Page 499 - Neglected Arabia (1902-1905)

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es Me" and “Come to Jesus”—and then, after drinking coffee
i them, we left, feeling that they once more were our friends.
Some of the women are rude and coarse, but many of them possess
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race and beauty which make them most attractive.
Knowing what a factor the home is in the life of any people, we :
more and more the importance of bringing Christ to the Arab
nen , that the shadow of Islam may be shortened and the homes of
ibia “filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.”
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AMONG THE M.VDAN ARABS.
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REV. JOHN VAN ESS.
If you look at the map of Mesopotamia you will see an inverted
ngle formed on the one side by the Tigris, on the other by the
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)hratcs, and having as its irregular base the Shatt-el-Hai. For
rs and years British river steamers have skirted this triangle on the
M
r,s side, and the well-dressed European sitting on the decks has
ays carried away as his strongest impression of this river trip the i
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des of savage Arabs which, in the fall, crowd the banks, screaming
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;r the ship, fighting with one another for the dates and bread thrown
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hem as alms, and performing grotesque dances for the amusement
the passengers.
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The Euphrates side of the triangle is too shallow for steam traffic, i
hundreds of native craft yearly ply its waters as far up as old i
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No day passes without its tale of robbery and bloodshed, for i
than the “smoke-
triangle Arabs, finding sailboats an easierand bi0Od. For :
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t” do not hesitate to take a heavy to 1 P , t is especially : •• ■ I
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tretch of eighty miles, from Gurna on, t ic 4 up govern-
•gerous, for, through the wanton n*glcC,ja°ncl being marked only .-*•
nt. it has run into a huge marsh, the « ^ sprjngi when the
a narrow path through the high reeds P and thirty
ter is high, tire Arabs lurk in the reeds, ten,
d in the
ocs together, each holding five mcn. When a boat comes skim-
^ along, if under full sail, the mast is deftly 'shot arva . ^ ^
'fusion that follows the canoes dart out, p unc cr a follow.
1 swiftly retire into the marsh, whither none ca eSailors are
'here be no wind, or if the wind he contrary a ror the pirate,
ily rowing or punting along, the boat is an easier

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