rdinary
tropical aspect, the Arab would know the knack of scaling coco-nut palms
(no easy task), the vegetation which would supply him with fibre for
fishing-lines and what thorns could be used to make an effective hook,
while the missionary would probably be unable to get fire by friction
with the aid of a bow-string and spindle.

Missionary literature is very severe on Arabia as a stiff-necked country
which has hitherto discouraged evangelical activities. "Hence the low
plane of Arabia morally. Slavery and concubinage and, nearly everywhere,
polygamy and divorce are fearfully common and fatalism has paralysed
enterprise."

This indictment is not only unjust, but it recoils on Western
civilisation. Arabia is on a high enough moral plane to refuse drink,
drugs and debauchery generally, while prostitution is unknown outside
large centres overrun by foreigners, which are more cosmopolitan than
Arab. Sanaa, which is a pure Arab city with little or no foreign
element, is much more moral than London or New York. To adduce slavery
and concubinage coupled with polygamy and divorce as further evidence
against Arabia is crass absurdity; slaves are far better treated
anywhere in Arabia than they were in the States or the West Indies;
concubinage and polygamy, as practised by the patriarchs of Holy Writ,
are still legal in that part of the world; there is nothing sinful
about them in themselves--a Moslem might as well rebuke Western society
for being addicted to whisky and bridge. He might even remind us that
divorce is easier in the States than in Arabia and quote the Prophet's
words on the subject: "Of all lawful acts divorce is the most hateful in
the sight of God." With us a woman can be convicted of adultery in the
eyes of the world on evidence that would not hang a cat for stealing
cream, but in Islam the act must be proved beyond doubt by two
witnesses, who are soundly flogged if their evidence breaks down, and
their testimony is declared invalid for the future. This places the
accusation under a heavy disability, but it is better than putting a
woman's most cherished attribute at the mercy of a suborned servant or
two--a far greater injustice to womanhood than bearing a fair share of a
naturally hard and toilsome life, which is also a missionary complaint
against Arabia. As for fatalism paralysing enterprise there, perhaps it
does to a certain extent, but it cannot compare with our own organised
strikes in that direction