ake a splendid fire.
The heavier parts of the tree are also used for fuel and the donkeys are
loaded with these date knots and date sticks in baskets. It is a busy
scene and, what with braying of donkeys and shouting of the
wood-merchants, there is enough noise too.

[Illustration: FIRE WOOD MARKET, BUSRAH.]

There is one more blessing that comes from the palm tree and which we have
forgotten. That is shade. Arabia is a hot and dry country. The summer sun
is much more piercing than in America and the summer is much longer. When
you travel a long camel journey across the desert, oh how good it is to
come to a grove of palm trees and rest! Such a place is called an _oasis_
and underneath the palms there are always springs of water. I can well
understand how happy the children of Israel were after their journey in
the desert, when they came to Elim where "there were twelve wells of
water and threescore and ten palm trees." In summer time many of the town
Arabs leave their houses in the city and go to camp out in the
date-gardens to enjoy the cool shades. The Arab poets have written many
poems in praise of their favourite tree and fruit, but none of them are so
funny as these lines which Campbell wrote from Algiers where the date tree
also flourishes and with which we will end this chapter:

"Though my letter bears date as you view
From the land of the date-bearing palm
I will palm no more puns upon you."

VIII

THE SHEPHERD OF THE SEWING MACHINE

In the blue waters of the Persian Gulf there lies a coral island called
Bahrein. At a few hundred yards to the northeast of it is a still smaller
island shaped like a pack-saddle, where palm trees and white coral rock
houses are reflected in the salt water at high tide. The little island
town is called Moharrek, that is, the "Burning Place," because it is very
hot there in summer. After sailing across in a boat one day, and wending
our way through a dirty bazar full of flies and Arabs, we were directed to
the house of the man called "The Shepherd of the Sewing Machine." His real
name is Mohammed bin Sooltaan, but nobody knows him by any other name or
title than _Raeee el karkhan_, which literally means shepherd of the sewing
machine. Let me tell you his story and how he got that queer name.

Years ago, as pilot on the native boats that sail from Bahrein to Bombay,
Calcutta, Zanzibar and Jiddah, he had experience of a wider world than the
little island w