Page 41 - Neglected Arabia Vol 2

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4 NEGLECTED ARABIA

others and their numbers in any case are too small to be significant. Ai
everywhere else in Arabia the Arabs are divided into the Bedouins who
are nomadic wanderers over the waterless stretches and the townsmen who
cultivate the valley oases.
The people are Mohammedans and their faith is earnest and sincere.
The corroding influence of the skeptical and materialistic West has made
very little impression upon their religious practices or even their religiom.
thoughts. Their earnestness, however, is combined with a surprising and
very refreshing tolerance. In Debai the Indian colony of perhaps a hun»
dred shopkeepers maintains a Hindu temple where a number of cows art.,
worshipped. On tours some of those cows have been my patients, TulcriJ
mice in a beautiful tiling any where in the world, and hy cuhlmnl It bcimhI
really wonderful in Arubiu. Surely in such a country wc will lmvo
unusual opportunity to show Christ to the people, and 1 le an unu&uah
puportunity to draw them to Himself. 3
Government is of the Arab type. A decadent dynasty still occupied
the throne in Muscat, but long since has lost all grip on the interior. foi
contrast the subordinate rulers of certain towns are outstanding examples*'
of the administrative capacity of the Arab. Seyyid Mohammed of Matrah ,
might sit without embarrassment among the best lieutenants of Bin Saoud
himself. We have no better friend than he in all Oman. The inland
country is ruled by a religious Imam and is tightly closed to the mi*.
sionary, but we hope to enter it soon,
nevertheless. Prayer plus Medicine
has opened lots of doors in Arabia..
Our most remarkable government
is that of Debai. As in Muscat a
weak sheikh occupies a throne but
does not fill it. He serves as a use­
ful figurehead. The community is 7
ruled by a self-perpetuating cabinet
of its leading citizens, a group of
men who are hard as nails and bound "
together by a group fanaticism . 1
scarcely to be surpassed even amuii|
the lchwan of Ncjd. OlT in an un.
official business office. Bin Dd.
mootch, the head of this cabinet aid
the mccuikI rid will prurl merchant ii j
the Gulf, rules Debai with a grip of
iron. He takes no vacation on ac*
count of the heat. He visits no
neighboring cities. His pearls arv
soici for him in Bombay by an agent
TIis grip on the Debai situation it
never relaxed for a day. For it*
fanaticism of this remarkable grou^
of men and of the city they rule
TIIK HK1K AIM’AKKNT. muscat