Page 13 - Protestant Missionary Activity in the Arabian Gulf

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sion’s first station in ’Iraq at Basrah, where the Tigris and

Euphrates empty into the Gulf.

The early days at Basrah were not easy ones, hut Zwemer
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was no^ thettype of man to he readily discouraged. Assisted
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"by Cantine and a doctor, Charles E. Riggs, Zwemer organized

services firtt aboard foreign ships in thehharbor and then,
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f hit hy hit, in the town itself. Dr. Riggs opened a dispensary
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in town on March 28th. and treated twenty patients in the

first three days.^ Meanwhile, the missionaries distributed

religious tracts and opened up a small bookshop near the har­

bor to sell Bibles in English and Arabic. Several short trips

were made into the interior of ’Iraq, but none of these appear
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to have been very fruitful.

Not long after their arrival the missionaries were given

a clear indication of the tough road that lay before them by

tO- the local Turkish governor’s demand that the Mission leave
Basrah. Zwemer finally obtained permission to stay on the con­

dition that he preach and minister only to foreigners, a pro­
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mise that he did not hold to with great scruples, Even Zwe-
mer was discouraged by the lack of receptivity to the Mission

and bemoaned the fact that "among the lower classes the ignor-
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ance in regard to Christ and Christianity is unimaginable."

After the beating and imprisonment by the local authorities

of one of their native helpers, the missionaries were forced

to concede that " • • • street preaching at Basrah would at pre­

sent be unwise and detrimental to further work."10 There was

a bright side to the ledger, however, provided by the general

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