Topsy-Turvy Land | Page 4

and
found no bottom! No one has been there since to see whether his story
was true. At Bahrein, in eastern Arabia, there are salt-water wells on
shore and fresh-water springs in the midst of the salt sea from which
water is brought to shore. Arabia has no postage-stamps and no
political capital and no telegraph system. Different coins from different

parts of the world are used in different provinces. It is a land of
contradictions and even the waters that bound it are misnamed. The
Red Sea is blue; the Persian Gulf has no Persian ships and should be
called an English lake; and the Straits of Hormuz are crooked. This
topsy-turvy land has no political divisions. Some say it has five and
some seven provinces; no one knows what is its population as no
census was ever taken. In nearly all countries the mountain ranges run
north and south, but in Arabia they run nearly east and west. There are
desert sands six hundred feet deep and mountain peaks nine thousand
feet high. On the coasts it is fearfully hot and the climate is often
deadly. On the highlands it is often bitterly cold; and yet the people are
all of the same race and speech and custom and language and religion.
[Illustration: READY FOR A CAMEL RIDE.]
There are no pumps in Arabia, but plenty of wells. There are no woods
in Arabia, but plenty of trees. The camel is a topsy-turvy ship and the
ostrich a topsy-turvy bird. The Arabs call the former the ship of the
desert; and the latter they say is half camel and half bird. In some parts
of Arabia horses and cows are fed on boiled fish because that is cheaper
than grass! In other parts of the country donkeys are fed on dates.
Arabia has more sultans and princes than any other country of the same
size and yet it is a land without a settled government. The people never
meet one another without saying "Peace to you"; yet there has never
been any peace over the whole land since Christ's birth or even since
the days of Ishmael.
Every one carries a weapon and yet there are very few wild animals. It
is more dangerous to meet a Bedouin than a lion when you are a
stranger on the road. The Arabs are a nation of robbers. Now you will
wonder how we can also say that Orientals are the most hospitable of
any people in the world for the Arabs are Orientals. And yet it is
strictly true that these robbers are more hospitable, in a way, than you
people of Western countries. They have a proverb which says that
"Every stranger is an invited guest"; and another which says, "The
guest while in the house is its lord." If an Arab gets after you to rob or
kill you, it is only necessary to take refuge in his tent for safety. He is

bound then, by the rules of Oriental hospitality, to treat you as his guest.
But you must not stay there too long and you must be careful how you
get away! You will find instances of this respect for the duty of
hospitality all through the Bible story. It was in the earliest Bible times,
as later and as now, a grievous sin to be inhospitable. The cradle of the
Mohammedan religion is Arabia, and yet in no country are they more
ignorant of their religion. How sad to think that when they do worship
God they do it in such an ignorant and idolatrous way! In our next
chapter we shall see more about this.
Arabia has no national flag, no national hymn and no national feeling.
Every one lives for himself and no one cares for his neighbour. This
does not sound strange of robbers but it does of people who are so
hospitable. This queer country we are about to visit together and talk
over with each other.
You will not grow weary by the way, we hope. If the desert tracks are
long and tiresome through the following chapters, just refresh yourself
in the oasis of a picture.

III
THE SQUARE-HOUSE WITH THE BLACK OVERCOAT
You think I am making fun but it is really true that in western Arabia
there is a house that always wears an overcoat. This is a large, square
stone house without windows and with only one door to let in the light
and the air; it is empty inside, although crowds gather around it as you
see in the picture. Yet this house always has on an overcoat of black
silk, very heavy and richly embroidered. Every year the old coat is
taken off and a new one put on. A few days ago a