst. A caravan of camels is a freight-train ; a company of Oman the/zd-videvs is a limited express. The ordinary car- avan travels six hours a day and three miles an hour, but a good dromedary can run seventy miles a day on the stretch. A tradesman from Aneyza told Doughty that he had ridden from El Kasim to Taif and back, a distance of over 700 miles, in fifteen days ! Mehsan Allayda once mounted his dromedary after the Friday midday prayer at El-Aly and prayed the next Friday in the great Mosque at Damascus about 440 miles dis- tant. The Haj-road post-rider at Ma'an can deliver a message at Damascus, it is said, at the end of three days ; the distance is over 200 miles. 90 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM The Arabs have a saying that " the camel is the greatest of all blessings given by Allah to mankind." One is not sur- prised that the meditative youth of Mecca who led the camels of Khadiyah, to Syria and back by the desert way, should appeal to the unbelievers in Allah and His prophet in the words, ''And do ye 7iot look then at the camel how she is created?'' (Surah Ixxxviii. 17 of the Koran.) To describe the camel is to describe God's goodness to the desert-dwellers. Everything about the animal shows evident design. His long neck, gives wide range of vision in desert marches and enables him to reach far to the meagre desert shrubs on either side of his pathway. The cartilaginous texture of his mouth, enables him to eat hard and thorny plants — the pasture of the desert. His ears are very small, and his nostrils large for breathing, but are specially capable of closure by valve-like folds against the fearful Simoon. His eyes are prominent, but protected by a heavy overhanging upper-lid, limiting vision upward thus guarding from the direct rays of the noon sun. His cushioned feet are peculiarly adapted for ease of the rider and the animal alike. Five horny pads are given him to rest on when kneeling to receive a burden or for repose on the hot sand. His hump is not a fictional but a real and acknowledged reserve store of nutriment as well as nature's packsaddle for the commerce of ages. His water reservoirs in connection with the stomach, enable him when in good condi- tion to travel for five days without Avater. Again, the camel alone of all ruminants has incisor-teeth in the upper jaw, which, with the peculiar structure of his other teeth, make his bite, the animal's first and main defence, most formidable. The skeleton of the camel is full of proofs of design. Notice, for example, the arched backbone constructed in such a way as to sustain the greatest weight in proportion to the span of the supports; a strong camel can bear 1,000 pounds' weight, although the usual load in Oman is not more than 600 pounds. The camel is a domestic animal in the full sense of the word, THE LAND OF THE CAMEL 91 for the Arabian domicile is indebted to the camel for nearly all it holds. All that can be obtained from the animal is of value. Fuel, milk, excellent hair for tents, ropes, shawls and coarser fabrics are obtained from the living animal; and flesh-food, leather, bones and other useful substances from the dead. Even the footprints of the camel though soon obliterated, are of special value in the desert. A lighter or smaller foot would leave no tracks, but the camel's foot leaves data for the Bedouin science of Athar — the art of navigation for the ship of the desert. Camel tracks are gossip and science, history and philosophy to the Arab caravan. A camel-march is the standard measure of distance in all Arabia ; and the price of a milch- camel the standard of value in the interior. When they have little or no water the miserable nomads rinse their hands in camel's water and the nomad women wash their babes in it. Camel' s-milk is the staple diet of thousands in Arabia even though it be bitter because of wormwood pasturage. As to the character of the camel and its good or evil nature authorities differ. Lady Ann Blunt considers the camel the most abused and yet the most patient animal in existence. Palgrave, on the other hand, thus describes the stupidity and ugly temper of the beast : ''I have, while in England, heard and read more than once of the docile camel. If docile means stupid, well and good ; in such a case the camel is the very model of docility. But if the epithet is intended to designate an animal that takes an interest in its rider so far as a beast can, that obeys from a sort of submissive or half fellow-feeling with its master, like the horse and elephant, then I say that the camel is by no means docile, very much the contrary. He will never attempt to throw you off his back, such a trick be- ing far beyond his limited comprehension ; but if you fall off, he will never dream of stopping for you ; and if turned loose it is a thousand to one he will never find his way back to his accustomed home or pasture. One only symptom will he give that he is aware of his rider, and that is when the latter is 92 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM about to mount him, for on such an occasion, instead of ad- dressing him in the style of Balaam's more intelligent beast, ' Am not I thy camel upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day ? ' he will bend back his long snaky neck toward his master, open his enormous jaws to bite, if he dared, and roar out a tremendous sort of groan, as if to com- plain of some entirely new and unparalleled injustice about to be done him. In a word he is from first to last an undomesticated and savage animal rendered serviceable by stupidity alone. Neither attachment nor even habit can impress him ; never tame, though not wide-awake enough to be exactly wild." We can bear witness that the camels we have ridden in Hassa and Yemen were altogether more kindly than the ugly creature of Palgrave. The chief authorities on the interior of Oman were, until recent date, Niebuhr, Wellsted (1835), Whitelock (1838), Eloy (1843) and Palgrave, (1863). Palgrave, however, only visited the coast and his account of the interior and its history is pure romance. Later travellers have visited the chief cities of Jebel Achdar and corroborated the accuracy of Lieutenant Wellsted in his "Travels in Arabia." Unfortunately Well- sted' s acquaintance even with colloquial Arabic was very limited and he frankly avows that he encountered serious diffi- culties in understanding the people. " Wellsted's map," says Badger, "is the only one of the province which we possess drawn up from personal observation and ... it affords little or no certain indication of the numerous towns and villages beyond the restricted routes of the travellers. It is remarkable and by no means creditable to the British Government in India, that; notwithstanding our intimate political and commercial relations with Oman, for the last century, we know actually less of that country beyond the coast than we do of the Lake districts of Africa."^ Badger wrote in i860, but although Colonel Miles and others have visited the region of Jebel ' " History of Oman." THE LAW OF THE CAMEL 93 Achdar, all the country beyond is still largely terra incognita. No one has ever made the journey beyond the range of moun- tains or solved the mystery of Western Oman, which is still a blank on the best maps ; nor do we know anything of the land I GO miles southwest of Muscat, save by Arab hearsay. The highlands of Oman may be divided into three districts ; Ja'alan from Jebel Saffan to Jebel Fatlah on the east. Oman proper on the Jebel Achdar, and Ez-Zahirah on the eastern slopes of Jebel Okdat. The most populous and fertile district is that of Jebel Achdar which is also the best known. The fer- tility of the whole region is wonderful and in striking contrast with the barren rocks of so large a part of the coast. With a semi-tropical climate, an elevation of 3,000 to 5,000 feet and abundant springs the wadys and oases of Oman have awakened the delight and amazement of every traveller who has ventured to explore them. Water, the one priceless treasure in all Arabia, here issues in perennial streams from many rocky clefts and is most carefully husbanded by the ingenuity of the people, for wide irrigation, by means of canals or watercourses called faluj. Wellsted thus describes these underground aqueducts : "They are as far as I know peculiar to this country, and are made at an expense of labor and skill more Chinese than Arabian. The greater part of the surface of the land being destitute of running streams on the surface, the Arabs have sought in elevated places for sprmgs or fountains beneath it. A channel from this fountain-head is then, with a very slight descent, bored in the direction in which it is to be conveyed, leaving apertures at regular distances to afford light and air to those who are occasionally sent to keep it clean. In this way the water is frequently conducted for a distance of six or eight miles, and an unlimited supply is thus obtained. These channels are about four feet broad and two feet deep and contain a clear, rapid stream. Most of the large towns or oases have four or five of these rivulets or falj (plural faluj ) running into them. The isolated spots to which water is thus 94 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM conveyed, possess a soil so fertile that nearly every grain, fruit or vegetable, common to India, Arab or Persia, is produced al- most spontaneously ; and the tales of the oases will be no longer regarded as an exaggeration, since a single step conveys the traveller from the glare and sand of the desert into a fertile tract, watered by a hundred rills, teeming with the most luxurious vegetation." The chief caravan routes inland start from the coast, at Sohar through Wady-el-Jazy, at Suaik through Wady Thala, at Barka or Sib through "Wady Mithaal and Wady Zailah (alternative routes) at INIatra, by the same, and at Sur through Wady Falj. On the eastern side of the mountain range the chief towns are Rastak, Nakhl and Someil. On the farther side we have Tenoof, Behilah and Nezwa, all large towns well- watered. "Between these fertile oases one travels^ sometimes an entire day through stony wady, or o^■er \-olcanic rock, climbing a dit^cult mountain pass, or crossing a wide sea-like desert, without seeing a habitation or meeting a fellow-creature except an occasional caravan. Their rifles are swung over the shoulders of the riders, and their wild song keeps time with the slow tread of the camels. ''From Nakhl it is a long day's journey to Lihiga at the foot of Jebel Achdar. Two other beautifully situated moun- tain villages, Owkan and Koia are in close proximity. Here, as well as on the mountains, dwells a tribe of hardy moun- taineers, the Bni Ryam. In features and habits this tribe is quite distinct from the other Oman tribes. All over these mountains the people lead a peaceful life, and the absence of fire-arms was noticeable in comparison with the valley tribes, where each man carries his rifle, often of the best English or German pattern. "From Lihiga we began the ascent, and after a half-a-day 1 The remainder of the chapter is quoted from the letters of my brother, Rev. P. J. Zwemer, and the sketch of Tenoof was drawn by him on one of his journeys. THE L/iND OF THE CAMEL 95 of most difficult climbing, reached the top of the pass at noon- day, my barometer registering 7,050 feet. Here on a level projecting rock, which afforded a splendid extended view of the Wady Mestel, where dwell the Bni Ruweihah, we had our lunch, and were glad to slake our thirst out of the goatskin the guide carried on his shoulder. From the top of the pass we descended to the level table-land at a height of 6,200 feet, and at sunset reached the ideally beautiful village of Sheraegah. It is in a circular ravine several hundred feet in depth, and like y--'^^A~4^;^S^^-r^^ TENOOF FROM THE EAST. From a pencil sketch by Peter J. Zwemer. a huge amphitheatre where grow in terraces, apples, peaches, pomegranates, grapes and other temperate products in rich profusion. Ice and snow are frequently seen here during the winter, and in summer the temperature registers no higher than 80° F. In March we had a temperature of 40°, and enjoyed a huge fire in the guest-room where a hundred Arabs came to visit us, and entertained us with the recitation of Arabic poetry. Such an opportunity was not to be neglected, and they, as an agricultural people, were interested in the parable of the Sower and the explanation. 96 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM "We pressed on over the most difficult mountain roads to Tenoof, at the foot of the mountains on the further side. Nizwa, the old capital of Oman, is but three hours' journey from Tenoof. It has a large circular fort about 200 feet in diameter, built of rough hewn stone and cement. We intended to return to Muscat along the valley road via Someil, but the state of affairs at Nezwa made roads through hostile territory unsafe, and we decided to recross the mountains, enjoying again their cool climate and the friendliness of the people. By riding long camel-stages and taking short rests, we were able to reach Muscat from the top of the mountains in four days, hav- ing been absent on the journey twenty-one days." X THE PEARL ISLANDS OF THE GULF " ' We are all from the highest to the lowest slaves of one master — Pearl,' said Mohammed bin Thanee to me one evening ; nor was the ex- pression out of place. All thought, all conversation, all employment, turns on that one subject ; everything else is mere by-game, and below even secondary consideration." — Palgrave. TTALF way down the Persian Gulf, off the east Arabian "*■ "^ coast, between the peninsula of El Katar and the Turkish province of El Hassa, are the islands of Bahrein.^ This name was formerly applied to the entire triangular projection on the coast between the salt-sea of the gulf and the fresh water flood of the Euphrates; hence its name Bahr-ein <' the two seas." But since the days of Burckhardt's map the name is restricted to the archipelago. The larger island is itself often called Bahrein, while the next in size is named Moharrek — "place of burning." The Arabs say that this was so named because the Hindu traders used it for cremating their dead. The main island is about twenty-seven miles in length from 1 These islands are identified by Sprenger and others with Dedan of the Scriptures, {Ezekiel xxvii. 15), and were known to the Romans by the name of Tylos. Pliny writes of the cotton-trees, " arbores vacant gossym- pinos fertiliore etiam Tylo minore." — (xii. 10). Strabo describes the Phoenician temples that existed on the islands, and Ptolemy speaks of the pearl-fisheries which from time immemorial flourished along these coasts. The geographer, Juba, also tells of a battle fought off the islands between the Romans and the Arabs. Ptolemy's ancient map shows how little was known as to the size or location of the group. Even Niebuhr's map, which is wonderfully correct in the main, makes a great error in the posi- tion of the islands ; in his day the two principal islands were called Owal ' and Arad, names which still linger. 97 /IRABU, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM Jya Jah NIOHARREK L mad MAPOFTHE ISLANDS OF BAHREIN. RaselBarr; north to south, and ten miles in breadth. Toward the centre there is a shghtly elevated table-land, mostly barren. Twelve miles from the northern end is a clump of dark volcanic hills, 400 feet high, called Jebel Dokhan, "Mountain of Smoke." The northern half of the island is well watered by abundant fresh-water springs, always luke-warm in temperature. This part of the island is covered with beautiful gardens of date- THE PEARL ISLANDS OF THE GULF 99 palms, pomegranate, and other trees. The coast is everywhere low, and the water shallow for a long distance. There is no pier or jetty anywhere, so that, except at high water, boats anchor nearly a quarter of a mile from the shore. The total population of the islands is estimated at nearly 60,000, all of them Moslems with the exception of about 100 Banian traders from Sindh, India. Menamah, the large town on the northeast point of the island, with perhaps 10,000 in- habitants, is built along the shore for about a mile ; the houses are mostly poor, many being mere mat-huts. This town is the market-place and commercial centre for the whole group. Here is the post office and custom-house and here the bulk of the trade is carried on for the whole island. A short distance from Menamah is the old town of Belad le Kadim, with ruins of better buildings and a fine mosque with two minarets. The mosque is of very early date, for the older Cufic character is on all its inscriptions, covered over in some places by more recent carving and inscriptions in later Arabic. The largest spring on the islands is called El Adhari, "the virgins." It issues from a reservoir thirty yards across, and at least thirty feet deep, flowing in a stream six or eight feet wide and two feet deep. This is remarkable for Arabia, and gives some idea of the abundant supply of water. Under the sea, near the island of Moharrek, are fresh-water springs always covered with a fathom of salt water. The natives lower a hol- low, weighted bamboo through which the fresh water gushes out a few inches above sea-level. The source of these fresh-water springs of Bahrein must be on the mainland of Arabia, as all the opposite coast shows a similar phenomena. Apparently the River Aftan marked on old maps of the peninsula as emptying into the Persian Gulf near Bahrein was an under- ground river, known to the older geographers. If Egypt is the gift of the Nile, Bahrein may well be called the gift of the pearl-oyster. Nothing else gave the islands their ancient history, and nothing so much gives them their LofC 100 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM present importance. The pearl-fisheries are the one great in- dustry of Bahrein. They are carried on every year from June until October, and even for a longer period, if hot weather sets in earlier. Nearly all the island population are engaged in the work in some way, and during the season there is only one topic of conversation in the cot^ee-shops and the evening- mejlis, — PEARLS. The pearl has this distinction above all other precious stones, that it requires no human hand to bring out its beauties. By modern scientists, pearls are believed to be the result of an abnormal secretion, caused by the irritation of the moUusk's shell by some foreign substance — in short, a disease of the peail-oyster. But it is not surprising that the Arabs have many curious superstitions as to the cause of pearl- formation. Their poets tell of how the monsoon rains falling on the banks of Ceylon and Bahrein find chance lodgment in the opened mouth of the pearl-oyster. Each drop distills a gem, and the size of the raindrop determines the luck of the future di\-er. Heaven-born and cradled in the deep blue sea, it is the purest of gems and, in their eyes, the most precious. Not only in its creation, but in its liberation from its prison- house under ten fathoms of water the pearl costs pain and sac- rifice. So far as this can be measured in pounds, shillings and pence, this cost is easy of computation. The total value of pearls exported from Bahrein in 1S96 was ;!l'303,94i sterling (^1,500,000). The number of boats from Bahrein engaged in the fisheries is about nine hundred and the cost of bringing one boat's share to the surface is 4,810 rupees (about $1,600).' Hundreds of craft also come to the oyster-banks from other ports on the gulf. It is scarcely necessary to say that the pearl divers do not receive the amount fairly due them for their toil. They are one and all victims of the "truck-system" in its worst form, being obliged to purchase all supplies, etc., ' This cost is divided as follows : Fishing smack r. 400 ; wages of lO divers r. 2,000; wages of 12 rope-holders r. 2,400; apparatus r. 40. Total riipiis 4,810. THE VILLAGE OF MICNAMAH, BAHREIN ISLANDS A HAHREIN HARBOR JiOAi THE PEARL ISLANDS OF THE GULF 101 from their masters. They are consequently so much in debt to him as often to make them practically his slaves. The boats are generally owned by the merchants, and the crew are paid at a low rate for a whole year's work, only receiving a small extra allowance when they bring up pearls of special size or brilliancy. In the winter season these divers are out of work, and consequently incur large debts which are charged to the next season's account. By force of circumstances and age- long practice the islanders are also much given to the vice of gambling on the market. Even the poorest fisherman will lay his wager — and lose it. It is not the thirty thousand fishermen of the gulf with their more than five thousand boats who grow rich in the pearl-fishing business ; the real profit falls to those who remain on shore — the Arab and Hindu brokers of Bombay who deal direct with Berlin, London and Paris. A pearl often trebles in value by changing hands, even before it reaches the Bombay market. The divers follow the most primitive method in their work. Their boats are such as their ancestors used before the Portu- guese were expelled from Bahrein in 1622. Even Sinbad the sailor might recognize every rope and the odd spoon-shaped oars. These boats are of three kinds, very similar in general appearance, but differing in size, called BaJzaret, Shua'ee and Bated} All of the boats have good lines and are well-built by the natives from Indian timber. For the rest, all is of Bahrein manufacture except their pulley-blocks, which come from Bombay. Sailcloth is woven at Menamah and ropes are twisted of date-fibre in rude rope-walks which have no ma- chinery worth mentioning. Even the long, soft iron nails that hold the boats together are hammered out on the anvil one by one by Bahrein blacksmiths. Each boat has a sort of figure-head, called the kubait, gen- erally covered with the skin of a sheep or goat which was ' The MasJiooah is a much smaller boat, like the English jolly-boat, and is used in the harbor and for short journeys around the islands. V 102 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM sacrificed when the boat was first launched. This is one of the Semitic traits which appear in various forms all over Arabia — blood-sacrifice — and which has Islam never uprooted. All the fishermen prefer to go out in a boat which has cut a covenant of blood with Neptune. The larger boats used in diving hold from twenty to forty men, less than half of whom are divers, while the others are rope-holders and oarsmen. One man in each boat is called El Mu sully, i. e., the one-who-prays, be- cause his sole daily duty is to take charge of the rope of any one who stops to pray or eat. He has no regular work, and when not otherwise engaged vicariously mends ropes and sails or cooks the rice and fish over charcoal embers. He is there- fore also called El Gillas, "the sitter," very suggestive of his sinecure office. The divers wear no elaborate diving-suit, but descend clothed only in their fitaam and khabaat. The first is a true pince-nez or clothespin-like clasp for their nostrils. It is made of two thin slices of horn fastened together with a rivet or cut out whole in a quarter circle so as to fit the lower part of the nose and keep out the water. It has a perforated head through which a string passes and which suspends it from the divers neck when not in use. Khabaat are " finger-hats " made of leather and thrice the length of an ordinary thimble. They are worn to protect the fingers in gathering the pearl- shells from the sea-bottom ; at the height of the pearl season large baskets full of all sizes of these finger-caps are exposed for sale in the bazaar. Each diver uses two sets (tiventy) in a season. A basket, called dajeeu, and a stone-weight complete the diver's outfit. This stone, on which the diver stands when he plunges down feet -first, is fastened to a rope passing be- tween his toes and is immediately raised ; another rope is at- tached to the diver and his basket by which he gives the signal and is drawn up. The best divers remain below only two or three minutes at most, and when they come up are nine-tenths suffocated. Many of them are brought up unconscious and THE PEARL ISLANDS OF THE GULF 103 often cannot be brought to life. Deafness, and suppuration of the ear, due to carelessness or perforated ear-drums, caused by the enormous pressure of the water at such depths, are com- mon among divers. Rheumatism and neuralgia are universal and the pearl-fishers are the great exception among the Arabs in not possessing beautiful teeth. Sharks are plentiful and it is not a rare thing for them to at- tack divers. But the Bahrein divers are more fearful of a small species of devil-fish which lays hold of any part of the body and draws blood rapidly. Against this monster of the sea they guard themselves by wearing an "overall" of white cloth during the early part of the season when it frequents the banks. Their tales of horror regarding the devil-fish equal those of Victor Hugo in his " Toilers of the Sea." The divers remain out in their boats as long as their supply of fresh water lasts, often three weeks or even more. Sir Edwin Arnold's lines are thus not as correct as they are beau- tiful : " Dear as the wet diver to the eyes Of his pale wife who waits and weeps on shore By sands of Bahrein in the Persian Gulf; Plunging all day in the blue waves ; at night, Having made up his tale of precious pearls, Rejoins her in their hut upon the shore." When the pearl-oysters are brought up they are left on deck over night and the next morning are opened by means of a curved knife, six inches long, called miflaket. Before the days of English commerce the mother-of-pearl was thrown away as worthless. Now it has a good market-value and (after being scraped free of the small parasites that infest the outer shell) is packed in wooden crates and exported in large quantities. The total value of this export in 1897 was ^^5,694 ($28,000). The Arabs have asked me in amazement what in the world the " Franks ' ' do with empty sea-shells ; and some tell idle tales of 104 /IRABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM how they are ground up into pearl dust and pressed into artifi- cial gems, or are used as a veneer to cover brick houses. On shore the pearls are classified by the merchants, accord- ing to weight, size, shape, color and brilliancy. There are button-pearls, pendants, roundish, oval, flat, and perfect pearls; pearls, white, yellow, golden, pink, blue, azure, green, grey, dull and black; seed-pearls the size of grains of sand and pearls as large as an Arab's report, emphasized with fre- quent wallahs, can make them. I have seen a pendant pearl the size of a hazelnut worth a few thousand rupees but there are Arabs who will swear by the prophet's beard (each hair of which is sacred ! ) that they have brought up pearls as large as a pigeon's tgg. The pearl brokers carry their wares about tied in bags of turkey-red calico ; they weigh them in tiny brass scales and learn their exact size by an ingenious device con- sisting of a nest of brass sieves, called taoos, six in number, with apertures slightly differing in size. The pearls are put into the largest sieve first ; those that do not fall through its pea-sized holes are called, Ras, "chief"; such are generally pearls of great price, although their value depends most on weight and perfection of form. The second size is called Batu " belly," and the third Dhail, " tail." Color has only a fashion-value ; Europe prefers white and the Orient the golden- yellow ; black pearls are not highly esteemed by Orientals. Before they are shipped the large pearls are cleaned in reeta a kind of native soap-powder, and the smaller ones in soft brown sugar ; then they are tied up in calico and sold in lots by weight, each bundle being supposed to contain pearls of average equal value. How it is possible to collect custom dues on pearls among a people whose consciences rival their wide breast-pockets in concealing capacity, surpasses comprehension. But the thing is done, for the farmer of the custom dues grows rich and the statistics of export are not pure guess-work. The Bahrein islands also produce quantities of dates, and there is an export trade in a remarkably fine breed of asses, celebrated THE PEARL ISLANDS OF THE GULF 105 all over the Persian Gulf, A good Bahrein donkey is easy to ride and almost as good a roadster as an average horse. The only manufactures, beside sail-sheeting, are coarse cloth for turbans, and reed-mats of very fine texture. The chief im- ports are rice, timber and piece-goods for which Bahrein is the depot for all eastern Arabia. Three sights are shown to the stranger-tourist to the islands of Bahrein : the pearl-fisheries, the fresh-water springs, and the ancient ruins of an early civi- lization at the village of Ali. These ruins are the " bayoot el owalin ' ' the dwellings of the first inhabitants, who are believed to have been destroyed by Allah because of their wickedness. An hour's ride through the date gardens and past the minarets brings us to the village of Ali. It can generally be seen from a good distance because of the smoke which rises from the huge ovens where pottery is baked. The potter turns his wheel to-day and fashions the native water-jars with deft hand utterly ignorant and careless of the curious sepulchral tumuli which cast their shade at his feet. South and west of the village the whole plain is studded with mounds, at least three hundred of them, the largest being about forty feet in height. Only two or three have ever been opened or explored. Theo- dore Bent in company with his wife explored these in 1889, with meagre results, but no further investigations have been made though it is a field that may yet yield large results. M. Jules Oppert, the French Assyriologist, and others regard the island as an extremely old centre of civilization and it is now well known that the first settlements from ancient Babylonia were in the Persian Gulf which then extended as far north as .Mugheir, near Suk-es Shiukh. But those first settlers probably went to the coasts of Africa and to the kingdoms of Southern Arabia, in which case Bahrein was on their line of travel. It must always have been a depot for shipping because of its abundant water-supply in a region where fresh -water is gen- erally scarce. The mounds at Ali probably date from this very early period ; although no corroboration in the shape of 106 /iRABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM cylinders or bricks bearing inscriptions has yet been found, the character of the structures found in the mounds is undoubted proof of their great antiquity. The larger mound opened by Bent, now consists of two rock-built chambers of very large stones, square masonry, and no trace of an arch or a pillar. The lower chamber is twenty- eight feet in length, five feet in width, and eight feet high ; it has four niches or recesses about three feet deep, two at the end of the passage and two near its entrance. The upper cham- ber is of the same length as the lower, but its width is six inches less, and its height only four feet eight inches. The lower passage is hand plastered as an impression of the ma- son's hand on the side wall still proves. If diggings were made below the mounds • or other mounds were opened better results might follow, and perhaps inscriptions or cylinders would be discovered. A year or two ago a jar containing a large number of gold coins was found near Ali by some na- tive workmen ; these however were Cufic and of a much later period than the mounds. Near Yau and Zillag, on the other side of the island there are also ruins and very deep wells cut through solid rock with deep rope-marks on the curbing ; per- haps these also are of early date. On the island of Moharrek there is a place called Ed Dair, "the monastery" with ruins of what the Arabs call a church ; whether this is of Portu- guese date like the castle or goes back to a much earlier period before Mohammed, we cannot tell. The climate of Bahrein is not as bad as it is often described by casual visitors. No part of the Persian Gulf can be called a health resort, but neither is the climate unhealthful at all seasons of the year. In March and April, October, Novem- ber and December the weather is delightful, indoor tempera- tures seldom rising above 85° F., or falling below 60° F. When north winds blow in January and February it is often cold enough for a fire ; these are the rainy months of the year and least healthful, especially to the natives in their badly-built THE PEARL ISLANDS OF THE GULF 107 mat-huts. From May to September inclusive is the hot season, although the nights remain cool and the heat is tempered by sea-breezes (called, El BariK), until the middle of June. Heavy dews at night are common and make the atmosphere murky and oppressive when there is no sea-breeze. Land- breezes from the west and south continue irregularly through- out the entire summer. When they fail the thermometer leaps to over one hundred and remains there day and night until the fipples on the stagnant, placid sea proclaim a respite from the torture of sweltering heat. A record of temperature, kept at Menamah village in the summer of 1893, shows a minimum indoor temperature of 85° and a maximum of 107° F., in the shade. The prevailing wind at Bahrein, and in fact all over the Gulf, is the shemmal or Northwester changing its direction slightly with the trend of the coast. The air during a shem- mal is generally very dry and the sky cloudless, but in winter they are sometimes at first accompanied by rain-squalls. In winter they are very severe and endanger the shipping. The only other strong wind is called kaus ; it is a southeaster and blows irregularly from December to April. It is generally ac- companied by thick, gloomy weather, with severe squalls and falling barometer. The saying among sailors that " there is al- ways too much wind in the Gulf or none at all," is very true of Bahrein. This saying holds true also of the political history of the Gulf. Bahrein, because of its pearl-trade has ever been worth contending for and it has been a bone of contention among the neighboring rulers ever since the naval battle fought by the early inhabitants against the Romans. After Mohammed's day the Carmathians overran the islands. Portuguese, Arabs from Oman, Persians, Turks and lastly the English have each in turn claimed rule or protection over the archipelago. It is sufficient to note here that in 1867, Tsa bin Ali (called Esau in Curzon's "Persia," as if the name came from Jacob's brother instead of the Arab form of Jesus !) was appointed ruling KV? ytRMBIA THE CR.4DLE OF ISL^M Shoikh by the Britisli wlio deposed his father Mohammed bhi Khalifa for plotting piracy. The present Sheikh is a typical Arab and spends most of his time in hawking and the chase ; the religious rule, which in a Moslem land means the judicial and executive department, rests with the A'./j// or Judge. There is no legislature as the law was laid down once for all in the Koran and the traditions. The administration of jusfiW is rare. Oppression, black-mail and bribery are universal ; and, except in commerce and the slave-trade, English protection has brought about no reforms on the island. To be "protected" means here strict neu- trality as to the internal atfaii-s and absolute dictation as to af- fairs with other governments. To "protect" means to keep matters in sfiifus ^tto until the hour is ripe for annexation. Sometimes the process from the one to the other is so gradual as to resemble growth ; in such a case it would be correct to speak of the growth of the British Empire. Contact with Europeans and western civilization has. how- CN^r, done much for R\hrein in the matter of disarming prej- udice and a\^•akening the sluggish mind of the Arab to look be)'ond his own "Island of the Arabs." Even as early as 1S67. Palgrave could write : " From the maritime and in a manner centnil position of Bahreyn my readers may of them- selves conjecture that the profound ignorance of Nejd regard- ing Euroi^^ans and their various classitications is here ex- changed for a partial acquaintance with those topics ; thus, English and French, disfigurei.1 into the local If:^:Ws and jFrafUYi's are fiimiliar words at Menamah. though Germans and Italians, whose vessels seldom or never visit these seas, have as )'et no place in the Bahreyn vocabulary; while Dutch and Portuguese seem to have fallen into total oblivion. But Rus- sians or MosJ^t*/, that is ]Muscovites, are alike known and feared, thanks to Persian intercourse and the instinct of na- tions. Beside the policy of Constantinople and Teheran are freely and at times sensibly discussed in these coftee-houses no THE PEARL ISLANDS OF THE CUI.E W.) less than the slorrny diplomacy of Nejd and her dangerous en- croachments." To the Bahrein Arabs Bombay is the centre of the world of civilization, and he who has seen that city is distinguished as knowing all about the ways of foreigners. So anxious are the boys for a trip on the British India steamer to this Eldorado of science and mystery that they sometimes run from home and go as stowaways or beg their passage. This close contact with India has had its effect on the Arabic spoken on the island which, although not a dialect, is full of Hindustani words. Of late years there has been a considerable Persian immigration into liahrein from the coast between Lingah and Bushire, and next to Arabic, Persian is the language most in use. XI THE EASTERN THRESHOLD OF ARABIA "OEYOND Bahrein the mainland stretches westward for "^ eight hundred miles across the province of Hassa and lower Nejd and Hejaz to the Red Sea. As Jiddah is the western port, Bahrein is the eastern port for all Arabia. It is the gate- way to the interior, the threshold of which is Hassa. Draw a line from Menamah to Katif, then on to Hof hoof [ov El Hassa) and thence back to ^lenamah, and the triangle formed will in- clude every important town or village of Eastern Arabia. North of that triangle on the coast is the inhospitable barren, thinly populated, country of the Bni Hajar ; south of it is the peninsula of El Katar; westward stretches the sandy desert for five days' marches to Riad and the old Wahabi countryv The region thus bounded is really the whole of Hassa, although on maps that name is given to the whole coast as far as Busrah. But neither the authority of the Turkish government nor the significance of the word Ifassa (low, moist ground) can be said to extend outside of the triangle. The peninsula of El Katar, about loo miles long and fifty broad, is unattractive in every way and barren enough to be called a desert. Palgrave's pen-picture cannot be improved upon : " To have an idea of Katar my readers must figure to themselves miles on miles of low barren hills, bleak and sun- scorched, with hardly a single tree to vary the dry monoto- nous outline ; below these a muddy beach extends for a quarter of a mile seaward in slimy quicksands, bordered by a rim of sludge and seaweed. If we look landwards beyond the hills we see what by extreme courtesy may be called pasture land, dreary downs with twenty pebbles for every blade of grass ; 110 riiii H/tsriiKN riiRiisiioi.i) oi- ahahia in and over this mclan(:li<;ly ground scene, but few aiid far be- tween, little clusters of wretched, most wretched earth cot- tages and palm-leaf huts, narrow, ugly and low; these arc tlie villages, or 'towns' (for so the inhabitants style them; of Katar. Yet jKjor and naked as is the land it has evidently something still [xjorer and nakeder behind it, sometliing in short even more i\(^\uu\ of resources than the coast itself, and the inhabitants of which seek here by violence what they can- not (ind at h(jine. lAjr the villages of Katar are each and all carefully walled in, while the downs beyond are lined with towers and here and there a castle, huge and square with its litde windows and narrow portals." The po]jiilation of Katar is not large; its principal town is ]}edaa'. All the inliabilanls live from the sea by pearl-diving and fishing, and in the season send out two hundred boats. The whole peninsula with its wild Jiedouin population is claimed by Turkey and is the dread of the miserable soldiers who are sent there to preserve peace and draw precarious pay while they shake with malaria and grow homesick for Bagdad. The Arabs are always at feud with the government and it is very unsafe outside the walls after sunset. The usual route from iiahrein to the interior of Hassa is to cross over by boat to Ojeir on the mainland, and thence to travel by caravan to Hofhoof. \x\ October, 1893, I took this route, returning from the capital to Katif and thence back to Menamah. lunbarking at sunset we landed at Ojeir before dawn the next day and I found my way to a Turkish custom- house oKicer to whom I had a fri(.iidly letter from a Bahrein merchant. <'>jcir, although it has neither a bazaar nor any settled jjfjpulalion, has a mud-fort, a dwarf flagstaff and an im- posing cuslom house, 'i'he harbor although not deep is pro- tected against north and south winds anfl is therefore a good landing-place for the immense (juantiiy of rice and piece-goods shipped from Bahrein into the interior. A caravan of from tw(j l(j three hundred camels leaves Ojeir every week. For 112 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM although the Jebel Shammar country is probably supplied over- land from Busrah and Bagdad, the whole of Southern Nejd re- ceives piece-goods, coffee, rice, sugar and Birmingham " wares by way of Bahrein and Ojeir. The whole plain in and about the custom-house was piled with bales and boxes and the air filled with the noise of load- ing seven hundred camels. I struck a bargain with Salih, a Nejdi, to travel in his party and before noon-prayers we were off. The country for many hours was bare desert, here and there a picturesque ridge of sand, and in one place a vein of greenish limestone. When night came we all stretched a blanket on the clean sand and slept in the open air ; those who had neglected their water-skins on starting now satisfied thirst by scooping a well with their hands three or four feet deep and found a supply of water. During the day the sun was hot and the breeze died away; but at night, under the sparkling stars and with a north wind it seemed, by contrast, bitterly cold. On the second day at noon we sighted the palm-forests that surround Hof hoof and give it, Palgrave says, " the general aspect of a white and yellow onyx chased in an emerald rim." As we did not reach the "emerald rim" until afternoon I concluded to remain at Jifr, one of the many suburb villages. Here Salih had friends, and a delicious dinner of bread, but- ter, milk and dates, all fresh, was one of many tokens of hospi- tality. At sunset we went on to the next village, Menazeleh, a distance of about three miles through gardens and rushing streams of tepid water. The next morning early we again rode through gardens and date-orchards half visible in the morning mist. At seven o'clock the mosques and walls of Hof hoof ap- peared right before us as the sun lifted the veil ; it was a beau- tiful sight. El Hof hoof can claim a considerable age. Under the name of Hajar, it was next to Mobarrez, the citadel town of the celebrated Bni Kindi and Abd El Kais (570 a. d.). Both of these towns, and in fact every village of Hassa, owe their THE EASTERN THRESHOLD OF ARABIA 113 existence to the underground watercourses, which are the chief characteristic of the province; everywhere there is the same abundance of this great blessing. A land of streams and fountains, — welling up in the midst of the salt sea, as at Bahrein ; flowing unknown and unsought under the dry desert at Ojeir; bubbling up in perennial fountains as at Katif ; or bursting out in seven hot springs that flow, cooling, to bless wide fields of rice and wheat at Mobarrez. The entire region palgrave's plan of hofhoof. is capable of rich cultivation, and yet now more than half of it is desert. There is not a man to till the ground, and paradise lies waste except near the villages. Elsewhere Bedouin robbers and Turkish taxes prevent cultivation. These two are the curse of agriculture all over the Ottoman provinces of Arabia. Hofhoof itself is surrounded by gardens, and its plan gives a good idea of the general character of the towns of Arabia. A castle or ruler's house; a bazaar with surrounding dwellings and a mud-wall built around to protect the whole. The moat 114 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM is now dry and half filled in with the debris of the walls, which are not in good repair. The town is nearly a mile and a-half across at its greater diameter, but the houses are not built as close together as is the custom in most Oriental towns ; here is the pleasant feature of gardens inside the walls. The date- palm predominates, and indeed comes to wonderful perfection, but the nabak, the papay, the fig and the pomegranate are also in evidence. Indigo is cultivated, and also cotton, while all the region round about is green with fields of rice and sugar-cane and vegetables, — onions, radishes, beans, vetches, and maize. The population of the city is entirely Moslem, except one Roman Catholic Christian, who is the Turkish doctor, and a half dozen Jews. The three Europeans who have previously visited and described Hofhoof are, Captain Sadlier (1819), Palgrave (1S63), and Colonel Felly (1S65). The first gives the population at 15,000 and Palgrave speaks of 20,000 to 30,000. In 1 87 1 when the Turkish expedition against Nejd took the city, they reported it to have 15,000 houses and 200 suburb villages (!) This shows the absolute uncertainty of most statis- tics in regard to Arabia. El Hassa (Hofhoof) is the first stage on the direct caravan route from east Arabia to Mecca and Jiddah. Abd Er Rah- man bin Salama, the Arab Sheikh, under the Turkish governor of the Rifa'a quarter of the town gave me the following infor- mation regarding this route. From Hassa to Riad is six days by camel ; from Riad to Jast of the outer trunk forms excellent fibre for rope of many sizes and qualities. The wood of the trunk, though light and porous, is much used in bridge-building and architecture and is quite durable. In short, when a date- palm is cut down there is not a particle of it that is wasted. This tree is the "poor-house" and asylum for all Arabia; without it millions would have neither food nor shelter. For one half of the population of Mesopotamia lives in date- mat dwellings. Although everywhere the date-culture is an important in- dustry, Busrah is the centre of the trade, for here is the princi- pal depot for export. The three best varieties of dates known at Busrah are the Hallawi, Khadrawi and Sayer. These are the only kinds that will stand shipping to the European markets. They are packed in layers in wooden boxes, or in smaller car- ton boxes. The average export to London and New York from Busrah for the past five years has been about 20,000 tons, nearly one half of which was for the American market. Other important varieties are Zehdi, Berem, Dery and Shiikri. These are packed more roughly in matting or baskets, and are sent along the whole Arabian coast, to India, the Red Sea littoral and Zanzibar. There are over thirty other varieties cultivated near Busrah for local consumption. Some of them have curi- ous names such as: "Mother of Perfume," "Sealed-up," "Red Sugar," "Daughter of Seven," " Bride's-finger," "Little Star," "Pure Daughter"; others have names which it is better not to translate. Palgrave and others, with whose verdict I agree, pronounced the Khalasi date of El Hassa superior to all other kinds. It has recently been introduced into Mesopotamia. Palgrave says, "the literal and not inappropriate translation of the name is ' quintessence ' — a species peculiar to Hassa and easily the first of its kind." The fruit itself is rather smaller than the usual Hallawi date, but it is not so dry and far more THE RII/ERCOUNTRY AND THE DATE PALM 125 luscious. It is of a rich dark amber color, almost ruddy, and translucent ; the kernel is small and easily detached ; the date tastes sweet as sugar and is as far superior to the date bought in the American market as a ripe Pippin is to dried apple-rings. At Busrah the date season opens in September and keeps every one busy until the vast harvest is gathered and shipped. The dates for export to Europe and America are of prime quality ; a box of half a hundred-weight on board the steamer is worth about three or four shillings wholesale. All poor, wet, and small dates are packed separately in mats or bags, and are sent to India as second-quality. The poorest lot are sent in mass to the distilleries in England. Thus nothing is lost. Date-packers, who put the fruit in layers, receive three or four kameris for packing a box. The best packers can only pack four boxes a day, so that their wages are about a kran (about ten cents) per day. They live cheaply on the fruit, and bring all their family, babes and greybeards with them to lodge for the season in the date-gardens. The date season in Busrah begins in the early or middle part of September and lasts for six or eight weeks. The price of the date-crop varies. It is usually fixed at a meeting held in some date-garden where the growers and buyers play the bull and the bear until an agreement is reached. The prices in 1897 were, in the lan- guage of the trade: "340 Shamis for Hallawis, 280 Shamis for Khadrawis, and 180 Shamis for Sayer." Seventeen Shamis are equal to about one pound sterling, and the prices quoted are for a kara, about fifty hundred-weights. The culture of the date has steadily increased for the past fifteen years. In 1896 the greater part of the country was in- undated by heavy floods and over a million date-trees are said to have been destroyed ; new gardens are being planted con- tinually. The Arabs of Mesopotamia display great skill and unusual care in manuring, irrigating and improving their date- plantations, for they realize more and more that this is no mean source of wealth. One recent use to which export dates 126 ARABU, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM are put is in the manufacture of vinegar ; it would seem, since the beet-sugar industry has proved so profitable, that there must be some method by which good sugar could be manufac- tured from date-syrup. Mesopotamia is rich not only in date-groves but in cereals, wool, gums, licorice root and other products. The export of wool alone in 1897 was valued at ^^288, 700. And the total exports the same year, for the two provinces of Bag- dad and Busrah, were put at ;z^5 22,960. Busrah is the ship- ping place for all the region round about, and ocean steamers of considerable size are always in Busrah harbor; during 1897 four hundred and twenty-one sailing vessels and ninety-five steamships cleared the port, with a total tonnage of 131,846; ninety-one of the steamships were British. The population of the two vilayets is given by Cuinet, who follows Turkish authorities, as follows : Moslems. Christians. Jews. Total. Bagdad Vilayet, 789,500 7,000 53.500 850,000 Busrah Vilayet, 939.650 5.850 4.500 950,000 In Bagdad vilayet nearly four-fifths of the Moslem popu- lation belongs to the Sunnite sect, while in Busrah vilayet three-fourths of them are Shiahs. The Sabeans are generally reckoned among the Christians, although these are already sufficiently divided into Latin, Greek Orthodox, Greek, Syrian, Chaldean Catholic, Armenian Gregorian, Armenian Catholic and Protestants — the last in the smallest minority possible and the others chiefly distinguished by mutual distrust and united hatred of Protestantism. The vilayet of Bagdad is divided again into three Sandjaks or districts of Bagdad, Hillah and Kerbela, and that of Busrah likewise into those of Busrah, Amara Muntefik and Nejd.^ Of these six districts that of Bagdad is the largest in area and im- portance and is the centre of military power for both vilayets, ' The last named is outside of our present subject and is a misnomer given by Turkish audacity to the region of Hassai THE RII/ER-COUNTRY AND THE DATE-PALM 127 The boundaries of Bagdad Sandjak go as far as Anah on the Euphrates toward the north and include Kut-el-Amara on the south with both banks of the Tigris. Hillah and Kerbela are along the Euphrates with irregular boundaries while the Mun- tefik Sandjak with its provincial town of Nasariya separates them from that of Busrah. The Sandjak of Amara begins a few miles north of the junction of the two rivers, and the whole frontier toward Persia is entirely undefined or at least "/« liii- gation,^'' as the Turkish official maps have it. The two Turkish provinces have all the involved machinery of Turkish civil and military administration. There are plenty of offices and office-holders and constant changes in both. Each province has a governor-general or Wall and (outside of the governor's sandjak) each district has its mutaserrif -pasha either of the first or second class — those one has to deal with generally prove to be of the latter. Then there are Kahnakams for smaller districts or cities, and finally miidirs for villages. At the seat of government, called the Serai, there is an ad- ministrative council, including the Ndib or kadi, correspond- ing to chief-justice ; the defterdar or secretary of finance ; the mufti or public interpreter of Moslem law ; the nakib, etc., etc., etc. There are several courts of justice of different rank ; the custom-house administration is on the e phcribiis unum plan and ne plus ultra system. Besides these there are the " Regie des tabacs " or the tobacco-monopoly, the post and telegraph administration, the sanitary offices, the salt-inspectors, and, at Kerbela, the Tarif of corpses levied on imported pilgrims. To describe all these satisfactorily would require a volume. XIII THE CITIES AND VILLAGES OF TURKISH-ARABIA T^UWEIT/ on the gulf a little south of the river delta, will ■*-^ in all probability — before long, rise in importance and be as well known as Suez or Port Said. It has the finest harbor in all Eastern Arabia, and is an important town of from 10,000 to 12,000 inhabitants. Here will probably be the terminus of the proposed railroads to bind India and the gulf to Europe by the shortest route. The whole country round about being practically desert, the place is entirely dependent on its trade for support. It possesses more bagalows (sailing-vessels) than any port in the gulf; is remarkably cleanly; has some very well-built houses and an extensive dockyard for boat building. The town and tribe are nominally under Turkish subjection, although protection is the better word, and it is rumored that Kuweit will soon be as much in the hands of the English as is Bahrein. The Bedouin tribes of Northern Hassa, and even from Nejd, bring horses, cattle and sheep to this place to barter for dates, clothing and fire-arms. There is nearly always a large encamp- ment of Bedouins near the town. The route overland from Kuweit to Busrah is across the desert until we come to an old artificial canal; leaving Jebel Sinam to the left the second march brings us to Zobeir, a small village on the site of ancient Busrah, and only a few hours to the present site. At Zobeir is ' Kuweit is the Arabic diminutive of Kut a walled-village ; the place is called Grane on some maps — evidently a corruption of Kurein or " little horn," a name given to an island in the harbor. 128 THE CITIES Am VILLAGES OF TURKISH-ARABIA 129 the tomb of the Moslem leader for whom the town is named. The village contains about 400 houses ; and the population is rich and fanatical. In the vicinity are gardens where a kind of melon is raised, which is celebrated in all the region round about for sweetness and delicacy of flavor. The journey from Kuweit to Busrah is generally made, even by natives, in buga- lows ; while the Persian Gulf steamers, not calling at Kuweit, proceed direct from Bushire to Fao, at the mouth of the Shatt- el-Arab. A great hindrance to commerce is the bar formed by the alluvial deposit of the immense river as it reaches the gulf. At low tide there is only ten feet of water in the deepest part of the channel, and even at flood tide large steamers must plow their way through the mud to reach Busrah. Fao is of no importance except as the terminus of the cable from Bushire. A British telegraph station was established here in 1864. The Turkish telegraph system from up the rivers terminates at Fao, and here too they have a representative to govern the place and enforce stringent quarantine. The Shatt-el-Arab winds motononously between the vast date- orchards or desert banks for about forty miles, until we reach the Karun river and the Persian town of Mohammerah. Busrah is sixty-seven miles from the bar and between it and Fao there are many important villages on each bank of the river. Aboo Hassib is perhaps the most important and is a great centre for date-culture and packing. Busrah consists of the native city — containing the principal bazaars, the government house, and the bulk of the population — and the new town on the river. The native town is about two miles from the river on a narrow creek, called Ashar ; a good road runs along the bank, and this road really unites the two parts of the city into one as it is lined with dwelling-houses for a large part of the way. Busrah has seen better days, but also worse. In the middle of the eighteenth century it numbered upward of 150,000 inhabitants. In 1825, it had diminished to 60,000; the plague of 1831 reduced it further by nearly 130 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM one-half, and after the plague of 1838, scarcely 12,000 in- habitants remained. In 1854, it is said to have had only 5,000 inhabitants. At present the place is growing yearly in population and importance in spite of misgovernment and ruinous taxation. It has every natural advantage over Bag- dad, except climate, and will yet outstrip the city of the old caliphs, if Turkey's rule mends or ends. The present population of the city proper is given by Ottoman authorities at 18,000. Many ruins all over the plains and in the surrounding gardens tell of its former extent and splendor. At present the native town looks sadly dilapidated, and tells the story of neglect and de- cay. The unexampled filthiness of the streets and the un- drained marshes in the environs make the place proverbially unhealthy. This unhygienic condition is not improved by the Ashar Creek being at the same time the common sewer and the common water supply for over one-half of the population. The wealthy classes send out boats to bring water from the river, but all the poorer people use the creek. Such are the results of an imbecile government which could easily drain the marshes and supply every one with great abundance of pure water. Ancient Busrah, near the present site of Zobeir, was founded in 636 A. D., by the second Caliph Omar as a key to the Euphrates and Tigris. It reached great prosperity, and was the home of poetry and grammatical learning, as Bagdad was the centre of science and philosophy. After the twelfth cen- tury the city began to decay, and at the conquest of Bagdad by Murad IV., in 1638, this entire stretch of country fell into the hands of the Turks, Then the present city took the name of Busrah. Later it was in the hands of the Arabs and Per- sians, and from 1832 to 1840, Mohammed Ali was in possession. Under the rule of Midhat Pasha, governor-general of Bagdad, the city of Busrah arose in importance partly because of the Turkish Steam Navigation Company which he promoted. But it was a dream-life. English commerce and enterprise aroused the place thoroughly, and the whistle of steamships has kept it THE CITIES AND VILLAGES OF TURKISH-ARABIA 131 awake ever since the Suez canal opened trade with Europe by way of the gulf. ^ In making the journey from Busrah to Bagdad the traveller has choice of two lines of river-steamers : the Ottoman service has six steamers and the English company three, but the latter are only allowed to use two by the Turkish government. For romance, discomfort and tediousness, choose the former ; for all other reasons select the latter. I have tried both. The English steamers carry the mails to Bagdad and make weekly trips ; four or five days being required for the journey up stream, and three days down, although when the water is low the journey may be long delayed. In bad or shallow places the steamers often discharge a part of their cargo, heave over the shallow part and load up again. Of course trade suffers and vast quantities of merchandise often lie for weeks at Bus- rah awaiting shipment. No steps are ever taken by the Otto- man government to counteract the great waste of water which flows into the marshes. In course of time, unless prevented, this waste will lead to the closing up of the main channel of the Tigris even as the Euphrates below Suk-es-Shiukh has become a marsh for lack of use. The good Steamship Mejidieh with its kindly Captain Cowley, or the sister ship Khalifah lies at anchor just off the English Consulate, the blue-peter flies overhead and the decks are over- crowded with all sorts and conditions of men — Persians, Turks, Indians, Arabs, Armenians, Greeks; — baggage, bales, boxes, water-bottles — chickens, geese, sheep, horses, not to speak of the insect-population on which it is impossible to collect freight- charges. The steamers are somewhat after the type of the American river-steamers on the Mississippi ; but no Mark Twain has yet arisen to immortalize them, although they afford an even more fertile theme. With a double deck and broad I For the interesting history of the cities that occupied the site of Bus- rah before the days of Islam, and as far back as Nebuchadnezzar, see Ainsworth's " Personal narrative of the Euphrates expedition," 132 ARABU, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM of beam they carry hundreds of passengers and an astonish- ing amount of cargo for their size. The accommodation dur- ing cool weather is excellent, and during the hot days no one travels for the sake of luxury. The first place at which the steamer calls is Kurna at the junction of the rivers, and from whence the course is up the Tigris to Bagdad. The Tomb of Ezra, about nine hours from Busrah, is a great place for pilgrimages by the Jews. It is a pretty spot on the river bank and picturesque with its crowd of embarking and disembarking Jews and Jewesses. The tomb is a domed cloister enclosing a square mausoleum, and paved with blue tiles. Over the doorway are two tablets of black marble with Hebrew inscriptions attesting to the authenticity of the tomb. It is not improbable that Ezra is buried here, for the Talmud states that he died at Zamzuma, a town on the Tigris. He is said to have died here on his way from Jerusalem to Susa to plead the cause of the captive Jews. Josephus says that he was buried at Jerusalem, but no Jew of Bagdad doubts that Ezra's remains rest on the Tigris. Ten hours beyond, we pass also on the west bank, Abu Sadra, a tomb of an Arab saint marked only by a reed-hut and a grove of poplars. Next is Amara, a large and growing village with a coaling-depot and an enterprising population. This place was founded in 1861, and promises to become a centre of trade. After passing Ali Shergi, Ali Gherbi, and Sheikh Saad, small villages, without stopping, the steamer calls at Kut-el- Amara, a larger place even than Amara, on the east bank, with over 4,000 inhabitants. All the way from Busrah to Bagdad, but especially along this part of the river, we pass Bedouin tribes, encamped in the black tents of Kedar, engaged in the most primitive agricul- ture or irrigation of their land, or rushing along the banks to hail the passing steamer. A hungry, impudent, noisy, cheer- ful lot they are ; filling the merciful with pity and moving the thoughtless to laughter, as they scramble up and down the THE REPUTED TOMB OF EZRA ON THE TIGRIS RIVER r -'>Jl®lSBSaw*rs8S»i!i^^Ui« RUINS OF THE ARCH OF CTESIPHON NEAR BAGDAD THE CITIES AND VILLAGES OF TURKISH-ARABIA 133 banks into the water to catch a piece of bread or a few dates thrown to them. Meanwhile we steam along passing Bughela, Azizieh, Bag- dadieh and reach Bustani Kesra, or the arch of Ctesiphon. The little village of Soleiman-Pak is named for the pious man who was the private barber of Mohammed the prophet. After various wanderings, poor pious Pak was buried here, only a short distance from the great arch. A village sprang up near the tomb, pilgrims come from everywhere and miracles are claimed to be wrought by him who when alive only handled the razor. The whole region of Mesopotamia is more rich in saints, tombs and pilgrim-shrines than any other part of Arabia. The arch of Ctesiphon is not a shrine but it is well worth a visit. It is the only prominent object that remains of the vast ruins of Ctesiphon on the east bank of the Tigris, and Seleucia on the west. The arch is now almost in ruins but must once have been the fagade of a magnificent building. Its length is 275 feet, and its height is given variously as eighty-six or one hundred feet; the walls are over twelve feet thick and the span of the magnificent arch is nearly eighty feet. What Ctesiphon was in the days of the Sassanian kings we read in Gibbon. Now its glory has departed and the tomb of the Barber has more visitors than the ancient throne of the Chos- roes. Eight hours after leaving Ctesiphon's ruins, our steamer is in full sight of the city of Haroun Rashid. Bagdad is a familiar name even to the boy who reads the Arabian tales rather than his geography. It is one of the chief cities of the Turkish empire and has a history much older than the empire itself. Founded by the Caliph Mansur about the year 765 a. d., it was the capital of the Mohammedan world for five hundred years, until it was destroyed by Halakn, grandson of Jengiz Khan. Situated in the midst of what was once the richest and most productive region of the old world it is now no longer queen of the land but rather reminds us of decay and dissolution. Its present beauties are only the ruins 134 .4RJBL4, THE CR-iDI.F OF ISI^M of ibruior glory. The untidy soldiers slouching about the streets, the evil-smelling bazaars and ruined mosques, the rot- ten bridge of boats that spans the river, the flices of the poor and the miserable Avho go begging through the streets, indi- cate the cui-se of Turkish inanition and oppression. On the west bank of the rivei^ is the old town enclosed by extensive orange and date-groves. On the east bank is New- Bagdad, which also looks old enough. Here are the govern- ment offices, consulates, and the chief commercial buildings as well as the cvistom-oftices. Rigdad is still an important city on many accounts. No other city of tlie Turkish empire is intluencet-i so much by the desert and Arabia as is Bagdad ; and no other stands in such direct contact with the towns in the interior of the peninsula. The Arabic spoken is compara- tively pure, and Bedouin mannei's still prevail in many ways in the social life of the people. The city has a very motley population, because of conunerce on the one hand and the number of pilgrim-shrines on the other. The tonU>s of Abd-ul- Kadir, and Abu Hanifah and the gilded domes and miniuets which mark the resting-places of two of the Shiah Imams — all draw their annual concoui-se of visitors from man)- lands and peoples. All the languages of the Levant are spoken on its streets although Arabic prevails over all. Dr. H. M. Sutton remarks, ** I have been at the betiside of a patient where in a company of half-a-dozen people avc had occasion to use five languages, and on another occasion we were in a company of about forty people in a room where no less than fomteen lan- guages were represented. The land of Shinar is thus still the place of the confusion of tongues." Bagdad like Busrah has suffered greatly by ravages of the plague at various times, but especially in 1S30 when the plague was followed by a fearful inundation. In one night, when the river bui-st its banks 7,000 houses fell and 15,000 people perished. The population of Bagdad is at present variously estimated at from 120,000 to iSo,ooo. Nearly one-third are Jews while THI: ririi:S AND I/ILL/ICFS OF TURKISH AHAHl A \\',r, the Oriental Christians number about 5,000. The trade of Bagdad is large not only with the region southwards and to- ward Busrah but with Nejd and Northern Mesopotannia. The import trade from India and Europe to I'agdad is over ^i,- 000,000 every year, and the export trade to Europe alone is placed at ^{^522, 960 for 1897. The river north of Bagdad is not navigable for steamers but an immense number of /&«?/Z?/c:x daily arrive from the north loaded with lumber from Kurdis- tan and with other products. These kelleks are a craft made of inflated goatskins boarded over with reeds and matting. The boatmen return with the empty skins overland with the cara- van companies. Still more characteristic of Bagdad is the small river-boat called a kuffe or coracle. It consists of a per- fectly circular hull, six to eight feet in diameter, with sides curving inward like a huge basket, and covered with pitch. This type of boat is as old as Nineveh and they are pictured quite accurately on the old monuments. Bagdad has more than sixty-eight mosques, six churches and twenty-two synagogues. Of the mosques some, like that of Daood Pasha, are in fine condition ; others are almost in ruins, and remind one of the remark of Lady Ann Blunt : " A city long past its prime, its hose a world too wide for its shrunk shanks." The feature of Bagdad is of course the river Tigris, with its swift-flowing tide ever washing the mud banks and watering the gardens for miles around. The houses come down close to the water's edge and some of them have pretty gardens almost overhanging the stream and terraces and ve- randas — oriental and picturesque. The British Residency is perhaps most beautiful in its location and its frontage on the river; but the other consulates vie with it in displaying to the traveller the strength and hospitality of European States. The European community is larger than at Busrah. XIV A JOURNEY DOWN THE EUPHRATES '"P^HROUGH the kind assistance of Colonel Mockler, at -*- that time the Bagdad Consul General and Resident, in the autumn of 1892, I was able to make the journey from Bag- dad across to Hillah and down the Euphrates — a route not often taken by the traveller. After making necessary prepa- rations and iinding a suitable servant we hired two mules and left the city of the old Caliphs with a caravan for Kerbela. It was in July and we made our first halt four hours from Bag- dad, sleeping on a blanket under the stars. An hour after midnight the pack-saddles were lifted in place and we were off again. It was a mixed company ; Arabs, Persians, and Turks ; merchants for Hillah and pilgrims to the sacred shrines; women in those curtained, cage-like structures called taht-i- vans, — two portable zenanas hanging from each beast; der- vishes on foot with green turbans, heavy canes and awful vis- ages : and to complete the picture a number of rude coffins strapped cross-wise on pack-mules and holding the remains of some "true behevers," long since ready for the holy ground at Nejf (Nedjef). The caravan travelled along the desert road mostly at night to escape the fearful heat of midday when we sought shelter in public khan. Nothing could be more uninteresting than the country between Bagdad and Babylon at this season of the year. The maps mark six khans on the route, but three of these are in ruins and the others are merely stages of a caravan rather than villages or centres of cultivation. The soil appears excellent, but there are no irrigation canals, and everything has a deserted appearance. A few l.Qw shrubs between the 136 A JOURNEY DOIVN THE EUPHRATES 137 mounds and moles of an ancient civilization ; mud-houses near the khans and some Arab encampments ; camel skeletons shining white by the wayside, under a burning sun ; and a troop or two of gazelle making for the river-banks — that is all you see until you reach the palm-banked Euphrates at Hillah. The khans consist of a large enclosure with heavy walls of sun-dried or Babylonian brick. In the interior are numerous alcoves or niches, ten by six feet and four feet above ground ; you seek out an empty niche and find a resting-place until the caravan starts at midnight. In the centre of the enclosure is a well and a large platform for prayer — utilized for sleeping and cooking by late arrivals who find no niche reserved as in our case. The rest of the court is for animals and baggage. Usual Arab supplies were obtainable at these resting-places, but every comfort is scarce and the innkeepers are too busy to be hos- pitable. Khan el Haswa where we arrived the second day is the centre of a small village of perhaps 300 people. At three in the morning we left Haswa but it was nearly noon when we reached the river, because of a delay on the road. The bazaar and business of Hillah were formerly on the Babylonian side of the stream, but are now principally on the further side of the rickety bridge of boats four miles below the ruins of Baby- lon. After paying toll we crossed over and found a room in the Khan Pasha — a close, dirty place, but in the midst of the town and near the river. Hillah is the largest town on the Euphrates north of Busrah. Splendid groves of date-trees sur- round it and stretch along the river as far as the eye can reach. The principal merchandise of the town is wheat, barley and dates. Of the Moslem population two-thirds are Shiah, and the remaining Sunni are mostly Turks, There are one or two native Christians and many Jews, but it is difficult to estimate correctly the population of Hillah or of any of the towns on the Euphrates. At Hillah the river is less than 200 yards wide and has a much more gentle flow than the Tigris at 138 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM Bagdad. A short distance northwest of the town is Kerbela, It is only a village but the spot is visited by thousands of faith- ful Moslems every year who venerate the twelve Imams of the Shiah sect. Here is the tomb of Hosein the grandson of the prophet and the son of All whom they believe the true suc- cessor in the Caliphate. By living or dying here the Shiah dev- otee has nought to fear for the next world. So strong is this belief that many leave directions in their wills to be buried in this hallowed spot. Thousands of corpses are imported some even from India — after proper drying and salting — and are laid to rest in the sacred ground. Nejf, south of Hillah, is the place of All's martyrdom and is no less sacred for the living and the dead. At Kerbela the manufacture of tortus is about the only industry. A torbat is a small piece of baked clay about two inches in length, generally round or oblong, with the names of Ali and Fatima rudely engraved on it. Made out of holy- ground, these are carried home by all pilgrims and are used by nearly every Shiah as a resting-place for the forehead in their prayer prostrations. According to all reports Kerbela is similar to Mecca in its loose morals and the character of its permanent population. On July 31st we left Hillah and sailed down the river in a native boat similar to the "bellum" of Busrah, but Avithout awning. The Euphrates is more muddy than the Tigris, and its course, though less sinuous, is broken here and there by shallow rapids.^ We sailed all night and did not stop until we arrived at Diwaniyeh the following afternoon. Many of the villages on the way appeared to have a considerable population ; date-groves were plentiful, and we passed two or three Mathhab or tombs of Arab Sheikhs, including that reputed to be Job's, " the greatest of all the sons of the East." 1 The following are the villages and encampments between Hillah and Diwaniyeh : El Ataj, Doulab, Dobleh, Kwaha, Saadeh, Tenhara, Bir Amaneh, Allaj, Anameh, Hosein, Khegaan Sageer and Khegaan Kebir. A JOURNEY DOlVhl THE EUPHRATES 139 At Diwaniyeh I was directed to the Serai, or government- house, where the Muttaserif Pasha of Hillah was forcing taxes from the unwilling Arabs. I was kindly received, and, prob- ably because of my passport, was entertained at the Pasha's table. Diwaniyeh has only a small population, and its importance is due to its wealth of palms and the wheat trade, which gives another opportunity for the government to establish a toll-bridge and custom-house. The Arabs of this region are notorious for their piracy on native craft, and in 1836 they even attacked the English sur- veying expedition. So I left the place with a guard of two soldiers — Saadeh and Salim, who were as happy as their names. Patching their uniforms, asleep in the bottom of the boat, eat- ing of our bread and dates, or polishing their rifles marked ^' U. S. Springfield, Snider 's Pat. 1863," we reached Samawa safely. During the day we passed the hamlets Um Nejis, Abu Juwareeb, Rumeitha, and Sheweit. But the general scene was that of narrow morass channels branching out from the river, where forests of reeds half hid mat-huts and naked Arabs. These river tribes are not true nomads,' but live in one place, on fish and the products of the river buffalo. It is a strange sight to see a herd of large black cattle swimming across stream, pursued by shouting, swimming and swearing herdsmen. And this was once the home of Abraham, the friend of God. Near Rumeitha there was a large menzil of the Lamlum tribe. Here we fastened the boat for the night, as our com- pany was afraid to cross certain rapids by starlight. Some of the Arabs came to our boat, armed with flint-locks and the Mikwar — a heavy stick knobbed with sandstone or hard bitu- men — in Arab hands a formidable weapon. Most of the people 1 The distinction between true Arabs of the nomad tribes and the Me' dan was made as early as 1792 by Niebuhr in his travels, and the river boatmen still answer your question with contemptuous accent : " Those are not Arabs, they are Me'dan." 140 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM were asleep, and we could get no supplies of any kind except two roast fowl from the Turkish garrison in a mud brick fort opposite. Even one of these fell to the share of a hungry- jackal during the night. We left early in the morning, and after some difficulty in crossing the shallow rapids, reached Samawa in four hours. Dismissing the zaptiehs, we found a room in the Khan of Haj Nasir on the second floor and over- looking the bazaar. It was the day before Ashera, the great day of Moharram, and the whole town was in funereal excitement. All shops were closed. Shiah were preparing for the great mourning, and Sunni sought a safe place away from the street. As soon as I came the local governor sent word that I must not leave the khan under any circumstances, nor venture in the street, as he would not be responsible for Shiah violence. I remained indoors, therefore, until the following day, and saw from the window the confusion of the night of Ashera, the tramp of a mob, the beating of breasts, the wailing of women, the bloody banners, and mock-martyr scenes, the rhythmic howling and cries of " Ya Ali ! ya Hassan! ya Hussein!" until throats were hoarse and hands hung heavy for a moment, only to go at it again. A pandemonium, as of BaaUs prophets on Carmel, before the deaf and dumb God of Islam, — monotheistic only in its book. "There is no god but God," and yet to the Shiah devotees of Moharram, "He is not in all their thoughts." The martyr caliphs of Nejf are their salvation and their hope, the Houris' lap. Between Samawa and Nasariya, the next important town we passed the villages : Zahara, El Kidr, Derj Kalat, (where there is a Turkish Mudir and a telegraph station on the Hillah- Busrah wire) Luptika El Ain Abu Tabr and El Assaniyeh. The river begins to broaden below Samawa, and its banks are beautiful with palms and willows. We were again delayed at a toll-bridge ; there must be taxes everywhere in Turkey, on ships and on fishermen, on boats and on bridges, on tobacco A PUBLIC KHAN IN TURKISH-ARABIA ARAB PILGRIMS ON BOARD A RIVER STEAMER A JOURHEY DOWN THE EUPHRATES 141 and on salt ; but this taxing of the same cargo at every river port is peculiar. Nasariya is a comparatively modern town and better built than any on the Euphrates river. Its bazaar is large and wide, and the government-houses are imposing for Arabdom. A small gunboat lies near the landing, and this floating tub, with its soldier guard and bugle-call, represents the only civilization that has yet come to the Euphrates valley, and is a thing of wonder to the Arabs. Opposite Nasariya are two large walled enclosures, wheat granaries protected from Arab rob- bers. Three hours west are the ruins of Mugheir — Ur of the Chaldees. Our meheleh sailed down the river before daylight and five hours later came to Suk el Shiukh, " the bazaar of old men." Abd el Fattah, in whose Persian kahwah we found a place, is a cosmopolitan. He had seen " Franjees " before, had been to Bombay, Aden and Jiddah, knew something of books, a little less of the gospel, and spoke two English words, of which he was very proud, '' Stop her" and ''Send a geri," He was a model innkeeper, and had it not been for his tea and talk, the three days of stifling heat under a mat-roof would have been less tolerable; South of Suk el Shiukh the river widens into marshes, where the channel is so shallow that part of the cargo of all river boats is transferred to smaller craft. On account of this delay, we ran short of provisions before reaching Kurna, and our boat- men were such prejudiced sectarians that it required argument and much backsheesh to bargain for some rice and the use of their cooking-pot. We were "nejis," "kafir," and what not, and the captain vowed he would have to wash the whole boat clean at Busrah from the footprints of the unbelievers. Between Suk and the junction of the two rivers to form the Shatt-el- Arab at Kurna, there are many wide, waste marshes, growing reeds and pasture for the buffalo — a breeding place for insect life and the terror of the boatmen because of the Me' dan 142 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM pirates. We were three days on this part of the river, and often all of us were in the water to lift and tug the boat over some mud-bank. El Kheit is the only village of any size the whole distance, but the Bedouin of the swamp, who live half the time in the water and have not arrived at even the loin- cloth stage of civilization, are a great multitude. At length we reached Kurna and thence, by the broad, lordly, Shatt-el- Arab to the mission-house at Busrah. What is to be the future of this great and wealthy valley, which once supported myriads and was the centre of culture and ancient civilization? Will it evermore rest under the blight of the fez and the crescent ? The one curse of the land is the inane government and its ruthless taxation. The goose with the golden egg is killed every day in Turkey — at least robbed to its last nest-egg. The shepherd -tribes, the villagers, the nomads, the agricultural communities, all suffer alike from the same cause. When and whence will deliverance come ? Perhaps a partial reply to these two questions will be found if we read between the lines in our chapter on the recent politics of Arabia. A Turkish railroad in the Euphrates valley would rust ; but a railroad under any other government would develop a region capable of magnificent improvement. XV THE INTERIOR — KNOWN AND UNKNOWN " The central provinces of Nejd, the genuine Wahabi country, is to the rest of Arabia a sort of a lion's den on which few venture and yet fewer return." — Palgrave. " A desert world of new and dreadful aspect ! black camels, and un- couth hostile mountains ; and a vast sand wilderness shelving toward the dire impostor's city," — Doughty. 'TT^HE region which, for want of a more definite name, we -*- may call the Interior includes four large districts. Three of these have been comparatively well explored and mapped, but the fourthi is utterly unknown. These districts are : Roba' -el-Khali, Nejran with Wady Dauasir, Nejd proper, and Jebel Shammar. It is surprising that at the close of the nineteenth century there should remain so many portions of our globe still unex- plored. We have better maps of the north pole and of the [ v moon than we have of Southeastern Arabia and parts of Central • Asia. A triangle formed by lines drawn from Harrara in Oman to El Harik in Southern Nejd, thence to Marib in Yemen and back to Harrara will measure very nearly 500 miles on each of its upper sides and 800 on the base. This triangle, with an area of 120,000 square miles is as utterly unknown to the world at large as if it were an undiscovered continent in some polar sea. Never has it been crossed by any European traveller or entered by an explorer. It includes all the hinterland of the Mahrah and Gharah tribes, all western Oman and the so- called Roba' -el-Khali (literally, " empty abode ") of the Dahna desert, as well as that mysterious region of El Ahkaf to which 143 144 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM the Koran refers and which is said by the Arabs to be a sea of quicksands, able to swallow whole caravans. On most maps the region in question is left blank ; others designate it as an uninterrupted desert from Mecca to Oman ; while Ptolemy's map describes the region as producing myrrh and abounding in Arab tribes and caravan-routes. Whatever we know of the country at present must be the result of Arab hearsay booked by travellers in the coast-provinces. The few names of places given in the Roba' -el-Khali would ?iot lead one to suppose that "uninterrupted desert" was its only char- acteristic feature. In the north are Jebel Athal (the Tamarisk Mountains), and Wady Yebrin. Wady Shibwan and Wady Habuna seem to extend at least some distance into the triangle from the west, while, in the very centre we have the very un- usual names for a desert region Belad-ez-Zohur (Flower- country) and El-Joz (the nut-trees). There is no doubt that a large part of the region is now desert and uninhabited ; but it may not always have been so and may hold its own secrets, archaeological and geographical. An Arab of Wady Fatima told Doughty, what the divine partition of the world was in the following words: "Two quarters Allah divided to the children of Adam, the third part He gave to Gog and Magog, a manikin people, parted from us by a wall, which they shall overskip in the latter days ; and then will they overrun the world. Of their kindred be the gross Turks and the misbelieving Persians ; but you, the Eng- leys are of the good kind with us. The fourth part of the world is called Roba' -el-Khali, the empty quarter." Doughty adds, "I never found any Arabian who had aught to tell, even by hearsay, of that dreadful country. Haply it is Nefud, with quicksands, which might be entered into and even passed with milch dromedaries in the spring weeks. Now my health failed me; otherwise I had sought to unriddle that enigma." It still awaits solution. In Oman they say it is only twenty- seven days' caravan march overland to Mecca right through THE INTERIOR— KNOJVN AND UNKNOIVN 145 the desert ; perhaps from the Oman highlands one could more easily penetrate into the unknown and get safely to Riad if not to Yemen. Nejran, celebrated as an ancient Christian province of Arabia and sacred by the blood of martyrs, lies north of Yemen and east of the Asir country. Together with the Dauasir-Wady region it forms a strip of territory about 300 miles long and 100 broad, well-watered and even more fertile than the best parts of Yemen.^ The intrepid traveller, Halevy (1870) first visited this region from Yemen and found a large Jewish popu- lation in the southern part. He visited the towns Mahlaf, Rijlah and Karyet-el-Kabil, penetrated Wady Habuna but could not succeed in reaching Wady Dauasir. He describes the fertility of the Wadys and the extensive date-plantations of this part of Arabia in terms of greatest admiration. Ruins and inscriptions are plentiful. In Wady Dauasir the Arabs say that the palm-groves extend three dromedary-journeys. The people are all agricultural Arabs but, as in Oman, they live in continual feud and turmoil because of tribal jealousies and old quarrels. The region east of Wady Dauasir is called Aflaj or Felej- el-Aflaj, two days' journey distant ; here there are also palm- oases. It is six days' journey thence to Riad, but the way is rugged, without villages.* It was along Wady Dauasir that I 1 It contains the following Wadys : Nejran, Habuna, Wanan, Moyazet, Bedr and the extensive Wady Dauasir. ^Aflaj has six villages : Siah, Leyta, Khurfa, Er-Rautha, El-Bedia. Wady Dauasir has these towns : El-Hammam, Es-Shotibba, Es-Soleil, Tamera, Ed-Dam, El-Loghf, El-Ferra, Es-Showeik, and El-Ayathat. (Doughty.) Most of these towns are not given on the maps ; but as some of them are, it is interesting to mention the route from Hassa to this Wady, given by Capt. Miles in a letter to S'prenger (dated Muscat, March, 1873) and quoted in his "Alte Geog. Arabiens," page 240. "Route from El Hasa to Solail : Hassa, Kharaj, Howta, Hilwa, Leilah, Kharfa, Rondha, El Sih, Bidia, Shitba, Solail. From Solail to Runniya it is three days' journey. It is a town larger than Solail. The Dosiri tribes are as fol' 146 ARABU, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM had hoped to make the overland journey from Sana to Bahrein in 1894 ; once beyond Turkish espionage the way would have been open. According to the testimony of Halevy the in- habitants of Nejran and Wady Dauasir are not fanatical. No- where in Yemen are the Jews treated so kindly as by the Arabs of Nejran. This entire region must also be classed with the fertile districts of Arabia. Water is everywhere abundant coming down from the Jebel Rian, fifteen days' journey from Toweyk and from the southern ranges of Jebel Ban and Jebel Tumra. The inhabitants of Nejran and of Southern Dauasir are heretical Moslems. They belong to the Bayadhi sect like the people of Oman/ and are supposed to be followers of Abd- AUah-bin-Abad (746 a. d.). Historically, Nejran is of special interest because here it was that the Roman army of 11,000 men sent by Augustus Caesar under ^lius Gallus to make a prey of the chimerical riches of Arabia Felix came to grief. The warriors did not fall in battle but, purposely misled by the Nabateans, their allies, they marched painfully over the waterless wastes in Central Arabia six months ; the most perished in misery and only a remnant returned. Strabo, writing from the mouth of Gallus himself, who was his friend and prefect of Egypt, gives a description of the Arabian desert that cannot be improved : " It is a sandy waste Avith only a few palms and pits of water : the acacia thorn and the tamarisk grow there ; the wandering Arabs lodge in tents and are camel graziers. ' ' Nejd— the heart of Arabia, the genuine Arabia, the Arabia of the poets — is properly bounded, — on the east, by the Turkish province of Hasa; on the south by the border of the desert lows: El-Woodaieen at Solail; El Misahireh possess most camels, etc.; Al Hassan at Wasit ; Beni Goweit ; EI-Khutran in Shitba ; El Sheiafa ; El-'Umoor, east end of Wady ; Al Saad, west of Wady ; El-Showaiej ; El-Khamaseen; El Kahtan; Hamid ; Al Amar; El Faijan in Kharfa." ^A full account of their peculiar beliefs and their disputed origin is given in the Appendix to Badger's " History of Oman." THE INTERIOR— KNOIVN AND UNKNOIVN 147 near Yemama ; on the west by Hejaz in its widest extent to Khaibar ; and on the north by Jebel Shammar. Thus defined it includes the regions of El-Kasim, El-Woshem, El-Aared, and Yemama. The "Zephyrs of Nejd " are the pregnant theme of many an Arab poet and in these highlands that the air is crisp and dry and invigorating, especially to the visitors from the hot and moist coast provinces. It was such a poet who wrote in raptures of the Nejd climate : " Then said I to my companion while the camels were hastening To bear us down the pass between Menifah and Demar : ' Enjoy while thou canst the sweets of the meadows of Nejd ; With no such meadows and sweets shalt thou meet after this evening.' Ah! heaven's blessing on the scented gales of Nejd, And its greensward and groves ghttering from the spring showers; And thy dear friends when thy lot was cast in Nejd — Months flew past, they passed and we knew not. Nor when their moons were new nor when they waned." As to the real and prosaic features of the country, Nejd is a plateau of which Jebel Toweyk is the centre and backbone. Its general height above the sea is about 4,000 feet, but there are more lofty ledges and peaks, some as high as 5,500 feet. These highlands are for the most clothed with fine pasture ; trees are common, solitary or in little groups ; and the entire plateau is intersected by a maze of valleys cut out of the sand- stone and limestone. In these countless hollows is concen- trated the fertility and the population of Nejd. The soil of the valleys is light, mixed with marl sand and pebbles washed down from the cliffs. Water is found everywhere in wells at a depth of not much over fifteen feet and often less ; in Kasim it has a brackish taste, and the soil is salty, but in other parts of Nejd there are traces of iron in it. The climate of all Nejd, according to Palgrave, is perhaps one of the healthiest in the world. The air is dry, clear and free from all the malarial poison of the coast ; the summers are warm but not sultry, and the winter air is biting cold. The usual monotony of an 148 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM Arabian landscape is not only enlivened by the presence of the date-palm near the villages, but by groups of Talh, Nebaa' and Sidr, the Ithl and Ghada Euphorbia — all of them good-sized shrubs or trees. ^ Nejd is pasture land, so that its breed of sheep are known all over Arabia ; their wool is remarkably fine, almost equal to Cashmire in softness and delicacy. Camels abound ; accord- ing to Palgrave, Nejd is " a wilderness of camels." The color is generally brownish white or grey ; black camels are found westward and southward in the inhospitable Harra-country to- ward Mecca. Oxen and cows are not uncommon. Game is plenty, both feathered and quadruped. Partridges, quail, a kind of bustard; gazelle, hares, jerboa, wild-goat, wild-boars, porcupine, antelope, and a kind of wild-ox (wathyhi) with beautiful horns. Snakes are not common, but lizards, centi- pedes and scorpions abound. The ostrich is also found in western Nejd as well as in Wady Dauasir. The Bedouin hunt them to sell the skins to the Damascus feather merchants who come down with the Haj every year to Mecca ; forty reals (dollars) was the price paid in Doughty' s time for a single skin — a small fortune to the poor nomad. Mounted on their dromedaries they watch for the bird and then waylay it, match- lock ready to hand. The Arabs esteem the breast of the ostrich good food ; the fat is a sovereign remedy with them and half a finjan (the measure of an Arab coffee-cup), is worth half a Turkish mejidie. The ostrich is no longer as common in Arabia as formerly, and in many parts of the peninsula the bird is unknown even by name. Nejd is a land of camels and horses. But although a fine breed of the latter exist it is a common mistake to suppose that horses are plentiful in Central Arabia and that every Arab owns ^The Talh is a large tree of roundish, scanty, leafage, with a little dry berry for fruit, its branches are wide-spreading and thorny. The Nebaa' is much smaller though of considerable height ; it has very small ovate bright green leaves. The Sidr is a little acacia tree. THE INTERIOR— KNOIVN AND UNKNOIVN 149 his steed. Doughty says "there is no breeding or sale of horses at Boreyda or Aneyza nor any town in Nejd." Most of the horses shipped from Busrah or Kuweit to Bombay are not from Nejd, although originally of Nejd-breed, but come from Jebel Shammar and the Mesopotaraian valley. He who would know all about the beauty of the Nejd horse must visit the Hail stables with Palgrave who "goes raving mad" about the animals; or he can read Lady Ann Blunt's "Pilgrimage to Nejd" in search of horses; better still let him buy that re- markable book by Colonel Tweedie : The Arabian Horse, His country and His people. In this volume the horse is the hero and Arabs are grooms and stable-boys. The Arab is more kind to his horse than to any other animal. No Arab dreams of tying up a horse by the neck ; a tether replaces the halter, one of the animal's hind-legs being encircled about the pastern by a light iron ring or leather strap, and connected with a chain or rope to an iron peg. Nejdi horses are specially valuable for great speed and endurance. They are all built for riding and not for draught ; to the unprofessional eye they do not seem at all superior to the best horses seen in London or New York City, but I leave the matter to the authorities mentioned.^ 1 For our present knowledge of the government, population, cities and villages of Nejd we are chiefly indebted to the following travellers : Cap- tain G. Y. Sadlier, of the English army, who was the first European to cross the Arabian Peninsula. (1819.) George Wallin, a learned young Swedish Arabist, travelling in 1845 ^""^ 1^4^ ^^ a Mohammedan doctor of law, passed through the northern desert from Jauf to Hail and visited Medina. "William Gifford Palgrave, a Jesuit Roman Catholic, of English birth and scholarly tastes made his celebrated journey across Arabia from west to east in 1862-63. In 1864 the bold Italian traveller Guarmani went from Jerusalem straight to Jebel Shammar and Aneyza. In 1865 Colonel Pelly, the British Resident at Bushire made an important journey, in company with Dr. Colville and Lieutenant Dawes, from Kuweit through southeastern Nejd to Riadh, returning by Hassa to Ojeir and Bahrein. Then Charles M. Doughty {facile priiiceps among all authorities and travellers Arabian) made his long, arduous, zigzag journeys through northwestern 150 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM The government of Nejd indicates what the independent rulers of Arabia are like. Doughty testifies that the sum of all he could learn from the mouth of the Arabs themselves of Ibn Rashid's government (now in the hands of Abd-el-Aziz bin Mitaab, his nephew) was this : ''He makes sure of them that may be won by gifts, he draws the sword against his ad- versaries, he treads down them that fear him and he were no right ruler, hewed he no heads off ! " Some of the nomads consider the prince of Nejd a tyrant, but the villagers gener- ally are well content. Forsooth it is better for them to have one tyrant than many, as in the days before the political up- heaval that unified central Arabia. Other of the more reli- gious folk of Nejd cannot forget the bloody path by which Ibn Rashid gained his seat of power and call him ^^ Nejis, (pol- luted), a cutter-off of his kinsfolk with the sword." Lavish sums in the eyes of the starved Bedouin are spent on hospitality but all guests are pleased and depart from the pile of rice to praise God and the Amir of Nejd. Daily, in the guest-room, according to Doughty, one hundred and eighty messes of barley-bread with rice and butter are served to the men freely \ a camel or smaller animal is killed for the first- class guests and the total expense of his famous hospitality is not over ;^i,5oo annually. The revenues are immense and Ibn Rashid's private fortune had grown large even when Doughty visited him in 1877. He has cattle innumerable and " 40,000 camels " ; some 300 blooded mares and 100 horses; over 100 negro slaves; besides private riches laid up in silver metal, land at Hail and plantations in Jauf. Contrasted with the Turkish provinces of Arabia the subjects of the Amir of Nejd enjoy light taxation and even the Bedouin warriors who are in the service of the Nejd ruler receive better wages than the regular troops of the Sultan. From the descrip- and northern Arabia from November, 1876, to August, 1878. Our other authority for Nejd is Lady Ann Blunt who with her husband visited the capital of Ibn Rashid's country from Bagdad in 1883, THE INTERIOR— KNOIVN AND UNKNOIVN 151 tion of Mr. and Mrs. Blunt and Doughty at Hail, one cannot but feel that the government of Nejd is much more liberal and less fanatical than it was in the old days of the Wahabis as de- scribed by Palgrave. The old Wahabi power is now broken forever and Nejd is getting into touch with the world through commerce. Kasim already resembles the border-lands and the inhabitants are worldly-wise with the wisdom of the Bombay horse-dealers. Many of the youth of Nejd visit Bagdad, Bus- rah and Bahrein in their commercial ventures. Says Doughty, "all Nejd Arabia, east of Teyma, appertains to the Persian Gulf traffic and not to Syria [as does western Nejd] : and therefore the foreign color of Nejd is Mesopotamian." He marvelled at the erudition of the Nejd Arabs in spite of their isolation until he found that even here newspapers had found their way in recent years. English patent medicines are sold in the bazaar of Aneyza and the Arabs are somewhat ac- quainted with the wonders of Bombay and Calcutta. Pal- grave found the inhabitants of Kasim and southern Nejd far more intelligent than those of the north. Except for the four large towns of Hail, Riad, Boreyda and Aneyza, Nejd has no large centres of population. Bedouin tribes are found everywhere and villagers cultivate the fertile oases even in the desert ; but the population is not as dense as in Oman or Yemen nor even as in Nejran and Wady Dauasir. Hail, the present capital of Nejd, may have a population of ten thousand within its walls. It lies east of Jebel Aja, a granite range 6,000 feet high ending abruptly at this point. The city is on a table-land 3,500 feet above the sea. The Amir's castle is a formidable stronghold occupying a position of immense natural strength in the Jebel Aja. Blunt visited this place in 1878, but does not give its exact site, "lest the information might be utilized by the Turks under possible fu- ture contingencies." We have three pen-pictures of Hail: that of Palgrave who drew a plan of the city ; the descrip- tion of Doughty with his plan of the Amir's residence and 152 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM guest-house ; and the sketches of Lady Ann Blunt on her pil- grimage. It is a walled town with several gates, a large mar- ket-place, the palaces overtopping all and mosques sufficient for the worshippers. It is a clean, well-built town, according to Doughty and pleasant to live in save for the awe of the tyrant-ruler. Its circuit may be nearly an hour ; in the centre of the walled enclosure stands the palace ; near it the great mosque and directly opposite the principal bazaar. The great coffee-hall where the Amir gives his audiences is eighty feet long with lofty Avails and of noble proportions. It has long rows of pillars " upholding the flat roof of ethel timbers and palm-stalk mat-work, goodly stained and varnished with the smoke of the daily hospitality. Under the walls are benches of clay overspread with Bagdad carpets. By the entry stands a mighty copper-tinned basin or ' sea ' of fresh water with a chained cup ; from thence the coffee-server draws and he may drink who thirsts. In the upper end of this princely kahwa (coffee-house) are two fire-pits, like shallow graves, where desert bushes are burned in colder weather ; they lack good fuel, and fire is blown commonly under the giant coffee-pots in a clay hearth like a smith's furnace." The palace castles are built in Nejd with battled towers of clay- brick and whitened on the outside with jiss or plaster; this in contrast with the palm-gardens in the walled-enclosure give the town a bright, fresh aspect. Outside the walls, the contrast of the Bedouin squalor and the rusty black basalt rocks lying in rough confusion is intense. Hail lies in the midst of a barren country and is an oasis not by nature but by the pluck and per- severance of its founders. The Shammar Arabs settled here from antiquity and the place is mentioned in the ancient poem of Antar. Er-Riadh or Riad (the " gardens-in-the-desert ") was the Wahabi metropolis of Eastern Nejd and of all the "VVahabi empire. The city lies in the heart of the Aared country, en- closed north and south by Jebel Toweyk and about 280 miles southeast of Hail. It is a large place (according to Palgrave of THE INTERIOR-KNOIVN AND UNKNOIVN 153 30,000 population !), but nothing is known of its present state, as no European traveller has visited it since Palgrave. The gen- eral appearance of Riad, according to our guide is like that of Damascus. "Before us stretched a wide open valley, and in its foreground, immediately below the pebbly slope on whose summit we stood, lay the capital, large and square, crowned by high towers and strong walls of defence, a mass of roofs and terraces, where, overtopping all, frowned the huge but irregular pile of Feysul's royal castle, and hard by it rose the scarce less conspicuous palace, built and inhabited by his eldest son, Abdallah. All around for full three miles over the surrounding plain, but more especially to the west and south, waved a sea of palm-trees above green fields and well-watered gardens ; while the singing, droning sound of the water-wheels reached us even where we had halted at a quarter of a mile or more from the nearest town- walls. On the opposite side south- ward, the valley opened out into the great and even more fertile plains of Yemama, thickly dotted with groves and villages, among which the large town Manhufah, hardly inferior in size to Riad itself, might be clearly distinguished. ... In all the countries which I have visited, and they are many, seldom has it been mine to survey a landscape equal to this in beauty, and in historical meaning, rich and full alike to the eye and the mind. The mixture of tropical aridity and luxuriant ver- dure, of crowded population and desert tracts, is one that Arabia alone can present, and in comparison with which Syria seems tame and Italy monotonous." ^ Undoubtedly the population of Riad has diminished since the seat of government was transferred to Hail ; at present it has even less trade and importance than Hof hoof (Hassa) since the Turkish occupation. ' If we remember that Palgrave compares Feysul's mud-brick palace to the Tuileries of Paris, states that the great mosque of Riad can accommodate 2,000 worshippers, and gives the Wahabi ruler a standing army of 50,000, we deduct a little from the poetical description to have fi balance of pet facts. 154 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM Jebel Shai\i;mar and the northwestern desert, remain to be considered. The chief characteristics of this region are the extensive Nefitds or sandy-deserts and the nomad population. Jebel Shammar more than any part of Arabia is the tenting ground for the sons of Kedar. Everywhere are the black- worsted booths — the houses of goat-hair, so celebrated in Arabic poetry and song. Place-names on the map of this country are not villages or cities but watering-places for cattle and encampments of the tribes from year to year. From the Gulf of Akaba to the Euphrates, and as far north as their flocks can find pasture, the nomads call the land their own. Many of them are subject to the government of Nejd and pay a small annual tribute ; some are nominally under Turkish rule and others know no ruler save their Sheikh and have no law save that of immemorial Bedouin custom. Burckhardt discourses of these people like one who has dwelt among them, tasting the sweet and bitter of their hungry, homely life. He describes their tents and their simple furni- ture, arms, utensils, diet, arts, industry, sciences, diseases, re- ligion, matrimony, government, and warfare. He tells of their hospitality to the stranger ; their robbery of the traveller ; their blood-revenge and blood -covenants ; their slaves and servants ; their feasts and rejoicings ; their domestic relations and public functions; their salutations and language; and how at last they bury their dead in a single garment, scraping out a shal- low grave in hard-burned soil and heaping on a few rough stones to keep away the foul hyenas. Burckhardt devotes a considerable portion of his book to an enumeration of the Bedouin-tribes and their numerous sub- divisions. These will prove of great service to those who visit or cross the northern part of the Peninsula. The most impor- tant tribe is that of the Anaeze. They are nomads in the strictest acceptation of the word, for they continue during the whole year in almost constant motion. Their summer quarters are near the Syrian frontiers and in winter they retire into the THE INTERIOR— KNO^VN AND UNKNOlVN 155 heart of the desert or toward the Euphrates. When the tents are few they are pitched in a circle and called dowar, in greater numbers, they encamp in rows, one behind the other, especially along a rivulet or wady-bed ; such encampments are called Nezel. The Sheikh's or chief's tent has the principal place generally toward the direction whence guests or foes may be expected. The Anaeze tents are always of black goat's- hair; some other tribes have stuff striped white and black. Even the richest among them never have more than one tent unless he happen to have a second wife who cannot live on good terms with the first ; he then pitches a smaller tent near his own. But polygamy is very unusual among the Bedouin Arabs, although divorce is common. The tent furniture is simplicity itself; camel-saddles and cooking utensils with carpets and provision skins, are all the Arab housewife has to look after. Since the days of Job the Bedouin have been a nation of robbers. " The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them ; and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them away, yea they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword." (Job i. 14.) The Bedouin's hand is against every man in all Jebel Shammar to this day. The tribes are in a state of almost perpetual war against each other ; it seldom happens, accord- ing to Burckhardt, that a tribe enjoys a moment of general peace with all its neighbors, yet the war between two tribes is not of long duration. Peace is easily made and easily broken. In Bedouin parlance a salt covenant is only binding while the salt is in their stomachs. General battles are rarely fought, and few lives are lost ; to surprise an enemy by sudden attack, or to plunder a camp, are the chief objects of both parties. The dreadful effects of "blood-revenge" (by which law the kindred of the slain are in duty bound to slay the murderer or his kin) prevent many sanguinary conflicts. Whatever the Arabs take in their predatory excursions is shared according to previous agreement. Sometimes the whole spoil is equally ir>o jR.ini.i, 'nil- iuitnii- of isl.im (li\i(lf(l liy ihi' Shrikh ;imoni; his lollowiTS ; at dIIkt limes each owe iihiiuliTs lor hiioscir. A InHKuiin laiil is tailed a^i,7/(j's//, and it is worthy o{ ii'inark that the earliest biographer of JMohaiuiiKHl, 11m IshaU, st) designates the wars of the i>rophet of (lod with (he Koreish. 'I'he Anae/.e IVdoiiin ne\ t'r atlaik by night, (ov dnring the st tVciiueut cause ol war is ipiarrels over wells or watering-places and pasture grounds, just as in the ilays of the patriarihs. "'I'he Hedouins have retluced robbery," says liurckhardt, " in all its branches to a complete and regular system, which oilers many interesting iletails." Those ilelails are very ninuer- ous, anil the stories of robbery and escape given by the Arabian chroniiders. or told at the camp lues, wouKl till a V(.>hnne. t)nc example will snflice us. Three robbers plan an attack on an encampment. One of them stations lun\self behind the tent that is to be robbed, and endeavors to excite the attention of the nearest watch dogs. These in\niediately attack him ; he Hies, and thc\ pursue him to a great tlistance i\ow\ the camp, whiih is thus cleared o( those ilangerous guardians. The second robber goes to the camels, cuts the strings that con- line their legs and makes as n\anv rise as he wishes, lie theiv leads one of the she-camels out of the camp, the others follow- ing as usual, while the thirtl robber has all this time been sl.iuding with litted t'lub before the tent doo\ to strike dowi\ any one who might awake and \i-uture forth. If the robbers sueceetl they then join their e*.)mpauion. each sei/es the tail of 777/: INTERIOR— KN01VN AND UNKNOIVN ir>7 a strong Icadiiig-camcl nnd [xills il willi all liis might; the camels set up a gallop into the desert and the men are dragged along by their booty until safe distance separates theta from the scene of robbery. They then mount their prey and make haste to their own encampment. Before we lightly condemn the robber we must realize his sore need. According to Doughty and other travellers three- fourths of the Bedouin of Northwestern Aral)ia suffer continual famine and seldom have enough to eat. In the long sinnmer drought when pastures fail and the gaunt camel-herds give no milk they are in a sorry plight; then it is that the housewife cooks her slender mess of rice secretly, lest some would-be guest should smell the pot. The hungry gnawing of the Arab's stomach is lessened by the coffee-cup and the ceaseless "tobacco-drinking" from the nomad's precious pipe. The women suffer most and children languish away. When one of these sons-of-desert heard from Doughty's lips of a land where "we had an abundance of the blessings of Allah, bread and clothing and i)eace, and, how, if any wanted, the law succored him — he began to be full of melancholy, and to lament the everlasting infelicity of the Arabs, whose lack of clothing is a cause to them of many diseases, who have not daily food nor water enough, and wandering in the empty wilderness, are never at any stay — and these miseries to last as long as their lives. And when his heart was full, he cried up to heaven, 'Have mercy, ah Lord God, upon I'hy creature which Thou createdst — pity the sighing of the poor, the hungry, the naked — have mercy — have mercy upon them, O Allah ! ' " As we bid farewell to the tents of Kedar and the deserts of North Arabia let us say amen to the nomad's prayer and judge them not harshly in their misery lest we be judged. XVI "THE TIME OF IGNORANCE** "The religious decay in Arabia shortly before Islam may well be taken in a negative sense, in the sense of the tribes losing the feeling of kinship with the tribal gods. We may express this more concretely by saying that the gods had become gradually more and more nebulous through the destructive influence exercised, for about two hundred years, by Jewish and Christian ideas, upon Arabian heathenism." — H. Hirschfeld, in the " Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society." TN order to understand the genesis of Islam we must know -^ something of the condition of Arabia before the advent of Mohammed. We shall then be able to discover the factors that influenced the hero-prophet and made it possible for him so powerfully to sway the destinies of his own generation and those that were to follow. Mohammedan Avr iters call the centuries before the birth of their Prophet wakt-el-jahiliyeh — "the time of ignorance" — since the Arabs were then ignorant of the true religion. These writers naturally chose to paint the picture of heathen Arabia as dark as possible, in order that the "Light of God," as the prophet is called, might appear more bright in contrast. Following these authorities Sale and others have left an alto- gether wrong impression of the state of Arabia when Mohammed first appeared. The commonly accepted idea that he preached entirely new truth and uplifted the Arabs to a higher plane of civilization is only half true.^ No part of Arabia has ever reached the high stage of civili- zation under the rule of Islam which Yemen enjoyed under its Christian or even its Jewish dynasties of the Himyarites. 1 In our chapter on the Arabic language we shall see that the golden age of Arabic literature was just before the birth of Mohammed. 158 "THE TIME OF IGNORANCE" ]59 Early Christianity in Arabia, with all its weakness, had been a power for good. The Jews had penetrated to nearly every portion of the peninsula long before Mohammed came on the scene. ^ In the " Time of Ignorance " the Arabs throughout the penin- sula were divided into numerous local tribes or clans which were bound together by no political organization but only by a tradi- tional sentiment of unity which they believed, or feigned to be- lieve, a unity of blood. Each group was a unit and opposed to all the other clans. Some were pastoral and some nomadic ; others like those at Mecca and Taif were traders. For many centuries Yemen had been enriched by the incense-trade and by its position as the emporium of Eastern commerce. Sprenger in his ancient geography of the peninsula says that : '* The history of the earliest commerce is the history of incense and the land of incense was Arabia." The immense caravan trade which brought all the wealth of Ormuz and Ind to the West, must have been a means of civilization to the desert. The tanks of Marib spread fertility around and the region north of Sana was intersected by busy caravan-routes. W. Robertson Smith goes so far as to say that "In this period the name of Arab was associated to Western writers with ideas of effeminate indolence and peaceful opulence . . . the golden age of Yemen." • " Mohammedanism had owed much to the Jewish kingdom of Siba. The rule of the Sabean kings had extended over Mecca, and Jewish ideas and beliefs had thus made their way into the future birthplace of Mohammed. The fact is full of interest for students of the history of Islam. The epigraphic evidence which Dr. Glaser has presented to us shows that the rise of Mohammedanism was not the strange and unique phenomenon it has hitherto been thought to be. It had been prepared for centuries previously. Arabia had for ages been the home of culture and the art of writing, and for about two hundred years before the birth of Mohammed his countrymen had been brought into close contact with the Jewish faith. Future research will doubtless explain fully how great was his debt to the Jewish masters of Mecca and the Sabean kingdom of Southern Arabia." — Prof. A. H. Sayce in the Independent. IGO ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM The Arabs had enjoyed for several thousand }'ears, an al- most absolute freedom from foreign dominion or occupation. Neither the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the ancient Persians nor the Macedonians in their march of con- quest ever subjugated or held any part of Arabia. But before the coming of the Prophet the proud freemen of the desert were compelled to bend their necks repeatedly to the yoke of Roman, Abyssinian and Persian rulers. In a. d. 105, Trajan sent his general, Cornelius Palma, and subdued the Nabathean kingdom of North Arabia. Mesopotamia was conquered and the eastern coast of the peninsula was completely devastated by the Ro- mans in A. D. 116. Hira yielded to the monarchs of Persia as Ghassan did to the generals of Rome. Sir ^^'illiam Muir writes, "It is remarked even by a Mohammedan writer that the decadence of the race of Ghassan was preparing the way for the glories of the Arabian prophet." In other words Arabia was being invaded by foreign powers and the Arabs were ready for a political leader to break these yokes and restore the old-time independence. Roman domination invaded even INIecca itself not long before the Hegira. " For shortly after his accession to the throne, a. d. 610, the Emperor Heraclius nominated 0th- man, then a convert to Christianity, ... as governor of Mecca, recommending him to the Koreishites in an authorita- tive letter."^ The Abyssinian Avars and invasions of Arabia during the century preceding INIohammed are better known. Their dominion in Yemen, says Ibn Ishak, lasted seventy-two years, and they were finally driven out by the Persians, at the request of the Arabs. Arabia was thus the centre of political schemes and plots just at the time when INIohammed came to manhood ; the whole peninsula was awake to the touch of the Romans, Abyssinians and Persians, and ready to rally around any banner that led to a national deliverance. As to the position of women in this "Time of Ignorance." » Koelle's Mohanamed, p. 5. "THE TIME OF IGNORANCE" 161 the cruel custom of female infanticide prevailed in many parts of heathen Arabia. This was probably due, in the first in- stance, to poverty or famine, and afterward became a social custom to limit population. Professor Wilken suggests as a further reason that wars had tended to an excess of females over males. An Arab poet tells of a niece who refused to leave the husband to whom she had been assigned after capture. Her uncle was so enraged that he buried all his daughters alive and never allowed another one to live. Even one beautiful girl who had been saved alive by her mother was ruthlessly placed in a grave by the father and her cries stifled with earth. This horrible custom however was not usual. We are told of one distinguished Arab, named Saa-Saa, who tried to put down the practice of "digging a grave by the side of the bed on which daughters were born." Mohammed improved on the barbaric method and dis- covered a way by which not some but all females could be buried alive without being murdered — namely, the veil. Its origin was one of the marriage affairs of the prophet with its appropriate revelation from Allah. The veil was unhiown in Arabia before that time. It was Islam that forever withdrew from Oriental society the bright, refining, elevating influence of women. Keene says that the veil "lies at the root of all the most important features that differentiate progress from stagnation." The harem-system did not prevail in the days of idolatry. Women had rights and were respected. In two instances, beside that of Zenobia, we read of Arabian queens ruling over their tribes. Freytag in his Arabian Proverbs gives a list of female judges who exercised their office in the " time of ignorance." According to Noldeke, the Nabathean inscrip- tions and coins prove that women held an independent and honorable position in North Arabia long before Islam; they constructed expensive family graves, owned large estates, and were independent traders. The heathen Arabs jealously watched over their women as their most valued possession and hi-: .-iR.-lPl.-f, THE CR.4DLE OF JSUM defended theiu Nvith their lives. A woman was ne\er given away by her father in an unequal match nor against her con- sent. ''If you cannot find an eviiuU match," s;ud Ibn Zohair to the Naniir, "the best marriage for them is the grave." Professor G. A. \Vilk.en ^ adduces many proofs to show that women had a right in every case to choose their own huskuids and cites the case of Khadijah who olferevl her hand to Mo- hammevi. E\en captive women were not kept in slaver)-, as is evident from the verses of Hatim : " They did not give vis Taites, their daughters in marriage ; But we wooed them against their will with our swords. And with us captivity bivught no alwsement. They neither toiled making bread nor made the pot boil; But we mingled them with our women, the noblest, And Uu-e us tair sons, white of face." Polpndry and pol)gamy were both practiced : the right of di\x>rce belonged to the wife as well as to the husband ; tem- porary marriages were also common. As was natural among a nomad race, the marriage Ixi^nd was quickly made and easily dissolved. But this \^*as not the case among the Jews and Christians of Yemen and Nejran. Two kinds of marriage were in vogue. The mofa'a was a purely personal contract between a man and woman ; no witnesses were necessary and the woman did not leave her home or come under the authority of her huskuid ; even the children belonged to the wife. This marriage, so frevpiently described in Arabic poetry, was not considered illicit but was openly celebrated in verse and brought no disgrace on the woman. In the other kind of marriage, called fu'/:a^y the woman became subject to her husband by capture or purchase. In the latter case the pur- chase-money was paid to the bride's kin. The position of Avomen before Islam is thus described in 'Het Matriaivhaat bij de onde Arabieren (1S&4), and 5«//.Vw<'«/ to the same, in answer to critics, (18^5^ The Hague. "THr. TIME OF JCNOR/INCE" 163 Smith's " Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia " : " It is very remarkable that in spite of Mohammed's humane ordinances the place of woman in the family and in sfjciety has steadily declined under his law. In ancient Arabia we find . . . many proofs that women moved more freely and asserted themselves more strongly than in the modern East. . . . The Arabs themselves recognized that the position of woman had fallen . . . and it continued still to fall under Islam, because the effect of Mohammed's legislation in favor of women was more than outweighed by the establishment of marriages of dominion as the one legitimate type, and by the gradual loosening of the principle that married women could count on their own kin to stand by them against their husbands." ' In "the time of ignorance" writing was well known and poetry flourished. Three accomplishments were coveted — elo- quence, horsemanship and liberal hospitality. Orators were in demand, and to maintain the standard and reward excellence there were large assemblies as at Okatz. These lasted a whole month and the tribes came long journeys to hear the orators and poets as well as to engage in trade. The learning of the Arabs was chiefly confined to tribal history, astrology and the interpretation of dreams ; in these they made considerable progress. According to Moslem tradition the science of writing was not known in Mecca until introduced by Harb, Father of Abu Scofian, the great opponent of Mohammed, about a. d, 560. But this is evidently an error, for close intercourse existed long before this between Mecca and Sana the capital of Yemen where writing was well known ; and in another tradition Abd el Muttalib is said to have written to Medina for help in his younger days, /. e., about 520 a. d. Both Jews and Christians also dwelt in the vicinity of Mecca for two hundred years before the Hegira and used some form of writing. For writing mate- rials they had abundance of reeds and palm-leaves as well as ' Smith's " Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia," pp. 100, 104. 164 /IRABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM the flat, smooth shoulder-bones of sheep. The seven poems are said to have been written in gold on Egyptian silk and suspended in the Kaaba. In the earlier part of his mission INIohammed despised the poets for the good reason that some, among them a poetess, wrote satirical verses about him. Tlie Koran says " those who go astray follow the poets." (Surah 26 : 224) and a more vigorous though less elegant denouncement is recorded in the traditions (Mishkat Bk. 22, eh. 10): "A belly full of puru- lent matter is better than a belly full of poetry." When two of the heathen poets, Labid and Hassan embraced Islam, the prophet became more lenient, and is reported to have said "poetry is a kind of composition which if it is good, it is good, and if it is bad, it is bad ! " Concerning the religion of the heathen Arabs the Moham- medan writer Ash-Shahristani says : " The Arabs of pre-islamic times may, with reference to religion be divided into various classes. Some of them denied the Creator, the resurrection and men's return to God, and asserted that Nature possesses in itself the power of bestowing life, but that Time destroys. Others believed in a Creator and a creation produced by Him out of nothing but yet denied the resurrection. Others be- lieved in a Creator and a creation but denied God's prophets and worshipped false gods concerning whom they believed that in the next world they would become mediators between them- selves and God. For these deities they undertook pilgrimages, they brought offerings to them, offered them sacrifices and ap- proached them with rites and ceremonies. Some things they held to be Divinely permitted, others to be prohibited. This was the religion of the majority of the Arabs." This is re- markable evidence for a Mohammedan who would naturally be inclined to take an unfavorable view. But his absolute silence regarding the Jews and Christians of Arabia is suggestive. When the Arabian tribes lost their earliest monotheism (the religion of Job and their patriarchs) they first of all adopted "THE TIME OF IGNORANCE" 165 Sabeanism or the worship of the hosts of heaven. A proof of this is their ancient practice of making circuits around the shrines of their gods as well as their skill in astrology. Very- soon however the star-worship became greatly corrupted and other deities, superstitions and practices were introduced. An- cient Arabia was a refuge for all sorts of religious-fugitives ; and each band added something to the national stock of religious ideas. The Zoroastrians came to East Arabia ; the Jews set- tled at Kheibar, Medina, and in Yemen ; Christians of many sects lived in the north and in the highlands of Yemen. For all pagan Arabia Mecca was the centre many centuries before Mohammed. Here stood the Kaaba, the Arabian Pantheon, with its three hundred and sixty idols, one for each day in the year. Here the tribes of Hejaz met in annual pilgrimage to rub themselves on the Black Stone, to circumambulate the Beit Allah or Bethel of their creed and to hang portions of their garments on the sacred trees. At Nejran a sacred date-palm was the centre of pilgrimage. Everywhere in Arabia there were sacred stones or stone-heaps where the Arab devotees congregated to obtain special blessings. The belief in jinn or genii was well-nigh universal, but there was a distinction be- tween them and gods. The gods have individuality while the jinn have not ; the gods are worshipped, the jinn are only feared ; the god has one form ; the jinn appear in many. All that the Moslem world believes in regard to jinn is wholly bor- rowed from Arabian heathenism and those who have read the Arabian Nights know what a large place they hold in the every- day life of Moslems. The Arabs were always superstitious, and legends of all sorts cluster around every weird desert rock, gnarled tree or inter- mittent fountain in Arabia. The early Arabs therefore marked off such sacred territory by pillars or cairns and considered many things such as shedding of blood, cutting of trees, killing game, etc., forbidden within the enclosure. This is the origin of the Haramairi or sacred territory around Mecca and Medina. IPR .^RJBL-f, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM Sacrifices were common, but not by fire. The blood of the offering was smeared over the rude stone altars and the flesh was eaten by the worshipper. First fruits were given to the gods and libations were poured out ; a hair-oftering formed a part of the ancient pilgrimage ; this also is imitated to-day. W. Robertson Smith tries to prove that tottmism was the earliest form of Arabian idolatry and that each tribe had its sacred animal. The strongest argument for this is the un- doubted fact that many of the tribal names were taken from animals and that certain animals were regarded as sacred in parts of Arabia. The theory is too far-reaching to be adopted at haphazard and the author's ideas of the significance of animal sacrifice are not in accord with the teaching of Scrip- ture. It is however interesting to know that the same author- ity thinks the Arabian tribal marks or wasms were originally totem-marks and must have been tattooed on the body even as they are now used to mark property. The washm of the idol- atrous Arabs seems related to their wasms and was a kind of tattooing of the hands, arms and gums. It was forbidden by Mohammed but is still widely prevalent in North Arabia among the Bedouin women. Covenants of blood and of salt are also very ancient Semitic institutions and prevailed all over Arabia. The form of the oath was various. At Mecca the parties dipped their hands in a pan of blood and tasted the contents ; in other places they opened a vein and mixed their fresh blood ; again they would each draw the others' blood and smear it on seven stones set up in the midst. The later Arabs substituted the blood of a sheep or of a camel for human blood. The principal idols of Arabia were the following ; ten of them are mentioned by name in the Koran. Hubal was in the form ot a man and came from Syria ; lie was the god of rain and had a high place of honor. WaJd was the god of the firmament. Strwah, in the form of a woman, was said to be from antediluvian times. i^: ''THE TIME OF IGNORANCE" 107 Yaghuth had the shape of a lion. Ya'ook was in the form of a horse, and was worshipped in Yemen. Bronze images of this idol are found in ancient tombs. Nasr was the eagle-god. ■ . 1^,^ El Uzza, identified by some scholars with Venus, was worshipped at times under the form of an acacia tree. Allot was the chief idol of the tribe of Thakif at Taif who tried to compromise with Mohammed to accept Islam if he would not destroy their god for three years. The name appears to be the feminine of Allah. Manat was a huge stone worshipped as an altar by several tribes. Duwar was the virgin's idol and young women used to go around it in procession ; hence its name. Isaf and Naila stood near Mecca on the hills of Safa and Mirwa; the visitation of these popular shrines is now a part of the Moslem pilgrimage. Habhab was a large stone on which camels were slaughtered. Beside these there were numerous other gods whose names have been utterly lost and yet who each had a place in the Pantheon at Mecca. Above all these was the supreme deity whom they called 6' Ozb> •(>■ U a« o a\ M \o I W Ln ^0 m _. 4^ 9|c ,ic ;tc 4c :4c <^' s •.3 >** s-^^H"?^ !^ fi " isS-° I S'On UQ „ --f^ -^ a n o ft •-• 3 w „. -I r^ Li f-- a <. 5 3 n-tra - ^ _ o 3 3 — .S 3 a' 3;' o'l' K ?, "' hJ 3,>c: ■ P g 1^ -• p - ;;• 3 ^ 1 Gj ftj P. 3 m>2 S ~ I n q "-'ft-u^ <;3-3r P„. fp.l'pior;^ ^ S J"_^ o - -r 3 N 3 o ->Sn>if3p^ §3" >-< O 3 3 O C ^—1 3>;^3 n p n, o 2. o . n ^t\ b. >-! cj o ■5- a era 5' ffi S >; :2 ^ 3"^ ?«- ^ o' -• 3 n o -° £,P -gS'^O r^S^f* 3 ^- (5 °^ 3 " G V 3 - — S- BO- -§ §■"3 3 w'^' a ;; o" :^- ^^ n h> < n H rr 7fi c H a rrr P 11 3 1 ><-3 2 Wl 3 o =r-0 ^ ■1 ^ o o =1 3 w 3-o-a o >< > rrtn o c C ?i o'- n a 3 P c 3 3 ::! o _!_ D.- ■< - ;^ ^ td 0^3 M P > > > r- -<: CO O H m DO O ?o 7^ O oPonor;s^r:r'pi" f^o 5c.33Sn.03-c 5-0, i-o § o'Km o P 3 f .— 3 0-0 p s s-„KJtrps-ssp2ic "j^_^= S-a^p ;? ,, o "■ g-p-s ' ' topnii>ia'-io2;72 s-r?s-^s:3^Q3;:ops >i P 3' ^ O 3-^ .,, g S era P Q- rt - „ ._-_ 3 > aS'trq ■ r-O S ^ 3 r» ll S.. 3 3 p § — a 2- ~ W' H'.'i e; P p ^ -" e Pi ^ Kl 2^ T ."^ D. n 'I c p 3- 3 S 3 a 178 I XVIII THE PROPHET AND HIS BOOK N 570 A. D. Abdullah the son of Abd el Muttalib a Mecca merchant went on a trading trip from Mecca to Medina and died there ; the same year his wife, Amina, gave birth to a boy, named Mohammed, at Mecca. One hundred years later the name of this Arab lad, joined to that of the Almighty, was called out from ten thousand mosques five times daily, from Muscat to Morocco, and his new religion was sweeping every- thing before it in three continents. What is the explanation of this marvel of history ? Many theories have been laid down and the true explanation is prob- ably the sum of all of them. The weakness of Oriental Chris- tianity and the corrupt state of the church ; the condition of the Roman and Persian empires ; the character of the new re- ligion ; the power of the sword and fanaticism ; the genius of Mohammed ; the partial truth of his teaching ; the genius of Mohammed's successors ; the hope of plunder and love of con- quest ; — such are some of the causes given for the early and rapid success of Islam. Mohammed was a prophet without miracles but not without genius. Whatever we may deny him we can never deny that he was a great man with great talents. But he was not a self- made man. His environment accounts in a large measure for his might and for his method in becoming a religious leader. There was first of all the political factor. "The year of the elephant " had seen the defeat of the Christian hosts of Yemen who came to attack the Kaaba. This victory was to the young and ardent mind of Mohammed prophetic of the political future of Mecca and no doubt his ambition assigned himself 179 180 ARABU, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM the chief place in the coming conflict of Arabia against the Roman and Persian oppressors. Next came the religious factor. The times were ripe for re- ligious leadership and Mecca was already the centre of a new movement. The Hanifs had rejected the old idolatry and en- tertained the hope that a prophet would arise from among them.^ There was material of all sorts at hand to furnish the platform of a new faith; it only required the builder's eye to call cosmos out of chaos. To succeed in doing this it would be necessary to reject material also ; a comprehensive religion and a compromising religion, so as to suit Jew and Christian and idolater alike. Then there was the family factor, or, in other words, the aristocratic standing of Mohammed. He was not a mere " camel-driver." The Koreish were the ruling clan of Mecca ; Mecca was even then the centre for all Arabia ; and Moham- med's grandfather, Abd el Muttalib, was the most influential and powerful man of that aristocratic city. The pet-child of Abd el Muttalib was the orphan boy Mohammed. Until his eighth year he was under the shelter and favor of this chief man of the Koreish. He learned what it was to be lordly and to exercise power, and never forgot it. The man, his wife and his training were the determinative factors in the character of Mohammed. The ruling factor was the mind and genius of the man himself. Of attractive personal qualities, beautiful countenance, and accomplished in business, he first won the attention and then the heart of a very wealthy widow, Khadi- jah. Koelle tells us that she was " evidently an Arab lady of a strong mind and mature experience who maintained a de- cided ascendency over her husband, and managed him with great wisdom and firmness. This appears from nothing more strikingly, than from the very remarkable fact that she suc- ceeded in keeping him from marrying any other wife as long as she lived, though at her death, when he had long ceased to 1 Koelle 's Mohammed, p. 27. THE PROPHET AND HIS BOOK 181 be a young man he indulged without restraint in the muhipli- cation of wives. But as Khadijah herself was favorably dis- posed toward Hanifism, it is highly probable that she exercised her commanding influence over her husband in such a manner as to promote and strengthen his own attachment to the re- formatory sect of monotheists." Mohammed married this woman when he had reached his twenty-fifth year. At the age of forty he began to have his revelations and to preach his new religion. His first convert, naturally perhaps, was his wife ; then Ali and Zeid his two adopted children; then his friend, the prosperous merchant, Abu-Bekr. Such was the nucleus for the new faith. Mohammed is described in tradition as a man above middle height, of spare figure, commanding presence, massive head, noble brow, and jet-black hair. His eyes were piercing. He had a long bushy beard. Decision marked his every move- ment and he always walked rapidly. Writers seem to agree that he had the genius to command and expected obedience from equals as well as inferiors. James Freeman Clarke says that to him more than to any other of whom history makes mention was given " The monarch mind, the mystery of commanding, The birth-hour gift, the art Napoleon Of wielding, moulding, gathering, welding, banding The hearts of thousands till they moved as one." As to the moral character of Mohammed there is great di- versity of opinion and the conclusions of different scholars can- not be easily reconciled. Muir, Dods, Badger, and others claim that he was at first sincere and upright, himself believing in his so-called revelations, but that afterward, intoxicated by success, he used the dignity of his prophetship for personal ends and was conscious of deceiving the people in some of his later revelations. Bosworth Smith and his like, maintain that he was " a very Prophet of God " all through his life and that 182 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM the sins and faults of his later years are only specks on the sun of his glory. Older writers, with whom I agree, saw in Mo- hammed only the skill of a clever impostor from the day of his first message to the day of his death. Koelle, whose book is a mine of accurate scholarship and whose experience of many years mission-work in Moslem lands qualifies him for a sober judgment, sees no striking contrast between the earlier and later part of Mohammed's life that cannot be easily explained by the influence of Khadijah. He was semper idem, an am- bitious enthusiast choosing different means for the same end and never very particular as to the character of the means used. Aside from the question of Mohammed's sincerity no one can apologize for his moral character if judged according to the law of his time, the law he himself professed to reveal or the law of the New Testament. By the New Testament law of Jesus Christ, who was the last prophet before Mohammed and whom Mohammed acknowledged as the Word of God, the Arabian prophet stands self-condemned. The most cursory examination of his biography proves that he broke repeatedly every sacred precept of the Sermon on the Mount. And the Koran itself proves that the Spirit of Jesus was entirely absent from the mind of Mohammed. The Arabs among whom Mo- hammed was born and grew to manhood also had a law, although they were idolaters, slave-holders and polygamists. Even the robbers of the desert who, like Mohammed, laid in wait for caravans, had a code of honor. Three flagrant breaches of this code stain the character of Mohammed.' It was quite lawful to marry a captive woman whose relatives had been slain in battle, but not until three months after their death. Mohammed only waited three days in the case of the Jewess Safia. It was lawful to rob merchants but not pilgrims on their way to Mecca. Mohammed broke this old law and "revealed a verse" to justify his conduct. Even in the "Time of Ig- 1 See an article on " Mohammedanism and Christianity." — Dr. Robert Bruce, The Christian Intelligencer (New York) April, 1894, THE PROPHET AND HIS BOOK 183 norance " it was incest to marry the wife of an adopted son even after his decease. The prophet Mohammed fell in love with the lawful wife of his adopted son Zeid, prevailed on him to divorce her and then married her immediately ; for this also he had a "special revelation." But Mohammed was not only guilty of breaking the old Arab laws and coming infinitely short of the law of Christ, he never even kept the laws of which he claimed to be the divinely appointed medium and custodian. When Khadijah died he found his own law, lax as it was, insufficient to restrain his lusts. His followers were to be content with four lawful wives ; he indulged in ten and en- tered into negotiations for matrimony with thirty others. It is impossible to form a just estimate of the character of Mohammed unless we know somewhat of his relations with women. This subject however is of necessity shrouded from decent contemplation by the superabounding brutality and filthiness of its character. A recent writer in a missionary magazine touching on this subject says, " We must pass the matter over, simply noting that there are depths of filth in the Prophet's character which may assort well enough with the de- praved sensuality of the bulk of his followers , . . but which are simply loathsome in the eyes of all over whom Christianity in any measure or degree has influence." We have no inclination to lift the veil that in most English biog- raphies covers the family-life of the prophet of Arabia. But it is only fair to remark that these love-adventures and the dis- gusting details of his married life form a large part of the " lives of the prophet of God " which are the fireside literature of educated Moslems. Concerning the career of Mohammed after the Hegira, or flight from Mecca (622 a. d.), a brief summary suffices to show of what spirit he was. Under his orders and direction the Moslems lay in wait for caravans and plundered them; the first victories of Islam were the victories of highwaymen and robbers, Asma, the poetess who assailed the character of Mo- 184 ARABU, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM hammed, was foully murdered in her sleep by Omeir, and Mo- hammed praised him for the deed. Similarly Abu Afik, the Jew, was killed at the request of Mohammed. The story of the massacre of the Jewish captives is a dark stain also on the character of the prophet whose mouth ever spoke of " the Merciful and Compassionate." After the victory, trenches were dug across the market-place and one by one the male-captives were beheaded on the brink of the trench and cast in it. The butchery lasted all day and it needed torch-light to finish it. After dark Mohammed solaced himself with Rihana a Jewish captive girl, who refused marriage and Islam, but became his bond-slave. It is no wonder that shortly after, Zeinab, who had lost her father and brother in battle, tried to avenge her race by attempting to poison Mohammed. In the seventh year of the Hegira Mohammed went to Mecca and instituted for all time the Moslem pilgrimage. The following year he again set out for Mecca at the head of an army of 10,000 men and took the city without a battle. Other expeditions followed and up to the day, almost the hour, of his death the prophet was planning conquests by the sword. It is a bloody story from the year of the Hegira until the close of the Caliphates. He who reads it in Muir's volumes cannot but feel the sad contrast between the early days of Islam and the early days of Christianity. The germ of all sword-con- quest must be sought in the life and book of Mohammed. Both consecrate butchery in the service of Allah. The suc- cessors of Mohammed were not less unmerciful than was the prophet himself. Thus far we have considered Mohammed from a critical standpoint and have written facts. But the Mohammed of his- tory and the Mohammed of the present day Moslem biogra- phers are two different persons. Even in the Koran, Mohammed is human and liable to error. Tradition has changed all that. He is now sinless and almost divine. The two hundred and one names given him by pious believers proclaim his apotheosis. THE PROPHET AND HIS BOOK 185 He is called Light of God, Peace of the World, Glory of the Ages, First of all Creatures and names yet more lofty and blasphemous. He is at once the sealer and concealor of all former prophets and revelations. They have not only been succeeded but also supplanted by Mohammed. No Moslem prays to him, but every Moslem daily prays for him in endless repetition. He is the only powerful intercessor on the day of judgment. Every detail of his early life is surrounded with fantastical miracles and marvels to prove his divine commission. Even the evil in his life is attributed to divine permission or command and so the very faults of his character are his end- less glory and his sign of superiority. God favored him above all creatures. He dwells in the highest heaven and is several degrees above Jesus in honor and station. His name is never uttered or written without the addition of a prayer. *' Ya Mohammed" is the open sesame to every door of diffi- culty, temporal or spiritual. One hears that name in the bazaar and in the street, in the mosque and from the minaret. Sailors sing it while raising their sails ; hammals groan it to raise a burden ; the beggar howls it to obtain alms ; it is the Bedouin's cry in attacking a caravan ; it hushes babies to sleep as a cra- dle song ; it is the pillow of the sick and the last word of the dying ; it is written on the door-posts and in their hearts as well as since eternity on the throne of God ; it is to the de- vout Moslem the name above every name ; grammarians can tell you how its four letters are representative of all the sciences and mysteries by their wonderful combination. The name of Mohammed is the best to give a child and the best to swear by for an end of all dispute in a close bargain. The exceeding honor given to Mohammed's name by his followers is only one indication of the place their prophet occupies in their system and holds in their hearts. From the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh. Mohammed holds the keys of heaven and hell. No Moslem, however bad his character, will perish finally ; no unbeliever, however good his life, can be saved ex- 186 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM cept through Mohammed. One .has only to question the Moslem masses or read a single volume of the traditions to prove these statements. Islam denies a mediator and an incarnation but the " Story of the Jew" and similar tales put Mohammed in the place of a mediator without an incarnation, without an atonement, without holiness. Our Analysis of the Moslem creed shows how all the later teaching which so exalted Mohammed was present in the germ. "La ilaha ilia Allah " is the theology, "Mohammed er rasool Allah,'''' the complete Soteriology of Islam. The logical necessity of a perfect mediator was at the basis of the doctrine of Tradition. Islam has, it claims, a perfect revelation in the letter of the Koran ; and a perfect ex- ample in the life of Mohammed. The stream has not risen higher than its sources. The Book of Islam. When Mohammed Webb the lat- est American champion of Islam spoke at the Chicago Par- liament of religions in praise of the Koran and its teaching, Rev. George E. Post, M. D., of Beirut deemed it a sufficient re- ply to let the book speak for itself. He said : "I hold in my hand a book which is never touched by 200,000,000 of the human race with unwashen hands, a book which is never car- ried below the waist, a book which is never laid upon the floor, a book every word of which to these 200,000,000 of the hu- man race is considered the direct word of God which came down from heaven. I propose without note or comment to read to you a few words from the sacred book and you may make your own comments upon them afterward." After quoting several verses to show that Mohammed preached a re- ligion of the sword and of polygamy, he added : "There is one chapter which I dare not stand before you, my sisters, mothers and daughters, and read to you. I have not the face to read it ; nor would I like to read it even in a congregation of men. It is the sixty-fourth chapter of the Koran." What sort of a book is this revelation of Mohammed of which THE PROPHET AND HIS BOOK 187 parts are unfit to read before a Christian audience and which yet is too holy to be touched by other than Moslem hands ? A book which the orthodox Moslem believes to be uncreated and eternal, all-embracing and all-surpassing, miraculous in its origin and contents. A book concerning which Mohammed himself has said, "If the Koran were wrapped in a skin and thrown into the fire it would not burn." Goethe described it thus : " However often we turn to it, at first disgusting us each time afresh it soon attracts, astounds, and in the end enforces our reverence. Its style in accordance with its contents and aim is stern, grand, terrible — and ever and anon truly sublime. Thus this book will go on exercising through all ages a most potent influence." And Noldeke writes, "if it were not for the exquisite flexibility and vigor of the Arabic language it- self, which, however is to be attributed more to the age in which the author lived than to his individuality, it would scarcely be bearable to read the later portions of the Koran a second time." Goethe read only the translation ; and Noldeke was master of the original. It is as hopeless to arrive at a unan- imous verdict regarding the Koran as it is to reach an agree- ment regarding Mohammed, The book has fifty-five noble titles on the lips of its people but is generally called the Koran or "The Reading." It has one hundred and fourteen chapters, some of which are as long as the book of Genesis and others consisting of two or three sentences only. The whole book is smaller than the New Tes- tament, has no chronological order whatever and is without logical sequence or climax. What strikes the reader first of all is its jumbled character; every sort of fact and fancy, law and legend is thrown together piecemeal. The four proposed chronological arrangements, by Jorlal-ud-Din, Muir, Rodwell and Noldeke are in utter disagreement. Only two of Moham- med's contemporaries are mentioned in the entire book and his own name occurs only five times. The book is unintelligible to the average Moslem without a commentary, and I defy any 188 .4RABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM one else to read it througli, without the aid of notes, and understand a single chapter or even section. We will not stop to consider the fabulous account which Moslems give of the origin of the Koran and how the various chapters were revealed. Although Moslems claim that the book was eternally perfect in form and preserved in heaven, they are compelled to admit that it was revealed piece-meal and at various times and places by Mohammed to his followers. It was recorded in writing, after the rude Arab fashion, ''on palm-leaves and sheep-bones and white stones ' ' to some extent ; but for the most part was preserved orally by constant repeti- tion. Omar suggested to Abu-Bekr after the battle of Yemama that since many of the Koran reciters were slain, it would be the part of wisdom to put the book of God in permanent form. The task was committed to Zaid, the chief amanuensis of Mo- hammed and the resulting volume was entrusted to the care of Hafsa, one of the widows of the prophet. Ten years later a recension of the Koran was ordered by the Caliph Othman and all previous copies were called in and burned. This recension of Othman, sent to all the chief cities of the Moslem world, has been faithfully handed down to the present. " No other book in the world has remained twelve centuries with so pure a text." (Hughes.) The present variations in editions of the Arabic Koran are numerous but none of them are, in any sense important. The present Koran is the same book that Moham- med professed to have received from God. Out of its own mouth will we judge the book ; and we cannot judge the book without judging the prophet. We will speak later of the poetical beauties of the Koran and of its literary character. We do not deny also that there are in the Koran certain moral beauties, such as its deep and fervent trust in the one God, its lofty descriptions of His Almighty power and omnipresence, and its sententious wisdom. The first chapter and the verse of the throne are examples. THE PROPHET AND HIS BOOK 189 " In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Praise be to God, Lord of all the worlds ! The Compassionate, the Merciful! King on the Day of Judgment ! Thee do we worship, and to Thee do we cry for help ! Guide Thou us on the right path ! The path of those to whom Thou art gracious ! Not of those with whom Thou art angered, nor of those who go astray." " God ! there is no God but He ; the living, the Eternal Slumber doth not overtake Him, neither sleep. To Him belongeth whatsoever is in heaven and on the earth. The preservation of both is no weariness unto Him. He is the high, the mighty." The great bulk of the Koran is either legislative or legend- ary; the book consists of laws and stories. The former relate entirely to subjects which engrossed the Arabs of Mo- hammed's day — the laws of inheritance, the relation of the sexes, the law of retaliation, etc. — and this part of the book has a local character. The stories on the other hand go back to Adam and the patriarchs, take in several unknown Arabian prophets or leaders, centre around Jesus Christ, Moses and Solomon and do not venture beyond Jewish territory except to mention Alexander the Great and Lukman (^sop.). From the analytical tables it is not very difficult to see whence the material for the Koran was selected. Rabbi Geiger's book, recently translated into English, will satisfy any reader that Hughes is nearly right when he says, "Moham- medanism is simply Talmudic Judaism adapted to Arabia plus the apostleship of Jesus and Mohammed." But it is Talmudic Judaism and not the Judaism of the Old Testament. For the Koran is remarkable most of all not because of its contents but because of its omissions. Not because of what it reveals but for what it conceals of "former revelations." The defects of its teaching are many. It is full of historical errors and blunders. It has monstrous fables. It teaches a false cos- 190 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM mogony. It is full of superstitions. It perpetuates slavery, polygamy, religious intolerance, the seclusion and degradation of woman and petrities social life. But all this is of minor importance compared with the fact that the Koran professing to be a ra'dlijtion from God does not teach the way to recon- ciliation with God and seems to ignore the first and great barrier to such reconciliation, viz : sin. Of this the Old and New Testaments are always speaking. Sin and sahation are the subject of which the Torah and the Zaboin- and the Injil (Law Prophets and Psalms) are full. The Koran is silent or if not absolutely silent, keeps this great question ever in the back- ground.^ It is a commonplace of theology that " to form erroneous conceptions of sin is to fall into still gra\er errors regarding the way of salvation." Mohammed, as is evident from his whole life, had no deep conviction of sin in himself; he was full of self-righteousness. His ideas, too, of Gotl, wtxo. physical, not moral ; he saw God's power, but never had a glimpse of His holiness. And so we find that there is an inward unity binding together the prophet and his book as to their real character in the light of the gospel. With such ideas of God, such a prophet and such a book, it is easy to understand why the ]\Io- hammedan world became what it is to-day. These bare out- lines of the system of Islam are all that are necessary to indi- cate its nature and genus. Allah's character as the revealer, Mohammed's character as the cliannel of the revelation, and the revelation itself, show us Islam in its cradle. 1 Even the sacred books of India and China and Ancient Egypt com- pare more favorabl)- with the Bible in this respect than does the Koran. They teach the heinous character of sin, as sin, and do not deny the need of a mediator or of propitiatory sacritice but are full of botli ideas. XIX THE WAHABI RULERS AND REFORMERS " Nothing is so easy to appreciate as true Christian commerce. It is a speaking argument, even to the lowest savage, for a gospel of truth and love, and yet more to the races sophisticated by a false civilization." — Principal Cairns. THE history of the Arabian Peninsula has never yet been written. Many books descriVje certain periods of its history from the time of the earher Arabian rulers, but there is no volume that tells the story from the beginning in a way worthy of the subject. It would be interesting to search out the earliest records and trace the Himyarite dynasties to their origin ; to learn the story of the Jewish immigrants who settled in Medina, Mecca and Yemen even before the Christian Era ; to follow the Arabs in their conquests under the banner of the prophet; to watch the sudden rise of the Carmathians and fol- low them in their career of destruction ; to search the old li- braries and rediscover the romantic story of the Portuguese, the Dutch and the English in Arabian waters; — but our space limits us to the story of the past century.* To understand the present political conditions and recent history of Arabia, we must go back to the year 1765, which marks the rise of the remarkable Wahabi movement, which was at the bottom of all the political changes that the Peninsula has seen since -that time. This movement was the renaissance of Islam, even though it ended in apparent disaster, and was polit- ically a splendid fiasco. The Wahabi reform attracted the at- tention of Turkey to Arabia ; its influence was felt in India to ' For a Chronological table of Arabian history, from the earliest times to the present, see Appendix, 191 h)'i .^tR.im.t, THF. CRADl.F OF ISLAM the extent of declaring aji/uu/ or religious war against the gov- ernment, and compelled England to study the situation and send representatives to the very heart of Arabia. Beginning with the \\'ahabi dynasty, the history of the past century in Arabia centres in the rulers of Nejd and Oman, the Turkish conquests and the English influence and occupation. The strong independent government of Nejd under Ibn Rashid and his successor, Abd-ul-Aziz, would have been an impossi- bility except for the result of the Wahabi movement, in demon- strating the weakness of Turkish rule. And it was for fear of the ^^'ahabi aggressions that Turkey strengthened her Arabian possessions aiid invaded Hassa. Mohammed bin Abd-ul-Wahab was born at Ayinah in Nejd, in 1 69 1. Carefully instructed by his father in the tenets of Is- lam according to the school of llambali, the strictest of the four great sects.' Abd-ul-^^'ahab visited the schools of INIecca, Busrah and Bagdad, to increase his learning. At ^Medina, too, he absorbed the deepest learning of the Moslem divines and soaked himself in the " six correct books " of traditions. In his travels he had observed the laxity of faith and practice which had crept in, especially among the Turks and the Arabs of the large cities. He tried to distinguish between the essen- tial elements of Islam and its later additions, some of which seemed to him to savor of gross idolatry and worldliness. AVhat most offended the rigid monotheism of his philosophy was the almost universal visitation of shrines, invocation of saints and honor paid to the tomb of INIohammed. The use of the rosary, of jewels, silk, gold, silver, wine and tobacco, were all abominations to be eschewed. These were indications of the great need for reform. The earlier teaching of the com- panions of the prophet had been set aside or overlaid by later teaching. Even the four orthodox schools had departed from 1 The four orthoilo.\ sects are called: llanafis, Shafis. Malakis, and Hambalis. The last was founded by Ibn Ilambal at Bagdad, 7S0 A. D. it is the least popular sect. THE WAHAHl RlJI.r.RS AM) REFORMERS VS.'. the pure faith l>y allowing pilgrimage to Medina, by multiply- ing festivals and philosophizing aljout the nature of Allah. Therefore it was that Abd-ul-Wahab preached reform not only, but proclaimed himself the leader of a new sect. His teach- ing was based on the Koran and the early traditions. This movement is chiefly distinguished from the orthodox system in the following particulars : 1. The Wahabis reject /jma or the agreement of later interpreters, 2. They offer no prayers to i;rophet, wali, or saint, nor visit tlicir tombs for that purjxjsc. 3. They say Mohammed is not yet an intercessor; althouj^h at tlie last day he will be. 4. They forbid women to visit the graves of the dead. 5. They allow only four festivals; Fitr, Azha,'Ashura z-nd Lailat El Mobarek. 6. They do not celebrate Mohammed's birth. 7. They use their knuckles for prayer-counting, and not rosaries. 8. They strictly forbid the use of silk, gold, silver ornaments, tobacco, music, opium, and every luxury of the Orient, except perfume and women. 9. They have anthropomorphic ideas of God by strictly literal inter- pretation of the Koran texts about " His hand," "sitting," etc. 10. They believe jihad or religious war, is not out of date, but in- umbent on the believer. 11. They condemn minarets, tombstones, and everything that was not in use during the first years of Islam. There is no doubt that Abd-ul-Wahab honestly tried to bring about a reform and that in many of the points enumerated his reform was strictly a return to primitive Islam. But it was too radical to last. It took no count of modern civilization and the ten centuries that had modified the very character of the Arabs of the towns not to speak of those outside of Arabia. Yet the preaching of the Reformer found willing ears in the isolation of the desert. As in the days of Omar, the promise of reform in religion was made attractive by the promise of rich booty to those who fought in the path of God and de- 194 /iRABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM stroyed creature-worsliippers. Mohammed Abd-ul-^Vahab was the preacher, but to propagate his doctrine he needed a sword. Mohammed bin Saud, of Deraiyah, suppUed the latter factor and the two Mohammeds, allied by marriage and a common ambition, began to make converts and conquests. The son of Bin Saud, Abd-ul-Aziz, was the Omar of the new movement, and his son Saud even surpassed the father in military prowess and successful conquest. Abd-ul-Aziz was murdered by a Persian fanatic while prostrate in prayer in the mosque at Deraiyah, in 1S03. Saud at this very time was pushing the ^^'ahabi conquest to the very gates of Mecca. On tlie 27th of April, 1S03, lie carried his banner into the court of the Kaaba and began to cleanse the holy place. Piles of pipes, tobacco, silks, rosaries and amulets were collected into one great heap and set on fire by the infuriated enthusiasts. No excesses were committed against the people except that re- ligion was forced upon them. The mosques were filled by public "whips" who used their leather thongs without mercy on all the lazy or negligent. Everybody, for a marvel, prayed five times a day. The result of his victory at Mecca was communicated by the dauntless Saud in the following naive letter addressed to the Sultan of Turkey : " Saud to Salim. — I entered Mecca on the fourth day of Moharram in the 1218th year of the Hegira. I kept peace toward the inhabitants. I destroyed all things that were idolatrously worsliipped. I abolished all taxes except those that were required by tlie law. I confirmed the Kadlii whom you had appointed agreeably to the commands of the prophet of God. I desire that you will give orders to the rulers of Damascus and Cairo not to come up to the sacred city with the Ma/imal'^ and with trumpets and drums. Religion is not profited by these things. May the peace and blessing of God be with you." The absence of long salutations and the usual phrases of honor is characteristic of all Wahabi correspondence. In this * The Mahmal is a covered litter, an emblem of royalty and of super- stitious honor sent from Cairo and Damascus to Mecca, to this day. THE WAHABl RULERS AND REFORMERS lf)5 respect it is a great improvement on the excessive lavishment of titles and honors so usual among Moslems, especially among the Persians and the Turks. Before the close of the year Saud avenged his father's death by attacking Medina and destroying the gilded dome that covered the prophet's tomb. As early as 1801 parties of plundering Wahabis had sacked the tomb of Hussein and carried off rich booty from the sacred city of Kerbela. Ac- cording to the official inventory this booty consisted of vases, carpets, jewels, weapons innumerable; also, 500 gilded copper- plates from the dome, 4,000 cashmire shawls, 6,000 Spanish doubloons, 350,000 Venetian coins of silver, 400,000 Dutch ducats, 250,000 Spanish dollars and a large number of Abys- sinian slaves belonging to the mosque.^ Their raids and con- quests extended in every direction so that in a few years the Wahabi power was supreme in the greater part of Arabia. A single illustration will show the great Saud's ^ prudence and celerity in action. When he invaded the Hauran plains, in 1 8 10, although it was thirty-five days' journey from his capital, yet the news of his approach only preceded his arrival by two days, nor was it known what part of Syria he planned to attack, and thirty-five villages of Hauran were sacked before the Pasha of Damascus could make any demonstrations for defence ! Meanwhile the Sublime Porte remained inactive and nothing was done to regain the sacred territories. It was deemed im- possible to reach Mecca from Damascus with any large body of soldiers through hostile territory where supplies were scarce. Salvation was expected from Egypt; and it was hoped that an ' Zehm's Arabic, p. 332. ^ Saud died at the age of forty-five, in April, 18 14, from fever, at Deraiyah. He was a strong-willed ruler but administered justice with rigor; he was wise in council and skillful in settling disputes and healing factions. Of his eight children, Abdullah, the eldest, succeeded him as ruler, 196 ARy4BIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM expedition by sea might succeed in taking Jiddah and thence advance upon Mecca. Mohammed Ali began preparations in 1810, and in the summer of 181 1 an expedition under his son Touson Pasha was sent out from Suez. In October the fleet arrived at Yenbo and the troops took the town. Ghaleb the Sherif of Mecca proved false to the Wahabis and made negoti- ations with the Turkish commander to hand over the town. In January the army occupied INIedina but at Bedr the troops were attacked by Wahabis and utterly routed. All through this first campaign the cruelty and treachery of the Turks was shocking even to the mind of their Bedouin allies. None of their promises were kept ; the skulls of the enemy slain were constructed into a sort of tower near Medina; Ghalib, the Sherif, was betrayed and in violation of the most sacred promises he was taken prisoner and deported ; whole- sale butchery of the wounded and mutilation of the slain were common. A second army under Mustafa Bey advanced toward Mecca and also took possession of Taif. Although the five cities of the Hejaz were now in the hands of the Turks the Wahabi power was not )'et broken. Mohammed Ali Pasha himself proceeded from Egypt with another army; he had great difiiculty in securing transportation and provisions. Finally he landed his troops at Jiddah and went on to Mecca, planning to attack Taraba the great Wahabi centre of the south, as Deraiyah was the capital of the north. Here the enemy had gathered in great numbers under an Amazon leader, a widow named Ghalye who ruled the Begoum Arabs. She was reported to be a sorceress among the Turks and stories of her skill and cour- age inspired them with fear. When the attack was made the Wahabis came off victorious and so harassed the army of oc- cupation that during 1813 and the beginning of 18 14 they re- mained perfectly inactive. Later the Turks made a sea at- tack on Gunfida, the port south of Jiddah, and captured it. The Wahabis however captured the wells that supplied the THE WAHABl RULERS AND REFORMERS 197 town, made a sortie and the Turkish troops fled panic-stricken, to their ships. Discontentment arose among the Turkish troops. Supplies failed and wages were in arrears. Mo- hammed Ali changed now his tactics and tried to bribe the Bedouin chiefs to desert the Wahabi leaders. At this time the Turkish army consisted of nearly 20,000 men and yet the campaign dragged on without a definite victory.^ The greatest battle was fought at Bissel near Taif where Mo- hammed Ali defeated the Wahabis with great slaughter. Six dollars were offered for every Wahabi head and before the day ended 5,000 bloody heads were piled up before the Pasha. About 300 prisoners were taken and offered quarter. But on reaching Mecca the cruel commander impaled fifty of them before the gates of the city; twelve suffered a like horrible death at every one of the ten coffee-houses, halting places be- tween Mecca and Jiddah ; the remainder were killed at Jiddah and their carcasses left to dogs and vultures. But the battle went against the Turks when they met the desert and its terrors. Hunger, thirst, fevers and the Bedouin robbers attacked the camp. In one day a hundred horses died ; the soldiers were dissatisfied and deserted. At length Mohammed Ali made proposals of peace to Abdullah bin Saud the Wahabi chief; and when Saud entered Kasim with an army the negotiations were concluded and peace was declared. But peace was not kept, and Ibrahim Pasha, the son of Mohammed Pasha was despatched with a large expedition against the Wahabis in August, 1816. While Egypt was attacking the Wahabi strongholds from the west, with infinite trouble and dubious results, the greatest loss the Wahabi government had yet suffered, was from a blow dealt by the British. In 1809 an English expedition went from Bombay against the piratical inhabitants of their chief ' The history of its tedious prosecution and all its cruelty on the side of the Turks is told by Burckhardt, the traveller, who was himself living in Mecca at this time. 198 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM castle and harbor, Ras-el-Kheimah. The place Avas bom- barded and laid in ashes. Ibrahim Pasha accomplished by intrigue and bribery what his father tailed to do by force of arms. After a scries of ad- vances one tribe after another was detached from the ^^'ahabi government. At last without a battle the capital Deraiyah was taken. Abdullah captm-ed, sent to Constantinople and there publicly executed on December iSth, iSiS. The Turks were naturally jubilant o\cr their success and thought they had made an end of the hated \\'ahabis. They soon learned their mistake. No sooner was the army of Ibrahim Pasha withdrawn than the old spirit rehabilitated the fallen empire with the old time strength of fanaticism. The army of the Pashas could not govern or even occupy the vast territories they had overrun, ^^'ithin a few years Turki the son of the late Amir was proclaimed Sultan of Nejd, recovered all and more than his father's territories, and by the judicious payment of a small tribute and yet smaller honor to the Egyptian Khedive retained the throne until he was murdered in 1831. His son and successor, Feysul, took the reins of gOA'crnment and was rash enough to repudiate the Egyptian Suzerainty. Nejd was again invaded. Hofhoof and Katif were temporarily occupied by Egyptian and Turkish troops and Feysul was banished to Egypt. ^ Feysul died in 1S65, having returned from his banishment in 1843 and ruling alone and supreme for all those years. His son Abdullah, who had acted as regent during the later years 1 Palgrave visited the Wahabi capital during the reign of Feysul and gives his usual picturesque descriptions of the court and family life of the genial tyrant. But it is necessary to take his accounts of Riad aim g^rano salis ; a Jesuit Roman Catholic would not describe the strict Puritanism of the Wahabis with any degree of admiration. Palgrave's statistics of the strength of Feysul's army and of the population of his dominions are utterly unreliable and greatly exaggerated. However one must read Palgrave to know what was the condition of the Wahabi em- pire in 1S60-63, for he is our only authority for that period. THR IVAHABl RULERS AND Rhl-ORMJiRS 109 of Feysul, succeeded to the throne. But there was a rival in his brother Saud. Intrigues, treasons anfl violence were hatch- ing in the palace courts even before the death of Feysul. The dagger and the coffee-cup of poisoned beverage have al- ways been favorite weapons in seating and unseating the rulers of Arabia. A prolonged fight ensued between the two brothers. Saud was at first successful but Abdullah flying to Turkey in- vited the aid of that power with the result that an expedition from Bagdad ended in formally and permanently occuping El Hassa as a Turkish province. At the time of Saud's death, in 1874, the conflict was re- newed, but Abdullah ultimately regained the supremacy and was ruler at Riad until 1886, when events occurred that heralded the rise of another power in Nejd, based on political intrigue and the sword rather than on religion and fanaticism. When Turki the Amir was murdered by his own cousin, Meshari, and Feysul succeeded to the throne, there was pres- ent at Riad in the army an obscure youth from Hail, Abdullah bin Rashid. He it was who entered the palace by stealth, stabbed Meshari, and helped to restore Feysul to his father's seat as ruler. His valor and loyalty were rewarded by bestow- ing upon him the governorship of his ov/n native province Shammar ; he was also granted a small army to strengthen the Wahabi rule in that region. He soon became almost as strong as his master and showed himself an expert in all the intrigue and skill possible to the Arabs. He extended his personal in- fluence on all sides, built a massive palace at Hail and defeated all who plotted his destruction. Hired assassins dogged him on the streets, but Abdullah escaped every danger and his star re- mained in the ascendant. In 1844 he died suddenly, leaving unaccomplished ambitions and three sons, Telal, Mitaab, and Mohammed. Telal, the eldest son, was proclaimed ruler and was ever more popular than his father had been, and no less successful as a ruler. He strengthened his capital, invited merchants from Busrah and Bagdad to reside there, and gradu- 200 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM ally but surely established his entire independence of the Wa- habi ruler at Riad. Tormented, however, by an internal malady he shot himself in 1867. His younger brother, Mitaab, who succeeded, ruled very briefly and was murdered by his nephews, the sons of Telal, within a year. Meanwhile, the third son of Abdullah bin Rashid, Mohammed, had been a refugee at the Riad capital. But his ambitions now found their opportunity and his true character was revealed. By per- mission of the Amir Abdullah bin Feysul he went back to Hail. He commenced by stabbing his nephew Bander who had usurped the throne ; he then killed the five remaining children of his brother Telal and became undisputed Amir at Hail in 1868. During the next eighteen years he consolidated his authority. His rule was after the Arab heart — with a rod of iron and lavish hospitality ; continual executions and continual feasting. The Arabs at Bahrein tell many almost incredible tales of Mohammed bin Rashid' s stern justice and speedy method of executing it, as well of his cruelty to those who resisted his will. In those days the public executioner's sword was always wet with blood ; men were tied to camels and torn asunder ; but the desert-roads were everywhere safe and robbers met with no mercy. As an indication of his wealth and hospitality it is related that he constructed in the court- yard of his palace a stone-cistern of great size always kept filled with that best of Bedouin dainties, clarified butter (dihn). A bucket and rope were at hand and oil was dealt out as freely as water to the honored guests of the great ruler. In the year 1886 the long-looked for opportunity came for Mohammed bin Rashid to complete the work of Telal. He not only aspired to be independent of the Riad rulers but to make Riad, the Saud dynasty and all the Wahabi state a de- pendency of his Nejd kingdom. In that year Amir Abdullah bin Feysul was seized and imprisoned by two of his nephews, one of whom usurped the throne. Mohammed, as a loyal sub- THE WAHABl RULERS AND REFORMERS 201 ject, marched to the rescue, deposed the pretender, but carried the Amir himself to Hail, leaving a younger brother as his deputy governor. The great empire of the Sauds was virtu- ally ended ; henceforth it was the green and purple banner of Rashid and not the red and white standard of the Wahabis that ruled all central Arabia. Mohammed bin Rashid had shown supreme diplomatic abil- ity in all his dealings with the Turks from the day of his power until his death. He humored their vanity by professing himself an ally of the Porte ; he paid a small annual tribute to the Sherif of Mecca in recognition of the Sultan. But for the rest he never loved the Turk except at a good distance. None of the Arabs of the interior have forgotten the perfidy, treach- ery and more than Arab cruelty of the Egyptian Pashas in their campaigns. "In 1890 a final attempt was made by the partisans of the old dynasty to rebel against the Amir and secure the independence of Riad. It was fruitless ; and the severe defeat of the rebels proved it final. In the year 1897 Mohammed bin Rashid died and his successor Abd-el-Aziz bin Mitaab now rules his vast dominions. He is less stern but not less able than his illustri- ous predecessor. XX THE RULERS OF OMAN "D EFORE we turn to the history of the Turks in Arabia a word is necessary regarding the rulers of Oman — that province unique in Arabia for its isolation from all the other provinces in the matter of politics. Prior to the appearance of the Portu- guese in the Persian Gulf (1506) Oman had been governed for nine hundred successive years by independent rulers called Imams ; elected by popular choice and not according to family descent. From that time until 1650 the Portuguese remained in power at Muscat. In 1 741 Ahmed bin Said, a man of humble origin, a camel-driver, rose by his bravery to be governor of Sohar, drove the Persians who had succeeded the Portuguese, out of Muscat and founded the dynasty that has ever since ruled Oman. As early as 1 798 the East India Company made a treaty with the Sultan of Muscat to exclude the French from Oman. This fact is important to show the character of the recent incident at Muscat. Seyid Said, who ruled from 1804 to 1856, had constant strug- gles against the Wahabi power who threatened his territory. With England he joined the war against the Wahabi pirates ; and made treaties in 1822, 1840 and 1845 to suppress the slave-trade. On the death of Said the Sultanate of Oman and Zanzibar was divided. Seyid Thowani reigned at Muscat while a younger brother reigned at Zanzibar. Thowani was assassinated at Sohar in 1866. Salim, his son, succeeded him, although he was suspected of patricide. Then there was an interregnum under a usurper until Seyid Turki another son of Said took the throne in 1871. Continual rebellion marked his period of rule. But he was friendly to the English and in re- 202 THE RULERS OF OM/IM 203 turn for the abolition of free traffic of slaves between Africa and Zanzibar the English government allowed him an annual sub- sidy of a little over ^,6,000 a year. In 1888 the Sultan died and his son, Feysul bin Turki, succeeded him. His rule was mild ; from the palace at Muscat his influence was not far- reaching ; rebellions, inter-tribal wars and plots of one moun- tain-chief against another mark all the years of his reign up to date. In February, 1895, there was a serious Bedouin uprising in which the Arabs took the town and looted it. The Sultan himself barely escaped and was for a time a prisoner in his fort while the town was in the hands of the enemy. The cause of the trouble was a difference as to the amount of yearly tribute a certain Sheikh Saleh of Samed should pay the Muscat ruler. From November, 1894, the rebels collected arms and strength- ened their numbers until on February 12th of the following year they were ready to strike the desired blow. As this episode was characteristic of all Arab warfare we quote a brief account of it sent at the time by a resident at Muscat to the Bombay press : "On February 12th Abdullah, the leader of his father's (Sheikh Saleh's) troops, with a retinue of perhaps 200 armed Bedouins arrived at Muscat in a scattered and peaceable man- ner, and obtained an audience with the Sultan. A musket salute was fired, and no attack was thought of. The Sultan presented the leader with a purse of ^400 and a liberal allow- ance of rice, dates, coffee, and the famous Muscat " halwa " for the men. The Bedouins although armed were allowed to go and come as they choose and no attack was feared. Sheikh Abdullah himself sat for a time in the bazaar and received the salaams of the people who kissed his hand in respect. When evening came the Sultan requested the men to encamp outside of the gates, the only means of entrance and exit through the old Portuguese walls. Although failing to comply with the re- quest the Bedouins claimed none but peaceful intentions. At 8 p. M. when according to custom the gates were closed, per- 204 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM haps one-half of the Bedouins were within the walls. This was their Trojan horse. Shortly after midnight the gates were at- tacked, the few customary guards being easily overcome, and thrown open to the large numbers of Bedouins who up to this time had been hiding in a neighboring mosque. Both the small gate leading to the bazaar and the larger one to the west of the town were easily taken, and the Bedouins then ad- vanced to the Sultan's palace, effected an entrance and rudely awoke the Sultan and his family from their sleep. Seyyidi Esel after a courageous struggle of a few minutes, (in which he shot two of the attacking party,) escaped by a small door open- ing to the sea and fled to one of the two forts which command the city as well as the harbor. His brother escaped to the other. Each of these forts is manned by a force of perhaps fifty men and has several old twelve pounder Portuguese guns. ' ' The forts opened fire at once upon the palace which the Bedouins now occupied. The Bedouins took possession of the town closing the gates and stationing armed men through the bazaar and streets in the early hours of the 1 3th of February. "A few shops containing muskets and ammunition were opened, and the contents robbed. The Sultan's palace was completely looted and all his personal property either destroyed or sold at any price. On account of the suddenness of the attack there was but a small number of the Sultan's soldiers in readiness. These repaired to the forts and opened fire upon the Bedouin invaders with both the guns of the foils and mus- kets. For three days we were the witnesses of the extraordi- nary spectacle of a Sultan bombarding his own palace ; no at- tempt was made to meet the rebels on the streets. By order of the invading captain the portion of the town inhabited by British subjects was not entered. Until Sunday evening things remained about the same. The attack from the forts was con- tinued day and night. The Bedouins did not answer the fire but remained in the palace and streets holding possessions but making no attack on the forts. Within the town, although it is THE RULERS OF OMAN 205 in possession of the enemy, all was orderly and quiet. Un- armed people were allowed to pass to and fro and guards were stationed in the bazaar to prevent plunder. Reinforcements were expected by both parties. On Monday morning a body of about i,ooo arrived from the coast towns in aid of the Sul- tan. They encamped beneath the fort in command of the Sul- tan, and at about 8 a. m. made an attack on the invaders, which became so serious a danger to the British subjects that the Political Agent Major J. H. Sadler ordered a cessation of hostilities at i p. M. until 8 p. M. giving the British subjects an opportunity to sojourn to the sheltered village of Makalla. More reinforcements to the Sultan's troops arrived at 6 p. m. and encamped beneath the fort throwing temporary barricades across the streets at several advantageous points. The main body of the Bedouins were waiting to reinforce just outside Matral which village was however still in the hands of the Sul- tan. At 8 A. M. on Monday H. M. S. Sphina arrived from Bushire and at 2 p. m. the R. I. M. S. Lawrence." The British gunboats, contrary to the expectations and fond hopes of the population of Muscat, did not interfere in the matter. For reasons of diplomacy they left the Sultan to fight his own battles and when the rebels were finally persuaded to leave saddled the poor Sultan with a large bill for the damage incurred by British subjects during the attack. In 1894 a French consulate was established at Muscat ; as the French have no commerce to speak of in this part of the world the object of the consulate was evidently political. Of the intrigues that resulted, the alleged sale of a coaling-station to France and the British attitude toward the matter we will speak later. XXI THE STORY OF THE TURKS IN ARABIA " No one travels in Turkey with his eyes open without seeing that her government is a curse on mankind. Fears, feuds and fightings make miserable the councils of her rulers. They are bloodsuckers fastened on the people throughout her dominions drawing from each and all the last drop of blood that can be extracted. Turkey skillfully and systematically represses what Christian nations make it their business to nurture in all mankind as manhood. In her cities there are magnificent palaces for her sultans and her favorites. But one looks in vain through her realm for statues of public benefactors. There are no halls where her citizens could gather to discuss policies of government or mutual obligations. Their few newspapers are emasculated by government censors. Not a book in any language can cross her borders without permission of public officers, most of whom are incapable of any intelligent judgment of its contents. Art is scorned. Education is bound. Freedom is a crime. The tax gatherer is omnipotent. Law is a farce. Turkey has prisons instead of public halls for the education of her people. Instruments of torture are the stimulus to their industries." — The Coiigregationalist, April 8, 1897. TN reviewing the story of the Turks in Arabia, we will ■*■ begin with Hejaz, the most important province of Turkey in Arabia, continue with Yemen, the most populous, and end with the Mesopotamian vilayets which were her richest pos- sessions. It is not generally understood how highly the Sultan values his Arabian provinces. It is on them and on them alone that he can base his claim to the title of caliph. The possession of the Holy Cities in the hands of the Sultan makes him the chief Mohammedan ruler ; there his name is blessed daily in the great mosques ; in the eyes of all the pilgrims from every 206 THE STORY OF THE TURKS IN ARABIA 207 part of the Moslem world Turkey is the guardian of the Kaaba. How many thousands of Mohammedans daily in the mosques of India and Java call for blessings on the head of Abd-ul- Hamid the Caliph who would never pray for Abd-ul-Hamid the Sultan. Mecca, and Hejaz generally, was governed by the early Caliphs until 980 A. D., when it passed under the rule of the first Sherif, Jaafar.' Under Suleiman the magnificent (15 20-1566) the Otto- man Empire reached the zenith of its power and greatness ; at that time Arabia too was reckoned a Turkish possession, and the entire peninsula was included on the maps of Turkish Asia. But, as we have seen, at the beginning of the present century the Wahabis and not the Turks were the real rulers of Arabia. The Arabs have never taken kindly to the rule of the Turk, but the province of Hejaz, once snatched from the hand of the Wahabis, has ever since been held by the Sublime Porte. Plots of rebellion have been thick and Sherifs have succeeded Sherifs but the fort that frowns over Mecca has always a strong Turk- ish garrison and the Pashas eat the fat of the land at the ex- pense of the people. Actual Turkish rule was declared over the whole of Hejaz in 1840. At that time Abd-el-Mutalib was made Great Sherif of Mecca, but there was continual trouble between the Sherif and the Pasha. The religious head of the holy city would not bow to the political head ; the anti-slave trade regulations al- though only very slightly enforced caused riots. The Sherif was deposed and Mohammed bin 'Aun declared ruler in his place. On June 15th, 1858, the murder of certain Christians at Jiddah brought England into collision with the rulers of Hejaz. Jiddah was bombarded and the gate to the holy city was held by the Christian powers until the required indemnity was paid and the murderers punished. The next Sherif appointed was Abdullah. During his time the ' The history of Mecca under these Sherifs is given by Snouck Hur- gronje at length in his " Mekka." 208 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM opening of the Suez Canal brought Turkey much nearer to Mecca and inspired the religious zealots with the fear that now the Christian fleets would attack the whole coast of Hejaz ! For had not the vizier of Haroun el Rashid dis- suaded that monarch from his plan to dig the canal lest the gateway to the Holy Cities would then be too accessible to the infidels ? The Ottoman government introduced other horrors into the quiet seclusion of the ancient city of JNIecca ; Jiddah was con- nected with the Red Sea cable ; a wire carried the world to Mecca and put the Pasha in daily touch with the Sublime Porte ; afterward it was extended to Taif, and the Turks were masters of their own army corps, so that the Sherifs could not act in secret. It was even attempted to raise a Meccan regi- ment for the Russian A\ar. In 1S69 the whole complicated bureaucratic system was introduced at IMedina, Jiddah, Mecca and Taif. Abdullah was a great fovorite as Sherif, both to the Arabs and the Turks ; he was mild and given to all sorts of compromise so that he managed to please both parties which are always at war in Mecca, His brother Husein succeeded as Sherif but was murdered in 1880. In the same year the aged Abd-el-Mutalib for the third time became Sherif and although at first very popular he soon won the hatred of the conservative Meccans by his cruelty and of the Turks by his double-dealing. On request of the people of Mecca for his deposition, Othman Pasha came to Hejaz and although he did not depose the aged Sherif, managed to outwit him in governing the city. In 18S2 Aun-er-Rafik, a brother of Husein, became Sherif. Troubles between the dual powers of government became thick and the Bedouin tribes took the occasion for a general uprising. Rafik fled to Medina and could not return until Othman Pasha was deposed. Since then the old struggle continues. The Arabs in Hejaz have no love for the Turks or for any Turkish ruler ; the Bedouin tribes hate the very sight of a red 777/: STORY OF THE TURKS IN ARAIilA 9m fez and the town-dweller is ground down with taxation. Aside from militarism there have been no public improvements in either of the Holy Cities since the Star and Crescent waved from their forts. The "pantaloon-wearing" TurLs are con- sidered little better than "Christian dogs" by the pious folk of Mecca. Have they not introduced the abomination of quarantine instead of the old time simple trust in Allah? Have they not acquiesced to the residence of Christian consuls at Jiddah ? And what is worse, have they not interfered with the free importation of slaves and the manufacture of eunuchs for the residents of Mecca? The following literal translation of a placard posted every- where in Mecca, at the end of the year 1885, may give the best insight into the relations that exist between the Turk and the Arab in the cradle of Islam : " ' And who does not rule according to the revelation of Allah he is an infidel.' — Koran v. 48. " Be it known to you, ye people of Mecca, that this accursed Wali in- tends to introduce Turkish laws into the holy city of Allah, therefore beware of sloth and awake from sleep. Do not suffer the laws to be exe- cuted for they are only tlie opening of the door to further legislation. Our proof is that the Wali Othrnan Pasha proposed his plan to divide Mecca into four quarters and to appoint three officers for each quarter. This plan he laid before the city council and when they declared it was impossible to do this in Mecca the accursed replied, Is Mecca better than Constantinople ? We will carry the plan through by force. For this reason, O Meccans, an association has been formed called the Mos- lem Club and whoever desires to enter it let him make inquiries. The object of the association is to assassinate this cursed Wali and his chief of police. He who cannot join us let him utter his complaint before Allah in the holy house that the public safety is endangered while the present ruler lives. And this cursed Wali also attempts to secure the adminis- tration of the annual corn-shipment from Egypt. And remember also how the accursed butchered the sons of the Sherif and his slaves and ex- posed their heads at Mecca. What sort of deeds are these ? More atrocious than those at Zeer. So that whoever kills this man will entsir paradise without rendering an account. The purpose of dividing SlO ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM the city appointing Sheikhs (ov eaeli quarter is nothing else than a pretext for new taxations as the Cursed himself let out before the council. " In the name of the " jEMIAT-liL-lSl.AMlYEH." The same people who proiiiised paradise to the murdeier of Othman Pasha rebelled against his successor Safwet Pasha and will rebel as long as the character of the Meccan remains what it is. Those who dream that the Tink will make Mecca tlie centre of their power when Constantinople falls, know not the condition of affairs among the proud fanatics of Hejaz who will never allow Mecca to become anything but the city of the Sherifs. And as for the Bedouin tribes, they blackmail every pilgrim caravan and draw heavy subsidies from Constantinople to keep the peace. Jiddah is in decay and the pilgrim-traffic is not as flourishing as it was a decade ago. Even in Hejaz the days of Ottoman rule are numbered. Between Hejaz and Yemen is the region of Asir. Its popu- lation has been celebrated from the earliest times for personal bravery and courage. Mountain-dwellers they love freedom ; belonging to the Zaidee sect they hate the Sunnites. And these two reasons united made them abominate the Turks. In order to extend Ottoman power southward and reconquer Yemen for the Sublime Porte it was necessary to pass through the territory of the Asir Arabs. From 1824 to 1S27 the Turkish troops carried six successive campaigns against the brave highlanders but were in every case repulsed with great loss. In 1S33 and 1834 the attempt was again made; a desperate battle was fought on August 21st of the latter year, the Turkish troops were victorious. But the Arabs rallied, made sorties on the garrisons, famine reigned, fever killed off many and in September the Turks again withdrew, defeated. In 1836 a final attempt was made to conquer Asir ; this was with greater loss than ever before. To this day the entire region between Taiz and Roda (a few miles north of Sana) is really independent, although marked as Turkish on the maps. The Ottoman troops are bold THE STORY OF THE TURKS IN ARABIA 9A\ to fight the Yemen Arabs to the very gate of Sana but they grow pale when they hear of an expedition against the dare-devil Bedouins of Asir who fight with the ferocity of the American Indian and the boldness of a Scotch Highlander. The story of the Turks in Yemen is very modern. In 1630 they were compelled to evacuate Yemen by the Arabs and they did not set foot in the capital again until 1873. In 187 1 the Imam of Yemen lived his life in peace, secluded and sensual like an oriental despot in the palace at Sana. Looked upon by the Arabs as a spiritual Sultan he was great, but also powerless to hold in check the depredations and robberies of the many tribes under his nominal sway. Things went from bad to worse. Trade almost ceased on account of the attacks on the caravans that left for the coast. The Sana merchants, quiet and respect- able Arabs, saw nothing but ruin before them, and considering solely the benefits that would accrue to themselves by such a step invited the Turks to take the place. They did not consult the large agricultural population or the effect of Turkish rule on the peasantry, otherwise there would have been an equally cor- dial invitation to the Turks to stay out of Yemen. The Turks needed no urging at this time, when they were strengthening their hold on Mesopotamia, extending their con- quests in Hassa and trying to obtain the mastery of the Hejaz Bedouins. It fell in most admirably with their plans, and an expedition set out at once. In March, 1872, an army under command of Ahmed Mukhtar Pasha reached Hodeidah. On April 25th the army entered Sana twenty thousand strong and the city opened its gates without a battle. The conquest of the country now proceeded; a force was sent to the region of Kaukeban, north of Sana, another to the southern district of Anes and still another to Taiz and Mocha. The conquest to- ward the south was limited by the presence of England at Aden. For when the Turkish army advanced to the domain of the independent Sultan of Lahaj who had a treaty with England, the British Resident at Aden sent a small force of artillery and 212 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM cavalry to occupy tlie Lahaj territory. In consequence of rep- resentations made at the same time by the Enghsh govern- ment to the Sublime Porte, the Turkish army withdrew in De- cember, 1873. .In 1875 the tribes bordering the southern bound- ary of Yemen rebelled against Turkey but the rebellion was crushed. When the army took Sana the Imam was deposed, but on ac- count of his religious influence over the Arabs was permitted to reside in the city, receiving a pension on condition that he would exert himself in behalfof Ottoman rule. This he fulfilled imtil his death when the birthright as Imam passed to his relative Ahmed-ed-Din who also was nothing loth to receive the honor of the Arabs and the money of the Turks. Sana received a certain amount of civilization, more prestige and still more commercial prosperity than in the older days. As for the country in general it was divided and subdivided into provincial districts and sub-districts ; the peasantry were taxed and taxed again ; military roads were constructed by forced labor. The hill-tribes, who in the times of the Imam had been left undisturbed in their agriculture and who boasted an inde- pendence of centuries, were now little better than slaves. Ex- tortion ruined them ; they hated the personality of the Turks whose religion was not as their own ; discontent smouldered everywhere and was ready to burst into a flame. And this dis- content was increased from year to year as the caravan-drivers returned from their long journeys to Aden and told of the greatest marvel ever heard of — a righteous government and a place where justice could not be bought, but belonged to every one — even the black skinned ignorant Somali. When we remember that over 300,000 camels with their drivers enter Aden from the north every year we can realize how widespread was this news. I can testify to the worldwide difference between the municipal government of Aden cantonment and that of the capital of Yemen under the Turks as I saw it in 1891. When the Turks accused Ensrland of fomentins: the recent rebellions in Yemen THE STORY OF THE TURKS IN ARABl 213 they were right to the extent that if the Yemen peasantry had not seen the blessed union of liberty and law at Aden they would not seek to rise against the Turks. In the summer of 1892 a body of 400 Turkish troops were sent to collect by force the taxes due from the Bni Meruan who inhabit the coast north of Hodeidah. The Turks were sur- prised by a large body of Arabs and nearly annihilated. Wherever the news travelled the people rose in arms. Tribal banners long laid away were unfurled and the cry "long live the Imam" rang through mountain and valley. A new Jehad was proclaimed and Ahmed-ed-Din was unwillingly forced to take the leadership against the Turks. When the rebellion broke out the Turks had only about 15,000 men in the whole of Yemen ; and cholera had wrought havoc among these. Ill- fed, ill-clothed, and unpaid ; badly housed in the rainy and cold mountain villages, they could nevertheless fight like devils when led by their commanders. The Imam escaped from Sana, and a few days later the capital was besieged by an enormous force of Arabs. All the unwalled cities fell an easy prey to the rebels ; Menakha was taken after a short struggle ; Ibb, Jibleh, Taiz, and Yerim all declared themselves for the Imam. The Arabs treated their foes with respect after their victory ; ^ they were feeding Turkish prisoners at the Imam's expense and in many cases money was given the soldiers to enable them to escape to Aden. Meanwhile telegrams were sent to Constantinople from Sana and Hodeidah beseeching assistance. The whole of Yemen, with the exception of the capital and two smaller towns in the north with Hodeidah on the coast, was in the hands of the rebels. An expedition reached Hodeidah, under command of Ahmed Feizi Pasha, formerly governor of Mecca, which after bombarding the villages on the coast north of Hodeidah, marched to the relief of Sana. Without opposition the army ' This is according to the testimony of Walter B. Harris who was in Yemen shortly after the rebellion. 914 ^R.^aU, THE CR^^DLH OF tSUM reached Menakh« and tvx-jk the town by storm 5 tnatohdocks and fuse-guns oould not hold tnU jvgainst tield-guns and traintnl ti\x>i^s. AlHHit thirty miles beyond a desperate attempt was made to sK>p the arn^y of ix^lief ; in a »u\n\nv detile the rebels wnder Seyitl es-Shevai to<^k up their position and for twelve dax-s withstvXHl eavah-y, infantry and aitillery ass;mlts ; thou they wejf driven back and i-etired into the n\oui\taii\s. Uy hurried u\arches the ti\K^i« irachal Sana and took the city. MiUtary law was \vi\xlai»ne<.l and a wniversiU massacre of prisoners took place. A ixnvanl was otYeifd fvM' the head of every rebel. Camel lo;\ds of heads weix- brought into Sana ewry day. The troops >\"«re turned loose to plunder the \ il lagfs. There is no natioi\ ii\ the wv>rUl that can ]Hit down a rebt'llion as rapidly as the Turks when they have a gvnxl si;cd anny. but they have great objection to ai\y one seeiiis; the \n\H-ess. by the envl <^t" January. iSo^;. all the cities ot" Veiwen were xxvonquerevl and the n^ait\ iwids were again open. lUit the spirit of r^^bellion livevl oi\ and the brave mountaineers with- drew to the inaccessible defiles and peaks only to plot further mischief. Telegraph-wires were cut ; soldier's were shot on the it»{\d : and once and again K>U1 attempts were n\ade to blow up the Vasha's house in Sana with gunjunvder. in iSo,; iliere was rebellion in the north. li\ lv'^07 "*J^ >*h Ven\en w.is .ii;.\in in arms ami the \n\certain and contUcting reports that reach the coi\st only emphasise the serious character of the up- rising. On the map and in 'l^nkish othcial reports the boundaries of Veiuen join those ot" lleja/ and extend n\any miles ^tfjf/ of Sana, This has ue\er been and is tiot i\ow correv^t. IVenty- fj\*e miles north and east of Sana there is no one who cares for a 'l\irkish \^\ssport or daix^s to coUeit Turkish taxes. As to the future of 'l\u'key in Yemen it is ditVtcult to sur- mise. Rather than risk further rebellions the Sultan may adopt a conciliatory jxilicy. r>ut \'euien is too far fiXMu Con- 77//; '//O/V O/ 77//: il]l'K\ III AI'AhIA 215 stantinople to be governed from there. Extortion i« the only way oi>en to a Pahha to enrich hirftjiclf and for )>oldier» to get daily brea^l where wages are not paid on tirne. When the Pa»ha has filled hj» i>ocket hiii Hua:eft«or will try it a second time and come to grief. Rebellion will l>e the chronic »tate of Yemen a» long a» Turkey rules at Sana.. Ihe leopard can- not change his Sfx;t«. We now turn to notice the rule of the Turks in Northeastern Arabia, and in their newly-afx^uired province of Hassa, Bagdad was taken by the Turks in 1638 and that city has ever since been the capital of a Turkish Province. It is unnecessary to enter here into the succession of Pashas and rulers and the attempts to subjugate the li&lou'm Arabs. In 1830 the great plagiic visited all Meso{X)tamia and when epidemic was at its height the river burst its banks and in one night 15,000 people perished. In 1884 the vilayet of Busrah was separate^] from that of Bagdad and has since remained under its own governor. The two provinces have all the maf;hinery of Ottoman rule in working order. Except for an occasional outbreak among the Montefik Arabs, Turkey has no trouble to hold Mesopotamia in her grasp. Nor is she at all willing that this rich province should even dream of pass- ing under other rulers. In the year 1891 the Turkish Official Bulletin gave the total revenue from taxation in the Bagdad vilayet alone at 246,304 Turkish pounds. It may be intcre;^ting to note in passing the various sources of taxation -money. They are in brief: tax on Arab tents, ex- emption from military service, tax on sheep, buffaloes, camels, tax on mines Tsalt), tax on special privileges, tax on forests and timber, tax on fishing, custom dues, tax on shipping, on irriga- tion, on farming improvements; ''receipts from tribunals" C;iC3>°°° tax on justice ! ) and beside all this "taxes diverses " and "revenues divcrsc-s" to make up the budget. All this is legal, ordinary taxation. But the actual conditions of Turkish misrule mwU: it imjxwisible to exercise the inalienable rights of 216 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness " without continual backsheesh to every otificial. The population of Mesopotamia, Moslem and Jew and Christian are thoroughly weary of Turkish misrule, but no one dares to lift up a voice in protest. They have become ac- customed to it ; and there is nothing else but to bear it pa- tiently. As for the nomads they have either, like the Montefik, settled down along the rivers to cultivate the soil and eke out a miserable existence ; or, like the Aneyza and Shammar tribes, they are as thoroughly independent of the Sultan as when they first appeared in his borders. Turkish Arabia on the north is represented on most maps by a regular curved line starting from the Persian Gulf and end- ing at the Gulf of Akaba ; but the line is purely imaginary. Turkish rule does not extend far south of the banks of the Euphrates, and the whole desert region from Kerbela to the Dead Sea and the Hauran is practically independent.^ Out- side of Bagdad and Busrah even the river towns are frequently threatened by the nomads, and Turkish soldiers have often to guard the river steamers against pirates. Military rule is in vogue two hundred years after the occupation of the country, and the nomads are nomads still. The commander-in-chief of the Sixth Ottoman army corps resides at Bagdad, and a good number of soldiers occupy the barracks in the city of the old caliphs. In Turkey all Moslems over twenty years of age are liable to military conscription, and this liability continues for over twenty years. Non-Moslems pay an annual exemption tax of about six shillings per head. The army consists of JVizam or regulars, Redif or reserves, and Miistahfiiz or national guard. The infantry are supposed to be all armed with Martini-Pea- body rifles, but in Mesopotamia older patterns are still in use. The life of a Turkish soldier is not enviable ; and none of them would be volunteers for government service. The Turkish ' See Lady Ami Blunt's " Bedouins of the Euphrates." THE STORY OF THE TURKS IN ARABIA 9M navy is representerl in the Persian C^ulf and on the rivers by one or two thiird-rate cruisers and a small river gunboat. The result of the calling of Turkey into the Wahabi quarrel between the two sons of Feysul, was the occupation of Katif and Hassa by the Ottoman government. Since that time (1872) Hassa hastbeen a part of the Busrah vilayet, and the Pasha, who resides at Hof hoof, has the title Mutaserif Pasha of Nejd. Continual troubles with the Arabs mark the history of the oc- cupation of Hassa ; the caravan routes are not as safe as in the dominions of the Amir of Nejd; the whole country shows de- cay and lack of government ; taxation of the pearl fishers has driven many of them to Bahrein ; the peninsula of Katar is occupied by a garrison, but that does not prevent continual blood feuds and battles between the Arab tribes. The Otto- man government has established an overland post-service be- tween Hof hoof and Busrah has between Bagdad and Damascus, but both routes are unsafe and slow. Most of the Hofhoof merchants use the British Post Office at Bahrein ; and so do the government officials. THAT HULE ARABIA ^0v^.:/ %d- M'inscriplicjn signifies^ Thcrp is no God but Allaho nsrriplion si.gnifles Victory 13 of God and success is near" ——J r' XXII BRITISH INFLUENCE IN ARABIA "The English, said the old Arab Sheikh in reply, .ire like ants; if one finds a bit of meat, a hundred follow." — Ainszcwf/t. " Oman may, indeed, be justifiably regarded as a British depoiulcncy. We subsidize its ruler; we dictate its policy; we should tolerate no alien interference. 1 have little doubt myself that tlie time will come . . . when the Union Jack will be seen Hying from the castles of Muscat." " I should regard the concession of a port upon the Persian Gulf to Rus- sia by any power as a deliberate insult to Great Britain, as a wanton rup- ture of the sfiifus i/i/o and as an international provocation to war; and I should impeach the British minister, wlio was guiUy of acquiescing in such surrender, as a traitor to his country." — Lo/J Ctt/sott, \iceroy of India. TN sketching the relations of England to the peninsula, we -*• will consider : Her Arabian jiossessions and protectorates ; her supremac)- in Arabian waters ; lier coiiiiiierce with Arabia ; her treaties with Arab tribes ; and Iter consulates and agencies in Arabia. Of all British possessions in Arabia, Aden is by fivr tlie most iiiiportant, on account of its strategic position as the key not only of all Yenien, but of the Re*,! Sea and all Western Arabia. Aden was visited as early as 1609 by Captain Sharkey of the East India Company's ship "Ascension." He was at first well received, but afterward imprisoned tmtil the inliabitants had secured a large ransom. Two of the Englishmen on board re- fusing to pay were sent to the Pasha at Sana. In 16 10 an I'aiglish ship again visited Aden and the crew were treacher- ously treated. In iSjo, Captain Haines of the Indian navy BRITISH INri.lJllNCn IN ARAHl/l 9A\) visited Aflcn, and in 1829 tlic Court of Directors entertained the idea (;f making Aden a eoaling-station, but the idea was abandoned. Jn consequence of an outrage committed on the passengers and crew of a buggalow wrecked near Aden, an ex- pedition was despatched against the place by the Bombay gov- ernment in 1838. It was arranged that the peninsula of Aden should be ceded to the British, But the negotiations were any- thing but friendly, and in January, 1839, a force of 300 Euro- peans and 400 native troops in the " Volage " and '* Cruizer " bombarded and took the place by storm. This was the first new accession of territory in the reign of Queen Victoria. Immense sums of money have been spent in fortifying this natural Gibraltar and in improving its harbor. Four times the Arabs have attempted to take Aden by land, each time with fearful loss and without success. By sea Aden is impregnable ; only the initiated know the strength of its mole- batteries, mines, forts and other def.:nces ; and every year new defences are constructed and old ones strengthened. Aden has become a great centre fur trade, and is one of the chief coaling depots in the world. It bars the further advance of Turkey into South Arabia, guarantees independence and good govern- ment to all the neighboring petty states, and is an example of good government to all Arabia and the African coast. The set- tlement is politically subject to the Bombay Presidency and is administered by a Resident with two assistants. Since the opening of the Suez canal, trade has steadily increased and Turkish custom extortions at Hodeidah direct the caravan trade more and more to Aden from every part of Yemen. The island of Socotra and the Kuria Muria islands are also attached to Aden, together with the Somali Coast in Africa. Socotra has an area of 1,382 square miles and about 10,000 inhabitants. It came under British protection in 1886 by treaty with its Sultan. The Kuria Muria group was ceded to the British by the Sultan of Muscat, for the purpose of landiijg the Red Sea cable ; the islands are five in number and have rich 220 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM guano deposits. The island of Kamaran is also classed as be- longing to the British Empire.' It is a small island in the Red Sea, some miles north of Hodeidah ; it is only fifteen miles long and five wide, and has seven small fishing-villages. But it has a good sheltered anchorage and is the quarantine Station for all Moslem pilgrims from the south to Mecca. The Bahrein Islands are also included in the British Empire, although Turkey still claims them as her own and the native ruler imagines that he is independent. "The present chief Sheikh Isa owes the possession of his throne entirely to British protection which was instituted in 1867. Sheikh Isa was again formerly placed under British protection in 1870 when his rivals were deported to India." The Political Resident at Bushire superintends the government of the islands to as great an ex- tent as is deemed diplomatic. Perim at the southern end of the Red Sea was taken pos- session of in 1799 by the East India Company and a force was sent from Bombay to garrison the island. But it was found untenable at that time as a military position and the troops were withdrawn. Perim was reoccupied in the beginning of 1857. The lighthouse was completed in 1861, and quarters were built for a permanent garrison. ^ We may also consider the possessions of Egypt in Arabia as practically under English protection. Since the British occu- pation, the peninsula of Sinai and the Red Sea litoral on the Arabian side, nearly as far as Yembo is under the Governor- General of the Suez canal. England not only possesses the key positions on the coasts of Arabia, but has for many years held the naval supremacy in all Arabian waters. As the Dutch succeeded the Portuguese and established trading-stations in the Persian Gulf and in the Red Sea, so England followed the Dutch. The East India Com- 1 Statesman's Year Book. ^ For a complete account of Perim, see " The Description and History of Perim," by J. S. King, Bombay, 1877. BRITISH INFLUENCE IN ARABIA 221 pany was at Aden and Mocha in the beginning of the seven- teenth century, and in 1754 the English East India Company established itself at Bunder Rig, north of Bushire, and later at Bushire itself, supplanting the Dutch. The island of Karak in the north of the Gulf was twice occupied by the British, in 1838 and in 1853. After the bombardment of Bushire in 1857 and of Mohammerah in the same year, hostilities ceased and Karak was again evacuated. The island of Kishm, in the southern part of the Gulf, was during the greater part of the present century, a British military or naval station. The Indian naval squadron had its headquarters first at El Kishm, then at Deristan and finally for many years at Bassadore. In 1879 because of the insalubrity of the climate the last company of Sepoys was withdrawn to India. But the island is still in a sense considered British. As early as 1622 the Persians and the British expelled the Portuguese from Ormuz and shortly after, in common with the Dutch and French set up trading factories at Gombrun, (now Bunder Abbas). In 1738 the Eng- lish Company established an agency at Busrah and much of their Gulf business was shifted to that port. Since 1869 there has been a telegraph station at Jask with a staff of six English officials ; here the land and marine wires of the Indo-European telegrapli meet and join India to the Gulf. The Sultanate of Oman, since 1822, has been in the closest relations possible with British naval power. At several critical periods in Oman history, it was Great Britain that helped to settle the affairs of state. In 1861 a British commissioner ar- bitrated between two claimants for the rule of Muscat and Zanzibar, then one kingdom, and divided the Sultanate. Since 1873 the Sultan of Muscat has received an annual subsidy from the British government. Near Cape Musendum, on the Arabian side of the Gulf, the British once occupied a place called Malcolm's Inlet when they were laying the telegraph cable from Kerachi to the Gulf in 1864. Five years later it was transferred to Jask. From 1805 to 1821 there were British 222 ARABU, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM naval encounters with the pirates of the Gulf, and since that date all piracy in these waters has ceased.^ British naval supremacy established peace at Bahrein and has protected its native govern- ment since 1847. When in 1S67 the native ruler, " a crafty old fox" as Curzon calls him, broke the treaty, the bombardment of Menamah brought further proof of British naval supremacy. Kuweit was for a time (1821-22) the headquarters of the British Resident at Busrah ; and, semi-independent of Turkey, is now becoming wholly dependent on England — another indi- cation of British naval supremacy. Even at Fao, Busrah and Bagdad British gunboats often keep the peace or at least emphasize authority. In a word Great Britain holds the scales of justice for all the Persian Gulf litoral. She guarantees a pax Brittanica for commerce ; she taught the Arab tribes that rapine and robbery are not a safe religion ; where they once swept the sea with slave-dhows and pirate-craft they have now settled down to drying fish and diving for pearls. For the accomplishment of this subject England has spent much both in treasure and in lifeblood. Witness the graves of British soldiers and marines in so many Gulf ports. The testimony of an outsider, is given in a recent article in the Cologne Gazette, which thus describes the political and naval supremacy of England in Eastern Arabia and the Persian Gulf : "A disguised protectorate over Oman and control over the actions of the Sultan of Muscat ; actual protectorate over Bah- rein ; coaling station on the island of Kishm, in the Straits of Ormuz ; presence of a political Resident at Bushire who, with the help of an association called the Trucial League, decides all disputes between Turkish, Arab, and Persian chiefs in the Persian Gulf. . . . This league gives the English a con- stant pretext for intervention ; the object of keeping peace and policing the gulf is only a pretence. . . . All events on the Persian Gulf, however disconnected apparently, are really 'Treaties were made with the Arabs of the pirate coast in 1835, '^S^* 1839, 1847, '^53> ^i'^ 1856; of these we shall speak later. BRITISH INFLUENCE IN ARABIA 223 dependent on each other through the Trucial League. It is a confused tangle of hatreds and jealousies whose threads are united in the hands of the Resident at Bushire. . . . Rus- sia shows an indifference which is quite incomprehensible con- sidering the interest she has and must have in these affairs. One could recount numerous instances where English agents have injured Russian interests without meeting with any oppo- sition. The Russian Consul in Bagdad is thrust into the background by the activity of his British colleague. Southern Persia, the gulf, Eastern Arabia, and the Land of Oman have fallen completely within the English sphere of influence. This state of affairs has not been officially ratified, but exists as a fact. That will last till some movement comes about to restore the proper balance. Meanwhile, the English are the masters. They are so accustomed to manage the whole Persian Gulf that if the least thing occurs that they have not foreseen or them- selves arranged they completely lose all self-control." But the supremacy of England in the Gulf and on the other coasts of Arabia is hers not only because of gunboats and gun- powder. It is most of all by the arts of peace that she has established and glorified her power on the Arabian litoral. It must never be forgotten, for example, that the magnificent surveys of the entire 4,000 miles of Arabian coast were the work of British and Indian naval officers ; by means of this survey, completed at great cost, commerce has been aided and navigation of the dangerous waters east and west of Arabia has been made safe. England too is the only power that has established hghthouses; e. g., at Aden, Perim, in the Red Sea and lately on Socotra. England laid the cables that circle Arabia; from India to Bushire and Fao connecting with the Turkish overland telegraph system ; from Aden to Bombay and from Aden to Suez through the Red Sea. These cables were not the work of a day but were laid with great expense and opposed by the very governments they were intended to benefit. 224 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM Again, Arabia has two postal systems and two only. In the Turkish province of Yemen there is a weekly post between the capital and the chief towns to the coast ; in Hejaz there is a post to Mecca ; and in Mesopotamia and Hasa there is another Turkish postal system notorious for its slowness and insecurity. For the rest all of Eastern and Southern Arabia are dependent on the Indian Postal system ; the whole interior is ignorant of a post office or of a postman. The government of India has post offices at Muscat, Bahrein, Fao, Busrah and Bagdad with regular mail service, and the best administration in the world. The English post carries the bulk of the mail between Busrah and Bagdad while Bahrein is really the post office for all Eastern Arabia ; pearl-merchants at Katar and in Hasa mail their letters at Bahrein and even the Turkish government needs the English post to communicate with Busrah from Hasa. England has also earned her supremacy in Arabian waters by honest attempts to put a stop to the slave-trade, in accord with the Anti-slave Trade treaties between the powers. She is the only power whose navy has acted in seizing slave-dhows, liberating slaves and patrolling the coast. The work has not always been done thoroughly or vigorously, but that it has been done at all, places England first among the powers that sail in Arabian waters. Where the Union Jack proclaims naval supremacy, there the red mercantile flag of England follows the blue and carries commerce; the two go together, and although of different color are the same flag to Englishmen. The world-wide com- mercial activity of Great Britain has touched every part of the Arabian coast and British wares from Manchester and Birming- ham have penetrated to every secluded village of Nejd, and are found in every valley of Yemen. The mercantile navigation of the Gulf as it now exists is the creation of the last thirty years, and is largely to be attrib- uted to the statesmanship of Sir BarLle Frere. It was he who, BRITISH INFLUENCE IN ARABIA 225 when at Calcutta as a member of Lord Canning's Supreme Council, befriended the young Scotchman, William Mackin- non, who was planning a new shipping business beyond his slender means; and a subsidy was granted to Mackinnon's new line of Steamers. Thus it was that the British India Steam Navigation Company was launched which first opened trade not only with Zanzibar but in the Persian Gulf. In 1862 not a single mercantile steamer ploughed the Persian Gulf. A six-weekly service was then started, followed by a monthly, a fortnightly and finally by a weekly steamer. From Busrah there are two lines of English steamers direct for London. The British India was the pioneer line and still holds the first posi- tion, although there are other lines that do coasting trade with India. Thus English commerce controls not only the markets of both sides of the Gulf, but of all Northwestern Arabia and as far be- yond Bagdad as piece-goods and iron-ware can be carried on camels. There is not a spool of thread in Nejd or a jack-knife in Jebel-Shammar that did not come up the Persian Gulf in an English ship. All of Hassa eats rice from Rangoon and thou- sands of bags are carried in British ships to Bahrein to be trans- ported inland by caravan. Not only is the steamshipping mostly in English hands, but many of the native buggalows fly the British flag and the chief merchants are Englishmen or British subjects from India. The Rupee is the standard of value along the whole Arabian coast from Aden to Busrah. In the interior the Maria Theresa dollar has long held sway, but even that is becoming scarce among the Bedouins and they have little pref- erence between the " abu hi?it'' (the Rupee with a girl's head) and the " abu fair" ("the father of a bird" — the eagle on the Austrian dollar). For a time a French fine of steamers ran in the Gulf but the project was abandoned, though there is now a rumour of its revival.^ 1 The British India steamer, carry the mails and leave Bombay and Busrah once a week, touching at the intermediate ports in the Gulf, after 226 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM Aden is the commercial centre for all Southern Arabia and the enormous increase of its trade since 1839 is proof of what English commerce has done for Yemen. Mocha is dead, and Hodeidah is long since bed-ridden, but Aden is alive and only requires a railroad to Sana to become the commercial capital of all Western and Southern Arabia. That railroad will be built as soon as the Turk leaves Yemen's capital ; God hasten the day. After the occupation of Aden in 1839 until the year 1S50 customs dues were levied as in India but at that time it was declared a free port. During the first seven years the total value of imports and exports averaged per year about 1,900,000 Rupees; in the next seven years the annual average rose to 6,000,000 Rupees, and it has been on the increase ever since, until it now is over 30,000,000 Rupees ; nor did this annual average include the trade by land which is also large. The Suez canal is another indication of the prestige which English commerce has in the Red Sea and along the routes of traffic that circle Arabia. In 1893 the gross tonnage that passed through the canal was 10,753,798 ; of this 7,977,728 tons passed under the English flag which means that nearly four-fifths of the trade is English. In the same year the number of vessels passing through the canal was 3,341 of which 2,405 belonged to Great Britain. The proposed Anglo-Egyptian railway across the north of Arabia will join the Persian Gulf to the Mediterannean. To shorten the time of communication between England and her Eastern Empire is evidently a matter of the highest importance, notonl}- for commerce and post, but in the event of war, mutiny or other great energency. The first surveys for this overland railway were made as early as 1850, by the Euphrates Expedition under General Chesney. The scheme was warmly advocated Kerachi, as follows : Gwadur, Muscat, Jask, Bunder Abbas, Lingah, Bah- rein, Bushire, Fao and Mohammerali ; the journey lasts a fortnight and the distance, zigzag, is about one thousand nine hundred miles. BRITISH INFLUENCE IN ARABIA 227 in England by Sir W. P. Andrew, tlie Duke of Sutherland and others, but although it still awaits execution the plan comes up again every few years with new advocates and new improve- ments. Once it was to be the Euphrates Valley railway coming down to Bagdad and Busrah or to Kuweit (Grane) by way of Mosul. Now the plan proposed is to open a railway from Port Said due eastward across the Peninsula along the thirtieth paral- lel of latitude to Busrah. A branch would deviate a little to the south to the port of Kuweit which was also the proposed ter- minus of the Euphrates Valley line on which a select committee of the House of Commons sat twenty-five years ago. From Busrah the main line would cross the Shatt-el-Arab and the Karun by swing-bridges and follow the coast-line of the Persian Gulf and Makran to Kerachi. Such a line would reduce the time occupied in transit between London and Kerachi to eight days.' Whether this route or any other is followed is a matter of minor importance. The fact that since 1874 England has been to the front in the matter of the overland railroad puts it beyond a doubt, that when the railway is built its terminus at least will be under English control and most probably the whole road will represent English capital and enterprise. Meanwhile there is intelligence that Turkey has made a con- cession to German capitalists for the extension of the Anatolian railways to Bagdad. The line which runs from the Asiatic shores of the Bosphorus to Angora is in the hands of a German syndicate and the terms of the concession contain compulsory clauses under which, in certain eventualities, the Turkish government can compel the syndicate to extend the road to Sivas and ultimately to Bagdad.^ But politically Great Britain ' In a recent paper read before the Society of Arts in London Mr. C. E. D. Black of the Geographical Department of the India office urges other reasons for the practicability of this route. — (London Titnes, May 7th, 1898.) 2 Times of India, June 17, 1899. 228 /IRABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM has little to fear from the spread of German influence in the Levant and Mesopotamia. The editor of an influential Eng- lish paper says, " Every mark expended by the Germans upon public works in the Asiatic dominions of the Sultan helps to build up the bulwark against the menace of Russia. And the creation of a German railway in Asia Minor will, in a limited degree tend to identify the interests of Germany and Great Britain." Nevertheless England would never grant a terminus or harbor to a German railroad syndicate on the Persian Gulf. Great Britain has treaties or agreements of some sort with every tribe and settlement of Arabs from Aden to Muscat and thence to Bahrein. England has two kings for Arabia; the first lives at Bushire and is called the British Resident and Consul General, the other with a similar title lives at Aden. Of the Bushire Resident Lord Curzon wrote, " One or more gunboats are at the disposal of the British Resident at Bushire Avho has also a despatch boat for his own immediate use in the event of any emergency. Not a week passes but, by Persians and Arabs alike, disputes are referred to his arbitration, and he may with greater truth than the phrase sometimes conveys be entitled the Uncrowned King of the Persian Gulf." To the energy and political capacity of Colonel Ross and his capable predecessor, Sir Lewis Pelly, this royal throne owes its foundation. All the treaties made by England with the Arab tribes on the Eastern coast of Arabia are here interpreted and enforced. The treaties made with the chiefs of Bahrein and with the tribes on the so-called Pirate coast embraces clauses to enforce the maratime peace of the Gulf, to exclude foreign powers from the possession of territory, to regulate or abolish the slave- traffic and to put down piracy. Since 1820 various treaties of truce have been concluded with the warlike Arabs on the coast south of Katar and have been frequently renewed or strengthened. In 1853 a Treaty of Perpetual Peace was made BRITISH INFLUENCE IN ARABIA 229 with other tribes ' which provided that there should be a com- plete cessation of hostilities at sea and that all disputes should be referred to the British Resident. The contracting parties were called Trucial Chiefs and the treaty is known as the Trucial Arrangement or League. Beside these treaties the English have an exclusive treaty with the Sheikh of Bahrein to such a degree, that the islands are practically a British pro- tectorate. Although there are no formal treaties with the tribes along the Hassa coast and Katar, these being under Turkish rule, that region is not disregarded by Great Britain, nay Nejd itself finds a place in the administration reports of the Persian Gulf. Po- litical agency whenever the horizon in that part of the penin- sula shows a storm cloud though it be no bigger than a man's hand. The claims of the Porte to sovereignty over El Katar are not admitted by the British government^ and are the cause not only of diplomatic controversy but of actual interference on the part of the British when necessary. The great benefits that have followed the treaties of peace with the Arab tribes are manifest most of all by a comparison of that part of the Arabian coast under English supervision and the long stretch from Katif to Busrah which is Turkish. The former enjoys peace and the tribes have settled down to commerce and fishing, there is safety for the traveller and the stranger everywhere ; the latter is in continual state of warfare, there is neither commerce nor agriculture and the entire coast is utterly unsafe because of the laissez /aire policy of Turkey. 1 I. Ras el Kheima — Jowasim tribe. 2. Um-el-Kawain — Al-bu-Ali tribe. 3. Ajnian — Al-bu-Ali tribe. 4. Sharka — Jowasim tribe. 5. Debai — Al-bu-falasal tribe. 6. Abn Dhabi — Bni Yas tribe. All of these tribes reside between Katar and Ras el Had on the Arabian coast. (See Aitchison, Vol. VII., No. xxvi.) "^ Curzon's " Persia," Vol. II., p. 453. 9:w .-fK.-fni.-i, Tin- CR.iniF or isi.-lm Tuinuig to Oinaii wo tuul. in tho words ot" Loul Cur,:on. thai, treaty succeeding treatv. •• it may bo justitiably regardeil as a l^ritish dopoiuloncy." The recent history of INlusiat has only liastened the day when "ihe I'nion Jack will bo seen (ly- ing tVon\ the castles ol' Muscat." The Hodouin icvoll and their occupation ol" tho town resulted in saddling (lie unhajipy Sultan with a large bill for damages sustained by l^ritish sub- jects. The episode of the Krench coaling station cost the Sultan his annual subsidy. Thus from the side of tinance he is doubly dependent on VaigUsh clemency. The second Puitish king of Arabia resides at Aden. There lu^ is at once Tolitical Resident and eonnnandor of the troops. His authority extends not only to the settlement of Aden proper but includes supervision o( ,\ teniiory -vv miles long by forty broad with a population of i^^o.ooo. Many of the neighboring tribes are subsidized and all of them are bound by treaty to Great Britain, ^\■h at the lUishire Resident is for the Gulf that the Aden Resident is tor the Southern litoral of the Peninsula. Moreover the Island o\ Socotra is also under the Resident at Aden and the Island of IVrim. The ruler of !Makalla in lladramaut is under special treaty with Faigiand ; although the newspaper report, that Civeal I'Mitain had declared a protectorate over all Southern Arabia, has no toui\d.ition. * ' The following tribes in tho vicinity of Aden receive (_or received) annual subsidies from the British t.uivernn\ent : /Mlati0n. Abdali I5,cxx3 Hausliabi 6,000 FadUH 25,000 Alawi 1,500 Akrabi Soo Amir 30,000 Sulxiihi 20,000 YatVai 3S.OOO Tims the total estimated poinilalion of these tribes is I3^_;ch.^ and tho total amount of t1\c anmuU stipend paid them in 1S77, was 13,000 German crowns. (^Hunter's *' Aden," p. 1^5-) fiRii i:;ii iNi'i.iJi:Nf:ii in auaiua 2:'A In the tribes whicli are bound by treaty with lirilain a patri- archal system of supervision secrns to prevail. Good children are rewarded and bad ones are punished. Nothing escapes the eye of the pohtical parent; one has only to read the yearly Administration reports to finrl many striking and sometimes amusing examples. We quote from the Residency Report of Muscat for / 893-94 verbatim: "One case of breax;h of the maritime peace of the Cjujf occurred in which the Sultan was advised to inflict a fine of Rs. 50 Tabout sixteen dollars) on Meh- dibin-AIi, the Sheikh of the Karnazarah tribe of Khassab, for proceeding with a party of armed rnen by sea to Shaara with the object of prosecuting a certain claim his wife had against the estate of her deceased father. After some months' delay the attendance of the Sheikh was enforced at Muscat and the fine was recovered." The same report tells how the govern- ment of India acknowledged the kindness shown to the ship- wrecked crew of the S. S. Khiva in April, 1893, by the Sultan of Muscat, "by presentation to His Highness of a handsome telescope and watch." Every year all the tribal chiefs who have proved "good boys " receive some yards of bright flan- nel, a new rifle or a pair of arrny pistols. But the patriarchal system works well ; and there are few Arabs who would like English power in the Gulf or near Aden to grow less ; all ex- press admiration for English ru/e, if not for English politics. In Arabia too the old promise of Noah is finding its fulfillment to-day. "God shall enlarge Japhet and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem." Shem never took a better guest into his tent than when he signed a treaty of perpetual peace with England on his coasts. England has consulates and consular agents at more places in Arabia than has any other power and her consuls exercise more authority and have greater prestige. In nearly every case they were first appointed and have therefore had longer time to extend their influence. At Jiddah, Hodeidah, and on the island of ICarnaran there are British consulates or vice-con- •i;W .■(K.tni.l, THH C/C. ■//)/./;■ or ISI.IM suUiles ; aiul there are reports of a eonsulale al Sana. At Makalla there is a r>iiiisli agent. Muscat. Hagdad, IJusrah, lUishire an^l Mohamnierah .ill have eonsulates, with dilTcrent degrees of .uuhoiilv and position, all exereising power of some sort in .\i.\bi.i. li.ihrein, l.ingah, Shaika, lUnider Abbas, ai\d otlier points in the Gulf have lUitish agents. .\t Jiddah. Uodeidah and Aden there arc several riMisulates beside the English. Mnseal has for some years had an AnKM'iean consul and in 1894 the French established a consu- late there. Russia has no representative in the Gulf save at Bagdaii ; nor has (.u-rnuiny. None of the European powere, save lu^gland. have agents at any of the Arabian ports in the Gulf nor do the ships of their navies often visit this jiart of the world. In tact so liltlc i,\o the Arabs kuvnv oi other consuls than Mnglish. that their words tor agent. :<\r/::/, and for consul, dti//os, always signify to theni iUiiish otiicers or appointees. y.ziii PRESKN'I l-OU'll'.:, /.■.' AJ'AliJA "The »ign» of the time* nhow plainly cwinyh whut i» j^oing to haj4>cn. All the xavagc Ia,ri'l» in the world arc if,"'>^% ^> ^-"' '""ou^^it under »ubjec- lion to the Christian Government* of Europe. The sooner the seizure i» consummated, the better for the »avage»," — i^t home, (he Semites knew the eamel Init divl not know the p.ilm. Now the region where there is neither il.ue palm nor oslrieh aiul yet where the e.imel has lived from the remotest antiqnily is the eentral table- land ol" Asia near the (.Xxns. ^'on Kremer holds that from this region the Semites migrated to I'abylon even bet'oie the Aryan en\igration ; the Mesopot.uniau valley is the oldest seat of Semitie eultnre. C">thers''' hold that the original hon\e of the Semites was in the south oi' Arabia whenee they gradually overspiead the peiiinsula. so that, as Sprenger exjuesses ii, " All Semite are sneeessive layers of Arabs." The arguments for this theory are brietly given by Sayee: •' " The Semitie traditions all point [o Arabia as the original home of the raee. It is the only \\\vt oi the world whieh has remained exelusively Semites. The raeial eharaeteristies — intensity of faith, feroeity, exelusiveness, imagination — ean best be explaineil by a desert origin." De Goeje la}'s stress on the tine elim.Ue of I'entral Arabia and the splendid physii-al development of the Arab as additional proof together with the indisputable fact that " of all Semitie lan- guages the .Vrabie approaches nearest to the original mother- tongue as was eonelusively demonstrateil bv Professor Sehrader of IVrlin." The tollowing t.d^le will show at a glance the position of 1 Vou Rromcr, (.uiidi, llommol. * Sayce, Spvonj:;ov. Schr;ulor, Do Hocjo, Wiii^ht. 'Assyrian (.Siaiuiwar, \\ ij. Tlin /IR/lliir l./lNOJACn 9A) Arabic in the Semitic family group, dead languages being puf in italics. Arabic, ancient and modern belongs to the South Semitic group and at an early jjcriod supplanted the Hirn- yaritic in Yemen, although the Mahri and Ehkeli dialects are still used in the mountains of Hadramaut.^ It was practically the only confjuering language on the list and is the only one that is growing in use. TAlil.K OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES. NORTHERN : J Jjubylonian, y Assyrian. WESTERN (Aramaic)- r Syriac. Eastern -| Man dean. (_ Nabathean. Western ' Samaritan, yevjisk Aramaic (as Targums and Talmud). J'almyrene. Egyptian Aramaic, CENTRAL : (I'hw.nician. IleLrew. Moabite and Ci Canaattitis/i dialects. SOUTHERN: J ARABIC J (Ishriiaclitcj I /fimyaritic Ethiopic (Joktanite) One written language but Modern Dialects in sijeech. ( Mahri. i lihkeli. Old Geez. Jjgre. Tigrina. Amharic. Harari. Maltese [?]. Morocco. Algerian, etc. Kgyptian, Syrian. Yemen. Hagdadi. . Ornanese, etc. There are to-day over one hundred Arabic newspapers and magazines regularly published and which together have an im- mense circulation in all parts of the Arabic-speaking world. 'An account of this language or dialect was given by Surgeon II. J. Carter in Journal Roy. Asiat. Soc, July, J847. m ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM While the Arabic language has now acknowledged suprem- acy above all its sisters, in its historical and literary development it was last of them all. Not until the seventh century of our era did Arabic become, in any sense, important. The language re- ceived its literary birthright and its inspiration through the illiterate prophet who could not read but who set all the East- ern world to studying his book. The Arabic literature of the days before Mohammed has a high literary character, but with all its beauty it was only the morning star that ushered in the sunrise. When once the Koran was promulgated, literature and grammar and the sciences all spoke Arabic. It was the renaissance of the dead and dying East. Whatever effect the Koran may have had on the social life and morals of a peo- ple, no one denies that it was the Koran and that alone which rescued Arabic from becoming a local idiom. Again this Koran was the unifying factor of the new religion, sweeping everything down before it ; not only did it unify the hostile tribes of Arabia but melted all their dialects into one and established an ever-abiding classical standard for the remotest student of the language of revelation. We do not of course hold, as do the Arabs, that the Arabic of the Koran is abso- lutely without a parallel in grammatical purity and diction. The contrary has been proved by Noldeke and Dozy. The latter states that the Koran is "full of bastard-Arabic and has many grammatical blunders, which are at present unnoticed, since the grammarians have kindly constructed rules or excep- tions to include even these in the list of unapproachable style and perfection." The origin and history of the Arabic alphabet is exceedingly interesting. All writing was originally pictorial, the next stage being that of the ideogram. Perhaps a trace of this earliest writing still remains in the wasms or tribal marks of the Bed- ouin. Scholars maintain that the earliest Semitic writing we possess of certain date is that on the Moabite Stone, discovered by the missionary Klein in 1868. Almost of equal age is the THE ARABIC LANGUAGE 243 Cyprus and Sidon alphabet, and that of the Phoenicians, found on ancient coins and monuments. The date of this writing is put at 890 B. c. On these monuments and coins the system of orthography is already so carefully developed as to prove that the Semites understood the art centuries before that date. The oldest forms of these Semitic alphabets are in turn derive 1 (Halevy, Noldeke) from the Egyptian hieratic characters. The oldest inscriptions found in North Arabia by Doughty and Enting, in the Nabatean character, and in South Arabia by Halevy and others in Himyaritic character, are both written, like modern Arabic, from right to left. Although the charac- ters do not resemble each other, this would seem to indicate a common origin. The intimate connection of the present Arabic alphabet with the Hebrew or Phoenician, is shown not only by the forms of the letters, but by their more ancient numerical arrangement called by the Arabs Abjad, and which corresponds with the Hebrew order. CUFIC CHARACTERS. Accounts differ even among the Arabs as to who adapted or invented the present Arabic alphabet from the older Cufic forms. Some even hold that they both developed simultaneously out of the Himyaritic. The Cufic, it is true, is found on old monuments and coins from the Persian Gulf to Spain, and is a square, apparently more crude kind of writing. But the cur- sive script (now called Naskhi) seems to have been in use also long before Mohammed's time, the Arab historians to the con- trary notwithstanding, for the exigencies of daily life. That writing was known at Mecca before the era of Mohammed is acknowledged by Moslem tradition and the close intercourse 244 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OE ISLAM with Yemen long before that time would certainly indicate some knowledge of Himyaritic. Syriac and Hebrew were also known in Mecca and Medina because of the Jewish popula- tion, and it is not improbable that this may have had influence on the present form of the Arabic alphabet. MODERN COPYBOOK STYLE OF ARABIC (VOWELED.) ORDINARY ARABIC HANDWRITING (UNVOWELED.) It is not without reason that Mohammed's cognomen for Jew and Christian alike was, ''the people of the Book^ At first, like the Hebrew, Arabic had no vowel-points or diacritical marks. In the earliest Cufic Koran manuscripts these have the form of accents, horizontal lines or even triangles. The Arabs tell many interesting stories about the cause and occasion of their invention by Abu Aswad ad Duili or by Nasr bin 'Asim. In each case the awful sin of mispronouncing a word in the Koran leads to the device of vowel-points as a future preventa- tive. According to another tradition it was Hasan-el-Basri (who died a. h. iio) that first pointed the Koran text with the assistance of Yahya bin Yamar. The vowel-points, so called, were in reality the abbreviated weak-consonants and were placed, in accordance with the sound of these letters, when so pronounced. The vowel-points and diacritical marks are al- THE ARABIC LANGUAGE 245 ways found in copies of the Koran, but seldom in other books and never in epistolary writing. They are considered by the Arabs themselves as at best a necessary evil, except for gram- marians and purists. The story is told that an elaborate piece of Arabic penmanship was once presented to the governor of Khorasan under the Caliph al Mamun, and that he exclaimed, " How beautiful this would be if there were not so much cori- ander seed scattered over it ! " MOGREBI ARABIC OF NORTH AFRICA (UNVOWELED.) The demand for perfect accuracy in copying the Koran in every detail of point and accent, led the Arabs to glorify the art of caligraphy, and, as they followed neither painting nor sculpture because of their creed, they naturally put all their artistic taste into their manuscripts. Brilliantly colored and adorned with gold on delicately tinted parchment, or paper, the fanciful chapter-headings and the elegant tracery of each letter in the book make such an old manuscript Koran a real work of art. Three names are recorded of those who in the early days of Islam were the Raphaels and Michael Angelos of the reed -pen ; AVazir Muhammed bin Ali, Ali bin Hilal al Bauwab, and Abu-'d-Dur bin Yakut al Musta'sami. As time went by there arose various schools of this art ; chiefly distinguished as 246 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM the Magrib-Berber or Western, and the Turko-Arab or Eastern style. In the decorations of the Alhambra the western school shows some of its most finished art, while Damascus and Cairo mosques show the dehcate "Arabesque" traceries of the lighter oriental school. It is in manuscripts, however, that the best work is found ; some of these are of priceless value and exceeding beauty. Even to-day there are Arab penmen whose work commands a good price as art and gives them a position in society as it did the monkey, described in the Arabian Nights, who improvised poetry in five styles of caligraphy for the astonished king. <• PERSIAN STYLE EXTENSIVELY USED IN EASTERN ARABIA. The Arabic language is distinguished among those that know it for its beauty, and among those who are learning it for its difficulty. To the Arabs their language is not only the lan- guage of revelation, but of the Revealer himself. Allah speaks Arabic in heaven, and on the day of judgment will judge the world in this "language of the angels." All other tongues are vastly inferior in grammatical construction, and what else could they be since the Koran with its classical perfection has existed before all words, uncreated, written on the preserved tablet in heaven, the daily delight of the innumerable company of angels ! As Renan says, " among a people so preoccupied with language as the Arabs, the language of the Koran became as it were a THE ARABIC LANGUAGE 247 second religion, a sort of dogma inseparable from Islam." But the innate beauty of the language is acknowledged by all who have made it a study, whether born on the soil of Arabia or educated in the universities of Europe. From the days of the Dutch scholars, De Dieu, Schultens, Schroeder and Scheid, and the Swiss Hottinger to the times of Noldeke, Gesenius and Renan, the praises of Arabic have been proclaimed in Europe, and its study pursued with a devotion that almost amounted to a passion. The elements of beauty in this language are many. There is first its logical structure, which, we are told, surpasses that of any other language. Even the order of the alphabet is more logical as regards form than the Hebrew ; its grammar is alto- gether logical ; the exceptions to its rules can be formed, so to say, into a syllogism. Palmer's and Lansing's grammars show how this logical structure can be discovered in the minutest de- tail, so that, e. g., the three short vowels control the forms not only, but the significance of roots, and are the key to the in- terpretation of all grammatical mysteries. A second element of beauty is found in the lexical richness of the Arabic. Its boundless vocabulary and wealth of syno- nyms are universally acknowledged and admired. A diction- ary is called a Kanioos or "Deep Ocean " where "full many a gem of purest ray serene, the dark unfathomed caves ' ' con- ceal for the diligent student. Renan tells of an Arab linguist who wrote a book on the 500 names given to the lion in litera- ture; another gives 200 words for serpent. Firozabadi, the Arabian Webster, is said to have written a sort of supplement on the words for honey and to have left it incomplete at the eightieth word ; the same authority asserts that there are over 1,000 different terms in Arabic for sword and, judging from its use by the Arabs, this appears credible. De Hammer Purgstall, a German scholar, wrote a book on the words re- lating to the camel and finds them, in Arabic literature, to the number of 5,744. But this remarkable exhibition loses some 248 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM of its grandeur when truth compells us to state that many of the so-called synonyms are epithets changed into substantives or tropes accidentally employed by some poet to conform to his rhyme. It is also true that the wealth of synonym is limited in Arabic to a certain class of words ; in other depart- ments of thought, ethics for example, the language is wofully poor, not even having a distinctive word for conscience. A third point of beauty in the x\rabic language is its purity as compared with other Semitic languages or even all other languages. This was partly due to the geographical location of the Arabs and is still due to their early literature together with the Koran which has put a classical standard into the hands of every schoolboy and has prevented, by the law of religion, both development and deterioration. "While other languages of the same family became dead and while many of their forms and meanings changed or disappeared, the Arabic remained comparatively pure and intact excepting perhaps the temporary corruption which necessarily occurred during the Moslem conquests and foreign applications of the first four Caliphs."^ The Arabic race occupied at first a circumscribed territory and came little into contact with the surrounding nations so that the forces which produce linguistic decay were absent. The only thing that will preserve a language pure next to iso- lation is a classical literature. English has changed less since Shakespeare's time than it did in the interval between him and Chaucer. So too with Arabic. Had it not been for the Koran and its cognate literature, by this time the people of Syria, Egypt, Morocco and Oman would perhaps scarcely understand each other, and their written language would differ vastly ; but the existence of this literature has kept the written language a unit and put a constant check on the vagaries of dialect. The last, and chief element of beauty in tlie Arabic tongue ' Lansing. THE ARABIC LANGUAGE 249 is undoubtedly its wonderful literature. In poetry alone, the Arabians can challenge the world ; in grammar, logic and rhetoric the number of their works is legion ; while both at Bagdad and Cordova Arab historians^ and biographers filled whole libraries with their learning ; in Cordova the royal li- brary contained 400,000 volumes. Algebra and Astronomy are specially indebted to the Arabs ; all the sciences received attention and some of them addition from the Arabian mind. The Arabic tongue is not only beautiful but it is difficult, exceedingly difficult, to every one who attempts to really master it. One of the veteran missionaries of Egypt wrote, in 1864, "I would rather traverse Africa from Alexandria to the Cape of Good Hope, than undertake a second time to master the Arabic language." The first difficulty is its correct pro- nunciation. Some Arabic letters cannot be transliterated into English, although certain grammars take infinite pains to ac- complish the impossible. The gutturals belong to the desert and were doubtless borrowed from the camel when she com- plained of overloading. There are also one or two other letters which sorely try the patience of the beginner and in some cases remain obstinate to the end. Then the student soon learns, and the sooner the better, that Arabic is totally different in construction from European tongues and that "as far as the East is from the West" so far he must modify his ideas as to the correct way of expressing thought ; and this means to dis- regard all notions of Indo-European grammar when in touch with the sons of Shem. Every word in the Arabic language is referred to a root of three letters. These roots are modified by prefixes, infixes and suffixes, according to definite models, so that from one root a host of words can be constructed and vice versa, from a compounded word all the servile letters and syllables must be eliminated to find the original root. This digging for roots and building up of roots is not a pastime at the outset because of the extent of the root-garden. Dozy's supplement to Lane's Monumental Arabic Lexicon has 1,714 250 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM pages. So large in fact is the vocabulary of Arabic writers that the classics require copious explanatory notes for the Arabs themselves and some of them have written notes on the notes, to explain the difficult words used in explaining others more difficult. INIoreover Arabic literature is so vast in its extent that acquaintance with the vocabulary of a dozen authors in one line of literature does not yet enable the student to appreciate the language of other works. You may be able to read the Koran tolerably well and understand its diction and yet when you turn to the Arabian Shakespeare or Milton find yourself literally at sea, in the Kamoos, and unable to understand a single hne. The regular verb in Arabic has fifteen conjugations, two voices, two tenses, and several moods ; the irregular verbs are many and mysterious to the beginner although grammarians try to make them appear easier by demonstrating that all their irregularities are strictly logical, not the result of linguistic per- versity but foreseen calculation and providential wisdom. Is it not " the language of the angels" ? — even the broken-plurals? As a final testimony to the difficulties of the Arabic language listen to Ion Keith Falconer. After passing the Semitic Languages Tripos at Cambridge under Dr. Wright, and taking a special course in Arabic at Leipzig, he writes from Assiut in Egypt : "I am getting on in Arabic, but it is most appall- ingly hard. ... I have learned a good deal and can make myself intelligible to servants and porters. I have a teacher every day for two hours and translate from a child's reading book." After fve years of further study he writes once more from Aden (Jan. 17, 1886), "I am learning to speak Arabic quite nicely but it will be long before I can de- liver real discourses." And this man was an all-around scholar with a passion for languages. Without any doubt Arabic is one of the most difficult languages in the world to acquire with any degree of fluency, and progress in its attain- ment means ceaseless plodding and endless diligence. XXV THE LITERATURE OF THE ARABS '~r*HE literature of the Arabs is either pre-Islamic or post- -■■ Islamic ; the former has as its chief classics the Muallakat or seven suspended poems, the latter finds its centre and apex as well as its origin and inspiration in the Koran. The seven an- cient poems, still extant, are also called Miithahabat or the "golden poems, " and it is generally admitted by Arabic schol- ars that this was indeed the golden age of Arab literature. Zu- hair, Zarafah, Imru-1-Kais, Amru-ibn-Kulsum, AlHarith, 'Antar and Labid were the authors of these poems and all but the last were idolaters, and belong to what the conceit of Islam calls "the Time of Ignorance." These poems furnished the model ever afterward for later writers and, according to Baron de Slane, are remarkable for their perfection of form and exhibit a high degree of linguistic culture. But the Koran has eclipsed all that ever went before it or came after it in the eyes of the Arabs. It is the paragon of literary perfection as well as of moral beauty. Its style is inimitable because it is Divine in the highest sense of the word. To criticise its diction is to be guilty of blasphemy and to compare it with other literature is to commit sacrilege. There is no doubt that the chief charm of the Koran from a literary standpoint is its musical jingle and cadence. It is such as the Arabs, the earliest masters of rhyme, love, and servilely imitate in all their later prose works. Our English translations of the Koran, although accurate, (and even idiomatic, as Palmer's) cannot reproduce this ; in consequence the book appears vapid, monotonous and to the last degree wearisome and uninteresting. Attempts have been made by Burton and others to acquaint English readers 251 253 ARABIA, THE CRAHl.F OF ISLAM with this element of beauty in Mohanuued's revelation. The following ^ is almost equal to the Arabic itself, and, to say the least, sounds more interesting than Sale's prose version of the same passage : " I swcav by the splendor of light And by the silence of night That the Lord sliall never forsake thee Nor in His hatred take thee; Truly for thee shall be winning Better than all beginning. Soon shall the Lord console thee, grief no longer control thee, And fear no longer cajole thee. Thou wertan orphan-boy, yet the Lord found roon\ for ihy head. When thy feet went astray, were they not to the right jwth led ? Did He not find thee poor, yet riches around thee spread ? Then on the orphan-boy, let thy proud foot never tread, And never turn away the beggar who asks for bread. But of the Lord's bounty ever let jnaise be sung and said." It is not to be expected that all the transcendant excellencies and miraculous beauties which Moslem commentators find in , the Koran should unveil themselves to cold, uns)inpatlii/ing western gaze, but that the book has a certain literary beauty no one can deny who has read it in the original. As Penrice says in his preface to his Dictionary of the Koran, " Beauties there are many and great ; ideas highly poetical are clothed in rich and appropriate language, which not unfrequently rises to a sublimity far beyond the reach of any translation ; but it is un- fortunately the case that many of those graces which present themselves to the admiration of the finished scholar are but so many stumbling-blocks in the way of the beginner ; the mar- vellous conciseness which adds so greatly to the force and energy of its expressions cannot fail to perplex him \Ahilc tlie frequent use of the ellipse leaves in his mind a feeling of \agueness not altogether out of character in a work of its oracular and soi- disant prophetic nature." ' Found in the Edi)il>iir^/i AV:'/c"i' for July, i;>66, article " Mohammed," THE LlTllRATURP. 01' THE ylRAH^; 253 The greatest literary treasure of the Arabs next to the Koran is the Makamat of Al Hariri. No one of polite scholarship would dare profess ignorance of this great classic, anrl the reader of these " Assemblies " is introduced to every Tjranf;h of Moham- medan learning — poetry, history, antiquities, theology and law. Recently Hariri has been translated into English by Chenery and an earlier translation by Preston has also been printed. Stanley Lane-Poole reviewing these translations thus character- izes this Shakespeare of the Arabic world : " It is difificult, no doubt, for most Westerns to appreciate the beauties of this celebrated classic. There is no cohesion, no connecting idea, between the fifty separate ' Assemblies, ' beyond the regular reappearance of an egregious Tartufe, called Abu- Zeyd, a Bohemian of brilliant parts and absolutely no con- science, who consistently extracts alms from assemblies of people in various cities, by preaching eloquent discourses of the highest piety and morality, and then goes off with his spoils to indulge secretly in triumphant and unhallowed revels. P>en in this framework, there is no attempt at originality; it is borrowed from Hamadani, the ' Wonder of the Age.' The excellence lies in the perfect finish: the matter is nothing; the charm consists in the form alone. Yet this form is, to English read- ers, exotic and artifif;ial. Among its special merits, in the eyes of Easterns, is the perpetual employment of rimed prose. To us this is apt to seem at once monotonous and strained, with its antithetic balance in sense, and jingle of sound ; but to the Arabs, as to many primitive peoples, either riming or assonant prose was from early times a natural mode of impassioned and impressive speech. It is the mode adopted constantly and with- out strain in the Koran, and it is the mode into which an histor- ian, such as Ibn-el-Athir, falls naturally when he waxes eloquent over a great victory or a famous deed. " But if we do not care for rimed prose, there is plenty be- sides in Hariri to minister to varied tastes. In these wonderful 'Assemblies,' we shall find every kind of literary form, except 254 JR.-iliL-i, THE CR.-1D1.E OF ISUM the shambling- and the vulgar. Pagan rhetorie, Moslem ex- hortation, simple verse, elaborate ode, everything that the im- measurable flexibility of the Arabic tongue and the curious ait of a fastidious scholar couUl achieve — all is here, and Ave may take our choice." What is said by this scholarly critic of Hariri holds true of most Arabic poetry, it lacks unity of idea and sobriety of expres- sion. All is intense. Every beautiful eye is a narcissus ; tears are pearls ; teeth are pearls or hail-stones ; lips are rubies ; the gums, pomegranate blossoms; piercing eyes are swords, and the eyelids, scabbanls ; a mole is an ant creeping to suck the honey from the li['>s ; a handson\e lace is a full-moon ; an erect form is the letter alif as penned by "Wazir Muhammed ; black hair is night ; the waist is a willow-branch or a l.mce, and love is always passion. Far-fetched allusions abound and the sf/isa at every turn must do homage to thejv////(/. In the judgment of Baron de Slane the two notable exceptions to the rule are Al Mutanabbi and Ibn El Farid who exhibit a daring and surpris- ing originalitv often approaching the sublime antl, in the case of the latter, mystic reveries and spiritual beauties of no mean order. The intluence of the Ar.d>ic language on other tongues and peoples has also been great, ever since the rise of Islam. The Persian language adopted the Arabic alphabet and a large number of Arabic words and plu-ases ; so that, as Renan re- marks, in some Persian books all the words are Arabic and only the grammar remains in the A-ernacular. As for Hindu- stani, three- fourths of its vocabulary consists of Arabic words or Arabic words derived through the Persian. The Turkish language also is indebted for many words taken from the Arabic and uses the Arabic alphabet. The Malay language, with the Moslem conquest, was also touched by Arabic influ- ence and likewise adopted its alphabet. In Africa its intluence was yet more strongly felt. The language extended over all the northern half of the continent and is still growing in use Tim LniiRATURP. or run arahs 2r,r, to-day, 'I'he geographical nomenclature of the interior is Arabic and Arabs preceded Livingstone, Stanley and Speke in all their joiirncys. 'i he languages of the southern Sudan, the Hausa, and even those of Guinea borrowed largely from the Arabic. Europe itself did not escape the influence of the conquering Semitic tongue. Spanish and Portuguese betray a vast number of Arabic words and idioms, French and Eng- lish are also indebted to Arabic in no small degree for many scientific and technical words introduced at the time of the crusades and even earlier. Here is a partial list of those which we received directly or indirectly from the Arab tongue, as given in Skeat's Etymological Dictionary and arranged into sentences ; every word in italics is of Arabic origin. "'I'he Nabob Mohammedan Magazine relates, that years after the He^^ira, a saracen caliph or Mameluke sultan, sat with his mussulman emir, admiral, vizier, moslem mufti and Koran-munshee, (who knew alchemy and algebra and could cipher the azimuth and nadir to zero), sheikh of the hareem, muezzin and tariff -dra-^oman of the arsenal, under a caroh- tree, on sofa"; (A mohair -mat tress covered v/itij jerboa- and gaze lie -skim, drinking coffee, saffron-elixer, arrack, alcohoi and syrup of senna carraway and sumach. For tonic they also had rose-attar, artichokes, alkaline-nitre in myrrh, taraxacum, otto-sherbet, and naphtha in amber cups. The Sultan' s infant daughter wore a carmine cotton-3.rn\-muslin chemise or diaper with a civet talisman and jasper amulet ; she played a Tartar lute. Suddenly a giaour Bedouin assassin with an assagai and hookah-masque came down on them from behind an alcove of the neighboring arabesque mosque minaret like a sirocco-simoon or monsoon and killed them all," Most of these words came from the Arabic through other lan- guages such as French and Spanish ; others were directly transferred from the Arabic to English ; and still others have passed the long journey from Arabic to Greek, to Latin, to 256 AR/IBIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM Italian, to French and thence to Enghsh. The word magaziyie is perhaps the best example of how an Arabic-root found shelter in the soil of all the European languages and grew into manifold significations from its original meaning with the Arabs, ghazana^io collect or store. In modern days, especially since the opening of the Suez canal, the English language is beginning to exert its influence on Arabic. In Egypt, Syria and the Persian Gulf many Eng- lish commercial terms are being adopted into the language and the newspapers spread their use everywhere. Last, but not least, there is the immense, incalculable influ- ence on the Arabic-tongue for all time exerted by the toil and sacrifice of the early missionaries to Syria through their col- lege and press in giving to the world a modern Christian and scientific literature and that crowning work of Drs. Eli Smith and C. V. A. Van Dyck — the Arabic Bible. The mission press at Beirut has four hundred and eighty three volumes on its catalogue and prints about twenty-five million pages an- nually.^ The Arabic Bible "one of the noblest literally monu- ments of the age " will yet prove a mighty influence in purify- ing and ennobling the language and preserving its classical dic- ' " It would take a long list to exhaust the religious, literary and scentific contributions to the Arabic language from the missionaries in Syria. They include the translation of the Scriptures and the stereotyping of the same in numerous styles ; the preparation of a Scripture guide, commentaries, a concordance, and a complete hymn and tune book ; text-books in history, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, logarithms, as- tronomy, meteorology, botany, zoology, physics, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, hygiene, materia medica, practice of physic, surgery, and a periodical literature which has proved the stimulus to a very extensive native journalism. The Protestant converts of the mission, educated by the missionaries, have written elaborate works on history, poetry, gram- mar, arithmetic, natural science, and the standard dictionary of the lan- guage, and a cyclopsedia which will make a library by itself, consisting of about twenty volumes of from six hundred to eight hundred pages each." — Dr. G. E. Post, in New York Evangelist. THE LITERATURE OF THE ARABS 257 tion to the utmost bounds of the Arab-world. There was only one Koran and there will be only one Arabic Bible — the finished product of American scholarship and her best gift to the Mohammedan world. 'x^y ^vj, i.j^ ^ y| TITLE PAGE OF A CHRISTIAN PAPER PRINTED IN ARABIC, XXVI THE ARAB " Children of Shem ! Firstborn of Noah's race And still forever children ; at the door Of Eden found, unconscious of disgrace, And loitering on while all are gone before; Too proud to dig, too careless to be poor Taking the gifts of God in thanklessness, Not rendering aught, nor supplicating more, Nor arguing with Him if He hide His face. Yours is the rain and sunshine, and the way Of an old wisdom, by our world forgot, The courage of a day which knew not death ; Well may we sons of Japhet, in dismay. Pause in our vain mad fight for life and breath, Beholding you. — I bow and reason not." — Anon. /CONCERNING the origin of the tribes and people that ^^ now inhabit the Arabian peninsula there is disagreement among the learned. It is generally held that the original tribes of Northern Arabia are descendants of Ishmael. This is also the tradition of all Arab historians. As to the South Arabians, who occupied their highlands with the Hadramaut coast for centuries before the Ishmaelites appeared on the scene there are two opinions. Some believe them to be descendants of Joktan (Arabic Kahfan) the son of Heber and therefore, like the Northern Arabs, true Semites. Others think that the earliest inhabitants of South Arabia were Cushites or Hamitic ; while some German scholars hold that in the earlier Arabs the children of Joktan and of Gush were blended into one race. Among the Ishmaelites are included not only Ishmael's direct descendants through the twelve princes,' but the Edomites, Moa- J Gen. XXV. i5, 258 THE ARAB 259 bites, Ammonites, Midianites and probably other cognate tribes. The names of the sons of Ishmael in relation to their settlements and the traces of these names in modern Arabia is a subject which has been taken up by Bible dictionaries but which still offers an interesting field for further study. The Arabs themselves have always claimed Abrahamic descent for the tribes of the north. The age-long, racial animosity between the Yemenites and Maadites seems to confirm the theory of two distinct races inhabiting the peninsula from very early times ; and they remain distinct until to-day in spite of a common language and a common religion. " The animosity of these two races to each other is unaccountable but invincible. Like two chemical products which instantly explode when placed in contact, so has it always been found impossible for Yemenite and Maadite to live quietly together. At the present day the Yemenite in the vicinity of Jerusalem detests the Maadite of Hebron, and when questioned as to the reason of their eternal enmity has no other reply but that it has been so from time im- memorial. In the time of the Caliphs the territory of Damas- cus was desolated by a murderous war for two years, because a Maadite had taken alemon from the garden of a Yemenite. The province of Murcia in Spain was deluged with blood for seven years because a Maadite inadvertently plucked a Yemen- ite vine-leaf. It was a passion which surmounted every tie of affection or interest. ' You have prayed for your father : why do you not pray for your mother ? ' a Yemenite was asked near the Kaaba. ' For my mother ! ' said the Yemenite, ' How could I ? She was of the race of Maad. ' " ' The Yemenites at a very early period founded the strong and opulent Himyarite Kingdom. The Himyarites were the navigators of the East and they were celebrated for their skill in manufacture as well as for enterprise in commerce ; they had a written language, inscriptions in which were discovered all over south Arabia during the present century. The Maadite or 1 In the Edinburgh Review, July, 1 866. 260 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM Ishmaelite Arabs on the contrary were more nomad in their habits and were masters of the caravans which carried the enormous overland trade by the two great trunk-lines of antiq- uity, from the East to the West. One of these lines extended from Aden, (Arabia Emporium of Ptolemy) along the western part of the peninsula and through Yemen to Egypt ; the other extended from Babylon to Tadmor and Damascus. A third route, nearly as important, was also in the hands of the Ish- maelite Arabs, by Wady Rumma and Nejd to the old capital of the Himyarites, Mareb.^ These caravans unified the Arab- ian peninsula and fused into one its two peoples ; the northern Arabs receiving somewhat of the southern civilization and the southern Arabs adopting the language of the north. But the decline in the caravan trade brought disaster to Arabia ; the ship of the desert found a competitor in the ships of the sea. Old settlements were broken up, great cities, which flourished because of overland trade, were abandoned and whole tribes ■were reduced from opulence to poverty. In this time of transi- tion, long before the birth of Mohammed, the Arabic nation as it is known to modern history seems to have been formed. The modern Arabs classify themselves into Bedouins and town-dwellers ; or, in their own poetic way, aJil el belt and ahl el h'eit, " the people of the tent," and " the people of the wall." But this classification is hardly sufficient, although it has been generally adopted by writers on Arabia. Edson L. Clark, in his book, The Arabs and the Turks, gives five classes : "Be- ginning at the lowest round of the ladder we have first the sed- entary or settled Arabs . . . who though still many of them dwelling in tents have become cultivators of the soil. By their nomadic brethren these settled Arabs are thoroughly de- spised as degraded and denationalized by the change in their mode of life. Secondly, the wandering tribes in the neigh- borhood of the settled districts, and in constant intercourse with 1 International Routes of Asia, by Elisee Rectus, in New York Iiide^etid- ent, May 4, 1S99. THE ARAB 2G1 their inhabitants. Both these classes, but more especially the lat- ter, are thoroughly demoralized. . . . The third class consists of the Arabs of the Turkish towns and villages; but they too are a degenerate class both in language and character. The fourth class consists of the inhabitants of the towns and villages of Arabia proper, who by their peculiar situation have remained more secluded from the rest of the world than even the wandering tribes. . . . Finally the great nomadic tribes of the interior, still preserving unchanged the primitive character, habits and customs of their race." This last class and this alone are the real Bedouins. In addition to this classification according to civilization there is the universal genealogical classification ; and no people in the world are fonder of genealogies than the Arabs. The names of tribes and families go back, in many cases to pre- islamic days. The earliest tribal-names, therefore, are either taken from animals or totem-names, like Panthers, Dogs, Liz- ards, e. g., Anmar Kilab, Dibab, etc; place-names trans- formed afterward by the genealogists into ancestors, BIfiHR i HETETM RA7M 1 ) BILL! (Chrl.tUn Bedouins) | track of a friend from that of a foe, and can distinguish the tribe or even the clan \ he knows from the depth of the foot- print whether the camel was loaded or lame ; whether the man passed yesterday or a week before ; from the regularity or irreg- •280 ^R.^PIJ, THF CR.IIVE OF ISl..-L\! ularitv he judges oi' fntigue or oi pursuit. If the e.unel's fore- feet dig deeper than the liind lie concludes the animal liad a Aveak breast ; from the olTal l\e knows wlience tlie camels came and the character of their ])asture. Burckhardt wiites of in- stances where camels were traced six ilays' jiuuneys after being stolen, and identified. To identify property it must be markcil. therefore, the kin- dreil science of ^i'asw has its place. A 7c>asm is a Bedouin traile-mark or ideograj^h to label hib' property, real and personal. Their origin is unknown, although Doughty says that they ofttimes resemble Himyaritic letters antl may therefore come from Yemen. Each family or tribe has its own cattle-brand or token. Not only is personal property such as cattle marked ^vith the 7c'(js//i but the Bedouin put their mark on rocks near favorite wells or pastures. These signs are the only certain records of former occupation of tribes. Many oi' the tribes haye two or three ditTerent 7i:'as//is ; these belong to family groups. The medical knowledge and nunlical treatment of the .Arabs deserve some notice. The Arabs think themselves always ailing and never fail to consult a hakim or doctor when there is opjior- tunitv. The hakeem is supposed to know both their malady and its cure by simple observation ; to tell the physician for what cause they seek him would be an insult to his wisdom and for him to ask them settles the matter that he is not a true hakeem. The conu\ion diseases of Arabia are the following, according to Arab nomenclature, EI Kihd, i. e., the liver, or all visceral infirmities; er rihh, literally, "the wind," or rheumatics and neuralgia ; hi/mnia, fevers ; tahal or ague-cake ; el-hasa or stone; ophthalmia; "fascination" or hysterics, (as when they say a man has a jinn or a child has been looked at by the evil-eye^ ; leprosy, phthisis, dropsy, stranguria, iilcers and senile itch. For anv and all of these ailments, beside others not so common, yet sometimes epidemic like smallpox and cholera, the Arabs seek a hakeem. All medicine, save /IN/IHMN ARTS /iN[) SCinNCRS 281 amulets, cliarms and exorcisms, is called ihnva. Their j^harrna- copia is not larp^c but quite remarl■ Kessler, 385 286 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM In the English Bible the name Sabeans is perplexing, and although used of three different tribes or peoples, none of these are any way related to the present Mandaeans unless those mentioned in Job. Sabean is also the term used in the Koran, where it undoubtedly applies to the people and proves that when Islam arose their numbers and settlements were far from unimportant. The Koran recognizes them as distinct from idolaters, and places them with Jews and Christians as people of the book.^ From this it is evident that the Sabeans '^ could not have been, as some allege, a minor Christian sect or iden- tical with the Hemero-Baptists. Although giving special honor to John the Baptist, they ca?i in no sense be called Chris- tians. Isolated by a creed, cult and language of their own, the Sabeans * love their isolation and do not intermarry with stran- gers nor accept a proselyte to their faith. Nearly all of them follow one of three trades. They raise the finest dairy produce of Mesopotamia ; they build a peculiar kind of light canoe, called Mashhoof, and all others are silver-smiths. No traveller should visit their villages without carrying away specimens of ' Surah ii. 59; v. 73 ; xxii. 17. * According to Gesenius, Sabeans should be Tsabians from tsabaoth, the " host of heaven." Noldeke and others say it comes from a root subba to wash, baptise, and refers to the manner of their worship. Gibbon is per- haps correct when, on the authority of Pocock, Hettinger, and D'Herbelot, he states the origin of their other name thus : " A slight infusion of the gospel had transformed the last remnant of the Chaldean polytheists into the Christians of St. John at Bussora." 3 In regard to their name Sabeans, Lane's Arabic dictionary says that it comes from a root meaning " one who has departed from one religion to another religion." The Arabs used to call the prophet as-Sabi, because he departed from the religion of the Koreish to El-Islam. Nasoreans is the name given them by some authors. According to Petermann they themselves give this title only to those of their number who are distin- guished for character or knowledge. It doubtless comes from NaZwoaiui. the early half-Christian sect of Syria. THE STAR4V0RSHIPPERS OF MESOPOTAMIA 287 their beautiful inlaid-work, black metal on silver and gold. A peaceful people they are, industrious, though mostly poor and seldom affording trouble to their Turkish rulers. Both men and women have a remarkably fine physique ; tall, of dark complexion, good features, and with long black beards, some of the men are typical patriarchs, even as we imagine Abraham who left their present country for -Haran. On ordinary days their dress does not distinguish them from Moslems or Jews, but on feast days they wear only white. Their women go about unveiled ; they are rather taller and have a more masculine cast of features than Moslem women. Specimens of Mandaitic Cursive-Script with transliteration and translation. \^lXc^&,*»i AJTXW3 O = Assooda havilak = peace be to you. O Cio e^ ~V^"'L^ ~ kethkum skawee = how much I /^ is it ? \"1 « =atran hofshaba := Monday. f -fiJc. Q =aklatha = Tuesday. «« S±L^(i =arba =Wednesday ^« *yxJSrtA^ =hamsha = Thursday. •* aOH ^^i/^ =:shitta = Friday. ^ >vO^- qyo =shuvah = Saturday. The two great things that distinguish the Sabeans are their language and their religion. Both are remarkable. The for- 288 ARABLE, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM mer because of its long preservation among a dying people, and the latter as the most remarkable example of religious syn- cretism. Naturally the bazaar-talk of all the river-country is Arabic ; all Sabeans speak it and a goodly proportion read and write it ; but beside this they have a household language of their own, the language of their sacred books, which is called Mandaitic. li is so closely related to Syriac that it might almost be called a dialect, yet it has an alphabet and grammar of its own, and their writing and speech is not fully intelligible to the Syriac- speaking Christians from Mosul. A\'right says that their alpha- bet characters most resemble the Nabathean and llicir language that of the liabylonian Talnuid.* One jicculiarity is the naming of the letters with the a vowel and not as in other Semitic languages by special names. The oldest manuscripts of the Mandaitic date from the sixteenth century, and are in European Libraries (Paris and (Oxford). But according to Noldeke the golden period of their literature, when their re- ligious books received their final and present form, was 650- 900 A. 11. At present few can read or write their language, although all can speak it, and from religious motives they refuse to teach those outside of their faith even the first lesson, except secretly. Although meeting Sabeans for years and being their guest on frequent journeys up and down the rivers, I could find no sat- isfiictory answer to the question what their real faith and cult were. The popular story that they turn to the North Star when they pray and "baptise" every Sunday was all that Moslems or Christians could tell. Books of travel gave fragmentary, conilicting and often grossly erroneous statements. According ' The only gicunniars of the language are the Skc'tc/i of a Sabfaii Gram- mar by Captain Prideaux and the accurate and elaborate Mandiiische Grainviatik of the indefatigable scholar Nokleke. One great drawback of the hitter however is that the Jlebreio character is used throughout and not the Mandaitic. THE STARIVORSHIPPERS OF MESOPOTAMIA 289 to some accounts they were idolaters, others classed them with Christians. An anonymous article in the London Standard, Oct. 19, 1894, entitled, "A prayer meeting of the Star-wor- shippers," curiously gave me the key to open the lock of their silence. Whoever wrote it must have been perfectly acquainted with their religious ceremonies, for when I translated it to a company of Sabeans at Amara they were dumbfounded. Knowing that I knew sotnethifig made it easy for them to tell me more. The article referred to was in part as follows : "It happens to be the festival of the Star-worshippers cele- brated on the last day of the year and known as the Kanshio Zahlo, or day of renunciation. This is the eve of the new year, the great watch-night of the sect, when the annual prayer- meeting is held and a solemn sacrifice made to Avather Ramo, the Judge of the under world, and Ptahiel, his colleague ; and the white-robed figures we observe down by the riverside are those of members of the sect making the needful preparations for the prayer-meeting and its attendant ceremonies. "First, they have to erect their Mishkna, their tabernacle or outdoor temple ; for the sect has, strange to say, no permanent house of worship or meeting-place, but raise one previous to their festival and only just in time for the celebration. And this is what they are now busy doing within a few yards of the water, as we ride into the place. The elders, in charge of a shkando, or deacon, who directs them, are gathering bundles of long reeds and wattles, which they weave quickly and deftly into a sort of basket work. An oblong space is marked out about sixteen feet long and twelve broad by stouter reeds, which are driven firmly into the ground close together, and then tied with strong cord. To these the squares of woven reeds and wattles are securely attached, forming the outer containing walls of the tabernacle. The side walls run from north to south, and are not more than seven feet high. Two windows, or rather openings for windows, are left east and west, and space for a door is made on the southern side, so that the priest 290 /IRABI^i, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM when entering the edifice has the North Star, the great object of their adoration, immediately facing him. An altar of beaten earth is raised in the centre of the reed-encircled enclosure, and the interstices of the walls well daubed with clay and soft earth, which speedily hardens. On one side of the altar is placed a little furnace of dark earthenware, and on the other a little handmill, such as is generally used in the East for grind- ing meal, together with a small quantity of charcoal. Close to the southern wall, a circular basin is now excavated in the ground, about eight feet across, and from the river a short canal or channel is dug leading to it. Into this the water flows from the stream, and soon fills the little reservoir to the brim. Two tiny cabins or huts, made also of reeds and wickervvork, each just large enough to hold a single person, are then roughly put together, one by the side of the basin of water, the other at the further extremity of the southern wall, beyond the en- trance. The second of these cabins or huts is sacred to the Ganzivro or high priest of the Star-worshippers, and no lay- man is ever allowed to even so much as touch the walls with his hands after it is built and placed in position. The door- way and window openings of the edifice are now hung with white curtains ; and long before midnight, the hour at which the prayer-meeting commences, the little Mishkua, or taber- nacle open to the sky, is finished and ready for the solemnity. " Toward midnight the Star-worshippers, men and women, come slowly down to the Mishkna by the riverside. Each, as he or she arrives, enters the tiny wattled hut by the southern wall, disrobes, and bathes in the little circular reservoir, the tarmido, or priest, standing by and pronouncing over each the formula, 'Eshmo iVhat, Eshmo d'manda ha'i madhkar elakh^ (* The name of the living one, the name of the living word, be remembered upon thee '). On emerging from the water, each one robes him or herself in the rasta, the ceremonial white garments peculiar to the Star-worshippers, consisting of a sadro, a long white shirt reaching to the ground ; a nassifo. THE STARPk'ORSHIPPERS OF MESOPOTAMIA 291 or stole round the neck falling to the knees ; a hiniamo, or girdle of woollen material ; a gabooa, square headpiece, reach- ing to the eyebrows ; a shalooal, or white over-mantle ; and a kanzolo, or turban, wound round the gabooa headpiece, of which one end is left hanging down over the shoulder. Pe- culiar sanctity attaches to the rasta, for the garments com- posing it are those in which every Star-worshipper is buried, and in which he believes he will appear for judgment before Avather in the nether world Materotho. Each one, as soon as he is thus attired, crosses to the open space in front of the door of the tabernacle, and seats himself upon the ground there, saluting those present with the customary Sood Havilakh, 'Blessing be with thee,' and receiving in return the usual reply, Assootah d'' hai havilakh, * Blessing of the living one be with thee.' " The numbers increase as the hour of the ceremonial comes nearer, and by midnight there are some twenty rows of these white-robed figures, men and women, ranked in orderly array facing the Mishkna, and awaiting in silent expectation the coming of the priests. A couple of lartnidos, lamp in hand, guard the entry to the tabernacle, and keep their eyes fixed upon the pointers of the Great Bear in the sky above. As soon as these attain the position indicating midnight, the priests give a signal by waving the lamps they hold, and in a few mo- ments the clergy of the sect march down in procession. In front are four of the shkandos, young deacons, attired in the rasta, with the addition of a silk cap, or tagha, under the turban, to indicate their rank. Following these come four tar?nidos, ordained priests who have undergone the baptism of the dead. Each wears a gold ring on the little finger of the right hand, and carries a tau-shaped cross of olive wood to show his standing. Behind the tarmidos comes the spiritual head of the sect, the Ganzivro, a priest elected by his col- leagues who has made complete renunciation of the world and is regarded as one dead and in the realms of the blessed, He 292 ARABIA, THE CRADLE Oh ISLAM is escorted by four other deacons. One holds aloft the large wooden tau-cross, known as derashvod zivo, that symbolizes his religious office ; a second bears the sacred scriptures of the Star-worshippers, the Sidra Rabba, "the great Order," two- thirds of which form the liturgy of the living and one-third the ritual of the dead. The third of the deacons carries two live pigeons in a cage, and the last a measure of barley and of sesame seeds. "The procession marches through the ranks of the seated worshippers, who bend and kiss the garments of the Ganzivro as he passes near them. The tarmidos guarding the entrance to the tabernacle draw back the hanging over the doorway and the priests file in, the deacons and tarmidos to right and left, leaving the Ganzivro standing alone in the centre, in front of the earthen altar facing the North Star, Polaris. The sacred book Sidra Rabba is laid upon the altar folded back where the liturgy of the living is divided from the ritual of the dead. The high priest takes one of the live pigeons handed to him by a shkando, extends his hands toward the Polar Star upon which he fixes his eyes, and lets the bird fly, calling aloud, 'BsJvno d' hai rabba vishabbah zivo kadmaya Elaha Rdmefi Nafshi Eprah, ' ' In the name of the living one, blessed be the primitive light, the ancient light, the Divinity self-created.' The words, clearly enunciated within, are distinctly heard by the worshippers without, and with one accord the white-robed figures rise from their places and prostrate themselves upon the ground toward the North Star, on which they have silently been gazing. " Noiselessly the worshippers resume their seated position on the ground outside. Within the Mishkna, or tabernacle, the Ganzivro steps on one side, and his place is immediately taken by the senior priest, a tarmido, who opens the Sidra Rabba before him on the altar and begins to read the Shovihotto, ' confession ' of the sect, in a modulated chant, his voice rising and falling as he reads, and ever and anon terminating THE STAR-IVORSHIPPERS OF MESOPOTAMIA 293 in a loud and swelling Mshobbo havi eshmakhyo Manda d'hai, 'Blessed be thy name, O source of life,' which the congre- gants without take up and repeat with bowed heads, their hands covering their eyes. " While the reading is in progress two other priests turn, and prepare the Fefo elayat, or high mystery, as they term their Communion. One kindles a charcoal fire in the earthenware stove by the side of the altar, and the other grinds small some of the barley brought by the deacon. He then expresses some oil from the sesame seed, and, mixing the barley meal and oil, prepares a mass of dough which he kneads and separates into small cakes the size of a two-shilling piece. These are quickly thrust into or on the oven and baked, the chanting of the liturgy of the Shomhotto still proceeding with its steady sing- song and response, Mshobbo havi eshmakhyo, from outside. The fourth of the tarmidos now takes the pigeon left in the cage from the shkando, or deacon, standing near him, and cuts its throat quickly with a very sharp knife, taking care that no blood is lost. The little cakes are then brought to him by his colleague, and, still holding the dying pigeon, he strains its neck over them in such a way that four drops fall on each one so as to form the sacred tau, or cross. Amid the continued reading of the liturgy, the cakes are carried round to the wor- shippers outside by the two principal priests who prepared them, who themselves pop them direct into the mouths of the members, with the words 'Rshimot bereshm d^hat,^ 'Marked be thou with the mark of the living one.' The four deacons inside the Mishkna walk round to the rear of the altar and dig a little hole, in which the body of the dead pigeon is then buried. " The chanting of the confession is now closed by the offici- ating tarmido, and the high priest, the Ganzivro, resuming his former place in front of the Sacred Book, begins the recitation of the Massakhto, or ' renunciation ' of the dead, ever direct- ing his prayers toward the North Star, on which the gaze of 294 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM the worshippers outside continues fixed throughout the whole of the ceremonial observances and prayers. This star is the Olma d'nhoora, literally 'the world of light,' the primitive sun of the Star-worshippers' theogony, the paradise of the elect, and the abode of the pious hereafter. For three hours the reading of the * renunciation ' by the high priest continues, interrupted only, ever and anon, by the Mshobho havi eshmakhyo, 'Blessed be thy name,' of the participants seated outside, until, toward dawn, a loud and ringing Aiio ashorlakh ano asborli ya Avather, ' I mind me of thee, mind thou of me O Avather,' comes from the mouth of the priest, and signalizes the termination of the prayers. " Before the North Star fades in the pale ashen grey of ap- proaching dawn, a sheep, penned over night near the river, is led into the tabernacle by one of the four shkandos for sacri- fice to Avather and his companion deity, Ptahiel. It is a wether, for the Star-worshippers never kill ewes, or eat their flesh when killed. The animal is laid upon some reeds, its head west and its tail east, the Ganzivro behind it facing the Star. He first pours water over his hands, then over his feet, the water being brought to him by a deacon. One of the tar- midos takes up a position at his elbow and places his hand on the Ganzivro' s shoulder, saying Ana sliaddakh, 'I bear wit- ness.' The high priest bends toward the North Star, draws a sharp knife from his left side, and, reciting the formula, ' In the name of Alaha, Ptahiel created thee, Hibel Sivo permitted thee, and it is I who slay thee,' cuts the sheep's throat from ear to ear, and allows the blood to escape on to the matted reeds upon which the animal is stretched out. The four dea- cons go outside, wash their hands and feet, then flay the sheep, and cut it into as many portions as there are communicants outside. The pieces are now distributed among the worship- pers, the priests leave the tabernacle in the same order as they came, and with a parting benediction from the Gaiizivro, As- sQQtad d'hai havilakh, 'The benison of the living one attend THE STAR-IVORSHIPPERS OF MESOPOTAMIA 205 thee,' the prayer-meeting terminates, and the Star- worshippers quietly return to their homes before the crimson sun has time to peep above the horizon." What a mosaic of ceremonies and what a mixed cult in this river-bank prayer-meeting ! The Sabeans of Amara tell me that every minute particular is correctly described, and yet them- selves do not furnish the clew to the maze. Here one sees Judaism, Islam and Christianity, as it were engrafted on one old Chaldean trunk. Gnosticism, star-worship, baptisms, love- feast, sacrifice, ornithomancy and what not in one confusion. The pigeon sacrifice closely corresponds outwardly to that of the Mosaic law concerning the cleansing of a leper and his belongings and is perhaps borrowed from that source.' But how Anti- Jewish is the partaking of blood and the star- worship.* The cross of blood seems a Christian element, as does also the communion of bread, but from a New Testament standpoint this is in discord with all that precedes. Nevertheless a complete system of dogma lies behind this curious cult and one can never understand the latter without the former. Sabeanisrn is a Jmok^^dii^wn ; and it has such a mass of sacred literature that few have ever had the patience to examine even a part of it. The Sidra Rabba, or Great Book, holds the first place. The copy I examined contains over five hundred large quarto pages of text divided into two parts, a "right " and a "left hand " testament; they begin at differ- ent ends of the book and they are bound together so that when one reads the "right,'' the "left" testament Ls upside-down. The other name for the Great Book is Ginza, Treasure. It is from this treasure-house that we chiefly gaxhtr the elements of •their casmogony and mythology.^ ' Leviticus xiv. 4-7, 49-53. * Cf. Job xxxi. 26-28. 3 The first printed and translated edition of the Su/ra Rabba was by Math. Norberg CCopenhagen, 1815-16^, but it is said to be so defective that it is quite useless critically ; Petermann reproduced the Paris M.SS. in two volumes at Leipsic, 1867. Besides the Hidra Rabba there are* S96 ARABU, THE CRADLE OE ISLAM First of all things was Pera Rabba the great Abyss. With him "Shilling ether "anei the Spirit of Glory {Alana Rabbd) form a primal triad, similar to the Gnostic and ancient Acca- dian triads. Kessler goes so far as to say that it is the same. From Mana Raba who is the king of light, emanates Yardana Rabba, the great Jordan. (This is an element of Gnosticism) Mana Rabba called into being the first of the aeons. Primal Life, or Hayye kadema. This is really the chief deity of the Sabeans, and all their prayers begin by invoking him. From him again proceed secondary emanations, Yiishamim (/. Acts xvii. 26. 2 Acts xvii. 29. 3 Acts xvii. 31, 4 Acts xvii. 25. 5 Acts xx. 20, 27. :U) I .■liuni.l. Tin- CR.-IDLl- OF JSUM wholhor it h.is (.ontirnuUion in iho caily spread of Chi-istianil)' in North Arabia the sequel may show. I lislorical Christianity in Arabia hail two ecnlrcs, so that llie study of its early rise and progress takes \is first to the tribes furthest north, in the kingdoms of llirahand (ihassan and then to fertile Yemen and Nejran. l>es[nle the growth of the Roman iMupire eastward in the tlays of Tompey, the Arabs of Syria and Talmyra retained their inilependence and resisted all eneroaehment. Under Odenathus the Falmyrene kingilom flourished, and reaeheil the /.enith of its power under his wife and suceessor, the telebrated Zenobia. She was defeated by Aurelian, and Palmyra and its dependencies became a province of the Roman Empire. It is natural there- fore to expect that Christianity was introduced into this region at an eiuly period. Such ^\■as the t-ase. Agbarus, so cele- brated in the annals of the early church, was a prince of the territory of lulessa and Christianity had made some progress in the desert in the time of Arnobius.' l>islui[)s of Bostra, in Northwest Arabia (not to be confoundeil with Busrah), are mentioned as having been present at the Nicene council (325 A. p. ) with five other Arabian bishoiis." The Arabian historians speak of the tribe of Cihassan as atlachetl to the Christian faith centuries before the Hegira. It was of this tribe that the proverb became current : •' They were lords in the days of ig- norance and stars of Islam." They held sway over the desert east of Palestine and of Southern S)'ria. The name of Mavia or Muaviah is mentioned by ecclesiastical writers as an Arab queen who was converted to the faith and in conscipience formed an alliance with the emperor and acicpletl a Christian Bishop, named Moses, ordained by the primate of Alexandria. Her conversion took place about a. v. 372. Thus we find that the progress of Christianity increased in jiroportion as the Arabs became more intimately connected with the Romans. 1 Wright's " Early Christianity in Arabia," 1S55. ' Buchanan's Christian Rescarclics. r./IRI.Y (JlHISri/INITY IN ARAHIA 9M An uiiforturjule circumstance for tlie progress of Christianity in North Arabia was its location between the rival powers of Rome and Persia, It was a sort of buffer-state and suffered from both sides. 'J'he I'ersian rnonurchs persecuted the Christian Arabs and one of their Arab allies, a pagan, called Naaman, forbade all intercourses with Christians, on the part of his subjects. This edict we are told ' was occasioned by the success of the example and preaching of Simeon Stylites, the pillar saint, celebrated in Tennyson's picture-poem. This desert-friar who was himself an Arab by birth, was a preacher after the heart of the stern, austere, half-starved liedouin. His fame spread even into far-off Arabia Felix.'-' The stern edict of Naaman was withdrawn, however, and he himself was only prevented from embracing the faith by his fear of the Persian king. Among the first monks to preach to the nomad tribes was Euthymius who seems to have been a medical missionary work- ing miracles of healing among the ignorant Pedouins. One of the converted Arabs, Aspebetus, took the name of Peter, was "consecrated" by Juvenal, patriarch of Jerusalem, and be- came the first bishojj of the tribes in the neighborhood of Southern Palestine. '['he progress or even the existence of Christianity in the kingdom of Hirah seems to have been always uncertain as it was dependent on the favor of the Khosroes of Persia, Some of the Arabs at Hirah and Kufa were Christian as early as 380 A. D. One of the early converts, Nornan abu Kamus, proved the sincerity of his faith by melting down a golden statue of the Arabian Venus, worshipped by his tribe, and by distribut- ing the proceeds among the poor. Many of the tribe followed his example and were baptized.' To understand the im- ' Wright, p. 77. *The latest version of his life is by Noldeke in his " Sketches from Eastern History." (London, 1892.) 3 Wright, I). 144. :^>(H{ JR.-{BU, THE CR^^DLE OF ISUM portance of this spread of Christianity in North Arabia we must remeaiber that this was the age of cara\ans and not of navigation. Pahiiyra, the centre of the trade from the Persian GuU". owed its importance and po\\er to the trans-Arabian traffic with Persia and the East. Irak and ^Mesopotamia were then a part of Arabia and were ruled by Arabian d)nasties. It was in Southwestern Arabia, however, that Christianity e.x- erted even greater power and made still larger conquests. A\'e cannot but wish that thestory of its success, trials and extinction had been given iis in some purer form with more of the gospel and less of ecclesiasticism. Had that early Christianity been gold instead of glitter it would not have perished so easily in the furnace of persecution or disappeared so utterly before the tornado-blast of Islam. The picture of the Christian church of this period (323-692 A. D.) as drawn by faithful historians is dark indeed. "More and more the church became assimilated and conformed to the world, church discipline grew lax. and moral decay made rapid progress. Passionate contentions, quarrels and schisms among bishops and clergy filled also public life with party-strife, ani- mosity and bitterness. The immorality of the court poisoned the capital and the provinces. Savagery and licentiousness grew rampant. , . . . Hypocrisy and bigotry took the place of piety among those who strove after something higher, while the masses consoled themselves with the reflection that every man could not be a monk. . . . The shady side of this period is dark enough but a bright side and noble personages of deep piety, moral earnestness, resolute denial of self and the world are certainly not wanting." ^ Not only was religious life at a low level in all parts of Christendom but heresies were continually springing up to disturb the peace or to introduce gigantic errors. Arabia was at one time called "the mother of heresies." The most flagrant example was that of the Col- lyridians, in the fourth century, Avhich consisted in a heathen- ' Kurtz' " Church History, " Vol. I., p. 3S6. EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN ARABIA 301 ish distortion of mariolatry. Cakes were offered to the Holy Virgin, as in heathen times to Ceres. At what time Christianity was first introduced into Arabia Felix is uncertain. This part of Arabia was in a measure shut off from the world of the Romans until the expedition of yElius Gallus. Before the coming of Christianity the Yemenites were either idolaters or Sabeans. I'he large numbers of Jews in Yemen was an additional obstacle to the early spread of the faith as they were always bitterly hostile to the missionaries. The legend that St. Bartholomew preached in Yemen on his way to India need not be considered ; nor the more probable one of Frumentius and his success as first bishop to Himyar. In the reign of Constantius, Theophilus, the deacon of Nico- media, a zealous Arian, was sent by the emperor to attend a magnificent embassy to the court of Himyar and is said to have prevailed on the Arabian king to embrace Christianity. He built three churches in different parts of Yemen, at Zaphar, Aden and Sana, as well as at Hornmz in the Persian Gulf. No less than four bishoprics were established and the tribes of Rabia Ghassan, and Kodaa were won to the faith. Ibn Khalikan, the Arabian historian, enumerates as Christian tribes, the Bahrah, Tanouch and Taglab. In Nejran, north of Sana, and Yathrib there were also Christians. Arabian idolatry was very tolerant and afforded throughout the third and fourth centuries an equally safe asylum to the persecuted Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians who settled in various parts of the Peninsula. The kings of Himyar were themselves idolaters but allowed every other sect great freedom, including the Christians. But no sooner did the followers of Judaism gain power than persecution began. About the year 560, Dzu Nowass, ruler of Himyar, revolted against his lord the Abyssinian king, Elesbaan, and, instigated by the Jews, began to persecute the Christians. All who refused to renounce their faith were put to death without respect of age or sex, and the villages of Nejran were given over to plunder. Large pits 308 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM were dug, filled wilh fuel, and many thousands of monks and virgins were committed to the flames. Speedy punishment, however, overtook Dzu Nowass when the Abyssinian Iiosts invaded Yemen. The Christian con- querors avenged the massacre on its perpetrators, the Jews, with heathen fury. The whole fertile tract was once more a scene of bloodshed and devastation. The churches built before the days of Dzu Nowass were again rebuilt on the site of their riiins and new bishops were appointed in place of the martyrs. A short, though desperate, civil war, resulting in the proclama- tion of Abraha as king of Yemen, did not disturb the steady growth of Christianity. Paying tribute only to the Abyssinian crown, and at peace with all the Arab tribes, Abraha was loved for his justice and moderation by all his subjects and idolized by the Christians for his burning zeal in their religion. Large numbers of Jews, convinced by a public dispute and a miracle at Dhafar, were baptized. Many idolaters were added to the church ; new schemes of benevolence were inaugurated ; the foundations were being laid for a magnificent cathedral at Sana ; in short Christian Yemen seemed on the eve of its Golden Age in the year 567 A. D. What delayed its coming and how did the power of Abraha loose its prestige? The story is gleaned from Moslem and Christian writers ; it is the last sad chapter in the short history of early Christianity in Arabia and the preface to the chronicles of Islam. So important is it considered that the synopsis of it is embodied in the Koran for the perpetual delight of Mos- lems. In the early fall of the year 568, the caravans of Arabs, which came along the level road leading from Rhoda, bordered with rich vineyards and fig-orchards, stopped, on entering Sana, be- cause of a crowd that stood gazing at a large piece of parchment nailed on the side wall of the entrance to the city. It was a royal proclamation written in large Himyaritic letters. A townsman in the long dress of a public teacher stood before it and read EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN ARABIA 309 aloud to the motley crowd that paused as they came to morning market from the neighboring villages. Stately camels, bearing huge loads of dates, were urged by their drivers, who good- humoredly exchanged greetings with their Christian brethren ; donkeys, nearly hidden between baskets of luscious grapes, jostled a group of Jewish money-changers sitting in the gate ; a score of women, dark-eyed and in picturesque peasant dress, were carrying their empty gerbies to the wells — but one and all moved with curiosity, stood for a moment to listen. The presbyter, for such he was, read as follows : ** I, Ibraha, by the grace of God and Jesus Christ our Sav- iour, king of Yemen, taking counsel and advice of the good Gregentius, bishop of Dhafar, and having completed the build- ing of the cathedral to the glory of God and in memory of our victory over the idolaters, do now and hereby proclaim that all the Arab tribes who annually visit the heathen shrine at Mecca, are expected to cease going thither and to come with their caravans of merchandise to worship the true God, on a shorter and more convenient journey to our magnificent church at Sana, the capital, on penalty of a levy to be put by me on all caravans of tribes that refuse to obey this proclamation. And be it furthermore known to all the tribes of Koreish. ." The reader was rudely interrupted by a party of Bedouin who drove their dromedaries right through the gate and up the street with such fury that some of the crowd barely escaped being run over. "It is a troop of those accursed Kenanehs," said Ibn Choza to his companion. " They were born without manners — wild asses of the desert." " Yes," answered the other; " and who insult our good king with their nickname of El Ashram, — the split nosed, — because of the scar that remains since his en- counter with the heathen Aryat." "If such as these, Abood, do not obey this latest order from our Christian king, we'll try the spears of my Modarites, and then woe betide their caravans of semn and their fertile palms. Not all the three hundred 310 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM gods of the Kaabeh could save tliem from the righteous wrath of Abraha." The new cathedral, whose ruined foundations yet testify as to its size and sohdity, had been completed for some months, and on the morrow the good bishop was expected from Dhafar to preach to the crowds that thronged Yemen's capital at the feast. This year more strangers than ever before crowded the markets ; many were come, in obedience to the proclamation, even from distant Yathrib and from beyond Nejran, to engage in commerce and religion at once, — the universal custom of the Arabs. The autumn rains were over and a fresh breeze from Jebel Nokum increased the cold, felt by such strangers especially, as came for the first time from the hot coast to an elevation of 9,000 feet. Night fell on the towers and palaces of Sana, and there was no light in the streets except that of stars shining with northern brilliancy from between drifting clouds. Just before midnight, a solitary Arab hurried along one of the narrow paths, too nar- row to be called a street, which led from the caravanseri to the church. His face and form were wrapped in a long sheep- skin cloak, but his erect bearing, vigorous step, and the carved silver handle of the curved dagger, half hidden in his belt, be- trayed one of the Kenaneh tribe. Stealthily looking around, he stopped before one of the windows of the cathedral ; lifted himself to the granite ledge, dextrously used his dagger to re- move one of the large panes of talc-stone (still used in all Sana), and jumped inside. He lingered only a few moments, came out as he went in, and hurried off toward the way of the North gate. On the morrow a cry arose from the early worshippers, car- ried on the lips of every Christian in Sana, till it echoed through market and street : " Abrahams church has been defiled ! Dung is on the altar, and the holy cross is smeared with ordure ! 'Tis the work of the accursed Kenaneh — the signal of revolt for the idolaters of the North ! " There was tumult in Sana. In vain Gregentius endeavored to quiet the populace by his EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN ARABIA 311 eloquence. Adding fuel to the flame, came the news on the same day of the defeat of the Modarites and the death of Ibn Choza, whom the king had sent on an expedition to a rebel- lious tribe in Wady Dauasir. Abraha's wrath was doubly in- flamed by the profanation of his church and the death of his captain. He publicly vowed to annihilate the idolatrous Koreish, as well as the Kenaneh, and to demolish their temple at Mecca. Before nightfall that vow was the rallying-cry in the soldiers' quarter and the toast in every Jewish wine shop of Sana. The expedition was soon on its way. Abraha rode foremost, seated on his milk-white elephant, caparisoned with plates of gold. On his head was a linen cap covered with gold em- broidery, and from which descended four chains. He wore a loose tunic covered with pearls and Yemen akeek stone, over his usual dress ; while his muscular arms and short neck were almost hidden with bracelets and chains of gold in the Abys- sinian pattern ; for arms he had a shield and spears. After him came a band of musicians, and then the nobles and warriors, under command of the valiant Kais. Than him no better leader could have been chosen. Mourning the untimely death of his brother, Ibn Choza, slain by the treacherous arrow of Orwa, he sought a personal revenge even more than the honor of his religion and his king, and was prepared to risk all in fulfillment of the expedition. The army, increased by volun- teers at every village on their route, by forced marches over two hundred miles of mountain road, reached Jebel Orra, weary and footsore. What is only a usual journey to the Bedouin of the North, was a succession of hardships to the Yemen troops, accustomed as they were to mountain air, plenty of water and the rich fertility of their native valleys. No less did the herd of elephants suffer from the fatigue of distance and the scarcity of pasturage and water. Every day the advance was made with increasing difficulty. Meanwhile the Koreish had not been idle. Rumor never runs faster than in the desert. All those who loved Mecca, 312 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM that oldest historic centre of all Western Arabia, rallied to the standard of the Koreish. It was the Kaaba, with its three hundred and sixty idols, against the Cross. No sooner was Abraha's approach known, than Dzu Neffer, Ibn Habib and other chiefs at the head of the tribes of Hamedan and Che- thamah gathered to oppose the advance. A desperate conflict followed, but the camels were frightened at the sight of the elephants, nor could the desert Arabs withstand an assault of such large numbers. The news of defeat struck the Koreish with the greatest con- sternation, and Abdulmuttalib, grandfather of the future prophet, Avho was guardian of the Kaaba, took counsel with all the chiefs of the allies. A swift messenger was sent to Abraha offering a third part of the wealth of all Hejaz as a ransom for the sacred Beit Ullah. The king, however, was inflexible, and his followers cried: "Vengeance for the desecrated Cross in our sanctuary ! No ransom from the idolaters ! Down with the Kaaba! " Finally Abdulmuttalib himself came to seek audience. He was admitted to Abraha's presence and honored with a seat by his side ; but Arab tradition says he came only to ask about the loss of some camels, and told Abraha that the Lord of the Kaaba would defend it himself ! (Such sublime faith does Moslem tradition put into the mouth of the prophet's ancestors, even though the anachronism proves its falsehood.) On the following day Kais led the advance through the nar- row valley that leads into the city. Here a grievous surprise awaited the host of The Elephant. To supplement the faith of Abdulmuttalib, the Arabs laid in ambush, and before day- dawn every one of the Koreish had occupied his place on the heights on either side of the pass, hidden behind the rough masses of boulder and trap that to this day make the whole hillside a natural battery. No sooner had the elephants and their riders entered the defile, than a shower of rocks and stones was incessantly poured upon them by their assailants. The unwieldly animals, mad with fright and pain, trampled EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN ARABIA 313 the wounded to death, and confusion was followed by headlong flight, although the unequal contest lasted until sunset. It was the Thermopylae of Arabian idolatry, forever after celebrated in the Koran chapter of The Elephant. The batde affords a miracle, however, to the Moslem commentator by the easy change of a vowel, which makes "miraculous birds" with hell-stones in their beaks God's avengers, instead of the " camel-troops " of the Koreish. Two months after the victory that prophet was born whose character and career sealed the fate of early Christianity in Arabia, already decided on the fatal day when Abraha mounted his elephant and left Sana for revenge. The division of the Northern tribes between the Persians and Romans, followed by the defeat of the Yemen hosts, brought anarchy to all central Arabia. The idolaters of Hirah and Ghassan overran the south, and the weak reign of Yek- soum, son of Abraha, could not stay the decay of the Chris- tian state. Even the Persian protectorate only delayed its final fall. The sudden rise of Islam, with its political and so- cial preponderance, consummated the blow. " With the death of Mohammed," says Wright, "the last sparks of Christianity in Arabia were extinguished, and it may be reasonably doubted whether any Christians were then left in the^hole peninsula." In 1888, Edward Glaser, the explorer, visited nearly every part of Yemen and among his discoveries were many ancient inscriptions. From Mareb, the old Sabean capital, he brought back over three hundred, one of which dates from 542 a. d., and is considered by Professor Fritz Hommel the latest Sabean inscription. It consists of one hundred and thirty-six lines telling of the suppressed revolt against the Ethiopic rule then established in Yemen. The inscription opens with the words : "In the power of the All-merciful, and His Messiah AND THE Holy Ghost." This and the scarcely recognizable ruins of the cathedral at Sana are the only remnants of Chris- tianity that remain in Arabia Felix, XXX THE DAWN OF MODERN ARABIAN MISSIONS " It surely is not without a purpose that this widespread and powerful race [the Arabs] has been kept these four thousand years, unsubdued and undegenerate, preserving still the vigor and simplicity of its character. It is certainly capable of a great future ; and as certainly a great future lies before it. In may be among the last peoples of Southwestern Asia to yield to the transforming influences of Christianity and a Christian civili- zation. But to those influences it will assuredly yield in the fullness of time." — Edso7i L. Clark. " Every nation has its appointed time, and when their appointed time comes they cannot keep it back an hour nor can they bring it on." — T^a Koran. TSLAM dates from 622 a. d., but the first Christian mis- sionary to Mohammedans was Raymund Lull, who was stoned to death outside the town of Bugia, North Africa, on June 30, 131 5. He was also the first and only Christian of his day who felt the extent and urgency of the call to evangel- ize the Mohammedan world. His constant argument with Moslem teachers was : Islam is false and must die. His devo- tion and his pure character coupled with such intense moral earnestness won some converts, but his great central purpose was to overthrow the power of Islam as a system by logical demonstration of its error ; in this he failed. His two spiritual treatises are interesting, but his Ars Major would not convince a Moslem to-day any more than it did in the fourteenth cen- tury. His life is of romantic interest and his indefatigable zeal will always be a model and an inspiration to missionaries 314 THE DAIVN OF MODERN ARABIAN MISSIONS 315 among Moslems, i But he lived before his time and his age was unworthy of him. Nothing was done to give the gospel to Arabia or the Mo- hammedans from the time of Raymund Lull to that of Henry Martyn, the first modern missionary to the Mohammedans. The histories of these two men contain all that there is to be written about missionary work for the Mohammedan world from 622 until 18 12, so little did the Church of God feel its responsibility toward the millions walking in darkness after the false prophet. To the Protestant Church of the eighteenth century Arabia and the Levant presented no attractions or appeal. The Turks, as representing the Mohammedan world, were remembered as early as 1549, it is true, by the English Book of Common Prayer, in the collect for Good Friday,^ (which dates from the Sarum Missal). No effort was made, however, to carry the gospel to them or to any part of their empire, until long after other far more distant regions had been reached. Even Carey did not have the Moslem world on his large program. It was Claudius Buchanan who first aroused an interest in the needs of the Moslem world. On his return from India he told, on February 25, 1809, in his sermon at Bristol, the story of two Moslem converts, one of whom had died a martyr to Christ. 1 See Smith's " Short History of Missions." Peroquet, Vie de Raymund Lull (1667). Low de Vita Ray. Lull (Halle, 1830). Helfferich Ray- mund Lull (Berlin, 1858). Dublin L/mv. Mag., Vol. LXXVIIL, p. 43, " His Life and Work." 2 merciful God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing that Thou hast made, nor wouldest the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live : have mercy upon all Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Heretics, and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and con- tempt of Thy Word, and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to Thy flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites, and be made one fold under one Shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen, 316 y^R.-iBI.-i, THH CRADLE OF ISLAM In his Chris fi\fn JvcS(\i/\'/tc's he propounds a oouiprohonsive scheme for the evangelizalion of the Levant. The Church Missionary Society sent out missionaries, and in 18 lo the American Board began work for Moslems by sending riiny Fisk and Levi Parsons to Syria. This modern beginning of the gospel in Asia Minor had an indirect bearing on the future evangeUzation of Arabia and was a part of the Di\ine preparation. The journeys of Eli Smith and H. G. O. Dwight brought the An\erican churches face to face with the whole problem of missions in that icgion. The Syrian Mission through its press at Malta (^iSjj) began the assault on the citadel of Islam's learning. In 1833 the press was removed to Beirut ; and from that day until now it has been scattering leaves of healing throughout all the Arabic- speaking world. When in 1805 Dr. A'an Dyck wrote the last sheet of '*copy" of the Arabic Bible translation and hantled it to the compositor, he marked an era of importance not only to Syria and Asia Minor, but to the whole of Arabia, greater than any accession or deposition of sultans. That Bible made modern missions to Arabia possible ; it was the lesult of seventeen years of labor; "and herein is that saying true. Chie sowcth, and another reapeth . . . other men labored and ye are entered into their labors." Whatever special difhculties and obstacles missionaries to Arabia have met or will meet, the great work of preparing the Word of God in the language of the people and a complete Christian literature for every depart- ment of work, has already been accomplished by others ; and accomplished in such a way that the Arabic Bible of Beirut will always be the Bible for Oman and Nejd and the most in- land villages of Yemen and Hadramaut. The history of direct effort to reach the great Arabian penin- sula begins with Henry Martyn. It is deeply interesting to follow the gradual untbldings of the Divine ProA-idence in the reintroduction of the gospel into Arabia thirteen centuries after Christianity had been blotted out in that land by the sword of THIl DAIVN OF MODP.RN ARABMN MISSIONS :'A1 Mohaiiiincd and his successors. In more tliaa one sense Henry Marlyn was the pioneer missionary lo Arabia. He firsl came into contact with the Arabs through his study of tlicir language and his employment of that remarkable character, Sabat, as his munshee and co-worker. Sabat and his friend Abdullah were two Arabs of notaljle pedigree, who, after visiting Mecca, resolved to see the world. 'I'hey first went to Cabul, where Abdullah entered the service of the famous Ameer Zernan Shah. Through the efforts of an Armenian Christian he abjured Islam and had to flee for his life to Bokhara. " Sabat had preceded him there and at once recognized him on the street. ' I had no pity,' said Sabat afterward, ' I delivered him up to Morad Shah, the king.' He was offered his life if he would abjure Christ. He refused. Then one of his hands was cut off and again he was pressed to recant. ' He made no answer, but looked up steadfastly toward heaven, like Stephen, the first martyr, his eyes streaming with tears. He looked at me, but it was with the countenance of forgiveness. His other hand was then cut off. But he never changed, and when he bowed his head to receive the blow of death all Bokhara seemed to say, What new thing is this? ' Remorse drove Sabat to long wanderings, in which he came to Madras, where the government gave him the office of mufti or expounder of the law of Islam in the civil courts. At Vizugapatam he fell in with a copy of the Arabic New Testament as revised by Solomon Negri and sent out to India in the middle of last century by the Society for Promot- ing Christian Knowledge. He compared it with the Koran and the truth fell on him like a flood of light. He sought baptism in Madras at the hands of the Rev. Dr. Kerr and was named Nathaniel. He was then twenty-seven years of age. When the news reached his family in Arabia, his brother set out to destroy him, and, disguised as an Asiatic, wounded him with a dagger as he sat in his house at Vizaga- patam. He sent him home with letters and gifts to his mother, and then gave himself up to [jropagate the truth he had once 318 ARABi.4, rm: CK.-tni.b: of islam in lus fficml Abilullah's person, perseculcil to tl\o death."' Those two wore iloubtloss the first fruits of uKHlcrn Arabia to Christ. It was iloubtless in a groat degree Sabal who directed [Martyn's tlioughts and plans towanl Arabia and the Arabs. On tl\c last tlay of the year 1810 ho w lolo in his diary : "I now pass tVom Inilia to Arabia, not knowing what things shall befall n\o ihoro." His purpose in leaving India was partly his broken health but more his intense longing to give the Molunn- medans of Arabia and Persia the woril of Goil in their own tongues. On his voyage from Calcutta to Bombay he eom- poseil tracts in Arabic, spoke with the Arab sailors and studied the Koran and JSIiebuhr's travels in Arabia. From Hombay he sailed for Arabia and Versia in one of the shii)s of the oUl Indian navy going on a cruise in the Persian Gulf. He reached Muscat on April 20, 1811, anil writes his first imjiressions in a letter to Lydia Grenfell : "1 am now in Arabia I'elix ; to judge from the aspect of the country it has little pretensions to the name, unless burning, barren rocks con\ey an idea of felicity ; but as there is a promise in reserve for the sons of Joktan, their land may one day be blessed indeed." \\c attempted to go inland for a short distance, but was forbidden by the soldiers of the Sultan o'( Muscat. Every word of Henry Martyn's journal regartling Arabia is precious, but we can cjuote only one more passage : " April 24. Went with one luiglish party and two .\rmouiaus and an Arab who served as guard antl guide to see a remarkable pass about a mile from the town and a garden jtlanted by a Hindu in a little village beyond. There was nothing to see, only the little bit of green in this wilderness seemed to the Arab a great curiosity. I conversed a good deal with him, but particularly with his African slave, who was very intelligent about religion. The latter knew as much about his religion as most mountaineers, > " Life of Henry Martyn," by George Smith, C. I. E., LL. D., (1S92) p. 226. rilli DAIVU Ol M()!>l:mi AI^AJUAU MI'iSIONS ZV.i and withal was so interested that he woiiJd not cease from his argument till I left the shore," Martyn did not tarry long at Muscat but his visit was "a little bit of green in this wilderness " and the prayers he there offered found answer in God's Providence long afterward. On all his voyage U) iiushire he was continually busy with his Arabic translation ; the people of Arabia were still first in his heart for he expresses himself as desirous finally "to go to Arabia r;irr;uitously by way of Persia," His longing to give the Arabs the Scripture began in India and intensified his de- votion to tlic stiidy of Heljrew. Had Martyn's chief assistant in the Aral^ic translating, Sabat, been a better scholar their New 'rcslanicnt version would have proved abidingly useful. As Sabat's knowledge of the language proved very faulty their Arabic Testament did not remain in use. It was first printed at Calcutta in /8t6, and although it accomplished a good work in common with other old translations, all have been superseded ])y ttie wonderfully perfect version of Eli Smith and Van Jjyck. It was not due to Martyn, however, that the Arabic language had no worthy version of the iJii^le until i860. In his diaries for September 8 and 9, 1 810, we read these remarkable entries : " If my life is spared, there is no reason why the AralMc should not be done in Arabia, and the Persian in Persia as well as the Indian in India." . . . " Arabia shall hide me till I come forth with an approved New Testament in Arabic." . . . "Will government let me go away for three years before the time of my furlough arrives? If not I must quit the service, and I cannot devote my life to a more important work than that of preparing the Arabic Bible." These facts about Martyn's life show at how many points it touched Araljia; his purposes, his prayers, his studies, his translations, his fellow- worker, and his visit to Muscat. But more than all these was the result for Arabia of Martyn's in- fluence and the power of his spirit to inspire others. 320 ARABU, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM " O Eastern lover from the West ! Thou hast outsoared these prisoning bars; Thy memory, on thy Master's breast, Uplifts us like the beckoning stars. We follow now as thou hast led Baptize us, Saviour, for the dead." In 1829 Anthony N. Groves, a dentist of Exeter, taking the commands of Christ literally, sold all he had and, in the spirit of Martyn, began his remarkable attempt at mission work in Bagdad. His work was stopped twice, by the plague and by persecution, and the story of his life reveals how great were the obstacles which he vainly tried to surmount.^ From that day until long years after Northern and Eastern Arabia were wait- ing once more for the light. The only effort made in the Gulf was by Dr. John Wilson of Bombay who, before 1843, sent Bible colporteurs once and again by Aden and up the Persian Gulf; "he summoned the Church of Scotland to despatch a mission to the Jews of Arabia, Busrah and Bombay. A mis- sionary was ready in the person of William Burns who after- ward went to China, the support of a missionary at Aden was guaranteed by a friend and Wilson had found a volunteer ' for the purpose of exploring Arabia ' when the disruption of the Church of Scotland arrested the movement."^ It was Henry Martyn's life that inspired John Wilson in 1824. It was the Free Church of Scotland that afterward took up the work of Ion Keith Falconer the pioneer of Yemen. So God's plans find fulfillment. Even Muscat was not left without a witness in those years of waiting. It appears that the captain of an American ship which called at Muscat every year for a cargo of dates was a godly man and used to distribute Arabic Bibles and Testaments, even before the Bible Society extended its work to this place. 1 Journal of Mr. Anthony N. Groves, Missionary to and at Bagdad. (London, 1831.) * George Smith's Life of Martyn, p. 563. THE DAM/N OF MODERN ARABIAN MISSIONS 321 As early as 1878 the British and Foreign Bible Society sent Anton Gibrail from Bombay to Bagdad on a colporteur-journey. And about the same time the South Russia agent of the So- ciety, Mr. James Watt, visited Persia and Bagdad and pressed the needs of this field on the committee of the Bible Society. He was seconded in his efforts by Rev. Robert (now Canon) Bruce, a Church Missionary Society Missionary in India. Ar- rangements were made between the two societies by which Bible work was opened in Bagdad under the supervision of Mr. Bruce. In December, 1880, a Bible depot was opened. Since then the work has gone on continuously and extended, through the Arabian Mission, to the entire east coast of Arabia. The first reference to the needs and opportunities for work in Western Arabia appears in the Annual Report of the British Bible Society for 1886, where the opening of a Bible depot at Aden is announced with the hope that it would lead to "the circulation of the Holy Bible on a larger scale and in a variety of languages." Ibrahim Abd el Masih was the first in charge of this depot, and his name was attached to the call for prayer from South Arabia issued after the death of Keith Falconer. Colporteurs from Egypt and from Aden of the British and Foreign Bible Society have once and again visited the Arabian Red Sea ports and penetrated to Sana, the capital of Yemen. Between the years 1880 and 1890 more than one appeal went forth for Arabia's need. Old Doctor Lansing of the American U. P. Mission in Egypt who for over thirty years had labored there waiting for the dawn of a brighter day, when he heard of one of these appeals, was all on fire, to start for Yemen. " For some years," wrote an American minister in the far West, "I and my people have been praying for Arabia." The Wahabi reformation in its time attracted the interest of those who studied the political horizon. The bombardment of Jiddah in 1858 compelled attention to Mecca and the pil- grimage, while from 1838, when England became mistress of Aden, until 1880 commerce and exploration was specially ac- 323 ARABl/i, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM tive on all the Arabian coast. It was during tliis period that the Anglo-Indian naval officers Moresby, Haines, Elwon, Saunders, Carless, Wellsted and Cruttenden carefully sur- veyed the entire Arabian coast. What they did for commerce, Major-General F. T. Haig did for missions in Arabia. He it was who first made the extensive journey all around the coast of Arabia and into the interior of Yemen. His articles plead- ing for the occupation of the Peninsula reached Keith Falconer and finally decided his choice of a particular field, in the wide Mohammedan world, to which his thoughts were already turned. It was also the experience and counsel of this man of God that helped to determine the final location as well as the preliminary explorations of the American missionaries of the Arabian mis- sion in 1890-92. The reports of General Haig are even to-day the best condensed statement of the needs and opportunities in the long neglected Peninsula while his account of the problems to be met and the right sort of men to meet them will always remain invaluable until the evangelization of Arabia is an ac- complished fact. In 1886 General Haig was asked by the committee of the Church Missionary Society to undertake an exploration of the Red Sea coast of Arabia and Somaliland with a view to ascer- taining the openings for missionary effort. He set out from London on October 12th, 1886, reaching Alexandria on the 19th, and proceeded by way of the Red Sea coast in an Egypt- ian steamer to Aden, calling at Tor, Yanbo, Jiddah, Suakin, Massawa and Hodeidah. Dr. and Mrs. Harpur of the Church Missionary Society were already at Aden seeking an opening for mission work ; the former accompanied General Haig back to Hodeidah and occupied that place for a time as the first medical missionary in Arabia. General Haig then took the journey inland by the direct route to Sana with Ibrahim, the British and Foreign Bible Society colporteur and from Sana they went straight across Yemen to Aden. Shortly afterward General Haig proceeded to Muscat and up the Persian Gulf THE D/llVN OF MODERN ARABMN MISSION 323 calling at all the ports. From Busrah he journeyed along the river to Bagdad and thence across the Syrian desert by the over- land post route to Danfiascus. It was this long and difificult journey which formed the basis of two papers^ entitled : "On both sides of the Red Sea," and "Arabia as a Mission Field." * A few brief extracts from a paper contributed to the Geo- graphical JourjiaP show the character of this first appeal to evangelize the land of the Arabs. Writing of Yemen he says : "We have in this southwestern part of Arabia a great moun- tainous country with a temperate climate, and a hardy labor- ious race. This hill-country and its races extend northward into Asir eastward into Hadramaut for an indefinite distance, while to the northeast they extend inland as far as the borders of the great desert. The finest and most war-like races are those to be found to the north and northeast of Sana. These have never yet submitted to the Turkish yokes; in fact the limits of the Turkish territory to the east of Sana are only a few miles distant from that place. Is it not of extreme impor- tance in connection with the evangelization of all Southern Arabia that the gospel should be preached and the Word of God brought to these hardy mountaineers ? They are mostly Zeidiyeh, a sect akin to the Shiahs in doctrine, but I saw no trace of fanaticism among them, rather they seemed every- where willing to listen to the truth. For the most part I sus- pect they are but poor observers of the prescribed religious practices of Islam. During the whole of my travels in Yemen I never once saw a man at prayer, and in only a few of the larger villages is there a mosque. The women are particularly accessible ; in the villages they wear no covering to the face, and those that we met at the khans, or inns, were always ready to come forward and talk. The little girls used frequendy to ' Church Missionary Intelligencer for May and June, 1887. ''General also published an account of his journey in Yemen from a geographical standpoint in the Geographical Journal, Vol. IX., p. 479. 3 See also The Missionary Review of the World, October, 1895. 324 y4RABL4, THE CRADLE OF IS MM run into our room, and, if invited, would come and sit down by our side. Ignorance is, I should say, the predominant char- acteristic of the whole population — ignorance of their own reli- gion, ignorance of the simplest elements of truth. I believe that an evangelist, thoroughly master of the language, Arabic, might go from village to village all over Yemen preaching, or quietly speaking the gospel." This testimony is true. But the challenge has never yet been accepted and all the highlands are still Avaithig for the first news of the gospel. Speaking of the capital of Yemen the report goes on : " Sana is a most important point. // is im- possible to exaggerate its importance from a missionary point of view. It is in the centre of the finest races of Southern Arabia, and if a mission could be established there, its in- fluence would extend on all sides to a multitude of tribes other- wise shut out from the gospel." After reviewing in detail the open doors in every part of Arabia, and speaking of the special obstacles at each point to- gether with the best methods of inaugurating work, he writes toward the end of his report : " /// one degree or another then, all Arabia is, I consider, open to the gospel. It is as much open to it as the world generally was in apostolic times, that is to say, it is accessible to the evangelist at many diflerent points, at all of which he would find men and women needing salva- tion, some of whom would receive his message, while others would reject it and persecute him. In some parts of the coun- try he would not be molested or interfered with by the ruling powers ; in others, as in Turkish Arabia, he might be arrested and even deported. Dangerous fanatics are, I believe, seldom met with but occasionally the missionary might come across such, and then the consequences might be more serious. But what if his lot were even worse than this, if he were hunted from village to village, and persecuted from city to city? Our Lord contemplated no other reception for His disciples when He sent them forth. This was in fact His ideal of the mission- THE DAIVN OF MODERN ylR/IBMN MISSIONS 325 ary life. . . . 'When they persecute you in this city (abandon the country? No.) flee ye into another.' The evangehst in Arabia need expect nothing worse than this and even this would probably be of rare occurrence. There is no difficulty then about preaching the gospel in Arabia if men can be found to face the consequences. The real difficulty would be the protection of the converts. Most probably they would be exposed to violence and death. The infant church might be a martyr church at first like that of Uganda, but that would not prevent the spread of the truth or its ultimate triumph." I'he most remarkable thing about this report, which occupies only forty pages, is its prophetic charac- ter, its permanent value and the fact that it touches every phase of the problem still before us. The immediate result of General Haig's report was the de- termination of the Church Missionary Society to leave Aden and Sheikh Othman to Keith Falconer and the Free Church of Scotland, while Dr. and Mrs. Harpur went to Hodeidah to try the possibilities of work in that city. There the skill of a Christian physician would have more of strategic power than in Aden itself which had two hospitals under government service. Everything was hopeful at the outset and the people flocked in large numbers to the dispensary. Evangelistic work was carried on, and Dr. Harpur wrote : " I try to read of the birth, death and resurrection of Christ including Isaiah liii., and the simplest parables." One or two of the Arabs became specially interested and read the Bible very eagerly. But the Turkish governor found objection and required a Turkish diploma from the missionary, or to have his diploma acknowl- edged at Constantinople. Work was at a standstill. Dr. Harpur was compelled to return to England on account of severe illness and Hodeidah was not again entered. In his letter to the Church Missionary Intelligencer , dated April 12th, 1887, we read : "Should the way be closed notv, we trust that God will 326 AR.-iBU, THE CRADLE Oh ISL^M open it in His own time, and whenever that time may be, I want now to say that since I came here my great desire has been, and will continue to be, that I might be allowed to live and work among the people of Yemen. God knows best, wherever our Avork may be. Owing to the uncertainty that exists about my diplomas being ratified, and being in the meantime effectually stopped from any work, it seems advisable for us to go back to Aden, there to wait until we get directions from the Committee, using the time there for the study of the lan- guage. There is a door here, as fiir as the people themselves are concerned, and I trust we may not have to leave these poor people who have not rejected the gospel. '\\'hat a cause there is for prayer for them to Him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords." About the same time, a remarkable call to prayer was sent out by the little band of workers in South Arabia, who were left to mourn the sudden death of their spiritual leader, Ion Keith Falconer. It was the first call to prayer issued for Arabia and it did not remain unheeded : Prayer for the Spread of the Gosfel in South Arabia. " We earnestly invite united intercession to Almighty God for the people of this land, that He Avill open doors for the preach- ing of the gospel, and prepare the hearts of all to receive it. We trust that many will respond to this request, and unite with us in setting apart a special time every Tuesday for prayer for the above object. We are, yours faithfully, (Signed.) F. I. Harpur, M. B., Church Missionary Society. Alex. Paterson, M. B. C. M., Free Church Mission. Matthew Lochhead, Free Church Mission. Ibrahim Abd El Messiah, Yemen, S. Arabia, B. and F. Bible Society." THE DAIVN OF MODERN ARABIAN MISSIONS 327 While the Church Missionary Society did not continue worlc at Hodeidah, they were already occupying the extreme north- east corner of Arabia and had begun work in Bagdad, the old city of the caliphs, with its conrimanding situation on the Tigris, and its large, Arab population. In 1882 Bagdad was occu- pied as an outpost of their Persia Mission on recommendation of Dr. Bruce. Rev. T. R. Hodgson was the first missionary there, but he afterward went into the service of the British and Foreign Bible Society and greatly extended its work in the Per- sian Gulf. He was succeeded by Dr. Henry Martyn Sutton and others. The mission has had hard struggles with the Turkish officials and its converts were compelled to flee. The medical work has had a vast and extensive influence in all the region round about, and at present the mission-staff is larger than ever before and the school recently opened is flourishing. Mosul has been taken over from the American Presbyterian Board by the Church Missionary Society, and in the words of one of their missionaries, "we are watching for an oppor- tunity of carrying the gospel into the very heart of Central Arabia, where the independent Prince of Nejd holds rule, across whose territory runs one of the principal routes for pilgrims to Mecca." As early as 1856 Rev. A. Stern made missionary journeys to Sana, Bagdad and other parts of Arabia to visit the Jews with the gospel. That remarkable missionary to the Jews, Joseph Wolff, the son of a Bavarian Rabbi and who was baptized by a Benedictine monk in 1812, also visited the Jews of Yemen and Bagdad in his wanderings,^ In 1884, Mr. William Lethaby, a Methodist lay-preacher from England, with his faithful wife, began a mission among the wild Arabs at Kerak in the mountains of Moab; so popu- lous and important is this mountain fortress in the eyes of the nomads that they call it El Medina, " the city." This pioneer '"The Missionary Expansion since the Reformation." — Graham, p. 19. " Life and Letters of Rev. A. Stern." / 328 ^R.-4RL4, THE CRADI.F OF ISLAM effort, after some years of struggle, was taken up by the Church IMissionary Society in connection with their Palestine mission. Mr. Lethaby, after journeying in East Arabia, and attempting in vain to cross the Peninsula from Bahrein westward (1892), is now in charge of the Bible Society's depot at Aden. As early as 1S86 the North Africa Mission attempted to reach the Bedouin tribes of Northern Arabia in the vicinity of Horns. Mr. Samuel Van Tassel, a young Hollander, of New York, trained at Grattan Guinnes's Institute, went out under their direction and accompanied a Bedouin chief on his annual mi- gration into the desert in 1890. He fonnd good opportunities among the nomatis for gospel-work, so that the door to him seemed "wide-open," but Turkish otificial jealousy of all for- eigners who have dealings with the Bedouin tribes, put an end to his work and compelled its abandonment. His experiences, however, as the first one who \\\eA and worked for Christ among the nomads in the black tents of Kedar is valuable for the future. The door of access was not closed by the Bedouins themselves, but by the Turks. Mr. Van Tassel found the Arabs very friendly, and willing to hear the Bible read, espe- cially the Old Testament. He found none of the fanaticism of the towns, and even persuaded the sheikhs to rest their cara- vans on the Sabbath day. It is interesting to note that the North Africa Mission was led to enter North Arabia through the representations of General Haig, then one of their council. At present they have no workers in Arabia, although that name still finds a place in their reports every month with the pathetic rehearsal:* "Northern Arabia is peopled by the Bedouin de- scendants of Ishmael ; they are not bigoted Moslems, like the Syrians, but willing to be enlightened. This portion of the field is sadly in need of laborers. ' ' In 1898 the Christian and Missionary Alliance of New York 'On Van Tassel's work and experiences see "North Africa" (21 Lin- ton Road, Barking, London), Vol. for 1890, pp. 4, 21, 43, 59, 78; Vol. for 1891, pp. 2, 14, 27, 31 and 50. THB D/IIVN OF MODP.RN ARABIAN MISSIONS 329 again called attention to the needs of Northern Arabia through Mr. Forder, formerly of the Kerak mission. He attempted to enter into the interior, by way of Damascus, but met with an accident, which prevented the undertaking. Before sketching the lives of the two great pioneer mission- aries to Arabia, we must chronicle the appeal for the dark peninsula that came from the heart of the Dark Continent. Not only because this appeal belongs to the early dawn of Arabian missions, but because of its remarkable character and its author. Henry Martyn in 1811 wrote at Muscat, "there is a promise in reserve for the sons of Joktan ' ' ; Alexander Mackay, from Uganda in 1888, took up the strain, and, in closing his long plea for a mission to the Arabs of Muscat, wrote : " May it soon be said, ' This- day is salvation come to this house forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham.' " This plea, written only two years before Mackay's death, and dated, August, 1888, Usambiro, Central Africa, is a great mis- sionary document for two reasons ; it breathes the spirit of Christianity in showing love to one's enemies and it points out the real remedy against the slave-trade. And yet Mackay ac- companied his carefully written article with this modest letter : " I enclose a few lines on a subject which has been weighing on my mind for some time. I shall not be disappointed if you consign them to the waste-paper basket, and shall only be too glad if, on a better representation on the part of others, the subject be taken up and something definite be done for these poor Arabs, whom I respect, but who have given me much trouble in years past. The best way by which we can turn the edge of their opposition and convert their blasphemy into bless- ing is to do our utmost for their salvation." ' In this article Mackay pleads for Arabia for Africa's sake and asks that " Muscat, which is in more senses than one the key to Central Africa," be occupjied by a strong mission. " I do I Mackay of Uganda, by his sister, (New York, 1897) PP« 4*7-430 gives the article in full. l«0 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM not deny," he writes, "that the task is difficult; and the men selected for work in Muscat must be endowed with no small measure of the Spirit of Jesus, besides possessing such lin- guistic ability as to be able to reach not only the ears, but the very hearts of men." He pleads for half a dozen men, the pick of the English universities, to make the venture in faith. His continual reason for the crying need of such a mission is the strong influence it would exert in Africa because of the Arab traders. "It is almost needless to say that the outlook in Africa will be considerably brightened by the establishment of a mission to the Arabs in Muscat." "The Arabs have helped us often and have hindered us likewise, ^^'e owe them therefore a double debt, which, I can see no more alTcctive way of paying than by at once establishing a strong mission at their very headquarters — Muscat itself." ^lackay was not unaware of the great difficulties of work among Mohammedans and in Arabia; he calls it "a gigantic project" and terms Arabia "the cradle of Islam." 15ut his faith is so strong, that at the very beginning of his article he quotes the remarkable resolution of the Church ^Missionary Society passed on INIay ist. i8SS, regarding work for Moham- medans.' The effect of Mackay's pleading was that the veteran Bishop French took up the challenge and laid down his life at Muscat. That life has "such linguistic capacitv as to be able," ever- more " to reach not only the ears but the very hearts of men " in a way even far above the thought of Alexander INIackay of Uganda. ' The text of this resolution is quoted at tlie head of chapter thirty-nine. XXX[ ION KEITH FALCONER AN]J THE ADEN MISSION «• My sword I give to him tliat shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me to be a witness for mc, that I have fouglit His battles, who now will be my rewardcr. . . . So he passed over and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side." — JJtmyan's Pilgrini's Progress. (Death of Valiant for Truth.) TON KEITH FALCONER and Thomas Valpy French, both "*■ laid down their lives for Christ after a brief period of labor in the land they so dearly loved. Keith Falconer died at the age of thirty after having spent only ien months, all-told, on Arabian soil ; Bishop French was sixty-six years old when he came to Muscat and lived only ninety-five days after his arrival. liut both gave " One crowded hour of glorious life," to the cause of Christ in Arabia and left behind them an in- fluence, power and inspiration which " Is worth an age without a name." Ion Grant Neville Keith Falconer,' the third son of the late Earl of Kintore, was born at Edinburgh, Scodand, on the 5th of July, 1856. At thirteen years of age he went to Harrow to compete for an entrance scholarship and was successful. He was not a commonplace boy either in his ways of study or thoughts on religion. With a healthy ambition to excel and ' See " Memorials of the Hon. Ion Keith Falconer." — Robert Sinker (6th Edition Cambridge 1890) and Ion Keith Falconer, Pioneer in Arabia by Rev. A, T, Pierson, D. D. (Oct. 1897, Missionary Review of ihe World ). 331 3:i2 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM yet with a kindly modesty he made friends of those whom he surpassed and loved those who were his inferiors. INIanliness, magnanimity, piety and unseliishness, rare traits in a lad, were in him conspicuous. He loved outdoor sports and excelled in athletics as well as in his studies. At twenty he was President of the London Bicycle Club and at twenty-two the champion racer in Great Britain. One paragraph taken from the close of one of his letters gives us a glimpse of the boy at school and throws light on liis future choice of a profession. It is dated July i6th, 1S73 • "... Charrington sent me a book )esterday which I have read. It is called Following Fully . . . about a man who works among the cholera people in London so hard that he at last succumbs and dies. But every page is full of Jesus Christ, so that I liked it. And 1 like Charrington because he is quite devoted to Him, and has really given up all for His glory. I must go and do the same soon : howl don't know." This same year he left Harrow, and, after spending a year with a tutor exclusively in mathematics, entered Cambridge. His intentions were at first to compete for honors in mathematics but after careful thought he changed his plans and began to read for honors in the Theological Tripos. During his college days he also distinguished himself as a master in his two favorite pursuits, bicycling and shorthand. On the later subject he wrote the article in the Encyclopedia Britannica. He had a fine intellect, tremendous power of ap- plication and a genius for plodding. His knowledge of Hebrew was extraordinary ; he wrote post-cards in that lan- guage to his professor on every concei\able subject, and trans- lated the hymn, "Lead Kindly Light" as a pastime. No wonder that he received the highest honor in that language that Cambridge can give and passed with ease the Semitic lan- guages examination at the close of his course. But in all his studies and pastimes he did not cease to show that he was first of all a Christian and had the missionary ION KEITH FALCONER AND THE ADEN MISSION ?.?,?, spirit. By evangelistic work at Barnwell and Mile-End, alone and with his friend, Mr. F. N. Charrington, he labored to reach the poor and down-trodden. For the work in London he became at once treasurer and contributor of $10,000 and his work at Mile-End Road is held in loving remembrance by the present workers. Here doubtless it was that his thoughts first turned to the regions beyond. For in a letter dated June 12th, 1 88 1, from Stepney Green, he writes : " It is overwhelming to think of the vastness of the harvest-field when compared with the indolence, indifference and unwillingness on the part of most so-called Christians, to become, even in a moderate degree, laborers in the same. I take the rebuke to myself. . . . To enjoy the blessings and happiness God gives, and never to stretch out a helping hand to the poor and the wicked, is a most horrible thing. When we come to die, it will be awful for us, if we have to look back on a life spent purely on self, but, believe me, if we are to spend our life otherwise, we must make up our minds to be thought * odd ' and 'eccentric' and 'unsocial,' and to be sneered at and avoided. . . . The usual centre is Self, the proper centre is God. If, therefore, one lives for God, one is out of centre or eccentric, with regard to the people who do not." After his final examination at Cambridge, he turned his whole attention to Arabic ; why, he himself knew not, except that he loved the language; it was God's plan in his life. To secure special advantages he went first to Leipzig in October, 1880, and afterward to Assiut, Egypt. The Semitic scholar was becoming an Arab and fell in love with the desert even then. He wrote from Assiut, after some months of study : " I am meditating a camel-ride in the desert. I mean to go from here to Luxor on a donkey, camping out every night, and from Luxor to Kossair, on the Red Sea, on a dromedary. . . . I shall learn two things by doing this journey, Arabic and cooking." An attack of fever prevented the journey, and Falconer returned to England. Even there his 334 /iRABlA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM engrossing study was Arabic, in which he was now reading such difficult books as the Mo'allakat and Al Hariri; as he expressed it, "I expect to peg away at the Arabic dictionary till my last day." In March, 1884, he married Miss Gwendolen Bevan ; they took a journey to Italy, and then settled at Cambridge, where Keith Falconer lectured and studied. In the spring of 1885 he published his Kalilah and Dimnah, translated from the Syriac, with notes ; a lasting monument to his Semitic scholar- ship and an example of his wide general learning.' Toward the end of the year 1884 his thoughts first began to be definitely drawn to the foreign mission field, but as yet without any special choice of field. A summary of the papers written on Arabia, by General Haig, for the Church Missionary Intelligencer was published in The Christian, in February, 1885, and fell under the eyes of Keith Falconer. The idea of evangelizing Arabia took hold of him with Divine power. His whole soul answered, "Here am I, send me." The imme- diate outcome was a request for an interview with General Haig, whom he accordingly met in London on February 21st, 1885, "to talk about Aden and Arabia." He determined to go to Aden and see the field for himself. Only two questions did he stop to consider : First, as to the healthfulness of the place, and then whether he should go out as a free lance or should associate himself more or less closely with some existing society. Warmly attached to the Free Church of Scotland from his childhood, he met the Foreign Mission Committee of that church and his project was recognized by them. On October 7th he left, with his young wife, for Aden, and arrived there on October 28th. They remained until March 6th of the following spring. The first missionary report of this pioneer in South Arabia indicates what he thought of the field ; and why he decided to 1 Kalilah and Dimnah, or The Fables of Bidpai, by I. G. N. Keith Falconer, Cambridge, 1885. ION KEITH FALCONER ANt) THE ADEN MISSION 335 make Sheikh Othinan, and not Aden, the centre of future work ; it also sets forth the methods which Keith Falconer pro- posed to adopt for the evangelization of Arabia. The follow- ing extracts are of especial interest : "The population of Aden is made up of (i) Arabs, all Moslems, mostly Sunnis of the Shafii sect; (2) Africans, mostly Somalis who are all Shafii Moslems ; (3) Jews ; (4) Natives of India, mostly Moslems, the rest being Hindus, a few Parsis, and a few Portuguese from Goa. In 1872, for every five Arabs there were less than three Somalis ; but I am told that now they are numerically equal. The Arabs and Somalis together make up the great bulk — about four-fifths — of the whole. In 1872 the Jews numbered 1,435 i they are now reckoned at more than 2,000. The Europeans, the garrison, and camp-followers number about 3,500. The climate of Aden is, for the tropics, unusually healthy. The port-surgeon, who has been here five years, assures me that a missionary need have no fear on the score of health. This is due to the scarcity of rain and vegetation, and to the constant sea-breezes. The summer heat is severe and depressing, but not unhealthy. There can be little doubt that Aden, from the fact of its being a British possession, from its geographical position, its political relations with the interior, its commerce with Yemen, its healthy climate, and its mixed Arab-Somali population, is, humanly speaking a good centre for Christian work among the Moslems of Arabia and Africa. "The next question is, how and where precisely to begin? My own notion is to establish a school, industrial orphanage, and medical mission at Sheikh Othman. The children are far more hopeful than the adults, and the power to give medical aid would be not only very useful in Sheikh Othman, but invaluable in pushing into the interior. There are numbers of castaway Somali children in Aden whose parents are only too willing that they should be fed and cared for by others. These, as well as orphans, might be gathered and brought up in the 336 .-IR.-ini.f, TUn CR.-1DLE Oh ISUM faith of Christ, nemine contradicente. It would be necessary to teach the children to work with their hands, and I think that a carpenter or craftsman of some kind from home or from India should be on the mission staif. But the chief object of the institution would be to train native evangelists and teachei-s ; and a part of their training should be medicaL A\'ith a slight, rough-and-ready knowledge of medicine and surgery, they would tind many doors open to them. In the school, reading by mciuis of the Arabic Bible and Christian books, writing, and arithmetic would be taught to all ; and English, historical geography, Euclid, algebra, and natural science to the cleverer children. A native teacher, procurable from Syria or Egypt, would be very valuable, and I think a necessity at fust. If it were known in the interior that a competent medical man and surgeon resided in Sheikh Othman, the Arabs who now come to Aden for advice would stop short at our mission-house ; and the surgeon would have considerable scope both in Sheikh Othman, El-Hautah, and the little country villages, not to speak of the opposite African country. Of course the treat- ment of surgical cases would involve the keeping of a few beds. The medical missionary should be a thoroughly qualified man, as natives often delay to come for advice until disease has become serious and complicated. The port-surgeon has im- pressed this upon me several times. It should be mentioned that the native assistant at the Sheikh Othman dispensary often finds that Arabs come to Sheikh Othman to be treated, and, deriving no benefit, refuse to go on to Aden, and return home. The institution should stand in a cultivated plot or garden. This would render it tar niore attractive, and would greatly benefit the children. It would be possible to arrange for this in Sheikh Othman, where there is plenty of water, and the soil is good ; but not in Aden, where almost utter barrenness is everywhere found. " ISIy reasons, then, for perfening Sheikh Othman are: " I. We should not be seriously competing with govern- JON KEITH FALCONER AND THE ADEN MISSION llfJt raent institutions. In fact, I am told that the government would be glad to be relieved of the necessity of keeping up a dispensary at Sheikh Othman. "2. The climate is fresher and less enervating than that of Aden. From its position it has the benefit of any sea-breeze which may blow, and the soil absorbs heat without giving it out again. On the other hand, in Aden, the high, black, cinder-like rocks often obstruct the breeze, store heat in the day, and give it out at night. Thus the nights in Sheikh Othman are markedly cooler than in Aden. "3. There is abundance of water, and the soil is capable of cultivation — a fact proved by the two fine private gardens there, not to speak of the government garden. But at Aden the soil is utterly barren, and all water must be paid for. It is either condensed, or procured by an aqueduct, or from a well sunk 120 feet in the solid rock. The water from the latter is quite sweet, and sometimes handed round after dinner in wine- glasses ! "4. I am told on the best authority that it would be very difficult to get a suitable site in Aden, whereas there are plenty in Sheikh Othman. Besides any number of building sites, two very large garden sites are vacant. The latter I have inspected, and the one I am recommended to take as having the best soil is admirably situated between the old village and the new set- tlement. It occupies the space between them. I can have the whole or the half of it granted to me at a nominal quit-rent. "5. Sheikh Othman is eight miles on the road to the in- terior, and so in closer contact with the tribes, and removed from the influence of the bad and unchristian example set by so many Europeans. "On the other hand, it must be borne in mind that the population of Sheikh Othman — about 6,500 — is comparatively small, though likely to increase somewhat ; and that it is very shifting, not more than some 1,500 being permanently resident. The last objection, however, applies to Aden as well." 3Ji8 /IR/iBU, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM In another portion of the same report, after telling of the im- portance of Aden as a missionary centre, he emphasizes the fact that "More than a quarter of a million camels, with their drivers, enter and leave Aden yearly with produce from all parts of Yemen. The great majority of these pass through Sheikh Othman, where they make a halt of several hours on the journey to Aden." No one acquainted with Aden and its vicinity and reading Keith Falconer's letters can fail to be struck with the fact that from the outset he had his plans made for the interior, and that Sheikh Othman was only the first stage which he intended to use as a base of operations. He wrote to General Haig about the same time as the date of his report: "I have made up my mind that the right place for me to settle at is Sheikh Othman, not Aden. This will leave Aden and Steamer Point open to the Church Missionary So- ciety. Though I do not think that a medical missionary would have much scope in Aden, I think that a Bible and tract-room and preaching-hall might be started there. ... I hope to visit Lahej soon, but fear I shall be unable to go to Sana. I should not know where to leave my wife. When I have a col- league at Sheikh Othman with a wife, the two ladies can be together while the husbands go to Sana and elsewhere. If the Church Missionary Society missionaries come here I trust we shall find ways and means of cooperating and helping one an- other." In February, 1886, Keith Falconer went with a Scotch mili- tary doctor to Lahej, the first large village beyond Sheikh Othman, in the middle of an oasis, and then governed by an independent "Sultan." In March, having completed his pre- liminary survey of the field and decided on choice of a loca- tion, he sailed for England, not to tarry there, but to prepare for the final exodus to Arabia. "For," says his biographer, "the soldier of the Cross had counted the cost, had weighed with the utmost care every risk and had taken his final resolve. The manner in which he told his friends this was very charac- ION KBITH FALCONER AND THE ADEN MISSION 339 teristic of the man . . . who goes forth to the fight ready to spend and be spent in the cause of Christ." In May he met the General Assembly of the Free Church and made his famous address on Mohammedanism and missions to Moham- medans. In order to begin the work at Aden, a second mis- sionary, a medical man, was desired. Although the man was not yet found, Keith Falconer made the generous proposal to pay the sum of ^300 (^1,500) annually to the Free Church for the new missionary's salary. He had already offered to pay the expenses of himself and his wife, and had agreed to take upon himself the whole cost of the building of the mission- house. He laid on the missionary altar not only his talent of learning but that of money, and was in truth "an honorary missionary." The time between Keith Falconer's arrival in England and his return to Arabia was crowded full of life and activity, but only the most important events can be narrated. He received the gratifying but altogether unexpected offer of the post of Lord Almoner's professor of Arabic at Cambridge, which he accepted, becoming the successor of Edward H. Palmer and Robertson Smith. He prepared the lectures required, choosing for his subject "The Pilgrimage to Mecca." He read all the books on the subject in many languages, even learning the Dutch grammar in order to understand a work in that language. He visited hospitals in search of an associate for Arabia. He selected his library and furniture to take to Aden and disposed of his house-lease. He acted as judge at the Young Men's Christian Association Cycling Club races in Cambridge. He went to Glasgow to meet Dr. Stewart Cowen who was appointed his co-worker to Arabia. He tried to insure his life in favor of the mission-work at Mile-End ; but while the insurance office declared him "First-Class," they refused to grant the policy when they heard of his proposed p»lace of residence. He gave several farewell addresses in Scotland and delivered his Cambridge lectures just on the eve of leaving for Arabia. 340 /fRABL-1, THE CRADl.F. OF ISLAM All this work was crowiled into six months' time by the man who, like Napoleon, did not have the M'ord impossible in his vocabulary. How well the work was done is proved by his lec- tures, the article in the Encyclopedia and his farewell addresses. What could be finer and stronger than these last sentences from his farewell address at Glasgow which still ring with power : " We have a great and imposing war-office, but a very small army . . . while vast continents are shrouded in almost utter darkness, and hundreds of millions suffer the horrors of heathenism or of Islam, the burden of proof lies upon you to show that the circumstances in Avhich God has placed you were meant by Him to keep out of the foreign mission field." Dr. Cowen arrived at Aden on December 7th, 1886, and Keith Falconer a day later, by the Austrian steamship "Berenice." He wrote, "We stopped at Jiddah, but to my great disap- pointment quarantine prevented me from going on shore. I gazed long at the hills Avhich hid Mecca from us." Mrs. Keith Falconer arrived a fortnight later. But the new missionaries were unfortunate at the outset in obtaining a suit- able dwelling. The stone bungalow, Avhich they expected to occupy at Sheikh Othman until a mission-house was built, could not be rented ; after considerable difficulty they man- aged to secure a large native hut, about forty feet square, which, with certain changes, appeared suitable for the emer- gency. A shed, erected by Keith Falconer, served them as a dispensary, and on January nth, he wrote, "Our temporary quarters are very comfortable and the books look very nice. ' ' Everything went well for a time and arrangements were made to begin building the mission-house. A tour was taken to Bir Achmed and the gospel was preached every day by word and Avork, although some of the party were down with fever nearly all the time. Early in February, 1887, they were cheered by the visit of General Haig, returning from his Yemen journey ; but very ION KEITH PA I. CONE R AND THE ADEN MISSION ?A\ soon after things began for the first time to be clouded over. On February loth, returning from a tour inland, Keith Fal- coner was seized with a high fever which continued for three days and then began to abate, but did not leave him entirely. Mrs. Keith Falconer also had a severe attack of fever, and both went for a change to Steamer Point for three weeks, after which they returned to their "hut" at Sheikh Othman. On May ist, Keith Falconer wrote to his mother, " You will be sorry to hear that I have been down with yet another attack . . . this makes my seventh attack. This rather miserable shanty, in which we are compelled to live, is largely the cause of our fevers ... we expect to begin living in the new house about June ist, though it will not be finished then." But this letter did not reach her until after the telegram had told the news that God had called His servant to Himself. On Tuesday, May loth, after continued fevers and two rest- less nights, he went to sleep, and in the morning . . . " one glance told all. He was lying on his back with eyes half open. The whole attitude and expression indicated a sudden and painless end, as if it had taken place during sleep, there being no indication whatever of his having tried to move or speak." On the evening of the next day he was laid to rest, " In the cemetery at Aden by British officers and soldiers — fitting burial for a soldier of Chirist, who, with armor on and courage undaunted, fell with face to the foe. The martyr of Aden had entered God's Eden. And so Great Britain made her first offering — a costly sacrifice — to Arabia's evangeli- zation." Keith Falconer did not live long, but he lived long enough to do what he had purposed, (and to do it after God's plan not his own) " io call attention to Arabia^ The workman fell but the work did not cease. The Free Church asked for one vol- unteer to step into his place, and thirteen of the graduating class of New College responded. By the story of Keith Fal- coner's life ten thousand lives have been spiritually quickened 342 ARABU, THE CR/IDLE OF ISLAM to think of the foreign field and its claims. He, " being dead, yet speaketh," and will continue to speak until Arabia is evan- gelized. Every future missionary to Arabia and every friend of missions who reads Falconer's life will approve the appro- priateness of the simple inscription on his grave at Aden : TO THE DEAR MEMORY OF THE HON. ION KEITH FALCONER, THIRD SON OF THE EARL AND COUNTESS OF KINTORE, WHO ENTERED INTO REST AT SHEIKH OTHMAN, MAY II, 1887, AGED 30 YEARS. " If any man serve Me, let him follow Me ; and, where I am, there shall also My servant be : if any man serve Me, him will My Father honor." The influence of Keith Falconer's consecration was widely felt at the time of his death and has been felt ever since. His biography has become a missionary classic, and has passed through six editions. The Presbytery of the Scotch Church in Kafraria, South Africa, resolved in October, 1887, that " steps be taken to prepare a memoir of the late Hon. Ion Keith Fal- coner, to be printed in Kafir as a tract for circulation among the native congregations with a view to impress them with an example of self-sacrifice." The mission at Sheikh Othman was continued. Through the generosity of Keith Falconer's mother and widow stipends for two missionaries were guaranteed. Dr. Cowen returned to England, but Rev. W, R. W. Gardner and Dr. Alexander Patterson came to the field. For a time Mr. Matthew Loch- head, from the mission among the Kabyles in Morocco, also joined them. A school for rescued slaves was started, but the children's health failing they were transferred to Lovedale in ION KEITH FALCONER AND THE ADEN MISSION 343 Africa. In 1893, Rev. J. C. Young, M. D., was sent out as a medical missionary to enforce the Rev. Mr. Gardner who with Mrs. Gardner were then alone ; Dr. Paterson and Mr. Loch- head having left for reasons of health. Rev. and Mrs. Gard- ner went to Cairo in 1895, and the following year Dr. Young was joined by Dr. and Mrs. W. D. Miller. In 1898 Mrs. Miller died, and Dr. Miller returned home. At present the mission staff consists of Rev. Dr. Young and Dr. Morris, who joined the mission in 1898. Despite these frequent changes and short periods of service, the Keith Falconer mission has not been at a standstill. Each of the faithful band used their special talent and individuality in removing somewhat from the vast mountain of Moslem prejudice and opposition " to make straight in the desert a highway for our God." The immediate interior around Aden has been frequently visited ; the mission dispensary is known for hundreds of miles beyond Sheikh Othman. We record with regret that Keith Falconer's wish to go to Sana remains unfulfilled on the part of the mission. A school for boys has been started, and the small "shanty" dispensary has grown into a fully equipped mission hospital, which treated over 17,800 out-patients in 1898. A much needed and most hope- ful work among the soldiers is carried on in Steamer Point (Aden) and the Keith Falconer Memorial Church is filled every Sabbath with those who love to hear the old gospel. XXXII BISHOP FRENCH THE VETERAN MISSIONARY TO MUSCAT TF it was Keith Falconer's life and death that sealed the mis- sionary love of the church to Aden, it was the death of Thomas Valpy French ' that turned many eyes to Muscat, Bishop French it was who signalized the completion of his fortieth year of missionary service by attacking, single handed, the seemingly impregnable fortress of Islam in Oman. He is called by Eugene Stock, " the most distinguished of all Church Missionary Society missionaries." We are tempted to describe this man's early mission work in founding the Agra college and protecting the native Christians in the mutiny ; his pioneer work in Derajat ; his founding of the St. John Divinity School at Lahore ; his controversies with the Mohammedans ; and his manifold labors as the first Bishop of Lahore, but we can only chronicle here the closing years of his useful life. After forty years of "labors abun- dant" and "journeyings oft" he resigned his bishopric to travel among Arabic-speaking people and learn more of their language. He visited the Holy Land, Armenia, Bagdad and Tunis, everywhere diligently seeking to learn Arabic, and per- suade the Moslems of the truth of Christianity. He became, as some one expressed it, a " Christian fakir" for the sake of ' the gospel and desired to end his life as he began it, in pioneer missionary-work. As we have said it was Mackay of Uganda who riveted the bishop's attention to Muscat. Such a plea from such lips 1 Life and Correspoiuloncc of T. V. French, First Bishop of Lahore, by Rev. Robert Birks, (Murray, London, 1S95). 31i BISHOP FRENCH THE VF.THR/1N MISSIONARY ?Ar, could not but touch the heart of such a veteran. No one else came forward, so how could he refuse? He knew that age and infirmities were coming upon him, but he wanted to die a missionary to Mohammedans. He had, to use his own words, "an inexpressible desire " to preach to the Arabs. He was willing to begin the work on his own account with the hope that the Church Missionary Society would take it up. What was the character of this lion-heart who dared to lift his grey head high and respond a/one, to Mackay's call for "half a dozen men, the pick of the English Universities to make the venture in faith " ? One who was his friend and fellow-missionary for many years wrote : "To live with him was to drink in an atmosphere that was spiritually bracing. As the air of the Engadine is to the body, so was his intimacy to the soul. It was an education to be with him. To acquire anything approaching his sense of duty was alone worth a visit to India. He demanded implicit obedience from those whom he directed, and often the cost was considerable. If any were unwilling to face a risk, he fell grievously in the bishop's esti- mation. There was nothing that he thought a man should not yield — home, or wife, or health — if God's call was apparent. But then every one knew that he only asked of them what he himself had done, and was always doing. How shall I speak of his unworldliness ? India is full of tales of this ; of acts that often led to somewhat humorous results. There was no in season or out of season with him. He was always on his Mas- ter's business. No biography, it is said, will be complete that does not show this side of his character. To outsiders fre- quently it seemed to lead him into inconsistencies. It did not seem incongruous for him to turn to the lady next to him, at a large luncheon party, and begin to discuss the heavenly Bride of Christ ; neither was it strange when hymn-books were dis- tributed at a large reception he held at Government House (kindly lent for the bishop's sojourn there), and the evening party was closed with hymns and prayer." 346 yiRABU, THE CRADLE Of- ISLAM Rev. Robert Clark of the Punjab Church Missionary So- ciety, testifies : "When he first began his work in Agra, he studied about sixteen hours a day. He taught in his school, he preached in the bazaars, he instructed inquirers for baptism, he prepared catechists for ordination, he was engaged in writ- ing books, at the same time that he was learning Arabic, Per- sian, Urdu, Sanscrit, and Hindi with munshis. Such excel- lence few can attain to, because few can safely follow in his steps in this respect. But all can copy his example of prayer- ful labor. When he spent his holidays in travels and in preach- ing excursions far and near, he showed us how to spend every hour of relaxation in the most profitable way. When he re- fused to possess even a very ordinary conveyance, because he thought that a missionary should go on foot, and declined to use anything but the most common furniture for his house, he set us an example of self-abnegation, and showed us what, in his opinion, should be the attitude of the missionary before the world. When he spent his earliest mornings with God, with his Hebrew Bible and Greek Testament before him, he often invited some friend to sit by him to share with him the rich thoughts which the Word of God suggested to his mind." This was the man who in solitary loneliness, without one friend to stand at his side, planted and upheld till death the banner of the cross where it had never been planted before. In the hotest season of the year, with a little tent and two servants he was preparing to push inland when death interposed and gave rest to this veteran of sixty-six years. " We fools accounted his life madness, but he is numbered among the children of God and his lot is among the saints." (Wisdom of Solomon v. 4, 5.) Only Judas can "have indignation saying to what purpose is this waste?" This broken box of exceeding precious ointment has given fragrance to the whole world. We will let Bishop French tell his own brief story of the work at Muscat, beginning with the time when we travelled to- BISHOP FRENCH THE VETERAN MISSIONARY 347 gether down the Red Sea both in quest of God's plan for us in Arabia.^ Near Aden, Jan. 22d, i8gi. "Boisterous winds and turbulent seas have racked my brain sorely, and I have seldom had such torture in this line. But we are close to the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, and hope to reach Aden some twelve hours hence. I should have been sorry to miss Hodeidah, where I had a long day (spite of difficulty of reaching it by sambuca or small boat of broad and heavy build), returning to ship in the evening. I left ray friends, Maitland and a young American missionary, and made my way straight out through a gate of one of the stout city walls, into the country beyond, where are palm-groves and some fairly imposing stuccoed country-houses of merchants and men of rank. Under an arcade (as the sun was to be feared) I got a little congregation together, some learned, others unlearned, and addressed them for over an hour, eliciting the opposition of one or two of the uluma, or educated men. For the first time in this part of my journey, my mouth seemed a little opened and heart enlarged to witness for Christ, and a few seemed really struck and interested. I tried to get entrance into a mosque or two, as of old time into Afghan mosques with Gordon and others, but failed to find the proper Imams within. I secured the lower steps of a flight of steps leading up to the private residence of a high Turkish officer, in rich uniform, a general of army here, not knowing whose steps I was occupying. However, the old gentleman came down (as a Roman centurion in old time might have done) and took his seat, with a few others, on his own doorstep, and listened with singular docility and thankfulness, and begged my bless- ing on his office, and his fulfillment of its arduous duties. After first leave-taking, he sent down to me a beautiful walking- stick of lemon-wood, so I had to mount the steps to express ' The letters appeared in the Church Missionary Intelligencer, for May and July, 1891, 348 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM my gratitude and acknowledgment of his singular courtesy and friendship. Then came a still more enthusiastic and affectionate leave-taking still, and warm kissing of hands, to Maitland's astonishment. I certainly never experienced such kindness and friendship from any Turkish official before in any quarter. I trust the message may have struck his heart. Anyhow, he gladly accepted a copy of the whole Bible — this is one of the most bigoted of Arab cities. "There was an excellent colporteur here this week, of the Bible Society, Stephanos, a Jewish convert, I believe, and ex- cellent Arabic scholar. The Wall, or viceroy of the city, has forbidden his carrying Arabic Bibles into the interior, though the Hebrew ones for the Jews at Sennaa are passed, some six days, into the mountains. In Jidda itself, I had some small measure of encouragement, but not nearly so much as in Hodeidah, which has now outstripped Mocha as a thri\-ing trade centre in those parts." Muscat, Gulf of Oman, February ijlh,i8gi. "I arrived here on Sunday last with Mr. Maitland, of the Cambridge Delhi Mission, whom I met in Egypt, and who spends a few weeks for his health's sake with me, perhaps until Easter. We did not like throwing ourselves on the British Consul here, as we thought it might embarrass him to entertain Christian missionaries on their first arrival here ; and we had very great difficulty in finding even the meanest quarters for the first day or two, but are now in quarters in an adjoining village, more tolerable as regards necessary comforts, belong- ing to the American Consul, who is agent for a new York house of business. I have written to India for a Swiss-cottage tent, as a resource in case of no possible residence being available here, or anything approaching even the English vil- lage public-house, or Persian caravanserai. In the adjoining hills such a tent might give shelter during the hot weather, if the Arabs will tolerate the presence of a Christian missionary. BISHOP FRHNCH THP. yRTERAN MISSIONARY 349 "Of possibilities of entrance of a mission, 1 feel it would be premature to speak yet. We are pushing on our Arabic studies, and I am glad to find how much more intelligible my Arab teaching is than in Tunis and Egypt. I hope soon to find a Sheikh of some learning, to carry on translations in Arabic under his guidance, if life and health be spared. I feel most thankful to feel myself again in a definite temporary centre, at least of missionary effort. ' Patience and long-suf- fering with joyfulness ' I would humbly and heartily desire to cultivate, as most appropriate to my present condition and cir- cumstances. The British Consul, a very polite and courteous and high principled man, is hopeless as to any effect being produced on the Oman Arabs, and feels his position precludes him from making common cause with any effort for making proselytes among them. So when Maitland goes I shall be pretty lonely here, not for the first time, however, and I only pray that the loneliness may help me to realize more fully the blessed Presence which fills, strengthens, animates, and sup- ports." His last letter written from Muscat to the Church Missionary Society is dated April 24th, 1891, A portion of it is as fol- lows : *< Patience here, as elsewhere (and more than in most scenes I have visitedj, is a great prerequisite. I still live alone in a borrowed house, a spare one belonging to the American Consul here, and, rough as it is, it is amply sufficient for a missionary, and is in the heart of the town. I cannot get many — very few, indeed — to come to my house and read, which is naturally one of my great objects. They ask me into their shops and houses sometimes, to sit and discuss on the great question at issue between us and them, some Beluchees, mostly Arabs ; and the latter I vastly prefer, and consider more hopeful. There are some Hindus in the crowded bazaars, but I see little of them — partly because of the noise of narrow streets and traffic, and partly because 1 do not wish to be tempted away from the 350 ARABU, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM Arabic, Most of the few Hindu traffickers living here under- stand Arabic. '' There is much outward observance of religious forms ; there are crowds of mosques ; rather a large proportion of educated men and women too ; the latter take special interest in religious questions, and sometimes lead the opposition to the gospel. They have large girls' schools and female teachers. There is a lepers' village nigh at hand to the town. I occupied for the second time this morning a shed they have allotted me, well roofed over ; and those poor lepers, men and women, gathered in fair numbers to listen. Chiefly, however, I reach the edu- cated men by the roadside or in a house-portico, sometimes even in a mosque, which is to me a new experience. Still there is considerable shyness, occasionally bitter opposition ; yet bright faces of welcome sometimes cheer me and help me on, and I am only surprised that so much is borne with. I have made special efforts to get into the mosques, but most often this is refused. The Moolahs and Muallims seem afraid of coming to help me on in my translations, or in encountering with me more difficult passages in the best classics. This has surprised and disconcerted me rather ; but I have been saved in the main from anything like depression, and have had happy and comfortable proofs of the Saviour's gracious Presence with me. The Psalms, as usual, seem most appropriate and an- swerable to the needs of such a pioneer and lonely work. . . . " If I can get no faithful servant and guide for the journey into the interior, well versed in dealing with Arabs and getting needful common supplies (I want but little), I may try Bahrein, or Hodeidah and Sennaa, and if that fails, the North of Africa again, in some highland ; for without a house of our own the climate would be insufferable for me — at least, during the very hot months — and one's work would be at a standstill. But I shall not give up, please God, even temporarily, my plans for the interior, unless, all avenues being closed, it would be sheer madness to attempt to carry them out." BISHOP FRENCH THE VETERAN MISSIONARY 351 He never reached the interior, for he received a sunstroke on his way from Muscat to the neighboring village, Mattra, in an open boat. He was removed to the Consulate but scarcely re- gained consciousness except to utter a " God bless you " to the Consul, Colonel Mockler. He died on May 14th, 1891. The very manner of his death fulfilled, more than he ever thought, his own words in one of his letters from Muscat : "In memory of Henry Martyn's pleadings for Arabia, Arabs and the Arabic, I seem almost trying at least to follow more directly in his foot- steps and under his guidance, than even in Persia or India, however incalculable the distance at which the guided one fol- lows the leader ! " The grave of Bishop French is in the bottom of a narrow ravine circled by black rocks and reached by boat, by round- ing the rocky point to the south of Muscat. Here are many graves of sailors of the Royal marine and others who died on this burning and inhospitable coast. Here also rests the body of Rev. George E. Stone, the American Missionary, who was called home in the summer of 1899, after a short period of service. In Memory of Thomas Valpy French, Bishop Missionary. Where Muscat fronts the Orient sun 'Twixt heaving sea and rocky steep, His work of mercy scarce begun, A saintly soul has fallen asleep : Who comes to lift the Cross instead ? Who takes the standard from the dead ? Where, under India's glowing sky, Agra the proud, and strong Lahore, Lift roof and gleaming dome on high, His " seven-toned tongue " is heard no more ; Who comes to sound alarm instead ? Who takes the clarion from the dead ? 352 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM Where white camps mark tlie Afghan's bound, From Indus to Suleiman's range, Through many a gorge and upland — sound Tidings of joy divinely strange : But there they miss his eager tread ; Who comes to toil then for the dead ? Where smile Cheltonian hills and dales, Where stretches Erilh down the shore Of Tliames, wood-fringed and ileck'd with sails, His holy voice is heard no more Is it for nothing he is dead ? Send forth your children in his stead ! Far from fair Oxford's grooves and towers, Her scholar Bishop dies apart ; He blames the ease of cultured hours In death's still voice that shakes the heart. Brave saint ! for dark Arabia dead ! I go to fight the fight instead ! O Eastern-lover from the West ! Thou hast out-soared these prisoning bars ; Thy memory, on thy Master's breast. Uplifts us like the beckoning stars. We follow now as thou hast led ; Baptii:e us, Saviour, for the dead ! — Archdeacon A. E. Moult. XXXIII THE AMERICAN ARABIAN MISSION " Our ultimate object is to occupy the interior of Arabia." — Plan of the Arabian Mission. "To such an appeal there can be but one reply. The Dutch Reformed Church when it took up the mission originally commenced on an inde- pendent basis as the Arabian Mission, did so with full knowledge of the plans and purposes of its founders, which, as the very title of the xnission shows, embraced nothing less than such a comprehensive scheme of evan- gelization as that above described." — Major-General F. T. Ilaig. " It is not keeping expenses down, but keeping faith and enthusiasm up, that gives a clear balance sheet. Give the Church heroic leadership, place before it high ideals, keep it on the march for larger conquests, and the financial proljlcm will take care of itself. If the Church sees that we are not going to trust God enough to venture upon any work flan was drawn up, and presented to the Board of Foreign Missions : " We the undersigned desiring to engage in pioneer mission work in some Arabic-speaking country, and especially in behalf of Moslems and slaves, do at the outset recognize the following facts : I. The great need and encouragement for this work at the present time. THE AMERICAN ARABIAN MISSION 355 2. The non-existence of such mission work under the supervision of our Board of Foreign Missions at the present time. 3. The fact that hitherto little has been done in the channels indicated. 4. The inability of our Board to inaugurate this work under its present status. Therefore, that the object desired may be realized, we respectfully submit to the Board, and with their endorsement to the church at large, the following propositions : 1. The inauguration of this work at as early a time as possible, 2. The field to be Arabia, the upper Nile or any other field, subject to the statement of the preamble, that. shall be deemed most advantageous, after due consideration. 3. The expenses of said mission to be met (a) by yearly subscriptions in amounts of from five to two hundred dollars ; the subscribers of like amounts to constitute a syndicate with such organization as shall be deemed desirable; (d) by syndicates of such individuals, churches and organizations as shall undertake the support of individual missionaries, or contribute to such specific objects as shall be required by the mission. 4. These syndicates shall be formed and the financial pledges made payable for a term of five years. 5. At the expiration of this period of five years the mission shall pass under the direct supervision of our Board as in the case of our other mis- sions. Should the Board still be financially unable, syndicates shall be re-formed and pledges re-taken. 6. In the meantime the mission shall be generally under the care of the Board . . . through whose hands its funds shall pass. 7. The undersigned request the approval of the Board to this under- taking in general, and particularly in the matter of soliciting subscriptions. (Signed.) J. G. Lansing, Jas, Cantine, P. T. Phelps, S. M. ZWEMER." This plan was first presented to the Board on June 3d, when it was provisionally accepted to be referred to the General Synod. On June nth, the Synod, after a long and ardent discussion, referred the whole matter back to the Board, asking them "carefully to consider the whole question and, should the Board see their way clear, that they be authorized to 356 AR/iBU, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM inaugurate the mission proposed." On June 26th the Board met and passed the following resolution : " Resolved, That, while the Board is greatly interested in the propo- sition to engage in mission work among the Arabic speaking peoples, the work in which the Board is already engaged is so great and so constantly growing, and the financial condition of the Board is such (its debt at that time being ;^35,ooo), that the Board feels constrained to decline to assume any responsibility in the matter. " If, however, during the next four months, such a degree of interest in Foreign Missions should be developed in the churches as to reduce the amount to which the treasury is now overdrawn to a small fraction, then the Board would feel inclined to favor that important enterprise." Meanwhile the plan had been fully discussed in the church papers, and although there were warm friends of the enterprise who earnestly plead by pen and purse for its inauguration, the current generally ran dead against the proposal, and much cold water was thrown on the enterprise.^ How those felt who were most concerned in the decision was expressed by Professor Lansing, on their behalf, in the follow- ing words: "The writer and the individuals named are deeply grateful to General Synod for its hearty reception and advocacy of the proposed mission. And, on the other hand, they not only have no word of complaint to utter in regard to the action of the Board, but are grateful to the Board for the careful consideration they have given the matter, and deeply sympathize with them in the sorrow which they and all must feel in connection with the adverse action taken. But this does not discharge the responsibility. A responsibility Divinely imposed is not discharged by any admission of existing human difficulty. . . . When God calls we must obey, not object. And also when God calls to some specific work, then He must have some way by which that work can be done." ^ An able plea for the acceptance of the Missions by the Church was made by Rev. J. A. Davis, in the Christian Intelligencer, N. Y., Sep- tember 18, 1889. THE AMERICAN ARABIAN MISSION 357 After much thought and prayer a plan was adopted for con- ducting this work. The motto of the new mission appeared at the head : "Oh that Ishraael might hve before Thee." After the preamble, similar to the original plan, there are the follow- ing sections : " I. This missionary movement shall be known as The Arabian Mission. 2. The field, so far as at present it is possible to be determined, shall be Arabia and the adjacent coast of Africa. 3. Selected by and associated with the undersigned shall be a Com- mittee of Advice, composed of four contributors, to assist in, advancing the interests of this mission. 4. In view of the fact that this mission is of necessity undenomina- tional in its personnel and working, contributions are solicited from any and all to whom this may come, without reference to denominational ad- herence. 5. The amount required to carry on the virork of this mission will be the sum necessary to meet the equipment and working expenses of the individuals approved of and sent to engage in the work of this mission. No debt shall be incurred and no salaries be paid to other than mis- sionaries. 6. It is desired that the amount subscribed sAall not i7tterfere with the individual's regular denominational contributions to foreign mis- sions. . . . 7. Of the undersigned the first party shall be Treasurer, and have gen- eral oversight of the interests of the mission at home and as such shall render an annual statement, while the missionaries in the field shall have the direction of those interests abroad. . . ." The rough draft of this plan was drawn up at Pine Hill Cot- tage, in the Catskills, on August ist. A few days later, while the band was at the old Cantine homestead, Stone Ridge, New York, Dr. Lansing composed the Arabian Mission hymn, which will always be an inspiration to those who love Arabia ; but it will never be sung with deeper feeling than it was for the first time, in an upper room, by three voices. When the plan was published, the Rubicon was crossed, although not without the loss of one name from among the signers. Contributions began to come in, the Committee of 358 ARABI/], THE CRADLE OF ISLAM I ll^iKv(>VV \\aS^ {^Ly ^CU^ p/}^nU£t<^ THE ARABIAN MISSIONARY HYMN. Facsimile of the original copy composed by Prof. J. G. Lansing in iJ ?it Stone Ridge, N. Y, THE AMERICAN ARABIAN MISSION 359 Advice was selected, and the mission was incorporated. Among other tokens of favor the mission received at this juncture from Catherine Crane Halstead, a legacy, of nearly five thousand dollars — the largest gift, and the only legacy received by the Arabian Mission in the past decade. This unexpected and providential donation was encouraging and enabled the mission to begin work immediately. On October ist James Cantine was ordained by the Classis of Kingston in the Fair Street Reformed Church and he sailed for Syria on October i6th, stopping at Edinburgh to consult with the Free Church of Scotland Committee regarding co- operation with their mission at Aden. The proposition was cordially welcomed but was not acted upon since at Sheikh Othman, it was afterwards mutually agreed that more would probably be accomplished if the missions worked separately. The second member of the band to leave for the field was ordained by the Classis of Iowa, at Orange City, and sailed on June 28th, 1890. The two pioneers left Syria for Cairo at the end of November to meet Professor Lansing who was in Egypt for his health. On December i8th Mr. Cantine left by direct steamer for Aden, and on January 8th, 1891, the writer followed in an Egyptian coasting steamer, desiring to call at Jiddah and Hodeidah, and to meet General Haig, who was then at Suakin in charge of rescue work for orphans after the war.'' My journey down the Red Sea was made in company with the aged Bishop French, though neither of us ever heard of the other before we met on the train to take the same ship at Suez. We then learned for the first time that both were bound for the same point with the same object, to preach Christ to the Arabs. From Aden the two American missionaries made it their first task to explore the points suggested by General Haig for missionary occupation. One, Mr. Cantine, journeyed north- ' This meeting with General Haig was described by him in an account in the London Christian (June, 1891). 360 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM ward to the country of the Sultan of Lahaj, while the other sailed along the southern coast in company with Kamil, the Syrian convert from Islam. This earnest young disciple had become acquainted with Mr._Cantine_ in Syria, and early ex- pressed a desire to join in the work for Arabia. He loved the Scriptures and never shrank from obstacles which stood in the way of faith or service. His biography, by Dr. Henry Jessup, ^'' /y/ shows what he surrendered for Christ ; only the day of days ;-• will show how much he accomplished for Arabia. On May 26th, 1 89 1, Mr. Cantine sailed to visit Muscat and the Persian Gulf, with the understanding that his co-laborer should mean- while attempt the journey to Sana and study the possible open- ings for work in Yemen. The news of Bishop French's death had already reached Aden. Mr. Cantine tarried at Muscat a fortnight, after which he visited Bahrein and other ports of the Gulf, going on finally to Busrah and Bagdad. The importance of Busrah as a mission centre was evident. In population, accessibility and strategic location it was superior to other places in Eastern Arabia. Here seemed to be the place to drive the opening wedge. Meanwhile a twenty-days' journey to Sana and the villages of Yemen on the Hodeidah route, had shown the importance of Sana as a centre of operations, as is shown from the follow- ing written at that time : "It has advantages of large popula- tion, central location, importance of position and healthfulness of climate. Mail comes weekly and a telegraph connects with the outside world. Its disadvantages are, a Turkish govern- ment and the consequent difficulties of open and aggressive work. Like the road from Hodeidah to Sana, it will be uphill work, through mountains and strong places, but in both cases you reach Arabia Felix." On meeting Mr. Cantine at Busrah, however, the arguments for Yemen were set aside, and it was agreed that it was best to make Busrah the first headquarters. It was never thought at the time that Yemen's highlands would, after ten years, still be without a missionary. THE OLD MISSION HOUSE AT BUSRAH THE KITCHEN OF THE OLD MISSION HOUSE, BUSRAH THE AMERICAN ARABIAN MISSION 361 Dr. M. Eustace was then at Busrah, doing dispensary-work for the poor and acting as physician to the European com- munity. He welcomed the missionaries and worked with them heartily until he was transferred to the Church Missionary Soci- ety hospital at Quetta. His departure emphasized the power of a medical missionary among Moslems, and the missionaries made a strong plea for a physician to -join them. In January, 1892, the Board of Trustees sent out Dr. C. E. Riggs, a man with testimonials of his standing as a physician and a member of an Evangelical church, but who, shortly after reaching the field, avowed his disbelief in the divinity of Christ, His commission was revoked and he soon returned to America, After several strange adventures this singular yet lovable man reached Chicago, was converted under the preaching of D. L, Moody at the World's Fair, and died at his home in New Orleans about a year later. It was a long way to the Father's house but proves the power of prayer, and that God never forgets His own. On June 24th of the same year faithful Kamil, rightly named Abd El Messiah (servant of Christ), was called to his reward. His illness was so sudden and the circumstances that attended his death so suspicious that we cannot but believe that he died a martyr by poison. He was the strongest man of the mission in controversy with Moslems, and a most lovable character, so that the report of that year truthfully states, "our loss in his death is unmeasured." These two successive blows were very serious and now two other losses followed. Yakoob, another Moslem convert, who had been in mission employ, and whose wife received baptism at Busrah, was arrested and prevented from returning to our field. Also one of the two efficient colporteurs employed by the mission, left to seek his fortune in America. The con- tinued illness of Dr. Lansing in the home land and a decrease in contributions likewise cast a shadow on the work. But faith grew stronger by trial. In the quarterly letter, near the close 362 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM of this year, we read: "The experience of the missionaries ever since arriving at Aden, their tours along the coast and in- land, the opportunities foT work along the Euphrates, the Tigris and the Gulf, and the deep consciousness that our mission is called of God to carry the gospel into the interior of Arabia — • all prompt us to make a special plea at this time for additional workers. There are several points near Busrah where perma- nent work should be inaugurated without delay, and places like Bahrein, Muscat or Sana are equally, perhaps more, open to the gospel than Busrah itself. . . . If the Arabian mission is to be true to its name and purpose, it must occupy Arabia y This was followed by an appeal for five new men and the request tliat, should means be lacking to send them out, salaries be reduced, ' ' confident that the best way to in- crease contributions is by extending our work and trusting that God will provide for the future." The mission was at this time passing through a period of de- termined opposition and open hostility on the part of the Turk- ish local government. Colporteurs were arrested ; the Bible shop sealed up ; books confiscated ; and a guard placed at the door of the house occupied by the missionaries. A petition was sent to the Sublime Porte to expel the mission. But the opposition was short-lived and the petition never accomplished its purpose. In December Rev. Peter J. Zwemer joined the mission in Busrah. The difficulties in the way of securing a residence were at first very great and frequent change of abode was detrimental to the work. Arrangements were like- wise made during this year to carry on all the Bible work for the British and Foreign Bible Society in the region occupied by the mission. The chief event of the next year was the occupation of Bahrein as a second station. Although the first attempt to open a Bible shop and to secure a residence on the islands was fraught with exceeding difficulty and much opposition, the at- tempt was successful, and at the close of the first year over two THE AMERICAN ARABIAN MISSION 363 hundred portions of vScripture had been sold. A journey was made into the province of Hassa and the eastern threshold of Arabia was thus crossed for the first time by a missionary. At Busrah the evangelistic work and Bible circulation made prog- ress, but medical work was at a .standstill. Cholera visited both stations and greatly interfered with the work ; many peo- ple fled from Busrah, and at Bahrein the total number of deaths was over five thousand. Peter Zwemer kept lonely watch on the islands at that time ; his only servant died of cholera and he himself could not get away as no ship would take passengers. Early in 1894 the good news came that Dr. James T. Wyckoff had been appointed to join the mission. Sailing on January 6th, and going via Constantinople to secure his Turk- ish diploma he arrived at Busrah in March. But the joy of welcoming a medical missionary was short-lived, for after a brief stay at Busrah he went to Bahrein where a severe attack of chronic dysentery soon compelled him to return to Busrah and subsequently to Kerachi and America. Thus the mission lost its third medical missionary, and his successor did not come out until the following year. / Muscat was visited by Peter Zwemer as early as December, \ / 1893, and his reports of this port as a prospective centre for work in Oman were so encouraging after several exploration journeys, that it was decided to allow him to occupy the station. During the summer of 1894, the writer, at the request and expense of the Mildmay Mission to the Jews, made a journey to Sana, to distribute Hebrew New Testaments. It was also hoped that it would be possible for him to cross from Sana to Bahrein, by way of Wady Dauasir. But the theft of all his money even before reaching Sana and his arrest by the Turks, prevented the attempt. After many trials and tribulations in the administration of the mission at home, negotiations were concluded in June, 364 ARAB1.4, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM 1S94, by which it was transferred to the management and care of the Board of Foreign INIissions of the Reformed Church. The distinct existence of the corporation is still preserved, but the trustees are chosen from among the members of the Foreign Mission Board. No other departures from former methods were made, save that the administration was now in experi- enced hands and at less expense than formerly. The change was cordially accepted by nearly all the missionaries and the contributors; now no one questions its wisdom and, benefit. The year 1S95 was another trying year to the mission, but there were also blessings. The departure of Rev. James Can- tine to America on furlough, after nearly seven years in Arabia, necessitated the transferral of the writer to Busrah and so left Bahrein practically uncared for. The missionaries and native helpers suffered more than usual from the enervating climate, and touring from both Muscat and Bahrein was made impos- sible for a large part of the year by tribal wars and troubles. In February the Bedouins attacked Muscat and captured the town ; the place was given over to pillage and over two hun- dred lives were lost ; the mission-house and shop were looted and Peter Zwemer took refuge at the British consulate. At Bah- ' rein a similar trouble threatened for months and terror reigned, but the disturbance never reached the islands and the unruly Arabs were punished by English gunboats. At Busrah the Bible work was stopped by the Turkish authorities ; the shop closed and colporteurs arrested. The arrival of Dr. H. R. Lankford ^^^orrall at Busrah, on April 21st, with a Turkish diploma, once more gave the mission the golden key to the hearts of the people. Dr. ^Vorrall has used it faithfully, al- though his severe illness the first summer almost made the mis- sion despair of the health of doctors. Mr. Cantine visited the churches in America and greatly stimulated interest, prayer and offerings, although no new mis- sionaries were found willing and suitable for the field. At the end of the year Amara was opened as an out-station THE AMERICAN ARABIAN MISSION 365 in the midst of much opposition but greater blessing. Even during this year earnest inquirers in this fanatical river village gladdened the hearts of the workers. Work for the women of Eastern Arabia was begun in 1896 by Amy Elizabeth Wilkes Zwemer, who left the Church Mission Society mission at Bagdad to be married to Rev. S. M. Zwemer. First at Busrah, then at Bahrein and Kateef she in- augurated the work which only a woman can do in Moslem lands. Extensive tours were made by the colporteurs and by Peter Zwemer. The entire region north of Muscat as far as Someil and Rastak, even to Jebel Achdar, was penetrated by the missionary and colporteurs. One of the latter visited the so-called "pirate coast" south of Katar and sold over a hun- dred portions of Scripture. The following table shows the in- crease of Scripture sales by the mission at all of its stations. More than five-sixths of these copies were sold to Moslems : 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 620 825 1,760 2,313 2,805 Jfj779 2,010 2,464 At Busrah first fruits were gathered after these years of sow- ing in two remarkable cases. A soldier at Amara accepted Christ and came to Busrah for instruction ; this man has since "suffered the loss of all things" and "witnessed a good con- fession " wherever he has been dragged as an exile or driven as an apostate. Another convert was a middle-aged Persian who was deeply convicted of sin by reading a copy of Luke's gospel in the dispensary at Busrah. He was a consumptive, and after finding peace in Christ, left Busrah for Shiraz. In the autumn Mr. Cantine returned to the field, but the following February Mr. and Mrs. S. M. Zwemer departed on furlough, so that, with no reinforcements, the mission-staff re- mained insufficient. The work at Bahrein not only stood still, but, because of the unfaithfulness of a native helper, retro- graded. Muscat was, on the contrary, increasing in irnpor- 366 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM tance. A school was begun by Mr. P. J. Zwemer, when eighteen helpless African boys, rescued from a slave-dhow, were handed over to his care. The little hand press in the mission-house sent forth its first message; a tract comparing Christ and Mohammed, which stirred thought as well as oppo- sition. It was the first Christian writing ever prtnted in Ara- bia and its simple message is prophetic : " Mohammed or Christ, on whom do you rely ? " At Busrah the medical work drew many within hearing of the gospel and Dr. Worrall was able to open work at Nasa- riyeh. At Amara the seed once more fell on good soil, and a small band of inquirers came together for prayer, but the har- vest is not yet. At the close of 1897, Rev. F. J. Barny, supported by the young people of the Marble Collegiate Church, New York City, came to the field, and began language study. The year 1898 is fresh in the memory of all those who are interested in the Arabian Mission. During it Peter Zwemer, after having gone to America, was called to his. reward and four new missionaries sent out into the harvest field to sow the seed of the kingdom. Two of them. Miss Margaret Rice (now Mrs. Barny) and Rev. George E. Stone, sailed with Mr. and Mrs. S. M. Zwemer on their return in August. The other two, Dr. Sharon J. Thorns and Dr. Marion Wells Thorns, of the University of Michigan, came to the field in December, 1898. Mr. Stone has now also gone to his reward — the third of the Arabian Mission to lay down his life for Arabia. XXXIV IN MEMORIAM — PETER J. ZWEMER AND GEO. E. STONE A SKILLFUL and loving hand has laid a wreath of im- mortelles on the unknown grave of Kamil ; his biog- raphy will live. We can only briefly record our love and ad- miration for those other two of the Arabian Mission, who " loved not their lives unto the death," but "hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Peter John Zwemer was born at South Holland, lUinois, near Chicago, on September 2d, 1868. His childhood was spent in a loving Christian home surrounded by gracious in- fluences and the prayers of godly parents. In 1880 he entered the preparatory department of Hope College, Holland, Michigan, and was finally graduated from the college in 1888. He was the only one of his class to choose the foreign field, and for it he sought special preparation after graduation, by work as Bible colporteur in Western Pennsylvania and New York, and a year of teaching in Iowa. In 1892 he was graduated from the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and on September 14th, of the same year, was ordained at Grand Rapids, Michi- gan, and sailed for Arabia on October 19th. From the day of his arrival on the field to the day of his death his first thought was gospel work for the Arabs. He was of a practical turn of mind, and had no visionary ideas nor desire for martyr- dom, but a sturdy, steady purpose to make his life tell. He was eager to meet men, keen to grasp opportunities, a cosmo- politan in spirit always and everywhere. A student of charac- ter rather than of books, he preferred to make two difficult journeys than report on one. He loved to teach and knew how to do it. Sympathy for the weak and suffering and a 367 S68 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM hatred for all shams were prominent traits. He endeared him- self even to those from whom he differed in opinion or con- duct by his whole-hearted sincerity and earnest advocacy of his views. Arabia was to him a school of faith ; his Christian character ripened into full fruitage through much suffering. Mr. Cantine wrote of him : " Our personal relations were perhaps more intimate than those usually known by the missionaries of our scattered sta- tions. I was at Busrah to welcome him when in 1892 he re- sponded to our first call for volunteers, and was also the one to say good-bye a few months ago as he left behind him the rocks and hills of Muscat and Oman, among which the pre- cious cruse of his strength had been broken for the Master's service. His course was more trying than that of the others of our company, as he came among us when the impulse and enthusiasm which attach to the opening of a new work Avere beginning to fail, and before our experience had enabled us to lessen some of the trials and discomforts of a pioneer effort. A thorough American, appreciating and treasuring the memory of the civilization left behind, he yet readily adapted himself to the conditions here found. Of a sensitive nature, he keenly felt any roughness from friend or foe, but I never kncAV him on that account to show any bitterness or to shirk the performance of any recognized duty. " Of those qualities which make for success in our field he had not a few. His social instincts led him at once to make friends among the Arabs, and while his vocabulary was still very limited, he would spend hours in the coffee-shops and in the gathering-places of the town. His exceptional musical talents also attracted and made for him many acquaintances among those he was seeking to reach, besides proving a con- stant pleasure to his associates and a most important aid in all our public services. And many a difficulty was surmounted by his hopefulness and buoyancy of disposition, which even pain and sickness could not destroy." FOUR MISSIONARY MARTVRS OF ARABIA IN MEMORIAM— PETER J. ZlVEMER 369 His short period of service in Arabia was longer than that of either Keith Falconer or Bishop French and although their lives have perhaps exerted a much wider influence, his has left larger fruitage on Arabian soil. Of his sickness and death the Rev. H. N. Cobb, D, D., Secretary of the mission wrote : " When the station at Muscat was opened in 1893 it was as- signed to him. From that time until May of the present year Muscat was his home. There he remained alone most of the time. Frequent attacks of fever prostrated him, unsanitary and unpleasant conditions surrounded him, the heat, con- stant and intense, often overwhelmed him ; still he clung heroically to his post, uttering no word of complaint, and quitting it only when mission business made it necessary, or tours were to be undertaken along the coast or in the interior, or when prolonged attacks of fever and the preservation of life made a limited absence imperative. When one considers all that he endured, the wonder is not that he died, but that he lived as long as he did. No higher heroism fought, suffered and at last succumbed at Santiago. He had become so much reduced by repeated attacks of fever and rheumatism that it was thought wise last year that he should leave Arabia and come home. His desire was to remain until next year, 1899, but in the early part of this year it became evident that he must not remain. When in the latter part of May he left Arabia, his weakness was so great that he was carried on board the steamer. On the homeward way, though writing back cheerfully concerning his improvement to those whom he had left behind, he grew gradually worse, and when he arrived in this country on the evening of July 12, was taken immediately to the Presbyterian Hospital through the kind assistance of a student for orders in the Roman Catholic Church. Those who have visited him there, and they have been many, have been struck by his cheerfulness, his hopeful courage, his anxious de- sire to recover, that he might return to his field and work, and yet his willing submission to his Father's will." 370 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM He clung to life with a grip of steel and laughed at the idea the doctors had of his approaching death because he could not believe that his work was done. "I have done nothing yet and when I go back this time I will be ready to begin work," were his words. Yet he had no fear of death. His eye never turned away from Arabia ; he longed to plant the plough once more in the stony soil of Oman and to teach the most ignorant the way of life. From his dying bed he sent to the committee a report regarding changes necessary in the house at Muscat. His hand, almost too weak to hold a pen, wrote on October 7th: "Dear father — I am slowly but surely improving and may be home soon. Now the board has authorized me to complete the building-fund. I have just secured ;^ioo for a Muscat touring boat. Dr. and Mrs. Thoms sailed this morn- for Arabia, /aus Deo / I felt sorry I could not divide myself and go with them . . . patiently longing I wait His time." Even later than this, when he could no longer write, he dictated letters regarding the work at home and in the iield. On the evening of Tuesday, October i8th, 1898, six weeks after his thirtieth birthday he quietly fell asleep. " His time " had come. After a brief service, the body was taken by lov- ing hands to Holland, Michigan, and laid to rest in the sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection. But his heart rests in Arabia and his memory will remain longest where he suffered most and where his fellowship was so blessed. " O blest communion ! fellowship divine ! We feebly struggle, they in glory shine Yet all are one in Thee for all are Thine. Hallelujah ! " And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long, — Steals on the ear the distant triumph-song And hearts are brave again and arms are strong. Hallelujah!" IN MEMORIAM-CEO. E. STONE 371 George E. Stone. On the twenty-sixth of June, 1899, George E. Stone died of heat apoplexy at the coast town of Birka a few miles east of Muscat. On Thursday the twenty-second of that month, in company with a colporteur, he left Muscat, for a few days change. He was in fairly good health, although suffering from boils. Monday morning he had a little fever ; in the after- noon it came again and in a few hours he had departed. His body was taken to Muscat by the colporteur and there buried near the grave of Bishop French whose death was from the same cause. Rev. George E. Stone was born on September 2d, 1870, at Mexico, Oswego County, New York. He was graduated from Hamilton College in 1895, and from the Auburn Theological Seminary in 1898. Toward the close of his studies his thoughts were drawn to the foreign field and he became a ' ' student vol- unteer." The reason for his decision was characteristic of the man. As he himself expressed it in his inimitable five-minute speech at the General Synod : "I tried in every possible way to avoid going to the foreign field but I had no peace. I go from a sense of obedience." He first heard of the special needs of Arabia through a former classmate who represented Union Seminary at the New Brunswick Inter-Seminary Confer- ence in November, 1897. Shortly after he wrote for informa- tion about the field, and without further hesitancy he applied and was accepted. Ordained by the Presbytery of Cayuga at Syracuse, he sailed with the mission party in August, 1898. George Stone was a man of much promise; altogether a character of one piece without seam or rent. Sturdy, manly, straightforward, humble and honest to the core. He was entirely unconventional and did not know what it was to try to make a good impression. He was simply natural. With native tact and Yankee wit was joined a keen sense of duty and a willingness to plod. Confessing that he was never in- 372 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM tended for a linguist he yet, by sheer appUcation, made remark- ably rapid progress in Arabic. He made friends readily and was faithful to sow beside all waters. No one could travel with him and not know that he was a fisher of men ; yet he was never obtrusive in his method. He had a splendid con- stitution, and looked forward to a long life in Arabia, but God willed otherwise. He was at Bahrein from October 9th until February 14th, when he left for Muscat to take the place of Rev. F. J. Barny, who had been ill with typhoid and was going on sick-leave to India. He was the only person available at the time, although it was not a pleasant task for a novice to be suddenly called to take care of a station of which he knew little more than the name. Without a word of demur he left Bahrein at three V hours' notice and sailed for Muscat. There he remained alone, but faithful unto death, until June, when Rev. James Cantine arrived to take charge of the work. His letters were always cheerful ; he seemed to grasp the situation, and with all its difficulties to see light above the clouds. The following .sen- tences from a few of his letters show what sort of man he was. They were written in ordinary correspondence and with no idea that the words would ever be treasured : " I was pretty certain that I should be sent to Muscat later on, but had no idea of going so soon. However, it is all right. Anything that has been prayed over as much as your decisions at Busrah, must have been directed of God, and I have been under His orders for some time. ... I have had two or three fevers, but they are small affairs, sick one day and well the next. No further news. I can only add my thankfulness to God for the way He has led me through the last two months and for giving me a share from the beginning in actual mission- work. . . . Many thanks for the report. I can learn a great deal from it to help out my ignorance. I do feel like a baby before this great work but, as the darkies used to sing, the Lord is 'inching me along.' IN MEMORIAM—CEO. E. STONE 373 "Pray for me that I may have wisdom and grace to carry this business through. I want it settled right." To his Auburn friends he wrote this in a characteristic letter : " You ask what I think of it now that I am on the spot. First : that the need has not been exaggerated, and that Mo- hammedanism is as bad as it is painted. Second : that we have a splendid fighting chance here in Arabia, and the land is open enough so that we can enter if we will. If a man never got beyond the Bahrein Islands he would have a parish of 50,000 souls. Third : that on account of the ignorance of the people they must be taught by word of mouth and there- fore if we are to reach them all, we must have many helpers. Fourth : that I am glad I came to Arabia, and that to me has been given a part in this struggle. I do firmly believe that the strength of Islam has been overestimated, and that if ever the Church can be induced to throw her full weight against it, it will be found an easier conquest than we imagine — not but what it will cost lives, it has always been so, but I do believe that Islam is doomed." Little did he think, perhaps, whose life it would first cost. Will his call be heeded and will the Church, will you, help to throw the whole weight of your prayers against Islam? "Ex- cept a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit." " The seed must die before the corn appears Out of the ground in blade and fruitful ears. Low have those ears before the sickle lain, Ere thou canst treasure up the golden grain. The grain is crushed before the bread is made ; And the bread broke ere life to man conveyed. Oh, be content to die, to be laid low, And to be crushed, and to be broken so, If thou upon God's table may be bread, Life-giving food for souls an hungered," XXXV PROBLEMS OF THE ARABIAN FIELD " A word as to the task your mission attempts. It is to me the hardest in the whole mission-field. To conquer Mohammedanism is to capture Satan's throne and I think it involves the greatest conflict Christianity has ever known. In attacking Arabia you aim at the citadel of supreme error occupied by the last enemy that shall bow to the kingship of Christ." — Rev. W. A. Essery, Hon. Secretary of the Turkish Mission Aid Society. " While the difficulties in the way of missionary work in lands under Mohammedan rule may well appear to the eye of sense most formidable, this meeting is firmly persuaded, that, so long as the door of access to in- dividual Mohammedans is open, so long it is the clear and bounden duty of the Church of Christ to make use of its opportunities for delivering the gospel message to them, in full expectation that the power of the Holy Spirit will, in God's good time, have a signal manifestation in the triumph of Christianity in those lands." — Resolution of the Church Mis- sionary Society^ May 1st, 1888. THE problem of missionary work in Arabia is twofold : (i) the general problem of Mohammedanism as a political religious system which Arabia has in common with all Moslem lands ; and (2) the special problems or difficulties which per- tain to Arabia in particular. The general problem of missions to Moslems is too vast and important to be treated here. Dr. George Smith says that "the great work to which the providence of God summons the church in the second century of modern missions is that of evangeliz- ing the Mohammedans." It is the missionary problem of the future. Dr. H. H. Jessup, who speaks of it as " a work of sur- passing difficulty, which will require a new baptism of apostolic wisdom and energy, faith and love" gives the elements of the problem in his book.^ As unfavorable features he enumerates, 'The Mohammedan Missionary Problem. — H. H. Jessup, D. P., 1879, 374 PROBLEMS OF THE ARABIAN FIELD 375 (i) the union of the temporal and spiritual power, (2) the divorce between morality and religion, (3) Ishmaelitic intoler- ance, (4) destruction of true family life, (5) the degradation of woman, (6) gross immorality, (7) untruthfulness, (8) mis- representation of Christian doctrine, and (9) the aggressive spirit of Islam. Among the favorable features he names: (i) belief in the unity of God, (2) reverence for the Old and New Testament, (3) and for Christ, (4) hatred of idolatry, (5) abstinence from intoxicating drink, (6) the growing influence of Christian nations, (7) the universal belief of the Moslems that in the latter days there will be a universal apostasy from Islam. In some respects the problem has changed since Dr. Jessup's book was written but in its main, outlines it remains the same. The problem of Arabia as a mission-field can best be studied by considering in order : the land itself as regards its accessi- bility; the climate and other special difficulties; the present missionary force ; the methods suited to the field ; and the right men for the work. The chapters on the geography of the peninsula show how different are the various provinces and what are the strategic centres in each. It is generally con- sidered both a good missionary policy and a true apostolic principle to work out from the cities as centres of population and influence. This is especially necessary in Arabia where the population is scattered and largely nomadic. All nomads come to some city or village for their supplies at frequent inter- vals or, if they are independent of a foreign market, they bring their produce to the cities. This by way of preface. First, what parts of Arabia are really accessible to missionary operations? (i) The Sinaitic peninsula with the adjoining coast of Hejaz nearly as far as Yanbo ; the population is mostly Bedouin but a good centre for work would be the Egyptian quarantine station of Tor in the Gulf of Suez. (2) Aden and the surrounding region under British protection, with a popu- lation of perhaps 200,000 souls. (3) The entire south coast 370 .^R.-iPl.-t, THF CR.-tniF OF ISi.-tM from Aden to IMakalla ami Shehr \vitl\ its hlnUriamf ; this region has been tVeel\' visited by explorers and travellers, men and women ; the people are qnite friendly and the natnral base of operations wonld be the town of Makalla. (^4) Oman with its coast-towns and hill-conntry, everywhere aieessible ; wherever missionaries have tried to enter they haA-e met with a welcome above all expectations. (^5) The so-called "pirate-coast" in East Arabia between Ras el Kheinui and Aim Thnbi ; many villages, all under r>iitish subsiily and with resident native agents. (6) The islands of Bahrein. All of these regions are ontside i>f Dtrkish Arabia and are more or less uniler the intluence of Great Britain so that every kind of missionary work is possible. No passports are reipiired for travelling; no special diplomas for the right to practice medicine ; no censorslnp ot' books ; no otTu-ial espionage or prohibition of residence. In Turkish Arabia the case is different, but it would be very incorrect to say that Turkish Arabia is inaccessible. "The Turks are no doubt," as General Haig remarks, "a great ob- stacle, but we must give them their due, and admit that they are not nearly so intolerant as some European States, including Russia." Only one portion of Turkish Arabia seems, at pres- ent, to be aho/i/te/y inaccessible, namely, the two sacred cities Mecca and Medina. At present, we say, for it does not seem possible that these twin-cities would long remain closed if the church had faith to apinoach their doors and were ready to enter. Other portions of Turkish Arabia are accessible, at least to some extent. (O The entire coast of Hejaz is accessible; two cities, Jiddah, and Hodeidah, are specially suited for medical mission work; while it is not at all improbable that with proper faith and kindly tact, the lovely town of Taif, that garden of Mecca, would harbor a medical missionary. IXiughty's ex- l>eriences seem to indicate that Taif is not considered holy ground.' (^j^ \en\i'n, the .Arabia Felix indeed; with a ' \ol. 11., pi>. 5035:19. PROBLEMS OF THE /tRABIAN FIELD 377 splendid climate, a superior Arab population, numerous villages and cities, and with marvellous fertility of soil. Surely these highlands will not remain forever under the rod of oppression ; when the hour of deliverance comes, every village should have a mission-school and every city a mission-station. Even now under the Turk work is possible for the large Jewish popula- tion. (3) Hassa with its capital Hofhoof and Katif on the coast. (4) The vilayets of Busrah and Bagdad. These four regions in Turkish Arabia are accessible with three limitations to missionary-work : — Every missionary must have proper pass- ports ; no medical missionary can practice without a Constan- tinople diploma ; and no books or Bibles can be sold unless they have been examined by a censor of the press and bear the seal of the government. The passport matter is awkward at times but is not an insurmountable barrier ; where the govern- ment considers travelling safe, passports are always given. The medical diploma requirement is not different from the law of France and other countries ; once in possession of such a di- ploma, the leverage power of the Christian physician is in- creased rather than limited. The third restriction prevents the distribution of all controversial literature but admits the Bible and many other Christian books ; it is rather burdensome and irritating to one's patience but does not shut the door to real missionary work. Every copy of the Arabic Scriptures printed at Beirut bears the imprimatur of the Ottoman Government — the sign and seal of the " Caliph " that the Word of God shall have free course in his tottering empire. Finally there is the vast interior — Asir, Nejran, Yemama, Nejd, Jebel Shammar — is that too accessible ? The whole region is free from Ottoman rule and, for the greater part, un- der one independent prince, Abd-ul-Aziz, the successor of Ibn Rashid. But for the rest the question must remain unanswered until a missionary has attempted to enter these regions and has brought back a report. For travellers the whole of the in- terior has proved accessible since the days of Palgrave ; and 378 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM the presumptive evidence is that a missionary could also pene- trate everywhere even if he were not at first allowed to settle in any of the towns. I have not the least doubt that a properly qualified medical missionary with a thorough knowledge of the language would find not only an open door but a warm wel- come in the capital of Nejd or even at Riad. Regarding the general accessibility of Arabia, General Haig wrote in his report as follows : " There is no difficulty then about preaching the gospel in Arabia if men can be found to face the consequences. The real difficulty would be the pro- tection of the converts. Most probably they would be exposed to violence and death. The infant church might be a martyr church at first, like that of Uganda, but that would not prevent the spread of the truth or its ultimate triumph." The climate of Arabia is, at present, an obstacle to mission- ary work, but in the mountain ranges of Oman and Yemen as well as in all the interior plateau of Nejd a healthful, bracing climate prevails. Now, alas, while all work is still confined to the coast, we have perhaps one of the most trying climates in the world. The intense heat of summer (often i io° Fahrenheit in the shade) is aggravated by the humidity of the atmosphere, and the dust raised by every wind. In the winter, from De- cember to March, the winds in the northern part of the gulf and the Red Sea, are often cold and cutting and although the temperature is more suited at that time to Europeans and Americans, it appears to be less healthy for natives. The so- called gulf-fever of the remittent type is very dangerous and convalescence is at times only possible by leaving the gulf. Cholera and smallpox are not uncommon. Ophthalmia is rife. Prickly heat in aggravated form, boils, and all the insect plagues of Egypt are a cause of suffering in their season. Moslem fanaticism is not peculiar to Arabia nor is it more intense or universal here than in any other purely Mohammedan land. The fanaticism of the Arabs has been grossly exagger- ated. The Wahabis represent the extreme of e^clusiveness PROBLEMS OF THE ARABIAN FIELD 379 and prejudice, but even among them it is possible for a mis- sionary to preach Christ and read the Bible. Personal violence to the messenger of the gospel has proved in ten years experi- ence, almost unknown in any part of Arabia visited by mis- sionaries. Sometimes Bibles and books are collected by a fanatical Mullah and consigned to the flames or the oblivion of an upper shelf in his house. The fellows of the baser sort perpetrate insults and annoyances at times in village-work or refuse hospitality. But we, in Arabia, have never met with the strong anti-foreign feeling such as seems to be prevalent, for example, in China. The prejudice is seldom against the dress or manner or speech of the foreigner ; even his food is considered clean and no Arab would refuse to share his meal with a Christian traveller. But there is often a strong preju- dice against certain aspects of Christian doctrine, especially if crudely or unwisely put. In an Arab coffee-shop it would be unsafe as well as unwise to use the words "Son of God," "death of Christ," "Trinity" etc., without a previous expla- nation. Yet on the whole the Arabs are friendly to any stran- ger or guest and this friendliness is especially strong toward Englishmen and on the coast, because of the clear contrast be- tween English and Ottoman or Arab rule. Commerce too with its general integrity and "the word of an Englishman " has in a sense been the handmaid of missions by disarming prejudice and opening Arab eyes to the superiority of western civilization. From a missionary standpoint the population of Arabia can best be divided into the illiterate and those who can read. The former class are in the vast majority and include all the Bedouins with exceedingly few exceptions. Taking the popu- lation at eight million, to say that one half a million could read would be a large estimate. On this account work for those who are able to read, by means of colportage and book- shops, may be too highly rated as to its extensive result ; its intensive value no one will question. The problem of reaching the nomad population is a very serious 380 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM one. The data for a correct theory of work among them are yet to be collected. Experience of work among them has been very limited ; indeed the only work of importance was that of Samuel Van Tassel in North Arabia. As a class they are less religious than the town or agricultural Arabs. One who has studied the subject writes : '* The Arabs [Bedouins] remain Mo- hammedans simply because they know of nothing better ; the Bedouins are Moslems only in name observing the prescribed forms in the neighborhooci of the towns, but speedily casting Population Touched by Mission Effort. Adan, etc., . 100,000. Muscat .... 20,000 Bahrein . . 60,000. Busrah and Bagdad, 520,000 them aside on regaining the desert. Yet there are men among them not without reverent thoughts of the Creator, derived from the contemplation of His works, thoughts which, accord- ing to Palmer, take sometimes the form of solemn but simple prayer." The character of missionary work among this nomad population (perhaps one-fourth or fifth of the population of the peninsula) will be very similar to that of James Q ilm our among the Mongols ; and it will require men of his stamp to carry it on successfully. PROBLEMS OF THE ^R^BMN FIELD 3^1 The presetit missionary force i7i Arabia is utterly inadequate to supply the needs even of that portion of the field which they have occupied. There are oi\\y four points on a coast of four thousand miles where there are missionaries. There is not a single missionary over ten miles inland from this coast. No mission- ary has ever crossed the peninsula in either direction. The total number of foreign missionaries in Arabia, is less than a dozen — twelve workers, men and women, let us say, for a pop- ulation of 8,000,000 souls. Area Occupied by Missionaries. Adan, etc., 8,000 square miles. Muscat 600 square miles. Bahrein. 400 " " Busrah and Bagdad, 71,000 " '< The Keith Falconer Mission is not as strong in its numbers as when Keith Falconer died. The Arabian Mission has only recently received enough reinforcement to man its three stations permanently. There has been too much of the spirit of — - periment instead of the spirit of enterprise ; a corporal's guard went out to attack the chief citadel of the enemy. Bishop French was alone when he died at Muscat. The Arabian Mission waited years before they received reinforcements. What is the spiritual need of Arabia to-day ? Of the total area 382 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM of the peninsula only about one-twelfth is in any way reached by missionary eifort. This does not mean that one-twelfth of the area is covered by mission-stations and touring, but that in some way or other about one-twelfth of the peninsula is "oc- cupied ' ' by organized mission-work in its plan and purpose, day by day. As to the proportion of missionaries to the popu- lation te7i men out of eleven have no opportunity in this neglected country to hear the gospel even if they would. The only part of Arabia that is fairly well occupied is the River-country — that is the two vilayets of Bagdad and Busrah. Here there are two stations and two out-stations on the rivers ; colporteurs and missionaries regularly visit the larger villages ; several native workers are in regular employ and the Bible Society is active. Yet in these two vilayets nothing has ever yet been done for the large Bedouin population, and there are only six foreign missionaries, men and women, to a population (Turkish census) of 1,050,000 souls. Looking at Arabia by provinces : Hejaz has no missionary ; Yemen (with the exception of Sheikh Othman and Aden) has no missionary ; Hadramaut has no missionary ; Nejd has no missionary ; Hassa has no missionary ; Jebel Shammar and all the northern desert has no missionary ; Oman has one mission- ary. Again, the following towns and cities are accessible, but have not one witness for Christ : Sana, Hodeidah, Menakha, Zebid, Damar, Taiz, Ibb, with forty smaller towns in Yemen ; Makallah, Shehr, and Shibam in Hadramaut ; Rastak, Someil, Sohar, Sur, Abu Thubi, Dabai, Sharka and other important towns in Oman ; not to speak of the important towns of Nejd and in Mesopotamia, still without any missionaries and never .'- Iby ^-^ evangelist. Arabia is in truth a neglected field, even now. Thus far the work has been really preliminary ; the evangelization of Arabia must yet begin ; not until every province is entered and every one of the strategic points specified is occupied can we truly speak of Arabia as a mission-field. Nor is the project vision- PROBLEMS OF THE ARABIAN FIELD 383 ary. Given the men and the means there is not the slightest reason why the next decade should not see the entire peninsula the field for some sort of missionary effort. The doors are open, or they will open to the knock of faith. God still lives and works. Regarding the best methods of mission-work in Arabia the experience of missionaries in other Moslem lands is of the greatest value. The story of the Church Missionary Society in the Punjab, that of the North Africa Mission, and above all the work of the Rhenish Society in Sumatra should be thor- oughly familiar to every Arabian missionary. Medical missions have their special place and power, but also their special diffi- culties in pioneer work like that in Arabia. Surgery is worth infinitely more than medicine among a people like the Arabs, where fatalism and neglect of the sick make the science of medicine of doubtful result in so many cases. " Kill or cure" rather than prolonged treatment, suits the Moslem palate. But a skillful surgeon with a Turkish diploma holds the key to every door in the entire peninsula. There is not one mission- hospital in Arabia ! Surely such centres as Bagdad, Busrah, Bahrein, Sana, Jiddah, Hodeidah and Hofhoof should have these acknowledged powerful methods of evangelization. At Aden and Muscat there are Indian Government hospitals. Educational work is still absent or in its infancy as regards the Moslem population, so that there are no data from which to formulate theories as to their success. In some parts of Arabia schools might not be permitted by the government ; every- where they would necessarily at the outset be very elementary. Christian women, as experience has proved both in Yemen and East Arabia, are welcomed everywhere. With or without medical qualifications, but with hearts of love and sympathy for the poor, the suffering and the miserable, they can enter every house or hut. Even in the black tents of Kedar there are aching hearts and wretched homes to which the gospel of peace and love can alone bring relief. Lady Ann Blunt and 384 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM Mrs. Theodore Bent have proved what women can do in Arabia for the sake of science ; will there be no Christian women who will penetrate as far inland for the sake of their Saviour ? Colportage is an approved mission-method especially in Arabia, since the Bible and a full line of educational and re- ligious literature is ready to our hand from the Syrian and Egyptian missions. In Yemen this work would be especially useful and practicable, but there it has scarcely been attempted systematically. The problem is to find men of the right stamp for the work. Men who are <' willing to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ," with tact and good temper and the ability to talk with the simple-minded. Love is worth more than learning in a colporteur. Good health and a clean Turkish passport are two other requisites. Even this method of work is in its infancy ; there are many open doors for the Word of God that have never yet been entered. Under evangelistic work come the problems of street-preach- ing, touring, and the use or abuse of controversy. The best place for preaching at stations is the mission-house itself, after the example of Paul (Acts xxviii. 30, 31). On tours or in village-work the mej'lis of the sheikh or the public coffee-shop makes a capital pulpit. In a small hand-book for missionaries to Moslems by Rev. Arthur Brinckman, now out of print,^ I find the following admirable hints on public preaching to Mos- lems which apply to Arabia also : " If possible always address your audience from above. Sit- ting down is sometimes better than standing ; you are not so likely to get excited, the attitude is less war -like in appearance. Be with your back to a wall if possible ; there are many rea- sons for this. " When drawn into argument, keep on praying that you may speak slowly, and with effect. When asked a question do not answer quickly — if you do, you will be looked on as a sharp 1 Notes on Islam : A Hand-book for Missionaries. — Rev. Arthur Brinck- man, London, 1868. — — THE BIBLE SHOP AT BUSRAH INTERIOR OF A NATIVE SHOP PROBLEMS OF THE ARABIAN FIELD 385 controversialist only ; think over your answer first, and give it most kindly and slowly. If possible always quote a passage near the beginning or end of a Koran chapter and there will be less delay in finding it." The question of the right place of controversy or whether it should have a place at all in mission-work among Moslems is of the highest importance. Opinions differ decidedly among those who are pillars of the truth. The best and briefest argument against the use of controversy is that given by Spurgeon in one of his early sermons at New Park Street Chapel.* He argues in brief that a missionary is a witness, not a debater, and is only responsible for proclaiming the gospel by his lips and by his life. There is truth in this, but on the other hand even the apos- tles "disputed" in the synagogues with the Jews, and from the days of saintly Martyn (not to say Raymond Lull), until now, the Christian missionary has been compelled by the very force of circumstances to vindicate the honor of Christ and establish the evidences of Christianity by means of controversy. When, in July, 1864, the Turkish government persuaded Sir Henry Bulwer to sign the death-warrant to all missionary work among Moslems in the Turkish empire by the memorandum that made controversy a crime, the fact was immediately rec- ognized. Rev. J. Ridgeway, then the editorial secretary of the Church Missionary Society, wrote an able paper in the Church Missionary Intelligencer on the theme : " Missionary work as regards Mohammedans impossible if controversy be interdicted.''^ "By controversy," he wrote, "we understand not acrimonious and irritating recriminations, which, well aware how unbecom- ing and injurious they are, the missionaries have always eschewed, but that calm investigation of conflicting religious systems that is indispensable to the decision of the important question — which is true and which is false? " * ' Reprinted in " North Africa " (April, 1892), under the title : Preach- iitg, not Controversy. 2 History of the Church Missionary Society, Vol. II., p. 155. 386 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM It is only in this sense that controversy is justifiable ; and this kind of controversy, whether by the printed page or word of mouth, has not proved unfruitful of good results. Sir AVilliam Muir gives a complete synopsis of all Mohammedan attacks on the Christian faith and the replies made in defence of Christianity ; his criticisms of the books in question are also of great interest. Since that date there have been new attacks and new apologies both from the Moslem side and from that of the missionary. As a plough breaks up the soil before the seed is sown so this kind of literature and argument will often break up the fallow ground of Moslem hearts for the seed of God's Word. Even awakened fanaticism or active opposition is more hopeful than absolute stagnation of thought and i)etri- faction of feeling. How to awaken the Moslem conscience is the real problem. It is less important to consider the attitude of the Turkish empire toward Christians than tlie attitude of the Moslem mind toward Christianity, as regards Arabia's evangelization.' The prevailing attitude of the Moslem mind, in any particular part of Arabia, toward Christianity practically decides the fate of a convert. Were Moslems all strictly adherent to their traditions and the law regarding renegades from Islam, every convert would be a martyr and every inquirer would disappear. The Ottoman code of Moslem law gives specific directions for the trial and execution of the renegade from the faith. " He is to have three distinct offers of life if he will return to the faith and time for reflection, after each offer, is to be given him. If he remains obdurate he is to be executed by strangulation and then his head is to be cut off and placed under his arm. His body is thus to be exposed three days in the most public place."'* But, thank God, Moslems do not strictly adhere to this law. In this, as in other respects, many are belter than 'The Mohammedan Controversy and oilier articles. — Sir Wm. Muir, Edinburgh, 1897. ^Missionary Review, October, 1893, p. 727, in article by "C. 11." PRO HI. f I MS or run Arabian rini.n 3B7 their religion and superior to their pro[>het. Converts in that part of Aruljia which is under English rule or protection are as safe as they are in India; which does not mean that they are entirely free from persecution. In Turkish Arabia the law is carried out by secret murder, or by banishment ; yet not in every case, for even there inquirers and converts, if not active or prominent, have remained for a time unmolested. What the result would be in the independent Moslem states of Arabia we do not know. The Berlin Treaty was intended to be the Magna Charta of Christian liberty in the Turkish empire, but the Turk has not kept the compact. Its provisions were too galling to Moslem pride and prestige ; reforms never got beyond the paper stage. The massacres of 1894 to 1896 proved that the Sultan is still the Pope of a religious fraternity and king of a political empire based on the forty-seventh chapter of the Koran : " When ye encounter the unbelievers strike off their heads until you have made a great slaughter of them." And the inaction of all the Christian powers at that time proved that it is vain to put con- fidence in princes. But in spite of all possible government op- position or even the martyrdom of every individual convert **so long as the door of access to individual Mohammedans is open, so long it is the clear and bounden duty of the church of Christ to make use of its opportunilirrs for delivering the gospel me.ssage to them." The attitude of the Arab rnind is not universally hostile to Christianity. The vast majority are indifferent to religion in any form. " What shall we eat and what shall we drink and wherewithal shall we be clothed," — is the sum of all their thoughts. The Arab merchant serves Mammon with all his heart seven days a week. Religion is an ornament and a con- ventionality ; he wears it like his flowing overgarment and it fits him just as loosely. He thinks it scarcely worth while to discuss questions of belief. Every one has their own religion, is a remark one often hears in Arabia. It is a faint echo of the / / 388 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM all-embracing tolerance of the days of ignorance when three hundred and sixty idols, including an image of Christ and the virgin, filled the Kaaba ! Then there are some thoughtful men who know better, — seekers after truth, — and who feel that there are strong points in Christianity and weak points in Islam which have not been duly considered. One meets examples of this class every- where in all stations of life and in most unexpected quarters. In the heart of Yemen I met a Mullah who had a wonderful knowledge of the Arabic Bible ; and the copy he showed me was an imperfect translation by Richard Watson dated 1825 ! Another prominent Mohammedan in Eastern Arabia recently expressed his opinion that the Christ of the New Testament never intended to found a new religion, but to introduce everywhere spiritual worship of the God of Abraham ; he said that a long and independent study of the Bible had led him to this opinion. The steady increase of the circulation of Scriptures in Arabia is also an indication which way the current is drifting. Rev. George E. Stone, a few weeks before his death, writing of the Bible circulation at Muscat said, " I don't know when the ex- J plosion is coming but we are getting the dynamite under this rock of Islam and some day God will touch it off." The Bible in Arabia will indeed prove its power in changing the en- tire attitude of the Moslem mind. " Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces ? " Finally there is the problem of securing the right men for the work. So hard is the field in many ways and so hard are Moslem hearts that the description of Aaron Matthews' ideal missionary for the Jews would apply to the Arabs as well, (the last clause omitted). He wrote : "A Jewish missionary re- quires Abraham's faith. Job's patience, the meekness of Moses, the strength of Samson, the wisdom of Solomon, the love of John, the zeal of Paul, the knowledge of the Scripture of Timo- PROBLEMS OF THE AR/iBUN FIELD 389 thy, and a little bit of Baron Rothschild's pocket." The finan- cial part of the equipment is not essential on the part of the missionary ; he should be content with food and raiment. The less display of Baron Rothschild's pocket the better, in a land where people go to bed hungry and where all live in the great- est simplicity. The candidate for missionary work in Arabia should have a strong and sound constitution. He should know how to " rough it " when necessary ; the more of the Bohemian there is in his nature the better. He should have both ability and dogged determination enough to acquire the Arabic lan- guage. Other scholarship is useful but not necessary. To get along well with the Arabs he should have patience. And to avoid wearing himself out, a good temper ; a man with a very hot temper could never stand three seasons in the Persian Gulf. Regarding spiritual qualifications I cannot do better than quote the solemn words at the close of General Haig's paper on "Arabia as a mission-field." I believe they deserve to be re- peated not only for the sake of those who send missionaries to Arabia, but for the sake of those who are missionaries to Arabia. It is a high ideal. " Given the right men, and Arabia may be won for Christ ; start with the wrong men, and little will be accomplished. But what qualifications are needed ! what enthusiasm, what fire of love, what dogged resolution, what uttermost self-sacri- ficing zeal for the salvation of men and the glory of Christ ! But upon this point I prefer to quote here the words of a man who is preeminently qualified to speak upon the subject. Three years ago he wrote to me : " ' Unless you have missionaries so full of the spirit of Christ that they count not their own lives dear to them, you will prob- ably look in vain for converts who will be prepared to lose their lives in the Master's service. In a relaxing tropical cli- mate, like that of Aden, circumstances are very unfavorable for the development of self-denying character, or of energetic 390 AR^BU, THE CRADLE OP ISLAM service. No small amount of grace would be needed to sustain it ; for we are compound beings, and there is a wonderful re- action of the body upon the soul, as well as of the soul upon the body. It is supremely important, then, in an enterprise like yours, to have the right stamp of men — men who have made some sacrifices, and who do not count sacrifice to be sacrifice, but privilege and honor — men who do not know what discouragement means, and men who expect great things from God. Such alone will prove really successful workers in a field so replete with difficulty. Unless Eternity bulks very largely in the estimation of a man, how can he encourage a native convert to take a step that will at once destroy all his hopes and prospects of an earthly character, and possibly re- sult in imprisonment, and torture, and death itself? and unless you have men who are prepared, should God seem to call for it, to lead their converts into circumstances of such danger and trial, it is not very likely that they will find converts who will go very much in advance of themselves. Men of this stamp are not to be manufactured ; they are God-made. They are not to be found; they must be God-sought and God-given. But the Master who has need of them is able to provide them. Nothing is too hard for the Lord.' " " Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that He would thrust forth laborers into His harvest.''^ XXXVI THE OUTLOOK FOR MISSIONS TO MOSLEMS " Take it at its very worst. They are dead lands and dead souls, blind and cold and stiff in death as no heathen are ; but we who love them see the possibilities of sacrifice, of endurance of enthusiasm of life, not yet effaced. Does not the Son of God who died for them see these possibilities too ? Do you think He says of the Mohammedan, 'There is no help for him in his God ' ? Has He not a challenge too for your faith, the challenge that rolled away the stone from the grave where Lazarus lay ? ' Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldst believe thou shouldst see the glory of God ? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid.' " — /, Lilias Trotter, (missionary to Algiers). ^T^WO views are widely prevalent regarding the hopelessness -*■ of missionary work among Moslems generally, and al- though these views are diametrically opposite they are agreed that it is waste of time and effort to go to Mohammedan lands, that it is a forlorn hope at best. The first view is that of those who are themselves outside of the kingdom, and who shut its doors against the Moslem, saying : Experience has proved it to be not only useless but dangerous to meddle with the Moslem and his religion. Their faith is good enough for them ; it is suited to their ways. They do not worship idols and have a code of morality suitable to the Orient. Moham- med was a prophet of God and did all that could be done for these kind of people. Every attempt to convert them ends in failure. Let them alone. Islam will work out its own refor- mation. Some, like Canon Taylor and Doctor Blyden, who profess to be Christians, even consider Islam the handmaid of Christianity and specially fitted for the whole Negro race.^ ' Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race, by E. W. Blyden, London, 1888. 391 392 AR/iBIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM The opposite view is that Mohammedanism is not too hope- ful to be meddled with but too hopeless ! They who hold it profess to believe in the Holy Ghost as the Lord and Life-Giver for the heatheti world, but hesitate when it comes to Islam, The Moslem is, they say, wrapped up in self-righteousness and conceit ; even those whose fanaticism is overcome dare not ac- cept Christ. It is better to go to the heathen who will hear. Missions to the Moslem world are hopeless, fruitless, useless. It is impossible to Christianize them and there have been few, if any, converts. That both of these views cannot be correct is evident, since they are contradictory. That the first is false the whole history of Islam demonstrates. "By their fruits ye shall know them." But what of the other view, held by so many, that we need not expect large results where there is so little promise ? Professor J. G. Lansing, one of the founders of the Arabian mission, wrote in 1890 : "If the smallness of the number of converts from Islam to Christianity be pointed out, this argues not so much the unapproachability of Moslems as the indiffer- ence and inactivity of Christians. The doctrine of fatalism commonly accredited to Islam, is not one-half so fatalistic in its spirit and operation as that which for thirteen centuries has been practically held by the Christian Church as to the hope of bringing the hosts of Islam into the following of Jesus Christ." Is it possible that the lack of results complained of has been really a lack of faith ? Hudson Taylor remarked a few years ago, "I expect to see some of the most marvellous results within a few years in the missions to Islam, because of this work especially the enemy has said : It is without result. God is not mocked." Has the apostle to China read the signs of the times aright ? Neither God's Providence nor His Word are silent in an- swer to that question. First we have the exceeding hopefulness of results of recent missionary work in many Moslem lands ; then the sure promises of God to give His Church the victory over THE OUTLOOK FOR MISSIONS TO MOSLEMS 393 Islam ; and lastly the many exceeding great and precious promises for Arabia the cradle of Islam in particular. I. It is not true that there have been no conversions among Moslems. In India alone there are hundreds who have publicly abjured Islam and been received into the Christian Church. The very first native clergyman of the Northwest Provinces was a converted Mohammedan. Sayad Wilayat Ali of Agra suffered martyrdom at Delhi for Christ. Mirza Ghulam Masih of the royal house of Delhi became a Christian and Abdullah Athim, the valiant-hearted of Amballa embraced the faith. At the Chicago Parliament of Religions Dr. Imad-ud-Din, him- self a convert from Islam and a voluminous controversial writer, read a paper on Christian efforts among Indian Mo- hammedans ; this paper gives the names of one hundred and seventeen prominent converts from Islam, mostly from the Punjab. Beside these, the author says, "there are all sorts and conditions of men, rich and poor, high and low men and women, children, learned and unlearned, tradesmen, servants, all kinds and classes of Mohammedans whom the Lord our God hath called into His Church." It is officially stated that quite one-half of the converts from among the higher classes in the Punjab are from amongst Moslems. In Persia there have been martyrs for the faith in recent years and several have been baptized. In the Turkish empire there have been scores of converts who have been obliged to flee for their lives or remain believers in secret. At Constanti- nople a congregation of converted Moslems was gathered by Dr. Koelle, but man after man disappeared — no doubt mur- dered for his faith. In Egypt there have been scores of bap- tisms and among others a student of Al Azhar University and a Bey's son confessed Christ. One has only to turn over the leaves of the Church Missionary Society annual reports to read of Mohammedans being baptized in Kerachi, and Bombay, Peshawar, Delhi, Agra, and on the borders of Afghanistan. In North Africa where the work is very recent there have been 394 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM conversions and in one locality a remarkable spiritual move- ment is in progress among the Moslems. In Java and Sumatra the Dutch and Rhenish missionary societies have labored with remarkable success among the Mohammedan population. At four stations of the Rhenish Mission is Sumatra where the work is practically altogether among Moslems, (namely, Sipirok-Simangumban, Bungabonder, Sipiongot, and Simanasor) the total number of church members according to the Bombay Guardian, is three thousand five hundred and ten. The total number of baptisms from Islam in these stations was during 1897 sixty-nine, and during the first half of 1898 already ninety-seven baptisms were reported. In some of the villages where formerly Islam was predominant it has been expelled altogether. The total number of Battak Christians amount to thirty-one thousand, the largest part of whom were formerly Moslems.^ In some parts of Java still larger results are claimed. In most Moslem fields it is absolutely impossible to obtain accurate statistics of the number of conversions for obvious reasons. The threatened death-penalty demands great caution in exposing a convert by freely publishing the fact of his con- version. Everywhere there are multitudes of secret believers whose names are sometimes not known even to the mission- aries. Any one who has read the lives of Moslem converts such as that of Kamil or Imad-ud-Din or who knows from books like " Sweet First Fruits " what it means for a Moslem to forsake the faith of his fathers, knows that work in Moslem lands must not be judged by baptismal statistics. There are other indications of spiritual life entering the Moslem world. There are thousands of Mohammedan youth receiving instruction in Christian mission schools ; in Egypt, one mission has twenty-four hundred and sixty-four Moslem pupils enrolled. The permeating power of spiritual Christianity is again at work in the Levant as when Paul and Silas made 1 Missions in Sumatra, Dr. A. Schreiber, " North Africa," May, 1896. THE OUTLOOK FOR MISSIONS TO MOSLEMS 395 their missionary journeys. The old churches of the East by their unfaithfulness were the occasion of the great apostasy of Islam ; f/ieir revival is the pledge of its downfall. There is now an Evangelical Church in Persia, Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Asia Minor. Bodies of hving Christians in the midst of Islam ; no wonder that their power is beginning to be felt. The devil takes no antiseptic precautions against a non-con- tagious Christianity. But Evangelical Christianity is con- tagious, and the whole lurid horizon proclaims in persecutions and massacres and raging oppositions everywhere that Islam feels the power of Christian missions, even although they have only begun to attack in a miserly and puny way this strong- hold of Satan. Regarding the character of Moslem converts Bishop Tho- burn says : "I believe that when truly converted the Moham- medan makes not only a devoted Christian but in some re- spects will make a superior leader. Leadership is a great want in every mission-field and the Mohammedans of India have the material, if it can only be won for Christ and sanctified to His service, out of which splendid workers can be made in the Master's vineyard." Doctor Jessup voices the same opinion, " It is not easy for a Mohammedan to embrace Christianity but history shows that when he is converted the Moslem becomes a strong and vigorous Christian." 2. In the work of missions among Mohammedans as well as in that among the heathen we have the assurance of final victory in the abundant testimony of God's Word. God's promises never fail of fulfillment ; and those world-wide prom- ises never are put in such a form as to exclude the Moham- medans. The Bible tells us that many false prophets shall arise and deceive many j but it does not for a moment allow that the empire of Christ shall divide rule with any of them. " It pleased the Father that in Him [Jesus not Mohammed] should all fullness dwell." "The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands " — not into the hands of 396 y^R/IBU, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM Mohammed. "God hath exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name ... far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come." "That at the name of Jesus every " Mo- hammedan "knee should bow and every" Moslem "tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." The present may see Islam triumphant, but the future belongs to Christ. Over against the lying truth "there is no God but God and Mohammed is His prophet," Chris- tianity lifts the standard, "Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?" The Divinity of Christ, which Moslems deny, de- cides the destiny of all world-kingdoms. Witness the present governments of the Moslem world. "Be wise now therefore O ye kings, be instructed ye judges of the earth . . . kiss the Son lest He be angry and ye perish from the way when His wrath is kindled but a little." There is a general failure among Christians to realize the number and importance of the missionary promises in the Old Testament.^ The Great Commission was based on these exceeding great promises. The nations were God's plan before they were on Christ's program. And is it not remarkable that nearly all of these Old Testament promises are grouped around the names of countries which now are the centre and strength of the Mos- lem world ? " Known unto God are all His works from the be- ginning of the world." Or will these promises of world-wide import only stretch beyond Egypt, Mesopotamia, Syria and Arabia, not including those lands in God's plan of redemption and dominion ? Is there not a special blessing in store for the lands that border Palestine, when the Lord shall comfort Zion 1 Gen. xii. 3, xviii. 8, xxii. 18, xxvi. 4, xxviii. 14; Num. xiv. 21; Forty-three of the Psalms; Isaiah ii. 2, 18, etc., etc.; Jeremiah iii. 17; Dan. vii. 13, 14; Joel ii. 28; Jonah, iii., iv. ; Micah v. 4; Hab. ii. 14; Zeph. ii. II ; Hag. ii. 6, 7 ; Zech. ix. 10, xiv. 9; Mai. i. II. THE OUTLOOK FOR MISSIONS TO MOSLEMS 397 and restore all her waste places ? "In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria even a blessing in the midst of the earth. Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, say- ing, Blessed be Egypt My people and Assyria the work of My hands and Israel My inheritance." The Moslem world is in no deUer condition and in no worse condition than the heathen world as portrayed in the New Testament. The need of both is the same; and the same duty to evangelize them; and the same promise of God's blessing on our work of witness. The Mohammedan world is also without excuse (Rom. i. 20, 32), without hope (John iii. 36; Eph. ii. 12), without peace (Isaiah xlviii. 22), with- out feeling (Eph. iv. 19), without Christ (Rom. xiii. 13, 14) as is the heathen world. But no less is our responsibility to- ward them nor the power of God's love to win them. It is the rock of Christ's Sonship which is the stone of stumbling and the rock of offence to the Moslem mind. But it is this very rock on which Christ builds His church ; and the foundation of God standeth sure. Writing on this subject Mr. Edward Glenny, the Secretary of the North Africa Mis- sion, well says : "Blessed be God, we are not left to carry on this warfare at our own charges! 'He that sent Me is with Me,' said the Master ; and He who sends His servants now is surely with them also, for the promise stands, ' Lo ! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age.' In all our efforts for the salva- tion of men, we are dependent upon the power of the Spirit of God ; for no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. But if those of us who work at home are con- scious of this, those who labor in Mohammedan countries realize it most intensely. Amongst the masses at home, what we have to contend against mostly is indifference ; but there it is deeply-rooted prejudice, aye, even in many cases, hatred to Jesus as the Son of God. But the battle is the Lord's, not ours ; we are but instruments to carry out His purposes. The 398 AnAnL4, TUB CRADl.F. OP ISUM Spirit has been sent fuith from the Father to 'convict TiiR WOULD of sin,' and we are not justified in making any reser- vation in the case of Mohammedans — yea, may we not expect that if there be a nation or race on the earth more inaccessible than another, more averse to the gospel, more hardened against its teachings, that there the Lord will show ' the ex- ceeding greatness of His power ' by calling out some from their midst whom He may make ' chosen vessels ' to bear His name to others ? Has not that been His mode of working in time past? " 3. There is no land in the world and no people (with the exception of Palestine and the Jews) which bear such close relation to tlie Theocratic covenants and Old '^i'estament promises as Arabia and the Arabs. The promises for the final victory of the Kingdom of God in Arabia are many, definite and glorious. These promises group themselves around seven names which have from time immemorial been identified with the peninsula of Arabia : Ishmael, Kedar, Nebaioth, Sheba, Seba, Midian and Ephah. We select these names only, omitting others which have an indirect reference to Arabia or the Arabs, as well as those promises, so numerous and glorious, concerning the wilderness and desert-lands. The latter would surely, for the dwellers of Palestine, have primary reference to Northern Arabia; but our argument is strong enough without these special promises.^ In order to understand the promises given to the sons of Ishmael, Kedar and Nebaioth, we need first to know the re- lation which Ishmael bears to the Abrahamic covenant and the place he occupies in God's plan for the nations as outlined in the book of Genesis. Hagar, the mother of the Arabian patriarch, seems to have occupied a prominent place in Abraham's household and ap- pears to have brought to that position not only mental gifts but ' See Isaiah xxxv. I-3, xl. 3, xli. 19, xliii. 19, li. 3; Ezekiel xxxiv. 25, xlvii. 8; Ps. Ixxii. 9, etc. THE OUTLOOK lOR MISSIONS TO MOSLEMS 390 also an inward participation in the faith of the God of Abra- ham, She was probaljly added to the family of faith during Abraham's sojourn in Egypt and occupied the same position toward the female servants that Eliezer of Damascus did to the male servants. It is when she was driven forth into the wilder- ness by the jealous harshness of Sarah that we have the first revelation of God regarding her seed. " The angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur."* And He said, Whence earnest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the Lord said unto her. Return to thy mistress and submit thyself under her hands. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, . . . "I will multiply thy seed exceedingly that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the Lord said unto her. Behold thou art with child, and shalt bear a son and shalt call his name Ishmael [God will hear]; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man, his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him ; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her. Thou God seest me : for she said, Have I also here looked after Him that seeth me." It is plain from the context that the angel of the Lord and the Lord Himself are here identified ; it was the angel of Jehovah, the angel of the covenant of the Christ of the Old i:estament. Why should this "angel" first appear to the Egyptian bondwoman? Ls it a/;cording to the law that the Lord always reveals Himself first to the [XKjrest, most distressed and receptive hearts or was it the special office of the covenant angel to seek "that which was lost" from the patriarchal church at its very beginning? I^nge suggests in his com- mentary that the " Angel of Jehovah, as the Christ who was 'According to Gesenius this is Suez, while Keil identifies it with Jifar, a site in the northwestern part of Arabia near Egypt. 400 ~ ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM to come through Isaac had a peculiar reason for assisting Hagar, since she for the sake of the future Christ is involved in this sorrow." In any case the special revelation and the special promise was given to Hagar not only but to her seed. Christ, if we may so express it, outlines the future history and character of the Ishmaelites as well as their strength and glory ; but He also gives them a spiritual promise in the God-given name, Jshmael, Elohim will hear. Without this the theophany loses it true character. Ishmael as the child of Abraham could not be left undistinguishable among the heathen. It was for Abraham's sake that the revelation included the un- born child in its promises. The fulfillment of the promise that Ishmael' s seed should multiply exceedingly has never been more clearly stated than by the geographer Ritter : " Arabia, whose population consists to a large extent of Ishmaelites, is a living fountain of men whose streams for thousands of years have poured themselves far and wide to the east and west. Before Mohammed its tribes were found in all border- Asia, in the East Indies as early as the middle ages ; and in all North Africa it is the cradle of all the wandering hordes. Along the whole Indian ocean down to Molucca they had their settlements in the middle ages ; they spread along the coast to Mozambique ; their caravans crossed India to China, and in Europe they peopled Southern Spain and ruled it for seven hundred years." Where there has been such clear fulfillment of the promise of natural increase, is there no ground that God will hear and give spiritual blessing also and that Ishmael "shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren" in the new covenant of grace? Thirteen years after the first promise to Ishmael we hear the promise renewed just after the institution of circumcision, the sign of the covenant of faith. " And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might [even yet] live before Thee. And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed ; and thou shalt call his name Isaac : and I will establish my covenant REscvy.ij s[,AVi': liovs at .ml/scat THE ARABIAN' MISSION HOUSE AT i.lUSCAT THE OUTLOOK FOR MISSIONS TO MOSLEMS 40l with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee. ..." What is the significance of Abraham's prayer for Ishmael? Is it probable that he merely asks for temporal prosperity and for length of life ? This is the idea of some commentators but none of them explain why the prayer asks that Ishmael may live " before God.'' Keil and others, more correctly we think, regard the prayer of Abraham as arising out of his anxiety lest Ishmael should not have any part in the blessings of the cove- nant. The fact that the answer of God contains no denial of the prayer of Abraham is in favor of this interpretation. In the prayer Abraham expresses his anticipation of an in- definite neglect of Ishmael which was painful to his parental heart. He asks for him, therefore, a life from God in the highest sense. Else what does the circumcision of Ishmael mean ? The sealing or ratifying of the covenant of God with Abraham through Isaac' s seed, embraces not only the seed of Isaac, but all those who in a wider sense are sharers of the cove- nant, Ishmael and his descendants. And however much the Arabs may have departed from ih^ faith of Abraham they have for all these centuries remained faithful to the sign of the old covenant by the rite of circumcision. This is one of the most remarkable facts of history. Circumcision is not once alluded to in the Koran, and Moslem writers offer no explanation for the omission. Yet the custom is universal in Arabia, and from them it passed over with other traditions to all the Moslem world. The Moslems date circumcision from Abraham and circumcise at a late period. The Arabs in "the time of ig- norance" also practiced the rite; an uncircumcised person is unknown even among those Bedouins who know nothing of Islam save the name of the prophet.^ " As for Ishmael I have heard thee." For the third time we read of a special revelation to prove God's love for the son of the bondmaid. In the pathetic story of Hagar's expulsion, 1 Compare Rom. iv. 1 1, and Gal. iii, 17. m ARABl/^, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM Ibhmael is the centre figure.' His mocking was its cause; for his sake it was grievous in Abraham's sight to expel them. To Ishmael again is there a special promise, " because he is thy seed." When the water is spent in the bottle and Hagar turns away from seeing the death of the child, it was not her weep- ing but the lad's prayer that brought deliverance from heaven. " And the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad and hold him by thine hand ; for I will make of him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the bottle with water and gave the lad drink. And God was with the lad." No less does this history show the moral beauty of Hagar' s character, her tender mother love and all the beautiful traits of a maternal solicitude than the repentance of Ishmael. God heard his voice ; God forgave his sinful mocking ; God con- firmed his promise; God saved his life; God was with the lad. The Providence of God watched over Ishmael. Long years after he seems to haye visited his father Abraham, for we read that when the patriarch died in a good old age " his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah." No men- tion is made here of the sons of Keturah. And twice in the Bible the generations of Ishmael are recorded in full ^ in order to bind together the prophecies of Genesis with the Messianic promises of Isaiah for the seed of Ishmael. The twelve princes, sons of Ishmael, whose names are re- corded "by their towns and their castles" were undoubtedly the patriarchs of so many Arab tribes. Some of the names can be distinctly traced through history and others are easily identified with modern clans in Arabia. Mibsam, e. g., seems to correspond with the Nejd clan of Bessam some of whom are merchants at Busrah ; Mishma is surely the same as the ' Gen. xxi. 9-22. 2 Gen. XXV. II-18, and I Chron. i. 28. THE OUTLOOK FOR MISSIONS TO MOSLEMS 403 Arabic Bui Misma ; while nearly all commentators agree that Duma is Duviat el Jendal in North Arabia, one of the oldest Arabic settlements. Aside from conjecture two names stand prominent and well-known in profane history ; Nebajoth and Kedar. Pliny in his natural history mentions them together as the Nabatoei et Cedrei and the Arab historians are familiar with the names. Undoubtedly the Nabatans a.re related to Nebajoth ; although this is denied by Quartermere it is affirmed by M. Chwolson and is the universal opinion of the Arabs themselves. Now it is these very two names, whose identity no one questions, that are the centre of glorious promises. It is gen- erally known that the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah is the gem of missionary prophecy in the Old Testament ; but it does not occur to every one that a large portion of it consists of special promises for Arabia. "The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, (Sons of Keturah, Gen. XXV. i-s); all they from Sheba (South Arabia or Yemen) shall come ; they shall bring gold and incense ; and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee ; the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee : they shall come up with acceptance upon mine altar and I will glorify the house of my glory. Who are these that fly as a cloud and as doves to their windows? " These verses read in connection with the grand array of promises that precede them leave no room for doubt that the sons of Ishmael have a large place in this coming glory of the Lord and the brightness of His rising. It has only been de- layed by our neglect to evangelize Northern Arabia but God will keep His promise yet and Christ shall see of the travail of His soul, among the camel-drivers and shepherds of Arabia. And then shall be fulfilled that other promise significantly put in Isaiah xlii. for this part of the peninsula: "Sing unto the Lord a new song and His praise from the end of the earth 404 yiRABU, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM . let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit : let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the moun- tains." It is all there, with geographical accuracy and up-to- date ; " cities in the wilderness " that is Nejd under its present government; Kedar forsaking the nomad tent and becoming villagers; and the rock-dwellers of Medain Salih ! "And I will bring the blind by a way they knew not ; I will lead them in paths that they have not known : I will make darkness light before them and crooked things straight." The only proper name, the only geographical centre of the entire chapter is Kedar. In two other prophecies,^ which have no Messianic character, Kedar is referred to as synony?nous with Arabia. Another group of missionary promises for Arabia cluster round the names Seba and Sheba. " All they from Sheba shall come ; they shall bring gold and incense and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord." (Is. Ix. 6.) "The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea all kings shall fall down before Him, all nations shall serve Him. . . . He shall live and to Him shall be given of the gold of Sheba ; prayer also shall be made for Him continually and daily shall He be praised." The Messianic character of this psalm is generally acknowledged. Where are Seba and Sheba? Who are they? Three Shebas are referred to in genealogy and prophecy, i. A son of Raamah, son of Cush ; 2. A son of Joktan ; 3. A son of Jokshan son of Keturah. But all of these find their dwell- ing-place in what is now Southern Arabia. The Joktanite Sheba is the kingdom of the Himyarites in Yemen. ^ The kingdom of Sheba embraced the greater part of Yemen; its chief cities and probably its successive capitals were Seba, Sana (Uzal), and Zaphar (Sephar). Seba, the oldest capital, is identical with the present Afarib, northeast of Sana ; for Ez- 1 Isaiah xxi. 13-17 and Jer. xlix. 2S-33. . ' See Smith's Bible Dictionary. THE OUTLOOK FOR MISSIONS TO MOSLEMS 405 Zejjaj in the Taj El Aroos dictionary says, " Seba was the city of Marib or the country in the Yemen of which the city was Marib." Ptolemy's map makes plain what the Romans and Greeks understood by Seba and Sheba. The Cushite Sheba settled somewhere on the shores of the Persian Gulf. In the Marasid Stanley-Poole says he found "an identification which appears to be satisfactory — that on the island of Awal, one of the Bahrein islands are the ruins of an ancient city called Seba." The same authority holds that the Keturahite Sheba formed one tribe with the Cushite Sheba and also dwelt in Eastern Arabia. Sheba has always been a land of gold and incense and we are only beginning to know a little of the opulence and glory of the ancient Himyarite kingdom in Yemen from the lately discovered inscriptions and ruins. In the same psalm that gives these promises to Southern and Eastern Arabia we have this remarkable verse : " He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow be- " fore Him and His enemies shall lick the dust." The river re- ferred to is undoubtedly the Euphrates ^ and the boundaries given are intended to include the ideal extent of the promised land. Now it is, to say the least, remarkable that modern Jewish commentators interpret this passage together with the forty-eighth chapter of Ezekiel so as to include the whole peninsula of Arabia in the land of promise. I have seen a curious map, printed by Jews in London, on which the twelve restored tribes had each their strip of territory right across Arabia from the Red Sea to the Gulf and including Palestine and Syria. Isaac Da Costa, the great Dutch poet, who was of Jewish de- scent gathers together in his epic, "Hagar," some of these Bible promises for the sons of Ishmael.^ ' Cf. Exodus xxiii. 31 and Deut. xi. 24. 2 The Christian Intelligencer (N. Y.), March 15, 1899. 406 ^RABU, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM " Mother of Ishmael ! The word that God hath spoken Never hath failed the least, nor was His promise broken. "Whether in judgment threatened or as blessing given ; Whether for time and earth or for eternal heaven, To Esau or to Jacob. The patriarch prayed to God, while bowing in the dust: • Oh that before thee Ishmael might live ! ' — His prayer, his trust. Nor was that prayer despised, that promise left alone Without fulfillment. For the days shall come When Ishmael shall bow his haughty chieftain head Before that Greatest Chief of Isaac's royal seed. Thou, favored Solomon, hast first fulfillment seen Of Hagar's promise, when came suppliant Sheba's queen. Next Araby the blest brought Bethlehem's newborn King, Her myrrh and spices, gold and offering. Again at Pentecost they came, first-fruits of harvest vast ; When, to adore the name of Jesus, at the last To Zion's glorious hill the nation's joy to share The scattered flocks of Kedar all are gathered there, Nebajoth, Hefa, Midian. Then Israel shall know Whose heart their hardness broke, Whose side they pierced, Whose curse they dared invoke. And then, while at His feet they mourn His bitter death, Receive His pardon. Before Whose same white throne Gentile and Jew shall meet With Parthian, Roman, Greek, the far North and the South, From Mississippi's source to Ganges' giant mouth. And every tongue and tribe shall join in one new song. Redemption ! Peace on earth and good-will unto men ; The purpose of all ages unto all ages sure. Amen. Glory unto the Father ! Glory the Lamb, once slain, Spotless for human guilt, exalted now to reign ! And to the Holy Ghost, life-giver, whose refreshing Makes all earth's deserts bloom with living showers of blessing ! " '< Mother of Ishmael ! I see thee yet once more, Thee, under burning skies and on a waveless shore ! Thou comfortless, soul storm tossed, tempest shaken, Heart full of anguish and of hope forsaken. THE OUTLOOK FOR MISSIONS TO MOSLEMS 407 Thou, too, didst find at last God's glory all tliy stay ! He came. He spake to thee. He made thy night His day. As then, so now. Return to Sarah's tent And Abraham's God, and better covenant, And sing with Mary, through her Saviour free, • God of my life, Thou hast looked down on me.' " But Arabia, although it has all this wealth of promise, is not a field for feeble faith. Yet we can learn to look at this barren land because of these promises with the same reckless, nncalculating, defiant confidence in which Abraham " without being weakened in faith, he considered his own body now as good as dead" (r. v.) " but waxed strong through faith giving glory to God." The promises are great because the obstacles are great ; that the glory of the pUn as well as the glory of the work may be to God alone. Arabia needs men who will believe as seeing the Invisible. Six hundred years ago Ray- mond Lull wrote : ''It seems to me that the Holy Land can- not be won in any other way than that whereby Thou, O Lord Jesus Christ, and Thy Holy Apostles won it, by love and prayer, and the shedding of tears and blood." A lonely worker among Moslems in North Africa recently wrote : " Yes it is lives poured out that these people need — a sowing in tears — in a measure that perhaps no heathen land requires ; they need a Calvary before they get their Pentecost. Thanks be unto God for a field like this : in the light of eternity we could ask no higher blessedness than the chance it gives of fellowship with His Son." The dumb spirit of Islam has possessed Arabia from its childhood for thirteen hundred years; "he teareth and he foameth and gnasheth with his teeth and pineth away." "And He said unto them this kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting." '■^ If thou canst believe, all things are pos- sible to him that believeth.^' (Mark ix. 14-29.) Life for Arabia must come from the Life-Giver. " I believe in the Holy Ghost," therefore mission-work in Arabia will 408 ARABIA, THE CRADLE OF ISLAM prove the promise of God true in every particular and to its fullest extent. "O that Ishmael might live . . . as for Ishmael I have heard thee." " Speed on, ye licialds, bringing Life to llie desert slain ; Till in its mighty winging, God's spirit conies to reign From death to new-begetting, God shall the power give, Shall choose them for crown-setting And Ishmael shall live. " So speaks the promise, bringing The age of Jubilee To every home and tenting, From Tadmor to the sea. The dead to life are risen, The glory spreads abroad, The desert answers heaven, Hosannas to the Lord ! " Appendix I A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE Circa 1892 B. C. — Birlh of Ishmael. « iTJi " — Death of Ishmael. " 992 " — Bilkis, queen of Yemen (Sheba) visits Solomon. " 700 " — y\malganiatioii of Cushite and Sabean clans in Yemen. « 754 " —All Yemen and Oman under rule of YaarGb. «' 588 " — First Jewish settlements in Arabia. A. D 33 — Arabians present at Pentecost. " 37 — The Apostle Paul goes to Arabia. " 60 — Second Jewish immigration into Arabia. •< 105 — Roman Emperor Trajan under his general Palma subdues Northwestern Arabia. " 120 — Destruction of great dam at Marib and the beginning of Arab migrations northward. << 297 — Famine in Western Arabia. Migrations eastward. " 326 — Nearchus, admiral of Alexander, surveys the Persian Gulf. " 325 — Nicene Council — Arabians present. «< 342 — Christianity already extending in Northern Arabia. Churches built in Yemen. " 372 — Mavia, queen of North Arabia, converted to Christianity. " 525 — Abyssinian invasion of Yemen. " 561 — Mohammed born at Mecca. " 575 — Persians under Anosharwan expel the Abyssinians from Yemen. " 595 — Moliammed marries Khadijah. " 595 — Yemen passes under Persian Rule. " 610 — Mohammed begins his prophetic career. " 622 — (A. H. I) — Mohammed flees from Mecca to Medina. The era of tiie Hegira. " 623— Battle of Bedr. '< 624— Battle of Ohod. " 630 — Mecca overcome. Embassy to Oman, etc. *< 632 — Death of Mohammed. Abubekr caliph. All Arabia sub- jugated by force of arms. " 634 — Omar caliph. Expulsion of Jews and Christians from Arabia. " 638 — Kufa and Busrah founded. 409 410 y4PPENDJX I A. D. 644 — Othman caliph. << 655 — Dissensions regarding caliphate. Medina attacked. All chosen caliph. « 656 — Battle of the Camel. Capital transferred to Kufa. « 661 — Ali assassinated. Hassan becomes caliph. «« ye^o — Beginning of Abbaside Caliphate (Bagdad). " 754 — Mansur. " 786 — Haroun el Rashid. " 809 — Amin. " 813 — Mamun. " 833 — Motasim. " 847 — Motawakkel. « 889 — Arise of Carmathian sect. « 905 — Yemen comes under Karamite caliphs. « 932 — Rebellion in Yemen. It becomes independent under Imams of Sana as rulers. " 930 — Carmathians take Mecca and carry away the black-stone to Katif. " 1055 — Togrul Beg at Bagdad. " 1096-127 2 — The Crusades. Arabia in touch with European civil- ization through its bands of warriors. " 1 1 73 — Yemen subdued by sultans of Egypt. " 1240 — Rise of Ottoman Turks. " 1258 — Fall of Bagdad. " ^325 — Yemen again independent. " 1454 — Imams of Yemen take Aden and fortify it. " 1503 — Portuguese under Ludovico Barthema, make voyages on Arabian coast and visit Aden and Muscat. « 1507 — Portuguese take Muscat. «« 1513 — Portuguese under Abulquerque are repulsed at Aden. Visit Mokha and the Persian Gulf. " 15 16 — Suleiman by order of Mameluke Sultan attacks Aden and is repulsed. « 1538 — Suleiman the Magnificent sends a fleet and takes Aden by treachery. Arab garrison butchered. " 1540 — Beginning of Turkish rule in Yemen. «i 1550 — Arabs hand over Aden to the Portuguese. " 1551 — Aden recaptured by Peri Pasha. " 1624-1741 — Imams established rule over all Oman with capital at Rastak; then at Muscat. " 1609 — First visit to Aden by English captains. " 16 18 — English establish factories at Mokha. " 1622 — Portuguese expelled from Bahrein and Arab coast by the Persians. a 1630 — Arabs drive out Turks from Yemen and Imams take the throne at Sana. " 1740-65 — Dutch East India Company in Persian Gulf and Red Sea ports. " 1765 — English East India Company in Persian Gulf and Red Sea ports. " '735 — Abdali Sultan of Lahaj takes Aden, APPENDIX I 411 A. D. 1 74 1 — Ahmed bin Said drives out Portuguese from Muscat and founds Dynasty of Imams, anew. « 1765 — Mohammed bin Abdul Wahab dies and his political asso- ciate Mohammed bin Saud propagates Wahabiism in Arabia. n 1780 — Spread of Wahabi doctrine over all of Central Arabia. " 1801 — Wahabis conquer Bahrein and hold it for nine years. " 1803 — Abd-ul-Aziz the Wahabi chief assassinated by a Persian fanatic. «< 1803 — Wahabis take Mecca and lay seige to Jiddah. " 1804 — Wahabis take Medina. " 1804 — Said bin Sultan ruler of Oman and Zanzibar. " 1809 — Aden visited by Captain Haines of British Navy. " 1818 — Ibrahim Pasha captures Wahabi capital and sends Amir in chains to Constantinople where he is beheaded. " 1 805- 1 820 — British suppress piracy in Persian Gulf. " 1820 — Son of Amir, Turki, proclaimed Sultan of Nejd and Oman coast. " 1 82 1 — British make treaty with tribes on Oman coast called the " Trucial League." " 1820-1847 — British treaties with Bahrein chiefs to suppress slave- trade and piracy. " 1 83 1 — Turki, ruler of Nejd, murdered. " 1832 — Feysul bin Turki, succeeds him. " 1835 — Abdullah bin Rashid becomes a powerful chief in Jebel Shammar. " 1835 — Aden again visited by British to avenge cruelty to sailors shipwrecked off its coast. •' 1839 — Aden bombarded by British fleet and taken. Treaties made with surrounding tribes. " 1 840-1847 — Aden attacked by Arabs. " 1846 — Tilal bin Abdullah bin Rashid succeeds to rulership of Jebel Shammar and becomes independent of Wahabi power. " 1851-1856 — Abdullah bin Mutalib Sherif of Mecca, " 1854 — Sultan of Oman makes treaty with England and cedes Kuria Muria Islands. " 1856 — Thuwani bin Said ruler of Oman. " 1857 — Perim occupied by British. " 1858-1877 — Abdullah bin Mohammed Sherif of Mecca. " 1858 — Cable laid in Red Sea from Suez to Aden, but proved de- fective (cost ;^8oo,ooo). " 1858 — Bombardment of Jiddah by British. " 1865-1886 — Abdullah bin Feysul ruler of Nejd with capital at Riad. " 1867 — Mitaabbin Abdullah succeeds Tilal. " 1867 — Menamah (Bahrein) bombarded by British because of broken treaty. Isa bin Ali made ruler. " 1866 — Sultan bin Thuwani ruler of Oman. " 1868 — Mohammed bin Rashid assumes power and rule at Hail as Amir of Nejd. 412 APPENDIX I A. D. 1869 — Cable laid from Bombay to Aden and Suez. 1870 — Turkish invasion of Yemen. 1 87 1 — Turkish invasion of Hassa and occupation of Katif, 187 1 — Seyyid Turki ruler of Oman (Muscat). 1875 — Busrah made a separate vilayet. 1877 — Beginning of Turkish bureauocracy at Mecca, 1878 — Treaty of Berlin. Reforms promised in Turkish Provinces. 1880 — Hasein, Sherif of Mecca, is murdered. 1881-82 — Abd el Mutalib again Sherif of Mecca. 1882 — Aun er Rafik made Sherif of Mecca. 1886 — Mohammed Ibn Rashid takes Riad overturning Saud gov- ernment and becomes ruler of all Central Arabia. Appendix II TABLE OF THE ARAB TRIBES OF NORTHERN ARABIA r I. The Anaeze: fValid AH \ El Meshadaka. El Meshatta. El Hammamede. El Jedaleme. El Toluh. „, ... f El Hessene (proper). El-Hessene | Messalih. lla \ ) I Er-Ruwalla (or Jilas El-Beshr El Ruwalla (proper). Um Halif. „ n. .. , ( Fedan. TanaMajid | g^^^^^ iMedeyan, Metarafe. Aulad Suleiman. II. Ahl Es-Shemmal : (Northern tribes) El Mowaly. El Howeytat. El Hadedin. Es-Soleyb. . u ^/If^u jElFeheily. Arabs of the Hauranj Eg.Serdye. Bni Sokhr. ' •' Bni Heteym. III. Ahl el-Kibly : (Southernly tribes) Arabs of Kerak. Esh-Sherarat. Bni-Shammar El-Jerba. El Jofeir. El Akeydat. Bni Sayd. El-Wouled. El-Bakara. 413 ' El Temeyat. El Menjat. Ibn Ghazy. Bayr. _ El-Fesyani. Appendix III AN ARABIAN BIBLIOGRAPHY A. The Geography of Arabia Andrew, (Sir W. P.)— The Euphrates Valley Route (London, 1882). Barthema, (Ludovico.) — Travels in Arabia translated by Richard Eden (1576). Begum of Bhopal — Pilgrimage to Mecca (London, 1870). Blunt, (Lady Ann.) — A pilgrimage to Nedj, 2 vols. (Lontlon, 1883). " " " — The Bedouins of the Euphrates (London, 1879). Buist, (Dr.) — Physical Geograjihy of the Red Sea (no (hite). Burckhardt, (John Lewis.) — Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabis, 2 vols. (London, 1830; in German, Weimar, 1831). Burckhardt, (John Lewis.) — Travels in Arabia, 2 vols. (London, 1830). Burton, (Richard.) — Personal Narrative of a pilgrimage to El Medina and Mecca (London, 1857). Chesney — Survey of the Euphrates and Tigris, 4 vols. (London, 1850). Cloupet — Nonveau Voyage dans I'Arabic lieureuse en 1788 (Paris, 1810). Constable, (Capt. C. G., and Lieut. A. W. Stille.) — The Persian Gulf Pilot (London, 1870, 1893). Cruttenden, (C. J.) — Journal of an excursion to Sana'a the capital of Yemen (Bombay, 1838). Doughty, (C. M.) — Arabia Deserta, 2 vols, (Cambridge, 1888). Fogg. (W. P.)— Arabistan (London, 1875). Forster — Geography of Arabia, 2 vols. (London). Frede, (P.) — La Peche aux Perles en Perse et a Ceylan (Paris, 1890). Fresnel — Lettres in Journal Asiatique iii. Series v. 521. Galland — Recueil des Rites et Ceremonies du Pelerinage de la Mecque (Amsterdam, 1754). Haig, (F. T., Maj. Gen.) — A Journey through Yemen. Proceedings of the Roy. Geog. Soc. of London, vol. ix.. No. 8. Harris, (W. B.) — A Journey through Yemen (London, 1893). Hunter, (F. M.) — Statistical Account of the British Settlement of Aden (London, 1877). Hurgronje, (Snouck.) — Mekka, niit bilder atlas, 2 vols. (Hague, iJ 4M APPENDIX III 415 Irwin, CEylc.) — Adventures in a voyaj^c up Uie Red Sea on the coasts of Arabia, etc., in 1777 (London, 1780^. JauLcrt — Ccof^rajjliie d'Kdrcsi (in Arabic and. Frcncl), Paris, 1836). Jomard — ttudcs Ceo{(. et I list, sur I'Arabie (in vol. iii. iVIenj^in's History of Egypt. King, (J. S.) — Description of the island of Pcrim (liombay Government Records No. 49;. La Roque — A voyage to Arabia the Happy, etc, (London, 1726). Malcrainali, CAboo Aljd Allah ibn Aclirned.) — A Manuscript History of Aden Csee Hunter's account). Manzoni — Kl Yemen; Tre anni nell'Araljia felicii (Rome, 1884). Michaelis — Receuil de C^uestiones proposeCs a une Society de Savants qui par ordre <\ft Sa Majestic iJanoise font le voyage de I'Arabie (Amsterdam, 1774). Nicljulir, (Carsten.) — Original edition in German (CojjCMhagcn, 1772). " " — In I'rencli edition (Amsterdam, 1774J. Niebuhr, (Carsten.) — Tiavels tlirough Arabia trans, into English by Rob- ert Heron, 2 vols. (Edinbur;di, 1792). Ouseley, (Sir W.)— Oriental Geography of Ibn Haukal. " " " — Travels in Persia and Arabia, 3 vols. (London, 1800). Palgrave — Travels in Eastern Arabia (London, 1863). Parsons, (Abraham.)— Travels in Asia . . . including Mocha and Suez (London, 1808). Phillips — Map of Arabia and Egyj;t with index (London, 1888). Pridcaux— Some recent discoveries in Southwest Arabia (Proceedings Soc. Bib. Archaclogy, London). Schapira — Travels in Yemen (1877), Seetzen — Travels in Yemen (1810). Sprenger, (A.)— Die altc Gcograjjhie Arabiens als Grundlage der Ent- wicklungsgeschichte des Semitismus (Berne, 1875). Sprenger, (A.)— Die Post- und Reiscrouten des Orients (1864), Stanley, (Dean.) — Sinai and Palestine. Stern, (Rev. A.)— A journey to Sana'a in 1856 (Jewish Intelligencer, vol. xxiii., pp. loi seq. Stevens — Yemen (1873). Taylor, (Bayard.) — Travels in Arabia (New York). Tuck — Essay on Siniatic Inscriptions in the Journal of German Oriental .Society, vol. xiv., pp. 129 seq. Van den Berg, (L. W. C.) — Hadramaut and the Arabian colonies in the Indian Archipelago. Translated from the Dutch by Major See- ley (Bombay Govt. Records No. 212 new scries). 416 APPENDIX III Van Maltzen, (II. I.) — Reisen in Arabien (Braunschweig 1873). Vincent's — Periplus of the Erythrean Sea. Von Wrede, (Adolph.) — Reise in Hadramaut. Wellstead, (Lieutenant.) — Travels in Arabia (London, 1838). " " — Narrative of a journey to the ruins of Nakeb el Hajar (Journal Roy. Geo. Soc. vii. 20). Whish — Memoir on Bahrein (1859). Wiistenfeld (F.) — Baherein und Jemameh. B. Manners and Customs^ Arabian Nights — (Various editions). Baillie, (N. B. E.) — The Mohammedan law of sale (London, 1850). " " — Mohammedan Law Hanifi code (London, 1865). " " — Mohammedan Law Imamia code (London, 1869), Boyle, (J. B. S.) — Manual of Mohammedan Laws (Lahore, 1873). Burckhardt's — Arabic Proverbs (London). " — Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabis, (London, 1831). Grady, (S. G.) — The Mohammedan Law of inheritance (London, 1869). Hamilton, (Charles.) — Hedaya or Guide; a commentary on the Mussul- man Laws (London, 1886), Jessup, (H. H.)— Women of the Arabs (New York, 1874). Kremer, (Alfred Von.) — Kultur Geschichte des Orients, 2 vols. (Wien, 1875-77)- Lane's — Manners and Customs of Modern Egyptians, 2 vols. (London). " — Arabian Nights, with Notes, 4 vols. (London). Meer, (Mrs. Hassan Ali.) — Observations on the Mussulmans (London, 1832). Rumsey, (Almaric.) — Mohammedan law of Inheritance (London, 1886). Smith, (Robertson.) — Kinship and Marriage in early Arabia (Cambridge). Syeed, (Ameer Ali.) — Personal law of Mohammedans (London, 1880). Tornauw — Das Moslemische Recht (1885). Trumbull's, H. C.)— The Blood Covenant (Philadelphia, 1891). Von Hammer, (Purgstall.) — Die Geisterlehre der Moslimen (Wien, 1852). 'Consult Bibliographies of Palestine and Syria with reference to Nomad life. /IPPENDIX III 417 C. History of Arabia* Abu Jaafer Muhammed et Tabbari — Tareek el mulook ; Arabic and Latin. Edit. Kosegarten (Leipsic, 1754). Abulfida — Annales Muslemici. Arab, et Latin. Various editions. Badger, (George Percy.) — History of the Imams and Seyyids of Oman by Salil Ibn Razik from A. D., 661-1856. Trans, with intro. and notes (London, 187 1). Blau, Otto — Arabien im Zechsten jaarhundert. Zeitschift des Deutsch, Morgenland. Gezel. xviii. B. Clark, E. L. — The Arabs and the Turks (Boston), Crichton — History of Arabia and its people (London, 1844). D'Herbelot — Bibliotheque Orientale (Maestricht, 1776). Doughty, (C.) — Documents epigraphiques recueillis dans le nord de I'Arabie (avec preface et traduction des inscriptions nabat6ennes de Medain-Salih par E. Kenan). With 57 plates 4to. (Paris, 1884.) Dozy, R. — De Isracliten te Mekka (Leyden, 1864). " " — Essai sur I'Histoire del' Islamisme (Paris, 1879). Eichhorn — Monumenta Antiquissima Hist. Arabum (Gotha, 1775). Faria y Souza — Manuel de Asia Portuguesa (Lisbon, 1666). Flugel, Guslav — Geschichte der Araber bis auf den sturtz des Chalifats von Bagdad, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1864). Foster, Rev. C. — The historical geography of Arabia (London, 1844). Freeman — History of the Saracens. Fresnel — Lettres sur hist, des Arabes avant I'lslamisme. Journal Asi- atique (1838-1853). Gibbon's — Decline and fall of the Roman Empire (Chaps. 1., li., lii.). Gilman, A. — The Saracens (Story of Nations) (London, 1891). Haji Khalifah — Hist, of the Maritime vi'ars of the Turks. Translated from the Turkish by James Mitchell (London, 1831). Hallam's — History of the Middle Ages (Chapter vi.). Hammer-Purgstall — Gemaldesaal der Lebensbeschreibungen grosser Mos- limischer Herscher (Leipzig, 1837). Hamza Ispahaneusis — Tarikh Saniy Mulook el Ardh, Arab. Lat. ed. Gottwaldt (St. Petersburg, 1844). Jergis El Mekin — Hist. Saracenica Arab, et Lat. (Leyden, 1625). Khuzraji, Ali bin Hoosain El — History of Yemen {MSS. in Records of Residency at Aden). Milman's — Latin Christianity Bk. iv. chaps, i., ii. Muir — Annals of Early Caliphate (I^ondon, 1883). (See under Religion). " — The Caliphate, its Rise, Decline and Fall (London, 1891). ' Consult also list in Oilman's Saracens. 418 APPENDIX III Ockley, S. — History of the Saracens (London, 1708). Perceval, A. P. Caussin de — Essaisur I'Histoire des Arabes avant Islamisme (Paris, 1836). Playfair, R. L. — History of Arabia Felix (Bombay, 1859). Pocock, Eduardo — Specimen Hist. Arab, ex Abul Feda (Oxford 1650), Quartermere — Memoire sur les Nabatheen. Rasmussen — Addimenta ad Hist. Arab, ante Islam. Redhouse, J. W. — A Tentative Chronological Synopsis of the history of Arabia and its neighbors from B, C. 500000 [ ! ] to A. D. 679 (London, 1890). Roesch, A. — Die Koningen von Saba als Konigin Bilqis (Leipzig, 1880). Rycant — The present state of the Ottoman Empire (London, 1675). Sachan, C. Edward — The Chronology of Ancient Nations ; an English version of Arabic " Vestiges of the past," A. H. 390-1000 (London, 1S85). Schmolder — Sur les Ecoles Philosophique chezles Arabes (Paris, 1842). Schulten — Hist. Imperii vetus Joctanidarum (Hard. Gelderland, 1786). " — Monumenta Vetustiora Arab (Leyden, 1740). Sedillot — Hist. gen. des Arabes (Paris, 1877). Souza — Documentos Arabicos para a hist. Portuguesa (Lisbon, 1790). Weil, Gustav — Geschichte der Chalifen, 3 vols. (Mannheim, 1846-51). " " — Geschichte der Islamisher Volker von Mohammed bis zur zeit des Sultan Selim (Stuttgart, 1866). Wiistenfeld, F. — -Die Geschichtschreiber der Araber und ihrer Werke (Gottingen, 1882). Wiistenfeld, F. — Vergleichungs Tabellen der Muh. und Christ. Zeitrech- nung (Leipzig, 1854). Wiistenfeld, F. — Die Chroniken der stadt Mekka gesammelt, und her- ausgegeben, Arab. Deutsch, 4 vols. (Leipzig, 1857). Wiistenfeld, F. — Genealogische Tabellen der Arabische Stamme (Got- tingen, 1852). D. Islam Addison, Lancelot — State of Mahumedism (London, 1679). Akehurst, Rev. G. — Impostures instanced in the life of Mohammed (London, 1859). Alcock, N. — The rise of Mohammedanism accounted for (London, 1796). Anonymous — Life of Mohammed (London, 1799). " — Reflections on Mohammedanism ! (London, 1735). " — The morality of the East as extracted from the Koran (London, 1766). Arnold, Matthew — Essay on Persian Miracle Play (London, 187 1). " Edwin — Pearls of the Faith (Boston, 1883). " J. M. — Ishmael, or the natural aspect of Islam (London, 1 859). APPENDIX III 419 Arnold, J. M. — Islam and Christianity (London, 1874). « T, W. — The Preaching of Islam : A history of the Propagation of the Muslim faith (London, 1896). Bate, J. D. — Claims of Ishmael (Benares, 1884). Bedwell, W. — Mahomet's Imposture (London, 1615). u it — ^^Mahomet unmasked (London, 1642). Beveriy, R. M.— A reply to Higgins [See Higgins,] 1829. Blochman, H.— 'Ain i Akbari of Abdul Fazl, (Eng. trans.) (Calcutta, 1868). Blunt, W. S.— The Future of Islam (London, 1881). Blyden — Islam, Christianity and the Negro Race. Bonlainvilliers, Count — Life of Mohammed. Translation. (London, Brinckman, A. — Notes on Islam (London, 1868). Brydges, H. J. — History of the Wahabis (London, 1 834). Burton, R. F. — The Jew, the Gipsey and El Islam (London, 1898). Bush, Rev. George— Life of Mohammed (New York, 1844;. Carlyle, Thos. — Heroes and Hero- Worship (London, 1840). Cazenhove, Dr. — Mahometanism (Christian Remembrancer, Jan., 1855). Daumer, G. F. — Mahomed und sein Werk (Hamburg, 1848). Davenport, John — Apology for Mohammed (London, 1869). De Goeje — Memoire sur les Carmathes de Baherein (Leyden, 1863). Deutsch, Emanuel — Essay on Islam (London, 1874). De Worde— A Lytell Treatyse of the Turkes Law called Alcoran (London). Dods, Marcus — Mohammed Buddha and Christ (London, 1878). Dollinger — Mohammed's Religion nach ihrer Inneren Entwicklung und ihrem Einfliisse (Ratisbon, 1838). Dozy — L'Histoire d Islamisme (Leyden, 1879). " — Het Islamisme (Leyden, 1879). Dugat, Gustave — Histoire des philos. et des theol. Musulmans de 632- 1258 J. C. (Paris, 1878). Duveyrier, H. — La conferie Musulmane de Sidi Moh. bin All Es- Senonsi (Paris, 1886). Falke R. — Budda, Mohammed, Christus ; ein vergleich u. z. w. (GUter- sloh, 1897). Forster, Rev. C. — Mahometanism unveiled, 2 vols. (London, 1829). Gagnier, J. — Ismael Abulfeda, De Vita et Rebus gestis Mohammedis (Oxford, 1723). Galland — Recueil des Rites et Ceremonies du pelerinage de la Mecque (Amst., 1754). Garnett, L. M. J. — The Women of Turkey and their folk-lore (London, 1891). Geiger Rabbi — Judaism and Islam [translation of the above] (Madras, 1898). Geiger Rabbi — Was hat Mohammed aus das Judenthume aufgenommen ? (Wiesbaden, 1833). 420 APPENDIX III Georgens, E. P. — Der Islam und die moderne Kultur (Berlin, 1879). Gerock — Versuch einer Darstellung der Christologie des Korans (Ham- burg, 1839). , Gibbon — Decline and Fall of Roman Empire (in loco). Gmelin, M. F. — Christenschlaverei und de Islam (Berlin, 1873). Guyard, S. — La civilization Musulmane (Paris, if" Haines, C. R. — Islam as a Missionary Religion (London, 1888). Hamilton, C. — The Hedayah, a commentary on Moslem law Trans, (London, 1791.) (Edition by Grady, 1890). Hauri, Johannes — Der Islam in seinem Einfluss auf das leben seiner be- kenner (Leyden, 1880). Herclots, Dr. — Qanoon-el-Islam (London, 1832). Higgins, G. — An Apology for the life of Mohammed (London, 1829). Hughes, F. P. — Notes on Mohammedanism (London, 1875). « >( « — Dictionary of Islam (New York and London, 1885). Hm-gronje, C. Snouck_Het Mekkaansche Feest (Leyden, 1880). " " " — Mekka: mit bilder atlas, (The Hague, 1880). Inchbald, Rev. P. — Animadversions on Higgins, (Doncaster, 1830). Irving, Washington — Life of Mahomet (London, 1850). " " — Successors of Mahomet (London, 1852), Jansen, H. — Verbreitung des Islams, u. z, w., in den verschiedeuen, Landern der Erde, 1890-1897 (Berlin, 1898). Jessup, H. H. — The Mohammedan Missionary Problem (Phila., 1889). Keller, A. — Der Geisteskampf des Christentums gegen den Islam bis zur Zeit der Kreuzziige (Leipzig, 1897). Koelle, S. W. — Mohammed and Mohammedanism critically considered (London, 1888). Koelle, S. W. — Food for Reflection (London, 1865). Koran : (Editions and translations). — English versions: Alexander Ross (from French, 1649-1688), Sale (1734), Rodwell (1861), Palmer (1880). — First Ar2.h\c, printed text, at Rome, 1530 (Brixiensis). Arabic text, Hinkelmann (Hamburg, 1649). " and Latin text, — Maracci (Padua, 1698). " text — Empress Catherine II. (St. Petersburg, 1787). " ( « " 1790, 1793, 1796, 1798). " " Empress Catherine, II. (Kasan, 1803, 1809, 1839). <• (critical edition) G. Fliigel, (Leipzig, 1834, 1842, 1869). — French, Savary (1783) and Kasimirski (Paris, 1840, 1841, 1857). — French version, Du Ryer (Paris, 1647). — German versions : Boysen (1773), Wahl (1828), Ullmann (1840, 1853). — German version, Schweigger (Nurnberg, 1616). — Latin version, Robert and Hermann (Basle, 1543). — Russian version (St. Petersburg, 1776). Translations exist also in the other European languages; and in APPENDIX in 421 Persian, Urdu, Pushto, Turkish, Javan, and Malayan made by Moslems. Koran Commentaries: — (" There are no less than 20,000 in the library at Tripolis alone" — Arnold's Islam and Christianity, p. 81). The most important are, — (Sunni) — Al Baghavvi, A. H. 515. At-Tafsir '1 Kebir, A. H. 606. Al Baidhawi, A. H. 685. Azizi, A. H. 1239, (and Shiah). — Al Jalalan, A. H. 864 and 91 1. Az-Zamakhshari, A. H. 604. Al Mazhari, A. H. 1225. Hussain, A. H. 900. Al Mudarik, A. H. 701. Ibn u'l Arabi, A. H. 628. ArRazi (30 vols.), A. H. 606. Mir Bakir, A. H. 1041. As-Safi, A. H. 668. Saiyid Hasham, A. H. 1160. As-sirru'l wajiz, A. H. 715. Sheikh Saduk, A. H. 381. Krehl, C. L. E. — Das leben des Moham. (Leipzig, 1884). Kremer, Von Alfred — Geschichte der Heerschende Ideen des Islams: Der Gottsbegriff, die Prophetic und Staatsidee (Leipzig, 1868). La Chatelier, A.— LTslam an XIX^ siecle (Paris, 1888). Lake, J. J. — Islam, its origin, genius and mission (London, 1878). Lamairesse, E., (et G. Dujarric.) — Vie de Mahomet d'apres la tradition, vol. i. (Paris, 1898). Lane-Poole, Stanley — Studies in a Mosque (London, 1883). " " " — Table-talk of Mohammed (London, 1882). Lane — Selections from the Koran (London, 1879). MacBride, J. D.^ — The Mohammedan Religion Explained (London, 1859). Maitland, E. — England and Islam (London, 1877). Marracio, L. — Refutatio Al Coran (Batavii, 1698). Marten, Henry — Controversial Tracts on Christianity and Islam, by the Rev. S. Lee (edited Cambridge, 1824). Matthews^The Mishkat (traditions) translation (Calcutta, 1809). Merrick, J. L. — The life and religion of Mohammed from Sheeah tra- ditions (translated from Persian) (Boston, 1850). Mills, C. — The Plistory of Muhammedanism (London, 1817). Mills, W. H.— The Muhammedan System ( — 1828). Mochler, J. A. — The relation of Islam to the Gospel (translation) (Cal- cutta, 1847). Mohler, J. A. — Ueber das Verhaltniss des Islams zum Evangelium (1830). Morgan, Joseph — Mohammedanism Explained (London, 1723). Muir, Sir William — Life of Mahomet, 4 vols. (London, 1858 and 1897). " " " — Rise and Decline of Islam (in Present Day Tracts, London, 1887). Muir, Sir William — Mahomet and Islam (London, 1890). " " " — Sweet First Fruits. Translated from Arabic. (London, 1896). " " " — The apology of Al Kindy, translated from Arabic (London, 1887). Muir, Sir William — The Coran : Its composition and teaching and the testimony it bears to the Holy Scriptures (London, 1878). Muir, Sir William — The Beacon of Truth (from Arabic) (London, 1897.) 423 yIPPENDIX III Miiir, Sir William — The Caliphate (I-ondon, 1897). " " " — The Mohammeelan Controversy (Edinbiuf^h, 1S97). Miiller, F. A. — Der Islam im Morgeii unci Abendlantlen (I5crlin, 18S5). Murray, Rev. W. — Life of Mohammed, according to Abu El Fida (Elgin, no date). Neale, F. A. — Islamism, its Rise and Progress (London, 1854). Niemann, G. K. — Inleiding tot de keunisvanden Islam (Rotterdam, 1861). Noldccke, T.— Geschichte des Qurans (Gottingen, i860). " " — Das Leben Muhammeds (Hanover, 1863). Oelsner, C. E. — Des effets de la religion de Mohammed (Paris, 18 10), Osborn, Major — Islam under the Arabs, (London, 1876). " " — Islam under the Caliphs (London, 1 878). Pfander, Doctor — The Mizan El llak (translated from Persian) (London, 1867). Pfander, Doctor — Miftah ul Asrar (Persian) (Calcutta, 1839). " " — Tarik ul Hyiit, Persian (Calcutta, 1S40). Palgrave, W. G. — Essays on Eastern Question (London, 1872). " " " — Travels in Central and Eastern Arabia. Palmer, E. H. — The Koran translated, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1880). Pelly, Lewis — The Miracle Play of Hasan and Hussain (London, 1879). Perron — L'Islamisme, Son Institutions, etc. (Paris, 1877). " — Femmcs Arabes avant et depuis ITslamisme (Paris, 1858). Pitts, Joseph — Religion and manners of Mahometans (Oxford, 1704). Prideaux, H. — The True Nature of the Imposture fully explained (London, 17 18). Rabadan — Mahometanism (Spanish and Arabic) 1603. Reland (and others) — Four Treatises (on Islam) (London, 17 12). Rodwell, J. M. — The Koran, Translated (London, 187 1). Roebuck, J. A. — Life of Mahomet (London, 1833). Ross, Alexander — The Koran (London, 1642). Rumsey, A. — Al Sirajiych. Translated (London, 1869). Ryer, Andre du — Life of Mahomet (London, 17 18). Sale — Translation of the Koran with preliminary discourse (London, 1734). Scholl, Jules Charles — LTslam et son fondateur : ttude morale (Neu- chatel, 1874). Sell, Rev. E. — The Faith of Islam (Madras, 1880 and London, 1897). " " " — The Historical Development of the Quran (Madras, 1898). Smith, Bosworth — Mohammed and Mohammedanism (London, 1876). Smith, II. P.— The Bible and Islam (New York and London, 1897). Sprcnger, Aloys — Das leben und die Lchre des Mohammed, 3 vols, (Berlin, 1865). Sprcnger, A. — Life of Mohammed from original sources (Allahabad, 185 1). Steinschneider, Moritz — Polemische Literatur in Arabischer Sprache (Leipzig, 1877). Stevens, W. R, W, — Christianity and Islam (London, 1877). /iPPENDIX 111 423 St. Hilaire, T. Bartholomew de — Mahomet et le Coran (Paris, 1865). Stobart, J. W. H. — Islam and its Founder (London, 1876). Syecd, Ahmed Khan — Essays on the life of Mohammed (London, 1870)' Syeed, Ameer Ali — A critical examination of the life and teachings of Mohammed (London, 1873). Tassy, Garcin de — L'Islamisme d'apres le Coran (Paris, 1874). Taylor, W. C. — The Hist, of Mohammedanism (London, 1834). Thiersant, P. Dabry de — Le Mahometisme en Chine (Paris, 1878). Tisdall, W. St. Clair— The Religion of the Crescent (London, 1896). Turpin, F, H. — Hist, de la vie de Mahomet, 3 vols. (Paris, 1773). Wallich, J.— Religio Turcia et Mahometis Vita (1659). Weil, Gustav — Das leben Mohammed ; nach Ibn Ishak bearbeit von Ibn Hisham, 2 vols. ^Stuttgart, 1864). Weil, Gustav — Historische-Kritische Einleitung in den Koran (Biele- feld, 1844). Wherry, E. M. — Commentary on the Quran, 5 vols. (London, 1882). White, J. — Bampton Lectures (on Islam) (Oxford, 1784). Wollaston, Arthur N. — Half Hours with Mohammed (London, 1890). Wortabet, John — Researches into Religions of Syria, (London, i860). Wustenfeld, H. F. — Das leben Muhammeds, 3 vols. (Gottingcn, 1857.) " " " — Geschichte der Stadt Mekka, 4 vols. (Leipzig, 1857-61). Zotenberg — Tareek-i-Tabari. Translated. E. Christianity and Missions * Birks, Herbert — Life and Correspondence of Bishop T. V. French (Lon. (don, 1895). Jessup, H. H. — The Setting of the Crescent and the Rising of the Cross or Kamil Abdul Messiah (Philadelphia, 1898). Jessup, H. H. — The Mohammedan Missionary Problem (Phila., 1879). Sinker, Robert — Memoir of Ion Keith Falconer (Cambridge, 1886). The Arabian Mission. Quarterly Letters and Annual Reports, special papers on missionary journeys from 1890-1899 (New York.) Wright, Thomas — Early Christianity in Arabia; a historical essay (Lon- don, 1855). This book gives a complete account of the early spread of Christianity and cites authorities, which being mostly in Latin, are omitted here, F. Language and Literature Abcarius — English-Arabic Dictionary (Beirut, 1882). Ahlwardt, W. — The Divans of the six ancient Arabic Poets (London, 1890), 'Consult British and Foreign Bible Society Reports for account of Scripture circu- lation ; tije Free Church of Scotland Monthly for reports of Keith Falconer Mission; the Church Missionary Intelligencer, 1887, vol. xii., pp. 215, 273, 346, 408; Mission- ary Review 0/ the World, 1893-1899, October numbers. 424 APPENDIX III Ahlwardt, W. — tJber die Poesie und Poetiek der Araber (Gotha, 1856). " " — Beraerkungen iiber die achtheid der Alten Arab. Gedich- ten (Griefswald, 1872). Arnold, F. A. — Arabic Chrestomathy, 2 parts (Halis, 1853). Arnold, F. A. — Septem M'oallakat (Leipzic, 1850). Badger, G. P. — English-Arabic Lexicon (London, 1881). Birdwood/ Allan B. — An Arabic Reading Book (London, 1891). Cadri, Moh. — Guide to Arab. Conversation (Alexandria, 1879). Caspari, C. P. — Arab. Grammatik (Halle, 1876). Caussin de Perceval — Grammaire Arabe. (Paris, 1880). Cheikho, P. L. — Chrestomathia Arabica cumlexico variisque notis (Beirut, 1897). Clodius, J. C. — Gram. Arabica (Leipzig, 1729). Clouston — Arabic Poetry for English Readers (Glasgow, l{ De Goeje, Prof. — A complete account of the authorship, etc., of the Arabian Nights (" De Gids," Amsterdam, Sept., 1886). Derenbourg, H. and Spiro J. — Chrestomathy (Paris, 1885). Dieterici, Fr. — Thier und Mensch vor dem koning der Genien u. z. w. (Leipzig, 1881). Dieterici, Fr. — Arabisches-Deutsch Wortenbuch zum Koran und Thier und Mensch (Leipzig, 1881). Dieterici, Fr. — Die Arabische Dicht-Kunst (Berlin, 1850). Dombay, Fr. de — Gram. Mauro-Arab. (Vindob., 1800). Dozy, R. P. A. — Supplement aux dictionnaires Arabes., 2 vols. (Leyden, 1877). Dozy, R. P. A. — [And many other monographs on the language.] Erpenius, Th. — Grammatica, etc. (Leyden, 1767). Erpenius, Th. — Rudimenta Linguae Arabicae, Ed. A. Schultens (Leyden, 1770). Euting — Katalog der Arabische Literatur (Strassburg, 1877). Ewald, G. H. A. — Grain. Criticalinq. Arab., 2 vols. (Lips., 1831). Farhat, G. — Diet. Arabe-Fran(;aise (Marseilles, 1849). Faris Es Shidiac — Arab. Gram. (London, 1856). Fleischer, H. L. — Tausend und eine Nacht (text and notes, 12 vols.) (Breslau, 1825-43). Fleisher, M. H. L. — Arabische Spriiche u. z. w. (Leipzig, 1837). Fliigel, G. — Die Grammatische Schulen der Araber nach den Quellen bearbeidt (Leipzig, 1862). Flugel — Kitab El Fihrist, with German notes (Leipzig, 1871-72). Fliigel, Gustav — Lexicon Bibliographicum Arab., 7 vols. 4to. (Leipzig, I835--S8)- Forbes, Duncan — Arabic Grammar. Freytag — Einleitung in das studium der Arabische Sprache (Bonn, 1861). " — Lexicon, Arab. Lat, 4 vols. (Halis, 1830). " — " " (abridged Halis, 1837). " — Arabum Proverbia (3 vols.) (Bonn, 1838). APPENDIX III 425 Giggejus, A. — Thesaurus linq. Arabicae, 4 vols. (Medioland, 1632). Gies, H. — Zur kentniss sieben Arabischer Versarten (Leipzig, 1879). Girgass and De Rosen — Chrestomathy (German ed. 1875. Russian, St. Petersburg, 1S76). Goeje, De M. J. — Debelangryhheid van de bevefening d. Arab, taal en letterkunde (Hague, 1866). Golius, J.^ — Lexicon Arab. Lat. (Leyden, 1653). Green, A. O. — A Practical Arabic Grammar (Oxford, 1887). Hammer Van Purgstall — Literaturgeschichte der Araber: Von ihren be- giune bis zum ende des Zwolfte Jaluhunderts der Hidschret, 7 vols. (Wein, 1850-56). Heury, J. — Vocab. French-Arab. (Beyrout, 188 1). Hirth, J. Fr. — Anthologia Arab. (Jenae, 1774). Hoefer's Zeitschrift — Ueber die Himyarische Sprache (vol. i., 225 sq). Jahn, J. — Arabische Chrestomathie (Wien, 1802), Jayaker, A. S. G. — The Omanese Dialect of Arabic, 2 parts (In Journal R. A. S., of Gt. Britain). Kosengarten, J. — Arab. Chrestomathy (Leipzig, 1828). Kremer, A. von — Lexikographie Arab. (Vienna, 1883). Lane, E. W. — An Arabic English Dictionary (i.-viii.) (London, 1863-89). " W. — The Thousand and One Nights, with notes, edited, 3 vols. (London, 1841). Lansing, J. G. — Arabic Grammar (New York, 1890). Mac Naghten, W. H. — Thousand and One Nights literally transl,, 4 vols. (Calcutta, 1839). Newman, F. W. — Dictionary, 2 vols. (London, 1890). " " " — Handbook of Modern Arabic (London, 1890). Noldeke, Th. — Beitrage zur Kentniss d. Poesie d. alten Araber, (Hanover, 1864). Oberleitner, A. — Chrestomathia Arab. (Vienna, 1824). Palmer, E. H. — Arabic Grammar (London, 1890). «