LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| PAGE | |
| The Desert Scout | [Frontispiece] |
| The Big Camel Market in the Crater at Aden Where We Preached Our First Sermon, 1891 | [14] |
| A Swift Dromedary and an Arab Post-rider | [20] |
| A Caravan from Yemen Bringing in Hides for American Kid Shoes | [22] |
| A Picture Carved in Stone 2,000 Years Old, with its Inscription, from the Land of Sheba | [40] |
| The Castle of Kheibar | [45] |
| Water Carts Used at Aden to Bring Water from the Wells to the City | [46] |
| A Woman of the Hill Tribes, Showing Veil and Amulets Worn | [48] |
| Every-day Things in Arabia | [54] |
| The Black Stone at Mecca | [56] |
| Opening of the Hedjaz Railway | [58] |
| When the Arabs Return from Pilgrimage, They Load Their Baggage on the Poor, Patient Camel | [64] |
| First Chapter of the Koran | [68] |
| The Evolution of a Pearl Button | [76] |
| Prayer in the Desert | [88] |
| Map of Oman | [91] |
| Bedouin Women and Their Children | [98] |
| A Meccan Boy | [102] |
| A Bedouin Girl Playing Peek-a-boo on a Camel | [116] |
| “Arabia” (Song) | [125] |
Grateful acknowledgment is given to Mr. J. M. Coutinho, photographer at Aden, for permission to use several full-paged photographs. And gratitude is also expressed here for the use of other pictures taken by our missionary friends, the Rev. J. C. Young, M. D., and Dr. Sharon J. Thoms.
I
ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN ARABIA
Zigzag are the lines across the deserts of Arabia that mark the weary journeys of the camel caravans for centuries. Arabia has no straight roads. The crooked, winding paths through valley and along mountainside or over sandy tracks are worn smooth by the shuffling feet of the animal-with-the-long-neck. Every bit of desert thorn or green herb on either side of the path means a step away from the straight line. The caravan zigzags towards its destination. The ship of the desert makes more tacks in its onward course than a sailing-boat with a contrary wind in a narrow harbour.