intelligent manner on both sides. Even
if they get no "forrader," it tends to toleration and a better knowledge
of each other's language and ideals. A good deal of teaching is done too
with no expectation of making proselytes, and solid friendships are
formed. I have myself known a convalescing lady missionary of the C.M.S.
to receive repeated calls of friendly inquiry from former pupils; when I
first saw two veiled young girls swing past with a palpably British
terrier and the crisp, vigorous step of occidental emancipation, it
puzzled my ethnological faculties until I was told the object of their
visit.

All this is to the good, and it would be very good indeed if they let
well alone. Unfortunately, there is another cogent factor in the mission
field, and that is the sinews of war in hard cash. Most people, even
those who support missions to Moslem countries, are human enough to like
a fight put up for their money. It is not enough for them that a great
deal of quiet, patient work is being done by missionaries among Moslems
in the name of Christianity and the service of mankind. They want to
hear about storming citadels of sin and campaigning against the devil in
the dark places of the earth; especially is this so in America, where
Moslem prejudice does not have to be considered and religious
organisation, like most other concerns, is on a big scale.

As a natural consequence, missionaries have to play up to this combatant
instinct, and so we read in their books and reports remarks calculated
to engender religious intolerance on both sides, and which do not
conform with the shrewd and kindly work in the field of those devoted
and often scholarly men. I shall have occasion to allude to some of
these statements as we proceed, so think it only fair to mention their
justification here.

Cairo is described as a "strategic centre" in mission parlance, and so
it is, being situated on a great waterway with rail connection far
south into the heart of Africa and converging caravan routes from every
quarter. Along these arteries of traffic many tons of tracts and
propaganda are hurled annually by train, felucca and colporteur. Those
who cannot read accept such matter gladly to wrap things up in and to
show to their literate friends, who read what resembles a bit of the
Koran and find it carries a sting in its tail, like a scorpion, aimed at
Islam. A great deal of this literature consists of the Psalms of David,
the Talmud or