Page 45 - Neglected Arabia Vol 2

) 4
6 NEGLECTED ARABIA

pressive. There is, however, some export trade which might perhaps 1*
developed. Dates are exported to America in small amounts. Behind the
rim- of date gardens along the coast there is a thin jungle of bushes and
small trees reaching to the mountains. Wood for fuel is gathered her*'
and sent to the various parts of the Gulf. From Muscat there is an activi
export of dried fish to Ceylon. It amounted to two hundred thousand;
dollars last year. In this trade we see hope for the self-support of futurt
converts. The people of Ceylon presumably do not care whether it U* ;
Mohammedan or an infidel fish that they eat. Elsewhere a convert mug
extract his livelihood from a bitterly hostile environment, or else become a
Mission employee. Here we hope that a Christian can sell the product of
his labor in a foreign and neutral market.

MUSCAT HARBOR IN STORM

And there is another lesson immediately at hand. The wayfaring mi* ’
sionary, though a fool, should not err therein. The contrast between
magnificent Mission Hospitals and the homes of the people they serve «
appalling. To a stranger the sight has the etfect of a bucket of wy*
thrown over a man half awake. It is wonderfully easy to see the
of other people and straightway go and do likewise. Is it then impouiH >
to devise a suitable hospital building that will resemble the homes of
l>eople it tries to serve and belong to them spirit and soul and body?
trust that God will guide us in an elTort to accomplish exactly thii im^-i
arlilc thing, so that the Matrah Hospital in its inner spirit and in lilt**',
form may please Him who made Himself of no reputation, taking^
form of a slave.

_