TOPSY-TURVY LAND
ARABIA PICTURED
FOR CHILDREN
[Illustration: ARAB BOYS.]
TOPSY-TURVY LAND
ARABIA PICTURED
FOR CHILDREN
BY
SAMUEL M. ZWEMER
AND
AMY E. ZWEMER
[Illustration]
Fleming H. Revell Company
NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO
Copyright, 1902 by
Fleming H. Revell Company
(July)
[Transcriber's Note to the text version: in the original images, the word
Hadramaut has a breve above the u.]
DEDICATED
TO THE BOYS AND GIRLS
WHO ARE HELPING TO TURN THE WORLD
UPSIDE DOWN
PREFACE
This is a book of pictures and stories for big children and small grown-up
folks; for all who love Sinbad the sailor and his strange country. It is a
topsy-turvy book; there is no order about the chapters; and you can begin
to read it anywhere. It is intended to give a bird's-eye view to those who
cannot take birds' wings. The stories are not as good as those of the
Arabian Nights but the morals are better - and so are the pictures.
Moreover the stories are true. You must not skip any of the chapters or
the pictures but you may the preface, if you like.
{S.M.Z.
{A.E.Z.
_Bahrein, Arabia._
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. WHY IS ARABIA TOPSY-TURVY LAND? 15
II. A LESSON IN GEOGRAPHY 21
III. THE SQUARE-HOUSE WITH THE BLACK OVERCOAT 27
IV. SABBACH-KUM BIL KHEIR! 31
V. AT THE CORNER GROCERY 37
VI. BLIND FATIMAH 43
VII. DATES AND SUGAR-CANE 47
VIII. THE SHEPHERD OF THE SEWING-MACHINE 54
IX. THE CHILDREN OF THE DESERT 58
X. NOORAH'S PRAYER 64
XI. PICTURES WITH WORDS ONLY 69
XII. THE QUEER PENNIES OF OMAN AND HASSA 73
XIII. ARAB BABIES AND THEIR MOTHERS 79
XIV. BOAT-BUILDERS AND CARPENTERS 85
XV. ARABIC PROVERBS AND ARABIC HUMOUR 92
XVI. GOLD, FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 97
XVII. SLAVES AND SLAVE TRADERS 101
XVIII. ABOUT SOME LITTLE MISSIONARIES 108
XIX. TURNING THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN 113
XX. TURNING THE WORLD DOWNSIDE UP 118
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
ARAB BOYS _Facing Title._
MODES OF TRAVEL 16
EUROPEAN VISITORS ON DONKEYS 18
MAP OF ARABIA 23
READY FOR A CAMEL RIDE 24
THE SQUARE HOUSE WITH THE BLACK OVERCOAT 29
SABBACH-KUM BIL KHEIR! 33
ARAB GROCER 38
ARAB BOY IN A CROCKERY SHOP 41
HOW A MOSLEM BOY PRAYS 45
WOMEN SELLING SUGAR-CANE 48
DATES GROWING ON A DATE PALM 50
FIRE WOOD MARKET, BUSRAH 52
ARAB RIDERS WITH LANCES 60
PEARL MERCHANTS 62
ARABIAN WATER-BOTTLE 63
[From the Sunday School Times, by permission.]
DESIGNS MADE OUT OF ARABIC WRITING 70
ARABIC LETTER FROM A POOR CRIPPLE 72
OMAN COIN 73
HASSA COINS 76
DATE-STICK CRADLE 80
WOMEN GRINDING AT THE MILL 82
BEDOUIN WOMEN EATING THEIR BREAKFAST 84
CARGO BOATS, BAHREIN 86
RIVER BOAT BUSRAH 87
SAWING A BEAM 89
AN ARAB CARPENTER'S TOOLS 90
PUZZLE OF THE THIRTY MEN 96
BRANCH OF THE INCENSE TREE 98
SLAVE GIRL IN ARABIA 102
LIBERATED SLAVES AT BAHREIN 104
MISSION HOUSE AT BUSRAH 110
THE SULTAN'S SOLDIERS 114
MUSCAT HARBOUR 122
AN OLD FRIEND IN A NEW DRESS 124
I
WHY IS ARABIA TOPSY-TURVY LAND?
On this big round earth there are all sorts of countries and peoples. Men
walk on it on every side just like flies crawling over a watermelon and
they do not fall off either. On the next page you can see how they travel
all around the world; some in steamships, some in carriages or on horses,
some in jinrickshaws and some in the railway coaches. In Topsy-turvy Land
they have no railroads and not even waggon-roads or waggons. A horse or a
camel or a donkey is used for passengers and the camel caravan is a
freight train.
Or if you wish, the camel is a topsy-turvy ship which sails in the sand
instead of in the water. It is called the ship of the desert. The masts
point down instead of up; there are four masts instead of three; and
although there are ropes the desert-ship has no sails and no
rudder - unless the rudder be the tail. When the ship lies at anchor to be
loaded it feeds on grass and the four masts are all snugly tucked away
under the hull. In Arabia you generally see these ships of the desert in a
long line like a naval procession, each battleship towing its mate by a
piece of rope fastened from halter to tail! But not only is the mode of
travel strange in Topsy-turvy Land, even the time of the day is all upside
down. When the boys and girls of America are going to bed the boys and
girls of Arabia are thinking of getting up. As early as four o'clock by
western time the muezzin calls out loud from the top of the minaret (for
Moslem churches have no steeples and no bells) to come and pray. Arabs
count the hours from sunrise. It is noon at six o'clock and they breakfast
at one; at three o'clock in the evening all good boys and girls are
asleep.
[Illustration: MODES OF TRAVEL.]
In Topsy-turvy Land all the habits and customs are exactly opposite to
those in America or England. For instance when a boy enters a room he
takes off his shoes but leaves his hat on his head. I do not know whether
we should call it a _hat_, however. His hat has no rim and is not made of
felt or straw, but is just a folded handkerchief of a large size and
bright colour with a piece of cord to hold it wound round his head - a sort
of a hat in two pieces. The girls go without shoes but carefully cover
their pretty (or ugly) faces with a black veil.
At home you eat with a spoon or use a knife and fork. Here the Arabs eat
with their fingers; nor do they use any plates or butter dishes, but a
large piece of flat bread serves as a plate until it is all eaten. So you
see in Arabia the children not only eat their rice and meat but their
plates also. You read a book from left to right but in Arabia everybody
begins at the right-hand cover and reads backward. Even the lines read
backward and in Arabic writing there are no commas or capitals and the
vowels are written not next to the consonants but stuck up above them.
_Potato_ in Arabic would be written with English letters this way:
O A O
T T P
Can you read it?
In your country a carpenter stands at his bench to work, but here they sit
on the ground. With you he uses a vise to hold the board or stick he is
planing; here he uses his bare toes. With you he _pushes_ the saw or,
especially, the plane away from him to cut or to smooth a piece of wood,
but in Topsy-turvy Land he _pulls_ his tools towards him. Buttons are on
the button-hole side and the holes are where you put the buttons. Door
keys and door hinges are made of wood, not of iron as in the Occident. The
women wear toe-rings and nose-rings as well as earrings and bracelets.
Everything seems different from what it is in a Christian country.
One strange sight is to meet people out riding. Do you know that the men
ride donkeys side-saddle, but the women ride as men do in your country?
When a missionary lady first came to Bahrein in Eastern Arabia and the
boys saw her riding a donkey they called out: _"Come and see, come and
see! The lady has no feet!"_ Because they saw only one side of her. Then
another one called out and said: _"Yes she has, and they are both on this
side!"_
[Illustration: EUROPEAN VISITORS ON DONKEYS.]
Another odd custom is that Arabs always turn the fingers of the hand down
as we turn them up in beckoning or calling anybody. Many other gestures
seem topsy-turvy as well.
In your country boys learn the lesson of politeness - ladies first; but it
is not so over here. It is _men first_ in all grades of society; and not
only men first but men last, in the middle, and all the time. Women and
girls have a very small place given them in Topsy-turvy Land. The Arabs
say that of all animal kinds the female is the most valuable except in the
case of mankind! When a girl baby is born the parents are thought very
unfortunate. How hard the Bedouin girls have to work! They are treated
just like beasts of burden as if they had no souls. They go barefoot
carrying heavy loads of wood or skins of water, grind the meal and make
fresh bread every morning or spin the camel's hair or goat's hair into one
coarse garment. They are very ignorant and superstitious, the chief
remedies for sickness being to brand the body with a hot iron or wear
charms - a verse from the Koran sewn up in leather or a string of blue
beads, which are supposed to drive away evil influences.
How very thankful girls should be that in all Christian lands they have a
higher place and a better lot than the poor girls and women of Arabia! For
the greatest contrast is the religion of the inhabitants of Topsy-turvy
Land. That is all upside down too. The Lord Jesus teaches us to pray in
secret not to be seen of men; we are to go quietly alone and tell God
everything. But Mohammed, the prophet of Arabia, taught his followers to
pray openly on any street corner, or on the deck of a ship, in public,
just like the Pharisees whom Jesus condemns. And when these people fast,
as they are supposed to for a whole month, they do not really go without
food, but each day at _sunset_ they begin to eat in larger quantity than
usual! - because they think by such fasting to gain favour with God and do
not know that to fast from sin and evil habits is the fast God wants.
Another thing very sad in this land of Topsy-turvy is that there are no
Sunday-schools - they do not observe our Sabbath - and the boys and girls do
not have bright Sunday-school lesson leaves or a picture-roll. They spend
Sunday and every other day in learning all the evil they see in those that
are grown up. Poor children! They have never heard the sweet words of
Jesus, "Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not: for of
such is the kingdom of God." We tell you all this about them that you may
pray for them that God may soon send more missionaries to preach to them
these precious words. We want you all by prayer and offerings to help put
a silver lining in the dark clouds of their lives.
The other chapters in this little book will tell you more about the land
and its people and as you read them do not forget to pray for them.
If you are faithful and true, always shining for Jesus, your bright light
will reach as far as dark Arabia, and will help to turn that land of
Topsy-turvy right side up. When joy and gladness will take the place of
sorrow and sadness, and ignorance give way to the knowledge of the Truth.
In one place in the Bible it tells how to make these topsy-turvy lands
right side up again. Do you know where that is? Acts 17:6-7. "_These that
have turned the world upside down are come hither also ... saying that
there is another King, even_ JESUS."
II
A LESSON IN GEOGRAPHY
In the atlas Arabia looks like a big mail-pouch hung up by the side of
some railway station, pretty empty of everything. But this queer
mail-pouch country is not as empty as people imagine. It is a country
larger than all of the United States east of the Mississippi. It is longer
than the longest mail-pouch and much wider. From north to south you can
ride a camel one thousand miles and from east to west more than six
hundred. But the geography of the country is topsy-turvy altogether and
that is why it has been so long a neglected peninsula. People kept on
wondering at the queer exterior of the mail-pouch and never opened the
lock to its secrets by looking into the interior.
First of all, Arabia is perhaps the only land that has three of its
boundaries fixed and the other always shifting. Such is the case with the
northern boundary of Arabia. It is different on every map and changes
every year because the inhabitants go about as nomads; that is, they "have
no continuing city."
Arabia has no rivers except underground. It has no railroad and very few
roads at all. Some parts of the country are very green and fertile and in
other parts there is not enough grass the year around to give one square
meal to a single grasshopper. Arabia has four thousand miles of coast and
yet only six harbours where steamers call. There are better maps of the
North Pole and of Mars and of the moon than of southeastern Arabia. The
reason is that men have spent millions of dollars to find the North Pole
and telescopes are all the time looking at the moon; but no one has ever
spent time or money to explore this part of Arabia. The Greek geographers
had a better knowledge of Arabia than we have to-day.
[Illustration: MAP OF ARABIA.]
There are no lakes in Arabia, but there is a large sea of sand called _Al
Ahkaf_, in which the traveller Von Wrede threw a lead and line and found
no bottom! No one has been there since to see whether his story was true.
At Bahrein, in eastern Arabia, there are salt-water wells on shore and
fresh-water springs in the midst of the salt sea from which water is
brought to shore. Arabia has no postage-stamps and no political capital
and no telegraph system. Different coins from different parts of the world
are used in different provinces. It is a land of contradictions and even
the waters that bound it are misnamed. The Red Sea is blue; the Persian
Gulf has no Persian ships and should be called an English lake; and the
_Straits_ of Hormuz are crooked. This topsy-turvy land has no political
divisions. Some say it has five and some seven provinces; no one knows
what is its population as no census was ever taken. In nearly all
countries the mountain ranges run north and south, but in Arabia they run
nearly east and west. There are desert sands six hundred feet deep and
mountain peaks nine thousand feet high. On the coasts it is fearfully hot
and the climate is often deadly. On the highlands it is often bitterly
cold; and yet the people are all of the same race and speech and custom
and language and religion.
[Illustration: READY FOR A CAMEL RIDE.]
There are no pumps in Arabia, but plenty of wells. There are no woods in
Arabia, but plenty of trees. The camel is a topsy-turvy ship and the
ostrich a topsy-turvy bird. The Arabs call the former the ship of the
desert; and the latter they say is half camel and half bird. In some parts
of Arabia horses and cows are fed on boiled fish because that is cheaper
than grass! In other parts of the country donkeys are fed on dates. Arabia
has more sultans and princes than any other country of the same size and
yet it is a land without a settled government. The people never meet one
another without saying "Peace to you"; yet there has never been any peace
over the whole land since Christ's birth or even since the days of
Ishmael.
Every one carries a weapon and yet there are very few wild animals. It is
more dangerous to meet a Bedouin than a lion when you are a stranger on
the road. The Arabs are a nation of robbers. Now you will wonder how we
can also say that Orientals are the most hospitable of any people in the
world for the Arabs are Orientals. And yet it is strictly true that these
robbers are more hospitable, in a way, than you people of Western
countries. They have a proverb which says that "Every stranger is an
invited guest"; and another which says, "The guest while in the house is
its lord." If an Arab gets after you to rob or kill you, it is only
necessary to take refuge in his tent for safety. He is bound then, by the
rules of Oriental hospitality, to treat you as his guest. But you must not
stay there too long and you must be careful how you get away! You will
find instances of this respect for the duty of hospitality all through the
Bible story. It was in the earliest Bible times, as later and as now, a
grievous sin to be inhospitable. The cradle of the Mohammedan religion is
Arabia, and yet in no country are they more ignorant of their religion.
How sad to think that when they do worship God they do it in such an
ignorant and idolatrous way! In our next chapter we shall see more about
this.
Arabia has no national flag, no national hymn and no national feeling.
Every one lives for himself and no one cares for his neighbour. This does
not sound strange of robbers but it does of people who are so hospitable.
This queer country we are about to visit together and talk over with each
other.
You will not grow weary by the way, we hope. If the desert tracks are long
and tiresome through the following chapters, just refresh yourself in the
oasis of a picture.
III
THE SQUARE-HOUSE WITH THE BLACK OVERCOAT
You think I am making fun but it is really true that in western Arabia
there is a house that always wears an overcoat. This is a large, square
stone house without windows and with only one door to let in the light and
the air; it is empty inside, although crowds gather around it as you see
in the picture. Yet this house always has on an overcoat of black silk,
very heavy and richly embroidered. Every year the old coat is taken off
and a new one put on. A few days ago a Moslem pilgrim showed me a piece of
the cloth of last year's overcoat and he was very proud of it. It was
indeed a fine piece of heavy silk and the names of God and Mohammed were
prettily woven into the cloth. This man had just come from visiting the
square-house and I will tell you what he saw.
The place he visited with hundreds and thousands of other pilgrims is
called Mecca and the square-house is the _Beit Allah_ or house of God to
all Mohammedans. It is also called the _Kaaba_, which is the Arabic word
for a cube.
The Moslems believe all sorts of foolish things about the Kaaba. They say
Adam built it as soon as he fell down on the earth out of Paradise, and
that Abraham repaired it after it had been ruined by the flood in the days
of Noah. They even show a large white stone on which Abraham and Ishmael
stood when they plastered the walls; the stone still bears the impress of
Abraham's feet, they say. Did you ever hear such a topsy-turvy story?
The building is about twenty-four cubits long and wide and nearly twenty
cubits high. It has no ornaments or beauty except one rain-spout to carry
the water off the flat roof; you can see it on the right side of the Kaaba
on the picture. This spout is said to be of pure gold. In one corner of
the building is a large black stone which is also an object of worship.
The Mohammedans say it came down from heaven with Adam and was once pure
white. By the many kisses of sinful worshippers it has turned black. Not
only is it black but broken. For about three hundred years after
Mohammed's death the stone remained imbedded in the walls of the Kaaba,
but then some wild Arabs from the Persian Gulf came, sacked Mecca and
stole the black stone. It was carried to Katif, a place near Bahrein,
right across Arabia, and they kept it a long time until the people of
Mecca paid a large sum of money and carried it back. On the long journey
it must have fallen from the camel because, at present, it is cracked and
the broken pieces are held together by a silver band. There once were a
great many of these stone idols in the Kaaba, but Mohammed destroyed them
all except this one when he became master of Mecca.
[Illustration: THE SQUARE HOUSE WITH THE BLACK OVERCOAT.]
At present the stone house is empty of idols and yet all the Moslems turn
in the direction of this old heathen temple to pray. The cloth that covers
it comes every year as a present from the Khedive of Egypt, who is a
Mohammedan. It is very costly and is sent on a special camel, beautifully
decked with trappings of gilt, and a large throng of pilgrims go along
to escort the overcoat.
When the wind stirs the heavy folds of cloth, the pious boys and girls of
Mecca say it is the angels that watch around the Kaaba, whose wings lift
the covering. It must be a wonderful sight to see thousands of Moslem
pilgrims stand around this place and kneel and pray.
Besides running around the Kaaba, kissing the black stone and drinking
water from a holy well called _zemzem_, they have one day on which they
sacrifice sheep or other animals. One curious custom on this day of
sacrifice I must tell you of. It is called "stoning the great devil."
Early in the morning thousands of pilgrims go to a place in the valley of
Mina where there are three white pillars made of masonry; the first and
largest is called the Great Devil. The pilgrims cast stones at this
pillar. Each one must stand at the distance of not less than fifteen feet
and say, as he throws seven pebbles: "In the name of God the Almighty I do
this, and in hatred of the devil and his shame." The Moslems fail to
realise that Satan is in the hearts of men and not behind a pillar, nor
that he can be driven away with prayer better than by pebbles.
For thirteen hundred years Moslems have come every year to Mecca, and gone
away, with no one ever to tell them of the Son of God, the Saviour of the
World. Thirteen hundred years! Don't you think it is time to go and tell
them? And will you not pray that even this place may open its doors to
Jesus Christ, and crown Him Lord of all?
IV
SABBACH-KUM BIL KHEIR!
That is to say, "Good-morning!" And the Arabs in the picture do not add,
"have you used Pears' Soap?" but, "have you had your cup of Mocha coffee?"
Soap is a luxury in most parts of Arabia and the vast majority of its
inhabitants never use it; millions would not know it if they saw it.
Perhaps the old Sheikh, however, used a bit of soap to wash his hands and
feet early before sunrise when he went to the mosque to pray. Now he has
returned and sits in the coffee-shop ready to take a sip of coffee and
"drink tobacco" from the long pipe. The Arabs always speak of _drinking_
tobacco when they mean to smoke; I suppose one reason is because they use
the peculiar water-pipes with the long stems in which the smoke passes
through the water and bubbles out to the mouth. Have you time to stop and
study the picture with me?
What a pretty window in the corner! The Arabs call a window _shibaak_,
which means network, because their windows are very much like a fish-net.
Glass is seldom used in Arabia except by Europeans and Arabs who have
become civilised; and so the carpenter or joiner fits little round bars,
one into the other, like marbles or beads on a string and the result is
often very beautiful. Light and air come in (not to speak of clouds of
dust) while no one can look through from the outside; and you know how
afraid Arab girls and women are to show their faces to strangers.
Under the arch is the open fireplace where the big coffee-pots and
water-kettles simmer all day on a charcoal fire. The old man looks quite
cheerful seated on his uncomfortable stool made of date-sticks. You will
read later about our old friend the date-palm and how the tree is used for
nearly every purpose. I wish I could show you how they take the thin
branches and punch holes in them and then deftly, before you can count
ninety, build together a chair or a bedstead. I have often slept soundly
and safely on bedsteads made of these thin leaf-sticks no bigger around
than a child's finger. The sticks are full of "spring" so one does not
need a wire mattress, nor have I ever known one of them, if made honestly,
to become a _folding bed_ under a restless sleeper as they say happens
sometimes in New York hotels!
Although the old man in our picture is waited on by the younger Arab (who
is perhaps the keeper of the café), yet I know he is not rich. Do you
notice his toil-worn hands and the patch on the shoulder of his long
overcoat? I fancy too his pretty vest, so carefully buttoned by more than
a dozen cloth buttons, is a little torn on one side; nor has he a fine
girdle like the rich shopkeepers.
[Illustration: SABBACH-KUM BIL KHEIR!]
Extremes meet in the picture and three countries widely apart on the map
are brought close together. Of course, you know the coffee is the real
Yemen article, which coming first from Mocha on the Red Sea, is still
called by that Arabian name. The curious pipe with its round bottom,
carved head-piece and long stem, is used everywhere in Arabia and is
generally called _"nargeelie,"_ which is the Indian name for cocoanut. The
bowl of the pipe is in fact an empty cocoanut shell; the stem once grew in
the jungle and perhaps tigers brushed past it; now it is pierced to draw
smoke.
The curious pipe is from India, the tobacco first came from America but
the coffee is Arabian. Let us listen to the story of the cup of coffee: In
a book published in 1566 by an Arab scholar on the virtues of coffee it is
stated that a knowledge of coffee was first brought to Arabia from
Abyssinia about the year 1400 by a pious man whose tomb is still venerated
in Yemen. The knowledge of coffee spread from Yemen in south Arabia over
the whole world. In 1690 Van Hoorne, a general of the Dutch East India
company, received a few coffee seeds from the Arabs at Mocha and planted
them in Batavia on the island of Java. In this way Mocha coffee has become
the mother of Java and of all other kinds of coffee sold at your grocers'.
Nothing can be more beautiful than the green hills and fertile gardens in
the Arabian coffee country. The coffee berry grows on an evergreen tree of
about eighteen feet high; its leaves are a beautiful dark, shining green
and the blossom of the tree is pure white with a most delicate and
fragrant odour. Each tree bears an enormous number of coffee-berries; a
single tree is said to have yielded sixteen pounds! Arabia not only
produces the finest coffee in the world, but I think the Arabs know how
to prepare a good cup of coffee better than other peoples. The raw bean is
roasted just before it is used and so keeps all its strength; it is
_pounded_ fine, much finer than you can grind it, in a mortar, with an
iron pestle; lastly two smelling herbs, _heyl_ and saffron are added when
it is boiled just enough to give a flavour. Some fibres of palm bark are
stuck into the spout of the coffee-pot to act as a strainer and then the
clear brown liquid is poured into a tiny cup and handed to you in the
coffee-shop. No wonder the Arab dervishes smack their lips over this,
their only luxury.
But how did the tobacco get into our picture? You can hunt up the story
for yourselves in your school histories. Had not Sir Walter Raleigh in
1586 introduced the weed to the court of Queen Elizabeth from Virginia,
our picture and social life in Arabia would be very different. The custom
of puffing tobacco has spread like a prairie fire and it is now so common
in the East that very few realise it was not always found there. There
they are all together, an Indian pipe, Arabian coffee and American
tobacco! How much faster and further tobacco has travelled than the Bible;
how many people had begun to drink Mocha before Arabia had a missionary!
But, of course, nothing can travel for nothing; and somebody must pay the
travelling expenses. America pays many millions more for tobacco in a year
than it pays for missionaries. It is not surprising, therefore, that all
Arabians smoke and only a very few have ever heard of the Son of God, the
Saviour of the world. As Jesus Himself said, "the children of this world
are wiser in their generation than the children of light." When people
learn to love missions as much and as often as they do a good cigar and a
cup of coffee there will be no need of mite boxes. God hasten the day.
V
AT THE CORNER GROCERY
It is not a very long distance from the Arab coffee-shop where we left our
friend smoking, to the grocer. The streets are very narrow and unless we
are very careful that camel will crowd us to the wall or those water-skins
on the white donkey wet our clothes - see how they drip! Well, one turn
more and here we are. The grocer in the picture on the next page is
leaning on his elbow waiting for a customer. And if he keeps his groceries
as free from flies and ants as he does his spotless white turban we will
buy our day's supplies here. The shops in Arabia are not very large and
they have no place for customers except outside. Sometimes there is a sort
of raised seat or bench on which the purchaser sits when he bargains for
something; but generally you have to stand up outside while the crowds
push and the traffic goes on. One curious custom is that all the shops of
one kind cluster close together in one street or section of the town. You
will see for example in one street a long row of shops where they sell
drugs and perfumery; in another place there are only hardware merchants;
again a whole street of nothing but grocers. I think the reason is that
Arabs love to bargain and to beat down prices and so it is easier to have
all the merchants of one kind close together. At any rate this arrangement
makes it quite convenient for the purchaser. Indeed it is becoming
somewhat customary to group the shops in this way in some of your Western
cities. Occidental civilisation can learn some things from the Orient!
[Illustration: ARAB GROCER.]
Our shopkeeper has a mixed lot of groceries in his shop; many things which
you would find at your grocers' he has never heard of. Everything is
topsy-turvy. Just fancy how strange to hang up the sugar in a row of cones
on strings like sausages! Do you see them on the ceiling of the shop in
our picture? That is the way white sugar comes wrapped from France and is
sold in Arabia. A sugar _barrel_ would soon be full of ants in this
country; but when it hangs up on a string the ants have a hard time
getting it away. Maybe there is a suggestion here for your homes if you
are troubled with ants.
In those big Arab baskets the grocer keeps his carrots and other
vegetables; carrots are white in Arabia and there are curious vegetables
of which you have never heard.
Do you see the bottles and tin boxes on his shelves? Those are for spices;
pepper, cinnamon, nutmegs, curry-powder and such things of which Arab
housewives are very fond.
The big bowl on the left probably has olives in it or other kind of
pickled vegetables. On the right you can see the big pair of old fashioned
scales on which he weighs his wares. I hope he is an honest man, although
I do not think he looks very honest, do you? The scale hangs true I have
no doubt; but it is in the weights that deception lurks. In Arabia we can
every day see illustrations of the words of Solomon in the book of
Proverbs about "divers weights" and "false balances." The most of the
shopkeepers do not have proper weights of iron or brass, but use ordinary
cobblestones and pebbles. Only a few days ago I bought some walnuts and
the grocer weighed them so many stones' weight! Do you know what a "stone"
weight is. Maybe you had better look it up in your dictionary. That
covered kettle near the scale-pans on top of the little box contains
_semn_, which is the Arabic name for sheep's fat. You would hardly believe
me if I told you what a lot of this greasy yellow stuff the boys and girls
eat on their rice, and how much is used in an Arab kitchen. It is sold by
weight, just as well as all other things, even _milk_ in Arabia. If we
wait long enough you will see Fatimah and Mirjam and the other girls come
with empty bowls to buy so many pennies' worth of grease.
Do you notice that the shop has queer little doors on the lower part of
the front opening? The other part of the shop is closed by a flap-door
that does not show on the picture. This is hinged from the top and is used
when the shop is open as a sort of blind to keep off the sun or the rain.
When the shopkeeper leaves his shop for a half hour or so he hangs a sort
of fish-net over the opening of his shop and never needs to lock it. This
is a curious custom, and I have often wondered how the shops were safe
from stealing boys or robbers in such cases. It is one more instance of
how different the East is from the West.
The shopkeepers generally close their shops at sunset, and only in a very
few places are there people who buy and sell or go about to do shopping
by lamplight. Our grocer on the corner has provided for emergencies, and
the large Arabian lantern ought to light up all his little shop.
Across the street is the place where they sell crockery. The salesman is
out, but his boy, as you see, has taken the opportunity to eat some
apples. I wonder whether he got them at the grocer's?
[Illustration: ARAB BOY IN A CROCKERY SHOP. (Float this image to the
right.)]
His father sells water-jugs and jars made of porous earth. Oh what a
blessing those jars are to all the people of this hot and dry country. We
have no ice in Arabia and so no refrigerators; the wells are never very
deep and the water comes a long distance. So if it were not for the
crockery man and his water-jugs we could never drink _cold_ water. But
just pour the water in one of these earthen pots and hang it in the wind
and then in a few minutes the water gets cold. We missionaries always have
such water-jars hanging or standing in our windows to catch the breeze.
Perhaps this kind of water-cooler is very old, and Solomon himself looked
at one when he wrote the words: "As cold waters to a thirsty soul so is
good news from a far country."
VI
BLIND FATIMAH
It was on a Sunday afternoon that I first met Blind Fatimah and greeted
her with _Salaam aleikum_ and she answered _aleikum es salaam!_ "Peace be
to you and on you be peace." I asked if she could read. She said she could
"read by heart," but could not see anything. She at that time could repeat
twenty-six chapters of the Koran, the sacred book of the Mohammedans. Now
I think she can repeat it nearly all; it contains one hundred and fourteen
chapters. Some are very short and others are very long; some parts of the
book are very good, but most of it is a jumble of events and of things
that never happened - all mixed up topsy-turvy.
A slave woman was Fatimah's teacher and now she is helper in the school of
this teacher. She is the prompter, and always begins each sentence of the
recitation, and the other children follow on. If any mistakes are made,
she will instantly correct them.
She is a peculiar looking girl and she is not pretty. Her clothes consist
of cast off garments given her by others. Her head is generally covered
and wrapped up in a black muslin veil; then she has an _abba_ or Arabian
cloak of very green-black cashmere; then under that a many coloured
garment called a _thobe_; it is square in pattern with armholes and
sleeves nearly a yard wide. The ends of these wide sleeves are deftly
taken and thrown over the head to form a sort of tight-fitting cap.
Underneath this garment is a kind of dressing gown with tight-fitting
sleeves. Such is Fatimah's wardrobe. She wears no shoes, not even sandals.
Would you like to walk in the hot sand with no covering for your feet?
Sometimes I visit the school where Fatimah teaches the smaller girls A, B,
C. It is a topsy-turvy school indeed. The object seems to be to make as
much noise as possible; the pupils sit on the floor with a small stand or
trestle (like a saw-buck!) in front of each one to hold their Korans out
of which they read. The first pupil begins a sentence at the top of his,
or her, voice and then in a sort of refrain it is taken up by all the
others. The teacher sits outside the school very often sewing or preparing
a meal or entertaining visitors; for the schoolhouse is an ordinary mat
hut dwelling. If however a pupil makes a mistake in reading she hears
instantly and corrects it.
When the hours of prayer come around (the Moslems you know pray five times
a day) lessons are dropped. One day I called at the school at the time of
afternoon prayer. All the children had run down to the sea, to wash their
faces and hands and feet, so as to be quite pure outwardly, when repeating
Mohammed's prayers.
In the accompanying picture of a Moslem boy praying you will see what
those forms are and how much _form_ there is to go through. Blind Fatimah
stood with her hands clasped, looking upward with those sightless eyes,
her lips moving. Then she fell on her knees, with the little, thin hands
spread out; then she bowed down until her forehead touched the earth,
continuing in that position for a little time; then she got up, and with
another upward look and motion of the lips, the devotions were ended.
[Illustration: HOW A MOSLEM BOY PRAYS.]
I prayed there, too, that her eyes might be opened to see Jesus as her own
Saviour, and that she might know Him as the _Son of God_, and not merely
as one of the many prophets mentioned in the Koran. It seemed such a sad
sight to see this blind child, doubly blind because her religion is false,
and she is resting on a false hope.
She always listens when I tell her, or read to her about God, and Jesus
Christ the Saviour. And if you would help together by your daily prayers,
perhaps soon God will give the answer. Would it not be blessed for you and
me if some day blind Fatimah should have opened eyes; not to see the date
groves, and the sea, and the beautiful sunsets of Bahrein, but far
more - to see Jesus' face and to follow Him by leading others to Him?
"For thousands and thousands who wander and fall,
Never heard of that heavenly home;
I should like them to know there is room for them all,
And that Jesus has bid them to come.
I long for the joy of that glorious time,
The sweetest and brightest and best,
When the dear little children of every clime
Shall crowd to His arms and be blest."
VII
DATES AND SUGAR-CANE
This is the sweetest chapter in the book. The pictures are enough to make
one's mouth water and give one an appetite for Arabian dates. I do not
suppose there is a boy or girl in England or America that has not eaten
the fruit of the Arabian palm tree; but how many of you know the taste of
sugar-cane?
In many parts of Arabia, especially at Busrah and along the river Tigris,
you can see the sugar-cane sellers sit by the wayside and dispose of this
Arabian stick-candy to the boys and girls in exchange for coppers. The
woman in the picture has chosen the shelter of a date tree and beside the
tall bundles of cane she has oranges for sale as well. The sugar-cane is
cut into pieces and sold "by the knot"; that is, by the length of the
stick from one knot to the next. It is not expensive and I have seen even
the very poorest children suck their cane on the way home as happy as