Page 185 - Neglected Arabia Vol 1 (2)

Settling in a Native House in Kuweit

M j h.s * 1 k a 11- (J. St k a n i;
S L’lKN from the sea, Kuweit appears to be a collection of whitish
walls and towers separated from the desert by a lung line of
masonry which is the city wall. About mid-way between its two
extremes, and thickly covered with houses, a considerable hill rises back
of the sea front. On the lull is our house, the home of the two of u*
who are exclusively engaged in women’s evangelistic work in Kuweit.
At the extreme right, near where the city wall enters the sea. is the
mission compound with its hospitals and other buildings; at the extreme
left, the “palace" of the Sheikh, the Arab ruler.
The house on the hill has experienced some innovations since the
advent of two western females, who, though unexpectedly whisked from
an American house on the compound, had time to gather up scrub
brushes, scouring sand, and polishing cloths in their hurried exit. The
said females have experienced some surprises too, in the almost relent­
less indifference of the House to both persuasion and violence; but
when, not without some trepidation, they opened her doors to friends
on Washington's Birthday, to their great satisfaction she was pro­
nounced liveable and even attractive. But of the process.
hirst, there were the horrid dark holes. Houses built "to keep in
the women and to keep out the sun” abound in them, and among a
people of filthy habits they are reeking. Persian coolies were glad to
carry away many loads scraped from the dirt doors, to sweep down the
walls and ceilings with dry palm branches and to scrub the black grease
oil the few wooden doors. Their astonishment was concealed in yl|r
presence, but rumors came back that <|uantilics of water bad been
carried from the sea, and that the place had Ihxti scrubbed from the
roof down, an astonishing report where houses are largely coated with i
a kind of soft, crumbling plaster of Paris.
Other dark abodes which might be called rooms had windows, a few-
opening outward, overlooking shop roofs, and others opening into the
courtyard. Windows never open on the road. The wooden shutters of
these were removed and replaced with glass to let in a little of Arabia’*
sunshine, tllass is not easily obtainable and is expensive, so that each
of our panes is pieced to lit the window. At lirst there was no putty
to hold the fragile bits in place, but thanks to hospital supplies and
persistence each patched pane is now comparatively firm.
And then there were the roofs. The root of an Arab house is madc
of clay and is approximately flat. This year the rains were slow and
persistent and therefore searching. At lirst only a few places leaked
i.ui by the end of a week’s downpour, only one corner, not as large a*
a bed, in each of the two bed rooms, and another spot sufficient fur j
table and a chair, were dry. As if not to be satisfied with the attack
from above, the water found ready-made valleys in the uneven lluur*
which led to wide vistas for ponds and lakes in the dry places beneath i
tables and beds. But even Arab hearts sometimes have pity, and on the i

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