n shall rise in the West_, and God will
send forth a cold odoriferous wind blowing from _Syria Damascena_, which
shall _sweep away_ the souls of all the faithful, and _the Koran
itself_. What the world of Islam takes in its literal sense, we may take
in a deeper spiritual meaning. Is it not true, that far in the West, the
gospel sun began to rise and shed its beams on Syria, many years ago,
and that in our day that cold odoriferous wind of truth and life,
fragrant with the love of Jesus and the love of man, is beginning to
blow from Syria Damascena, over all the Eastern world! The church and
the school, the printing press and the translated Bible, the periodical
and the ponderous volume, the testimony of living witnesses for the
truth, and of martyrs who have died in its defence, all combine to sweep
away the systems of error, whether styled Christian, Moslem or Pagan.

The remarkable uprising of christian women in Christian lands to a new
interest in the welfare of woman in heathen and Mohammedan countries, is
one of the great events of the present century. This book is meant to be
a memorial of the early laborers in Syria, nearly all of whom have
passed away. It is intended also as a record of the work done for women
and girls of the Arab race; to show some of the great results which have
been reached and to stimulate to new zeal and effort in their behalf.

In tracing the history of this work, it seemed necessary to describe the
condition of woman in Syria when the missionaries first arrived, and to
examine the different religious systems, which affect her position.

In preparing the chapter on the Pre-Islamic Arabs, I have found valuable
materials in Chenery's Hariri, Sales and Rodwell's Koran, and Freytag's
Arabic Proverbs.

For the facts about the Druze religion, I have consulted Col.
Churchill's Works, Mount Lebanon, and several Arabic manuscripts in the
mission library in Beirut.

Rev. S. Lyde's interesting book called the "Asian Mystery," has given me
the principal items with regard to the Nusairiyeh religion. This
confirms the statements of Suleiman Effendi, whose tract, revealing the
secrets of the Nusairiyeh faith, was printed years ago at the Mission
Press in Beirut, and translated by that ripe Arabic Scholar Prof. E.
Salisbury of New Haven. The bloody Nusairiyeh never forgave Suleiman for
revealing their mysteries; and having invited him to a feast in a
village near Adana, 1871, brutally buried him ali