Arabia; the cradle of Islam

Front matter

Book_JZ^.7

Gwri^MN^

canauGHT deposjt.

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 Persian Gulf, and Yemen will not forever remain, a tempting prize, — untouched. The spiritual burden of Arabia is the Mohammedan 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 compilation 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 Abdul-Messiah.

This fact together with the friends of the author urged their united plea for a book on this " Neglected Peninsula," its people, religion and missions. We have written from a missionary

6 PREFACE

viewpoint, so that the book has certain features which are intended specially for those who are interested in the missionaryenterprise. 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 quotations from eight hundred and sixty-eight individuals ! The material for the book was collected during nine years of residence 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 publication.

The system for the spelling of Arabic names in the text folloAvs in general that of the Royal Geographical Society. This system consists, in brief, in three rules : (i) words made familiar 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 especially the later ones may reach the hearts of the Student Volunteers 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

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, .„ofstudy.

IV 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 — Fortifications — Tanks — Divisions — Population — Journey inland — Wahat — The vegetation of Yemen — A Turkish customhouse — The storm in the wady — Taiz — The story of the books.

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 — Commerce 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

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 Mahrah 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 illustration of design — Products of the camel — Characteristics — The interior of Oman — Chief authorities — Fertility — Caravan-routes — Peter Zwemer's journey — Jebel Achdar.

X

Ancient history of Bahrein — Origin of name — Population — Menamah — The fresh-water springs — The pearl-fisheries — Superstitions about pearls — Value and export — Method of diving — Boats — Apparatus — Dangers to the divers — Mother-ofpearl — Other manufactures — Ruins at Ali — The climate — Political 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 — Curious coinage — The government of Hassa — Katif — Its unhealthfulness.

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 — Samawa — 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 Dauasirvalley and other wadys — Halevy's travels — Aflaj — The Roman 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 — Intercourse 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

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 Polyandry — 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 elements of Islam — The God of Islam — Palgrave's portrait — Attributes of God — What God is not — Analysis of Islam — Borrowed elements of Islam.

XVIII

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 Medina — Kerbela — Mohammed Ali — The Hejaz campaign — Ghalye — Turkish cruelty — English expedition — Peace — The Wahabi dynasty — Abdullah bin Rashid — Rise of Nejd kingdom — 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 conquest 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 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

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 — Caligraphy as an art — Difficulty and beauty of Arabic speech — Its purity — Literature — Difficulty of pronunciation — Of its grammar — 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

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 — Generosity — 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 — Priesthood — Baptisms — Babylonian origin.

XXIX

Early Christianity in Arabia ..... 300 Pentecost — Paul's journey — The Arabs and the Romans — Christian tribes of the North — Mavia — Naaman's edict — Christianity 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.

XXX

The Dawn of Modern Arabian Missions

Raymond Lull — Henry Martyn — Why the Moslem world was neglected — Claudius Buchanan's sermon — The Syrian missions — 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-General Haig's journeys — Arabia open — Dr. and Mrs. Harpur and the C. M. S. — A call to prayer — Bagdad occupied — The present 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" — Responds to Mackay's appeal — His character — His letters from Muscat — His plans for the interior — Death — The grave.

XXXIII

Its origin— The student band— The first plan— Laid before the church — Organization — The Missionary Hymn— James Cantine — 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 —

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 independent Arabia — Clinvatt^ — Moslem fanaticism — English influence — Illiteracy — The Bedou ins — The present missionary force — Its utter inadevjuacy — Methods of work — Medical missions — Schools — Work for women — Col^xirtage — Preaching — Contiwei-sy — What should be its character — The attitude 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 Ishmael might live before thee.

«« 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

MOHAMMKUAN PiLOKIMS AT MECCA -|

The Sackkij Wki.i. OF Zkmzkm AT Mecca j -^

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

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 inconveniences 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 Mohammedan 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 statements 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 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 between the peninsula of Katar and the mountains of Oman is also practically a blank on the best maps. Indeed the only noteworthy 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 northern 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 shifting, 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 important islands. Socotra, although occupied by an Arab population and historically Arabian, is by geographers generally attached 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 confirms 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, 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 cultivatable 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 captains who had touched its coast in the Red Sea and the Persian 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 entire peninsula. On the coast the heat is more trying because of the moisture from the enormous evaporation of the landlocked basins. During part of the summer there is scarcely any difference in the register of the wet-and dry-bulb thermometer. 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 temperature 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 plutonic (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 formations and lava (called by the Arabs, harrat) crop out frequently, 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.