GEFT OF 
 HORACE W. CARFENTIER 
 

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STLDILS L\ ORIENTAL SOCIAL LIFE 
 
StidiI'S l\ Okii-:nt.\l Social I^iI'R 
 
 AND 
 
 6(cams from the (l^ast on the ^^afreLi j.l:ige 
 
 BY 
 
 H. CLAY TRUMBULL, D.D. 
 
 AUTHOR OF "kADESH-MAKNEA," "tKAcIIING AND TEACHERS, ETC. 
 
 ITonbou 
 
 HODDER AND STOUC UTON 
 
 27, I'ATERNOSTKR ROW 
 
 MDCCCXCV 
 
T7 
 
 ,:ARPIlNT\tR 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The words of the I)ible •^lun in clearness and 
 depth of meanuig when read in the hght of the 
 manners and customs of tlie kinds of the Bible. 
 But there are now so many good books prof- 
 fered as helps in this direction, that a new book 
 must justify its right to a new place by showing 
 wherein it has advantages over works already 
 available. 
 
 This volume is not, on the one hand, a mere 
 narrative of personal travel and observation ; nor 
 is it. on the other hand, a miscellaneous collec- 
 tion of Oriental illustrations of Bible truths. But 
 it is a classified treatment of certain phases of 
 Oriental life and methods of thought, vivified by 
 personal experiences in the East ; and herein it 
 has a distinctive character. 
 
 Its basis is a series of leclures on Oriental 
 
 Social Life, delivered before the Archaeological 
 
 Association of the University of Pennsylvania, 
 
 v 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 and repeated, by invitation, before the Semitic 
 Cliil) of Yale University. Added to these are 
 special studies on various topics, in the realm of 
 Oriental customs and traditions. 
 
 An aptitude of mind for Oriental methods of 
 thouL^ht and life, as well as a knowledg-e of the 
 ways of Orientals, is necessary to the fullest un- 
 derstanding of the spirit and letter of the Bible 
 text. Only thus can an Occidental see Bible 
 truths as an Oriental sees them. I shall be glad 
 if my way of seeing or of showing such things 
 helps others to share in the results of research 
 in this important held of fatl and thought. 
 
 H. Clav Trumbull. 
 
 PHILADIiLrillA, 
 
 May 14^ iSg4. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 THE PAST IN TME PRESENT. 
 
 Advantage of studying Oriental social life. — Eastern life as it 
 was, shown in Eastern life as it is. — All sights and sounds 
 of ancient times still visible, or vibrant, in universal space. 
 — History written on the pages of the air. — Earth as seen 
 from the nearest fixed star. — Oriental history constantlv 
 re-enacling in Oriental lands. — Unchangeableness of life 
 in the East 
 
 BETROTHALS AND WEDDINGS IN THE EAST. 
 
 Viewing Eastern life through Eastern eyes. — Attractiveness of 
 love and lovers. — Relative importance of betrothal and 
 marriage in the East. — Responsibility of parents for be- 
 trothal of their children. — Dowry not purchase money. — 
 Love a result, not a cause, of marriage. — A wife a gift of God. 
 — Plow a son seeks a wife. — A betrothal scene in Upper 
 Egypt. — .Mission of a "go-between." — (iifts to friends 
 of bride at Ijetrothal. — Contra(fts of betrothal in ancient 
 Egypt and Assyria. — Marriages for money in tlie East 
 and in ijie West. — Marriages for political power. — Sacred- 
 ness and l^inding force of betrothals in the East. — Signifi- 
 cance of show of "capturing a bride." — Sentiment the 
 basis of survival of customs. — False reasoning of scien- 
 
 vii 
 
viii Conic Ills. 
 
 tisis.— Festivities at weddings. — Husband to leave his 
 parents for liis wife— Bridal presents.— Why a wife loads 
 herself with gifts.— Divorce customs.— Lady lUuton's ob- 
 servations at a Damascus wedding. — Disjjlay of bride's 
 troubscau. — Ihidal ornaments. — Significance of bracelet, 
 ring, crown, veil.— Wedding processions.— Wedding scene 
 at Castle Nakhl.— Joy of the "friend of the bridegroom." 
 -Unveiling of the bride.— Lessons of betrothals and wed- 
 dings in the East. — Power of romantic love in primitive 
 ages.— Legends of love in the East.— Honor accorded to 
 woman in earliest times. — Mission of Christianity . . . 
 
 HOSPITALITY IN THE EAST. 
 
 Oriental estimate of hospitality. — Its significance and scope. — 
 Every stranger a lord while a guest. — Illustration of 
 Bed^vy hospitality near Jezreel. — Cost of saluting one by 
 the way. — A test of honor. — Testimony of Thomas Stevens. 
 — Testimony of J. L. Burckhardt. — Lot and his guests. — 
 Levite at Gibeah. — Strife for the right to entertain. — Con- 
 cealing suffering for comfort of guests. — Refusal to receive 
 remuneration. — Dr. Hilprecht and the shaykh of Zeta. — 
 Having one's satisfadion "heard." — Show of fulness. — 
 Volney's testimony. — Lady Anne Blunt and Ibn Rashid. — 
 " Given to hospitality." — Guest-chambers of the East. — A 
 shaykh' s tenure of power. — Morier and Vambery on the 
 Toorkomans. — Allah Nazr weeping for joy o\er a guest. — 
 Khond fidelity to laws of hospitality. — A paradise for 
 tramps. — Sharp pradice of Arabs. — Dr. Edward Robin- 
 son's guide a vitlim. — Asurvivalin the " doni»;ion party." — 
 An experience at Dothan. — A tradition of Meccah. — Cove- 
 nanting in hospitality. — Drinking together. — Eating to- 
 gether. — Jesus at the well of Jacob. — A lesson at Beersheba. 
 — Jacob and Laban. — Gibeonites and Israelites. — Illustra- 
 tions by Drs. Hamlin and Thomson, and Major Conder. 
 — Covenant of salt. — Sacredness of the right of asylum. — 
 Cubtoms of the Druses. — A Turkish hotel-keeper. — Hospi- 
 
Contents. ix 
 
 tality overriding desire for blood-avenging. — Murderer 
 entertained by son of his victim. — Arabs, Moors, and 
 Khonds alike in this. — Osman and Elfy Dey. — A primitive 
 \ irtue. — Irish traditions. — 1\ religious basis for this senti- 
 ment. — "Guests of God." — Explanation of these customs. 
 — Avenging belongs to (iod. — Cities of refuge. — Jael and 
 Sisera. — Solomon and Joab. — Sodom destroyed for its 
 inhospitality. — Destrudlion of Gibeah. — Naming one's 
 " dakheel." — Calling on the Lord. — Antiquity of this senti- 
 ment. — Egyptian "Book of llic Dead." — Greek and 
 Roman customs. — " Sibylline I^ooks." — American Indians. 
 — Jesus giving judgment on the outside "nations." — 
 Teachings of Muhammad. — Bible teachings. — Lessons 
 from the virtue of Oriental hospitality 73 
 
 FUNERALS AND MOURNING IN THE EAST. 
 
 A sound of wailing near Saqqarah. — A scene of mourning. — 
 Records of ancient Egypt. — Testimony of Herodotus. — 
 Description of the death-cry. — Hospitality paramount to 
 grief. — Calling on the dead. — Irish wakes. — Professional 
 mourners in the East. — Hired quartettes in the West. — 
 Genuine sorrow in conventional forms. — " Skilful in lamen- 
 tation." — Bottling tears. — Cutting one's flesh. — Tear- 
 cloths. — Speedy burials. — Funeral processions. — Funeral 
 feasts. — Funeral displays. — Persistency of these customs. 
 — LTseless efforts to check them.- — Forgiving the dead. — 
 Burial forl)idden to the unworthy. — Supplies for the dead. 
 — Customs of Egyptians, of Chinese, of Hindoos, of Ameri- 
 can Indians. — Three days of grace for the spirit. — Lazarus 
 of Bethany. — Resurretflion of Jesus. — Continuance of 
 mourning. — Mourning scene in Palestine. — Songs of grief. 
 — Periodic exhibits of grief. — Sincerity of mourners. — 
 Comparison of mourning ways in the East and the West. 
 — Mourning days in Eastern cemeteries. — Lessons from 
 Bctlilehem and Ramah. — Tomb of Shaykh Szaleh. — 
 Veneration fur muqams in Palestine. — " Weeping for Tarn- 
 
Contents. 
 
 muz. " — Chaldean, Egyptian, and Greek mourning. — Cry 
 of Isis to tlcad Osiris. — Hope of immortality. — Silence of 
 Old Testament as to future life. — Reason for this. — Primi- 
 tive belief in life Ijcyond the grave. — Temptation to poly- 
 theism. — Importance of present life.^ — Unique inspira- 
 tion of Old Testament writers. — Lessons from Oriental 
 social life I43 
 
 THE VOICE OF THE FORERUNNER. 
 
 First glimpse of the East. — Harbor of .Vlexandria. — Babel and 
 Pandemonium.— Polyglot crowd. — From sea to shore. — 
 Picturesque confusion . — Kaleidoscopic variety. — People, 
 occupations, animal life, buildings, sounds, — novel and 
 Oriental. — Cry of the forerunner in crowded street. — Gaily 
 dressed " sais." — Elijah before Ahab. — Warning by 
 Samuel. — Absalom's display. — Streets of Cairo. — Road to 
 Gheezeh. — Call to prepare the way. — Wretched roads in 
 the East. — Making roads ready for a coming ruler . . 209 
 
 PRI.MITIXE IDEA OF "THE WAY." 
 
 The king's highway. — A royal road in Egypt. — Assyrian road- 
 makers. — Semiramis as a road-builder. — Darius and Ale.x- 
 ander. — Edom and Palestine. — Roman roads. — Talmudic 
 references to road-repairing. — Call of the prophet to make 
 ready for Messiah. — Preparing the way in Abyssinia. — 
 Penalty of failure. — Road-repairing in Lebanon. — Way of 
 the kingdom. — Religious "ways." — Taouism, Shintooism, 
 Booddhism, Sunnis. — "Ways" of evil. — Bible references 
 to "ways." — Jesus " the Way." — Christianity " the way " 219 
 
 THE ORIENTAL IDEA OF "FATHER." 
 
 Meaning of " father " in the East. — Every group a " family." 
 — A possessor, inventor, or pioneer. — " Father of a sauce- 
 pan." — Sons and daughters of a "father." — Shaykh, sen- 
 
Contents. xi 
 
 ior, senator, elder, alderman. — Rising up before the hoary 
 head.— Young shaykhs of Arab tribes.— Advantages of a 
 patriarchal beard. — Legal fictions. — (Government an en- 
 larged family circle. — First table of the Law. — Divine son- 
 ship of kings. — Teachings of ancient Egypt. — Reverence 
 for parents in the East. — Refusing cigarettes in a father's 
 presence. ^Lifelong honor to a mother. — Staljility of 
 government based on filial reverence —A " command- 
 ment with promise." — Lessons from China. — God's repre- 
 sentati\e 
 
 TRAVERS AND PRAYING IN THE EAST. 
 
 '-n 
 
 Praying on the corners of streets. — A fruit-seller in Alexandria. 
 —A dragoman at the wells of Moses. — Thinking to be 
 heard of men. — An 'Azazimeh shaykh at Beersheba. — 
 Using vain repetitions. — Howling darweeshes at Cairo. — 
 Priests of Baal. — Booddhist prayer formula, — Praying 
 cylinders. — Oriental forms of prayer. — Ancient Egyptian 
 ritual. — Rabbinical direflions for prayers. — Learning how 
 to pray. — Making ready to pray. — Ablutions and |)osi- 
 tions. — Praying toward a holy place. — Niches of direction. 
 Jerusalem or Meccah. — Wailing-placc of the Jews. — Mosk 
 on the Mount of Olives. — Morning call to prayer. — Larger 
 pri\ liege of Christians 255 
 
 FOOD IN THE DESERT. 
 
 Possibilities of food in the wilderness. — Supposed changes in 
 the desert of Sinai. — Contrast of the desert with Palestine. 
 — Limited requirements of the Bed'ween. — An ordinary 
 day's supply of food. — \'alue of parched corn and sugar. 
 — Likeness of this to manna. — Dependants of the Con- 
 vent of St. Catharine. — Living on dromedaries' milk. — 
 Fed with crumbs. — Rarity of animal food. — Broiled quails. 
 — Fasting and gorging. — A good appetite as a gift of God. 
 
xii Contents. 
 
 — C;ira\an possiljiiiticb in the dcbcrt. — Food Ijiuiiylu iVom 
 afar. — Sowing and reaping in the uadies. — Reasonable- 
 ness (il llic ISiblc miiacles 277 
 
 CALLS FOR IIKALING IN THF FAST. 
 
 Reprodutlion of 15ible pidlures in the East of to-day. — Scenes 
 of suffering in Egypt. — Contrast between Egypt and the 
 desert. — Halt and mainicd and blind and diseased in 
 Palestine. — Lepers at the gate of Naljlus. — Blind men at 
 Jericho. — Approach to Constantinople. — Healing looked 
 for from the hakeem. — Testimony of travelers. — Arab at 
 Wady Gharandel. — Following a Philadelphia dentist. — 
 Asking for a new leg. — Sight better than bread. — Calls 
 for healing at Castle Nakhl.— Napoleon at Jafta. — Prince 
 of Wales at Lebanon. — Reason for the healing miracles 
 of Jesus. — Medical missionaries. — Testimony of Mrs. 
 Isabella Bird Bishop. — Testimony of Sir William Muir. — 
 Dr. Allen in Korea. — Bible promises 295 
 
 GOLD AND SILVER IN THE DESERT. 
 
 Gold and siher among the Israelites. — Golden calf. — Taber- 
 nacle treasures. — Borrowing from the Egyptians. — Coins 
 and ornaments worn by Oriental women. — A wife's per- 
 gonal possessions. — Protecflion in case of divorce. — A 
 camel-driver's loss of gold. — Gideon's spoil from the Midi- 
 anites. — A specimen woman of the desert.^Riches of 
 Arab shaykhs. — Bakhsheesh in the East. — Fig paste and 
 a silk handkerchief for the governor. — Added coin for 
 Shaykh Moosa. — A representative dragoman. — Dr. Hil- 
 precht and his muleteer. — Egyptian bakhsheesh to the 
 departing Hebrews 319- 
 
 THE pil(;rimac;e idea in the east. 
 
 Prominence of pilgrimages in the East. — Importance of the 
 Aleccah Hajj in Egypt. — Track of the Hajj on the desert. 
 — Pilgrimages to Jeiusalem. — Footprint of Jesus on the 
 
Contents. xiii 
 
 Mount of Olives. — Goini^ noithward in Holy Week. — 
 rilt^rinis journcyin'^^ In' night. — Anliiiuity of pilgrimngcs. 
 — Testimony of Herodotus. — Figurative meaning of pil- 
 grimage. — Abraham, Jacob, and Davitl, — Spiritual mean- 
 ing of Majj. — " Songs of the Goings Up." — Feast of taber- 
 nacles. — Symbolism of the three feasts of the Hebrews. — 
 Strangers and pilgrims. — Pilgrimage circuits. — Circuits at 
 Jericho. — Circuits at Jerusalem. — Circuits in the syna- 
 gogues. — Circuits in Christian (lunches. Circuits in 
 India. — Circuits at Meccah. — Hooddhist circumambula- 
 tions. — Local pilgrimages in Morocco. — Survivals in the 
 Hebrides. — Survivals in America. — Survivals in children's 
 games. — The lesson of the pilgrimage 333 
 
 AN OUTLOOK FROM JACOB'S WELL. 
 
 A lovely spot. — Plain of the Cornfields. — Highway of the 
 rulers. — \'alley of Shechem. — Historic associations. — Jesus 
 and the woman of Samaria. — Work in the grain-fields. — 
 Covenant in thinking. — Saladeen and Prince Arnald.— 
 Omar and Hormozan. — Lesson from sowing and reaping. 
 — Truth taught in former days. — Christianity and outside 
 religions. — Words of Whittier. — Spirit of Christ in his 
 missionarv followers 355 
 
 THE SAMARITAN PASSOVER. 
 
 Jerusalem and the passover sacrifice. — Samaritan sacrifice at 
 Gerizim. — A mongrel people. — A visit to (reri/.im on the 
 passover evening. — Preparations for the sacrifice. — High- 
 priest and assistants. — Worshipers. — Solemn service.— 
 Slaying of the lambs. — Marking with the blood. — Mutual 
 rejoicings. — The children's share. — Spitting and roasting 
 tlie lambs. — A guest of the high-priest. — .\ taste of bitter 
 herbs. — Midnight cry. — Lhicovering of the oven. — I'ass- 
 ovcr feast. — A storm. — After the storm. — "A shadow of 
 the tilings to come " 37^ 
 
xiv Contents. 
 
 LESSONS OF TlIK WILDERNESS. 
 
 Old Testament pictures. — The wilderness. — A'nrying titles. — 
 Experiences of Ha.Ljar, Moses, Elijah. — Jesus and his 
 temptations. — Paul and his training. — Three typical lands. 
 — Lessons of Arabia. — Variety and grandeur in the desert. 
 — Impressive silence. — Loneliness. — God's region. — Man's 
 littleness. — Man's dependence. — Man's needs. — Tokens 
 of God's love. — Stars, flowers, springs of water. — "Guests 
 of God."- — Fitness of the camel to the region. — Lessons 
 for our pilgrimage ...... 387 
 
 INDEXES. 
 
 Topical I.vDEX 411 
 
 Scriptural Index 4-53 
 
LIST OF ILLLSTRATIONS, 
 
 PACE 
 
 I'vramids of Chcczch, from East (if the Xilc ..,,.. i 
 " Forty centuries look down upon you." 
 
 Tonil) (if Raclicl, with Bcthleheni in the Distance 6 
 
 Rich with memories of Rachel, of Ruth, of David, and of Jesus. 
 
 Egyptian Bride Starting for the Bridegroom's Home .... 7 
 " The voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, . . . and the voice of 
 the b>-ide." 
 
 Taj Mahal at Agra 72 
 
 " One majesty of whiteness the Taj of Agra stands 
 Like no work of human builder, but a care of angel hands." 
 
 Black Tents of Bed^ween, in Northern Africa 73 
 
 " (jod's guests " in the desert welcome all whom God sends. 
 
 Well of Beersheba 142 
 
 " If thine enemy . . . thirst, give him to drink." 
 
 " Pyramid of Degrees," at Saqqarah 143 
 
 Shadowing the dead of old, and the mourners of to-day. 
 
 Mourners at a Grave in Bethany 208 
 
 " She goeth unto the grave to weej} there." 
 
 XV 
 
xvi List of Illuslrations. 
 
 I-AC.K 
 
 ri;>rc (if Muliaminad Alec, in Alexandria 209 
 
 " roward the East, ami toward the glorious land." 
 
 Sais, an Egyptian Forerunner 218 
 
 ' \'uur sons . . . shall run before his chariots." 
 
 Traveled Way in the Wilderness of Sinai 219 
 
 " Cast up, cast up the highway ; gather out the stones." 
 
 "Appian Way," the " Queen of Roads " . 236 
 
 "All roads lead to Roine." 
 
 Syrian \'illage Shaykh 237 
 
 "The hoary head is a crown of glory. 
 If it be found in the way of righteousness." 
 
 Old Beggar by the Wayside 254 
 
 " Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face 
 of the old man." 
 
 Mosk on the Mount of Olives .255 
 
 " Every night he went out, and lodged in the mount that is 
 called the mount of Olives." 
 
 Postures in Prayers 276 
 
 ■■ He stood, and kneeled down upon his knees, . . . and spread 
 forth his hands towards heaven." 
 
 Women Grinding with Hand-mill, in Palesdne 277 
 
 "There shall be two women grinding together. " 
 
 Little Bread-maker, iii Egypt 294 
 
 " She took fl.iur, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened 
 bread tliereot." 
 
List of Illustrations. xvii 
 
 pa(;e 
 
 Group of Lepers near Nablus 295 
 
 " I'hcsc lepers came to Ihc outermost part of the camp." 
 
 Blind Leading the lilind, m Judea 3iii 
 
 " Can the blnul guide the bhud? shall they not butli fall into a pit? " 
 
 Abyssinian \\\)nien, w ilh Ornanienls and Strings of Coins . . 319 
 
 "Jewels of gold, aiikle-chaius, and bracelets, signet-ruigs, car- 
 rings, and armlets." 
 
 Bed'wy Woman, Carrying Dried \'ines for Fuel 332 
 
 " They had golden nose-rings, because they were Ishmaelitcs." 
 
 Starting of the Malnnal, or Sacred Canopy, from Cairo, for 
 
 Meccah • • ■ 333 
 
 "We will go three days' journey into the wilderness." 
 
 Pilgrim Climbing up the r^Iountain of Moses at Sinai . . . 354 
 " And Moses went up into the mount." 
 
 Jacob's Well, with Mount Gerizim. on the Left 355 
 
 "Jacob's well was there. Jesus, . . . being wearied with his 
 journey, sat ... by the well." 
 
 Oriental I'lowman 37° 
 
 " One soweth, and another reapetli." 
 
 Nablus, the Site of Ancient Shechem 371 
 
 " .\bram passed through the land unto the place of Sheciiem. 
 . . . And there builded he an altar unto the Lord." 
 
 Yakob Haroon, High-priest of the Samaritans, with the Samari- 
 tan Pentateuch 386 
 
 " Jews have no dealings with Samaritans." 
 
xviii Lis I of Jllustratioiis. 
 
 PAGF 
 
 W.uly Fayr.in, with " Five-Peaked Serbal " m the Distance . 387 
 
 " lie lirou^ht ihciii lo the border of his sancftuary, 
 To this mountain-laud which his right liand iiad purchabcd. ' 
 
 Outlook on the Desert of Aral)ia 408 
 
 "A desert land, . . . 111 the waste huwiiiig wilderness." 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 These illustrations are re]iroducl;ions in "half-tone " from pho- 
 tographs by Sebah of Constantinople ; Bonfils of Beyroot ; Bergheim 
 of Jerusalem; Lekegian of Cairo, Sommer of Naples, Good of 
 Winch held, Hants, England ; the Britibh Ordnance Sinvey of the 
 Peninsula of Sinai ; Pancoast of Philadelphia, and others. Those 
 at pages 276, 294, 295, 333, 354, are from the valuable coUedlion of 
 Edward L. Wilson of New- York, who has kindly given his consent 
 to this use of his copyright pictures. 
 

 THE PAST IN THE PRESENT. 
 
 The prime advantage of a study of Oriental 
 social life is that the past is there found repro- 
 duced in the present as refleclin;^- the ancient 
 history of our race. The Oriental social life ot 
 to-day is the Oriental social life of former days. 
 There, that which is, is that which has been ; and 
 thatwliich is and has been in the cradle-place of 
 humanit)- is that which has put its impress upon 
 humanity ever^^vhere. The study of the Oriental 
 present is, in fact, a study of the uni\-c:rsal past, 
 and thc-rc fore it is a study for all and for always. 
 
 One of th<- most impressive thoughts that ever 
 held the human mind is in the suggestion that, 
 in accordance with the immutable laws of light 
 
Sliuiics III Oriental Social Life. 
 
 and motion, every scene in human liistory is new, 
 in a sense, visible at some point in the vast uni- 
 verse of nature, and every sound that ever broke 
 the silence of the air is now vibratino- somewhere 
 within the limits of that universe ; so that all the 
 historic and all ihe unhisloric past is actually an 
 ever-present reality, — if only the point of view 
 and the eye and the ear be suited to the observa- 
 tion of that which is. 
 
 It is not a thoughtless visionary, but a careful 
 observer of the laws which govern matter, who 
 says: "The pulsations of the air, once set in 
 motion by the human voice, cease not to exist 
 with the sounds to which they gave rise. Strong 
 and audible as they may be in the immediate 
 neighborhood of the speaker, and at the imme- 
 diate moment of utterance, their quickly attenu- 
 ated force soon becomes inaudible to human ears. 
 . . . lUit these aerial pulses, unseen by the keen- 
 est eye, unheard by the acutest ear, unperceived 
 by human senses, are yet demonstrated to exist 
 by human reason ; and, in some few and limited 
 instances, by calling to our aid the most refined 
 and comprehensive instrument of human thought, 
 their courses are traced and their intensities are 
 
The Fast i)i the J)csc)iL 
 
 measured. . . . Thus considered, . . . the air itself 
 is one vast lihrarx-. on who^c paiL^'es are forex-er 
 written all that ni;in has evta" said or woman 
 whispered. There, in their mutable but unerring 
 characters, mixed with the earliest as well as with 
 the latest sighs of mortality, stand lort-ver re- 
 corded vows unr(;deemed, promises unfulfilled, 
 perpetuating in the; united movements ot each 
 particle the testimony of man's changeful will." 
 
 "Let us," says another thinker, "imagine an 
 observer, with infinite powers of vision, in a star 
 of the twelfth magnitude. He would see the 
 earth at this moment as it existed at the time; of 
 Abraham. Let us, moreover, imagine him moved 
 forwards in the direction of our c;arth with such 
 speed that in a short time (say, in an hour) he 
 comes within the distance of a hundred millions 
 of miles, being then as near to us as the sun is, 
 whence the earth is seen as it was eight minutes 
 before ; let us imagine all this, quite apart from 
 any claims of possibility or reality, and then we 
 have indubitably the following result, — that be- 
 fore the eye of this observer the entire history 
 of the world, from the time of Abraham to the 
 present day, passes by in the space of an hour." 
 
Stjidics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 Th(^s(! suppositions antl illustrations arc; in the 
 realm of the imagination, l)iit tluir counterpart is 
 in the rc^alm of simple fact to him who has an 
 outlook upon the lands of Abraham's nomadic 
 life froni Chaldea to ELTNpt, where the scenes of 
 the days of Abraham are the every-day scenes of 
 now, Abraham — or Ibraheem, as they call him 
 to-day — is still to be seen coming out from the 
 entrance of his tent to greet the approaching 
 strangers who have caught his eye in the dis- 
 tance, and to urge upon them the welcome of his 
 hospitality. Host and guests, and tent and 
 bread and slaughtered calf, and salutations, are 
 the same to-day as they w^ere forty centuries ago.^ 
 
 Rebekah can still be found watering her camels 
 at the Mesopotamian well, — ready to consent to 
 her parents' betrothal of her to her cousin Isaac, 
 in another land, whom she has never seen.- The 
 marriage of Jacob to both Leah and Rachel is 
 now in progress, as though it had been delayed 
 many times the seven years of its first postpone- 
 ment.^ The same cry of grievous mourning 
 which startled the Canaanites when the Egyp- 
 tians came up with the body of Jacob to bury it 
 
 'Gen. i8 : i-8. -'Gen. 24 : 1-67. ^Gen. 29 : 1-30. 
 
The Vast in the rrcscnl. 
 
 ill the ]);Uriarchal loinl) at 1 l<l)n)ii,' pierces tlic 
 ear ot the motlern listener, from the Nile to the 
 Tigris, with hanll)- the change of a ([iiavering 
 note: in all the i)assing centuri(;s. 
 
 Two centuries ago, Sir John Chardin wrote : 
 " It is not in i\sia as it is in our Europe, where 
 there are fre([U(;nt changes, more, or less, in the 
 forms of things; as the habits, buildings, garden- 
 ing, and the like. In the East they are constant 
 in all things ; the habits are at this day in the 
 same manner as in the precedent ages ; so that 
 one may reasonably believe that in that part of 
 the world th(> exterior forms of things (as their 
 manners and customs) are the same now as they 
 were two thousand years since, except in such 
 changes as may have been introduced bv' reliL''ion. 
 wdiich are, nevertheless, very inconsiderable." 
 
 A recent Jewish traveler in the East, from 
 England, says similarly: "Seeing the primitive 
 chara6ler of the dwellings and customs [at Beth- 
 lehem], and remarking the shepherds and their 
 flocks upon the neighboring hills, it can easily be 
 realized how David must have appeared when 
 the prophet Samuel met him liere, and hailed 
 
 '(;cn. 50 : 7-13. 
 
Studies in Onciilal Social Life. 
 
 liim as the LorI's anointrd ; or, sccinir the exist- 
 ing threshing-lloor, it requires but little force of 
 imagination to re-enact thc^ whole beautiful idyl 
 of Ruth and Boaz. For nothing- has chanwd in 
 Bethlehem since biblical times. The march of 
 progress has gone by, and omitted to pause at 
 this and other kindred spots in the Holy Land. 
 May it not be in order that we may realize the 
 simple truth of the Bible narratives ? " 
 
 The East of to-day is the East of all the days. 
 To note the Oriental social life of the present is to 
 read history in the vividness of reality. 
 
BETROTHALS AND WEDDINGS IN 
 THE EAST. 
 
 In any examination of the fa els of Oriental 
 social life, it is important to ascertain how those 
 fa6ls are viewed by the changeless Oriental mind, 
 instead of looking- at them merely as they would 
 present themselves to the mind of a practical and 
 progressive Occidental. Thus alone can their 
 true significance and historic value be recognized. 
 And thus alone can they he to us a means of 
 light, — whether that light shows the correclncss 
 or the error of any of our favorite opinions, in 
 the realm of religion or of science. 
 
8 Studies ill Oriiiilal Social Life 
 
 No phase of social lif(; anywhcn: is likely to 
 be more uniformly attractive to the human mind 
 than \\\v. |)hases of courtship and marria^^e ; for 
 " the truth of truths is love," and in the West, 
 as in the East, "all mankind lov(^ a lover." Nor 
 is there any phase of Oriental social life which 
 is more suggestively instructive, in its salient 
 points of comparison and of contrast with Occi- 
 dental customs, than that of betrothals and wed- 
 dings. 
 
 A betrothal holds a larger prominence in its 
 relation to marriage in the East than in the 
 West ; and the arranging of a betrothal there 
 depends on the parents or guardians of its imme- 
 diate parties, rathc^r than on those parties them- 
 selves. In India and China, children are often 
 betrothed by their parents while yet in infancy, 
 or even before their birth ; and this pra6lice is 
 not unknown among the Semitic peoples of the 
 Mediterranean coast. Even among those Orien- 
 tal peoples v.'ho take into account the inclinations 
 and preferences of the young man in a betrothal, 
 the wishes of the young woman, or girl, are rarely 
 given much weight. In either case it is an ex- 
 ception for the young persons to meet each other 
 
Betrothals a>id ]]\'ddinc's in the Juist. 
 
 face to face before their lot is fixed by th<' be- 
 trothal compact. 
 
 Almost universally, in the East, a betrothal is 
 based upon an agreement of dowr)- to be paid by 
 the husband to the family of the wife as a pru- 
 dential measure in conneclion with this important 
 transaction. It is liardly fair to speak of this 
 "dowry" as the "price of a wife," as though the 
 father were actually s(;lling his daughter. Ar- 
 raneine a " marriaofe settlement" in any com- 
 munity is by no means a mere bargain and sale, 
 even though mercenary motives too often have 
 their influence in deciding its details. 
 
 At first elance it would seem that by these 
 customs the Oriental quite excluded sentiment 
 from the marriage relation ; but, as the Oriental 
 looks at it, the sentiment properly proceeds from 
 the relation, and not the relation from the senti- 
 ment ; while the relation itself is of God's order- 
 ing, — through God's representatives, the parents 
 or guardians of those brought into this relation. 
 
 Orientals look at the love of husband and wife, 
 so far, much as we look at the love; of l)rother and 
 sister. We say that brother and sister should 
 love each other because they were chosen of God 
 
lo Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 t(i cacli other, In' means of tlieir parents. Orien- 
 tals say the same of husband and wife. Tlicir 
 thought is Browning's thought, that — 
 
 "The common problem — yours, mine, every one's — 
 Is not to fancy what were fair in life 
 Provided it could be so; but finding first 
 What may be, then find how to make it fair." 
 
 Whether their view or ours of the place of senti- 
 ment in the order of betrothal and marriaire is 
 the corre6l one, let us not misrepresent or ignore 
 their view, with the purpose of thereby showing 
 a superiority in our view which might not other- 
 wise be obvious. 
 
 As Dr. Van Lennep expresses it, "The Ori- 
 ental theory Is that love comes after marriage, 
 and that it can be kept from premature develop- 
 m(Mit by the complete separation of the sexes." 
 Raj Coomar Roy, a Hindoo waiter, defending 
 the system of child marriage in India, in the 
 North American Review, says of the conjugal 
 relation, in this line of thought : " It is expressly 
 said to be a divine union. Christ said, ' What 
 God hath joined together let no man put asun- 
 der.'^ We find Solomon calling the w^ife a 'gift 
 
 1 Matt. 19 : 6; Mark lo : 9. 
 
Betrothals and Weddings i>i tJic East. 1 1 
 
 Iruni the Lord,'' and in the inarriairc service 
 ap[)ointcd by the Ciuircli of En^-land some one 
 is rccjuired to stand as the donor of the bride, as 
 is the case in every Hindoo marriage. ' Mar- 
 riage,' says an eminent (Hindoo) doclor of law, 
 ' is viewed as a gift of the bride by her father, 
 or other ^'uardian, to the bride' '"room." The 
 marital union is thus a tUvine tniion ; it is an acl 
 of God, and not of man. . . , The Roman Catho- 
 lics regard it as a sacrament ; so do the Hindoos." 
 
 In China, also, the belief prevails that matri- 
 monial matches are made in heaven ; and at the 
 time of betrothal, as well as at the wedding, red 
 silk cords are employed as a means of linking the 
 tokens of the marriage compacl:, in accordance 
 with a tradition that at their birth those who are 
 to be husband and wife have their feet supcr- 
 naturally bound together by an invisible red cord 
 — apparently as a symbol of a blood-covenanted 
 union. "When this cord has been tied," says 
 the tradition, "though the parties be of un- 
 friendly families, or of dilferent nations, it is im- 
 possible to change their destiny." 
 
 Among Semitic peoples generally it is held that 
 
 ' I'rov. ly : 14. 
 
12 S/iu/ic's ill Oricnlal Social Life. 
 
 as tlic divine r'athcr provided a wife for Adam/ 
 so the earthly father is to select a wife for his 
 son ; or, in the absence of the father, this duty 
 devolves on the mother or on the elder brother. 
 Thus it was that Abraham felt his responsibility 
 to secure a wife for Isaac,- and that Hagar, when 
 alone with her son in the wilderness, sought 
 out a wife for Ishmael from Egypt.^ It is in the 
 same view of the right and the duty of the parent 
 to sec his children duly wedded, that the father 
 bestows his daughter upon the man whom he 
 deems worthy of her. So it was that Reiiel gave 
 his daughter Zipporah to Moses as a wife,^ that 
 Caleb promised his daughter Achsah as a wife to 
 the man who should capture Kiriath-sepher, ^ that 
 Saul pledged the hand of his royal daughter to 
 that soldier who should kill the boastful cham- 
 pion of the Philistines,'' and similarly with others 
 all along the Bible story. 
 
 If, indeed, an Oriental son has come to mar 
 riao-eable asje without being betrothed by his 
 parents, it is his privilege to ask his father to 
 find a wife for him, or to secure one of whom 
 
 i(;en. 2 : lS-24. Mien. 24 : 1-4. 'Gen. 21 : 14-21. 
 
 *Exod. 2 : 16-21. ^Josh. 15 : 16, 17 ; Judg. i • 12, 13. 
 
 ^i Sam. 17 : 1-25. 
 
Betrothals mid Weddings in the Jiast. 13 
 
 lie has aln-ady known somcthiiiL;'. Then it is for 
 llu' lather to deckle whether his son's rc:(|Liest 
 shall be recognized as a reasonable one;. Thus 
 it was in tlie I^ible story when yonng Shcchcm, 
 the son of 1 lamor, liad ialKm in love with Dinah, 
 the daughter ot Jaccjb, "Shecheni spake unto his 
 father liamor, saying, Get me this damsel to 
 wife;"' and when Samson had seen a daughter 
 of the Philistines in Timnah who plc;ased him, 
 "he came up, and told his father and his mother, 
 and said, I have seen a woman in Timnah of the 
 dauorhters of the Philistines : now therefore Lret 
 her tor me to wife."''^ 
 
 Even the daughter's choice is sometimes recog- 
 nized as worthy of consideration, or as essential 
 to the betrothal. This was so in olden time also. 
 Thus the parents of Rebekah asked her if she 
 would L>"o with Eliezer to become the wife of 
 Isaac, before they would send her away;'' and 
 thus Saul consulted the Welshes of his daughter 
 Michal, in proposing to betroth her to David, 
 after her sister Merab had been given to an- 
 other in violation of Saul's promise."^ 
 
 ^Gen. 34 : 1-4. 'Judg. 14 : 1-3. 
 
 ^Gcn. 24 : 53-58. ■* I Sam. lo : 17-21. 
 
14 Sliidics in Oriental Social Lijc. 
 
 l)ccausc ciislums in connection with belrolhal 
 and wcddini^ ceremonies in the East differ in 
 many particulars, a description oi them as ob- 
 served in any one place, or at any one time, can- 
 not be accepted as covering" all their varieties. 
 Yet, on the other hand, there is always a gain in 
 a specihc description as bringing before the mind 
 a more vivid idea of representative customs than 
 can be obtained through any description in gen- 
 eral terms. I will describe, therefore, a method 
 of wife-seekintr and betrothal amon;^- the Arabs 
 of Upper Egypt, as I had it from the lips of a 
 native Syrian, who was familiar witli these details, 
 from their frequent observing during her resi- 
 dence there, and who tells me that it is much the 
 same as in portions of Upper Syria, especially in 
 the Lebanon region. 
 
 W hen a young man of this region has acquired 
 sufficient mc^ans for a marriage dowry, or, as 
 we should say, is able to provide for a wife, he 
 eoes to his father and tells him that he wants to 
 marry. With his father's approval, he then goes 
 to his mother and asks her to look up a girl 
 to be his wife. The young man is not without 
 his conception of an ideal beauty in person and 
 
BetrotJials and Weddings in tJic East. 15 
 
 character, so he describes the girl he would 
 like to have his mother find for him. tier face, 
 her form, her eyes, her hair, her disposition, her 
 manner, all are dwelt upon in this description ; 
 and the mother is enjoined to secure the realizing 
 of that ideal. 
 
 Charged with this mission, the mother, accom- 
 panied by women relatives, sets out upon her 
 tour of examination among the families of her 
 kinsfolk who are known to have marriageable 
 daughters. The mothers of such daughters are 
 as keenly alive to their responsibility and oppor- 
 tunities among the mountains of Lebanon, or by 
 the banks of the Nile, as at Long Branch, Bar 
 Harbor, or the Catskills ; and the formal call 
 on one of them by the mother of an eligible 
 young man is likely to be recognized in its fullest 
 possibilities. 
 
 The shaking of hands at such a time between 
 the two matrons (including the clasping of each 
 other's thumbs, — as if in survival of the primi 
 tive blood -covenanting by the pierced thumbs) 
 will sometimes occupy fifteen or twenty minutes. 
 While the servants are bringing rugs and coffee 
 for the guests, in the reception-room on the 
 
1 6 Shuilics in Orienial Social Life. 
 
 lower floor, the hostess mother sends word to 
 her daughter upstairs to dress herself at her best 
 and await a summons to come down. 
 
 It is a custom in the East to serve two cups 
 of coffee to a guest : one on his arrival, as a 
 token of covenanting with him ; the second at 
 the close of the interview, as an intimation that 
 the conference is at an end and that it closes 
 amicably. After taking the first cup on such an 
 occasion as this, the visiting mother, with due 
 circumlocution, inquires after the marriageable 
 daughter of her hostess. The latter replies by 
 praising her daughter, laying special emphasis 
 on her modesty and shrinking bashfulness. As 
 the request for the daughter's appearance is 
 repeated, her mother expresses the fear that she 
 would a6lually faint from fright if summoned into 
 that presence ; but at last the mother yields to 
 the urgent requests for a sight of her daughter 
 to the extent of going to the foot of the stairs 
 and calling to her to come down and serve the 
 second cup of coffee to her mother's guests. 
 
 In such a case, the daughter never responds 
 to the first call. She will exhibit no such un- 
 seemly haste as that for a settlement in life ! 
 
BetrotJials and JVeddhigs in the East. 1 7 
 
 A second call is made U) her by her molher, a 
 third, a fourth, a fifth, or more, before she makes 
 her appearance. When at last she comes, she 
 is closely veiled. In her hand she brini^^s a tray 
 bearing' the coffee, which she proffers timidl)-. 
 The visitors refuse to accept the parting cup 
 until they have seen the face of its bearer. 
 Pressing their request they lift the veil, and the 
 candidate is under examination. Her face, eyes, 
 hair, expression, all are scrutinized. If the ob- 
 servers are pleased, they return to their home, 
 and the praises of the approved girl are sounded 
 in the ears of the wife-seeking young man. 
 
 All this is preliminary to the betrothal. That 
 follows in its order. When a young man informs 
 his father that he desires to obtain a specified 
 young woman for his wife, the father calls in a 
 w^akeel, or deputy, to act as "the friend of the 
 bridegroom,"^ or would-be brideo^room, or as 
 his "best man " in the negotiations to be made. 
 This deputy is fully informed of the state of 
 affairs, and the requisite dowry, or the portion 
 of it which is to be paid at the time of the be- 
 trothal contract, is put into his hands. Accom- 
 
 ' Judg. 14 : 20 ; John 3 : 29. 
 
1 8 Studies ill Oriental Social Life. 
 
 paniccl by the )ouns4' man's father, e^r by some 
 other male member of the family, or by both, 
 tht; deputy seeks an interview with the parents 
 of the young woman. 
 
 Arriving at the house, the deputy asks if "the 
 father of Maryam " — or whatever the )oung 
 woman's name may be — is at home. \Vh(>n the 
 latter appears to greet his guests, he is told that 
 the deputy will speak for the party. As coffee 
 is proffered, the deputy says that the visitors 
 have come upon a very important mission, and 
 that they can neither eat nor drink until that 
 mission is accomplished. It is now as it was in 
 the days of Abraham. When Eliezer sought 
 Rebekah for Isaac, and he was proffered refresh- 
 ments in the house of her father, he said, " I will 
 not eat until I have told mine errand."^ At this 
 intimation of the already suspe(ited objecl: of the 
 visit, the father of the young woman sends for 
 his wakeel to represent him, or his daughter, as 
 a deputy in the negotiations desired. When 
 the two deputies are face to face on their rugs, 
 the business of the hour is fairly open. 
 
 "Our son Yoosef," says the groom's best 
 
 ' Gen. 24 ; 33. 
 
BcirolJials and ll^cddinos in the Bast. 19 
 
 man, "desires to marry your daughter IMaryam." 
 When the question of dowry, or marriage settle- 
 ment, is satisfacrlorily adjusted, the same "best 
 man " continues : " But sui)pose our son is a lazy 
 man, and will make a bad husband ; suppose 
 he is one who will beat his wife, and will fall to 
 provide her with a good home ; — are you willing 
 to give her to him even then ? Just as he is, he 
 wants to be a husband to her." If the father 
 of the bride, who is standing by, is content, he 
 answers : " Our daughter shall be a slave to your 
 son ; a servant of his servant ;^ and her life and 
 her honor shall be under his feet." Here is the 
 father "giving away" his daughter to a husband 
 "for better or for worse " — especially for worse, 
 "to obey him and serve him," after the most 
 approved modern and Occidental style. 
 
 Then it is for the bride's deputy to make his 
 qualifications for the party whom he represents. 
 "You are come to secure my principal's daughter 
 as a wife for your son," he says. " But how do 
 you know her? It may be she is blind. It may 
 be she is lazy and good for nothing. It may be 
 she will not make a good wife. Perhaps she 
 
 ' I Sam. 25 : 40, 41. 
 
20 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 is in poor health. How do you know she is a 
 suitable person to be his wife ? " Thereupon 
 the groom's father answers: "Supposing your 
 daughter to have all the diseases and defects in 
 the world, my son is willing to take her for his 
 companion ; and he wants her to stand by his 
 side throuo:hout his life." 
 
 At this point the deputies rise, and all par- 
 ties exchange congratulations with one another. 
 Coffee is brought in, and they partake of it to- 
 gether. The deputies draw up a written contract, 
 which is signed by the two fathers, a copy being 
 given to each of them. A portion of the bride's 
 dowry is paid at once on the groom's behalf, the 
 remainder being kept back to be paid to the wife 
 in the event of her divorce. The bride's father 
 is expecl;ed to give a like sum with that paid by 
 the groom, — the entire amount being the bride's 
 portion, which is ordinarily invested in coins or 
 jewelry to be worn by the bride as her exclusive 
 personal property. At the close of the betrothal 
 ceremony the parties separate with an under- 
 standing of the date when the bridegroom will 
 come to claim his bride. 
 
 There are, as I have said, many variations in 
 
BetyotJials cuui Weddings in the East. 2 1 
 
 these betrothal customs in chfferent parts of the 
 East, and among persons of different reUgions in 
 the same region ; yet certain main features are 
 observable throu^^-h all the varieties of form. 
 Instead of the mother of the young man going 
 herselt on a tour of inspection in search of a 
 bride, a woman "go-between " is often employed 
 to look up a desirable match in the circle of 
 the young man's kinsfolk and acquaintance. In 
 Egypt and Syria, as in China, these "go-be- 
 tweens," or "match-makers," form an important 
 class in the community ; and their occupation 
 gives a fine opportunity for wisdom and tacl, as 
 well as for shrewdness and deceit, in counsel 
 and action. 
 
 Sometimes these go-betweens arrange all the 
 preliminary details of a betrothal; and, again, 
 they simply report their first observations to 
 their principal, who then manages to enter the 
 hareem reported from, to learn the truth for her- 
 self. It would appear, however, throughout the 
 East, that the parents of the young people, 
 rather than the yoiuig people themselves, are 
 the chief contracting parties to a contract of 
 betrothal ; that a contract of betrothal is the real 
 
22 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 contracfl of marriao^c; ; that a payment of dowry 
 to the bride, or of C(Mii[)ensation to her parents, 
 is made on the part of the bridegroom at the 
 time of betrothal ; and that gifts to the bride and 
 to other members of her family are usually made 
 on the part of the bridegroom in conjuncl:ion with 
 a betrothal. 
 
 There are Lrleams of all these truths in the 
 Bible narratives as well as in the unearthed 
 records of ancient Egypt and Babylon. Eliezer 
 appears as the go-between in arranging the 
 betrothal of Isaac and Rebekah.^ His first inti- 
 mation to her of the obje(5l of his coming was his 
 gilt to her, in the name of his master, Abraham, 
 of " a golden [nose] ring of half a shekel weight, 
 and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels 
 weight of gold;'"" and after her father and 
 brother had betrothed her to the yet unseen 
 Isaac, this go-between "brought forth jewels of 
 silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave 
 them to Rebekah : he (jave also to her brother 
 and to her mother precious things."^ 
 
 When Hamor would have won the daughter of 
 
 'Gen. 24 : 1-6. ^Gen. 24 : 22 ; comp. v. 47 (Rev. Ver.). 
 
 ^Gen. 24 : 50-53. 
 
Betrothals and Weddings in the East. 23 
 
 Jacob tur his son Shcchein, he said to her lather : 
 "Ask me never so much dowry and L,dtt. and I 
 will give according- as ye shall say unto me : but 
 eive me the damsel to wife."^ Samson's go-be- 
 tween, " his companion, whom he had used as 
 his friend,"- was given the betrothc;d wife ot 
 Samson ; he having" evidently spoken lor himself, 
 as honest John Alden refused to do whiU- act- 
 ing as a iro -between for the Samson ol Mas- 
 sachusetts Bay. An Arabic proverb of to-day 
 shows that Samson Vv^as not the last suitor to be 
 betrayed by his go-between ; for it says of any 
 man who is false to his employer or principal : 
 " He went to woo [her for a friend], and married 
 her himself." 
 
 The fair equivalent value of a marriageable 
 daughter was specified in the Levitical law ;^ 
 the exacting of personal ser\-ice, or services, 
 from the^ bridegroom in lieu of dowry (which is 
 still a custom in some parts of the Hast) was 
 illustrated in the case of Jacob,^ and of Othniel,^ 
 and of David,'"' 
 
 Contracts of betrothal between the parents of 
 
 'Gen. 34 : 12. 'Ju<-lg. 14 : 20. 
 
 Deut. 22 : 28, 29 ; E.xod. 22 : 16, 17. ''Gen. 29 : 15-28. 
 
 6 Josh. 15: 16, 17 ; Judg. I : 12, 13. •* i Sam. 17 : :^5: '8: ^I'V- 
 
 3 
 
24 Studies in OrietUal Social Life. 
 
 young' persons arc among the documents re- 
 covered from the ruins of ancient I'Lgypt and 
 Assyria ; and these contracl;s show that the pay- 
 ment of dowry to the bride or to her parents 
 was an essential part of every such transacl:ion. 
 The money given to the bride was spoken ot in 
 those days as "pin-money," or "toilet-money;" 
 and the prevalence of such terms for the modern 
 translation of those old-time contracts shows that 
 the mercenary element in plans of wedded life 
 has had enough of a survival to be easily recog- 
 nized by the present generation. 
 
 Sir Richard BurtcMi, who has perhaps traveled 
 more extensively and more observantly among 
 both civilized and uncivilized peoples than any 
 other man of this generation, says cynically, on 
 this point, that women are "a marketable com- 
 modity in barbarism as in civilization." But it 
 is liardly fair to limit the mercenary element in 
 marriage to the female sex, East or West. There 
 are cases in Christian lands, whatever may be 
 true of the lands of barbarism, where it is men 
 who are bought, rather than women ; and where 
 parents who are able to give their daughters a 
 sufficient sum of purchase money, or dowry, can 
 
Betrothals and Weddings in the East. 25 
 
 hope to bu)' a husbaiul ot almost any desirable 
 pattern, all the way along h'om a spick-and-span 
 dude to a dilapidate duke or an impecunious 
 prince — whichever way the gradation runs. Or, 
 if the woman has had some experience in the 
 matrimonial line, she can sometimes make the 
 purchase for herself with the money of a former 
 husband — dead or divorced. But this is cpiite 
 apart from marriage customs as a rule, West 
 and East. 
 
 Betrothals in the East are often made as a 
 means of a social or political alliance between 
 families or rulers. This has always been so 
 there ; and a survival of the custom is found in the 
 marriages for diplomatic reasons which prevail in 
 the royal families of Europe to-day. Rameses 1 1., 
 in the days of Moses, married a daughter of the 
 king of the Hittites as a conclusion oi a treaty of 
 peace with that sovereign after the great battle of 
 Kadesh-on-the-Orontes. Solomon made several 
 marriages of this character,' and so did other 
 rulers of whom the Bible tells us.^ 
 
 While I was on the desert of Sinai, my drago- 
 
 1 I Kings 3 : I ; 9 : 16; II : 3. 
 «i Kings II : 19; 16 : 31 ; 2 Kings S ; iS ; 2 Chron. 21 : 6. 
 
26 Studies m Oriental Social Life. 
 
 man, finding,'' much difficulty in arran^'ing terms 
 with the Tceyahah Bcd'ween, told mc of a plan 
 of his to marry a daughter of the chief shaykh 
 of that tribe in order to better his prospects of 
 safe transit in that region. And there are men 
 on this side of the Atlantic who would appreciate 
 this phase of Oriental shrewdness. 
 
 A betrothal in the East is counted quite as 
 sacred and quite as binding as a marriage cere- 
 mony. It may indeed be broken, but its break- 
 iuCT is even more of a matter than a divorce, and 
 a woman who is betrothed is looked upon as 
 already a wife. In India, a girl betrothed in 
 childhood is a widow for life, if he to whom she 
 was betrothed die before she has seen him. 
 Jacob's betrothal to Rachel was a period of full 
 seven years ; and when Jacob claimed her, at the 
 close of that period, his words to her father were, 
 •' Give me my luife ;''^ not Give to me thy daugh- 
 ter to be my wife, but Give to me the one who is 
 my wife. 
 
 The frequent references in the Levitical law 
 to "a virgin betrothed unto an husband'"- and to 
 a man who " hath betrothed a luife and hatii 
 
 * Gen. 29 : 20, 21. ' Deut. 22 : 23, 24 ; Lev. 19 : 20. 
 
Betrothals and IVcddiiigs in the East. 27 
 
 not taken her," ' as well as the later references 
 to Joseph and Mary of Nazareth during- the 
 time of their betrothal," show that the; primitive 
 view of the betrothal compacl has been much 
 the same among Semitic peoples as among the 
 Ar\ans. In some communities a feast, with its 
 gathering- of the; friends of l)olh j)arties, is an 
 accompaniment of a betrothal, while in other 
 communities all festive displays are postponed 
 to the time of the taking of the bride to the 
 bridegroom's home. 
 
 Amone some of the Arab tribes of the Sinaitic 
 Peninsula, when a young girl has been betrothed 
 by her parents to a suitor for her hand, or while 
 negotiations for a betrothal are in progress, she 
 flies to the mountains as if she would escape the 
 betrothal tie. Then it devolves upon him who 
 has won her parents' consent to his possession 
 of her. to make good his right to her by finding 
 and winning her for himself. He must pursue 
 her, and bring her back to her parents' tent, or 
 his betrothal compact is a failure. If she be 
 really averse to the match, she eludes capture if 
 
 1 Dcut. 20 : 7 ; 28 : 30. 
 2 Matt. I : iS-25 ; Luke i : 26, 27 ; 2 : 4, 5. 
 
28 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 it is possible for her to do so ; but it she be not 
 iinwilhng- to ratify the betrothal, she makes only 
 a reasonable show of earnestness in this conven- 
 tional attempt at escape. Instances are not un- 
 known, however, of the suicide of young girls, 
 at such a time, in preference to an unwelcome 
 
 marriage. 
 
 This custom of "capturing a bride " is preva- 
 lent, in one form or another, widely throughout 
 the East, and in other parts of the world as well. 
 Its significance would seem to be obvious, as 
 based upon the natural characteristics of woman, 
 and upon the circumstances of her betrothal to a 
 husband by the will of her parents without her 
 prior consent to the arrangement. A woman has 
 a will of her own, and there was never a time 
 when she did not have. If a woman's will be not 
 recognized at the start, it has to be met and con- 
 quered, in one way or another, sooner or later. 
 A modest shrinking from the entire surrender 
 of herself to another is instinctive in a woman's 
 nature. She must manifest it, and a way has to 
 be found for her to do so. 
 
 Moreover, it is natural for a man to prize most 
 that which costs him most, and to depreciate the 
 
BctrotJials and Weddings in Ihc East. 29 
 
 value of that which can be had for the askino-. 
 Hence, whatever betrothal compact is made for 
 a young woman l)y her father, at the; request of a 
 young man, it still remains for the young man to 
 win for himself her whom he w^ould have to him- 
 self, and for the young woman to say whether she 
 shall be fairly won, or shall be taken in spite of 
 herself. And so it is that apart from all quc^stion 
 of parental control, or of bargain and promise 
 between parent and suitor, he who would have a 
 wife must capture her for himself; and the widely 
 prevalent custom of "marriage by capture" is 
 based, like every other world-wide custom, upon 
 a sentiment that is common to the human race, 
 and not upon any Jiistoi^ie pracliee which was an 
 incident of a passing period. 
 
 Yet, strange to say, many a truth-seeking 
 sociologist or anthropologist, more learned than 
 wise, has seriously advocated the claim that this 
 simple and natural exhibit of manly and womanly 
 feeling in conne61ion with betrothal and marriage 
 is to be accepted as merely a survival of a jjre- 
 historic method of securing wives from the peo- 
 ple of a hostile tribe by rapine and violence. If 
 it were not that this claim had been put for- 
 
30 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 ward and a[)provcd In- men of eminence in the 
 world of science and letters, it would hardly de- 
 serve any other treatment than sheer ridicule. 
 As it is, it stands out as one of the remarkable 
 illustrations of unscientific method employed in 
 the; realm of science. 
 
 The poets have a truer appreciation of senti- 
 ment than the mere scientists in their estimate 
 of a woman's way with a wooing lover. Milton, 
 describing the first woman's reception of the first 
 lover's approaches, says, in the name of Adam : 
 
 " She heard me thus, and though divinely brought, 
 Yet innocence and virgin modesty, 
 Her virtue and the conscience of her worth. 
 That would be wooed, and not unsought be won, 
 
 Wrought in her so, that seeing me she turned ; 
 I followed her." 
 
 And Dryden makes Eve to answer Adam's ap- 
 peal with : 
 
 " Somewhat forbids me, which I cannot name ; 
 For ignorant of guilt I fear not shame ; 
 But some restraining thought, I know not why, 
 Tells me you long should try, I long deny." 
 
 A theory by which this idea of primitive mar- 
 riage by capture is supported is, that, in primeval 
 
BetrotJials and IVeddings in the East. 31 
 
 times, marriages between members of the same 
 family or tribe were not permitted ; hence wives 
 must be secured by force outside these hues. 
 But to this day, in Egypt, Arabia, and Syria, the 
 marriage of blood relatives is preferred. As 
 recently as 1878, Sir Wilfred and Lady Anne 
 Blunt made a journey from "Tadmor in the wil- 
 derness" of Northern Syria,^ to Nejd. in Central 
 Arabia, to secure for a young Arab attendant, 
 whom they valued, a wife from among his blood 
 relatives, the Ibn Arooks, whom he had never 
 seen. Their story ot this adventure shows the 
 same essential features in a courtship and mar- 
 riage among that primitive people now as in the 
 days of Abraham and of Jacob. Sir Wilfred 
 acled as Eliezer in the negotiation. And the 
 attempt was made on the part of the parents of 
 the bride to have the elder sister taken instead 
 of the younger, A "professional go-between" 
 was employed by the parents to arrange details. 
 At last the betrothal contract was signed, and the 
 younger sister consented to go to a iar country 
 as the wife of her stranirer cousin. 
 
 We know that among the ancient Hebrews 
 
 ^ I Kings 9:18; 2 Chron. b : 4. 
 4 
 
32 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 niarriai^^c \\\\\\ relatives was preferred ; ^ and it 
 is an established fact that amonof the ancient 
 Egyptians, and also among the Assyrians, the 
 marriage of brothers and sisters, and even of 
 iathers and daughters, was an approved custom. 
 A similar state ot thini^^s is known to have existed 
 among the Peruvians in the Western world. 
 The sweep of testimony in the earlier records 
 of the human race is opposed to the imderly- 
 ing theory on which the claimed necessity of the 
 capture of brides from a foreign people or tribe 
 is based. 
 
 When, in the East, the day approaches for the 
 wedding of two persons betrothed, preparations 
 are made for festivities in the homes of both par- 
 ties. Invitations are sent out in advance, by the 
 parents on both sides, to their kinsfolk and 
 friends, to come to the feasts which are provided 
 in both homes. The marriage proper is the 
 bringing of the bride by the bridegroom to his 
 own home, or to his mother s home, — as his home 
 is at such a time ordinarily spoken of. Thus it 
 is that the Bible record says that after Rebekah 
 
 ' (^.en. 1 1 : 29-31 ; 12 : 10-13 ; 20 : 2-12 ; 24 : 2-4 ; 20 : i, 2 ; 
 2 Sam. 13 : 10-13. 
 
BetrotJials and Weddings in the East. 33 
 
 was bctrothcel to Isaac, " Isaac brougliL lur inlo 
 his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekali, and 
 sht' became his wife."' 
 
 This looking upon a 1)ridc: as belonging to the 
 mother of the bridegroom is a distinctive feature 
 of the family life; of the [)rimitive East. It is 
 fre(|uently referred to by the observers of Orien- 
 tal customs. Morier, the English traveler, re- 
 ports the Persian c;nvoy as saying that "the 
 kine's mother IkuI more business than can be 
 described. She had the control of all her son's 
 harem, which might consist all together ot more 
 than a thousand women ; and you may well con- 
 ceive the trouble which they would give."^ 
 
 It would seem, indeed, to be in view of this 
 primitive custom in the East that such emphasis 
 is laid, in the first book of the Pentateuch, upon 
 the primal plan of separating from the patri- 
 archal home each new couple of young people. 
 "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his 
 mother, and shall cleave unto his wife : and they 
 shall be one flesh." ^ It is not that therefore 
 shall a woman k:avt: her father and her mother 
 and shall cleave unt(j her husband, f(jr ihat will 
 
 'Gen. 24 : 67. - bcc Song of Songs S : 2. -"(Jcn. 2 : 24. 
 
34 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 be secured in the nature of the case ; but it is 
 that, contrary to the custom of a patriarchal 
 people, the man who marries a wife ought to 
 leave his old home, and make a new home with 
 and for his wife. TJiis is the Bible doctrine, 
 and this also is the custom, away from the East, 
 under the inlluence of Bible teachings ; but this 
 is not, nor was it, the custom in the patriarchal 
 East. 
 
 Customs vary in different regions concerning 
 wedding festivities and the invitations to them, 
 as well as concerning betrothals. But quite 
 generally among the wealthier classes these fes- 
 tivities cover a week or more. It was so in the 
 days of Jacob, when Laban urged his son-in-law 
 not to interrupt that week's rejoicings merely 
 because he had been given the wrong woman 
 for a wife. ^ And "so used the young men to 
 do," in Samson's time, as we are told in the Bible 
 record.- So, also, are the young men and their 
 friends accustomed to do in Egypt and Arabia 
 and Syria to-day. 
 
 In some cases the father of the bridegroom 
 sends out a number of his friends to bear invita- 
 
 ' Gen. 2y ■ 27. ^ Judg. 14 : 10-12. 
 
Bch'otJials am/ U\(/(/i)i o's in fJic East. 35 
 
 tions to those whom he would liavc as crucsts, 
 griviiv-- to every oik; of thest! messenofers a new 
 suit of clothinij;- for the occasion ; and at the 
 same time he sends a himp witli ohve oil for its 
 iiUinij;" to every one whom lie inxites to the wed- 
 dint^ festivities. Similarly, in some cases the 
 mother of the bride provides new garments for 
 the women messengers by whom she sends 
 invitations to her women friends. Sometimes, 
 again, the invitations are sent with less formality, 
 and with(nit any such outlay for new garments 
 and lam[)s. Invited guests send gifts to the 
 house of the bridegroom in advance of their 
 comine, n.nd the eifts sent to or with the bride 
 are made as prominent as possible in their 
 display. 
 
 An examination of the bridal presents at the 
 time of the wedding festivities, with a critical 
 estimate of their cash value, on the part ot the 
 invited guests, is, indeed, quite as prominent a 
 feature of such an occasion in the East as in the 
 West. The bride herself is loaded with all the 
 gold and silver and precious stones she possesses ; 
 and there is a special reason for this as apart 
 from any possible question of a woman's innate 
 
36 Studies ill Oriental Social Life. 
 
 love for finery. There is a utilitarian aspect of 
 it tliat is worthy of note. 
 
 Oriental law and Oriental custom give to 
 a woman the undisinitcd i)roprietorship of Ik r 
 purely personal ])roperty. such as her money, her 
 jewelry, and her wearing apparel ; but beyond 
 this her property rights are at the best a matter 
 of question. This facl; makes it for a woman's 
 interest to be her own banker, and to attach her 
 worldly treasures to her person. 
 
 Miss Whately, at Cairo, while pointing to the 
 little girls of her school who were showily 
 adorned with strings of coins and ornaments of 
 silver and gold, said to me on this point: "Any 
 woman who is a wife may by Muhammadan law 
 be divorced and put away by her husband at 
 any hour. He has but to speak the word and 
 she must leave him. Then she must go out 
 from her home to get on by herself as best she 
 can. But her husband cannot take from her any- 
 thing that she has upon her person. So you 
 see those rings and necklaces may come to be 
 all-important to these girls in their hour of need. 
 I can hardly, therefore, have it in my heart to 
 insist that they shall strip themselves of their 
 
Bcirot/ials a? id IVcddrnps m the East. 
 
 ■^o i,^ vn^. j^uoc. jy 
 
 only assured propcrt)- in the eye of Eg-yptian 
 law." 
 
 The divorcing- word in Turkey is " Bosh." 
 American husbands, I fear, sometimes speak that 
 word to their wives without reahzine its Oriental 
 origin and potency. It was to hmit this power 
 of the primitive Oriental husbands to tlivorcc 
 their wives by a spoken word, that the Mosaic 
 law required the husband to give a written bill 
 of divorcement when from any cause he would 
 put away his wife.^ The difficulty of enforcing 
 even the Mosaic requirements, so far, on an 
 Oriental people, is shown in the prevalent cus- 
 toms of divorce among the Arabs of to-day. 
 
 A divorced wife in the East is entitled by 
 common law to all her wearing apparel, as 
 well as to any portion of her dower which may 
 have been retained by her husband at the Umc 
 of her betrothal ; but she is obviously at a 
 disadvantage in pressing such a claim as this, 
 whereas there can be no question concerning 
 that which is aClually upon her person. Hence 
 it is that so much interest attaches to the costli- 
 ness of a bride's personal adorning in the East, 
 
 ' Dent. 24 : I ; Matt. 5 : 31, 32 ; 19 : 3-1 1. 
 
38 Shiciics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 and that its market value indicates what she by 
 herself may fairly be said to be "worth." And 
 this would seem to account for the wearing of 
 coins and of gold and silver ornaments so gene- 
 rally by women in the East, — even among the 
 poorer classes ; as also for the custom of giving 
 presents to a bride in the form of gold and sil- 
 ver and jewelry, which has its survi\al in the 
 West as well as in the East. 
 
 The women guests at a wedding, in many 
 parts of the East, deck themselves with all their 
 jewels and other personal adornings, not so much 
 with a view to the esthetic advantage of these to 
 the wearer, as with a purpose of showing them 
 off in their purely financial aspect. 
 
 In illustration of this, Lady Burton, wife and 
 biographer of the famous English traveler, gives 
 her observations at a "splendid Eastern wedding" 
 in high life in Damascus. " It lasted five days 
 and five nights," she says, "the men celebrating 
 it at one house and the women in another. . . . 
 It was a erand sisfht. . . . The dresses were won- 
 derful in richness and gaudiness : diamonds 
 blazed everywhere ; but there was one very re- 
 markable usage which took my fancy. The best 
 
BctrotJials and JW^ddiiios jn fJic East. 39 
 
 women dn^ssed in a plain cashmc^rc robe of 
 7^<?^/?^^<? shape, and wort? no ornaments, l)ut loaded 
 all iheir riches on owv. or two of their slaves, as 
 if to say, in school-i^irls' i)arlance, ' Now, e^-irls ! 
 if you w^ant to see my thing's, there they are. 
 I have them, but it is too great a bore to carry 
 them myself; and you can inspec^l and turn about 
 Mirjanah and Hassunah [the two slave girls] as 
 much as you like.' " 
 
 It would seem to be a survival of this primitive 
 custom of proving a woman's worth by an inven- 
 tory of her personal jewelry, that prompts the 
 modern newsmonger to cable across the Atlantic 
 the cash value of the precious stones borne upon 
 the person of the wife of an American million- 
 aire on her appearance at the Queen's drawing- 
 room. 
 
 The bride's trousseau is also on exhibition at 
 many an Eastern wedding, but in a more formal 
 and elaborate manner than in our Western 
 world. The bride puts on every one of her cos- 
 tumes in its order, and is presented in it to her 
 guests, and in some cases to her husband also, 
 who is present at this ceremony, until she has 
 gone through her entire outfit. This custom 
 
40 Sfudics! in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 finds fn^qiKMit illustration in the Arabian Nights, 
 where a description of a marriage includes the 
 successive presentation of the bride to her hus- 
 \va\m\ in her diffen-nt robes of beauty. Thus in 
 \\\v. tale of Noor al Deen Alee and his Son, the 
 bride; is presented to her guests, while the bride- 
 groom is present, in her seven different dresses 
 in succession, comment being made on every 
 dress by itself by the fair narrator, Shahrazad. 
 
 An observant German traveler in Tunis, de- 
 scribing the customs among the Jews of that 
 region, on the chief dressing-day of the wedding 
 ceremonies, says : " There exists a custom that 
 on this day all brides married the same year take 
 their whole wardrobe to the newly married lady, 
 and change their toilet from hour to hour : no 
 easy task, considering the great number of their 
 garments, and their corpulence and awkward- 
 ness. Nevertheless, vanity overcomes the diffi- 
 culty." 
 
 Great variety is shown in the form and style 
 and nature of the gold and silver and precious 
 stone adornings of a bride, in different parts of 
 the East ; yet with all the variations there are cer- 
 tain bridal ornaments which are found through- 
 
Betrothals and Weddings in the East. 4 1 
 
 out the East. Ear-rings, and nosc-rincrs, and nose- 
 pins, and anklets, and necklaces, and brooches, 
 and head-bands, and hair chains, and o;irdlcs, 
 and other ornaments, are common, but not uni- 
 vc^rsal. Diamond clusters in star form, fastenetl 
 upon the forehead, upon the chin, and u])on 
 eith(u- ch(Mk, are a costly feature of a bride's 
 exhibit in Damascus and in Constantinople, it 
 not also elsewhere. But a rinc; or a bracelet of 
 some kind, to^^ether with a diadem or crown, is 
 well nigh universal as a part of a bride's adorn- 
 int'-s. The rincr, or bracelet, seems to be the 
 token of a covenant between the husband and 
 the wife, and the crown obviously symbolizes the 
 queenliness of woman and the royalty of wife- 
 hood. 
 
 Both these tokens are of very early origin and 
 of widespread and general use in conjunClion 
 with wedding ceremonies. It is obviously in 
 view of these common adornings of the Oriental 
 bride that, when the Lord speaks through the 
 prophet Ezekiel to Israel as his betrothed wife, he 
 says : " I clothed thee also with broide-red work, 
 and shod thee with sealskin, and I girded thee 
 about with fine linen, and covered thee with silk. 
 
42 Studies in Oi'icntal Social L[fc. 
 
 I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put 
 bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy 
 neck. And I put a ring upon [or in] thy nose, 
 and earrings in thine ears, and a beantifnl croiun 
 npon thine head. Thus wast thou decked with 
 gold and silver ; and thy raiment was of fine 
 linen, and silk, and broidered work."^ 
 
 Again when the Lord by Ezekiel rebukes 
 Samaria and Jerusalem, under the names of Oho- 
 lah and Oholibah, for their breach of espousals, 
 he refers to their mock marriages, w^hen there 
 came "drunkards from the wilderness" who "put 
 bracelets upon the hands of them twain, and 
 beautiful crowns [or, crowns of glory] upon their 
 heads." ^ 
 
 There is sentiment also underlying the uni- 
 versal use of the bridal veil in connection with 
 the marriage ceremony in the East. This is 
 clearly a custom not confined to those peoples 
 among whom the women always go veiled, for 
 it, or its equivalent in a closed box or litter, is 
 equally prominent among other Oriental peoples, 
 A bride is behind a veil when her husband comes 
 
 ' Ezek. i6 : 10-13. 
 ^ Ezek. 23 : 42. Comp. Jer. 13 : 18 ; Isa. 62 : 3. 
 
Betrothals and Wedduigs in the East. 43 
 
 to chiiin her, and only by marriage is that vc-il 
 hftctl to hini. Rebekah seems to have had no 
 thought of veiUng her face against the stranger 
 Eliezer, or against the passers by as she jour- 
 neyed southward with him through Canaan, after 
 her betrothal to his master. But when they drew 
 near the Neir<^b below Hebron, and she was told 
 that Isaac was coming toward them, then at once 
 "she took her veil and covered herselt."^ 
 
 In many parts of the East the specific celebra- 
 tion of the marriage rite is called to-day "the 
 lifting of the veil," or "the uncovering of the 
 face," — a primitive custom which has its survival 
 here in the West in the bridegroom's lifting the 
 veil of his bride at the conclusion of the marriage 
 service and giving to her a husband's kiss. And 
 the very term "nuptial," or "nuptials," means 
 the " veiline " of the bride to receive her hus- 
 band. To one who recognizes the prevailing 
 power of sentiment in the world's history and 
 in the manners and customs of mankind, the 
 sicj-nificance of the bridal veil is as impressive as 
 it is simple and natural ; but the scholar who 
 has his hypothc-tical dogma to prove, will perhaps 
 
 1 (".en. 24 : 65. 
 
44 Studies in Oriental Soeial Life. 
 
 see in the bridal veil only an indication that in 
 j)ri'historic days wives were generally caught 
 wild by throwing a bag over their heads. 
 
 The week of the wedding, in the East, is a week 
 of processions as well as of feasting. In some 
 cases the bride, accompanieel by her friends, goes 
 in |)rocession to the public bath several tlays in 
 succession, and after this she is taken with much 
 show and demonstration to the home ot the 
 bridegroom or of his mother. The bridegroom 
 also has his special display in this line when 
 he eoes to receive his bride or to join her in his 
 own home. 
 
 The o-ifts for the bride, includinor her trousseau, 
 are sometimes borne in procession to her home 
 in advance of her going to the home of her hus- 
 band ; or they are borne before her on that 
 occasion. In all cases, as much of a display as is 
 pradicable is made of these gifts. A train of 
 camels, with showy trappings and ornamented 
 canopies, is sometimes employed for the trans- 
 portation of these bridal presents. Prominent 
 among these gifts is a bright -colored cradle, 
 which is often borne aloft in full display on the 
 back of a camel. 
 
BctrotJials and IVcddijigs in the East. 45 
 
 In the lai\oc cities, like; Cairo, Constantinople, 
 Danuiscus, and Jerusalem, the rejoicings which 
 accom[)any tliese weddini,^ processions are a 
 prominent feature of the social life of to-day as 
 in olden time. And this facl gives point to the 
 prophet's warning from the Lord, as a sentence 
 ot doom : "Then will I cause to cease from the 
 cities of Judah, and from the streets ot Jerusalem, 
 the -voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the 
 voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the 
 bride : for the land shall become a waste." ^ 
 
 Just here, an illustration of the wedding pro- 
 cessions, as I saw them in the East, may prove 
 their most helpful description. 
 
 It was at Castle Nakhl, an Egyptian fortress 
 in the Arabian Desert, that I witnessed these 
 processions. Castle Nakhl is a low-walled stone 
 fortress, with a mud village adjoining it, on a 
 llint-strewn chalky plain, at the point where the 
 great Hajj route, or pilgrim way from Cairo to 
 Meccah, crosses the main route between Mt. 
 Sinai and Hebron. It is an Egyptian military 
 stati(Mi. At the time I was there, its com- 
 mandant, or " governor," was an old Egyptian 
 
 ^Jer. 7 : 34; i6 : 9 ; 25 ■ 10. 
 
46 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 soldier, who was afterwards strongly suspecled 
 of coinplicity in the murder, on the desert near 
 Suez, of Professor E. H. Palmer of Cambridge 
 University, the famous explorer, and author of 
 the work on the Desert of the Exodus. 
 
 The old governor's son, who lived in Egypt, 
 had come down from his Delta home to take 
 back with him a bride to v/hom he had been long 
 betrothed, from one of the families living within 
 the fortress walls. This was "the social event 
 of the season " at Castle Nakhl ; and we who 
 were encamped near the castle for a Sunday's 
 rest, on our way from Sinai to Hebron, had a rare 
 opportunity of witnessing the wedding proces- 
 sions outside of the fortress walls, without any 
 of the hindrances to their observing to which we 
 should have been liable in the narrow city streets. 
 
 So strong is the power of Oriental custom in a 
 matter like this, that even where the bride and 
 bridegroom were already, as in this instance, 
 within the walls of the same home, they could 
 not dispense with at least one procession for each 
 party as preliminary to, or as an essential part 
 of, the marriage ceremony. Therefore, by a 
 patent fiction, the bride must leave her home and 
 
BctrotJials and \Vcddi)igs in the East. 47 
 
 proccctl by a roiinclabouL way to her luishaiul's 
 home — from whicli she; IkuI slartctl. Similarly 
 the hiisbaml must go in a roundabout way to 
 receive his bride, hnding her at last at the point 
 from which he had set out. 
 
 It was on Saturday that w^e reached the vicinity 
 of Castle Nakhl. The wedding festivities were 
 already in progress. There was "music and 
 dancing" to be heard from a distance — as at the 
 return of the prodigal son.^ The dancing as well 
 as the music could be " heard ; " for dancing 
 is a vigorous business in the East, especially the 
 dancine of men. who, of course, alwavs dance by 
 themselves. And the music was of that weird 
 and plaintive character which is never heard 
 except in the East, and which once heard can 
 never be forgotten. The sound of the rejoicings 
 came over the desert into our tents by night, 
 when the fortress itself was shrouded in darkness. 
 
 llie eovernor of the castle had " made a mar- 
 riage feast for his son." - Besides providing sheep 
 and pigeons in abundance, he had generously 
 sacrihced a young dromedary ; that is, he; had 
 had a young dromedary slaughtered for its tlesh, 
 
 'Luke 15 : 25. 5 -M.Ut. 22 : 2. 
 
48 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 and ihc slaying of an animal for food is called 
 sacriticing- to God among Orientals, its blood 
 being poured out before God,' and its flesh being 
 eaten by those who are in covenant with God. 
 
 Animal food is a rarity in the desert, and the 
 sacrificing of a young dromedary is a noteworthy 
 event there. The Arabs of Nakhl were there- 
 fore doubly joyous at this wedding feast. " Can 
 ye make the sons of the bride-chamber [the 
 sharers in the wedding festivities] fast, while the 
 bridegroom is with them [supplying dromedary 
 meat without cost] ? But the days will come ; 
 and when the bridegroom shall be taken away 
 from them [going back to his Delta home], then 
 shall they fast in those days [in their dreary 
 desert abode]."" So now they feasted and re- 
 joiced. Everybody at Castle Nakhl, including 
 "the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, "^ 
 of its adjoining mud village, had a share of boiled 
 dromedary at this wedding feast. Nor were the 
 strangers^ — "Christian dogs "^ though they were 
 
 ^Lev. 17 : 3-5, 13, 14. 
 ^ Luke 5 : 34, 35 ; comp. Alatt. 9:15; Maik 2 : 19, 20. 
 
 ■' Luke 14 : 13. 
 *Comp. Exod, 20 ; 10; Lev. 24 : 22; Deul. 10 : 17, 18. 
 HLiU. 25 ; 31 40. • 
 
Betrothals and Weddings in the East. 49 
 
 — who were in the tents outside the castle eates 
 forgotten in the distribution. 
 
 It was on Sunday afternoon that the bridal 
 procession set out from the fortress gates. Sun- 
 day is a favorite day with IMuhammadans for the 
 beginning of an enterprise. They say that God 
 began to make the world on Sunday, and that 
 that day is a good day for any new start. Sun- 
 day and Thursday are, indeed, the two days of 
 the week on which the ceremonies immediately 
 previous to the marriage night are performed 
 amonij Muhammadans. 
 
 First there came a company of Egyptian sol- 
 diers, of the governor's guard, with their noisy 
 music of metal-framed drums and ear-piercing 
 clarionets. Then followed a number of women, 
 two by two, all of them shrouded with the sheet- 
 like mantles, and the face-veils that leave only 
 the eyes and forehead exposed, which are the 
 street dress of Egyptian women of the better 
 class, the married women wearing black and the 
 maidens white. 
 
 From time to time;, in \.\\v. intervals of thci instru- 
 mental music, these women sounded those peculiar 
 "shrill quavering cries of joy, called zugdrcti" 
 
50 S//i(//cs i)i Oriental Social Life. 
 
 whicli arc to be heard throughout tlic East on 
 occasions ol special rejoicing", and which can be 
 produced only by those who were trained to 
 them from early childhood. These cries of joy, 
 like the cries of mourning, in the East, are prob- 
 ably the same as those which sounded in the ears 
 of Solomon and of Moses and of Joseph, in their 
 day, on similar occasions of joy or of sorrow. 
 Children in their gayest dresses followed these 
 women in the procession. Arab children can 
 afford to wear good dresses at a Sunday wed- 
 ding, for they wear nothing whatever at ordinary 
 times. 
 
 After this advance escort came the bride her- 
 self. She was veiled, but not, like the other 
 women, with a veil that left her eyes exposed. 
 A red cashmere shawl or mantle covered her 
 from head to foot. It was thrown on above the 
 bridal crown that surmounted her head, and de- 
 scended to the ground. Being fitted to its pur- 
 pose, instead of hanging in folds, it gave her 
 somewhat the appearance of a scarlet ten-pin, 
 with a shawl pattern ornamental border at top 
 and bottom. Outside of the shawl, where it 
 covered the bridal crown, there sparkled a jew- 
 
Bch'othals and Weddings in tJic East. 5 i 
 
 elcd band or circlet, and above all was a shield- 
 shaped platci or cap of _i,^old, — for there must be 
 jewels in si;^ht on a veiled bride, as well as those 
 which arc^ covered np. These; more; expensive 
 bridal ornaments are sometinK;s hired, in the 
 East, by families too poor to own them. Here 
 seems to be the orij^dn of hirinsj;- wc;ddin_i^ presents 
 for displa\', in ambitions homes of the \\\'St. 
 
 Of conrse, the; closely enveloped bride could 
 not see to walk ; therefore she was snpi)ort(;d on 
 either hand by a woman friend, shrouded and 
 veiled after the common fashion. As midday 
 on the desert was fearfully hot, the bride must 
 have sweltered in her cashmere prisondiouse. 
 In some cases, at such a time, a woman atlc:ntl- 
 ant walks backward, in advance of the bride, 
 fanning her vigorously ; but tht^re was no such 
 mitigating of her misery in this instance. Above 
 the hc;ads of the bride and her sui)porters was a 
 white cotton reclangular canopy, with showy 
 streamc^rs at its four corners, upborne by poles 
 in the hands of gayly dressed lads. 
 
 The procession moved slowly. It would do 
 so under any circumstances ; but in this instance 
 it would gain time by losing it, for it was out 
 
52 Siudics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 only to show itself off. At every few rods of 
 the march the procession would halt, and the 
 soldiers in the lead would form in two linens over 
 against each other, facing inward, at, say, five to 
 seven yards apart. Then onv. of th(; soldiers 
 would execute a dance up and down between 
 these opened lines, and beyond them, brandish- 
 ing a sword meanwhile, or discharging a musket 
 into the air or into the ground, to add to the 
 impressiveness of his movements. 
 
 The commander of the military escort led 
 off in this dancing. He was richly dressed in 
 piduresque Arab costume, with gold and silver 
 embroidery in profusion on a Damascus jacket 
 of careen velvet, worn above his flowing robes. 
 He was in dead earnest in his dancing, as was 
 David when he "danced before the Lord with 
 all his might," and went "leaping and dancing" 
 in the procession which accompanied the ark of 
 God to Jerusalem from the house of Obed-Edom.^ 
 
 Thus moving and halting, with a fresh dancer 
 at every halt, and with the music or cries of rejoic- 
 ing kept up unceasingly, the bridal procession 
 made a circuitous route across the chalky desert, 
 
 * 2 Sam. 6 : 12-16; i Chron. 15 : 25-29. 
 
BctrotliaU and Weddings in the East. 53 
 
 iincU;!- the glarini;- sun, for an hour or mor(\ and 
 thcMi wound its way back a^ain to the castle en- 
 trance, as though it had reall)- been brino^ing th(; 
 bride from a distance to her bridegroom's home. 
 
 It was a httle before sundown that the bridal 
 procession re-(Mitered the fortress gates. We 
 could not follow it thither ; but according to 
 Oriental custom the bridegroom would receive 
 his bride at such a time, heavily enwrapped as 
 she was, as she reached the threshold of his 
 house, and lift her over it, and then escort her 
 to the door of the women's apartments, to his 
 mother's quarters, there to leave her while he 
 returned for a time to his friends. The festivi- 
 ties would still continue in separate rooms ; 
 " the voice of the bride " being thus distin- 
 guished from "the voice of the bridegroom," as 
 separate rejoicings/ 
 
 We were told that another procession, accom- 
 panying the bridegroom on his way to rc^ceive 
 his bride, would move out latter in the evening, 
 and we were on the watch for that for several 
 hours. But as, again and again, we looked 
 toward the castle, we saw no sign of movement 
 
 1 Comp. Gen. 24 : 67 ; Jer. 7 : 34 ; 16 : 9; 25 : 10; 33 • 10, 11. 
 
54 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 roni 
 
 there. Sounds of rcjoicinL,'' were heard fr( 
 wilhin, l)ut the entrance: way was seemingly 
 closed for tlie niL;-l-it, and after a while we con- 
 cluded that as the bridegroom was already in 
 thecastle with his iM-ide he would know enough 
 to stay there, so we went (juietly to bed in our 
 tents. l)Ut "at midnight there was a cry made, 
 Behold the bridegroom comc^th ; go ye out to 
 meet hini!"^ That was lit(;rally the substance 
 of our dragoman's call to us ; and we sprang up 
 to see the sight, even though we had no lamps 
 to fill and carry. Hurryuig from our tents we 
 saw the procession with its (laming torches filing 
 out from the castle gates. 
 
 As in the case of the bridal procession, a mili- 
 tary escort with a band of noisy musicians led 
 the way, having its occasional halts for dancing 
 and the discharge of firearms. One man, how- 
 ever, in this case, did all the dancing both going 
 and returning. He was a Bed'wy, very gracc^ful 
 in his movements and in the use of his sword, 
 which he brandished startlingly in the faces of 
 those about him while dancing up and down the 
 parallel lines , or which again he balanced by 
 
 ^ Matt. 25 : 6. 
 
Betrothals and IW^ddiuos in tJic East. 5 
 
 ::>:) 
 
 hilt and 1)\' point, now back of his howcd hc;acl, 
 and now on oik; shoulder or the; other, while 
 moving- alonij;- with a lini])in<j;- hitch, first on one 
 leg" and then on the otlier, keeping- time alwa)s 
 with the rude Aral) music. 
 
 The britlegroom, gayly attired in Egy])tian 
 costume, was supported, like the bride, by two 
 triends, but not under a canopy. V(;iled women, 
 probably his relatives, followed the procession, 
 and sounded their zuodrct cries along the way. 
 Torch-bearers were at both front and rear. Their 
 flaring light, the showy and varied costumes, the 
 swarthy faces, the rolling desert, the castle back- 
 ground, the starry skies, combined to make a 
 scene both picturesque and weird ; and the 
 stranoft^ wild music of instruments and voices, 
 sounding out on the night air, aided in render- 
 ing the scene a far more impressive one than 
 the bridal i)rocession of the afternoon. 
 
 StrauLfers as we were, we feared that we miirht 
 be de(;med intruders at such a time if we ven- 
 tured too near, therefore we modestly took the 
 lowest place beyond the farthest limit of the noisy 
 gathering, with the rabble that followed it. But 
 we were recognized by some member of the 
 
56 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 governor's household, as we had made a formal 
 call on him, soon after our arrival, and we were 
 promptly bidden to come up higher. On this 
 summons a way was opened for us, right and 
 left, through the attendant crowd, and we were 
 condu61:ed close to the brid(!groom's immediate 
 party, having honor, in consequence, with those 
 who had before viewed us with suspicion.^ 
 
 In the din of that hour, and amid the loud 
 prais(;s of the honored bridegroom, we had a new 
 sense of the force of that figure in the Apocalypse 
 of the coming of the royal Bridegroom to claim 
 his lone-betrothed bride : " And I heard as it 
 were the voice of a great multitude, and as the 
 voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty 
 thunders, saying, Hallelujah [and our Hallelu- 
 jah is merely the Western method of sounding 
 the Eastern zugdrefX ; for the Lord our God, the 
 Almighty, reigneth. Let us rejoice and be ex- 
 ceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto 
 him : for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and 
 his wife hath made herself ready. . . . Blessed 
 are they which are bidden to the marriage supper 
 of the Lamb."^ 
 
 1 Luke 14:7-11. ^ Rev. 19:6-9. 
 
Betrothals and Weddings iii the East. 57 
 
 Our bridegroom was now supposed to be on 
 his way to the mosk for pra)ers, in accordance 
 with Muhammadan custom ; but as there is no 
 separate mosk at Castle Nakhl he was taken to 
 a muqam, or the tomb of a saint or wely, which 
 was in a Muhammadan cemetery near by. This 
 was one of the stuccoed and whitened stru6lures, 
 the "whited sepulchres,"^ which are to be found 
 more or less generally throughout the East as 
 objecls of popular veneration. After a very brief 
 season of prayer within the opened doors of this 
 liL>ht('d tomb, the brideo-room was escorted back 
 to the fortress by a more circuitous route and 
 more slowly than he had come, — it being a point 
 of ]\Iuhammadan etiquette for a bridegroom to 
 seem more in haste to reach the place of prayer 
 than the place where he is to meet his bride. 
 This may suggest to some ingenious scientist 
 the theory that there was a primeval leap-year 
 period when women dragged reluctant husbands 
 to the homes prearranged for them. And he 
 may believe it who will. 
 
 The music and dancing of the bridegroom's 
 party were kept up until the bridegroom reached 
 
 ^Matt. 23 ; 27, 2y. 
 
5.S Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 th(; castle. Then "they tliat were ready went in 
 with him to the marriaoi-e feast: and the door 
 was shut.^ leavino^ lis in "the outer darkness'"'^ 
 of the desert niglit. 
 
 According to Oriental custom, it is immediately 
 after his rc;turn from j)rayer that the bridegroom 
 is escorted to the door of his bride's apartments, 
 on entering which he is permittc;d to lift the veil 
 of her who became his wife by betrothal. It is 
 perhaps the first time that either has seen the 
 other's face. All the possibilities of a lifc;time 
 center then in a single look. One glimpse will 
 show whether it is dull-eyed Leah or beautiful 
 and well-favored Rachel whom the veil has 
 covered,^ and whether he who lifts it is one to 
 win or to repel a true woman's love. Bitter dis- 
 appointments, as well as unanticipated satisfac- 
 tions are among the recorded surprises of these 
 Oriental bridal unveilings. Instances are known, 
 in th(! far East at least, of a bridegroom's looking 
 with horror at such a moment into the face of 
 a leper bride. And on the other hand, bright 
 examples of happiness in wedded life can be 
 pointed to w^hich had their start in loving glances 
 
 'Matt. 25 : 10. 2 Matt. 22 : 13. 'Gen. 29 : 16-25. 
 
Betrothals and Weddings in the liast. 59 
 
 first exchanged when an ()riciUal brkk'^rooni 
 uncovered the face of his blushintj- bride. 
 
 for example, ot the; Hindoo women betrothed 
 to their hnsbancls in infancy, and hrst seen by 
 those husbands when chiimed in their marriage, 
 Mrs. Leonowens says : " Tenderness and self- 
 devotion . . . are the chief characlc-ristics of the 
 pure Hindoo woman. Her love tor her oHspring 
 amounts to a passion, and she is rarely known 
 to speak hastily, much less to strike or ill-use her 
 child. Her devotion as a wife has no parallel in 
 the history ot the world." And Sir }»Ionier 
 Monier-Williams declares that "in no country of 
 the world has married life been so universally 
 honored" as in India. 
 
 If indeed, the Oriental bridegroom is satisfied 
 with his bride, when her veil has been lifted, he 
 goes to the outer door of her room and announces 
 his hearty ratification of the match that has been 
 made for him l)y his representatives. This an- 
 nouncement is at once taken up by the women 
 who are waiting outside, and their cries of joy 
 send the knowledi/e ot it to watchful listeners 
 far and near. Among those whose hearts are 
 thrilled with gladness by the welcome intelli- 
 
6o Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 gencc that the bridegroom is made happy in the 
 possession of his bride, no one can be more 
 keenly grateful for the announcement than "the 
 friend of the bridegroom " who has conducted 
 the negotiations which led to this event. Then, 
 and not till then, can he be sure that he has 
 planned wisely and well, and that his principal 
 is made happy through his efforts in his behalf. 
 
 Herein is an explanation of a passage in the 
 New Testament which has lacked explanation 
 from commentators. When John the Baptist 
 was told that Jesus of Nazareth, whom he had 
 baptized, and so ushered into the ministry, was 
 now himself a recognized teacher, and that the 
 multitudes were flocking to him, even to the 
 eclipsing of John's popularity and prominence, 
 the record stands, that "John answered and said : 
 ... Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 
 I am not the Christ, but. that I am sent before 
 him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom : 
 but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth 
 [outside] and heareth him [expressing his satis- 
 faclion with the union arranged for], rejoiceth 
 greatly because of the bridegroom's voice [of 
 approval] : this my joy therefore [as the triend 
 
Betrothals a) id \Veddi)igs in the East. 6i 
 
 of the bridegroom Clirist] is fiil tilled [in his 
 union with his bride the Church]. lie must 
 increase, but I must decrease."^ The friend of 
 the bridegroom has no longer a mission when 
 the brideirroom's true mission is fairly entered 
 upon, John's work was done when the work ot 
 Jesus was begun. 
 
 These marriage processions described by me 
 as observed in the desert were necessarily far less 
 elaborate and showy than many of those which 
 are to be seen in a large city. The bride, as also 
 the bridegroom, is often borne in a "palankeen" 
 or 'Titter,'"- on the back of a camel, or on horse- 
 back, instead of going afoot. And jugglers, or 
 sleight-of-hand performers, as well as musicians, 
 accompany the procession, and exhibit their skill 
 during the frecpient halts made by the procession. 
 But in the prime essentials of noise and show 
 and parade, these processions are much the same 
 in desert and village and city. 
 
 And here I rest the explanation of the cere- 
 monies attendant upon betrothals and weddings 
 
 • John 3 : 27-30. 
 ■•'SoriL;" uf Songb 3 ; 6-10; I'bu. 19 : 4-, $• 
 
62 S//i(//cs III Oriental Social Life. 
 
 in the luist. l)iil before leavini;- the subject, 1 
 wish to call attention to the evidence that human 
 nature is the same in tlie East and in the West, 
 and that no theory of the marriage relation, or 
 system of training with reference to it, is sufh- 
 cient to shut out the possibility of romantic love 
 between the sexes, — regardless of the opinion 
 and wishes of parents and guardians. Thus it 
 is to-day, and thus it has been in all the days of 
 which we have any historic record. 
 
 A writer who has essayed a scientific study in 
 this hue of research, says emphatically that "ro- 
 mantic love," or, as he defines it, " pre-matrimo- 
 nial love," "is a modern sentiment, less than a 
 thousand years old;" and he is sure that "the 
 Bible takes no account of it," and that it has 
 no recognition in ancient classic literature. Yet 
 in the very first book of the Old Testament nar- 
 rative there appears the story of young Jacob's 
 romantic love for Rachel, — a love which was in- 
 spired by their first meeting,^ and which was a 
 fresh and tender memory in the patriarch Jacob's 
 mind when, long years after he had buried her 
 in Canaan,- he was on his death-bed in Egypt.'' 
 
 1 Gen. 29 : lo-iS. '"' Gen. 35 : 16-30. ^ Cien. 48 : 1-7. 
 
Betrothals and M^'cddings in the East. 6^^ 
 
 In all the literature of romantic love in all 
 the atres there can be found no more touching" 
 exhibit of the; truc--hearted fidelity of a romantic 
 lover than that which is given of Jacob in the 
 words: "And Jacob served seven years for Ra- 
 chel ; and they seemed unto him but a few days, 
 for the love he had to her."^ And the entire 
 story confirms the abiding force of that senti- 
 ment. There are, certainly, gleams of romantic 
 love from out the clouds of degraded human 
 nature in the ancient East, in the Bible stories of 
 Shechem and Dinah." of Samson and the damsel 
 of Timnah,' of David and Abigail,* of Adoni- 
 jah and Abishag,'' and of other men and women 
 of whom the Hebrew Scriptures tell us. 
 
 Outside of the Bible record we have proofs of 
 the prominence of romantic love in tht; lands of 
 the Bible, in the far-gone ages. It shows itself 
 in the Assyrian legend of Ishtar seeking him 
 whom she loves in the realm of the dead ; and 
 it is seen in the Izdubar (or, Gilgamesh) epic of 
 the Chaldeans, where the wisdom ot Ka-bani's 
 heart vanishes in the presence of Harimtu, and 
 
 1 Gen. 29 : 20. ^ Gen. 34 : 1-31. ^ Ji'flg- 14 : i-3- 
 
 * I Sam. 25 : 1-42. ^ i Kings 2 : 13-17. 
 
 6 
 
64 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 he is ready to follow th(^ wise and winsome 
 woman whithersoever she will. 
 
 An E^ryptian papyrus of the; days of Moses tells 
 us the story of a long crone time, when a prince's 
 daughter, in the very land where Jacob wooed 
 and won Rachel, was shut in a lofty tower, with 
 her father's promise that whoever should scale 
 the walls of that tower should be her husband. 
 And the story narrates that when the runaway 
 son of an Egyptian king had scaled the tower the 
 princess loved him from the moment of their 
 meeting ; and every effort to induce her to forgo 
 her purpose of being the bride of the unknown 
 hero was unavailing. " By the Sun, if he is slain, 
 ... I will die too," she said. And after the pat- 
 tern of the modern love-story the lovers were 
 married, and were all the happier for that. 
 
 And so it has been all the way down the ages. 
 The leeends and traditions of the East abound 
 with stories of romantic love, as does the literature 
 of Arabia and Syria and Turkey and Persia in 
 modern times. "Sometimes love has been im- 
 planted by one glance alone," says an Arabic 
 proverb, in suggestion of the truth that it re- 
 quires no long courtship, East or West, to make 
 
Beiyothals and ]W\i dings in the East. 65 
 
 lovers. And a Syriac [)rovcrb, whicli is a coun- 
 terpart to this, in its suggestion that )()u cannot 
 compel love by a betrothal an)- more than )()u can 
 guard against it by seclusion, is this : " Every- 
 thing is [to be found] in the druggist's shoj) ; 
 but ' Love me by torcc" ' is not there." And our 
 English proverb which supplements these two is 
 " Love laughs at locksmiths." Love has been, 
 love is, and love will continue to be, simply 
 because it is in human nature to love, and there 
 is a great deal of human nature in most persons. 
 Romantic elopements are a feature of social 
 life in the East as well as in the West ; and there 
 are hopeless lovers and jilting lasses there as 
 well as here. Morier tells, for example, of a 
 large painting in a pleasure house in Shiraz, 
 illustrative of the treatment of a loyal lover by 
 a heartless coquette, which is one of the popular 
 legends of Persia. "Sheik Chenan, a Persian 
 of the true faith, and a man of learning and con- 
 sequence, fell in love with an Armenian lady of 
 great beaut\', who would not marry him unless 
 he chanijed his relig"ion. To this he a^jreed. 
 Still she would not marry him unless he would 
 drink wine. This scruple also he yielded. She 
 
66 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 resisted still, unless he consented to eat pork. 
 With this also he complied. Still she was coy, 
 and refused to fulfil her engagement, unless he 
 would be contented to drive swine before her. 
 Even this condition he accepted ; and she then 
 told him that she would not have him at all, 
 and laughed at him for his pains. The picture 
 represents the coquette at her window, laughing 
 at Sheik Chenan as he is driving his pigs before 
 her." 
 
 So we see that there is no lack of evidence 
 that romantic love has had sufficient sway to 
 make fools of wise men — as well as to make 
 fools and wise men happy — in the East, as truly 
 as in the West, in spite of all the traditional 
 guards which have been erected against it by 
 Oriental methods of betrothal and marriage. 
 There was never a time when sentiment was 
 counted out as an important fa61or in the mar- 
 riage relation, and there never will be. 
 
 There is one other point which is worthy of 
 special attention in an outlook over the field of 
 Oriental marriage customs past and present. 
 In observing the position of woman in the East 
 as maiden, wife, and mother, and also simply as 
 
Betrothals and Weddings in the luist. 67 
 
 woman, we sec much that is in unpleasant con- 
 trast with the corresponcUnt,'- position of woman 
 in our own i)ortion of the worKI, under the in- 
 lluence of Christianity as it is to-chiy. Yet, on 
 the other hand, it is unmistakably the facl that 
 the hicrhest honor accorded to woman as woman, 
 and as maiden, w^ife, and mother, among our- 
 selves in this nineteenth century of Christian 
 civilization, does not transcend the position which 
 has been recognized as her right at some time 
 and at some place in the ancient Oriental world. 
 And this facl we ought to recognize as a facl:, 
 whatever be its influence on our favorite theories 
 of human progress. 
 
 The very earliest Egyptian records that we 
 have, show the one wife of the king as his true 
 consort and partner, loved and trusted by him, 
 and known to and honored by the people. A 
 thousand years before the days of Abraham, 
 Egyptian law secured to women the right oi suc- 
 cession to the throne of Egypt ; and queen after 
 queen swayed the empire of Egypt when Eg)'pt 
 swayed the empires of the world. The oldest 
 sculpture yet recovered from the ruins of Egypt 
 represents a prince and a princess as husband 
 
68 Sludws HI OriciUal Social Life. 
 
 and wife, scatctl side by side, the wile unveiled, 
 and her face showini^ a measure of characrter and 
 of intelligence worthy of her princely husband. 
 And all the records of those ancient days tend 
 to show that, in the realm of the heart, woman's 
 power was as dominant then as now. 
 
 It was not in Egypt alone that w^oman's worth 
 and w^oman's ability secured a measure of recog- 
 nition in the early East. However much of 
 purely mythical character there is to the story of 
 Semiramis, it is obvious that the facfls of history 
 in the ancient Oriental world were such as to 
 justify credence to an ideal like that, of woman's 
 royal supremacy. We know something of the 
 record of Miriam^ and Deborah'- and Jezebel'^ 
 and Athaliah^ and Huldah ^ among the Hebrews ; 
 of the famous Queen of Sheba f of Dido, queen 
 of Carthage ; of Cleopatra the greater, and of the 
 lesser Cleopatras ; of Candace, queen of the 
 Ethiopians;"^ of Zenobia, queen of Palmyra; and 
 of many another woman who was a leader and 
 a ruler of men, in the East of the olden time ; 
 
 'Exod. 15 : 20, 21 ; Num. 12 : i. ^Judg. 4 : 4-10; 5 : i. 
 
 ■' I Kings 16 : 29-33; 19 : 1-3; 21 : 4-16, 25. 
 *2 Kings II : 1-16. ^2 Kings 22 ; 12-20; 2 Chron. 34 : 20-28. 
 «i Kings 10 : 1-13; 2 Chron. 9 : i 12. 'Acts 8 : 27. 
 
Betrothals ami ]]\'ddiiigs in the luist. 69 
 
 nor arc such instances unknown in later Oriental 
 histor)-. And all this has been in spite of those 
 Oriental theories and customs which have seemed 
 to us certain to crush and degrade woman. 
 
 The Old Tcstamttnt narrative presents beauti- 
 ful pictures of true wives and mothers even as 
 viewed in the clearest light of this nineteenth 
 Christian century. What description, for ex- 
 ample, of a model woman in those relations of 
 life, could surpass that which was already [)ro- 
 verbial among- the Hebrews of twenty-five hun- 
 dred years ago or more ? 
 
 She is a faithful wife and a true helpmeet : 
 
 " The heart of her husband triisteth in lier, 
 And he shall have no lack of gain. 
 She doeth him good and not evil 
 All the days of her life." 
 
 She is an efficient housekeeper : 
 
 " She riseth also while it is yet night, 
 And giveth meat to her household, 
 And their task to her maidens." 
 
 She is a competent business woman : 
 
 " She considereth a field, and buyeth it : 
 With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. . . . 
 She perceiveth that her merchandise is profitable." 
 
:o Siudics ill C h-ioital Social Life. 
 
 She has a kindly and g-cnerous heart : 
 
 "She sprcadclh out licr hand to the ])(»()r; 
 Yea, she reacheth forth her hands to tlic needy." 
 
 She has good taste, and evidences it : 
 
 " For all her household are clothed with scarlet. 
 She maketh for herself cushions of tapestry ; 
 Her clothing is fine linen and purple." 
 
 She is a power over and behind her husband : 
 
 " Her husband is known in the gates, 
 When he sitteth among the elders of the land." 
 
 She lacks neither brains nor heart : 
 
 "She openeth her mouth with wisdom ; 
 And the law of kindness is on her tongue." 
 
 She is just the best wife and mother that can be : 
 
 " Her children rise up, and call her blessed ; 
 Her husband also, and he praiseth her, saying: 
 Many daughters have done virtuously, 
 liut thou excellest them all."' 
 
 And what better could any husband say than 
 that ? There was no room in such a family for 
 the question, "Is marriage a failure " ? Yet it is 
 an old-time Oriental family that is here de- 
 scribed — described not merely as it ought to be, 
 
 ' Prov. 31 ; 11-29. 
 
BctrotJuils and IVcddings in the liasL 7 I 
 
 buL as it was eii-ht centuries or so bclurc the 
 Christian era. 
 
 There are model wives and mothers in the 
 East to-day; and nowliere are husl)ands more 
 completely under the inlluence of wise and de- 
 voted wives, as also of evil and designing ones, 
 than in some of the homes which are there. 
 Oriental literature abounds with the portrayal 
 of conjugal love and fidelity, as well as with in- 
 stances of the lack of these. One of the seven 
 wonders of the ancient world was the Mauso- 
 leum ere6led to the memory of her husband by 
 his wife Artemisia, who is said to have mingled 
 his ashes in her daily drink, in token of her un- 
 dying sorrow. And one of the most beautiful 
 architectural strucilures under the whole heavens 
 is the Taj Mahal at Agra, ere6led by a royal and 
 loyal Oriental husband, as a token of his surpass- 
 iuL!" devotion to the memory ot his nobU; wile. 
 
 In short, a truth which stands out in all the 
 pages of Oriental history concerning the mar- 
 riaL''e relation of primeval times is the truth which 
 Jesus of Nazareth affirmed, when he declared 
 that long before the days of Moses there was a 
 purer, nobler ideal of the marriage relation than 
 
Sliidics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 could be fully realized in ihe days of Moses. ^ 
 And a conclusion which Christians are entitled 
 to accept in the light of this truth is, that, while 
 Christianity did not originate that ideal, Chris- 
 tianity has a duty to promote its restoration ; so 
 that at the last, as at the beginning, betrothal and 
 wedding shall be but successive steps to bring 
 two hearts and lives into loving and changeless 
 
 union. 
 
 Matt. 5 : 31, 32; 19 : 3-1 1 ; Mark 10 : 3-1: 
 
HOSPITALITY LN THE EAST 
 
 Hospitality in the East is not merely a per- 
 sonal and social virtue : it is a center froni which 
 all social virtues radiate, and it takes precedence 
 of all other personal virtues. As it shows itself 
 at its best, and among' the more primitive |)eoples 
 of the East, — not the more savage but the more 
 primitive peoples, — hospitality would seem to be 
 a virtue havinir its root in no selfish considera- 
 tions, and being trained within no limits of mere 
 utilitarian convenience. Its highest exercise, as 
 
 understood in the East, requires a measure of 
 
 73 
 
74 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 self-abnci^^ation aiul of iiclclit)' to a sentiment as 
 a sentiment, demanded in no other duty ot a man 
 toward his iellow-man. 
 
 Of course, it is not to be supposed that this 
 virtue, or any other virtue, has prevaihng sway 
 with every individual among the peoples recog- 
 nizing it as their loftiest ideal ; nor yet that its 
 exercise is in every case unshadow^ed by any 
 taint of personal infirmity on the part of those 
 who admit the force of its claims. But it is true 
 that among Orientals, from Eastern Turkey to 
 Central India, and from Northern Persia to 
 Southern Arabia, and more or less beyond these 
 bounds, the virtue of hospitality has a pre-emi- 
 nence, in its obligations and in its significance, 
 not recognized to the same extent elsewdiere in 
 the world at large, and which is worthy of atten- 
 tion because of its holdinir in control the more 
 selfish instincls of human nature to an extent 
 that is the more marvelous the more fully it is 
 known. 
 
 In the primitive East, hospitality is more far- 
 reaching in its scope and more exacting in its ob- 
 ligations than anything which we know of under 
 that name in the conventional West. With us. 
 
Hospitality in tJic East. 75 
 
 one is hospitable; when he extends a hearty 
 welcome to his chosen guests, and makes them 
 sharers of his family life, or of an entertainment 
 given in their honor. But the idea of true hospi- 
 tality in the East is indicated in the Oriental 
 proverbs : " Every strang-er is an in\ ited guest," 
 and "The guest while in the house is its lord." 
 Even an enemy becomes a friend by choosing to 
 be a guest, in the East, — a truth that would seem 
 to have a survival in thi; West in the fa6l that 
 the terms "hostile," "host." and "hospitality," as 
 in use among us, are from one and the same 
 root. "Guest" also is from the same root. A 
 host, according to the Oriental conception, is one 
 who gives the first place to an enemy while that 
 enemy is his guest. 
 
 The exhibit of this idea of hospitality is to be 
 seen by every traveler in the East who has any 
 opportunity of observing the mon^ primitive life 
 of that region. It is much the same, at its best, 
 in Palestine to-day, as it was in the days of Abra- 
 ham, and long before. A gleam of its light on 
 my pathway through that land, was illustrative 
 of the life that has been the same there from the 
 days of the patriarchs downward. 
 
76 Studies III Oriental Social Life. 
 
 It was just out tVoni "the valley of Jczreel." ^ 
 near the place where Gideon made his night 
 attack upon the host of the Midianites,^ that I 
 saw the black tents"' of a party of Bed'ween in 
 the distance as I passed along, one forenoon in 
 th(; springtime, on my way from the ruins of 
 ancient Jezreel toward the Sea of Galilee. These 
 "childnM-i of the East"Mvere apparently of some 
 branch of the great 'Anazeh tribe, which is 
 thought by many to represent the Midianites of 
 the Bible story ; coming in as they do across the 
 fords of the Jordan upon these plains of Pales- 
 tine, from their tribal grounds on the east of the 
 river. The picluresqueness of the scene im- 
 pressed me, but I had no thought of making a 
 stop at that point ; nor should I have done so 
 except for the unlooked-for exhibit of a phase of 
 Oriental hospitality on the part of these desert 
 rovers. 
 
 As our party neared the tents, with the inten- 
 tion of passing to the north of them, I observed 
 a Bed'wy woman with a bulky cloth bag, or sack, 
 upon her shoulders, the bag oozing moisture as 
 
 ijudg. 6 : 33. 'Judg. 7 : i, 12-23. 
 
 3 Song of Songs I : 5- *Judg. 6 : 3, 4. 
 
Hospitality in the East. ^J 
 
 if its c()nt(;nts were liciuid. 1 reined 14) my horse, 
 in order to see how it was tliat wat(?r was btnnjj^ 
 carried in a cloth hixg. In answer to my (jnes- 
 tion I was told that the ba^,^ containc^d leben, or 
 thickencnl milk, which is a staple article of diet 
 anions;- the pastoral peoples of the East. I)Ut 
 that (piestion of min'^ had put m(; into a new 
 relation with the; Px^d'ween there. It had brouL^ht 
 our i)arty within the scope of the tribe's hospi- 
 tality, as I quickly had occasion to realizt^ 
 
 The Bed'wy shaykh was sitting in th(^ entrance 
 way of his tc:nt, as Abraham was accustomed to sit 
 in his day.^ And the shaykh's tent was design- 
 edly nearest the traveled way, in order that he 
 could be on the watch for stranger guests. See- 
 ing a party of travelers stop in the vicinity of 
 his tribe, he arose from his place and came for- 
 ward, with all the dignity of bearing and court- 
 liness of manner of the true Arab chic;ftain, to 
 ask them to honor him by alighting and accept- 
 incr the hospitality of his tent. To have declined 
 this invitation without a good and sufficient rea- 
 son would have been a positive rudeness on our 
 part, as Orientals view it. Therefore we dis- 
 
 1 Gen. 18 : I. 
 
7 8 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 mounted, and were conducted to Shaykh Moosa's 
 tent. 
 
 The best rugs were spread on the ground for 
 us just inside the entrance of the tent ; and the 
 rear flap of the tent was hfted in order to give 
 us all the fresh air available in the heat of the 
 day. With expressions of grateful acknowledg- 
 ment of his sense of the privilege of entertaining 
 us, the shaykh proceeded with his preparations 
 for our entertainment. He called to his wife, 
 who was within hearing but out of sight behind 
 the curtain, or tent flap, which separates the 
 hareem, or women's apartment, from the men's,^ 
 and bade her hasten and bake a cake of bread 
 for the guests.^ 
 
 A fire of sticks was kindled before us by the 
 shaykh's own hands. He was our servant for 
 the time being — Christian strangers though we 
 were. Coffee-berries from the Hejaz were put 
 into a small iron saucepan, and slowly roasted 
 by him over the fire. Water was poured into a 
 brazen coffee-pot and set upon the fire to boil. 
 Meanwhile the curdled milk, or "butter," as it 
 is sometimes called in our version of the Bible,'^ 
 
 ' Gen. 18:9, 10. '^ Cien. iS : 6, ^ Conip. Judy. 4 : 19 ; 5 ; 25. 
 
Hospitality ui the East. 79 
 
 was served to us iVecl)- from sucli a sack as iliaL 
 which had first attracted our attention. When 
 the coffee was roasted it was put into a liardwood 
 mortar, and pounded very line with a metal 
 pestle. In this process the shaykh kept time 
 with his pestle against the sides of the mortar, 
 in peculiar and pleasing- rh)thmic notes, this 
 " music of the pestle " being one of the esteemed 
 accomplisliments of an Arab host. 
 
 From a small leathern case the shaykh took a 
 number of tiny china cups and their metal holders 
 or saucers. Each of these cups was carefully 
 washed b)- him in its turn, as was every article 
 which he brought into rec|uisition. The finely 
 pounded coffee was put into the pot of hot water, 
 and was speedily ready for use, — Arab coffee 
 when served for drinking being rather of the 
 consistency of chocolate paste than of our infu- 
 sion of ground coffee. The lirst tiny cup of this 
 coffee was reverently poured out on the ground 
 as a libation ; the second was drunk by the shaykh 
 himself, as if in proof of his good faith ; and then 
 the coffee was gracefully served to us in turn, 
 according to our ages, — the shaykh standing 
 
 while we sat ; each visitor receiving two cups. 
 
 7 
 
8o Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 The shaykh meanwhile askeci our permis- 
 sion to shiy a lamb tor us, to be eaten with the 
 bread that his wife was preparing ;^ but our stay 
 had already been unduly prolonged, and we said 
 that our business demanded our departure. The 
 shaykh urged us not to be in haste, for there 
 was time enough before us, — an Arab having no 
 idea of the value of time. It was only when we 
 assured our host that now we must be going, but 
 that if we came that way on our return we would 
 stop longer with him, that we were permitted to 
 take our leave. He repeated his thanks to us 
 for our visit, as if he alone had been honored ; 
 although we did not refrain from thanking him 
 most heartil)'. As we mounted our horses the 
 shaykh held my stirrup, I being the senior of the 
 party ; then he kissed our hands, and pressed 
 his forehead to them, and gave us a parting 
 *• Ma'assalame " as we rode away. 
 
 For this entertainment of us no payment or gift 
 of any sort would be accepted by that typical 
 Bed'wy shaykh. It was simply an exhibit of the 
 virtue of hospitality, which is the virtue of virtues 
 in Oriental estimation. Nor was even this an 
 
 1 Gen. 1 8 : 6-8. 
 
Hospitality in the I\ast. 8 1 
 
 exhibit of that virtue at its extremest bounds. 
 Incidentally, however, as a result of my stopping 
 to question a member of that tribe of Arabs, I 
 had been ijiven a new understandin</ of the de- 
 lays which might come to a traveler in the East 
 from saluting any man by the way, and thereby 
 l)ringing himself within the scope of that man's 
 rights, and duties, of hospitality/ 
 
 The more primitive the Oriental people, the 
 more prominent their ideal of unselfish hospi- 
 tality. Bruce, who traveled observantly in the 
 East from Syria to Abyssinia, says on this point : 
 " Hospitality is the virtue of barbarians, who are 
 hospitable in the ratio that they are barbarous ; 
 and for obvious reasons this virtue subsides 
 among polished nations in the same proportion." 
 And later travelers in the East have recocfnized 
 the truth that undt^rneath this exhibit of hospi- 
 tality, on the part of Oriental peoples generally, 
 there is a profound sense of obligation to a {)rin- 
 ciple, as distincl; from the promptings of those 
 simpler instincts of humanity to which \\(\ have 
 been inclined to ascribe any show of morals by 
 "barbarians." 
 
 ^ Luke lo : 4. 
 
82 Shtdics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 Speaking of the more primitive Bed'ween of 
 Arabia, Burton says: "'Trust to tlieir honor 
 and you are safe, ... to their honesty and 
 they will steal the hair off your head ;' " which 
 is only another way of saying that if you com- 
 mit yourself as a guest to an Arab, you and 
 your possessions are safe in his care, however 
 his views may differ from yours as to the ordi- 
 nary rights of person and property. 
 
 Mr, Thomas Stevens, an adventurous young 
 American, who not long ago went around the 
 world on a bicycle, bears hearty testimony to this 
 truth out of his experience among the Orientals. 
 Speaking of his liability to be robbed if he de- 
 pended on his watchfulness over his personal 
 property, in the towns of Asia Minor, he says : 
 " I find that upon arriving at one of these towns, 
 the best possible disposition to make of the 
 bicycle is to deliver it into the hands of some 
 respectable Turk, request him to preserve it 
 from the meddlesome crowd, and then pay no 
 farther attention to it until ready to start. At- 
 tempting to keep watch over it one's self is sure 
 to result in a dismal failure ; whereas an Osmanli 
 gray-beard becomes an ever-willing custodian, re- 
 
Hospitality in the East. 83 
 
 jrards its safe-keepinj4' as appealinij;" to his honor, 
 aiul will stand LTuard over it lor hours, il ncccs- 
 sary. kot-pini^- the: noisy and curious crowds of his 
 townspeople at a respectful distance by brandish- 
 ing a thick stick at any one who ventures to 
 approach too near." And Mr. Stevens adds : 
 "These men will never accept payment for this 
 hig-hly appreciated service ; it seems to appeal 
 to the Osmanli's spirit of hospitality." 
 
 Burckhardt, describin^r the chara6leristics of 
 the people in the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon 
 regions, says : "The mountaineers, when upon a 
 journey, never think of spending a para for their 
 eatinir, drinkinor. or lod^nnor. On arriving in the 
 evening at a village, they alight at the house of 
 some acquaintance, if they have any, which is 
 generally the case, and say to the owner, ' I am 
 your guest.' . . . The host gives the traveler a 
 supper, consisting of milk, bread, and borgul, 
 and, if rich and Hberal, feeds his mule or mare 
 also. When the traveler has no acquaintance in 
 the village, he alights at any house he pleases, 
 ties up his beast, and smokes his pipe till he 
 receives a welcome from the master of the house, 
 who makes it a point of honor to receive him as 
 
84 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 a iViciul, aiul to give him a supper. In the morn- 
 ing- he departs with a simple ' Good-by.' Such 
 is the general custom in these parts." 
 
 Such seems to have been the ideal custom in 
 the patriarchal days of the Old Testament story. 
 When the two strancjers came to Sodom in the 
 evening, "and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: 
 and Lot saw them, and rose uj) to meet them ; and 
 he bowed himself with his face to the earth ; 
 and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn aside, I 
 pray you, into your servant's house [the guest is 
 the lord, and the host is the servant], and tarry 
 all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up 
 early, and go on your way. And they said, Nay; 
 but we will abide in the street all night. And 
 he urged them greatly ; and they turned in unto 
 him, and entered into his house ; and he made 
 them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, 
 and they did eat."^ 
 
 So, again, it was in the days of the Judges, 
 when the Levite and his companions came to the 
 city of Gibeah at the close of the day, and he 
 "sat him down in the street of the city : for there 
 was no man that took them into his house to 
 
 ^Gen, 19 : 13. 
 
Hospitalily in tJic East. 85 
 
 lodiji'c. AikI, bchokl, there came an uld man liom 
 his work out of the iiekl at even ; . . . antl lie 
 Hftecl up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in 
 the street of the city ; and the okl man said, 
 Whither eoest thou ? and whence comest thou ? 
 And he said unlo him, We are passini^' h'om 
 Bethdehem-judah unto the farther side ot the 
 hill country of Ephraim ; . . . and there is no man 
 that taketh me into his house. Yet there is both 
 straw and provender for our asses ; and there is 
 bread and wine also for me, and for thy hand- 
 maid, and for the youn^j;- man which is wuth thy 
 servants : there is no want of any thing. And 
 the old man said, Peace be unto thee ; howsoever 
 let all thy wants lie upon me ; only lodge not in 
 the street. So he brou^dit him into his house, 
 and gave the asses fodder : and they washed their 
 feet, and did eat and drink." ^ 
 
 All the way down the desert coast, on the east 
 side of the Jordan, Ijiuxkhardt found illustrations 
 in gr(.:at variety of this Oriental hosi)italit)'. At 
 an encampment of the Szowaleha Bed'ween, the 
 Arabs had a long and fierce dispute among them- 
 selves to decide wdio should have the honor ot 
 
 ' Judg. 19 • 15-21 
 
86 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 entertaining- him. In that tribe, he who first sees 
 a stranger ai)j)r()aching, and pre-emi)ts him by 
 saying, "There comes my guest," has the right 
 of entertaining him, at whatever tent he may 
 ahght ; and this custom, naturally, opens many a 
 question of precedence in the nomination of the 
 
 " commg' man. 
 
 At the towni of Kerek, Burckhardt found eight 
 public guest-houses ; and a stranger entering 
 any one of these houses was at once claimed as 
 a guest by some inhabitant of the town, and pro- 
 vided for most bountifully. At the appearance 
 of a stranger the inhabitants would " almost 
 come to blows with one another in their eager- 
 ness to have him for their guest." Whenever a 
 guest, or even a neighbor, entered a private 
 house in that town, a meal was at once set 
 before him. 
 
 So scrupulous, indeed, were these people, in 
 the duty of hospitality, that on one occasion 
 when a silversmith came into Kerek, and for two 
 months was too busy to go visiting, "each of 
 the principal families of the town sent him a 
 lamb," at the time of his departure from Kerek, 
 "saying that it was not just that he should 
 
Hospitality in the Fast. 87 
 
 lose his due; [as a guest], lh<)UL,di lu; clitl wkA 
 choose to come and diiK? with them." That 
 is somewhat different from tlic Occidental hotel- 
 keeper's method of charg-ing a guest full price for 
 the entire number of meals due during his stay, 
 whether he has had them or not. 
 
 As showiuij the delicate considerateness of the 
 Bed'ween in the exercise of this hosi)itable spirit, 
 which is a " characteristic common to the Arabs " 
 as a people, Burckhardt tells of his alighting, on 
 one occasion, with his party, at the t(;nt of a 
 Hamayde shaykh who was dying of a wound he 
 had received from a lance several days before. 
 A friend of the family welcomed the guests. A 
 lamb was killed for them. Every attention possi- 
 ble was shown to them, without any intimation 
 being given of the condition of the suffering 
 shaykh. The shaykh, meanwhile, was in the 
 women's apartment, and during the evening 
 and night he uttered never a groan. It was 
 supposed, with reason, that if the guests were in- 
 formed of the shaykh's misfortune it would pre- 
 vent their enjoying their supper ; and not until 
 they had left the tent, the day following, did 
 they learn the true state of the case. Could self- 
 
88 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 forgetful considcratcncss of others be more deli- 
 cately manifested than in such a course? 
 
 Of the disinterestedness of all such service on 
 the part of the Bed'ween entertainers, lUirck- 
 hardt says : " It is a point of honor with the host 
 never to accept of the smallest return from a 
 guest. I once only ventured to give a few pias- 
 tres to the child of a very poor family at Zahouet, 
 by whom we had been most hospitably treated, 
 and rode off without attending to the cries of the 
 mother, who insisted upon my taking back the 
 money." 
 
 Speaking of the Bed'ween of Syria. Egypt, 
 and the Hejaz, as a whole, Burckhardt says : 
 "The offer of any reward to a Bedouin host 
 is generally offensive to his pride ; but some 
 little presents may be given to the women and 
 children. . . . For my own part, being convinced 
 that the hospitality of the Bedouin is afforded 
 with disinterested cordiality, I was in general 
 averse to makimj the sliMitest return. . . . A 
 Bedouin will praise the guest who departs from 
 him without making any other remuneration 
 than that of bestowing a blessing upon them 
 and their encampment, much more than him 
 
Hospitality in the East. 89 
 
 who thinks to redeem all obligations by pay- 
 
 ment." 
 
 My friend and associate, Professor Dr. Hil- 
 precht, while on the l^)abylonian Exploring Ex- 
 pedition, had an illustration of this truth, in a 
 visit made by him to the shaykh of Zeta, near 
 Wady Brissa, in the Lebanon region. Having 
 been hospitably entertained over night, and 
 supposing that the custom of receiving " bakh- 
 sheesh " for entertainment, whicli prevails along 
 the routes of public travel, where primitive 
 life has suffered by its conta61 with civilization, 
 would be approved here also, he arranged with 
 his Arab muleteer, Daheer, to hand a Turkish 
 mejeedi — a silver coin — to the shaykh, as they 
 left his tent in the morning. But he found he 
 had mistaken his man. 
 
 At the first proffer of the silver from the mule- 
 teer, the shaykh, "with a kind but decided g(^s- 
 ture, pushed back the monc^y " from him. But 
 when it was pressed on him more urgently, he 
 was aroused to indignation. "A slight tremor," 
 says Dr. Hilprecht, "passed through the frame 
 of the shaykh. who had thus been flagrantly in- 
 sulted in the presence of his subjects. He sprang 
 
90 Studies ill Or'ienlal Social Life. 
 
 from the stone on which \\v. had hvx-.w squatting", 
 and liis fc-arful passion betrayed itself in a wild 
 gesture and a convulsive clenching of his fist. 
 Drawing himself to his full height, he stood with 
 Hashing eyes, his patched and ragged abba 
 iluttering about his shoulders, — the pi6lure of 
 royalty in the garb of a beggar. The excited 
 Arabs crowded about their chief, and anxiously 
 regarded the actions of this enraged Oriental. 
 Finally he rang out, 'Am I a dog? Do they 
 dare to give the shaykh of Zeta money in return 
 for his hospitality ? ' At the same time, with a 
 withering glance, he flung the proffered coin at 
 the feet of the frio-htened mukari." 
 
 Dr. Hilprecht was prompt and profuse in his 
 regrets for the action of his servant, and in apolo- 
 gies because of it ; but at the best it was evident 
 that a serious affront had been given. The 
 travelers felt that they would do well to hasten 
 their departure ; and only by the energetic action 
 of the shaykh in their behalf were they guarded 
 from violence, as they passed out from the village 
 throuo-h the oratherinir crowd of those who had 
 
 o o o 
 
 learned that their shaykh had been insulted ; but 
 he was still their host, and he went with them for 
 
Hospitality in the East. 91 
 
 their prote(5lion until they were at the boundary 
 line of his authority, at a brook beyond Zeta on 
 the \\<\y toward Horns. 
 
 Among the Druses of El-Leja, it is found that, 
 while they will accept no remuneration for their 
 profusest hospitality, they are gratified when a 
 guest gives them a note, written in Arabic, in 
 acknowledgment of their fidelity to the tradi- 
 tional laws of hospitality. Those laws are bind- 
 ing upon them as pre-eminently sacred, and their 
 observance of them is a privilege and a joy. 
 
 Yet, although no specific reward for hospitality 
 is to be proffered to a host by an Oriental guest, 
 the guest himself may be Orientally demonstra- 
 tive in his recognition of every a6l of hospitality 
 of which he is the recipient. On one occasion, 
 when I proffered a cup of coffee to an Eg)'ptian 
 Arab in my tent on the desert, my guest accepted 
 it with graceful acknowledgments ; and, in drink- 
 ing it, he sucked it into his mouth, sip by sip, 
 with a loud inverted hiss at every sip, following 
 each hiss with a hearty ejaculatory smack of his 
 lips ; and when he had sipped the last sip and 
 smacked the final smack, he said to me smilingly, 
 in explanation of his demonstrativeness of man- 
 
92 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 ncr : "When an Egyptian takers coffee, he wants 
 to have his satisfaction heard!'' 
 
 In some parts of the East, as noted for exam- 
 ple by Mr. Loftie, when a guest rises from a 
 repast to which he has been invited he feels 
 called on to make a show of having eaten to 
 excess, even though he may have partaken but 
 sparingly of the food before him. He will, per- 
 haps, seem to struggle with himself in order to 
 keep down what he has taken in, making sounds 
 in his throat that are alarmingly portentous to a 
 bystander, while holding his hands over his 
 mouth, or pressing them against himself in front 
 of him, as if he had little hope of carrying that 
 meal away with him. 
 
 Queer ways these ! But to the primitive 
 Oriental they express ideas which, as we view 
 it, find more graceful expression among conven- 
 tional Occidentals by means of the fan and the 
 smelling-bottle. And their purpose, after all, is 
 simply to give emphasis to the high appreciation 
 in which hospitality is held, in the East, by guest 
 as well as b)' host. 
 
 Volney, describing the Bed'ween of Syria, 
 shows that open-handed hospitality is the meas- 
 
Hospitality in the East. 93 
 
 lire of superiority, by which that people test the 
 fitness of one who would he; their ruler. He who 
 would be greatest among them must be their 
 servant.' so far as to provide unstintedly for those 
 whom their tribe is called to entertain. 
 
 He says: "The principal shaik in every tribe, 
 in fact, defrays the charges of all who arrive at or 
 leave the camp. He receives the visits of the 
 allies [from other tribes], and of every person 
 [in his own tribe] who has business with them. 
 Adjoining to his tent is a large pavilion for the 
 reception of all strangers and passengers. There 
 are held frequent assemblies of the shaiks and 
 principal men, to determine on encampments and 
 removals, on peace and war ; . . . and the litiga- 
 tions and quarrels of individuals. To this crowd, 
 which enters successively, he must give coffee, 
 bread baked on the ashes, rice, and sometimes 
 roasted kid or camel ; and it is the more impor- 
 tant to him to be generous, as this generosity is 
 closely connected with matters of the greatest 
 consequence. On the exercise of this depend 
 his credit and his power. 
 
 "The famished Arab ranks the liberality which 
 
 'Comp. Matt. 23 : 11 and John 13 : 3-15. 
 
94 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 feeds him before every virtue, nor is this prejudice 
 without foundation, for experience has proved 
 that covetous chiefs never were men of enlarged 
 views ; hence a proverb, as just as it is brief, 'A 
 close fist, a narrow heart. ' " Yet the shaykh 
 who has this burden on him has few advantages 
 over his fellow Arabs in point of worldly posses- 
 sions. He must manage to give freely, whether 
 he receives anything from others or not. 
 
 Lady Anne Blunt, visiting the patriarchal 
 palace of Emeer Muhammad Ibn Rashid, of 
 Hail in Central Arabia, was shown by the 
 emeer his kitchen arrangements for providing 
 for his guests, in the exercise of his princely 
 hospitality. "Here," she says, "with uncon- 
 cealed pride he displayed his pots and pans, 
 especially seven monstrous cauldrons, capable 
 each, he declared, of boiling three whole camels. 
 Several of them were atlually at work ; for Ibn 
 Rashid entertains nearly two hundred guests 
 daily, besides his own household. Forty sheep 
 or seven camels are his daily bill of fare. . . . 
 Every stranger in Hail has his place at Ibn 
 Rashid's table." And this is consistent with 
 the idea of royal hospitality in the East. 
 
Hospitality in tJic East. 95 
 
 In view of this estimate of hos[)itality, as a 
 iimasLirc of worth aiul superiority, prevaiHng- in 
 the Oriental mind, is it to he wondered at that 
 the Apostle Paul, in or^anizin^r tlu; early Chris- 
 tian churches, should say of the chief officer of 
 those churches: "The bisho]) therefore must be 
 without reproach, . . . j^iven to hospitality"?^ 
 
 On m\' landing-, in the Kast, at Alexandria, I 
 was invited by an Alexandrian merchant to be 
 a g'uest at his house. When I called on him, as 
 he welcomed me into a lar^e room on the first 
 fioor, and brought me coffee and cakes, he said, 
 "This room is my hospitality T which was his 
 way of saying' "This is my guest-room, or guest- 
 chamber,'"^ as the Bible calls it. And from that 
 time on, during my stay in the East, in Egypt, 
 Arabia, and .S\-ria, I found a truest-chamber in 
 every house, and a guest-house in every village ; 
 while, as a rule, every tent of a nomad tribe was 
 itself a guest-tent as soon as a guest was in sight 
 of it. And that is the normal state of tilings in 
 the East, wherever the primitive customs have 
 swa)'. 
 
 Lieutenant Lynch tells of the tenure by which 
 
 ' I Tim. 3:2. ^ Mark 14 : 14; Luke 22 : 11. 
 
 8 
 
96 S/n(//iS in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 the shaykli of Scmakh, on the east of the Jordan, 
 holds a tract of land which he is privileged to 
 cultivate. "The condition is that he shall enter- 
 tain all travelers who may call, with a supper, 
 and ])arley for their horses." " Hospitality, as 
 is well known," says Sir Wilfred P>lunt. "is the 
 first and i^reatest of all virtues in Arab estima- 
 tion." And Sir Richard Burton, in bearing simi- 
 lar witness to the prevalence of this virtue among 
 Arabs, merely qualifies his statement by limiting 
 its present sway to those now "rare tracts in 
 which the old barbarous hospitality still lingers ;" 
 where, in facl:, the chief virtues of primitive 
 peoples have not yet been destroyed or vitiated 
 by contact wath civilization and its vices. What 
 is true, so far, of the Arabs, is true of many 
 another Oriental people. 
 
 The Toorkomans of Central Asia, for example, 
 are hardly less remarkable than the Arabs for 
 this virtue of unselfish hospitality. Morier, who 
 visited anion lt the Toorkomans about the time 
 of Burckhardt's travels among the Arabs, says 
 of them: "Their hospitality, the theme of so 
 many pens, is not exaggerated." And Vambery, 
 a more recent and no less observant traveler, 
 
Hospitality i)i the East. 97 
 
 illustrates the spirit of the Toorkomans \\\ this 
 particular by many an incident of his extended 
 journe)inys. 
 
 On one occasion as he traveled, he came 
 with his party upon an out-of-the-way encamp- 
 ment of these people, and was made welcome 
 in the tent of one Allah Nazr. "This old 
 Turkoman," says X^ambery, "was beside himself 
 from joy that Heaven had sent him guests. The 
 recolleclion of that scene will never pass from 
 my mind. In spite of our protestations to the con- 
 trar\', he killed a goat, the only one which he 
 possessed, to contribute to our entertainment. 
 At a second meal which we partook with him 
 the next day, he found means to procure bread 
 also, an article that had not been seen for weeks 
 in his dwelling. While we attacked the dish of 
 meat, he seated himself opposite to us, and wept, 
 in the exacl:est sense of the expression, tears 
 of joy." 
 
 Imagine that manifestation of feeling in one 
 of our homes, when an added delegate to an 
 ecclesiastical or missionary gathering had been 
 quartered upon us as a guest ! 
 
 "Allah Nazr," continues Vambery, "would not 
 
98 S/n(/ies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 retain any part of the; goat he had killed in honor 
 of us. The horns and hoofs, which were burned 
 to ashes, and were to be employed for the galled 
 places on the camels, he gave to llias [an at- 
 tendant of the guest]; but the skin, stripped off 
 in one piece, he destined to serve as my water- 
 vessel, and after having well rubbed it with salt, 
 and dried it in the sun, he handed it over to me." 
 Vambery speaks also with warmth of the spirit 
 of hospitality among the people of Eastern 
 Turkey. Other travelers lay special emphasis 
 on the prominence and the prevalence ot this 
 virtue among the Khonds, of Orissa, in India. 
 Hunter says of this people : "As soon as a 
 traveler enters a [Khond] village, the heads of 
 families respeclfully solicit him to share their 
 meal. He may remain as long as he chooses, 
 as [according to a Khond proverb] a guest can 
 never be turned away. Fugitives from the field 
 of battle, and even escaped criminals, must be 
 hospitably treated." 
 
 " For the safety of a guest," runs another 
 Khond proverb, "life and honor are pledged; 
 he is to be considered before a child," — a princi- 
 ple illustrated in Lot's readiness to sacrifice his 
 
Hospitality in the East. 99 
 
 daughters for the protcclion of his guests in 
 Sodom/ Xor does this Oriental virtue of hospi- 
 taHty cease to show itself in a remarkable degree 
 as a virtue, even as far east as China and Japan. 
 It is the trait of traits among the more primitive 
 peoples of all the Hast. 
 
 It requires no argument to prove that a virtue 
 of this sort must subject to imposition those who 
 exercise it unstintingly, so long as there are evil- 
 minded and designing persons in the world ; and 
 that its exacting demands must press heavily 
 upon those who are at the centers of busy life 
 or along the greater thoroughfares of travel. It 
 will, therefore, be readily understood, that in all 
 the Oriental world there are those who try to 
 make as much as they can, and those who try to 
 lose as little as they may, out of this practical 
 virtue of Oriental hospitality. 
 
 Inasmuch as every stranger is entitled to enter 
 any Arab home; and be entertained there for, say, 
 a period of three days, and then to move on to 
 the; next house, or tent, and spend a like period 
 there, it would seem as if the East must be a 
 paradise for "tramps." And inasmuch as the 
 
 ^ Gen. 19:8; see also Judg. 19 : 22-24. 
 
lOO Shiciics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 guest is always entitled to the first place, and to 
 the choicest fare, at the table of his host, there is 
 a peculiar tc;mptation to a stranger to make him- 
 self a oiliest at a timti when a host has most to be 
 shared. If, indeed, it were not for the restraints 
 of a rigid public sentiment on these points of 
 social custom in the East, there would be more 
 difficulty than there is in keeping the causes of 
 trouble within bounds ; but, even as things are, 
 there are cases of special hardship on the one 
 hand, and of sharp pra6lice and shrewd evasions 
 of the law of fairness on the other hand. 
 
 Dr. Edward Robinson gives a good illustration 
 of one of the perils of the Arab law of hospitality. 
 While in the Sinaitic Peninsula, accompanied by 
 a trustworthy band of Tawarah Bed'ween, he 
 bought a kid from a party of Arabs whom they 
 passed on the way, and gave it to his escort, in 
 order that they might make merry with it that 
 evening, in Oriental style. 
 
 "When evening came," says Robinson, "all 
 was a61ivity and bustle to prepare the coming 
 feast. The kid was killed and dressed with great 
 dexterity and dispatch ; and its still quivering 
 members were laid upon the fire, and began to 
 
Hospitality in the East. loi 
 
 emit savory odors particularly gratifying- to Arab 
 nostrils. Hut now a change came over the fair 
 scene. 1 he Arabs of whom we had bought the 
 kid had in some way learnc:d that we were to 
 encamp near ; and naturally cmough concluding 
 that the kid was bought in order to ^be eaten, 
 they thought good to honor our Arabs 'vHth a 
 visit, to the number of five or six penjibns. ':• 
 
 " Now the stern law of liedawin hospitality 
 demands, that whenever a guest is present at a 
 meal, whether there be much or little, the first 
 and best portion must be laid before the stranger. 
 In this instance the five or six guests attained 
 their objed:, and had not only the selling of the 
 kid but also the eating of it ; while our poor 
 Arabs, whose mouths had long been watering 
 with expectation, were forced to take up with 
 the; fragments. Besharah [the chief guide], who 
 played the host, fared worst of all, and came 
 afterwards to beg for a biscuit, saying he had 
 lost the whole of his dinner." 
 
 An Arab proverb cited by Burckhardt, to the 
 effect that "those who give the wedding feast 
 sigh for the broth," seems to be based upon this 
 peril of hospitality. Possibly there is a survival 
 
i02 Studies hi Oriental Social Life. 
 
 of this Oriental state of thinqs in the modern 
 "donation party" sometimes given to a country 
 minist{;r, at which the guests bring the eatables, 
 count \\\v.m on the minister's salary, and then 
 devour them. 
 
 It is instru61ive to see how well an Arab will 
 control himself when he is being imposed on by 
 th;- la>,v8 of- hospitality. And an Oriental has 
 wonderful power in this dire6lion. Burton says 
 on this point: "Shame is a passion with Eastern 
 nations. Your host would blush to point out to 
 you the indecorum of your conducl: ; and the laws 
 of hospitality oblige him to supply the every 
 want of a guest." 
 
 My own traveling party on the way through 
 Palestine halted for lunch, one midday, near the 
 plain of ancient Dothan, where young Joseph 
 was sold by his brethren to the Midianitish mer- 
 chantmen. Hardly w^as our lunch spread, when 
 hurrying down a hillside near us came a man, a 
 w^oman, and a boy, of the native fellaheen or 
 peasantry, making toward our halting-place as 
 though their lives depended on their speed. 
 The dragoman, who was sharing his meal with 
 the chief muleteer of our party, saw the danger, 
 
Hospitality in tJic East. 103 
 
 and said to his companion, " Eat quickly. They 
 arc cominfr." P>nt before many mouthfuls could 
 be taken, the visitors were at hand. The; woman, 
 accordino- to custom, passed on. and seated her- 
 self on a rock at a respe6lful distance, with her 
 face turned away from our party; whih; the two 
 men presented themselves to our attendants. 
 
 The dragoman arose, and with all the suavity 
 and gracefulness with which an American society 
 woman would greet an unwelcome visitor, bowed 
 and said, "r///^/^/^?/"— 'TMease." or "Welcome." 
 " I am your guest," responded the stranger ; " I 
 and my brother's son." Then the two guests 
 took hold of the lunch, wdiile the dragoman and 
 the muleteer watched complacently the skilful 
 work of the visitors, absorbed as they wa^re in the 
 occupation of the moment. 
 
 It will be understood that where an Oriental 
 lives at a center of travel he is peculiarly liable 
 to imposition through calls on his hospitality, 
 Philadelphians who have survived the series of 
 centennials celebrated in that city within the 
 past twenty years, as also the Chicagoans with 
 their more recent experiences, will therefore be 
 quite ready to believe that at such a city as 
 
I04 Sfjif^ics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 Meccah there are residents to whom the enter- 
 taining of euests becomes something- more than 
 a deHghtful nov(;lty. 
 
 They have, indeed, a tradition at Meccah of 
 an old shaykh in that vicinity whose experience 
 was sadly representative in this line. They say 
 that he worshiped God zealously, and performed 
 his prayers and ablutions five times a day, while 
 being hospitable to all. But a Turk who was his 
 guest ran away with his wife ; a Persian guest 
 stole his horse ; an Egyptian guest stole his 
 camel ; a Moorish guest stole his ass ; and so 
 things went on — or went off — until the good old 
 man was utterly destitute. Then a Hindoo pil- 
 orim came alone, and abused the shaykh because 
 he had nothing left worth stealing. This was 
 too much for the long-suffering shaykh. He 
 turned and killed his reviler ; and in the ragged 
 cloth around his victim's loins he found a hoard 
 of eold. The obvious moral — if you can call it 
 a "moral " — of this tradition is, that hospitality 
 is not always sure to pay so well as its opposite. 
 
 Public sentiment in the East, however, enjoins 
 some of the guards against a life of useless idle- 
 ness which are found to work well in our Occi- 
 
Hospitality in tJic East. 105 
 
 dental organizations for the systematizing of 
 charities. In case a guest seems cHsposed to 
 prolong his stay beyond the " three days of 
 grace," his host will suggest to him, on the 
 morning of the fourth day. that, as he is now 
 one of the family, there is such and such house- 
 hold work to be done, in which he can bear his 
 part ; and so he is set at work for his living.^ 
 
 With human nature as it is, it is not to be 
 wondered at that there are Orientals who abuse 
 the privileges of hospitality ; or, again, that there 
 are Orientals who chafe under the obligations 
 and responsibilities of hospitality. The wonder 
 is that Orientals, being human, are so generally 
 true to the letter and to the spirit of their un- 
 written law of hospitality, in all that it imposes 
 upon them of an unselfish ministry to others. 
 
 There is, moreover, something in this Oriental 
 law of hospitality which goes deeper than the 
 mere duty of providing sustenance to those who 
 are in bodily want. It involves and carries with 
 it the covenanting of peace and friendshij), in the 
 sharing of a common meal ; and beyond this it 
 includes the giving of an asylum to all those who 
 
 ' Mark 6 : 10. 
 
io6 Sf?if/ics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 require protc61:ion, however unworth)- they may 
 be. These two phases of sentiment are often 
 confused by observers of Oriental customs, and 
 they are not always recognized in their distinct- 
 ness by the Orientals themselves. Yet they are 
 by no means one and the same thing. 
 
 The sharine of food or of drink with another 
 is a symbol of covenanting, among the Orientals, 
 as among all primitive peoples. To give even 
 a cup of cold water to a stranger,^ in the East, 
 is to proffer recognition to the stranger as one 
 worthy of reception. To ask a cup of water of 
 a strano-er, is to ask to be received on terms of 
 peace and good-will. When Eliezer, the servant 
 of Abraham, went as a stranger among his mas- 
 ter's kinsfolk in Mesopotamia, he sought a wel- 
 come, at the well outside of the city, by saying 
 to the maiden who came thither to draw water, 
 "Give me to drink, I pray thee, a little water of 
 thy pitcher." When she replied, " Drink, my 
 lord," it was a sign that he was welcome there.^ 
 
 When Jesus, at Jacob's well, said to a woman 
 of Samaria, "Give me to drink," she wondered 
 that a man of the haughty Jewish race should 
 
 ' Matt. lo ; 42 ; Mark 9 : 41. ^ Gen. 24 : 10-21. 
 
Hospitality in iJic East. 107 
 
 be \villini>- to invite recoLrnition and favor from a 
 woman of tlu; cU-spiscd Samaritan stock ; and 
 her rejoinder was : " How is it that thou, beincr 
 a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a Samaritan 
 woman ? " ' 
 
 Bruce, the traveler, while in Upper Egypt, re- 
 fused for a while to share coffee with an Arab 
 leader with whom he was at variance concern- 
 ing an imj)ortant matter, because their drinking 
 together would be proof of their amity. When, 
 after some discussion, the Arab asked for a drink 
 of the coffee, and it was given him, he said conh- 
 dently, " Now the past is past." Having drunk 
 together they were in friendship again. 
 
 When I entered Palestine by way of the Negeb, 
 or South Country, while guided by the Teeyahah 
 Bed'ween, I found the principal well at Beersheba 
 surrounded by a motley crowd of the quarrelsome 
 'Azazimeh Bed'ween, watering their camels. My 
 cautious Moorish dragoman warned me not to 
 venture among these "wild 'Azazimeh," as he 
 called them ; but, in my recklessness, I rushed 
 in where angels mi<dit not have trodden ; and, 
 all unconsciously on m)- part, I thereby put my- 
 
 ' John 4 : 3 y. 
 
io8 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 self iii)on their hospitality before they could find 
 time to warn nie off, as I learned afterwards 
 they were accustomed to treat strangers. As 
 soon as I was within their circle, I was asked why 
 I ditl not ask for a drink of water, if I wished 
 to be received as a friend. Thereupon I repeated 
 the Oriental request of the ages, "Give me to 
 drink ;" and when I had drunk from one of their 
 buckets I was welcomed as a friend. 
 
 A drink of water is the simplest form of pledg- 
 ing amity. It is the primitive symbol of hospi- 
 tality, with its covenant of protection to the guest. 
 Beyond this, the sharing of food, which is also 
 an a6l of hospitality, has been and is, in the East 
 and elsewhere, a mode of covenanting to peace 
 and fidelity. When Abimelech, at the head of 
 the nomad tribes on the south of Palestine — the 
 'Azazimeh of the patriarchal days — came seek- 
 ing a permanent covenant with Isaac, near the 
 well of Beersheba, Isaac ''made them a feast, 
 and they did eat and drink." And then it was 
 that their covenant of peace was confirmed.^ 
 
 When Jacob and Laban had differed, and were 
 newly in accord, they cemented their restored 
 
 ^ Gen. 26 : 26-33. 
 
Hospitality in the East. 109 
 
 friendship by eating together on tlie hea}) of 
 sU^ies which \\\vy liad raised as a memorial of 
 the covenant.' Under the Levitical law, the 
 sacrifice of "peace oHering," or the; "sacrifice 
 of completion," as it has been called, whereby 
 restored or completed covenant relations with 
 their God were indicated by the Israelites, was 
 an offering' of which the offerer himself partook, 
 as if he were sharing the covenant hospitality 
 of his God.- And this has been the idea of 
 sacrificial feasts all the world over in all the 
 ages. A place at the table of a Divine host has 
 been a pledge of Divine protecliion to the guest. 
 
 When the Gibeonites came to the people of 
 Israel seeking a covenant of amity, in the days 
 of Joshua, it is said that the Israelites "took 
 of their provision, and asked not counsel at 
 the mouth of the Lord," — covenanted with them 
 without asking the Lord's permission. Hut 
 havine thus covenanted with the Gibeonites, 
 even thoui-di inconsiderately, the Israelites telt 
 bound to adhere to the letter of their covenant.'^ 
 
 Obadiah of Samaria wanted Elijah to recog- 
 
 ' Gen. 31 ; 43-49. "'' Lev. 3 : i 17; 7:^5; Ueiii. 27 : 7. 
 
 ^Josh. 9 : 3-27. 
 
1 1 o Siiidics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 nizc him as in covenant relations with Jehovah, 
 because he had given bread and water to the; 
 persecuted prophets of Jehovah. And this view 
 of the potency and sacredness of a covenant 
 made by the sharing- of bread and water with 
 another^ prevails in the; East, to-day as always. 
 
 Dr. Cyrus llanilin, long an American mission- 
 ary in Turkc)-, was sitting- at meat wdth a Turkish 
 governor, when the latter took a piece of roast 
 mutton in his lingers and politely passed it to 
 the missionary. " Now do }OU know what 1 have 
 done?" asked the governor. "Perfectly well," 
 replied the missionary. "You have given me a 
 delicious piece of roast meat, and I have eaten 
 it." "You have gone far from it [have missed 
 its real meaning]," said the governor. " By that 
 acl I have pledged you every drop of my blood, 
 that while you are in my territory no evil shall 
 come to you. For that space of time w^e are 
 brothers." 
 
 Dr. William M. Thomson, a missionary for 
 many years in Syria, gives a similar illustration 
 from his experience among the Bed'ween of 
 Palestine, not far from the point where I was 
 
 ' I Kings 18 : 3-16. 
 
Hospitality in the Jiast. 1 1 1 
 
 entcrtainc:cl in a Ucd'wy shaykh's tent. The 
 shaykh brou^-ht fresh bread and gra[)e molasses, 
 and cHi)[)ing" a bit of bread in the molasses he 
 g-ave it to the missionary to eat. After this he 
 gave other bits to other members of the mis- 
 sionary's party. Then he said: "We are now 
 brethren. There is bread and salt between us. 
 We are brothers and allies. You are at liberty 
 to travel among- us wherever )ou please; and. so 
 far as my power extends, I am to aid, befriend, 
 and succor you, even to the loss of my life." 
 
 Major Conder sums up the case for the nomads 
 of Palestine and its surrounding regions in the 
 general statement: "The Bedawin are very 
 trustworthy ; the)' keep their promises honorably, 
 and their law of hospitality is striclly and chival- 
 rously observed. The murder of a guest who 
 has eaten salt in their camp is, I believe, almost 
 unknown. . . . The; life of any European is . . . 
 probabl)- cpiite as safe among the Arabs as in 
 London." Similar testimony is borne to the 
 fidelity of Oriental hosts in the implied covenant 
 of giving bread to a guest, by travelers in the 
 East from Mongolia to Abyssinia. 
 
 The element of salt in the covenant, referred 
 
1 1 2 Sliidlics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 to by Thomson and Condcr and other Eastern 
 travelers, gives additional potency to a covenant 
 of hospitality beyond the use of bread ; although 
 this distinction is not always perceived either by 
 the Occidental observer or by the Oriental enter- 
 tainer. The potency is in the primitive significa- 
 tion of salt as a symbol of life. A "covenant 
 of salt," like a covenant of blood, is an unalter- 
 able covenant. It is so indicated in its employ- 
 ment between the Lord and the house of Aaron, ^ 
 and, again, between the Lord and the house of 
 David.2 
 
 To give a drink of water to a guest is to recog- 
 nize him as worthy of a peaceable reception. 
 To share food with another is to covenant with 
 him in amity for the period of his stay as a guest 
 in the domain of the host. To partake of salt 
 with another is to enter into a brotherhood as 
 of very life with him. All these facl:ors are in- 
 cluded, severally or collectively, in the Oriental 
 idea of hospitality. 
 
 But beyond all these there is another element 
 in Oriental hospitality, which is deeper and more 
 far reaching than them all, and which is obviously 
 
 'Num. i8 ; b, 19. ^2 Chron. 13 : 5. 
 
Hospitality in the East. 1 1 3 
 
 based upon a profounder sentiment of nian's 
 reliLiious nature. This element is wliat may be 
 called the idea of " san(;;l;uary," — which secures 
 to a guest a protection by his host, even though 
 all the prejudices and personal interests of the 
 host, as well as the apparent claims of justice, 
 unite to the refusing of an asylum to the per- 
 son seeking it. And there is, in my opinion, 
 no more remarkable feature in any primitive 
 custom than just this feature of Oriental hospi- 
 tality. 
 
 "What is there," asks Volney, "more noble 
 than that right of asylum so respe6led among 
 all the tribes ? A stranger, nay even an enemy, 
 touches the tent of the Bedoui, and from that 
 instant his person becomes inviolable. It would 
 be reckoned a disgraceful meanness, an indelible 
 shame, to satisfy even a just vengeance at the 
 expense of hospitality. . . . The power of the 
 Sultan himself would not be able to force a 
 refugee [that is, a guest imploring proteclrtion, 
 or seeking sanctuary] from the protection of a 
 tribe, but by its total extermination." 
 
 Volney, indeed, cites the case of a rebellious 
 agha from Damascus, who took refuge among 
 
1 1 4 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 the Uruscs (in the Lebanon reg^ion), and who 
 was demanded by the emeer from Shaykh Tal- 
 houk, whose hospitality the agha had sought. 
 The reply of the shaykh was : "When have you 
 known the Druses deliver up their guests ? Tell 
 the emeer that, as long as Talhouk shall pre- 
 serve his beard, not a hair of the head of his 
 suppliant [his refugee-guest] shall fall." After 
 trying other threats, the emeer declared that he 
 would cut down fifty mulberry trees a day, until 
 the shaykh surrendered his guest. The mul- 
 berry trees were the main support of the tribe ; 
 but their destruction would not induce the Druses 
 to violate the right of sancluary. When the 
 emeer had cut clown a thousand trees, other 
 tribes were aroused in defense of Shaykh Tal- 
 houk, and the commotion became general. Then 
 it was that the fugitive agha reproached himself 
 with the trouble he was causing, and fled else- 
 where to avoid being the ruin ot his laithlul 
 hosts. 
 
 Burckhardt wrote of this same people, the 
 Druses : "I am satisfied that no consideration 
 of interest or power will induce a Druse to give 
 up a person who has once placed himself under 
 
Hospitality in the East. i i 5 
 
 his protection. . . . The miLii^hty Djezzar [a blood- 
 thirsty pasha of Acre and Sidon, of a century 
 ago], wlio had in\'ested his own creatures with 
 the government of the mountains [where the 
 Druses hv<;], never could force them to give up 
 a single indixidual of all those who lied hither 
 from his tyranny." Of other tribes than the 
 Druses, Lady Blunt testifies: "A stranger once 
 within an Anazeh or Shammar camp, unless he 
 be a declared enem\-, the member of a hostile 
 tribe, is secure from all molestation ; and even an 
 enem)', if he have once dismounted and touched 
 the rope of a single tent, is safe." 
 
 Dr. Hamlin tells of a time when his own 
 life was saved from the fur)- of a nati\'e mob 
 in Adabazar by the courage and fidelity of his 
 Turkish hotel host, who risked his own life to 
 secure safety to his guest. When, in this in- 
 stance, Dr, Hamlin w^as fairly beyond the reach 
 of the mob, his Turkish host said to him : " Now 
 you have an open plain, and your horse is enough 
 for your safety. I give you into God's keeping." 
 Says Dr. Hamlin : " I had not fully compre- 
 hended the spirit in which he had done this, and 
 I offered him a reward, 'bakshish,' He seemed 
 
1 1 6 Sfitdics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 offended, and refused, saying proudly, ' I am a 
 Mussulman ! I have not done this for money.' " 
 Yet this was only a Turkish hotel keeper ! 
 Could we not admit a few of this sort to America, 
 duty free ? No wonder that Dr. Hamlin adds 
 earnestly, " The duties of hospitality are among 
 the most sacred of the Oriental world." 
 
 Strangest of all is the hold which this sanc- 
 tuary phase of hospitality has over the Oriental 
 mind when it comes in confli61 with the duty of 
 blood-avenging, or of justice-meting ; for in the 
 Oriental mind blood-avenging is simply conform- 
 ing to the demand of justice. When a man has 
 slain another, it is, as the Oriental sees it, the 
 imperative duty of the relatives of the murdered 
 man to pursue the murderer relentlessly until his 
 blood, or its agreed price, be given as an equiva- 
 lent of the life that he has taken. This has been 
 the law of the East from the very earliest ages. 
 "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his 
 blood be shed," is the recorded command of God 
 to Noah and his sons, on their beginning life 
 anew after the Deluge. ^ And from that day to 
 this, throughout all the East, man has recognized 
 
 ^Gen. 9 : 6. 
 
Hospitality in the East. 1 1 7 
 
 it as his duty to avenge the blood of a murdered 
 H'lative, as he would be true to his God. But if 
 a murderer enters the tent of the avenger of 
 blood who is seeking his life, the law of Oriental 
 hospitality r(;quires that the right of san6luary 
 shall be accorded to him, in spite of the forfeiture 
 of his life by his crime. 
 
 Volney cites from an old Arabic manuscript an 
 incident in illustration of this truth. In the time 
 of the Khaleefs, a murderer flying from justice 
 came, without knowing it, to the house of a son 
 of the man whom he had murdered, and was 
 there welcomed as a guest. After a while it was 
 disclosed to the son that the murderer of his 
 father, whose life he had been seeking, was his 
 guest. The guest admitted the crime, and was 
 ready to meet his doom. " A violent trembling 
 then seized the rich man," continues, the story; 
 " his teeth chattered, his eyes alternately sparkled 
 with fury and overflowed with tears. ... At 
 length, turning to Ibraheem [the murderer- 
 guest], — 'To-morrow, said he, [that is, soon, at 
 the farthest,] 'destiny shall join thee to my 
 father, and God will have: retaliated. But as for 
 mc, how can I violate the sacred laws of hospi- 
 
1 1 8 S/udics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 talit)? \\'rt;tch(;d stranger, fly from ni)- pres- 
 ence ! There, takc^ these hundred secjiiins. I)e 
 gone {]inckl)-, and Ic-t me nc-ver behold thee 
 more." 
 
 In Tully's "Narrative of a Ten Years' Resi- 
 dence at Tripoh," there is given an authentic 
 instance of like fidelity to the sanctuary obliga- 
 tions of hospitality, in that portion of Arabic 
 Africa. A chief of a party of troops in the 
 service of the ruling family of Tripoli, while 
 pursued by Arabs, lost his way, and was over- 
 taken b)' night near the enemy's camp. Coming 
 upon a tent he cmtered it boldly, and by that 
 very a61: he was under prote(5lion as a guest. As 
 he talked pleasantly with his host, in the inter- 
 change of stories concerning the exploits of their 
 people, he noticed a sudden paleness cover the 
 face of his host, who at once left the presence of 
 his guest, and soon after sent word that he was 
 unable to return, but had made every provision 
 for his guest's safety and repose. 
 
 Before daylight the next morning, the guest 
 was aroused, and invited to take refreshment, in 
 preparation for his departure. At the entrance 
 of the tent stood a fresh horse in exchamj-e for 
 
 o 
 
Hospitality in tJic East. 1 19 
 
 his exhausted one, all ready for his mounting. 
 There also stood his host, holding the stirrup for 
 him as he moiintrd, in accordance with Arab 
 etiquette. When the guest was in his saddle, the 
 host told him that the benighted wayfarer had 
 no enemy so much to be dreaded as the man 
 whose tent \\(\ had entered. 
 
 " 'Last night,' said he, 'in the exploits of your 
 ancestors )ou discovered to ww. the murderer of 
 my father. There lie all the habits he was slain 
 in [which were at that moment brought to the 
 door of the tent], over which, in the presence of 
 my famil)', I have many times sworn to revenge 
 his death, and to seek the blood of his murderer 
 from sunrise to sunset. The sun lias not yet 
 risen ; the sun will be no more than risen wdien 
 I pursue you, after you have in safety quitted my 
 tent, where, fortunately for you, it is against our 
 religion to molest you, after your having sought 
 my prote6lion and found a refuge there ; but all 
 my obligations cease as soon as we part, and 
 from that moment you must consider me as one 
 determined on your destruction, in whatever part 
 [of the country] or at whatever distance we may 
 meet ao'ain. You have not mounted a horse in- 
 
1 20 Siudics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 fcrior to the one that stands ready for myself; 
 on its swiftness surpassing that of mine depends 
 one of our Hves or both.'" 
 
 Profiting by the start thus given him, the 
 guest was enabled to reach the Bey's army in 
 safety, although his pursuer was close b(;hind 
 him as he neared that camp. And this generous 
 a6l of the host, says the English narrator, was 
 " no more than every Arab and every Moor in 
 the same circumstances would do." 
 
 Of the primitive Khonds in India, a similar 
 story is told by Hunter: "A man belonging to 
 one of the miserable low castes who are attached 
 to the Kandh hamlets killed the son of the vil- 
 lage patriarch, and fled. Two years afterwards 
 he suddenly rushed one night into the house of 
 the bereaved father. The indignant patriarch 
 with difficulty held his hand from the trembling 
 wretch, and convened a council of the tribe to 
 know how he might lawfully take revenge. But 
 the assembly decided that, however grievously 
 the refugee had wronged his host, he was now 
 his guest, and must be kept by him in comfort, 
 and unharmed." 
 
 Warburton gives another incident in this line, 
 
Hospitality in tJic East. 
 
 121 
 
 from the days of the conflicl: in Egypt between 
 the Mamlook Beys and Muhammad Alee in the 
 early part of this century. A Bed'wy shaykh was 
 seeking the life of Elfy Bey, the deadly enemy of 
 his friend and ally Osman. During the absence 
 of the shaykh from his tent. Elfy Bey entered it 
 boldly, and hastily ate some bread which he 
 found there. The shaykh's wife, recognizing the 
 stranger guest, said: 'T know you, Elfy Bey, and 
 my husband's life, perhaps, at this moment 
 depends upon his taking yours. Rest now and 
 refresh yourself; then take the best horse you 
 can find, and fly. The moment you are out of 
 our horizon, and the sun is above it, the tribe 
 will be in pursuit of you." 
 
 When this story reached the ears of Osman, he 
 demanded of the old shaykh if his wife had really 
 saved the life of their deadliest foe. " Most true, 
 praised be Allah ! ' replied the shaykh. drawing 
 himself proudly up, and presenting a jcwel-hilted 
 dagger to the old bey. 'This weapon,' he con- 
 tinued, 'was your gift to me in the hour of your 
 favor. Had I met Elfy Bey, it should have freed 
 you from your enemy. Had my wife betrayed 
 the hospitality of the tent, it should have drank 
 
I 2 2 Sfudics in Oriculal Social Life. 
 
 her blood ! Now it is yours again. If you will, 
 you may use it against mc!.' And the Aralj Hung 
 it at tin; Mameluke's feet." 
 
 "This reverence for hospitality," adds War- 
 burton, "is one of the wild virtues that has sur- 
 vived from the days of the patriarchs." And 
 he is right. It is clearly a survival of better 
 days, not a mark of progress upward from a 
 lower and baser moral plane. A sentiment that 
 induces a course of personal a6lion at variance 
 with one's personal interests, with one's p(;rsonal 
 passions, and with one's personal view of abso- 
 lute justice, in accordance with one's convitrtion 
 that that course is the right course for a repre- 
 sentative of a higher Power than a purely hu- 
 man one, can hardly be looked at as a sentiment 
 inherent in a mere animal nature uninfluenced 
 by considerations beyond and above itself 
 
 There is a survival of this Oriental idea of the 
 sacred claim of hospitality, as superior to the 
 demands of personal vengeance or of religious 
 prejudices, in the traditions of the Irish people, 
 among whom so many Eastern customs are pre- 
 served. One of these traditions is embodied 
 in an Irish ballad by Gerald Griffin, entitled 
 
Hospitality in tlic East. 123 
 
 " Oranore and Green." A Roman Catholic who 
 had killed an Orangeman sou^^dit shelter in an 
 Orangeman's cottasj^e. It was soon found that 
 the murdered man was the son of the murderer's 
 host ; but the Orangeman was true to the obli- 
 gations of hospitality, and he sheltered the mur- 
 derer for the night, and in the morning sent him 
 on his way in peace. 
 
 Twenty years after this, the hospitable Orange- 
 man was in the hands of the Romanists in peril 
 of his life. His long-ago guest recognized him, 
 and interposed for his protecl:ion. When the 
 populace learned the story of the faithful host, 
 their Irish hearts commended him : 
 
 " Now pressed the warm beholders 
 Their aged foe to greet ; 
 They raised him on their shoulders 
 And chaired him through the street. 
 
 " As he had saved that stranger 
 From peril scowling dim, 
 So in his day of danger 
 
 Did Heaven remember him." 
 
 The fac't that the: primitive Oriental sentiment 
 of hos[)itality has its basis in a religious convic- 
 tion, rather than in any utilitarian \iew of the 
 mutual advantages resulting from such helpful 
 
1 24 Studies hi Oriental Social Life. 
 
 pradices amonc;- men, finds confirmation in the 
 terms by which they speak of themselves and of 
 strano^ers as ahke the "guests of God," dwelhng 
 in tents where God is the host, and where all who 
 are God's are entitled to be sharers together. 
 
 The Rev. William Ewing, a Scotch missionary 
 in Palestine, who has been much among the 
 Arabs of the Hauran and El-Leja on the east of 
 the Jordan, where the primitive customs of the 
 people are far better preserved than among those 
 tribes who see more of civilization with its heart- 
 deadening influences, testifies explicitly as to the 
 force of this sentiment. 
 
 " A beautiful idea possesses the minds of these 
 dwellers in waste places," he says. " It is that 
 they are all ' the guests of God ' — duyuf Ullah — 
 spending life's brief day under the blue canopy 
 of God's great tent ; all they need being freely 
 given by him, — the Generous, the Bountiful. 
 When nightfall brings the traveler, lone and 
 weary, to his tent, the Bed'wy sees in him 'a 
 euest of God,' to be treated as God has dealt 
 with himself; to whom, therefore, his tent and all 
 he has must be free ; against whom, even it he 
 be an enemy, no hand must be raised, lor two 
 
Hospitality in the Bast. 125 
 
 nights and a day — or while ht; may retain a par- 
 ticle of food partaken of as a guest." 
 
 Doughty, one of the freshest and most obser- 
 vant of travelers, gives similar testimou)-. Speak- 
 ing of the " houses of hair " in Arabia Deserta. 
 he says : "These flitting houses in the wilderness, 
 dwelt in by robbers, are also sanctuaries of God's 
 guests, thefif Ullah, the passengers and who they 
 be that haply alight before them. . . . ' Be we 
 not all,' say the poor nomads, 'guests of Uiia/i /' 
 Has God given unto them, God's guest shall 
 partake with them thereof: if they will not for 
 God render his own, it should not go well with 
 them." 
 
 This idea clearly comes from above, not from 
 below. It is not evolved from man's inner con- 
 sciousness, but it has. in some way and at some 
 time, been revealed to man as a truth, in cease- 
 less contlicl; with the promptings of mere human 
 selfishness, and in perfedt consonance with the 
 teachings of the divine Word that rests the 
 brotherhood of man on the fatherhood of God. 
 This idea makes every host and every guest alike 
 a representative of God. 
 
 The primeval type of religion shows every 
 
126 Shidics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 home a sancluary, and the head of every home a 
 priest of God in that sanctuary. When, there- 
 fore, a strang-er sqeks refuge in a home-sancrtuary 
 he must be recognized as seeking God's protec- 
 tion there ; and he who ministers there for God 
 must not deny the refugee a sanctuary because 
 of the opposition of his personal interests or pas- 
 sions. Blood-avenging is, it is true, a demand 
 of justice sanctioned by the Author of life ; but 
 the Author of life is above the living as well as 
 above the dead ; and in the home as a sancluary 
 the priest of God must not even administer jus- 
 tice on his tnuii behalf, in a case of blood-aven- 
 ging. Then and there it is, peculiarly, that the 
 w^ord of the Lord to be heeded is, "Vengeance 
 is mine, and recompense ;"' and that the prayer 
 of the human blood-avenger must be : 
 
 " Lord, thou God to whom vengeance belongeth, 
 Thou Cud to wliom vengeance belongetli, shine forth." ^ 
 
 All the Mosaic legislation, like all the early 
 Hebrew praftice, seems conformed to this primi- 
 tive conception of the rights of sanctuary or of 
 asylum. It was on this basis that there were 
 cities of refuge, or of asylum, at convenient dis- 
 
 ^ Deut. 32 : 35 ; Heb. 10 : 30. ^ Psa. 94 : I. 
 
Hospitality in the East. 127 
 
 tanccs throiiLrliout the land of Israel/ into which 
 a shedder of blood could ilee from the hand of 
 the blood-avenL,^er. These cities were as the spe- 
 cial t(Mits of Jehovah, where any in-comer could 
 claim the rights of Jehovah's hospitality. And 
 the })rivileq-es thus accorded to the; shedder of 
 blood were contingent upon the life of the high- 
 priest.^ who was Jehovah's peculiar representative 
 in the land where these cities w^ere his tents. 
 
 Even the special exceptions to this right of 
 asylum which seem to find Oriental sanation in 
 the Bible record, are conformable to this gen- 
 eral view of its scope and significance. For ex- 
 ample : Sisera the Canaanitish chieftain, when 
 defeated by Deborah and Barak, the Hebrew 
 leaders, took refuge in the tent of Jael, the wife 
 of Heber the Kenite. By the law of Oriental 
 hospitality, Sisera was entitled to protection as 
 a guest, even though he had been the bitter 
 enemy, or the very murderer, of Jael's husband 
 or child. But Jael took the life of Sisera after 
 she had eiven him drink as if in formal covenant 
 with him as her accepted guest. And for this 
 
 'Num. 35 :6, 11-15; 1)0111.4:43; 19:2, 3; Josh. 20: 1-9; 21 : 13, 
 21. 27, 32, 36, 38; I Chron. 6 : 57,67. ^Num. 35 . 25-28, 32. 
 
 10 
 
I 28 Sliidics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 a6l, in apparent grossest violation of funda- 
 mental Oriental law, Jacl is specifically com- 
 mended in the song of Deborah the prophetess.^ 
 Now there must be some plausible reason for 
 this giving of public honor, by an Oriental people, 
 to an acl; which on the face of it was the foulest 
 treachery, according to their own standards of 
 fidelity and right ; yet such a reason has been 
 sought for in vain by the commentators. The 
 suo-ecstion which has been ventured, that Sisera 
 had no right to seek prote6lion in a tent when 
 only a woman was there, is not in accordance 
 with Oriental modes of thought. A fugitive has 
 a right to seek an asylum even in a woman's tent, 
 in an emergency. Oriental literature abounds 
 in references to such cases. 
 
 When, however, we see that the underlying 
 idea of the safety of a guest in an Oriental tent 
 is, that the host there is God's representative, 
 and that therefore the host must a6l for (iod, 
 and not for himself, this incident can be seen in 
 a new light. Sisera as the opponent of Israel 
 was looked upon as God's opponent. Jael was 
 not an Israelite, but by her course with reference 
 
 1 Judg. 4 : 1-24; 5 ■• 1-31- 
 
Hospitality in t/tc luist. 129 
 
 to Sisera she took sides with God's people, as 
 Rahab of Jericho had taken sides with that 
 people in the days of Joshua. And Jael would 
 count herself as executing- judgment for God, 
 when she destroyed an enemy of God, even 
 though he was not her personal enemy, but was 
 her guest. 
 
 Mark you, I am not defending the action 
 of Jael, but I am pointing out how, in accord- 
 ance with Oriental ideas, she was evidencing 
 her conception of a higher ethical standard, 
 when she departed from the ordinary customs 
 and traditions of her people in order to show 
 her fidelity to God himself, as in her opinion 
 superior to all mere human customs and tradi- 
 tions. Her very violation of the letter of the 
 law of Oriental hospitality would thus seem to 
 be an explicit proof of her purpose of conform- 
 ing to the truest spirit of that law. And so it 
 seems to have been understood by the Hebrews. 
 
 Again the record stands, that Joab was, by 
 King Solomon's order, slain in the very Tcmt of 
 the Lord, when he had sought asylum there, and 
 had caught hold of the horns of Jehovah's altar ; ^ 
 
 ' I Kings 2 : 28-34. 
 
1 30 Studies in Oi'icntal Social Life. 
 
 as an Oriental of to-day would claim a host's asy- 
 lum by laying hold of his tent-pole. And this 
 slaying of Joab was in accordance with the dying 
 request of King David to his son and successor. ^ 
 On the face of it, this seems a revengeful request 
 by David, and a treacherous and sacrilegious acl: 
 by Solomon's officials. But a closer study of the 
 incident in the light of Oriental customs, shows 
 its consistency with the whole idea of the su- 
 preme sacredness of the relations of host and 
 guest, in the East. 
 
 Long years before this, Joab had grossly vio- 
 lated the law of hospitality by slaying Abner, a 
 representative of the house of Saul, when Abner 
 had come as a guest to David's tent, and was 
 still within the conventional limits of the asylum 
 of that tent at Hebron.-^ The treachery of that 
 acl of Joab was recognized by David at the time 
 of its commission,' and it ought to have been 
 punished then. But because of Joab's fidelity to 
 David personally, David had spared Joab during 
 all these years ; and when David came to his 
 death-bed he was actuated, not by revenge, but 
 by an aroused conscience, to insist that delayed 
 
 ' I Kings 2 : 1-6. ^2 Sam. 3 : 6, 20-27. ^2 Sam. 3 : 28, 29. 
 
Hospitality in the East. 1 3 1 
 
 justice should be executed against Joab. And, 
 inasmuch as the sin of Joab, in his breach of the 
 asyhun-rig-ht of hospitahty in the case of Abner, 
 was deemed a denial of God's control in the tent 
 of a host, it was not for Joab to claim the asylum- 
 right of the Tent of the Lord when God's justice 
 overtook him there. This is the way in which 
 Orientals would look at such a case. 
 
 The duty of hospitality in the East seems, as 
 I have said, to include the twofold idea of the 
 brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God, 
 or, rather, the brotherhood of man as a conse- 
 quence of the fatherhood of God, — all being 
 "guests of God," even in their own homes. 
 Every man as a child of God is entitled to recog- 
 nition by every other child of God as a brother 
 man, and to the supply of his immediate wants 
 accordingly. Everyman being entitled to recog- 
 nition as a child of God, it follows that his every 
 appeal to God for justice or for mercy must be 
 referred to God by whoever claims to be a 
 representative of God, in spite of all personal 
 considerations prompting to a refusal of such 
 reference. 
 
 For this reason the claims of hospitality take 
 
132 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 precedence of all other claims, except the spe- 
 cific claims of God himself; and a violation ot 
 the claims of hospitality is a sin of sins, in the 
 estimation of the Oriental mind. To this extent 
 the modern practice — or the recognized ideal — in 
 the East coincides with the teachings of the Bible 
 narrative. 
 
 Lady Anne Blunt, as if in partial apprehension 
 of this truth, says : " Hospitality, to the Euro- 
 pean mind, does not recommend itself, like justice 
 or mercy, as a natural virtue. It is rather re- 
 garded as what theologians call a supernatural 
 one ; that is to say, it would seem to require 
 something more than the instincl; of ordinary 
 good feeling to throw open the doors of one's 
 house to a stranger, to kill one's lamb for his 
 benefit, and to share one's last loaf with him. 
 Yet the Bedouins do not so regard it. They 
 look upon hospitality not merely as a duty im- 
 posed by divine ordinance, but as the primary 
 instinct of a well-constituted mind. To refuse 
 shelter or food to a stranger is held to be not 
 merely a wicked action, an offense against divine 
 or human law, but the very essence of depravity. 
 A man thus acting could not again win the 
 
Hospitality in tJic East. 133 
 
 respe6l or toleration of liis neighbors. This, in 
 principle, is tin; same in all Arab tribes, liedouin 
 or not ; but the particular laws and obligations 
 of hospitality among them dilfer widely." 
 
 To the Oriental minel, the surpassing sin of 
 Sodom, as typical of the de[)th of inicpiity to 
 which the Cities of the Plain had fallen, was the 
 disregard of the rights of hospitality in the pur- 
 posed ill-treatment of the strangers whom Lot, 
 as the one righteous man of the city, had wel- 
 comed to his home, and was ready to shield from 
 harm even by the surrender of the members of 
 his own family — as he was bound to do by the 
 Oriental standard of right. ^ To this day a tradi- 
 tional site of Sodom on the southern boundary 
 of Palestine is pointed out by the Arabs as the 
 place where stones from heaven were hurled 
 against a people who misused " some travelers 
 seeking hospitality there." 
 
 So, again, it was the violation of the rights of 
 hospitality at Gibeah by the Benjamites that 
 aroused the people of Israel to gather "as one 
 man " to destroy the whole city of Gibeah, even 
 though it must be done at the cost of cutting off 
 
 ' Gen. ly : 16-33 ; 19 : 1-25. 
 
1 34 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 one of the entire tribes from its inheritance in 
 the promises to Israel. ^ In fact, there were no 
 riofhts so sacred in the ancient East as the rijjhts 
 of hospitaHty, nor was any sin so great as a chs- 
 regard of those rights. HospitaHty included love 
 to man as based on fidelity to God, A breach 
 of hospitality was in defiance not only of the 
 rights of man but of the prerogatives of God. 
 And as it was of old, so it is to-day in all the 
 Oriental world. 
 
 This idea of the universal right of asylum, or 
 of sancliuary against one's personal enemies, and 
 of the corresponding duty of granting such asy- 
 lum to whoever asks for it, and at whatever cost 
 to one's self, is manifested in the East in another 
 phase of hospitality than that which has its be- 
 ginning in an entrance into one's tent, or in a 
 sharing of one's food or drink. An Arab who is 
 assailed by enemies, or who is pursued by an 
 avenger of blood, may cry out the name of an 
 absent chieftain, or man of authority and power, 
 and claim to be his guest ox protege. At once it 
 becomes the duty of those who hear this cry to 
 aid the refugee in reaching him whom he thus 
 
 'judg. 19 : 1-30; 20 : 1-48. 
 
Hospitality ui the East. 135 
 
 makes his host or [)atron — or dakhccl, as an Arab 
 would say. And when the news of that appeal 
 has reached the ears of him who is named as 
 host, it is his duty to go at once to the imprisoned 
 refugee, or to welcome and protecl: him if he be 
 brought a prisoner-guest, or to avenge his death 
 on his murderers if the refugee's appeal for 
 sanctuary hospitality has been unheeded. 
 
 Various Bible texts gain fresh meaning in the 
 liLrht of this latter custom. Thus, in the Prov- 
 erbs : "The name of the Lord is a strong tower : 
 the righteous runneth into it, and is safe."^ And 
 in the prophecy of Joel: "And it shall come 
 to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name 
 of the Lord shall be delivered.'""^ Or, as Peter 
 rendered it in the day of Pentecost, and as Paul 
 repeated it in his letter to the Romans : "Who- 
 soever shall call on the name of the Lord shall 
 be saved," '' whosoever shall commit himself, in 
 trust, to the Lord as his dakhecl, may be sure 
 of acceptance and protection. And when the 
 scope and significance of Oriental hospitality are 
 perceived in the bearing of such obligations as 
 these, it w'ould seem obvious that faithfulness in 
 
 ' Piuv. 18 : 10. -Joel 2 . 32. ■'Acts 2:21; Rom 10 : 13. 
 
1 36 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 the duties of hospitality on the part of an Oriental 
 is in itself a test of personal charader, as an ex- 
 hibit of obedience prompted by unfailing faith. 
 
 No page of recorded history is so ancient as to 
 go back of the time when these ideas of hospi- 
 tality, as indicative of love to man and of fidelity 
 to God, were not prevalent in the best religious 
 teachings of the race. Nor does any page of 
 inspired prophecy suggest a human future when 
 a recognition of these ideas shall no longer be a 
 real test of human character. The oldest religious 
 document extant is what is commonly known as 
 the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Portions of that 
 work date back to centuries before the time ot 
 Abraham. In the pi6lure therein given of the 
 soul's judgment after death, the commendation 
 of every soul who passes the great ordeal in the 
 Hall of Two Truths, by the god who has tested 
 him. is : " The eod has welcomed him as he has 
 wished. He has given food to the hungry, drink 
 to the thirsty, clothes to the naked ; he has made 
 a boat for me to go by [that is, he has provided 
 for the burial of the dead]." 
 
 Among the ancient Greeks, hospitality w^as a 
 potent religious sentiment, from the earliest days 
 
Hospitality in the East. 137 
 
 of that people. The possibility was recognized 
 that a stranger-guest might be a god in disguise, 
 and that therefore every stranger-guest must be 
 treated with deference. Zeus was the protecting 
 deity of strangers, and a violation of the laws 
 of hospitality incurred his displeasure and ven- 
 geance. The stranger-guest in a Greek home 
 became a guest-friend by the covenant of hospi- 
 tality ; and this guest-friendship was transmitted 
 as an inheritance from generation to generation. 
 
 It was customary among the Greeks, on the 
 departure of a guest from the home where he had 
 been entertained, for the host to break a die. or a 
 token, into two parts, the one for the host-friend 
 and the other for the guest-friend, as a means of 
 recognition in the future between parents or chil- 
 dren thus interhnkcd. It is claimed by scholars 
 that the dominance of the sentiment of hospi- 
 tality declined with the growth of Greek civiliza- 
 tion, and that it was less powerful in the lyric age 
 than HI the Homeric, — which goes to show that it 
 was a pure primitive concept, rather than an evo- 
 lution based on utilitarian ideas. 
 
 Similarly in ancient Rome the duty of hospi- 
 tality was a religious obligation, and its violation 
 
138 Siicdics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 was a crime and an impiety. As among the 
 Orientals, so among the Romans, a guest took 
 precedence of members of the family of tlie host 
 in his claims for consideration. The pledge or 
 token of the covenant of hospitality was known 
 as the tesso'a Jiospi talis. It was divided between 
 the host and his guest, as a means of recognition 
 by them or by their descendants ; for with the 
 Romans, as with the Greeks, the covenant of 
 hospitality was of hereditary force. This tessera 
 hospitalis is understood to have borne on its face 
 the image of Jupiter Hospitalis, in indication of 
 its divine san(5lion. 
 
 In the so-called Sibylline Books, which are sup- 
 posed to have been of Jewish authorship, in the 
 second or third century before the Christian era, 
 the prophecy of the Messianic age included a 
 promised universal triumph of "love, faith, hospi- 
 tality," as the most blessed conditions for hu- 
 manity. 
 
 The claims of hospitality are recognized among 
 the American Indians in much the same manner 
 as among the Orientals. A stranger, even though 
 an enemy, may enter an Indian tent, and be sure 
 of prote(^tion, and of a share of all that the tent 
 
Hospitality in the East. 139 
 
 affords. In sonic tribes a dish of food is always 
 ready, in the tent of a chief, for whoever will 
 enter and partake of it. And so in lesser or in 
 larger measure this principle is recognized by 
 primitive peoples everywhere. 
 
 \\\ the picture of the fmal judgment given by 
 Jesus of Nazareth, it is shown that when, before 
 the Judge of all the earth, there "shall be 
 gathered all the nations" — all the primitive peo- 
 ples and the outside barbarians — "then shall the 
 King say unto them on his right hand. Come, 
 ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom 
 prepared for you from the foundation of the 
 world : for I was an hungred, and ye gave me 
 meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I 
 was a stranger, and ye took me in ; naked, and 
 ye clothed me : I was sick, and ye visited me : I 
 was in prison, and ye came unto me."^ And in 
 answer to the question by the welcomed heathen 
 whe7i this proof of fidelity to the King of all was 
 thus evidenced, the King shall reply : "Verily I say 
 unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these 
 my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me."- 
 
 ' Matt. 25 : 31-36. See, also, Matt. 10 : 40; John 13 • 20. 
 2 Matt. 25 • 37-40. 
 
1 40 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 Muhammad enjoins the? duty of hospitality on 
 his followers as indicative of their state of heart 
 before the all-seeing God. "Whoever," he says, 
 "believes in God and the day of resurre6tion, 
 must respecl: his guest ; and the time of being 
 kind to him is one day and one night ; and 
 the period of entertaining him is three days ; 
 and after that, if lie does it longer, he benefits 
 him more ; but it is not right for a guest to stay 
 in the house of a host so long as to incommode 
 him." 
 
 Peter, the leader of the apostles of Jesus Christ, 
 in his first general letter to the scattered mem- 
 bers of the Christian Church, enjoins earnestly 
 upon them all the duty of showing that love 
 which " covereth a multitude of sins," by "using 
 hospitality one to another without murmuring."^ 
 And Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ to the out- 
 side Gentile world, presses the importance of 
 being "given to hospitality."" And the writer of 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews emphasizes the value 
 of this virtue, or grace, by a reference to the 
 illustration of its historic preciousness in the case 
 of Abraham and of Lot when he says : " Forget 
 
 ' I Pet. 4:9. ^ Rom, 12:13. 
 
Hospitality in the East. 141 
 
 not to show love unto strangers : for thereby 
 some have entertained angels unawares."' 
 
 And so it is tliat \\v. fiiid in the ideal virtue or 
 grace of hospitality in the East, a spirit of unsel- 
 fish regard for every stranger as a fellow child 
 of God, impelled by a sense ot one's responsi- 
 bility as God's representative in welcoming that 
 stranoer child of God into the home where the 
 host is himself a guest of God. That not every 
 Oriental is true to the ideal of duty thus held 
 before him, is only an indication that Orientals 
 are human. That any Oriental has that pur- 
 pose of heart which prompts him to aspire un- 
 ceasingly to this ideal, is a proof that among 
 the least favored peoples, as well as among those 
 most favored, there are possibilities and signs of 
 that God-seekinof and God-servino- and God- 
 trusting spirit which is inseparable from true re- 
 ligion — by whatsoever name it be known among 
 the sons of men. 
 
 He who is alwa)'s ready to welcome to his home 
 and heart any stranger-guest, in th(; thought that 
 that stranger-guest may be a son of God, is surt?ly 
 in an attitude of spirit to welcome gladly the Son 
 
 ' Heb. 13 : 2. 
 
142 Sfuf^ics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 of God when he shows himself as such.^ Here is 
 a test of character by which the heathen world 
 can be judged ; and Jesus Christ explicitly affirms 
 that this test will be recognized by him, as the 
 decisive one, when he "shall come in his glory, 
 and all the angels with him," and "shall sit on 
 the throne of his glory," ^ judging the heathen 
 nations gathered before him. 
 
 1 See Prov. 25 : 21 ; Rom. 12 ; 20. 
 
 Matt. 
 
 ■-■> ■ J 
 
 I. 
 
 \ 
 
FUNERALS AND MOURNING 
 IN THE EAST. 
 
 It was on the west bank of the Nile, not far 
 from the ancient step-shaped pyramid of Saq- 
 qarah, or " the Pyramid of Degrees " as it is 
 sometimes called, a few hours' donkey-ride above 
 the plains of Gheezeh — on which the greatest of 
 all the pyramids looks down, that I first heard the 
 cry of Egyptians wailing over their dead. I had 
 already groped my way through the subterranean 
 chambers of the Serapeum, or tombs of the 
 
 sacred bulls, and had studied with wonder the 
 
 143 
 
144 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 sculptured scenes of Egyptian life of forty cen- 
 turies ago on the walls of the tomb of the archi- 
 te6l Tey, and was slowly riding northward again, 
 with my thoughts intent on the ancient past that 
 had thus been vividly brought before my mind, 
 when I was started out of my revery by a cry. 
 
 A sharp, shrill, ear-piercing shriek, as from one 
 in mortal pain, was the first sound that broke in 
 on the desert silence. Then came other shrieks, 
 shriek upon shriek, a chorus of shrieks. The 
 shrieks were followed by wails, — loud, high, pro- 
 longed, quavering wails. These wails rose and 
 fell in stranofe weird cadences ; but all the while 
 they seemed no less really heartrending cries 
 of agony. Yet no human being was in sight of 
 our party, in the dire61ion of these sounds of 
 suffering, in advance of us. Our impulse was to 
 hasten forward to the help of those whose cries 
 we heard ; and doing this we came to an eleva- 
 tion in the rolling desert, and saw at a distance, 
 a little to the right of our pathway, standing 
 out against the sky, a group, or semi-circle, of 
 women, from whom came the shrieks and wails 
 which had startled us so. 
 
 Riding toward this group, we learned the na- 
 
Fiinc7^als and Aloicrning in the East. 145 
 
 turc and cause of these sounds of sorrow. Two 
 men had been working together in a quarry, 
 there, that morning. In a moment one had 
 fallen dead. The one was taken and the other 
 left.^ And now there was a wailing over the 
 dead Egyptian. Ihe body ot the dead man, 
 covered over with a thin cloth, was strc^tched out 
 on the desert sand. Close beside him crouched 
 his wife, who had been promptly summoned. 
 Her head and face were uncovered. Her hair 
 was disheveled, hanging down upon her shoul- 
 ders and about her face. Her loose garments 
 were disordered and torn. Her bosom was 
 bared. Upon her face and hair were thrown 
 masses of the black mud of the Nile. Swaying 
 her body back and forth, she violently struck at 
 her bosom with her hands, or clutched at her 
 hair, while shrieking out in wild cries of hope- 
 less agony. 
 
 StandincT about the crouchinor woman were 
 other women, all with their heads and faces 
 uncovered and mud-bespattered, their hair dis- 
 heveled, their bosoms bared ; swinging their arms 
 above their heads, and waving wildly dark 
 
 ' Matt. 24 ; 40, 
 
1 16 S/u(/n's ill Oriental Social Life. 
 
 scarfs or handkerchiefs, whiU; they shrieked out 
 those piercing shrieks, and wailed those loud, 
 high, prolonged quavering wails of mourning, 
 which we had heard at a distance that morning, 
 and the like of which were heard on that very 
 plain, five centuries before the days of Moses, 
 when the family of the archite6l Tey had laid his 
 embalmed body away in that tomb I had just 
 visited, under the shadow of the Pyramid of De- 
 grees at Saqqarah. 
 
 Twenty-three centuries ago, Herodotus, whom 
 we call the Father of History, visited Egypt, 
 and was impressed by its strange mourning cus- 
 toms, which he described much as I am describing 
 them to you to-day. When any one died there, 
 he said, all the females of his family, covering 
 their heads and faces with mud, ran through the 
 streets with their bosoms exposed, striking them- 
 selves, and uttering loud lamentations. Twenty 
 centuries before Herodotus, there were pi61:ured 
 on the walls of the tombs in Egypt representa- 
 tions, which are fresh to-day, of wailing women 
 mournine over the dead, their heads uncovered, 
 their hair disheveled, their bosoms bared, fling- 
 ing their arms, or beating their breasts, or tear- 
 
Funerals ajid Aloiirning in the East. 147 
 
 iiiL^ their hair, or throwiiiLr mud on their heads, in 
 demonstration of their sorrow, wliile the wife with 
 similar expressions of grief crouches at the teet 
 of her dead husband. 
 
 The Hfe of the East of the present is the Hfe 
 of the East of the past in the hour of mourning 
 as it is in the hour of rejoicing. At the very 
 moment of death, one of these wild shrieks, by 
 whoever is nearest the dead, announces the facl 
 of the death to all who are within hearing. This 
 cry is taken up and repeated by friends of the 
 family near and far. Every sympathizing woman 
 friend who hurries to share the mourning over 
 the dead, announces her approach to the sorrow- 
 stricken home by the conventional shriek, and 
 then adds her voice to the shrieking chorus 
 when she is fairl\- within the mourning circle. 
 
 If, indeed, the death occurs away from home, 
 as in the case at Saqqarah which 1 have de- 
 scribed, the first announcement of it to the tamily 
 is by the death-shriek at the door, by those 
 wdio have come to break the intelligence thus 
 abruptly to the bereaved ones. And from the 
 house of mourning the wailing women hurry 
 through the streets of the neighborhood, shriek- 
 
148 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 ing out the piercing death-cry, with or without 
 the aid of musical instruments, in order to com- 
 municate the news of a death ; as our church- 
 bells communicate it, in their tolling the age of 
 the deceased, in many an Occidental community. 
 It is in the East to-day, as it was in the days of 
 Herodotus and of Qoheleth, that "man goeth to 
 his long home, and the mourners go about the 
 streets." ^ 
 
 The Oriental death-cry is indescribable in its 
 peculiar tones and in its unique impressiveness. 
 I have tried to tell you how it sounded to me ; 
 yet I am as sure that my description of it is 
 inadequate to give you an idea of its wild weird- 
 ness, as I am that no two intelligent observers 
 agree in the figures by which they would make it 
 known to others. 
 
 Sir John Chardin calls it " an image of hell," 
 starting off in the dead of night with a " sud- 
 denness which is . . . terrifying," and "with a 
 greater shrillness and loudness than one could 
 easily imagine." When he first heard it, in 
 Persia, two centuries ago, he " imagined his 
 own servants were murdered," and he was well- 
 
 1 Eccl. 12:5. 
 
Fiuicrals and Mourning in the East. 149 
 
 nifh fricrhtened out of his senses. Burckhanlt 
 speaks of it as " the most lamentable howlings." 
 Van Lennep says that it is a " shrill and piercing 
 cry," which can be " heard at a great distance, 
 and above every other noise, even the din of 
 battle." Klunzinger describes it as " the shriek- 
 ing- of women, now wound off in the trochees of a 
 machine in aclion, anon in the daclyls of the 
 steam-horse thundering along at full speed, or 
 breaking ui) into the indefinite clack of a mill," 
 while " high up, from time to time, like a rocket 
 rises a shriek from a hundred throats." 
 
 There is a certain semblance of the figures em- 
 ployed by modern travelers in their description of 
 these wild cries to those used by the Old Testa- 
 ment writers when referring to them. Thus Dr. 
 Am.elia B. Edwards, in recording her first hearing 
 of this death-cry, says : "All at once we heard a 
 sound like the far-off quavering sound of many 
 owls. It shrilled — swelled — wavered — dropped 
 — then died away, like the moaning of the wind 
 at sea. We held our breath and listened. We 
 had never heard anything so wild and plaintive." 
 Dr. William ^I. Thomson adds that the death- 
 chant "runs into a horrid deep growl, like wild 
 
1 50 Sfuc/ics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 beasts, in which it is impossible to distinguish 
 any words." And these comparings of the cry to 
 that of wild beasts and birds seem to have been 
 in the mind of the old Hebrew prophet Micah 
 when he said : " For this will I wail and how4, I 
 wall go stripped and naked : I will make a wail- 
 ing like the jackals, and a mourning like the 
 ostriches." ^ 
 
 These varied and divergent comparisons may 
 not, indeed, give you any well-defined idea of 
 the distinguishing peculiarities of this Oriental 
 wailing for the dead ; but I assure you that if 
 its sound were once to come into your ears, its 
 echoes would be a lifetime memory wath you. 
 
 As an illustration of the w^onderful consider- 
 ateness of Orientals for those who have a claim 
 upon their hospitality, of which I have spoken 
 in another place, the Rev. Dr. Leonard Woolsey 
 Bacon tells me that, while he was traveling in 
 Koordistan, he heard this wild death-cry break 
 out in the stillness of the night, but that it was 
 quickly hushed. The next morning he learned 
 that his host had sent word to the mourners, on 
 the first shriek reaching his ears, that there were 
 
 1 Micah I : 8. 
 
Funcrats and Mourning in the East. 1 5 i 
 
 straneer euests with him, wlio miLrht be disturbed 
 by this waihng ; and promptly tlie privileges of 
 mourning gave way to the demands oi hospi- 
 tality. 
 
 The Oriental wailing over the dead, before the 
 burial, includes a calling of the dead by name, 
 or by the designation of his relation to the 
 mourners, with a lamenting of his loss: "O my 
 father!" "O my master!" "O my glory!" "O 
 my pride! " " O my strength! " "O camel of the 
 house!" "Alas for him!" "Alas for him !" Such 
 cries as these are heard over the dead in the 
 East to-day, as they were heard when King 
 David wailed over his dead son Absalom: "O 
 my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! 
 would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my 
 son, my son!"^ or when the mourners over the 
 disobedient prophet at Bethel, in the days of 
 Jeroboam, "mourned over him, saying, Alas, my 
 brother!"'- or when the prophet Jeremiah said 
 of the unworthy king Jehoiakim: "They shall 
 not lament for him, saying. Ah my brother! . . . 
 they shall not lament for him, saying Ah lord! 
 or, Ah his glory ! "^ 
 
 '2 Sam. iS : 33. '^ i Kings 13 : 30. '''Jer. 22 : 18. 
 
1 5 2 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 There is a remarkable survival of these 
 Oriental mourning customs so far, among Occi- 
 dental people, in the Irish wake as it is still ob- 
 served in some Irish communities. It has. in 
 facl, been shown that the designation of the 
 Irish mourning cry, the "uUagone," — " ulla gulla, 
 guUa g'one " — is identical, in both sense and 
 sound, with the Arabic designation of the Ori- 
 ental mourning cry. The dirge in which this 
 cry is employed is called the " keen " (or, in 
 Irish, caoine), and it is spoken of as " a pro- 
 longed ear-piercing wail," unequaled as a " sound 
 at once so expressive of utter despair, and ap- 
 pealing to heaven or hell for [help or] ven- 
 geance." 
 
 An ancient Irish record shows that the cries 
 over a dead son of Connal, in the night following 
 his death, were much like those which are to be 
 heard on the banks of the Nile, or of the Jordan, 
 to-day. "O son of Connal, why didst thou die? 
 Royal, noble, learned youth! Valiant, active, 
 warlike, eloquent! Why didst thou die? Alas! 
 awail-a-day! . . . Alas! alas! why didst thou die, 
 O son of Connal, before the spoils of vi6lory by 
 thy warlike arm were brought to the hall of the 
 
Funerals and Mourning in the East. 1 5 3 
 
 nobles, and thy shield with the ancient? Alas! 
 alas!" And the common cry in the "keen" is 
 
 " Mavoitrnciii ! Alavourneen ! (Jh, why did you die ?" 
 
 in the spirit of the Oriental mourner. Nor is 
 this by any means a solitary instance of the sur- 
 vival of Oriental primitive customs among- West- 
 ern peoples of Celtic or Gallic stock. 
 
 The ancient monuments of Egypt seem to in- 
 dicate a class of professional women wallers in 
 attendance on an occasion of mourning. The 
 famous inscriptions of Telloh, in Chaldea, make 
 mention of them. Herodotus speaks of them as 
 employed in Egypt in his day. The Hebrew 
 prophets make mention of such wailing women ; 
 as when Jeremiah says, in view of the dead of 
 Israel: "Call for the mourning women, that they 
 may come; and send for the cunning women, 
 that they may come : and let them make haste, 
 and take up a wailing for us;"^ and as when 
 Amos speaks of the need of "such as are skilful 
 of lamentation."" 
 
 It certainly is true that professional wallers are 
 frecjuently employed, at a time of mourning, in 
 
 'Jer. 9 : 17, 18. * Amos 5 : 16. 
 
154 Studies 271 Oriental Social Life. 
 
 various parts of the East to-day. This might 
 seem at first thought to be a very formal, if not 
 indeed a positively heartless, mode of evidencing 
 one's grief for a dead friend. But perhaps it 
 would have a somewhat different aspe6l to us 
 if these wailers were engaged by fours, and 
 were called "quartettes," or "double quartettes," 
 while their peculiar notes of sympathetic sorrow 
 were attuned to the training of Occidental ears. 
 Certainly we cannot say that the voices of pro- 
 fessional wailers are less helpful to Orientals who 
 sorrow in sincerity, because of their sounding in 
 other strains than those in which non-religious 
 professional singers sing words prescribed for 
 them at many a funeral service in our portion 
 of the globe. 
 
 "You must not suppose," says Dr. Thomson, 
 in writing of these wailing-customs in Syria, 
 " that there is no frenuine sorrow amont/ this 
 people. . . . Amid all this ostentatious parade 
 there are burning tears, and hearts bursting in 
 agony and despair." In Tully's narrative of life 
 in Tripoli and Morocco, we are told that the suf- 
 ferings of a bereaved family in the season of 
 wailing over the dead are sometimes "shocking 
 
Funerals and Mourjiing in the East. 155 
 
 to behold." While some who have become ac- 
 customed to such scenes do not suffer so acutely, 
 " there are many who from their great affection 
 for the departed, and their delicacy of feelings, 
 are by no means equal to these strong emotions ; 
 [and] they either fall a sacrifice to them at the 
 moment, or languish out the remainder of their 
 days in a debilitated state." 
 
 Orientals are emotional and demonstrative, 
 and their tears flow freely on an occasion of 
 sorrow. They feel intensely, and they give full 
 expression to their feelings. With their sympa- 
 thetic natures, they are able to weep with those 
 who weep^ almost as readily as they would weep 
 on their own account, and their weeping with 
 others is a cause of intensified emotion to those 
 with whom they weep. 
 
 Describing the scenes of mourning in I3ar- 
 bary, Dr. Thomas Shaw, an English traveler of 
 the last century, says that among the hired 
 w^ailers on such occasions there are some "who, 
 like the . . . mourning women of old ^ are skilful 
 in lamentation,^ and great mistresses of these 
 melancholy expressions ; and indeed they per- 
 
 ^Rom. 12 : 15. ^Jer. 9 : 17, 18. ^Amos 5 ; 16. 
 
156 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 form their parts with such proper sounds, ges- 
 tures, and commotions, that they rarely fail to 
 work up the assembly into some pitch of thought- 
 fulness." And he adds that the British resi- 
 dents in Barbary have "often been very sensibly 
 touched with these lamentations, whenever they 
 were made in the neiohboriuL^ houses." 
 
 The tears of friends in a time of sorrow are 
 peculiarly prized in the East ; and, even though 
 they flow so freely there, they are sometimes 
 caught as they fall, and preserved in little bot- 
 tles or flasks, to be sealed up and buried with 
 the body of the person wdiose death caused 
 their flowing. This is true to-day, and it was 
 true long centuries ago ; for these tear-bottles 
 are unearthed from ancient tombs in Egypt and 
 Syria. Again these tear-bottles w^ith their pre- 
 cious contents are preserved among the living, 
 instead of being buried with the dead. 
 
 Morier, describing the wailings over the dead 
 in Persia, says : " In some of their mournful as- 
 semblies, it is the custom for a priest to go about 
 to each person at the height of his grief, with a 
 piece of cotton in his hand, with which he care- 
 fully coUedls the falling tears, and which he then 
 
Funerals and Mourning in tlic East. 1 5 7 
 
 squeezes into a bottle, preservini^ them with the 
 greatest caution." Morier adds that "some Per- 
 sians believe that in the agony of death, when 
 all medicines have failed, a drop of tears, so col- 
 le6led, put into the mouth of a dying man, has 
 been known to revive him ; and it is for such use 
 they are collected." 
 
 Tears of sympathy arc a portion of one's very 
 self eiven out for another ; and therefore it is, 
 probably, that they are supposed to be a means 
 of life to the dying. And even more truly than 
 tears does one's blood represent one's life ; hence 
 we hnd that mourners in the ancient East were 
 accustomed to cut and slash themselves over the 
 dead as if in evidence of their willingness to 
 o-ive of their life to the one whose life was ex- 
 tincl. And there are traces of this custom also 
 surviving in the East. 
 
 Of the mourning at one of the scenes already 
 described from Tully's sketches of life in Morocco 
 it is said: "The lamentations of the servants, 
 slaves, and people hired on this occasion, were 
 horrid. With their nails they wounded the veins 
 of their temples, and, causing the blood to flow 
 in streams, sprinkled it over the bier, while they 
 
1 5 8 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 repeated the song of death, in which they re- 
 counted all the most melancholy circumstances 
 they had colle6led on the loss of Abderrahman 
 [the dead man], and ended every painful ac- 
 count with piercing outcries of 'zunllia/i zuoof in 
 which they were joined by the whole of the im- 
 mense numbers of Moorish mourners that were 
 present." 
 
 In other regions than the East, where this cus- 
 tom has survived, down to the present genera- 
 tion, the blood is sometimes caught, or sopped, 
 in a cloth, and given, when dried, to the relatives 
 of the one for whom it was shed. For instance, 
 the Rev. William Ellis, an English missionary 
 to the South Sea Islands, in the early part of 
 this century, describing this custom as he found 
 it in Polynesia, said : "The females on these oc- 
 casions sometimes put on a kind of short apron 
 of a particular sort of cloth, which they held up 
 with one hand, while they cut themselves with 
 the other. In this apron they caught the blood 
 that flowed from these grief- infli61ed wounds, 
 until it was almost saturated. It was then dried 
 in the sun, and given to the nearest surviving 
 relations as a proof of the affe(5lion of the donor, 
 
Funerals and Mourning in the East. 159 
 
 and was preserved by the bereaved family as a 
 token of the estimation in which the departed 
 had been held." 
 
 There is something analagous to this preserva 
 tion of the tear-bottles and of the blood-stained 
 cloths as memorials for the living- in a Chinese 
 mourning custom, noted by Doolittle. On the 
 death of a parent, in China, where there is no 
 grandparent to be chief mourner, "it is custom 
 ary for the family to prepare strips of narrow- 
 white cloth, about two feet in length by one in 
 width," to be "given to a class of relatives who 
 come to weep with the family of the dead. A bit 
 of red paper is pasted on each piece" of cloth , 
 red being the color of life, in China, as white is 
 the color of mourning. "These strips of white 
 cloth are called 'cloths to cry with,' and are de- 
 signed to be used for wiping away the tears, and 
 for holding up to the face or eyes of the weepers 
 while lamenting, according to established rule. 
 . . . The [tear-stained] strips are always taken 
 away by their owners [the weepers] when they 
 return home." 
 
 Strange customs these ! No one of us would 
 think of preserving such a memorial of our weep- 
 
 12 
 
1 60 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 ing and mourning, or of the sorrowful sympathy 
 of our friends in our bereavement. Yet it is 
 possible that some one of us might be moved to 
 preserve a flower from the coffin of a dead dear 
 one; and most of us have seen funeral wreaths 
 preserved, dried or w^ax-covered, and framed as 
 a household ornament ; or again, perhaps, a 
 name-plate from a coffin. It is in every case 
 only a sentiment that prompts to the preserva- 
 tion of the memorial. But whether the Oriental's 
 sentiment in such a case is less profound and 
 tender than the Occidental's may be a question ; 
 and, again, it may not be. 
 
 That the present Oriental mourning customs 
 w^ere all of them known in the days of the Bible- 
 writing, is evident from the repeated references 
 to them in the text. " Ye shall not make any 
 cuttings in your flesh for the dead."^ said the 
 Levitical law, in prohibition of all blood-letting 
 over the bodies of the dead. " Put thou my 
 tears into thy bottle."- is the call of David to his 
 God. as he asks that his sorrow and its cause be 
 remembered of the Lord. \Mien David wept 
 over Saul and Jonathan, he "took hold on his 
 
 ^Lev. 19 ; 28; 21 : 5 ; Dcut. 14 : I. ■' Psa. 56 : 8. 
 
Funerals and Mournin_<^ in the East. i6i 
 
 clothes, and rent them ; aiul likewise all the men 
 that were with him : and they mourned [or, 
 wailed], and wept."' 
 
 Psalmists and prophets make use of expres- 
 sions which indicate the; intense and demonstra- 
 tive character of Oriental weeping and wailing. 
 Says the Psalmist : 
 
 "Every night make I my bed to swim; 
 
 I water my couch witli my tears. 
 
 Mine eye wasteth away because of grief."* 
 "Mine eyes run down with rivers of water."' 
 
 The prophet Jeremiah, in a time of national sor- 
 row, cries out : " Oh that my head were waters, 
 and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might 
 weep day and night for the slain of the daughter 
 of my people." * The prophet Amos foretells the 
 sad day when "w^ailing shall be in all the broad 
 ways, and they shall say in all the streets, Alas ! 
 . . , And in all vineyards shall be wailing."' In 
 the gospel narrative of the coming of Jesus to 
 the house of Jairus to raise up his dead daughter, 
 it is said that he found alread)- there "many 
 [persons] weeping and wailing greatly,"*^ and 
 
 ' 2 Sam. I : 1 1, 12. ^ Psa. 6 : 6, y. 
 
 ^ Psa. 119 : 136; comp. Lam. 1 : 16; 3 : 48, 49. 
 *Jer. 9:1. ^Amos 5 ; 16, 17. *Mark 5 : 38. 
 
i62 S/?((//cs i)i Oriental Social Life. 
 
 the " minstrels," or " the (liite-players, and the 
 crowd making a tuniuU ; "' just as would be the 
 case in many a home in Palestine or Egypt, at 
 the present time, an hour after a young girl's 
 death. 
 
 Now, as then, in the East, a burial quickly fol- 
 lows a death. The necessities of the climate and 
 of the cramped quarters in the houses generally, 
 promote the desire for this ; and there is, more- 
 over, a popular reluclance to leave a body un- 
 buried through a single night. If the death 
 occurs early in the day, the burial follows before 
 sunset. If the death occurs in the latter part of 
 the day, the burial takes place the next morning. 
 Meanwhile the wailing over the dead continues, 
 with but brief intervals, from the hour of death 
 until the removal of the body for burial, its 
 most vehement intensity being renewed at that 
 moment. 
 
 A funeral in the East would seem to be the 
 prototype of all funerals everywhere. In the 
 streets of Cairo I saw, more than once, an 
 Oriental funeral procession ; and it was not very 
 different from a funeral procession in Italy, in Ire- 
 
 ' Malt, y : 23. 
 
Funerals and Mourning in the East. 1 63 
 
 land, in Pennsylvania, or in New England. In. 
 advance came a number of men, two by two, 
 chanting relieious sentences in a monotonous 
 and gloomy strain. These were followed by boys, 
 also two by two. Then came the bier, on which 
 lay the body, uncofFincd. but cov(;red with a 
 shawl, or pall. This bier was borne on the 
 shoulders of four persons at a time ; the bearers 
 being changed from time to time along the route. 
 Followintr the bier were the mourning women 
 relatives, with veiled faces, weeping and wailing 
 with Oriental demonstrativeness. As the pro- 
 cession passed on toward the grave it grew in 
 numbers ; for in the East, as in the West, it is 
 considered meritorious to join a funeral proces- 
 sion, and yet more so to put one's shoulder under 
 the bier for a brief season. There, as here, a 
 person who would deem it a small matter to min- 
 ister to the living, or to walk after an ambulance 
 carrying a sick man to the hospital, would count 
 it both a privilege and a duty to follow the 
 funeral procession of even a stranger toward his 
 
 grave. 
 
 This idea, indeed, of a formal and orderly and 
 extended procession accompanying a body to its 
 
1 64 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 last resting-place, would seem to be coeval with 
 the earliest history of the human race. Figures 
 of imposing funeral processions bearing the em- 
 balmed body to its prepared tomb appear among 
 the prominent decorations of the ancient temples 
 and tombs of Egypt, and elaborate descriptions 
 of these funeral processions are found in the 
 most ancient Egyptian literature. There would 
 seem to be something more than a utilitarian 
 aspe6l to a formal procession in connection with 
 a funeral, as also with a wedding, in the East. 
 Indeed, the religious sentiment has, from primeval 
 times, been inclined to manifest itself in proces- 
 sions, as if in recognition of the pilgrim nature 
 of human life ; and the prominent stages of the 
 earthly existence, at the entering of the marriage 
 state, and at the passing away from earth, are 
 fittingly signalized by these pilgrimage proces- 
 sions. 
 
 The main features of these funeral processions 
 have been much the same from the beginning 
 until now. The bier, the pall, the bearers, the 
 mourning relatives and the following friends, — 
 all of which can be seen at funerals in our land 
 to-day, — were to be seen in Egypt in the days of 
 
Funerals and Mourning in the East. 165 
 
 the earlier Pharaohs. Ev(mi the lon<^^ llowincr 
 black hat-bands, or scarfs, which are worn so 
 generally by pall-bearers and others at funerals 
 in England, and sometim(;s in this country, are 
 often worn Ijy relatives of the dead in an 
 Egyptian funeral procc^ssion ; and they are also 
 represented on the heads of mourning women in 
 the tombs of ancient Egypt. 
 
 A feast is an accompaniment of a funeral, in 
 Egypt, Arabia, and Syria, and elsewhere. This 
 custom seems to have a religious origin. It 
 apparently includes the idea of a sacrifice, with 
 the outpouring of the blood of the animals 
 slaughtered on the occasion, and also of a cove- 
 nanting with the dead in the sharing of the food 
 provided at the burial. Burckhardt tells of an 
 invitation he received to a funeral feast in Nubia, 
 where a cow had been slaughtered, and its meat 
 distributed among the people of the neighbor 
 hood. At two hours' distance from the village he 
 " inet women with plates upon their heads, who 
 had been receiving their share of the meat." 
 
 Of such funeral feasts he says : "Cows are killed 
 only by people of consequence, on the death of a 
 near relation ; the common people content them- 
 
1 66 Studies in Oriental Soeial Life. 
 
 selves with a sheep or a goat, the flesh of which 
 is equally distributed ; the poorer class distribute 
 bread only at the; grave of the deceased." In 
 one case, Burckhardt found a man in Berber 
 slauo-hteriner a cow for a relative "who died 
 several months before, in the time of famine, 
 when it was impossible to find a cow to slaugh- 
 ter for that purpose." This also would seem to 
 indicate that the funeral feast is a religious 
 observance, rather than a utilitarian custom ; 
 althoueh here a^ain the feast was shared with 
 the multitude. " Many poor people were treated, 
 in the courtyard, with broth, and the roasted 
 flesh of the cow, while the choice morsels were 
 presented to the friends of Edris [the provider 
 of the feast]." 
 
 Referring to the common habit, among the 
 Syrians, of sending out gifts of food after the 
 funeral to friends and neighbors, " in the name 
 of the dead," Dr. Thomson says: "A custom 
 prevails among the Bedawin Arabs, and espe- 
 cially those around the Huleh, which illustrates 
 this whole subjecft. When one of their number 
 dies, they immediately bring his best ox or 
 buffalo and slaughter it near to the body of the 
 
Funerals and Mourning in tlic East. 167 
 
 deceased. They then cook it all for a erreat 
 feast, with burghul, rice, and whatever else good 
 to cat they may possess. The whole tribe, and 
 neiehbors also, assemble for the funeral, and tro 
 direct from the grave to this sacrificial least. 
 The vast piles of ])rovisions quickly disappear ; 
 for the Bedawin dispatch their dinners with a 
 rapidity that would astound a tabic cT Jiotc at a 
 Western railway station. How^ever, every one 
 must partake at least of a morsel. It is a duty 
 to the departed, and must be eaten in behalf 
 of the dead. Even strangers passing along are 
 constrained to come and taste of the feast." So 
 obligatory is the custom of this funeral feast 
 "that it must be observed though it consume 
 every item of property and of provisions the 
 man possessed, and leave the wife and children 
 to starve." 
 
 Dr. Thomson points out an apparent refer- 
 ence to this Oriental custom in an avowal of 
 the ancient Jew's fidelity in his consecrated use 
 of the sacred tithe of his field's increase. " I 
 have not eaten thereof in my mourning," he was 
 called to say; "nor given thereof for the dead."^ 
 
 M)eut. 26 : 14. 
 
1 68 Sf?idics 2U Oriental Social Life. 
 
 This would show the antiquity of this custom. 
 Of its survival even here in the West there arc 
 many tokens. An Irish "wake" includes pro- 
 vision for the inner man of the mourners ; and 
 "the funeral baked meats," to which Shake- 
 speare refers, have been known as an expensive 
 accompaniment of funerals in the rural communi- 
 ties of New England in my younger days ; and I 
 presume they are not yet wholly done away with 
 in England or America, 
 
 Increased display in all the appointments of 
 the funerals of those who have occupied exalted 
 station, or who have been held in exceptional 
 esteem, has been as prominent a feature in the 
 East as in the West. There were costly cata- 
 falques and cars and barges for the bearing of 
 the body, and elaborately wrought and orna- 
 mented coffins for its covering, in ancient Egypt; 
 and even in these later days, in that land, a 
 funeral procession sometimes includes the favor- 
 ite horses of the dead man, and also buffaloes, 
 which are to be slaughtered at the grave, and 
 camels bearinor other food for distribution there. 
 The procession itself is perhaps swelled by the 
 members of various oro-anizations with their re- 
 
Funerals and Mourning in the East. 1 69 
 
 spe6Hve banners or standards. And th(; lon^"cr 
 the cavalcade the more honor to the dead. 
 
 The Bible story tells of an impressive funeral 
 procession goino- up out of Egypt into Canaan 
 some thirty- fiv(; ctMituries ago. The patriarch 
 Jacob had died in Egypt. His body had been 
 embalmed there. Seventy days of formal weep- 
 in cj for him had been observed. After that, 
 Joseph had requested the royal permission to 
 bear his father's mummied body across the desert, 
 to lay it away in the patriarchal family tomb at 
 Hebron, This permission was granted. 
 
 "And Joseph went up to bury his father: and 
 with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the 
 elders of his house, and ... all the house of Jo- 
 seph, and his brethren, and his father's house. . . . 
 And there went up with him both chariots and 
 horsemen : and it was a very great company. 
 And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, 
 which is beyond Jordan, and there they lamented 
 with a very great and sore lamentation [or, wailed 
 with a very great and sore wailing ; the Hebrew 
 word employed here signifying that breast-beat- 
 ing which accompanies the Oriental wailings for 
 the dead] : and he made a mourning [a season 
 
1 70 Sfudics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 of this g-ricf-showing] for his father seven days. 
 And when the inhabitants of the land, the 
 Canaanites, saw the mourning in th(! lloor of 
 Atad, they said. This is a grievous mourning to 
 the Egyptians."' And they gave a name to that 
 place, in memory of that impressive scene of 
 Oriental lamentations. 
 
 It is the survival of the sentiment expressed in 
 that funeral procession which bore the patriarch 
 Jacob to his tomb, which has shown itself in 
 these later days in the funeral processions at the 
 burial of Napoleon in Paris, of Wellington in 
 London, of Grant in New York, and of Sheridan 
 in Washington. That sentiment is deeply fixed 
 in the nature of man. It cannot be eradicated. 
 At the best it can with difficulty be controlled. 
 In fa6l, the agreeing upon desirable reforms in 
 funeral customs is easier than the securing of 
 their adoption. 
 
 Muhammad forbade the conventional wailing 
 by women at a funeral, and the reciting of the vir- 
 tues of the deceased while following him to the 
 tomb ; but the followers of Muhammad adhere 
 to both these customs. Roman Catholic priests 
 
 ^Gen. 50 : i-i I. 
 
Funerals and Mourning in the East. 1 7 1 
 
 have issued many a caution to their [)oor [)arish- 
 ioners to refrain from multiplying carriages in a 
 funeral procession ; but the funeral processions 
 are not perceptibly shorter for these cautions. 
 No dictates of prudence, nor counsels of sound 
 advisers, seem able to induce the average family 
 of moderate means to refrain from taking the 
 sorely needed money of the living to extend the 
 funeral procession of the dead, in our own day 
 and land. And the reason for all this, or the 
 sentiment which is the cause of all this, must be 
 looked for in the siofniticance of the funeral cus- 
 toms of the primitive East. 
 
 Apart from those distincflively religious services 
 at the burial of the dead in the East, which are 
 direClly shaped by the special tenets of the vari- 
 ous schools of religious thought in the world, 
 there are many purely primitive customs in con- 
 nection with funerals and burials, retained more 
 or less generally among Oriental peoples. One 
 of these is the habit of calling on the living to 
 bear witness to the fitness of the dead for a life 
 beyond the grave, or to bear their part in tiLting 
 him for that life. Thus in modern Egypt, as 
 Lane tells us, at the close of the prayer for the 
 
1/2 Shidics ill Oriental Social Lije. 
 
 repose of the spirit of the deceased, the Muham- 
 madan leader of the funeral services says to 
 those present. "Give your testimony respecting 
 him," and their answer comes back, " He was of 
 the virtuous ;" and not until then can the body 
 be borne from the mosk to the grave. 
 
 In illustration of a kindred sentiment to this, 
 in Palestine, Miss Rogers says that, in the 
 Greek Church there, it is the custom of the 
 officiating priest to ask pardon of the living for 
 the dead before the body is removed from the 
 church to the place of burial. 
 
 She instances the funeral of one Khaleel 
 Sekhali, at Haifa, where, at the close of the ser- 
 vice, "the chief priest said to the congregation, 
 ' Dear brethren and children, Khaleel Sekhali 
 was a man who lived A^ery long in this world. 
 He has had a great deal of business, and has 
 been in communication with a great number of 
 people. It is possible that in certain transactions 
 he may have given cause for offense. Some per- 
 sons may have felt themselves insulted, some 
 may have been grieved or offended, either with 
 or without reason. This now is the time for par- 
 don, and I hereby beseech you all present, and 
 
Funerals and Mourning in tJic East. 1 73 
 
 by the blessing of God I implore )ou all to par- 
 don him fully, to forgive him all offenses, as you 
 hope to be forgiven. The whole congregation 
 then answered, ' May God pardon him ! ' " 
 
 As showing that this is a survival of a primi- 
 tive custom, we find that in ancient Egypt the 
 right of burial was granted only to those who 
 were acquitted of evil-doing by a tribunal of 
 their survivors. As Sir Gardner Wilkinson says, 
 even " the most influential individual could not be 
 admitted to the very tomb he had built for him- 
 self, until acquitted before that tribunal which sat 
 to judge his conduct during life." The king him- 
 self could be kept from burial, by charges against 
 him, from his subjeds, proved to the satisfaction 
 of the judges who passed on his worthiness. 
 
 All along through the Hebrew Scriptures there 
 are references to the lack of burial as the con- 
 sequence of sin and crime. Thus in the Prov- 
 erbs it is said : 
 
 " The eye that mocketh at his father, 
 And despiseth to obey his mother, 
 Tlie ravens of the valley shall pick it out, 
 And the yuung eagles shall eat it."^ 
 
 ' Prov. 30 : 17. 
 
1 74 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 The meaning of this would seem to be, not — as 
 I supposed while a boy — that a special judgment 
 of God is to brin^r a rebellious son to a violent 
 death, but that in man's judgment rebellion 
 against a parent will be deemed a sufficient 
 cause for refusing burial to the unnatural son. 
 Yet the lack of burial would have been deemed 
 a sore judgment of God against any person in 
 the ancient East. 
 
 Thus the bitterest prophecy of Elisha pro- 
 claimed against the idolatrous queen of Israel 
 was: "And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the 
 portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to 
 bury her."^ And in Isaiah's prophecy against 
 Babylon, the gloomy declaration stands: "All 
 the kings of the nations, all of them, sleep in 
 glory, every one in his own house. But thou art 
 cast away from thy sepulchre like an abominable 
 branch, clothed with the slain, that are thrust 
 through with the sword, that go down to the 
 stones of the pit ; as a carcase trodden under 
 foot. Thou shalt not be joined with them in 
 l)urial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, 
 thou hast slain thy people." ^ 
 
 1 2 Kings 9 : lo. '' Isa. 14 : 18-20. 
 
Funerals and Motcrtiing in the East. 1 75 
 
 The fad that OricMitals were famihar with this 
 custom of being called on to pass judgment on 
 the dead, and to say whether they would give 
 or refuse forgiveness to those who lay dead be- 
 fore them, must have put added meaning into 
 some of the words of Jesus to his disciples, as 
 those words fc;ll on the ears of Orientals, Thus : 
 "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with 
 what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged : 
 and with what measure ye mete, it shall be 
 measured unto you." ^ And so again that peti- 
 tion in the Lord's Prayer : " Forgive us our 
 debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors ; " ^ 
 v>'ith the comment upon it : " For if ye forgive 
 men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will 
 also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their 
 trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your 
 trespasses." '^ 
 
 Another of the primitive customs in connexion 
 Avith Oriental funerals is the preparation of sup- 
 plies for the dead in the realms beyond the 
 grave. Burckhardt tells of seeing white pebbles 
 strewn over a grave in Nubia, with th(; thought 
 that the soul of the deceased mio;ht find them 
 
 o 
 
 ' Matt. 7:1,2. ^ Matt. 6 . 12 ; Luke 11:4 ^ Matt 6 14,15. 
 
 13 
 
T 76 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 convenient in telling his prayers ; for the rosary 
 has its origin in a primitive Oriental custom. 
 We know from the disclosures of the tombs of 
 Egypt that the ancient Egyptians were accus- 
 tomed to provide food for the dead, leaving a 
 full supply of it in their last resting-place. This 
 custom still survives in China, in Russia, and in 
 portions of Africa. Even among the Chinese in 
 America it is adhered to. At the entrance of a 
 receiving-tomb of the Chinese in a cemetery near 
 San Francisco, I saw supplies of food provided 
 for the dead whose bodies were there awaiting a 
 removal to the land of their birth. While a 
 Brahman in India lies waiting for burial, boil id 
 rice and water are supplied afresh each day for 
 the use of the deceased. 
 
 This custom, like many another Oriental cus- 
 tom, is found among the North American Indians, 
 together with that of burying garments and war- 
 weapons, and dogs and horses, for use by the 
 dead in his spiritual existence. Similarly, in 
 equatorial and Southern Africa, the wives of a 
 dead king or chieftain, with other attendants, are 
 killed, and buried with him, in order to be his 
 companions or servitors in the life that follows 
 
Funerals and MoiLvning in the East. 177 
 
 this. The sentiment that underlies this custom 
 is apparently at the bottom of the practice of 
 wife- burning in India; as, also, of practices akin 
 to this among primitive peoples all the world 
 over. 
 
 Although the burial quickly follows death in 
 many portions of the East, the more violent 
 mourning over the dead is by no means at an 
 end with the burial. It is a primitive Oriental 
 idea that the spirit of the deceased remains with, 
 or hovers over, the body for several da)'s after 
 death. Three days are understood to be the 
 limit of this lingering of the spirit ; as three days 
 are the ordinary limit of a guest's right to be 
 provided for by any Oriental host whom he may 
 elecl;, and as " three days of grace " are deemed a 
 proper allowance of time in the performance of 
 any contracl;, all the world over. During these 
 three days the spirit of the dead is deemed as in 
 a sense within hearing of the body, and the wail- 
 ing calls on the dead by the mourning relatives 
 are repeated accordingly, as at the hour of death. 
 
 It would seem to have been in view of this 
 Oriental idea that Martha, the sister of Lazarus 
 of Bethany, protested against the opening of 
 
178 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 her brother's grave, when he had already " been 
 dead /wr days," and when, therefore his bo<_ly 
 was beyond the hope of reviving;. ^ And because 
 Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, his 
 disciples could see in his resurreclion a fulfilment 
 of the prophecy in the Psalms that the Messiah's 
 flesh should not "see corruption."- Peter, re- 
 ferring to this point, says that David could not 
 have been speaking of himself in this prophecy ; 
 for David remained in his grave indefinitely; but 
 that by prophecy David "spake of the resurrec- 
 tion of the Christ, [in accordance with the fa6l] 
 that neither was he left in Hades, nor did his 
 flesh see corruption.'" It was in order to make 
 sure that the dead had remained dead, that the 
 tomb was opened on the third day, as suggested 
 in the visit of the women to the sepulcher of 
 Jesus. 
 
 Violent mourning does not, indeed, end with 
 the three days which follow a death, in the East. 
 Like the marriage festivities, the funeral cere- 
 monies are often continued through seven days 
 and nights, and as feastings and rejoicings are 
 the main features of the marriage celebration, so 
 
 » John 1 1 : 39. ' Psa. 16 : 10. ^ Acts 2 : 22-32. 
 
Funerals and Mourning in the East. 1 79 
 
 feastings and wailings are the promiiKMit char- 
 acleristics of the funeral week. When the patri- 
 arch Job was mourninL;- his dead, his friends, as in 
 duty bound, " made an appointment together to 
 come to bemoan him and to comfort him" — with 
 a hearty waiHng. And when they were in sight 
 of him " they Hfted up their voice, and wept ; and 
 they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled 
 dust upon their heads toward heaven. So they 
 sat down with him upon the ground seven days 
 and seven nights, and none spake a word unto 
 him [although they wailed over his lot] : for they 
 saw that his grief was very great." ^ 
 
 Miss Rogers, describing one of these weeks of 
 weeping, which she witnessed in Palestine, says : 
 "I joined the mourners on the third day. As 
 soon as I entered the house, I heard the minstrels 
 and the loud cries of the people. ... I was led 
 into a laree lone room. Women were sitting on 
 the floor in rows on two sides of it. An open 
 space was left down the middle to the end of the 
 room, where the widow sat apart, with her two 
 youngest children lying at her feet. Her hair 
 was disheveled, and she wore no covering on her 
 
 ^ Job 2 : 1 1 -1 3. 
 
1 80 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 head. Her eyelids were swollen with weeping, 
 and her face pale with watching. She looked as 
 if she had suddenly grown old. Her dress was 
 rent and disordered. 
 
 "She had not rested or chancred her crarments 
 
 o o 
 
 since she heard the tidintrs of her husband's 
 death. She kissed me passionately, and said, 
 ' Weep for me, he is dead ; ' and then, pointing 
 to her children, she said, 'Weep for them, they 
 are fatherless.' I sat near to her. One of her 
 children, who was about three years old, crept 
 into my lap, and whispered, ' My father is dead.' 
 Then he closed his eyes, and pressed his chubby 
 little fingers tightly over them, saying, ' My 
 father is dead like this — he is in the dark.' 
 
 " The wailing, which had been slightly inter- 
 rupted at my entrance, was renewed with vigor. 
 . . . There were many women from Nazareth and 
 Shefa 'Amer and other villages. They had un- 
 covered their heads and unbraided their hair. 
 They looked dreadfully excited. Their eyes were 
 red with weeping and watching. The air of the 
 room was close and heated ; for the widow and 
 chief mourners had remained there for three days 
 and two nights without rest, receiving guests who 
 
Funerals and Moiwiiing hi the East. 1 8 1 
 
 canic to mourn with them. The room was always 
 filled ; for as soon as one set of people left, an- 
 other set came in. . . . Three rows of women sat 
 on the matted fioor on the right-hand side, facing 
 three rows on the left. They were all clapping 
 their hands or striking their bosoms, in time with 
 the monotonous melody which they murmured, 
 
 " Presently an especial lamentation was com- 
 menced, to which I was invited to respond. 1 
 was still seated at the end of the room near to 
 the widow. The \vomen on my left hand, led 
 by a celebrated professional mourner [the Ori- 
 ental soprano], sang these eulogistic words with 
 vigor and energy : 
 
 ' We saw him in the midst of the company of riders, 
 Riding bravely on his horse, the horse he loved ! ' 
 
 The women on the opposite side of the room 
 answered in a lower and more plaintive key, 
 beating their breasts mournfully: 
 
 ' Alas ! no more sliall we see him 
 
 In the midst of the company of riders, 
 
 Riding bravely on his horse, the horse he loved.' 
 
 The first sins^ers sancf : 
 
 'We saw him in the garden, the pleasant garden, 
 With his companions, and his children, the children he loved.' 
 
1 82 Studies m 07^ie?ital Social Life. 
 
 The second singers answered : 
 
 ' Alas ! no more shall we see him 
 In the garden, the pleasant garden, 
 With his companions, and his children, the children he loved.' 
 
 Chorus of all the women, singing softly : 
 
 ' His children and his servants blessed him ! 
 His home was the shelter of happiness ! 
 Peace be upon him ! ' 
 
 First singers — loudly and with animation, [in rec- 
 ognition of the primeval standard of chara^ler 
 exhibited in hospitality :] 
 
 ' We saw him giving food to the hungry. 
 And clothing to the naked.' 
 
 Second singers — softly and plaintively : 
 
 'Alas ! no more shall we see him 
 Give food to the hungry. 
 And garments to the naked ! ' 
 
 First singers : 
 
 ' We saw him give help and succor to the aged, 
 And good counsel to the young.' 
 
 Second singers : 
 
 ' Alas ! no more shall we see him 
 Give help and succor to the aged, 
 And good counsel to the young.' 
 
Funerals and Mourning in the East. 183 
 Chorus of all the women, singing' softly : 
 
 He suffered not the stranger to sleep in the streets: 
 He opened his door to the wayfarer. 
 Peace be upon him ! ' 
 
 After this they started to their feet, and shrieked 
 as loudly as they could, making a rattling noise 
 in their throats for three or four minutes. The 
 widow kneeled, swaying her body backward and 
 forward, and feebly joined in the wild cry." And 
 with a repetition of such scenes and sounds as 
 these the seven days of mourning are continued 
 in the East. 
 
 Beyond the funeral week, the period of special 
 mourning for the dead is extended, in different 
 portions of the East, to thirty days, to forty, to 
 seventy, to one hundred ; to a year, or even to 
 two or three years, with seasons of renewed wail- 
 ing at stated intervals during that entire period 
 Describing these seasons of mourning in Upper 
 Eg)'pt, with their sounds of " such a sorrowful, 
 slow, monotonous song of lamentation, . . . min- 
 gled with weeping and sobbing, ihat it thrills 
 painfully through bone and marrow," Klunzinger 
 says: "Thus for years does a mother or wife 
 bewail one whom she has loved and lost, on cer- 
 
1 84 Studies in Oi'iental Social Life. 
 
 tain days of the week, or on certain days of the 
 year consecrated to the memory of the dead, col- 
 leding- lier female friends, relatives, and neigh- 
 bors, and especially practiced mourning women, 
 in order to relieve her sorrowful heart, and to 
 have the virtues of the deceased duly sung ; while 
 the men gather round them a company of their 
 friends, and cause the Koran to be read in mem- 
 ory of their lost ones." 
 
 Vambery says that, among the Toorkomans, 
 " it is the pra(5lice, in the tent of the departed 
 one, each day for a whole year, without excep- 
 tion, at the same hour that he drew his last 
 breath, for female mourners to chant the cus- 
 tomary dirges, in which the members of the 
 family present are expe6led to join." Vambery 
 adds that the members of the family who have a 
 part in this mourning are not expe6led to inter- 
 mit "their ordinary daily employments and occu- 
 pations " for this purpose. Indeed, he says, " it 
 is quite ridiculous to see how the Turkoman 
 polishes his arms and smokes his pipe, or de- 
 vours his meal, to the accompaniment of these 
 frightful yells of sorrov/. A similar thing occurs 
 with the women, who, seated in the smaller cir- 
 
Funerals and Mmtrniui^ in the East. 1 85 
 
 cumtcrcncc of the tent itself, are wont to join in 
 the chant, to cry and weep in the most plaintive 
 manner, while they are at the same time clean- 
 ing wool, spinning-, or performing some other 
 duty of household industry." 
 
 It is very easy to point out ridiculous aspects 
 of social customs that are wholly unlike those 
 with which we are familiar ; and perhaps no 
 phase of Oriental social life has been more fruit- 
 ful of ridicule or contempt, among Occidentals, 
 than its peculiarities of mourning. Christian 
 observers have indeed declared that " in ninety- 
 nine cases out of a hundred, this public mani- 
 festation [of grief over the dead in the East] is 
 the work of that arch-tyrant, custom, and noth- 
 ing more," and that at the best " it is artificial, 
 hypocritical, slavish." Yet " every heart is hu- 
 man ;" and if we begin by saying that no grief 
 can be sincere on the part of those who recog- 
 nize the obligations of custom in its public expres- 
 sion, and that it is simply ridiculous for a mother 
 to sing a dirge in memory of her long ago dead 
 son while busy at her daily work for the liv 
 int'-, which must be done even though the heart 
 aches to breaking, we shall find that others than 
 
I S>6 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 Orientals are excluded by us from "the high 
 prerogative of grief." 
 
 Custom in the matter of public mourning has 
 large prevalence in the primitive East, as it has 
 in the conventional West ; but a comparison of 
 the requirements of custom in this matter there 
 and here, would certainly not tend to prove the 
 greater insincerity of feeling on the part of Ori- 
 entals. The first movement of an Oriental in 
 expression of grief, beyond a cry, is in the direc- 
 tion of rendering one's self and one's dress unat- 
 tracftive if not absolutely repulsive. The woman 
 must dishevel her hair, must besmear her face 
 and hands, must divest herself of jewels and 
 ornaments, must scrupulously refrain from any 
 course which would seem to indicate a regard for 
 her personal appearance. She must, during the 
 intensity of the first few days of mourning, refrain 
 from both food and sleep. Afterwards she must 
 wea'r coarser clothing than before, or the finer 
 clothing must be soiled or deprived of all show 
 of newness. 
 
 It will hardly be claimed that Oriental custom, 
 or fashion, so far, is designed or followed in the 
 interest of a woman's self-seeking insincerity. 
 
Funerals and Monrnmg in the East. 187 
 
 An Ori(;ntal woman ma\', indct'd, in the hour of 
 her bereavement, send for hired wallers, to sound 
 in her ears the cries of sorrow that are in keep- 
 ing with her sad feehngs ; but she would never 
 think of sending, at such a time, for hired mil- 
 liners and dressmakers, to arranije attractive 
 articles of dress of the choicest mourninof-material 
 available, and in the most tasteful style of the 
 current mourning garb. She may put too high 
 a value on the bottled tears of sympathy given 
 to her by her mourning friends ; but she would 
 never think of adorning herself with jet jewelry 
 as a token of her comfortless sorrow. 
 
 Instead of bowinsf the window-shutters for a 
 prescribed period after the funeral, in order that 
 passers-by may be informed of her sorrow, she 
 breaks the mirrors and destroys the choicest 
 pieces of furniture in the house, in order that 
 desolation may reign within the walls of her 
 bereaved home. And the grief which finds its 
 expression in these self-sacrificing manifestations 
 at the time of the bereavement, has sufficient 
 vitality to seek renewed expression, in various 
 ways, after weeks and months, or even )^ears, 
 have passed. These ways of violent grief-show- 
 
1 88 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 ing may not, indeed, commend themselves to our 
 judgment or tastes ; but let us not be so lacking 
 in charity, or in a knowledge of human nature, 
 as to claim that they have less reason to be 
 deemed consistent with sincerity of feeling in the 
 grief which undcrhes them, than the conven- 
 tional modes of mourning' which have so wide 
 sway in the lands of our Western civilization. 
 
 Beyond all show of mourninor in the homes of 
 the dead, there is the custom of mourninL:' over 
 the graves of the dead, in the East, that is one 
 of the more marked features and one of the more 
 touching characteristics of Oriental social life. 
 M\" first landing; in Alexandria was on a W'ednes- 
 day eveninor. On the day followine, as I was 
 on the edge ot the city, I saw a large number of 
 veiled women mnvinLf toward a neiehborino- 
 cemetery, in the \icinit\- of the column known as 
 " Pompey's Pillar." They were going to the 
 graves of their dead dear ones, to weep there, or 
 to adorn those graves with tokens of their loving 
 remembrance. As I watched, their numbers 
 multiplied. Not merely those recently bereaved, 
 but those whose dear ones were buried lono- aeo, 
 w^ere among these visitors to the cemetery. Two 
 
Funerais and Mourning in the East. 1 89 
 
 and two, as a rule, they seated themselves, the 
 one at the head and the other at the foot of a 
 grave, and there bowed their heads in mourning. 
 
 In some cases a group gathered about one 
 grave. Some entered into the chambers of 
 larger tombs ; while some found a place under 
 a tent or booth, or other temporary structure, 
 erected for the purpose of shielding the mourners 
 from inclement weather. Sobs and moans w^ere 
 to be heard from some of the veiled mourners, 
 and wailings came from others. A great many 
 had leaves of palm, or bunches of myrtle, in 
 their hands, to place upon the graves over which 
 they wept ; every^ grave having an opening in its 
 plaster covering for the reception of flowers and 
 shrubs. 
 
 It was an impressive sight, that city ot the 
 dead swarming with loving mourners over its 
 silent dwellers ! And I found that that was an 
 occurrence of ever}- week, and oftener ; as it had 
 been for a lone series of centuries. On Men- 
 days and Thursdays — the days which were the 
 market days in Palestine tAvent\^ centuries ago 
 — this visitins: of the grraves of dead friends is 
 a prevailing custom in the lands of the Bible. 
 
I go Studies in Orierital Social Life. 
 
 And there is more or less of it on other days as 
 well. All the way along my journeying in the 
 East, I saw its repetitions. 
 
 In one instance I saw a gathering of children 
 in bright dresses as visitors at a cemetery in 
 Palestine. And at Nazareth, in the early gray 
 of the morning of Easter Sunday, I saw two 
 veiled women bowed over a grave not far from 
 my tent, the one at the head and the other at the 
 foot, in a drizzling rain, as if they had been there 
 all night, or had come there " as it began to 
 dawn toward the first day of the week,"^ to 
 manifest their unfailing love for him who lay 
 buried there, awaiting the resurrection. 
 
 Surely a custom like this, based upon a pro- 
 found sentiment which can sway an entire 
 people, generation after generation, in the direc- 
 tion of a show oi unselfish loving fidelity to dead 
 dear ones, at the cost of time and comfort, week 
 after week, for long years together, is worthy of 
 respect and honor, rather than of ridicule and 
 sneers. 
 
 This lovine reverence for the dead, with a rec- 
 ognition of the continued relation of the dead 
 
 ^Matt. 28 : I. 
 
Funerals and Mournin(^ in the East. 1 9 1 
 
 with the livino-, shows itself in all the East, in 
 the custom of public wailings over the dead, with 
 invokinirs and evokinos of the absent spirit. 
 Such assemblies are to be seen in Bible lands 
 to-day, as they are mentioned of old in the Bible 
 text. 
 
 For example : Rachel, the loved wife of Jacob, 
 and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, is the 
 type of the true mother in the minds of the 
 ancient Israelites. ^ Her tomb near Bethlehem ■^ 
 was a landmark in the days of Samuel ;•' and its 
 traditional site is reverenced to-day by Jews, 
 Christians, and Muhammadans. And the public 
 wailine of mothers over their children in the 
 land of Israel has been likened ever since to the 
 weeping of this typical mother, when, from her 
 spirit-home, she mourned over Joseph her lirst- 
 born, and aeain over her descendants, carried 
 away into captivity, and seeming as dead. 
 
 There appears, indeed, to be a gleam of resur- 
 recSlion hope in this very acceptance of Rachel as 
 a type of the mourning mother by the people oi 
 Israel. Jeremiah gives comfort in this direction 
 when he declares: "Thus saith the Lord: A 
 
 'See Ruth 411. ' Gcii. 35 ; ly, 20. ' i Sam. 10 : 2. 
 
 14 
 
192 Sficdies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter 
 weeping-, Rachel weeping for her children ; she 
 refuseth to be comforted for her children, because 
 they are not. Thus saith the Lord : Refrain thy 
 voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears : 
 for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord ; 
 and they shall come again from the land of the 
 enemy. And there is hope for thy latter end, 
 saith the Lord ; and thy children shall come 
 again to their own border." ^ And this hope- 
 less mourning of their dead by sorrow-stricken 
 mothers in Ramah, when they might have had 
 hope even in their sorrow, is referred to again in 
 the New Testament, in connection with the wail- 
 ing of the mothers of Bethlehem — near the tomb 
 of Rachel — at the time of the slaying of the in- 
 fants by Herod, in his purpose of compassing 
 the death of Jesus. ^ 
 
 Even down to modern times there are illus- 
 trations of this custom of the periodic public 
 wailing by women over their dead in burial- 
 places within the former limits of the tribe of 
 Benjamin, where the descendants of the younger 
 children of Rachel were a people. Le Bruyn, 
 
 ijcr. 31 : 15-17. ^Matt, 2 : 16 18. 
 
Funerals and Moiuniing in tJie East. 1 93 
 
 a French traveler of a century and a half ago, 
 reports such a scene as he observed it at the 
 traditional site of Ramah. Seeing a large com- 
 pany of mourning women go out from Ramah 
 toward a neighboring burial-place for the pur- 
 pose of making their accustomed lamentation 
 over the dead, he followed them, and from a con- 
 venient elevation watched their proceedings. 
 
 First they prostrated themselves on the graves, 
 and wept there for half an hour or more. Then 
 several of them arose and formed themselves 
 into a circle by joining hands, as if they would 
 take part in a circular dance. Into this mourn- 
 inof ringr two of their number entered, and led in 
 a wild dirge, clapping their hands and wailing 
 vociferously. After a season of this demonstra- 
 tive mourninLT, all returned to the Lrraves to sit 
 and weep there once more. Finally they re- 
 turned to their homes singly or a few at a time. 
 When they arose to join in the public wailing, 
 LeBruyn noticed that each of them covered her- 
 self with a close black veil, the use of which is 
 an Oriental mourning custom, haxing its survi- 
 val in the thick mourning veil which is so com- 
 mon among us here to-day. 
 
1 94 St?cdics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 The custom of mourning periodically at the 
 graves of eminent personages who died long, 
 long ago, is a prevalent one in the East to-day, 
 as it has been from time immemorial. Passing 
 northward from Mt. Sinai into the desert, I came 
 upon the tomb of Shaykh Szaleh, whose memory 
 is honored in this way among the Bed'ween of 
 that desert. Who Shaykh Szaleh was, or when 
 he lived, is not clear; but his "name is hardly 
 second to that of Moses among the Arabs." 
 
 As we approached the tomb, our Arabs showed 
 more reverence than I saw them manifest on 
 any other occasion. They bowed themselves in 
 prayer at the entrance of the little whitened 
 stone structure which covers the resting-place of 
 the shaykh, or prophet, or saint, whose memory 
 is held so sacred by their people. They took up 
 dust from before the tomb, and scattered it upon 
 their own heads,^ and again upon the heads of 
 their camels. 
 
 The inner walls of this tomb are garnished 
 with ostrich eggs, and rich scarfs, and camel 
 trappings, and hanging lamps, as votive ofler- 
 
 ' 2 Sam. 19:9; Job 2:12; 42 ; 6 ; Lam. 2:10; 3:16; Ezek. 27 ; 
 30; Rev. it) : ly. 
 
Funerals and Mourning in the East. 195 
 
 ings from reverent visitors. And such an offering 
 is always safe in such a place in the East ; for to 
 remove it would be a sacrilege, and Orientals 
 are not sacrilegious. Once a year there is a 
 Catherine of Arabs at this tomb, with commem- 
 orative relicfious services, includino- a sacrifice. 
 And this is only one such place among many, 
 or above many, that are thus venerated by the 
 Arabs. "There are very few Bedouin tribes," 
 says Burckhardt, "who have not one or more 
 tombs of protecting saints, in whose honor they 
 offer sacrifices." 
 
 Not to speak of the tombs of Abraham and 
 Isaac and Jacob at Hebron, there are traditional 
 tombs, or muqams, of prophets or shaykhs, on 
 well-nigh all the hill-tops of Palestine, which are 
 held in reverence by the people of that land, as 
 covering the remains of those who though dead 
 are still alive, and who have power to help or to 
 harm those who approach their resting-places. 
 We are told, indeed, by Major Conder, that "the 
 inlluence of a powerful sheikh [represented by his 
 tomb] is thought to extend ten or twenty miles 
 round his mukham." At a muqam in honor of 
 Samson, on a hill-top south of Gaza, to which 
 
1 96 Sfudics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 he is supposed to have carried away the gates of 
 that city,^ an annual commemoration of that grim 
 athlete of Israel is still observed after the pattern 
 of that at the muqam of Shaykh Szaleh. 
 
 After the sacrifice by Jephthah of his only 
 daughter, in accordance with his hasty vow after 
 his vi(5lory, "it was a custom in Israel that the 
 daughters of Israel went yearly to celebrate the 
 daughter of Jephthah . . . four days in a year."^ 
 When King Josiah was killed, on the plain of 
 Megiddo, by the archers of Pharaoh Necho, "all 
 Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah." And 
 afterward it is said that "Jeremiah lamented for 
 Josiah : and all the singing men and singing 
 women spake of Josiah in their lamentations, 
 unto this day ; and they made them an ordinance 
 in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the 
 lamentations."^ 
 
 The more primitive origin of this custom, or of 
 its superstitious abuses, would seem to be indi- 
 cated in the mention by Ezekiel of "the women 
 weeping for Tammuz " at "the door of the gate of 
 the Lord's house which was toward the North ; "^ 
 
 ' Jtidi^. t6 : 3. ^Judg. il : 39,40. 
 
 •'2 Chron. 35: 22-25, see also Zech. 12 : 11. ^Ezek. 8 : 14. 
 
Funerals and Mourning in I he East. 197 
 
 for the annual lament over Tammuz is supposed 
 to represent the same idea as the annual lament 
 of Venus over y\donis of the Greeks, and of Isis 
 over Osiris of the Egyptians, while perhaps it 
 was identical with the mourning of Ishtar over 
 Dumuzi of the Chaldeans. 
 
 Hear the cry of Isis to her dead brother and hus- 
 band, Osiris, in the literature of ancient Egy[»t : 
 
 " Look at me; I am thy sister who lovcth thee. 
 Do not stay far from me, O beautiful youth ! 
 Come to thine abode with haste, with haste. 
 I see thee no more. 
 
 My heart is full of bitterness on account of thee. 
 Mine eyes seek thee ; 
 I seek thee to behold thee. 
 Will it be long ere I see thee ? 
 Will it be long ere I see thee ? 
 [O] excellent Sovereign, 
 Will it be long ere I see thee ? 
 Beholding thee is happiness ; 
 Beholding thee is happiness. 
 [O] god An, beholding thee is happiness- 
 Come to her who loveth thee. 
 Come to her who lovcth thee. 
 [O] Un-nefer, the justified, 
 Come to thy sister, come to thy wife. 
 Come to thy sister, come to thy wife. 
 [O] Urt-hct, come to thy spouse. 
 I am thy sister by thy mother ; 
 
1 98 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 Do not separate thyself from me. 
 
 Gods and men [turn] their faces towards thee, 
 
 Weeping together for thee, whenever [they] behold me. 
 
 I call thee in my lamentations 
 
 Even to the heights of Heaven, 
 
 And thou liearcst not my \oice. 
 
 I am thv sister who iovelh thee on earth; 
 
 No one else hath loved thee more than I, 
 
 [Thy] sister, [thy] sister." 
 
 That lament, of forty centuries ago, is almost 
 identical in its strain and spirit with the lament 
 over a husband or brother in Upper Egypt to- 
 day ; or at an Irish wake, in the region where 
 that Celtic ceremony is still observed in its more 
 primitive form. And even though it is a goddess 
 mourning over a dead god who speaks out in 
 this primeval lament, it is to be borne in mind 
 that Osiris was counted as the representative of 
 every dead Egyptian who was adjudged worthy 
 of the rite of burial, and who therefore slept in 
 the hope of a glorious resurrection. 
 
 And just nere there is to be noticed a marked 
 peculiarity of the Old Testament writings, in 
 their contrast with other religious literature of 
 the same age and earlier, concerning the hope 
 of a life after death. It has even been ques- 
 tioned by many exegetes whether a single Old 
 
Funerals and Ahvuniing in the East. 1 99 
 
 Testament passage, just as it stands, shows un- 
 mistakably the writer's conviction tliat the dead 
 sliall Hve again, and that the present hfe is a 
 probation for the life that follows this. The 
 Old Testament silence at this point has, in- 
 deed, been accepted by many a student of the 
 })roblem of human progress, as indicating that 
 in the days of the Old Testament writinij the 
 idea of a future life was not yet developed among 
 the Hebrews. 
 
 But outside history makes clear to us that in 
 Assyria and Egypt, on either side of the Hebrew 
 people, and also among their Canaanitish neigh- 
 bors, at the time of the Old Testament writing, 
 and lonsf before, at whatever date that writinQ^ be 
 fixed, the doclrine of a future life, and of future 
 retribution, and of the influence of the life in the 
 flesh on the destiny of the life in the spirit, was 
 of unquestioned predominance. Moreover, we 
 have no record of any people, in former times 
 or later, so sunken in barbarism or so exalted in 
 civilization as to be without some recocjnition of 
 such a belief Hence it is not only a most un- 
 reasonable but actually an incredible supposi- 
 tion, that the writers of the Hebrew Scriptures 
 
200 Studies in Oriental Social Life 
 
 were without any convi6lion or speculation in this 
 reahn of thought. 
 
 In the very earhest days of which we have any 
 knowledge in Egypt, the life beyond the present 
 was even more prominent in the popular mind 
 than the life which was lived on earth. A tomb 
 for the dead was counted as of greater impor- 
 tance than a house for the living. Preparing 
 one's own tomb was a work worthy of one's best 
 endeavors, in his freshest and most vigorous 
 period of life ; and a welcome gift from a royal 
 father to his daughter, at the time of her mar- 
 riage, was a first-class, well-finished tomb, as a 
 resting-place for her body. The careful embalm- 
 ing of the body after death was in view of the 
 value of a preserved body to the spirit which had 
 left it for a season. Every funeral dirge was 
 based on the belief that the dead one was still 
 alive, and that its permanent destiny was affe6led 
 by its earthly career. 
 
 Over the tombs of the ancient Egyptians there 
 were sometimes inscribed calls to the passer-by 
 to halt and offer up supplications for the souls 
 of those who rested there. At the entrance to 
 the more imposing tombs there were chambers 
 
Funerals and Mou7'ning in the East. 201 
 
 in which the family and fricMicls of the deceased 
 would gather from time to time to offer prayc^rs 
 in behalf of those who had left them, and whose 
 spiritual presence seemed to be recognized. 
 
 Referring to these requests for prayers graven 
 on the funerary tablets in ancient Egypt, Dr. 
 Amelia B. Edwards emphasizes the facl that the 
 burden of the intercessory supplications asked for 
 w^as needful supplies for the deceased in the 
 intermediate state. She cites an inscription at 
 the tomb of Pepi-Na, of the sixth dynasty, long 
 before the days of Abraham, and which she fixes 
 at thirty-five centuries before our era : 
 
 " O ye who live upon the earth ! 
 Ye who come hither and are servants of the gods, 
 Oh, say these words [of prayer to Osiris] : 
 
 'Grant thousands of loaves, thousands of jars of wine, thou- 
 sands of beeves, thousands of geese to the Ka [the life or 
 vital principle] of the Royal Friend Pepi-Na, Superintendent 
 of the Royal Household, and Superior of the Priests of the 
 Pyramid of King Pepi.' " 
 
 And she adds, as to the antiquity of the belief 
 by the Egyptians in the immortality of the soul : 
 " Look back as far as we will into the darkness 
 of their past, question as closely as we may the 
 
202 Studies hi Oriental Social Life. 
 
 earliest of their monuments, and we yet find them 
 lookincr forward to an eternal future." 
 
 Under the influence of such ideas as these 
 Moses was trained. All the Hebrews were 
 affe(5led by them. Yet no clear recognition of 
 these ideas is given in the writings of Moses, 
 or of his disciples for centuries after. 
 
 The dirofes seem to have been much the same 
 in Palestine as in Egypt. The funeral and 
 mourning customs of the Hebrews were not 
 materially different from those of the Egyptians. 
 The care of the dead was as reverent, and the 
 memory of the dead was as faithfully honored, in 
 the one land as in the other. Yet while the 
 Egyptian religious literature gave more emphasis 
 to the importance of the future life than to that 
 of the present, the religious literature of the 
 Hebrews seems to have pra6lically ignored the 
 fa6l of an existence beyond the grave. With 
 the belief of the Hebrews on this point as it must 
 have been, the silence of the Hebrew sacred 
 oracles on this point as it is, is certainly most 
 remarkable. 
 
 Here are books by the score, written by differ- 
 ent men, at various times in a sweep of a thou- 
 
Funerals ami Mourning in the East. 203 
 
 sand years, and in countries widely separated ; 
 books of history ; books of prophecy ; books of 
 poetry, of proverb, and of precept; books treat- 
 ing of Hfe and of death, of duty, of danger, and 
 of hope; the writers themselves living in the 
 thought of a future life, planning with reference 
 to it, giving expression to their feeling concern- 
 ing its great realities whenever they bore a part 
 in a funeral service or uttered a lament over a 
 dead loved one ; with not one of the writers in 
 any one of the books saying a single well-defined 
 word in expression of his personal belief in this 
 realm of truth, or in clear recognition of the 
 universality of a common conviction on the gen- 
 eral subject. Is not this a wonder ? 
 
 An unmistakable tendency of the human mind 
 is, and always has been, to question and specu- 
 late concerning the possibilities of the lite be- 
 yond the grave. The theme of themes in the 
 world's thought, and in the religious writings of 
 the world, during all the centuries of the Old 
 Testament's preparation, was the state of man 
 in the world to come. Yet that theme of themes 
 was religiously excluded from all the Old Testa- 
 ment pages. How can this be accounted tor so 
 
204 Studies ill Oriental Social Life. 
 
 simply and so reasonably as by admitting that 
 these writers were guided and controlled by a 
 Power outside of and above themselves, both in 
 what they should say, and in what they should 
 leave unsaid ? And to admit this is to admit 
 the truth of the unique inspiration of the Old 
 Testament Scriptures in their time and place. 
 
 The importance attached, in ancient Egypt 
 and in other lands adjacent to the land of the 
 Hebrews, to the life beyond the grave, caused 
 the present life to be overshadowed by that 
 which is to come. And the thought of those 
 who had gone before, as still living, came to be a 
 temptation to think of them as superior to those 
 in the flesh, so as to be objects of veneration and 
 worship. In this way, polytheism had grown 
 up in lieu of primal monotheism ; and the sim- 
 plicity of the worship of the one God, in loving 
 fidelity to his service here and now, was replaced 
 by varied forms of the w^orship of deified ances- 
 tors, in the hope of having a place with them 
 hereafter. 
 
 It was needful, therefore, that the chosen peo- 
 ple of God should be called away from thinking 
 of the many in heaven, to the thought of the 
 
Funerals and Mournmg in the East. 205 
 
 one God of heaven and earth, and should be 
 tauo;ht that that God is best pleased by men's 
 doing their present duty in the present life. And 
 thus it is that the silence of the Old Testament 
 scriptures on the subject of the future state is in 
 accordance with the spirit and purpose of those 
 
 writmgs. 
 
 All the while, however, as the study of the 
 funeral and mourning customs in the East, an- 
 cient and modern, is in itself sufficient to show, 
 the Hebrews recognized the relation of the life 
 that is to the life that is to come ; as that rela- 
 tion has been recognized, in one way or another, 
 by all mankind from the earliest days of which 
 history gives us any trustworthy record or any 
 perceivable intimation. And so the funeral and 
 mourning customs of the East had their part in 
 keeping alive a sense of this great truth among 
 the people who were the representatives and cus- 
 todians of the purest religious truth known to 
 man, until the time had come for a bringing of 
 life and immortality to light in the added revela- 
 tion of Jesus the Christ.^ Yet even now there 
 is a danger of our giving a prominence to the 
 
 ' Sec 2 Tim. i : lo. 
 
2o6 Sinc/ics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 future state, and to its dwellers, that is not justi- 
 fied by the teachings of Jesus or of his immediate 
 representatives. 
 
 And here I close the treatment of these three 
 phases of Oriental social life : weddings and be- 
 trothals, hospitality, and funerals and mourning. 
 Apart from the interest that attaches to the con- 
 sideration of these themes as showing us more 
 vividly the people of Bible lands as they were 
 in the days of the Bible writing, there is. 1 think, 
 a special value in the bearing of the facts thus 
 brought out on questions of peculiar moment in 
 the history of our race. 
 
 The study of betrothals and weddings, on the 
 lines of the most ancient history of which we 
 have any authentic record, indicates the primeval 
 nobleness of man as evidenced in his earliest 
 estimate of woman and in his earliest standard 
 of family life. Monogamy, not polygamy, nor 
 polyandry, nor promiscuity, was "from the begin- 
 ning " ^ the basis of the family relation. 
 
 The study of the virtue of hospitality along 
 the same lines, indicates a primeval recognition 
 
 ^ Matt. 19 : 4-8. 
 
Funerals and Alonrnino- in tJie East. 207 
 
 of the; brotherhood of man as a consequence of 
 the fatherhood of God, and discloses a universal 
 standard of character among- primitive peoples, 
 in an ideal of duty recognized by them and 
 di\ inely ai)proved in the IMble record. He who 
 receives and honors a stranirer-fruest as a child 
 of God thereby signifies his readiness to welcome 
 the Son of God when he appears as the mani- 
 festation of God.^ 
 
 The study of funeral and mourning customs, 
 in a similar light, indicates a primeval recog- 
 nition of the truth of a life beyond the grave, 
 and of the fixing of its destiny by the personal 
 chara6ler disclosed in the present life. Every 
 wailing cry to the dead in the form of question 
 or entreaty, and every proffer of help to the de- 
 parted in the form of gifts at the grave for the 
 supply of their needs, is in witness to the truth 
 that death does not end all.- 
 
 And a comparison of these fa6ls with the 
 teachings of the Old Testament scriptures in- 
 cidentally points to a divine control of the treat- 
 ment of this theme in the Old Testament and in 
 the New. The silences of the Bible as truly as 
 
 ' Matt. 10 : 40. 2 fjgi3 g . 2^_ 
 
208 
 
 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 its utterances are proofs of the inspiration that 
 restrained and guided its writers/ 
 
 And these important disclosures in the sphere 
 of Oriental social life are but suggestions of the 
 very many truths to be brought into a clearer 
 light by a study of the Bible record in compari- 
 son with the manners and customs of the people 
 of Bible lands. The text of the Bible has a new 
 meaning when we understand the ways of the 
 men who wrote it, and the peculiarities of the 
 countries where they lived. 
 
 ' Deut. 29 : 29 ; John 16 : 12. 
 
THE VOICE OF THE FORERUNNER, 
 
 My first sight of the East was at Alexandria. 
 And that first sight was so thoroughly Ori- 
 ental, so thoroughly un- Occidental, so utterly 
 unlike anything and everything I had ever seen 
 before, that it is stamped upon my mind to-day 
 with a freshness and vividness that make all 
 other remembered scenes of the East little more 
 than variations and modifications of what then 
 caught my eyes. All the East was before me in 
 a single glimpse. 
 
 The glimpse was from the sea, as we ap- 
 
 209 
 
2 I o Studies in Oincntal Social Life. 
 
 proached from Naples. What a I'abcl and what 
 a Pandemonuim as the; motley crowd, of all shades 
 of complexion, and in all \arieties of Eastern 
 costume, clambered on to the steamer's deck, 
 and yelled or jabbered in all languages, and 
 crowded and jostled and pushed and gesticu- 
 lated excitedly, as if their very lives were in 
 jeopardy, and everybody else's would have to be ! 
 Egyptians, Arabs, Moors, Nubians, Abyssinians, 
 Turks — from dingy yellow through swarthy red 
 and olive and brown to jetty black. Turbans and 
 tarboushes and bare heads ; flowing robes and 
 baggy trousers, and naked limbs and bodies, 
 in undistinguishable confusion. Boatmen, por- 
 ters, hotel runners, hucksters, guides, interpre- 
 ters, dragomans, and officials of various grades, 
 — all equally vociferous, violent, persistent, and 
 seemingly unsane. 
 
 How the boatmen battled for a place at the 
 steamer's accommodation ladder, with their primi- 
 tive and varied craft, forcing off a rival's bow, 
 and crowding in past it, even springing forward 
 to hurl back, with loud curses, the competing 
 boatman himself, as if it were in the final struggle 
 of pirates for a first boarding of a coveted treas- 
 
The I 'oicc of tlic Forerunner. 2 1 1 
 
 lire ship ! And what a cluLching" ihcrc was at 
 the passcn^^crs and their ba^^^gagc on the part 
 of boat and hotel ap[)Hcants ! What giants of 
 strength there were in some of those brawny Nu- 
 bian porters, who swung themselves recklessly 
 amone the lighter forms of acjile Arabs, and the 
 skinny, withered frames of older Egyptians ! One 
 of these Nubians seized a huge traveling trunk 
 of our party, at a signal from our chosen hotel 
 agent, and, throwing a stout cord or small rope 
 around it lengthwise, he stooped at its other end, 
 with his face from it, and, passing the loop of the 
 cord around across his forehead, he rose up, 
 taking the trunk end-wise on his back — its weight 
 steadied by the cord across his forehead ; then 
 he coolly had a second trunk lifted on to his 
 head above the first, and he stepped off lightly 
 with that superincumbent head-dress, a[)parently 
 no more burdened than an American lady with 
 hrr winter's bonnet-pile of velvet and lace and 
 feathers. 
 
 From sea to shore was only from the shadow 
 to the substance, from the glimpse to the clear 
 vision, of Oriental life. Where but in the East 
 could be seen what was before us and about us 
 
1 2 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 at every step in the more crowded streets of Alex- 
 andria ? Where in all the East could anything 
 else be looked for ? Leaving- the European cpiar- 
 ter, in the vicinity of the Place Muhammad Alee, 
 shortly after our arrival at the hotel, I found my 
 way with a friend into the closely packed Arab 
 distrids, and was soon in the bewildering maze 
 of Oriental sights and sounds. 
 
 How those narrow streets were packed, and 
 with what grotesque appearances! Half-naked 
 cripples and blind beggars, veiled w^omen, men 
 in bright-colored garments, and children in none, 
 were everywhere. Shop-keepers squatted at the 
 window-like openings of their dog-kennel shops 
 on either side of the way. Children were making 
 mud-pies under the very feet of the passers. 
 Tumble-down buildings seemed overhanging the 
 middle of the burlesque street, and mosk mina- 
 rets uplifted themselves against the sky beyond 
 the buildings in the distance. Donkeys trotted 
 through the crowd as a part of it at every turn. 
 Long-eared goats thrust their noses between the 
 buyer and the seller of sweets, or of leeks and 
 onions. Occasionally a buffalo cow, drawing a 
 rude cart, or again a heavily loaded camel, pushed 
 
The Voice of the Forerunner. 2 i 
 
 J) 
 
 itself into the throng, rather than through it. 
 Water-carriers, with their huo^e ijoat-skin bottles 
 and their tinkling brass cups, proffered "the gift 
 of God"' to the thirsty. All the city seemed 
 gathered at every door,^ with the same purpose 
 and with no purpose. Illuminated bits of every 
 picture of Eastern life which I had ever seen in 
 print or in paint from childhood up were tumbling 
 before my eyes in kaleidoscopic confusion and 
 attractiveness ; and sounds of the peculiar wail 
 of Egyptian music came floating into my ears as 
 we moved on in wonderment from street to 
 street, gradually nearing the open square once 
 more. 
 
 It was out of all this confusion, and amid all 
 this bewilderment, that suddenly a sharp, clear 
 sound was heard : " O'a ! " (Take care !) " Ya- 
 meenak ! Shemalak ! " (To thy right ! To thy 
 left !) and as I turned to learn its meaning, I saw 
 a lithe-limbed young Egyptian gaily dressed, 
 with his loins fdrded, cominor on the run, swinir- 
 ing a light staft in his hand, and repeating his 
 cries to the throng in the street to make way for 
 those who were to follow. Close behind him 
 
 'John 4 ; 10. ^ Mark I : 33. 
 
2 1 4 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 canic an open carriage, drawn by a span of showy 
 horses, containing an officer of the government 
 and a ""entleman friend. 
 
 That was my first sight of a runnel before a 
 rider, — of the typical forerunner of the Oriental 
 sovereign's chariot, according to the Old Testa- 
 ment story. When Ahab, king of Israel, drove 
 furiously before the coming storm across the broad 
 plain of Esdraelon, from the base of Carmel to 
 his ivory palace at Jezreel, after the slaughter of 
 the priests of Baal, the weird old prophet of the 
 wilderness was his forerunner, after this unchan- 
 ging Oriental fashion. "And the hand of the Lord 
 was on Elijah ; and he girded up his loins, and 
 ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel." ^ 
 
 When the Israelites clamored for a king to rule 
 over them, Samuel warned them, saying: "This 
 will be the manner of the king that shall reign 
 over you : he will take your sons, and appoint 
 them unto him for his chariots, and to be his 
 horsemen ; and they shall run before his chari- 
 ots." " And when the Israelites were granted a 
 king, they found what it was to have their sons as 
 runners before the royal chariot. In Absalom's 
 
 ^ I Kings i8 ; 45, 46. ^ i Sam. 8:11. 
 
The Voice of the Forerunner. 2 1 5 
 
 attempt to outdo the display of Saul and David 
 in this line, "Absalom prepared him a chariot 
 and horses, and fifty men to run before him." ' 
 That was a chance for the young runners ! 
 
 The first illustration to me of this Bible figure 
 was by no means the last in my journeying. 
 During my stay in Cairo, one of the commonest 
 sights was a carriage of a pasha, or a carriage 
 containing ladies of the khedive's hareem, pre- 
 ceded through the crowded streets by one "sais" 
 (the forerunning groom), or by two or more, calling 
 aloud for the clearing of the way. And when our 
 little party rode out along the banks of the Nile, 
 and on to Gheezeh, to visit the pyramids and the 
 sphinx, a handsome young "sais," bedecked with 
 scarlet and blue and green and gold, ran before 
 us at top speed, calling out for a clear path for 
 7/.S- amono- the loaded camels and the ambling 
 donkeys and the toiling foot-passers, from the 
 city's heart into the desert wastes. For in these 
 days of Egypt's decline it is as easy to hire a once 
 royal equipage, and to secure the once royal 
 honors, by the hour, as it is to hire a turnout 
 with liveried coachman and footman in New York 
 
 ' 2 Sam. 15:1. 
 
2 1 6 Shidics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 or Philadelphia, when you want to have the credit 
 of a carriage of your own without its trouble and 
 expense. 
 
 That cry in the streets of Alexandria was also 
 the first illustration to me of the voice of one cry- 
 ing out of a wilderness throng, " Prepare ye the 
 way of the coming one." ^ 
 
 In the Bible figure of the crier before the 
 comine One, there is a call of the forerunner to 
 prepare the way, as well as to yield it, for him 
 who approaches : 
 
 " The voice of one that crieth : 
 Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of the Lord, 
 Make straight in the desert a high way for our God 
 Every valley shall be exalted, 
 And every mountain and hill shall be made low : 
 And the crooked shall be made straight, 
 And the rough places plain." ^ 
 
 A brief experience on the wilderness and desert 
 roads of Egypt and Arabia, and on any of the 
 roads of Palestine, would be sufficient to show 
 the need of special preparation if those roads 
 were to be passable, and the value of such prepa- 
 ration when it has been secured. At the best, 
 
 1 See Isa. 40 : 3 ; Mark 1:2,3; John i : 23. ^ Isa. 40 : 3, 4. 
 
The Voice of the Forerunner. 2 1 7 
 
 a road in those rcL^ions is litllc more than a 
 hardly recognized track over the sands or the 
 loose stones, or along or across the cliffs and 
 rocky hillsides. The shifting sands, or the wash 
 of the rushing watercourses of the rainy months, 
 will destroy at one season what was a tolerable 
 path at another. 
 
 The work of preparing, or of repairing, these 
 roads in advance of the coming of a royal per- 
 sonage, is continued to the present time. At 
 Hebron, as our party entered the Holy Land 
 from the desert below, we were told that the 
 Crown Prince of Austria was just before us, and 
 that the word had gone out from the Turkish au- 
 thorities to prepare his way in advance. At this 
 our dragoman was delighted, as he was sure we 
 should find the roads in excellent condition all 
 the way northward. Again and again he said, 
 gratefully : "This road has been prepared for the 
 prince, I wish there was always a prince before 
 us." He evidently thought that the road was 
 better than usual ; but we did not see how it ever 
 could have been worse. At one point and another 
 we were told that the road we then traveled was 
 prepared, or was improved, for the Prince of 
 
i8 
 
 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 \\^alcs, or for the Grant! Duke Alexander; and 
 in all these cases it was evident that the voice 
 of a forerunner had been heard in advance of 
 the son of royalty : " Prepare ye the way of the 
 
 comnig one, 
 
 "1 
 
 ^ See Isa. 40 : 3 ; Mark i : 2, 3; John i : 23. 
 

 
 i 
 
 ^.ii5^ 
 
 
 I -l-^^' 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 y^^^*^' 
 
 
 -J^ .-.s&ai 
 
 PRIMITIVE IDEA OF "THE WAY." 
 
 The ancient Oriental idea of a road, an idea 
 which still has large prominence in the East and 
 elsewhere, is of the highway of a king. Roads 
 were originally built by the king, and for the 
 king ; and they were kept in repair, or put in re- 
 pair, according to the king's need of them. Roads 
 had their incidental advantages for the king's 
 subje6ts, but only by the king's grace. This 
 Oriental idea of a highway affecis all Oriental 
 uses of the term road, or way, or highway. The 
 
 Hebrew word dcrckJi. and the Greek word Jiodos, 
 
 219 
 
2 20 Studies ill Oriental Social Life. 
 
 translated "way" in our English Bible, mean 
 "road," or "trodden path," or "highway;" and 
 this term is employed both literally and figu- 
 ratively in various conne6lions, yet always with 
 the root idea of the road of a king in the realm 
 of his kingdom. 
 
 One of the earliest historic mentions of royal 
 road-building is in the Egyptian records of the 
 Nineteenth Dynasty, where Sety I., the father 
 of Rameses II. (supposed to be the Pharaoh who 
 oppressed the Hebrews), built a road over the 
 desert into the gold-mines of Upper Egypt and 
 Nubia, making it available by sinking wells, or 
 cisterns, along the route. The road which both 
 Sety 1. and Rameses II. took on their warlike 
 journeys into Syria, was known as the Royal 
 Road, or the Pharonic Road ; and the same road 
 was later known as " Sikkeh es-Sooltanieh," or 
 the Sultan's Road. 
 
 Professor Sayce, writing of the times of the 
 ancient Assyrian Empire, says : "Western Asia 
 was more thickly populated then than is at pres- 
 ent the case, and the roads were not only more 
 numerous than they are to-day, but better kept. 
 Hence the ease and rapidity with which large 
 
Primitive Idea of " The J Fay." 22 t 
 
 bodies of m(Mi were moved by the Assyrian kings 
 from one part of Asia to another. Where a road 
 did not already exist, it was made by the advan- 
 cing army, timber being cleared and a highway 
 thrown up for the purpose. As road-makers the 
 Assyrians seem to have anticipated the Romans," 
 and all their roads were ways, or paths, of im- 
 perial progress. 
 
 Among the reported wonders wrought by the 
 semi-mythical Semiramis, in the earlier days of 
 the Babylonian empire, is the building of a royal 
 road through Media. Diodorus says that on 
 her march over a rough and precipitous moun- 
 tain country in that diretlion, " she became am- 
 bitious ... at once to make a deathless memorial 
 of herself, and at the same time to make for her- 
 self a road \_/iodos, a way] which would be a 
 shorter cut. Therefore, she digged down the 
 crags and filled up the hollow places, and so pre- 
 pared a road which was more expeditious, and 
 which was of great cost. And until now it is 
 called from her [the Road of] Semiramis. . . . 
 After these things she went through Persia, and 
 every other land which she ruled throughout 
 Asia. And everywhere digging through the 
 
syndics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 mountains and the stcn-p rocks, she prepared 
 roads at i^a^c^at expense." Thus in the earhest 
 empire of history,^ tlie symbol of royal greatness 
 was royal road buildincr. 
 
 In ancient Persia, aq^ain, as Herodotus informs 
 us, Darius established a royal road, from Susa 
 toSardis, in order to secure rapidity of communi- 
 cation in the transmission of his orders to the 
 provincial governors-. This road was more than 
 fifteen hundred miles long, or a journey, by 
 horses, of ninety days. Along its route were 
 post-houses and relays of horses for the accom- 
 modation of his couriers or caravanseries. "Inns 
 were to be found at every station ; bridges or 
 ferries were established upon all the streams ; 
 guard-houses occurred here and there, and the 
 whole route was kept secure from the brigands 
 who infested the empire." This highway of the 
 king was of no small value to the ordinary trav- 
 eler, with its privileges and its protection ; al- 
 though its proprietorship and its primal purpose 
 were exclusively the king's. One of the great 
 proje6ls of Alexander the Great, in contempla- 
 tion at the time of his death, "was the construc- 
 
 ' See Gen. lo : S-lo. 
 
Primitive Idea of " TJie TFaj'." 
 
 223 
 
 tion of a road all alon^r the northern coast of 
 Africa, as far as the pillars of Herakles." 
 
 The chief road through ancient Edom, as also 
 through the land of the Amorites, in the days of 
 Moses, was known as the king's way, and per- 
 mission for strangers to pass over it must be 
 sought of the king.^ The Israelites were 
 direcl;ed to build roads, or highways, through the 
 Land of Promise, when they should have it in 
 possession, — roads which should be counted as 
 the Lord's highways to the appointed cities of 
 refuge." Josephus tells us that Solomon made 
 a fuiished and substantial stone causeway along 
 the roads which led to his royal city, not only to 
 render those roads easy of travel, but "to mani- 
 fest the grandeur of his riches and government." 
 
 Even all the great roads of the Roman em- 
 pire, which held the civilized world in a network, 
 were designed and built as royal roads, as roads 
 of empire ; built first as military roads, and kept 
 in repair primarily as a means of governing. "It 
 was not until tlie Romans had eneaLTed in com- 
 paratively distant wars, with the Samnites and 
 Italiote Greeks," says a well-known writer on 
 
 'Xuia. 20 : 14-20 ; 21 : 21-23. ^ Dcut. 19 : 1-3. 
 
 16 
 
2 24 Studies ill Oriental Social Life. 
 
 Roman antiquities, "that the necessity of keep- 
 in^'- iiu regular and sccnn; communication with 
 the armies became imperative ; and accordingly 
 about the middle of the fifth century [B. C] 
 they appear to have commenced upon a large 
 scale the construction of those great military 
 roads (rvV^ inili tares) which have proved some of 
 the mostenduring monuments of their greatness." 
 Rome was indeed distinguished as the road- 
 maker of the world ; and it was because the 
 world's roads everywhere were controlled by 
 Rome in the day of its greatest power, that the 
 Romans could say proudly, wherever they found 
 themselves, "All roads lead to Rome." The 
 famous ]la Appia. built in the fourth century 
 before our era, and known as the Queen of 
 Roads [Reoiiia I 'iarunt), stands to the present 
 day, even after a thousand years of negled, as a 
 monument of the labor and expense and skill 
 lavished on the royal way to and from the capi- 
 tal of the world, in aid of the world's govern- 
 ment and supply. And all this work was but a 
 Roman adaptation of the Oriental idea of roads 
 and road-making, in an empire which was both 
 Eastern and Western in its scope. 
 
Pri7nitivc Idea of " The Way!' 22 
 
 --0 
 
 From the Talmud \vc learn that eacli year a 
 new order was issued, on the first of the month 
 Adar. for the inspection and repairinjj^ of the 
 roads leading to Jerusalem, as well as those lead- 
 ing to the cities of refuge. The branches of 
 all trees which bordered a road must be cut off 
 at a height sufficient to permit a camel with his 
 rider to pass under it, without danger of such a 
 calamity as Absalom's.^ And the balconies and 
 other projeClions of houses along the line must 
 conform to the same rule, with the farther limita- 
 tion that they should not darken the street by 
 their shadows. And these were the royal require- 
 ments for the preservation and annual repairing 
 of the royal roads of the land of Jehovah, 
 
 In many parts of the East the ancient roads 
 were prepared or repaired only at the special call 
 of the king, for his special service on an excep- 
 tional occasion. " Even as it is written in Isaiah 
 the prophet :^ 
 
 'Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, 
 Who shall prepare thy way [thy road] ; 
 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 
 Make ye ready the way [the road] of the Lord, 
 Make his paths straight.' "^ 
 
 ' J Sam. iS • 6-9. - Isa. 40 . 3. ^ Mark I : 2, 3 ; see John i : 23. 
 
2 26 Studies in Oriental Social Lije. 
 
 Bruce, the famous African traveler, tells ol a 
 custom of the king of Abyssinia, in makini;- ready 
 for one of his military campaigns, which illus- 
 trates this Oriental call for the preparation of 
 the road for the coming of the king. The first 
 proclamation goes out through the king's do- 
 minions, announcing his proposed movement, in 
 this form : " Buy your mules, get ready your pro- 
 vision, and pay your servants ; for after such a 
 day, they that seek me here shall not find me." 
 Then, a little later there follows another procla- 
 mation : "Cut down the kantuffa in the four 
 quarters of the world ; for I do not know where 
 I am going." This " kantuffa" is a troublesome 
 thorn-tree, which impedes the progress of a 
 march by catching at the clothing of the rider, 
 or by scratching and stinging his flesh. 
 
 Bruce adds, that on one occasion when the 
 king's outer robe was pulled off by a branch of 
 the kantuffa, as he was on a march, the king sent 
 immediately for the " shum," or local ruler, of the 
 distric;!;, and had both him and his son executed 
 by hanging from that kantuffa tree which they 
 had negleded to cut down according to the 
 requirements of the king's proclamation. Any 
 
Primitive Idea of " The I Fay." 227 
 
 one who has been compelled to push his way 
 on horseback through the; sharp thistle-bushes, 
 or the masses of the prickly pear, along some of 
 the; lowland roads of Palestine, will appreciate 
 the feelino-s of the kintr of Abvssinia, even if he 
 does not altogc^ther approve the vigorous retali- 
 atory measures of that king. 
 
 Dr. William M. Thomson says, in illustration 
 of the royal call for the preparing of the way 
 in the East in modern times : " When Ibrahim 
 Pasha proposed to visit certain places on Leba- 
 non, the emeers and sheikhs sent forth a general 
 proclamation, somewhat in the style of Isaiah's 
 exhortation to all the inhabitants, to assemble 
 along the proposed route and prepare the way 
 before him. The same was done in 1845, ^^^ ^ 
 grand scale, when the present sultan visited 
 Brusa. The stones were gathered out, crooked 
 places straightened, and rough ones made level 
 and smooth." 
 
 In connection with these calls for public ser- 
 vice, the criers who announce the command of 
 the ruler to the people precede their statement 
 of the duty imposed, by the threefold repetition 
 of a call equivalent to the injunction, " He that 
 
2 28 Sf II dies ill Oi'icJital Social Life. 
 
 hath (\irs to hear, let him hear."^ On hcarincr 
 tliis call, every person has a duty of tiirnnig 
 away from every other occupation, and of listen- 
 ing as for his life. The royal summons to him 
 to hear carries with it an admonition of his re- 
 sponsibility for hearing", and a warning of the 
 peril of negle(5ling to hear. He has no excuse 
 for ignorance after that call on him to open his 
 cars to the message from his ruler. 
 
 From the Oriental idea of a road or highway 
 as the peculiar possession cf a king, to be always 
 at his disposal and for his service, and to be 
 made ready and kept in order at his call, there 
 seems to have come the common term "king's 
 road," as applicable to a public highway, in more 
 or less of the European countries. And the 
 same idea gives color to all the uses of the term 
 "road" or "way" when applied to a course of 
 condu6l or to a system of religious truth. 
 
 To the Oriental mind, a road, a way, the king's 
 highway, includes primarily the idea of a king- 
 dom ; of a kingdom planned and a kingdom con- 
 trolled. Again, it includes the idea of a personal 
 
 ' Matt. 11:15; 13 : 9, 43 ; Mark 4 : 9, 23 ; 7 : 16 ; Luke 8 : 8'; 
 14 : 35. Sec, also, Isa. 6:9; Ezek. 12 : 12. 
 
Priniitivc Idea of " The Way!' 229 
 
 sovereign ; of a sovereign whose plan is l)ack of 
 that highway, and whose purpose is before it. 
 Yet acfi^i'i it. includes the idea of the kinof's com- 
 manchnent, in th(^ building of that road and in 
 the keeping of it in repair; of a sure course 
 to one's destination b)' means of tliat road ; of 
 safety while on that road ; of duties which grow 
 out of being on the line of that road ; of the 
 duty of watching for the king's coming, and of 
 making the road ready for his passage ; of the 
 duty of followine: in the train and in the service 
 of the king, when he is moving along that road. 
 And this covers everything that we understand 
 b)' the way of duty, the way of privilege, the 
 way of safety, in our moral and spiritual life- 
 course ; the way, or the road, which God has 
 planned and provided for the control of, and as 
 a means of intercommunication throuo-hout, his 
 kingdom ; for the progress of his providential 
 movements, and along which he would have his 
 servants to advance, or to stand, at his call. 
 
 The term "Taouism," as applied to one of the 
 religions of China, is from the Chinese tao, the 
 "way" or the "path;" and it indicates as thus 
 used the search for, or the study of, the i)ath of 
 
230 Sfiidics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 holiness. " Shintooism." the dcsiprnation of the 
 ancient rehgion of Japan, is from the Chinese 
 shin, "i^od," or "spirit," and tao, "the way," the 
 path of the gods. Booddhisni makes much of 
 the patli or wa)-, even though it ignores the 
 Sovereign wliose "v/ay" is to be traveled. Bood- 
 dha's " Dhammapada," or guide in the progress 
 toward Nirvana, is the " Path of Virtue," or the 
 "Way of Holiness." The Orthodox Muham- 
 madans call themselves "Sunnis," or "People of 
 the Path." "Sunnah" is a path, or road, or 
 way; and it is applied to the example and teach- 
 ings of Muhammad. The stricter followers of the 
 prophet say that the "way " of Muhammad is 
 indicated in what he said, in what he did, and in 
 what he sanctioned by his silence when it was 
 said or done in his presence. And so in Oriental 
 thought generally the "way" is the path or road 
 that has been prepared for travel by those who 
 would go aright. 
 
 This idea of a road as the highway of God's 
 kingdom, shows itself all alonor in the Bible 
 record. Hardly had the Israelites moved out 
 from Egypt to enjoy the privileges of Jehovah's 
 kingdom, before they gave themselves up to the 
 
Primitive Idea of " TJie J Taj'." 231 
 
 worship of a oroklcn calf, and the; Lord's word 
 came to Mos(;s on Monnt Sinai : "Go, get thee 
 down ; for thy people, which thou bronghtest np 
 out of the; land of Egypt, have corrupted them- 
 selves: they have turned aside cpiickly out of 
 the way which I commanded th(mi [out ot the 
 highway along which I started them]." ^ And, 
 again and again, fidelity to God's service is 
 spoken of as continuing in "the way which the 
 Lord thy God commandc^d thee to walk in."^ 
 
 And because there are roads, or seeming roads, 
 or pathways, which are not the king's highway, 
 frequent mention is made in the Bible of ways of 
 evil, as well as ways of good, — roads within the 
 kingdom which are not roads of the kingdom ; 
 just as there are said to be, in a sense, "gods 
 many, and lords many," while "there is no God 
 but one," ^ — false gods which are no gods, roads 
 which are no roads. "There is a way which 
 seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof 
 are th(i ways of death."'* "Enter not into the 
 l)ath of the wicked, and walk not in the way of 
 
 ^ Exod. 32 : 7, 8. 
 
 ' See Deut. 13 ; 5 ; 31 : 29 ; Judg. 2 : 22 ; 2 Kings 21 : 22 ; Jer. 5 : 
 
 4. 5- 
 
 ^ I Cor. 8 : 4, 5. ' I'l'ov. 14 : 12; 16 : 25. 
 
232 Shidics VI Oriental Social Life. 
 
 evil men. . . . The way of the wicked is as dark- 
 ness : they know not at what they stumble." ^ 
 "The way of the treacherous is rugged." " "The 
 way of the sluggard is as an hedge of thorns : but 
 the path of the upright is made an high way."^ 
 "Envy thou not the man of violence, and choose 
 none of his ways."* "Thus saith the Lord: 
 Behold, I set before you the way of life and the 
 way of death." '' "Wide is the gate, and broad 
 is the way, that leadeth to destrucl:ion. , . . 
 Narrow is the gate, and straitened the wa)-, that 
 leadeth unto life."*' And this view of the possi- 
 bility of being out of the way while in a way 
 gives added force to the cr)- of the Psalmist : 
 "Teach me thy way, O Lord ; and lead me in a 
 plain path." ^ "Teach me thy way, O Lord; 
 [and] I will walk in thy truth."- It also gives 
 added preciousness to the Lord's assurance to 
 those who trust in him: "And thine ears shall 
 hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, 
 walk ye in it ; when ye turn to the right hand, 
 and when ye turn to the left." '^ 
 
 Wliat light all this throws on the Old Testa- 
 
 ^ Prov. 4 : 14, ly. '^ Prov. 13:15. '^ Prov. 15 : 19. 
 
 * Prov. 3:31. ^ Jer. 21:8. ^ Matt. 7:13, 14. 
 
 ' Psa. 27 : II. * Psa. 86 : 11. " Isa. 30 : 21. 
 
Primitive Idea of " The JFaj'." 233 
 
 mcnt propliccics concerning- the Mcssiali and llie 
 Messianic kinq-dom ! And how it clears up th(! 
 New Testament n^ferences to Christ as tlit^ Way, 
 and ai^ain to Christianity as the Way of Christ ! 
 When the old kinoi'doms of Judali and of Israel 
 were failing, or had already passed away, the 
 Lord's promise was that a new kingdom should 
 be established, and a new King should come to 
 reign gloriously in that kingdom. The sign of 
 that kingdom was similar to the sign of the an- 
 cient kingdoms of Egypt and of Babylon and of 
 Persia ; a highway should be builded in advance 
 of the King's coming, and that highway should 
 be extended and established for the benefit of all 
 the subje6ls of the King. The old prophets cried 
 cheerily, in the days of darkness and despon- 
 dency : 
 
 " Comfort ye, comfort yc my people, 
 Saith your God. 
 
 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her. 
 That her warfare is accomplished. . . . 
 The voice of one that crieth, 
 Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of the Lord, 
 Make straight in the desert a high way for our God. 
 Every valley shall he exalted, 
 And every mountain and hill shall be made low : 
 And the crooked shall be made straight, and tlie rough 
 places plain : 
 
234 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 Aiul tlic glory of the Lord shall he revealed, 
 
 And all flesh shall see it together: 
 
 For the mouth of the Lord hath sjioken il." ' 
 
 " And 1 will make all my mountains a way, 
 Antl my high ways shall be exalted." -' 
 
 " For in the wilderness shall waters break out. 
 And streams in the desert. ... 
 And an high way shall be there, and a way, 
 And it shall be called the way of holiness ; 
 The unclean shall not pass over it ; but it shall be for those : 
 The wavfaring men, yea fools, shall not err therein. 
 No lion shall be there. . . . 
 But the redeemed shall walk there." •'' 
 
 " Behold, 1 send my messenger, and he shall pre- 
 pare theWay before me.""^ And so on in repeated 
 and remembered prophecy, until John the Bap- 
 tist came "preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 
 saying, Repent ye ; for the kingdom of heaven 
 is at hand ; " and his voice was recognized as 
 
 " The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 
 Make ye ready the way of the Lord, 
 Make his paths straight." ^ 
 
 WhcMi Jesus came, he said explicitly of himself: 
 "I am the Way. . . . No one cometh unto the 
 Father but by me." ^' And after this the Mes- 
 
 ' Isa. 40 : 1-5. ^ Isa. 49-11. ^ Isa. 35 ; 6, 8, 9. 
 
 * Mai. 3:1, * Matt. 3:1-3. ^ John 14:6. 
 
Primitive Idea of " TJie Way!' 235 
 
 sicili's king-dom, the Messiah's cause, the Messiah's 
 service, aiul the Messiah himself, were frequently 
 spoken of by his followers and by his enemies as 
 the Way. Even the chief priests and the scribes 
 said craftily to Jesus: "Thou , . . teachest the 
 Way of God." ^ Paul said of his earlier zeal 
 ai^ainst Christianity : " I persecuted this Way 
 unto the death." ^ And at Ephesus Paul found 
 some who "were hardened and disobedient, 
 speaking evil of the Way before the multitude,"^ 
 Again the appeal came to the Hebrews of old, as 
 it comes to all of us to-day : " Having therefore, 
 brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place 
 by the blood of Jesus, by the Way which he 
 dedicated for us, a new and living Way, . . . 
 let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of 
 faith."' 
 
 The fulness and the force of the Oriental figure 
 of the Way, and of its preparing, once recognized 
 by the reader of our English Bible,'' its various 
 and varying ai)plications throughout the Old 
 Testament and the New are simple and evident, 
 
 ' Mark 12 : 14 ; Luke 20 : 2i. 
 "^ Acts 22 : 4. ^ Acts 19 : 9-23. ^ Heb. 10 : 19-22. 
 
 ^ This word " Way " occurs more than six hundred times in the 
 Old Testament, and nearly one hundred times in the New. 
 
236 
 
 Shi dies ill Oriental Social Life. 
 
 and always to the advantac^e of the truth. The 
 Book written by Orientals, primarily for Orien- 
 tals, must be read in the Hi^ht of Oriental modes 
 ol ihouoht and speech in order to be best under- 
 stood and appreciated. 
 
THE ORIENTAL IDEA OF " FATHER." 
 
 The term " father" has a much wider scope in 
 
 the East than as orcHnarily employed in the lan- 
 
 euaees of the West. In the East the term 
 
 "father" apphes not merely to the parent of his 
 
 children, but to the head of a household, to the 
 
 senior of any allied party or group, to the chief 
 
 of a tribe, to the sovereie^n of a nation, to the 
 
 ancestral founder of a people, and so on all the 
 
 way up to the eternal Father — God. This it 
 
 is which gives to the Fifth Commandment its 
 
 place in the hrst table ot the Law, instead ot 
 
 ^17 
 
238 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 the second ; as looking upward, and not out- 
 ward; as including those over, rather than those 
 alongside of, the persons enjoined. 
 
 I had an illustration of this truth at the very- 
 beginning of my desert life in the East, My two 
 traveling companions were young men, neither of 
 them being a relative of mine. This facl: was well 
 understood by our Egyptian dragoman ; but when 
 we first met old Shaykh Moosa, who was to convoy 
 us from Cairo to Sinai, the three were presented 
 to him as — " Mr, Trumbull and his two sons." At 
 this I touched the dragoman, and said quietly, 
 
 " Not my S071S, but young friends of mine." 
 
 "That's all right/' said the dragoman, ''He 
 wouldn't understand anything else." 
 
 Then I found that each traveling party was 
 known as a " family," of which the senior member 
 was the "father." So it was simply a choice in 
 our case whether I should be called the young 
 men's father, or one of them should be called 
 mine : one of us must stand for the father of the 
 other two. In view of this alternative, I, from 
 that time on, passed as the father of the "family" 
 until the desert was crossed. While in mid- 
 desert we were told that a European family had 
 
The Oriental Idea of '' FatJierT 239 
 
 passed that \va)' not long before. Inquiring 
 more particularly, we learned that the; "family" 
 consisted of a photographer and his two assist- 
 ants. Had it been a party of seven bachelors all 
 of the same age, it would have been still one 
 family, and the most venerable appearing man 
 amontr th(.;m would have been called the "lather" 
 of the other six. 
 
 There is nothing new in this comprehensive 
 view of the term " father," The Bible abounds 
 with illustrations of it. In the very earliest story 
 of the race, it is said of Jabal : "He was the 
 father of such as dwell in tents and have cattle."^ 
 Here the fatherhood is clearly not of natural 
 descendants, but of those who follow in the same 
 line of life and occupation. Of Jubal, similarly, 
 the record is : "He was the father of all such as 
 handle the harp and pipe."- God's specific dec- 
 laration to Abraham was : " The father of a 
 multitude of nations have I made thee;"" and 
 the inspired comment on this declaration is: 
 "That they which be ot faith [all of them, of 
 whatever natural stock they may be], the same 
 are sons of Abraham." "* 
 
 ' Gen. 4 : 20. Gen. 4: 21. ^(".011.17:5. '' Gal. 3 : 7. 
 
240 Studies in Oinental Social Life. 
 
 Later on, Joseph, referring; to his providen- 
 tial place in the government of Egypt, declares 
 to his brethren : " God . . . hath made me a 
 father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and 
 ruler over all the land of Egypt." ^ Here, ap- 
 parently, the term "father" indicates superiority 
 of position by a reversal of the order of natural 
 precedence — the son becoming as a father, the 
 subject as a sovereign. " I was a father [a pro- 
 te6lor and dispenser of aid] to the needy," ^ says 
 the large-hearted Job. 
 
 "Dwell with me," said Micah to the young 
 Levite; "and be unto me a father and a 
 priest;"^ and so again the tribe of Danites said 
 to the same Levite : "Go with us, and be to us 
 a father and a priest : is it better for thee to be 
 [a father and] priest unto the house of one man, 
 or to be [a father and] priest unto a tribe and a 
 family in Israel?"^ In this case it is a spiritual 
 superiority, over one or over many, which is rec- 
 oonized in the term "father." Salma is called 
 "the father [the founder] of Bethlehem," ^ and 
 "Joab the father of Ge-harashim [or, the valley 
 
 1 Gen. 45:8. 2Job29:i6. ^Jiidg. 17 : 10. 
 
 *Judg. 18 : 19. '^ I Chron. 2 ; 51. 
 
The Oriental Idea of ''Father'." 241 
 
 of craftsmen] ; fur ihey [in that valley] were 
 craftsmen." ' 
 
 An inventor, an owner, a master, is, in Orien- 
 tal usage, a "father" of that which he invents or 
 owns or controls. Dr. Thomson says that "the 
 Arabs call a person distinguished for any pecu- 
 liarity the father of it. Thus, a man with an 
 uncommon beard is named Abu dakn — " Father 
 of a beard;" and I have often heard myself 
 called Abu tangera — "Father of a saucepan" — be- 
 cause the boys in the street fancied that my hat 
 resembled that black article of kitchen furniture." 
 
 Conversely, the followers or imitators or de- 
 scendants of a distinguished personage are called 
 his children. Thus there are the "sons of God"^ 
 and the "daughters of men ; " ^ the "sons of 
 Heth " ^ and the " sons of Midian ; " ^ the " chil- 
 dren of Abraham" "^ and the "children of Israel ; " ^ 
 the "sons of Judah " ' and the "sons of Benja- 
 
 ' I Chron. 4 : 14. 
 
 ^ Job 1:6; 2:1: Hos. I : 10; John i : 12; Rom. 8: 14, 19; Thil. 
 2:15; I John 3:1,2. 
 
 ^ Gen. 6:2,4. "Gen. 25 : 10; 49 : 32. ^ Gen. 25:4. 
 
 « John 8 : 39 ; Acts 13 : 26; Gal. 3 : 7. 
 ^Gen. 32 : 32 ; Exod. 12 : 27 ; Num. 2:2; Ezek. 44 : 9 ; Hos. 3:4; 
 Amos9:7 ; Matt. 27:9; Acts 5:21 ; Rev. 21 : 12. 
 " Num. 26 : 20 ; Ezra 3 : 9. 
 
242 Stnciics in Oriental Social Lijc. 
 
 mill ; " ' the " cliiklren of the East ; " - the '"'sons 
 of BeHal " ^ and the "daughters of Behal," * 
 and the " children of Behal ; " ^ the " children of 
 wisdom,"'' the "children of disobedience," ^ and 
 the "children of wrath ;" ** the "children of the 
 bridechamber," '-' and the "children of light," ^" 
 and many another similar designation. Dr. 
 Thomson calls a Bed'wy woman, who lives in a 
 goat-hair tent while tending her Hock, a "daugh- 
 ter of Jabal,"^^ and he speaks of this form of 
 expression as very common in the East. 
 
 " Brethren and fathers" ^" was the address of 
 Stephen to the Jewish council, as indicating his 
 deference to those who were his seniors in years 
 or in wisdom ; and Paul used the same form of 
 speech to the multitude, as he stood a prisoner 
 on the castle stairs in Jerusalem.^'' Evidently it 
 is in yet another view of the term "father" that 
 our Lord says to his disciples, " Call no man 
 
 ' Num. 26 : 38, 41 ; i Chion. 8 : 40 ; 9:7; Neh. 11:7. 
 
 ''' Judg. 6 : 3, 33 ; 7 : 12 ; 8 : 10 ; 1 Kings 4 : 30. 
 
 ^ |ud;4. 19 : 22 ; I Sam. 2 : 12 ; 23 : 6 ; i Kings 21 ; 10. 
 
 ^ I Sam. I : 16. 
 
 ^ Deut. 13 : 13 ; Judg. 20 : 13 ; i Sam. 10 : 27 ; i Kings 21:13. 
 
 ^ Luke 7:35. '' Eph. 2:2; 5 • 6 ; Col. 3:6. ^ Eph. 2 : 3. 
 
 '■^ Matt. 9:15; Mark 2 : 19 ; Luke 5 : 34. 
 
 1° Luke 16:8; I Thess. 5:5. " Gen. 4 : 20. 
 
 '-Acts 7:2. ^^ Acts 22 : I. 
 
TJic Oriental Idea of '' Father ." 243 
 
 your father on the earth : for one is your Father, 
 which is in heaven." ' The thing" forbidden here 
 is the putting one's self in servile subjecl;ion to 
 an earthly teacher of spiritual truth. Paul has 
 no fear of calling his natural seniors "fathers;" 
 nor does he hesitate to speak of himself as the 
 spiritual "father" of those whom he has begotten 
 in the truth, as when he writes to the Corin- 
 thian converts : " For though ye should have ten 
 thousand tutors in Christ, yet have ye not many 
 fathers : for in Christ Jesus / begat you through 
 the gospel. I beseech you therefore, be ye imi- 
 tators of me."" 
 
 The very term "shaykh " — the head or chieftain 
 of an Arab tribe — means a venerable man, — an 
 elder ; because of the patriarchal idea that the 
 senior ancestor is, by his very seniority, the ruler 
 of all his descendants. It represents the idea 
 which underlies a whole class of words in our own 
 laneuaee, such as "senior," "senator," "elder," 
 " alderman," etc. As a matter of fact, the shaikh 
 is not always the oldest man of his tribe ; for the 
 son of the ruling household in the great tribal 
 family may come into succession of authority 
 
 'Matt. 33 : 9. 'I Ccr. 4 : 15, 16. 
 
244 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 while much younger than many of his depend- 
 ants ; but in becoming the hereditary shaykh he 
 assumes the paternal office in the tribe. On the 
 other hand, the shaykh in fad will at all times 
 pay a certain deference to his senior in years. 
 For example : when coffee is brought in — and 
 that is on every occasion of ceremony, or busi- 
 ness, or pleasure — the eldest person in the com- 
 pany must be served first, even though the 
 shaykh of the tribe be present and his senior be 
 a beQ^o-ar. 
 
 Thus the divine command went forth to Jeho- 
 vah's people: "Thou shalt rise up before the 
 hoary head, and honor the face of the old man." ^ 
 And in the East that command is well heeded 
 to the present time. At Castle Nakhl we changed 
 camels, and changed shaykhs also, Shaykh Mus- 
 leh of the Teyaheh Arabs taking the place of 
 Shaykh Moosa of the Tawaras. Because of his 
 illness, Shaykh Musleh was unable to accompany 
 us to Hebron, and he sent his young son, Hamd, 
 in his stead. Hamd, therefore, was to be honored 
 and obeyed by the Bed'ween of our party as their 
 lawful shaykh, or venerable man, while he was 
 
 * Lev. 19 : 32. 
 
The Oriental Idea of '' Father y 245 
 
 the junior of them all. Yet this was not the only 
 fi6tion necessary to conform to the desert idea 
 of the term "fathc^r." I was the assumed "father" 
 of th(^ traveling" party to h(; escorted ; and more 
 than this, I was much th(' senior in years of 
 Shaykh Hamd, and had a [)atriarchal beard, 
 while he was beardless. This difficulty must be 
 met by another construcilive relationship. When 
 the details of the trip were fully arranged, Shaykh 
 Musleh brought his son Hamd to me, and, having 
 placed the son's right hand between my two 
 hands, he took our three hands tocrether between 
 his two, and said to me in Arabic: "This has 
 been my son ; now he is your son. Be to him a 
 good father." And so, for the remainder of the 
 trip over the desert, I was the "father" of the 
 young shaykh as well as of my young American 
 companions, while the young shaykh was "father" 
 of all our Bed'ween attendants. So, including my 
 children by courtesy, and the children of my 
 newly borrowed son, I had quite a family with 
 me by the time I reached Hebron. 
 
 In just such harmless fidlions, or assumptions 
 of relationshij), as this — so prominent in Oriental 
 life — lie the germs of great principles, wide reach- 
 
246 Studies in Oriental Social Life, 
 
 'wYg in their ap[)lication. Sir Henry Sumner 
 Maine says of this very practice, in ancient hnv, 
 of countino;" all who an? under cjne authority as 
 members ot \\\v. same? family with a common 
 father, even though they are not of kin : "1 his 
 confli(5l between belief or theory and notorious 
 fa(^t is at first sicrht extremely perplexing; but 
 wliat it really illustrates is the efficiency with 
 which legal fictions do their work in the infancy 
 of society. The earliest and most extensively 
 employed of legal fictions was that which per- 
 mitted family relations to be created artificially, 
 and there is none to which I conceive mankind 
 to be more deeply indebted." 
 
 Of the far-reaching scope and essential limita- 
 tions of this constructive family relation, he says 
 further: "The family, then, is the type of an 
 archaic society, in all the modifications which it 
 was capable of assuming ; but the family here 
 spoken of is not exaftlythe family as understood 
 by a modern. In order to reach the ancient con- 
 ception, we must give to our modern ideas an im- 
 portant extension and an important limitation. 
 We must look on the family as constantly enlarged 
 by the absorption of strangers within its circle, 
 
The Oriental Idea of '^ FatJiery 247 
 
 and wc must try to regard the fiction of adoption 
 as so closely simulating the reality of kinship 
 that nt^ither law nor opinion makes the slightest 
 difference between a real and an adoi)tive con- 
 nection. On the other haml. the persons theo- 
 retically amalgamated into a family b)- their 
 common descent are pra6lically held together by 
 common obedience to their highest living ascen- 
 dant, the father, grandfather, or great-grand- 
 father" — or the accepted representative of such 
 "ascendant." when in any instance the shaykh 
 (or elder, by another ficlion) be a junior. This 
 truth it is which brings Urquhart to say: "The 
 structure of Eastern orovernment is but the en- 
 largement of the paternal roof." The head of 
 that government is the father of all his people. 
 
 In this idea of the fatherhood of the ruler, 
 and of the unity of the family ruled by him. 
 there is the germ of the two tables of the Law : 
 the looking upward reverently to the parents 
 as toward God, whom they represent ; the look- 
 ing outward with love toward all fellow-subjecls 
 of the one ruler as brothers and equals. If 
 only the idea were carried far enough, it in- 
 cluded the common fatherhood of God and the 
 
248 Studies ill Oriental Social Life. 
 
 common brotherhood of all men. So it was 
 "from the beginning."^ 
 
 In tlie old Egyptian theology — where are 
 many glimpses of God's original revelation to 
 man — the Kinir's riofht to rnle is based on his 
 sonship from God. Le Page Renouf says on 
 this point: "Amenophis II. is the 'victorious 
 Horus ; who has all nations subject to him, a 
 god good like Ra, the sacred emanation of 
 Amen, the son whom he begot ; he it is who 
 placed thee in Thebes as sovereign of the living, 
 to represent him.' The King himself says, Tt is 
 my father Ra, who has ordained all these things. 
 . . . He has ordained for me all that belonged to 
 him. . . . All lands, all nations, the entire compass 
 of the great circuit [of the sun], come to me as 
 my subjects.' . . . The royal inscriptions are full 
 of similar language. . . . There is a long inscrip- 
 tion which first appears in honor of Rameses II., 
 at Ipsambul. . . . The god says to the king, ' I 
 am thy father ; by me are begotten all thy mem- 
 bers as divine.' " 
 
 Not only did the sovereign of Egypt make 
 this claim for himself, but it was conceded to 
 
 1 Matt. 19 : 4-8 ; Mai. 2:15; Jer. 6 : 16. 
 
The Oriental Idea of '' FatJier!' 249 
 
 him by all his people. " The dodlrine was 
 universally received. 'Thou art,' says an ode 
 translated by M. Chabas and Mr. Goodwin, * as 
 it were the image of thy fatJicr the Sun, who 
 rises in heaven. Thy beams penetrate the 
 cavern. No place is witliout thy goodness. Thy 
 sayings arc the law of every land.' . . . 'This is 
 not the language of a courtier. It seems to be 
 a genuine expression of the belief that the king 
 was the living representative of Deity.' " With 
 this view of the origin of all human authority, 
 to honor the father was to honor the God- 
 appointed ruler, and to honor the God-appointed 
 ruler was to reverence God through his repre- 
 sentative. 
 
 To this day, reverence for parents is wellnigh 
 universal in all the East. "An undutiful child is 
 very seldom heard of among the Egyptians or the 
 Arabs in general," says Mr. Lane. "Among 
 the middle and higher classes, the child usually 
 greets the father in the morning by kissing his 
 hand, and then stands before him in an humble 
 attitude, with the left hand covered by the right, 
 to receive any order, or to await his permission to 
 depart ; but, after the respectful kiss, [the child] 
 
250 Studies in Oriental Soeieil Life. 
 
 is often taken on the lap. . . . Nearly the same 
 respe6l is shown [by the child] toward the 
 mother. . . . Sons scarcely ever sit, or eat, or 
 smoke, in the presence of the f^ither, unless bid- 
 den to do so; and they oftc:n even wait upon 
 him, and upon his guests, at meals and on other 
 occasions: they do not cease to a61; thus when 
 they have become men." 
 
 A glimpse of this peculiarity was given me at 
 Castle Nakhl, while the negotiations were pro- 
 ceeding leisurely with Shaykh Musleh for our es- 
 cort to Hebron. When pipes and cigarettes were 
 proffered to the Arab guests, young Hamd po- 
 litely declined them in his turn. At this I 
 essayed a compliment to him for not being a 
 tobacco-user ; but a grim smile came over his 
 face, and our dragoman informed me that a 
 Bed'wy son could not smoke in his father's pres- 
 ence, althouorh he would be glad to do it when 
 his father was out of sight. Then I remembered 
 to have seen more than one American boy pull a 
 cigarette out of his mouth, or thrust a lighted pipe 
 into his pocket, when he saw his father coming ; 
 but I had not before connected this with an over- 
 sensitive reijard for the Fifth Commandment. 
 
The Oriental Idea of '' Fathei'."' 25 I 
 
 The mother, also, was always entitled to honor, 
 in the East, as having authority from God. Her 
 equality with the father before God, even though 
 second to her husband in precedence in the line 
 of authority, was "from the beginning." Long 
 before the days of Moses, a woman's riglit to 
 succeed her husband or her father on the throne 
 of Egypt had been formally proclaimed b)' royal 
 edi6l. The kintr's mother was in a certain sense 
 the king's superior. The place of queen-dowa- 
 ger has been at times of chief importance to the 
 kingdom, from the da)s of Aahmes-Nefertari, of 
 Egypt, down to the days of the mother of the Em- 
 peror of China, including many of the queen- 
 mothers of J udah and of Israel. ^ "In domestic life, 
 the Egyptian [of early time] was attached to his 
 wife and children, and the equality of the female 
 sex with the male most marked ; the Egyptian 
 woman always appearing as the equal and com- 
 panion of her father, Ijrcthrcn, and husband." 
 
 Even now the mother-in-law reigns supreme 
 in the Egyptian household so long as she has 
 strength to keep control. And as it is in Egypt, 
 
 ' I Kings 2 : 19, 20 ; 1 1 : 26 ; 14 : 21,31 ; 15 : 2, 10; 22 : 42 ; 2 
 Kings II : I ; 12:1; 14 : 2; 15 ' 2, 33; 18 : 2 ; 21 : i, 19 ; 22 : I ; 
 23 : 31, 36; 24 : 8, 12, 15, 18; 2 Chron. 24 ; i. 
 
252 StiLciics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 so it is in the desert; and so it has been in all 
 the centuries, among the unchanging- Orientals. 
 The father and the mother are looked at as 
 God's representatives in authority — however 
 poorly they may fill their representative place. 
 And this is the obvious idea of God's revelation 
 concerning the family. 
 
 Read in the light of the land where it was first 
 proclaimed, the Fifth Commandment^ means a 
 great deal more than a command to honor the 
 human authors of our being. It is a call to re- 
 vere all who are above us as the representatives 
 of God ; the parents in the household ; the ven- 
 erable ones in the community ; the rulers in the 
 state, the elders and overseers in the church ; all 
 those who have authority over us and under God. 
 
 And the basal idea of the promise accom- 
 panying this commandment is, that thus, and thus 
 alone, are secured stability and permanency to the 
 life of the individual, of the family, of the tribe, 
 and of the nation. Reverent subordination to 
 God-given authority is the surest guard of length 
 of days in the possession of any home or land 
 which the Lord gives for an inheritance.^ 
 
 ^Exod. 20 : 12. ^Eph, 6 : i. 
 
The Orioital Idea of '' Father. '" 253 
 
 It is a remarkable fa(5l that China, whose gov- 
 ernment has been longer established than any 
 other now existing, is founded on the basis of this 
 commandment. " Filial piety," says Professor 
 Douglas, " is the leading principle in Chinese 
 ethics. It is the point upon which every teacher, 
 from Confucius downwards, has most strongly 
 insisted, and its almost universal pracS:ice affords 
 ground for the belief held by some that in the 
 long continuance of the empire the Chinese are 
 reaping the reward held out in the Fifth Com- 
 mandment of the Mosaic decaloirue." But the 
 trouble with China is that it recognizes only one 
 commandment in the decalogue, and misses the 
 gain of keeping other commandments. 
 
 Reverence for parents, as the Chinese under- 
 stand it, includes reverence for all one's ancestors, 
 and for the emperor as the human father of all. 
 Among the examples of filial devotion taught in 
 Chinese text-books is the story of Yu Shun, who 
 is said to have lived twenty-two centuries before 
 our era. "His father was stupid" and "his 
 mother depraved;" but he was so loving and 
 dutiful a son that God gave him elephants with 
 which to plow his field, and birds to weed it ; 
 
254 Shidics in Oriental Social Life 
 
 lukI ihe emperor sent nine of his sons to be his 
 s.:rvants, and gave him two of his daughters to 
 be his wives. Finally the emperor abdicated in 
 his favor, feeling sure that one who could be so 
 dutiful a son could govern an empire. 
 
 It is in this way that Orientals generally look 
 at the duty of filial devotion. The "father" 
 idea with them includes God as over all, and all 
 who stand between one's self and God. 
 
'I u 
 
 
 .^ 
 
 ■ -1 1 
 
 
 '■**^sii^P^ 
 
 « 
 
 PRAYERS AND PRAYING IN 
 THE EAST. 
 
 Many of thc! Bible references to prayer would 
 have little meaning if they were not made clear 
 in the light of prayers and praying in the un- 
 changeable East. "They love to stand and 
 pray in the synagogues and in the corners of 
 streets, that they may be seen of men." ^ That 
 is not o//r way of praying, but it is the way of 
 the Orientals. 
 
 It was a few hours after my landing at Alex- 
 
 1 Matt. 6 : 5. 
 18 
 
 255 
 
256 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 andria tliat. as I stood in the Place Muham- 
 mad 'Alee, I saw for the first time an Oriental at 
 prayer. It was an Arab fruit-seller, at his little 
 portable stand in the open square. The mu'az- 
 zin's call had sounded out, from the minaret of 
 a neighboring mosk, to sunset prayer, and the 
 Arab, in the lack of his prayer-mat (for a Mu- 
 hammadan is reluclant to touch the unclean 
 ground in his prayer-prostrations), had mounted 
 one of the little benches that skirt the square, 
 and begun his conventional Muhammadan prayer. 
 The busy throng surged past him without inter- 
 rupting his prescribed posturing, or diverting his 
 attention. Meanwhile, an Arab boy, who had 
 come up for a trade, stood by in waiting until 
 the prayer was finished and the dealer was ready 
 for another bargain. This novel sight soon be- 
 came a familiar one. At the corners of the 
 streets and in the mosks, in all the Eastern cities 
 vv'hich I visited, men stood and prayed, and evi- 
 dently loved to stand and pray, in proof to their 
 fellows of their prayerfulness. 
 
 Again it was after our first night on the des- 
 ert, at the Wells of Moses, on the eastern shore 
 of the Red Sea, near the probable crossing-place 
 
Prayers aiid Praying in the East. 257 
 
 of the children of Israel,^ that I was wakened in 
 the early morning by a sound of prayer that was 
 evidently intended to be heard of men — whether 
 God should hear it or not. It was a prolonged 
 and energetic intoning, with an occasional rise 
 of the voice that would make sure of starting 
 the soundest sleeper. It had its effecT;. I was 
 up and astir. When the prayer had ended, my 
 faithful dragoman appeared at my tent door. 
 "Good morning, my master," he said; "I hope 
 you are well this morning." And when he was 
 satisfied on that point, he added: " Did you hear 
 me pray this morning, my master?" "Indeed I 
 did," was my reply. And then he told me of his 
 zeal and earnestness in prayer, and of the scope 
 and reach of his prayers ; determined that if he 
 could not be seen of men in his sunrise prayers, 
 he would be heard of men, in his prayers, and 
 concerning them. 
 
 WHien, some weeks after, we stood on the bor- 
 ders of the Holy Land, at the wells of Beer- 
 sheba," — at the old home of Abraham and Isaac 
 
 • Exod. 14 : 9. 
 ^ Gen. 21 : 14; 21 : 31-33 ; 22 : ig; 26 : 23, 33 ; 28 : 10; 46 : i, 5 ; 
 I Kings 19 : 3 ; 2 Kings 12 : i ; i Chron. 4 : 28 ; 2 Chron. 19 : 4; 
 24 : I ; Neh. 11 : 27. 
 
25<S Studies ill Oriental Social Life. 
 
 and Jacob and Esau, — while a motley throng of 
 Arabs and Nubians, with th(;ir sheep and cam- 
 els, were drawing water from the ancient wells, 
 and we were exchanL>'inLr i^reetinLTs with a surly 
 'Azazimeh shaykh, the blazing sun reached its 
 midday height above us. As the old shaykh 
 observed this, he ostentatiously prepared himself 
 for prayer. Spreading his cloak on the glaring 
 desert chalk-bed, he turned his face Meccah- 
 ward and gave himself to his devotions with an 
 absorbed intensity that was utterly oblivious of 
 the din and confusion about him. He alone of 
 his party stood and prayed. And when he had 
 finished his [)rayer, there was a look of compla- 
 cency on his face because he had been seen of 
 men to pray ; for he knew as well as we that it is 
 not a common thing for a Bed'wy to be a pray- 
 ing man. He was complimented on his prayer- 
 fulness by our dragoman ; and he graciously re- 
 ceived the meed of praise as his fitting due. 
 
 "And in praying use not vain repetitions, as 
 the Gentiles do : for they think that they shall 
 be heard for their much speaking." ^ My first 
 illustration of that text was obtained in Cairo, 
 
 1 Matt. 6 : 7. 
 
Prayers and Praying in the East. 259 
 
 at a gathering of the " howHng," or "shouting," 
 clarweeshes in the performance of their "zikrs," 
 or in\ocations of the name ot God. It was on 
 a Friday — the Muhammadan Sabbath. It was 
 in a room of the IMosk Akbar devoted to such 
 services as this, somewhat Hke a small skating- 
 rink. These darweeshes are a class of men de- 
 voting themselves to religious ceremonials, like 
 the Pharisees of old, or the friars of modern 
 Romanism, 
 
 Standing, or crouching, (or both by turns.) in 
 a circle, facing inward, the darweeshes began 
 their worship by simply repeating aloud the Mu- 
 ham.madan name of God, "Allah!" "Allah!'' 
 "Allah!" This they did, not merely once, nor 
 twice, nor a score of times, but hundreds of 
 times in rapid succession. The word itself was 
 jerked out convulsively trom the very lowest 
 depths of the lungs, with a terminal emphasis 
 and prolonging of its peculiar hollow sound ; at 
 the same time the whole body was swayed to 
 and fro as if in the effort to put added force into 
 the sepulchral ejaculations. Again, the phrase 
 spoken was varied by "' AllaJi akbar,'' — "God 
 is great;" and "'La ildha illd Allah,'' — "There 
 
26o Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 is no god but God," The swaying of the bodies 
 increased in intensity, and the rapidity of the 
 utterances kept pace with this, until the longhair 
 of some of the worshipers alternately touched 
 the ground behind their backs and before their 
 feet, in almost lightning-like swiftness, and it 
 seemed as if the very heads of the darweeshes 
 were flying from their shoulders. These invoca- 
 tions and bodily movements were continued until 
 ecstatic exhaustion was attained to, and a final 
 cry of " Hod " — or He, The Person, The God — 
 terminated the worshiper's devotions. 
 
 While this was the course of the more vicjor- 
 ous and able-bodied men in the circle, the older 
 and more feeble ones would gently move their 
 bodies back and forth, in time with the wilder 
 worship, and give fainter expression to the one 
 monotonous cry to God, When the scene came 
 to be that of a circle of maniacs in the height of 
 their delirium, an Egyptian who stood near me 
 in the larger circle of curious or of devout spec- 
 tators, exclaimed in admiration, "They are veiy 
 religious men," " They are very good men." But 
 I recalled, with a new understanding of its mean- 
 ing, that record of the four hundred and fifty 
 
Prayers and Praying in the East. 261 
 
 prophets of Baal on the summit of Mount Car- 
 mel who called on the name of Baal from morn- 
 ing until noon, saying, "O l^aal, hear us ! () Baal, 
 hear us! O Baal, hear us !"^ And I appreciated 
 afresh the suggestion of our Lord, that in multiply- 
 ing their vain repetitions such worshipers "think 
 that they shall be heard for their much speaking."^ 
 A form of prayer in common use among Bood- 
 dhists, in Tibet and other regions of the far East, 
 is a sentence of six syllables : " Qui niani paduie 
 Humy — " Om! the Jewel in the Lotus ! Hum !'' 
 Sir Monier Monier-Williams says of this mystical 
 formula : " No other prayer used by human be- 
 ings in any quarter of the globe is repeated so 
 often." It is thought by the Tibetans to be "a 
 panacea for all evil, a compendium of all knowl- 
 edge, a treasury of all wisdom, a summary of all 
 religion." The more times it can be repeated by 
 the lips, or by aid of any mechanical contrivance, 
 the better it will be for the one who causes its 
 utterance. Every time it is repeated, it will, ac- 
 cording to Booddhistic belief, shorten the period 
 of its utterer's continuance in the misery and evil 
 of some subsequent state of existence. 
 
 ' I Kinjjs 18 : 26. ^Matt. 6 : 7. 
 
262 Sfiidics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 "The words [of this prayer] are writtcm or 
 printed on roll within roll of paper, and inscribed 
 within cyHnders, which, when made to revolve 
 either by educated monks or by illiterate laymen, 
 have the same efficacy as if they were aclually 
 said or repeated. The revolutions are credited 
 as so much prayer-merit, or, to speak more scien- 
 tifically, as so much prayer-force, accumulated 
 and stored up for the benefit of the person who 
 revolves them." 
 
 Sir Monier gives an illustration of this praying 
 by machinery, as he saw it at a Booddhist temple 
 in Darjiling : " I found several large barrel-like 
 cylinders set up close to each other in a row at 
 the [temple] entrance, so that no one might pass 
 in without giving them at least one twirl, or by 
 a rapid sweep of the hand might set them all 
 twirling at once. Inside the entrance portico a 
 shriveled and exceptionally hideous old woman 
 was seated on the ground. In her left hand she 
 held a small portable prayer-cylinder, which she 
 kept in perpetual revolution. In her right hand 
 was a cord conne6ted with a huge barrel-like 
 cylinder, which, with some exertion, she made to 
 rotate on its axis by help of a crank, while she 
 
Prayei'S and Praying in the East. 26 
 
 J 
 
 kept muttering '' Oj?i viani paninie Hflni'' (so she 
 pronounced it) with amazing rapidity. In tliis 
 way she completed at least sixty oral repetitions 
 every minute, without reckoning the infinite num- 
 ber of rotary repetitions accomplished simultane- 
 ously by her two hands." 
 
 It is plain enough that there are heathen who 
 "think that they shall be heard for their much 
 speaking,"^ and our Lord seemed to think that 
 there was a danger in his day of those w^ho were 
 better informed making the same error. Are we 
 sure that there is nothinor of the sort amone 
 Christians in our day ? Do we never hear the 
 hope expressed that a certain thing will come to 
 pass because "so many prayers have been offered 
 for it," or that a wild young man will surely re- 
 form before his death, because " he is a child of 
 so many prayers " ? 
 
 That simple and comprehensive prayer which 
 we call the Lord's Prayer, and which is the ac- 
 cepted model of all Christian prayers, was given 
 by Jesus to his disciples on this wise: "And it 
 came to pass, as he was praying in a certain 
 place, that when he ceased, one of his disciples 
 
 ' Matt. 6 : 7. 
 
264 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, even as 
 John also taught his disciples ;"^ and Jesus then 
 gave them his matchless pattern of prayer'- as 
 it has come down to us in the Gospels. John's 
 direcl:ions for prayer are not preserved to us ; 
 but from all that we know of ancient methods of 
 prayer in the East, we have reason to suppose 
 that the Jewish disciples of both John and Jesus 
 were accustomed to give large prominence to 
 ritual observances in prayer ; and that their re- 
 quest, "Teach us to pray,"" included the idea of 
 a prescribed form in prayer, and of essential 
 accompaniments of prayer, however their Master 
 may have met and answered their request. 
 
 On the Egyptian monuments, and in the 
 Egyptian papyri, are forms of prayer which were 
 evidently in universal acceptance ; and the Fune- 
 real Ritual, or Book of the Dead, of the Egyp- 
 tians, was most explicit in prescribing forms of 
 prayer and methods of using those forms. Por- 
 tions of this ritual went back to a period long 
 before the days of Abraham. 
 
 The rabbinical dire6lions for prayer included 
 
 * Luke 1 1 : I. 2 Matt. 6:9-13; Luke 1 1 : 2-4. 
 
 ^ Luke 1 1 : I. 
 
Prayers and Praying in the East. 265 
 
 prescriptions in details of dress, posture, time, 
 and place, as well as of tone, manner, and 
 phrasing; basing each injunction on some sup- 
 posed command of Scripture. Thus, for ex 
 ami)le, the direc^tion to sway the body to and 
 fro, while calling on the Lord, is said to be in 
 accordance with Psalm 35 : 10: "All my bones 
 shall say. Lord." And again the requirement 
 of the abdominal responses (like the darweeshes' 
 "Al-/^f///") is found in Psalm 130 : i : " Out of 
 the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord," 
 
 In the estimation of a pious Muhammadan, a 
 prayer is no prayer unless all the essential re- 
 quirements of the prayer ritual are complied 
 with ; and to teach a disciple hozu to pray, is no 
 insignificant part of Muhammadan religious in- 
 stru(5lion. It was in the superb Mosk Sultan 
 Hassan in Cairo, that I first saw a Muhamma- 
 dan carefully preparing himself for prayer, and 
 praying acceptably — as he looked at the stand- 
 ard of acceptable prayer. 
 
 We who were visitintr the mosk toofether had 
 put off our shoes from our feet at the entrance 
 of the inner court, in order that we micrht 
 not defile the holy ground within that sacred 
 
266 Studies hi Oriental Social Life. 
 
 enclosure. Then, our devout Alexandrian drago- 
 man asked that he be permitted to pray, while 
 we moved about the mosk at our pleasure. Ap- 
 proaching the larger fountain in the center of 
 the court, he proceeded to cleanse himself cere- 
 monially, to "sanclify" himself for prayer, by 
 the "wuzoo," or prescribed ablutions.^ With 
 special ejaculations at every stage of progress, 
 he washed his hands three times, "in the name 
 of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful." 
 
 Three times he rinsed his mouth from the foun- 
 tain ; three times he similarly cleansed his nos- 
 trils, his ears, his face, his head, and his neck ; 
 then his right hand and arm, and again his left ; 
 and his riirht foot and his left.'- After a few more 
 prescribed ascriptions and petitions to God, he 
 was ready to turn toward Meccah, and begin his 
 formal prayer. That prayer itself involved the 
 closest adherence to ritual observances in pos- 
 ture and phrasing. The feet must be properly 
 placed, to begin with. Next, the open hands 
 
 ^ See Num. II : i8; Josh. 3 : 5 ; 17:13; i Sam. 16:5; i Chron. 
 16 : 1 1 ; Matt. 15:1; Mark 7 : 3. 
 
 -See Gen. 32 ; 25; Exod. 29 : 19-21; Lev. 8 : 12, 22-30; Eccl. 9 : 
 10; Isa. 6:7; Jer. 1:9; Matt. 8:15; 9 : 29 ; Mark 7 : 33 ; Luke 
 22 ; 51 ; John 12:3. 
 
Prayers and Praying in tJic East. 267 
 
 must be raised to either side of the face, the 
 thumbs touchin<^ the lobes of the ears. Then 
 the bowinir and kneehnir and iJrostratinLr must 
 be in prescribed order, and in conjunc^tion with 
 prescribed plirases of prayer. 
 
 A slip in the ritual at any point is supposed 
 to nullify the entire prayer of a Muhammadan. 
 With such an idea of prayer, the: request, "Teach 
 us to pray," ' has a well-defined technical mean- 
 ing, throughout the East. That dragoman came 
 to me one evening, on the desert, and told me 
 that he had been teaching a group of the Ta- 
 warah Bed'ween to pray. And when, after much 
 expcM'imenting, his pu[)ils were sufficiently drilled 
 to go through the ritual without a blunder, their 
 teacher seemed as well satisfied with the result 
 as a stricl; Presbyterian would be if his scholars 
 could recite the entire Westminster Catechism, 
 or as the average teacher would be when all in 
 his class could repeat the titles, topics, and 
 ' golden texts of the last cjuarter's lessons. There 
 are, however, allowances made for failures in 
 literal conformity to the ritual, through physical 
 obstacles. Thus, for example, in the desert, 
 
 ' Luke I I ; I. 
 
268 Studies ill OricutaL Social Life. 
 
 where water is not easily obtainable, the Mu- 
 hammadan is i)ermitted to use sand or dust in 
 his wuzoo. 
 
 There are various postures in every form of 
 prayer in the East. An Oriental would not 
 think of remaining standing, or kneeling, or pros- 
 trate, during an entire prayer. He would take 
 one position in one portion of his prayer, an- 
 other in another, and so on. In the light of this 
 fad it will be seen how silly it is to attempt to 
 find from the Bible narrative what was tJic proper 
 posture in prayer in olden time. It was stand- 
 ing, and it was crouching or squatting, and it 
 was kneeling and it was lying prostrate, — each 
 and all of these positions.^ We have reason to 
 suppose that our Lord and his disciples con- 
 formed to the customs prevalent in their time, of 
 varying postures in prayer. 
 
 The Muhammadan idea of always turning 
 toward Meccah in prayer, as to the chief sanctu- 
 ary of his religion, is but an adaptation of the 
 idea of the ancient Hebrew in turning toward 
 
 ' See Gen. 17 : 3, 22 ; 24 ; 48 : Num. 16 : 22 ; Josh. 5 : 14 ; 7 : 6; 
 1 Kings 8 ; 22, 54; i Chron. 21 : 16, 17 ; 2 Chron. 6 : 13 ; 20: 18; Ezra 
 9:5; 10 : I ; Psa. 95 : 6; Matt. 17 ; 14 ; Luke 22 ; 41 ; Acts 7 ; 60 ; 
 9:40; 20 : 36; 21 : 5. 
 
Prayers and Praying in the Past. 269 
 
 the temple at Jerusalem; and there seems to be 
 a survival of that in the; eastward position in 
 worship deemed important by many Christians. 
 At the dedication of that temple, Solomon 
 prayed God to hear and answer every prayer 
 prayed toward that san6luary/ even though it 
 were from those who turned toward the Holy City 
 and its temple from a far-off land of their captiv- 
 ity. And when Daniel was a captive in Babylon, 
 " his windows were open in his chamber toward 
 Jerusalem ; and he kneeled upon his knees three 
 times a da)', and prayed, and gave thanks before 
 his God." - 
 
 Early in his career as a prophet, Muhammad 
 prayed toward Jerusalem, but after a while he 
 changed the direction — or "qiblah," as it is called, 
 — of his devotions ; and he commanded his fol- 
 lowers to pray toward the Ka'bah at Meccah. It 
 has been said that this change of qiblah by the 
 Prophet materially affe6led the relation of Mu- 
 hammadanism toward other religious beliefs. 
 Had Jerusalem remained a center of interest in 
 the hour of prayer to Jew, to Christian, and to 
 Muhammadan, there would have been a ten- 
 
 » I Kings 8 : 29-49. ^ Dan. 6 : 10. 
 
270 Studies ill Oriental Social Lijc. 
 
 ciciicy toward unity of faith, instead of toward a 
 divergency. 
 
 In every Muhammadan mosk there is a niche, 
 or " niihrfd)," in the main wall of the building, 
 in the direction of Meccah ; and toward that 
 niche every worshiper must turn befon; he can 
 pray. The mihrab indicates the (|iblah of 
 their worship. These niches are to be seen 
 in every " place of prayer," by a stream of run- 
 ning water (like that prosciiche outside of the 
 city of Philippi where Paul met Lydia and her 
 companions^); and again in every sacred tomb of 
 a Muhammadan saint, or "welee." 
 
 At a wayside fountain near Hebron, I observed 
 such a place of pra)-er. The mihrab was in a 
 low wall just eastward of the fountain ; and a 
 Muhammadan was devoutly praying toward his 
 Holy City as our party rode past him, and as 
 others w(^re noisily chattering while they stopped 
 to take water for themselves and their horses, 
 but a few feet from him, as he prayed. Another 
 such mihrab, marking a place of prayer, I noticed 
 at a fountain on the way to the summit of Mt. 
 Gerizim, not far from the probable standing- 
 
 i Acts 16 : 14. 
 
Prayers and Prayi)ig in tJic East. 
 
 271 
 
 place of Jotham as he; spok(; his portentous par- 
 able to the www of Shechem/ 
 
 It was toward the mihral) in a welee's tomb at 
 Castle Nakhl (pr()])ably the site of " El-Paran 
 which is upon the wilderness " in the days of 
 Kedor-la'omer),- that a you no; brideoroom came 
 at midnight, with a noisy procession, to offer his 
 prayers before going- to claim his bride, — as I have 
 elsewhere described the scene. And I saw a 
 similar mihrab in the imposing welee's tomb on 
 that summit of the hill above the village of 
 Nazareth whence the young Jesus must often 
 have looked out upon the lovely view which 
 stretches away thence on every side. 
 
 In the absence of a designating mihrab, a 
 Muhammadan must have a good knowledge of 
 geography, and of his compass bearings, to en- 
 able him to dire6l his prayers aright. I traveled 
 for some time with a merchant from Bagdad, the 
 famous city of the Khaleefs, all redolent with 
 the memories of the "Arabian Niy-hts." When 
 he started out from his home on the Tio-ris, 
 he prayed southwesterly. Gradually he swept 
 around in his travels and in his devotions, until 
 
 ^ Judg. 9 : 7-21. *Gen. 14 : 1-17. 
 
 ^9 
 
272 Sfiidics ill Oriental Social Life. 
 
 he had coinplctod more than half of a circle ; 
 and when last I saw him at his c;vening prayers, 
 on the deck of a steamer in quarantine at Port 
 Said, in Egypt, he was praying southeasterly. 
 
 Praying toward a holy place is a reminder of 
 that which makes that place holy ; and if a wor- 
 shiper can be in that place, instead of merely 
 praying toward it, he feels that the value of his 
 prayers is manifolded. Thus a Muhammadan 
 feels that a prayer at Meccah counts for seventy 
 thousand prayers away from there ; and he calls 
 the Ka'bah the "Ear of God," into which his 
 petitions can be spoken directly. And to Mu- 
 hammadan as well as to Jew, Jerusalem also is a 
 holy place for prayer. 
 
 It is a touching sight to see the Jews, in Jeru- 
 salem, on a Friday afternoon, assembled just 
 eastward of the ruined walls of their ancient 
 temple, praying toward the place where Jehovah's 
 name was set. Old and young, men and women 
 and children, gather there, and read anew in the 
 Scriptures the prophecies of the desolation of 
 the Holy City, and of its restoration. Their 
 sorrow is real, and their devotion is unfeiofned. 
 While some sit at a little distance from the mas- 
 
Prayers and Praying in the East. 27^ 
 
 sive ruins, with their bowed heads toward the 
 former san6luary, others stand with their heads 
 pressed reverently against the sacred stones, and 
 Avith tears and sobs they cry : 
 
 " O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; 
 Thy holy temple have they defiled ; 
 They have laid Jerusalem on heaps. . . . 
 We are become a reproach to our neit^hbors, 
 A scorn and derision to them that arc round about us. . . . 
 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name : 
 And deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's 
 sake." - 
 
 And asfain : 
 
 " Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: 
 Build thou the walls of Jerusalem." ^ 
 
 Yet there was one thing more impressive to 
 me personally, in the biblical associations of 
 prayer in the East, than even this touching scene 
 at the Jews' wailing-place in Jerusalem. My 
 camping-ground near the Holy City was on the 
 westerly slope of the Mount of Olives, under the 
 very walls of the Chapel of the Ascension. 
 Gethsemane was just below me. The valley of 
 the brook Kidron was yet lower down. Beyond 
 was the Holy City, with the site of the temple 
 
 »Psa. 79 : I, 4, 9. 'Psa. 51 : 18. 
 
2/4 Studies ill Oriental Soeial Life. 
 
 in full view. At my left swept the road from 
 Bethany, around the southern brow of the moun- 
 tain, down which our Lord had passed in his one 
 triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when " he saw 
 the city and wept over it/ in loving" tenderness. 
 
 As I stood before my tent on the evening of 
 my arrival there, all these scenes were before me 
 in strange freshness. Many a night had Jc;sus 
 come out into the Mount of Olives, "as his cus- 
 tom was,"" to continue there in prayer until his 
 head was "filled with dew," and his "locks with 
 the drops of the night." ^ It was from near this 
 very mountain that Jesus had ascended to his 
 Father; and the promise of his return is, that 
 " his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount 
 of Olives which is before Jerusalem on the east."* 
 The praying Saviour seemed very near and very 
 real that night. Yet in spite of all this, in my 
 weariness, I went to my tent and slept. While it 
 was yet dark, as it began to dawn toward the 
 day, I was awakened out of my sleep by the sud- 
 den cry : " Rise and pray. Prayer is better than 
 sleep. Prayer is better than sleep." It was 
 
 •Luke 19 : 41. '''Luke 4 : 16; 22 : 39; Mark 10 : i. 
 
 3 Song of Songs 5 : 2. *Zech. 14:4. 
 
Prayers and Praying in tJic East. 275 
 
 almost as if the very Saviour himself had called 
 anew to his sluggish disciples : "Why sleep ye? 
 Rise and pray, that ye enter not into tempta- 
 tion ;" ^ and the impulse was to render to him his 
 own graciously suggested excuse: "The spirit 
 indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."- 
 
 Hut that startling call which had awakened 
 me was the cry of the mu'azzin from the minaret 
 of the Muhammadan mosk under the very walls 
 of which our tent was pitched. Century after 
 century that cry has gone up there in the gray 
 of every morning, as if it were the echo of our 
 Saviour's call to his disciples to "rise and pray." 
 And hard by that Muhammadan mosk is a 
 Christian chapel, containing the Lord's Prayer 
 engraven on its inner walls in a score and a half 
 of languages. Thus the Mount of Olives con- 
 tinues to be a place of prayer for all peoples ; 
 although neither it, nor the sacred hill which it 
 overlooks westerly, is now the place of prayer for 
 all the nations.'' 
 
 And tJiis is the comfort of the Christian be- 
 liever, as he rejoices in his larger privilege of 
 
 'See Matt. 26 : 45, 46; Mark 14 : 41 ; Luke 22 : 46 
 i^See Matt. 26 : 41. ■' Isa. 56 : 7 ; Mark 11-17. 
 
276 Studies ill Oriental Social Life. 
 
 simple, untrammeled and dire6l prayer to God, 
 anywhere and everywhere. " The hour cometh," 
 said Jesus, "when neither in this mountain, nor 
 in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father. . . . 
 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true 
 worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and 
 truth : for such doth the Father seek to be his 
 worshipers,"^ 
 
 * Juhn 4 : 21, 23. 
 
FOOD IN THE DESERT. 
 
 One of the questions which has perplexed Bible 
 students in conne6lion with the story of the desert 
 life of the Israelites, is the possibility of so great a 
 multitude hnding sustenance in that sterile region. 
 Even the recorded miracle of the manna has not 
 been sufficient to bring the story within the range 
 of human probabihty in the minds of many; and 
 returned travelers from the Arabian desert are 
 sure to be asked : " Did you see anything that 
 went to show the possibility of support in the 
 
 desert for such a people as the Israehtes?" 
 
 277 
 
278 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 One popular method of accounting for the story 
 as it stands, is by supposing that at that time 
 the now desert region in question was far better 
 wooded and watered ; and the changes in this 
 cHre(5tion which have taken place in Palestine 
 are pointed to in corroboration of this view. But 
 whatever is the present correspondence of lower 
 Palestine and the desert of Sinai, it is plain that 
 in Old Testament times Palestine was called "a 
 good land, a land of brooks of water, of foun- 
 tains and depths, springing forth in valleys and 
 hills ; a land of wheat and barley, and vines 
 and fig trees and pomegranates ; a land of oil 
 olives and honey ; " ^ while the desert was called 
 a "great and terrible wilderness, wherein were 
 fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground 
 where was no water ; " '" and even at one of 
 its richer oases it was said : " It is no place of 
 seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates ; 
 neither is there any water to drink." ^ 
 
 There were doubtless more trees, in certani 
 districts of the Sinaitic peninsula, a few centuries 
 ago, than now ; but everything would go to show 
 that the main features of that peninsula stand to- 
 
 ' Dcut. ti : 7, 8. ^Deut. 8:15. ^ Num. 20:5. 
 
Food in the Desert. 279 
 
 day as they have stood for forty centuries, and 
 that the differences between earher ages and now 
 in the productiveness of any portion of its hind 
 are onl)- such as the existence or the lack of cul- 
 tivation would produce. Trom all that would 
 appear in crossing that desert, it would be as 
 easy for such a multitude to be sustained there 
 now as at any former period, and the need ot a 
 miraculous supplement to the ordinary provisions 
 of nature would be as imperative. Moreover, 
 there is far less difficulty in sustaining such a 
 people in such a region, and the amount of aid 
 by miracle requisite to their full supply of food 
 and drink is smaller, than would be supposed by 
 one unfamiliar with desert life and desert living. 
 If you suppose that a Bed'wy requires the food 
 of an ordinary American or English able-bodied 
 man, you may well wonder how he gets it on the 
 desert. But when you understand how little it 
 takes to keep a Bed'wy alive, you will have no 
 wonder that he can live, on the desert or any- 
 where, in time of plenty or of famine. And if you 
 think that the standard of home living is the or- 
 dinary standard of pioneer life or campaigning, 
 you will lose sight of the vast difference, shown 
 
2 8o Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 in the Bible story, between the Israelites by the 
 flesh-pots of Egypt, and the Israelites murmuring 
 over their privations in the wilderness. 
 
 Why, what do you suppose was the ordinary 
 daily food of one of our Bed'ween attendants as 
 we crossed the desert? In the first place, these 
 men commonly walked all day long without a 
 particle of food. When evening came, and they 
 rested, they had their one frugal meal of the day. 
 That meal consisted of one of two things, as I will 
 show you. 
 
 Most of them carried a little bag or package 
 of barley Hour. Three or four of them would 
 join together in a "mess," each putting a double- 
 handful or so of the flour into the common stock. 
 This Hour one of them would stir up into a paste, 
 with water and a little salt. A rude oven would 
 be made by digging a hole in the chalky desert 
 bottom, and in this a fire would be lighted, of 
 gathered sticks and vines and camel dung. 
 When the chalky sides and bottom of the oven 
 were well heated, the fire would be drawn out, 
 and the paste, flattened out into a large, thin 
 cake, would be spread upon them ; the fire would 
 be drawn back upon the cake, and left there until 
 
Food in the Desert. 281 
 
 the cake, or, rather, sheet of bookbinders' paste, 
 as it seemed, was thorouL,dily toughened and 
 dried. Then the cake was taken out, the ashes 
 partially pounded from it by a stick, and partially 
 wiped from it b)' the skirts of the Arab's single 
 garment, and it was divided among its owners. 
 Each man ate his share of this that evening, un- 
 less, as in some cases, he kept a portion until the 
 morning, to chew upon as he journeyed. This 
 bit of dried paste, with a moderate supply of 
 water, was all the man's food for the twenty-four 
 hours, as he journeyed over the desert. 
 
 Nor is it an Arab alone who can live on such 
 food as this. The Rev. F. \\\ Holland walked 
 from Wady Mukatteb to Suez, "a distance of 
 some one hundred and ten miles," "with no other 
 provision than a little bag of flour ; " and that 
 journey covered more than the entire range of the 
 Israelites' pilgrimage, from their crossing of the 
 Red Sea until the manna began to fall for them. 
 
 Others, again, of our Bed'ween attendants, 
 carried a small sack — a mere hand-bag slung at 
 the side like a haversack — of Egyptian corn, 
 much like our Indian corn, or maize. At the 
 close of the day they roasted a double -handful 
 
282 Studies in Oriental Soeial Life. 
 
 of that corn over the fire, in a little sheet-metal 
 pan, somewhat as we would roast coffee, and then 
 they chewed the parched corn ^ as their rations 
 for the da)'. It would be an encouray^ement to a 
 Yankee landlord to start a boarding-house with 
 such eaters as that for steady customers ! Yet 
 those men were able-bodied, crossing' the desert 
 on foot, under the hot sun, and over the burning 
 Hints, with that for their accustomed daily fare. 
 No unreasonable miracle would be called for to 
 supply that amount of food per man to a multi- 
 tude — would there ? 
 
 General Marcy of the United States Army, in 
 his " Prairie Traveler " gives it as his opinion, 
 based on an extensive experience in border-life 
 campaigning, that a man can get more helpful 
 nourishment in desert living out of parched In- 
 dian corn, ground or pounded and mixed with 
 sugar, than out of any other food of like compact- 
 ness. The correctness of this opinion was verified, 
 to my personal knowledge, by more than one of 
 our Union soldiers who escaped from Southern 
 prisons, in our civil war, and lived for weeks to- 
 gether in the woods and swamps on the way to 
 
 'Lev. 23 ; 14; Ruth 2 : 14; i Sam. 17:17; 25 : 18; 2 Sam. 17 : 28. 
 
Food in the Desert. 283 
 
 their land of promise. The heaven-sent manna, 
 either with or without the parched corn, was 
 about as near as could be to the food thus found 
 in modern times most useful in desert living. 
 '* The people went about, and gathered it, and 
 ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and 
 seethed it in pots, and made cakes of it." ^ "And 
 the taste of it was like wafers made with honey." ^ 
 
 My visit to the Convent of St. Catharine, at 
 the foot of Jebel Moosa, was during the season 
 of Lent. Of course the monks were then on fast- 
 ing fare. They ate nothing until the close of 
 the day. As they passed out from the vesper 
 service in the convent chapel, they received 
 their scanty portion of daily food, A monk stood 
 outside the doorway with a large wooden bowl 
 of boiled beans or lentils, and to each monk he 
 gave in turn a ladleful of the porridge, pouring 
 it into the outreached hands of the passer. 
 
 Among the dependants of this convent are the 
 Jebeleeyeh, said to be descended from Egyptian 
 andWallachian slaves given to the convent by the 
 emperor Justinian. The more helpless of these 
 serfs are fed from the convent, and their food 
 
 'Num. 11:8. ^'Exod. 16:31. 
 
284 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 consists of coarse black bread made in hard l)alls 
 from unbolted barley meal. One ball of this 
 bread, about the size of a small orange, is given 
 to a beggar for a two days' supply. I obtained 
 a specimen ball of this bread, intending to use it 
 as a paper-weight, but it was accidentally thrown 
 away a few days later, being mistaken by me for 
 a bit of granite. Then it was that I realized 
 how a man might give to his son a stone when 
 he asked for bread. ^ 
 
 But even the parched corn or the barley flour 
 is not an absolute necessity in the desert. There 
 are families which live entirely on the milk of 
 their sheep or goats or camels. For weeks to- 
 gether men have lived on the milk of their drom- 
 edaries as both food and drink, and this while 
 the dromedaries had no other food than the 
 scanty herbage of the desert soil. Professor 
 Palmer tells of " a well-authenticated case of an 
 Arab in the north of Syria, who for three years 
 had not tasted either water or solid food," living 
 on milk alone. And a Bed'wy of the desert could 
 get along on as little as any Syrian Arab. 
 
 The Bed'ween seem to live on crumbs. As we 
 
 ^ Matt. 7 : 9. 
 
Food in tJic Desert. 285 
 
 sat at our meals, our Arab attendants would 
 watch us at a distance, and when we had left the 
 table every scrap remainini^r on it was greedily 
 devoured by them. They would literally eat 
 every egg-shell, every chicken bone, every potato 
 skin and bread crust discarded by us. This fa(?t 
 gave a new meaning to the Bible reference to 
 the poor being fed with the crumbs that fell from 
 the table of the rich.^ 
 
 Meat is not an ordinary article of food in the 
 desert. The; killing of an animal is called "sac- 
 rificing," — its blood, as its "life," being poured out 
 on the ground as an offering to the Author of 
 life, and its flesh being eaten, as a sacrament of 
 communion with God, and with those who are 
 fellow-partakers of it.^ This "sacrificing" is com- 
 mon as an a6l of hospitality, when a lamb or 
 a kid is sacrificed in order that the guest may 
 share its meat. And it is an accompaniment of 
 any event of gladness, like a wedding, or a cir- 
 cumcision, or the observance of a festival. But 
 if flesh is desired, it is available in the desert 
 wadies, in the goats, or the sheep, or the young 
 
 ' Luke 16 : 21 ; Matt. 15 : 27 ; .Mark 7 : 28. 
 2 See Gen. 18: 1-8; Exod. 29: 11, 12; Lev. 4:7, 18, 25, 30, 34; 8: 
 15; 9:9; 17 : T3; 24:9. 
 
286 Sttidies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 dromedaries. And there is wild game like the 
 gazelle, or the ibex, or the quail. I saw quanti- 
 ties of quail in the vicinity of the track of the 
 Israelities in the desert of Sinai.^ An Arab 
 would not be above eating broiled quail, even 
 without toast, if he were in danger of starvation. 
 
 In connection with the Bible narrative of the 
 Israelites gorging themselves with quails, when 
 they had the opportunity, so that a fearful pesti- 
 lence came among them,- it is to be noted that 
 while the Arabs of the desert ordinarily live on 
 very scanty fare, they are ready to eat voraciously 
 and ravenously when extra food is before them. 
 At sacrifices and feasts, when flesh is abundant, 
 they seem to eat without limit. It is not an un- 
 common thincr for two Arabs to devour an entire 
 sheep at a sitting on such an occasion. 
 
 That story of the Israelites at Kibroth-hattaaveh 
 seems perfectly natural to one familiar with desert 
 ways. The scanty-fed Hebrews were hungry ; 
 "and the mixed multitude that was among them 
 fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also 
 wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to 
 eat ? . . . And there went forth a wind from the 
 
 ' Exod. 16 ; 13 ; Num. 11 : 31. ^ Num. 11 : 31-34. 
 
Food in the Desert. 287 
 
 Lord, and brought quails from the sea, and let 
 them fall by the camp. . . . And the people rose 
 up all that day, and all the night, and all the 
 next day, and gathered the cpiails." ' Then the 
 silly Orientals gorged themselves with (piail 
 meat; and "while the ilesh was yet between 
 their teeth, ere it was chewed, the anger of 
 the Lord was kindled against the people, and 
 the Lord smote the people with a very great 
 plague."^ And so the record stands that God 
 "gave them their request, but sent leanness into 
 their soul," " 
 
 As we journeyed through the desert our drago- 
 man was accustomed to invite Shaykh Moosa to 
 eat with him, out of his capacious dish filled with 
 food prepared in Arab style, while the attendants 
 of the shaykh must be content with their ordinary 
 desert food. When we camped over Sunday in 
 the vicinity of Shaykh Moosa's home, he left us 
 for a brief visit to his family, and one " Ibra- 
 heem " was installed in his place for the time 
 being. This entitled ibraheem, by courtes)-, to 
 Moosa's place in the dragoman's mess, and he 
 fully appreciated the honor and the opportunity. 
 
 ' Num. 1 1 . 4, 31, 32. ^ Num. 1 1 : 33. ^ Psa. 106 : 15 
 
 20 
 
2 88 Studies in Oriental Socia/ Life. 
 
 He seemed to feel that he must eat enougli in 
 those two days to give him strength for forty.' 
 
 At his first evening meal out of the drago- 
 man's dish, Ibraheem was the center of admira- 
 tion for his capacity for food. The dragoman 
 came to my tent to ask my attention to the man. 
 As we stood back in the shadow, and by the fire- 
 light watched the party over the well-filled dish, 
 we saw Ibraheem stretch out all his fingers for 
 a clutch at the savory mess, and then open his 
 mouth to the utmost in order to throw in the 
 handful ; and so again and again until the last 
 morsel was gone from the dish. "Just see him!" 
 said the enthusiastic dragoman. "What an ap- 
 petite God has given him ! God give us all such 
 an appetite ! " 
 
 My experience and observation in the desert, 
 as well as my experience in army campaigning 
 and as a prisoner of war, tended to the conviction 
 that as a rule we take far more food than is neces- 
 sary, or than is best for us. If we merely ate 
 to live, instead of living to eat, it would require 
 less for our support, and there would be less of a 
 tax on our vital forces for the work of digestion. 
 
 ^ I Kings 19 : 8. 
 
Food in tlic Desert. 2 89 
 
 But it must bci borne in mind, in considering 
 the case of the Lsraehtes, that they went out 
 from Egypt as an entire people, carrying more 
 or less of supplies with them. Now a word as 
 to caravan possibilities in the desert. When 
 I crossed the Sinaitic desert with two young 
 companions, I and my comrades did not live 
 on parched corn, barley meal, black bread, or 
 dromedaries' milk. On the contrar)-, we fared 
 "sumptuously every day." ^ We had comfort- 
 able tents, good beds, and easy chairs. After 
 each day's journeying, we found our tents ready 
 for us, and a eood dinner to be served at our 
 call. Our table service was of P^rench china- 
 w^are, w^ith silver-plated forks and spoons and 
 caster. We had a good hot soup to begin with. 
 This was followed by a curry of chicken and rice, 
 or potted pigeons ; a joint of roast lamb or 
 boiled mutton ; from two to four kinds of vege- 
 tables, and a dish of macaroni; a pknn pudding 
 or a baked custard or preserved apricots, cheese 
 and milk-biscuit, figs and dates, and Egyptian 
 coffee. 
 
 In the early morning we had a breakfast of 
 
 ' Luke 16 : 19. 
 
290 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 bread and butter and coffee, and boiled eggs or 
 an omelet, and orange marmalade, also cold meat 
 or a mutton chop, if we desired it. Then our 
 tents and their furniture, and oui cooking-uten- 
 sils, and the contents of our larder, were all 
 started off on camels ahead of us, to be ready 
 for our new needs in a new resting-place at the 
 close of the day. Our immediate passenger party 
 moved along more leisurely on the dromedaries. 
 Halting at noon for a lunch, we had the shade 
 of a great rock,' or of a light shelter tent, to 
 shield us from the sun's glare ; and we had a 
 tolerable lunch of cold chicken or lamb, some 
 hard-boiled eggs, milk-biscuit, figs and dates and 
 oranges, cheese, and cold tea with a touch of 
 lemon-juice in it. 
 
 The table privations of our desert life were 
 by no means the heaviest tax on our endurance. 
 We carried live chickens and pigeons with us, 
 in coops swung at the camels' sides, and we 
 drove along sheep and lambs, to kill as we had 
 need of them. And at several points we made 
 fresh purchases from Bed'ween or from the fella- 
 heen Arabs, to replenish our stores. 
 
 'See Isa. 32 : 2. 
 
Food in tJic Desert. 291 
 
 It ma)' be said tliat our party was a small one, 
 and that supplies for us would be possible where 
 nothirii^- of the kind could be looked for to an ex- 
 tent commensurate with the needs of the Israel- 
 ites. True ; but there is one cara\ an of live 
 thousand [)ersons or more, which crosises that 
 desert from west to enst and back again ev(Ty 
 year, on the Meccah pilgrimage, and those per- 
 sons are cared for without serious difficulty. It 
 is very evident from the Bible record that the 
 Israelites moved with larire household and other 
 supplies. They had th(;ir flocks and herds, their 
 material and utensils for metal-working and weav- 
 ing, and embroidery. It would be unreasonable 
 to look upon them as wholly dependent upon the 
 manna on the one hand, or the mere natural 
 growth of the desert on the other. 
 
 One thine is essential to an understanding of 
 the Rible story of the Hebrew wanderings, and 
 that is that the atlual caravan march of the host 
 in the desert was in all but a few days or weeks 
 at the most. The resting at Elim, and again in 
 the neighborhood of Sinai, was in a region which 
 to-day, as then, is well watered and compara- 
 tively fertile. And when the boundary of the 
 
292 Sfudics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 Neecb was reached at Kaclesh-barn(\i, and the 
 people were turned back for a generation of des- 
 ert life because of th(^ir lack of faith-filled obedi- 
 ence,' there is every reason to suppose that they 
 were not set at marching up and down, and back 
 and forth, in solemn array, for thirty-eight years 
 and a half, as some of the uninspired commenta- 
 ries and maps would indicate, but were simply 
 left to live as the Arabs of that region live to-day 
 — sowing and reaping their barley in the wadies 
 that stretch away from the plains of 'Ayn Oadis 
 southward and westward, and tending their flocks 
 in the mountain passes on every side. Kadesh 
 itself was probably, in a certain sense, the head- 
 quarters of the Israelites during all this period, 
 for they are left there in the Bible story when the 
 sentence of wandering is passed upon them, and 
 there they are found when again they take up 
 their formal march to Canaan. - 
 
 Let me not be misunderstood as questioning 
 the truth or the need of the miraculous supply of 
 the Israelites in the wilderness. I only claim 
 that there is no such unreasonableness as many 
 have been inclined to see, in the story of such a 
 
 * Num. 14 : 33, 34. ^ Num. 20 : i. 
 
Food in tJic Desert. 293 
 
 host as that of Israel sustained in tlie desert, with 
 the ordinary means and possibilities of I i\i nor 
 there, and the added supernatural supply of 
 manna as material for bread, or to be used with 
 bread, day by day, and of water on occasions of 
 special droucrht, as at Rephidim^ and Kadesh,'^ 
 With so vast a multitude, including many women 
 and children, and with all the vicissitudes of sea- 
 sons of drought and scarcity, many of the Israel- 
 ites would have suffered sorely, in those long 
 years of desert life, but for God's special watch 
 and care of them. That watch and care were 
 never wanting. 
 
 Hence it was that Moses could say to his peo- 
 ple, at the close of their exile: "The Lord thy 
 God hath blessed thee in all the w^ork of thy 
 hand : he hath known thy walking through this 
 great wilderness : these forty years the Lord thy 
 God hath been with thee ; thou hast lacked 
 nothing." ■' "He humbled thee, and suffered thee 
 to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou 
 knew^est not, neither did thy fathers know ; that 
 he might make thee know that man doth not live 
 by bread only [natural supplies are not enough 
 
 'Exod. 17 : 1-6. ^Num. 20 : i-ii. ^ Deut. 2 : 7. 
 
294 
 
 Sfitdics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 for a man, in tlie desert or out of it], l)nt by every 
 tliinL;' that proceedeth out of the nioutli of the 
 Lord iloth man ]i\-e [a j)romise ot God is a better 
 assuranc(^ of a morning- meal than a IjaL,'^ of llour 
 in )()ur tent, or a h\e chicken in the hands of 
 your coc^k]. Th)' raiment waxed not old upon 
 thee, neither chd thy foot swell, these forty 
 years. 
 
 1 I )cut. <S : 3, 4. 
 
CALLS FOR HEALING IN THE EAST. 
 
 It requires but a cursory vi(>w of the East to 
 ^\vG a new understandincr of the Bil^le pictun^s 
 of a multitude of halt and maimed and blind and 
 diseased, needing cure ; and of the sure welcome 
 accorded to one comincf amoncf them with a 
 proffer of healing. The pictures of long ago are 
 the realities of to-day. 
 
 My earliest walk in the Arab quarter of Alex- 
 andria, and in the streets about it, showcxl me, in 
 one hour, more blind beggars ; more children with 
 
 sore or sightless eyes — sore eyes fairly covered 
 
 295 
 
296 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 with the ever-present sluggish flics of the East, 
 whicli no one thought of brushing away ; more 
 helpless cripples, and half-nak(;cl creaturc^s " full 
 of sores." ^ crouching in misery at other men's 
 gates, — than I had seen in all my life before. 
 And from that beginning, I was hardly ever 
 away from the sight of disease in some of its 
 more hopeless aspects and its more repulsive 
 forms, until Egypt was fairly behind me, and the 
 purer air of the desert gave freedom from the 
 filth and the sicknesses of that degraded and 
 sin-cursed people. 
 
 At Cairo, the blind or the sick or the crippled 
 sat at every street corner, and on every square ; 
 were laid at every mosk door; and were cry- 
 ing out for help or for an alms before every 
 bazaar. Again they were found crouching under 
 the Pyramids at Gheezeh and at Saqqarah, and 
 along the Nile banks on either hand. Every 
 mud village swarmed with them, as with fleas, 
 until it seemed as if Egypt itself were a vast 
 lazar-house, and " all manner of disease and all 
 manner of sickness " ^ were there, without receiv- 
 ing help or attention. 
 
 'Luke 16: 20. ajviatt. 4: 23. 
 
Calls for HcaliuQ- iji tJic East. 297 
 
 One of my companions, a medical student, 
 ol)served the varying- phases of disease with 
 peculiar interest; and it was his testimony, when 
 we left Egypt for Arabia, that more than half 
 of all the; people whom wc; had met in that land 
 of darkness were blind or sore-cy(;d, or in some 
 way obviously diseased. It was with a new 
 realization of its original force and meaning that 
 we read, on our first Sunday in the desert, at 
 Elim, that promise of God to murmuring Israel 
 at Marah: "If thou wilt diligently hearken to 
 the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that 
 which is right in his eyes, and wilt give ear to 
 his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I 
 will put none of the diseases upon thee, which I 
 have put upon the Egyptians : fori am the Lord 
 that healeth thee." ^ 
 
 And again, we saw the force of the threat of 
 Moses, in case Israel should turn from the service 
 of the Lord: "Then the Lord will make thy 
 plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, 
 even great plagues, and of long continuance, and 
 sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. And 
 he will bring upon thee again all the diseases of 
 
 ' Exod. 1 5 : 26. 
 
>.gS Studies in Oriental Soeieil Life 
 
 Eii^ypt. wliicli thou wast .ifr.-nd of; and they shall 
 cleave unto thee." ^ And that this threat has 
 been made good, the condition of things in Pal- 
 estine eighteen centuries ago, and to-da\-, gives 
 evidence. 
 
 Comi)aratively litth^ of dis(\ase shows itself 
 among the Bed'ween of the; desert; but the blind 
 and the crippled and the sick who arc there are 
 no less pitiable in their need, nor are they less 
 importunate in their calls for help, than the 
 wretched sufferers who meet one at every turn in 
 Egypt. Palestine, however, now, as doubtless 
 was the case in the days of our Lord, seems 
 fairly overrun with those affli6led by one form or 
 another of bodily ailment. From Hebron to 
 Beyrout, as our party journeyed northward, we 
 were scarcely out of sight of some blind, or 
 crippled, or leprous beggar, if we were in sight 
 of any one at all. It was during Holy Week 
 that we went from Jerusalem to Nazareth ; and 
 whatever beggars there were, were out along the 
 roadside at that time, to solicit alms from the 
 pilgrims to the Holy City, at Passover season, 
 or Easter. They Hiirly thronged the entrance 
 
 ' Dcut. 28 : 59, 60. 
 
Calls for Hcalina^ in the East. 299 
 
 ways to Jerusalem, and the paths to Gethsemane 
 and the Mount of OHves, squattiuL^ in the very- 
 middle of the road, stretching out their skinny 
 arms, and turning up their sightless eyes, with 
 woful cries for pity and bakhsheesh from the 
 howajji. 
 
 Less prominence Is given to this feature of 
 Oriental life than to many another, in the reports 
 of travelers ; but glimpses of the facl;s in the 
 case are not lacking in the pages of books of 
 travel or of analytic description. Dr. Thomson, 
 in his latest edition of "The Land and the Book," 
 introduces his reader to the people of the land 
 as seen on a market-day at Jaffa: "Many are 
 blind, or have some painful defect about their 
 eyes, and a few, sitting alone in the outskirts, 
 must be lepers." And of his first sight of the 
 lepers near the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem, he says: 
 "They held up towards me their handless arms ; 
 unearthly sounds gurgled through their throats 
 without palates — in a word, 1 was horrihed." 
 "One meets these unfortunate creatures in every 
 part of the country," he says further ; "but it was 
 only at their village in Jerusalem that the horrors 
 of their hopeless condition were fully exposed." 
 
300 Sliidics in Oricidal Social Life. 
 
 Even "Mark Twain," wlio certainly was not in- 
 clined to sec likenesses to the Bible story where 
 none existed, in the Holy Land, makes mention 
 of the wide prevalence of repulsive diseases in 
 the cities and villages of Palestine and Syria. 
 " Lepers, cripples, the blind, and the idiotic, 
 assail you on every hand," he declares, in de- 
 scribing Jerusalem. "To see the numbers of 
 maimed, malformed, and diseased humanity that 
 throng the holy places and obstruct the gates, 
 one might suppose that the ancient days had 
 come again, and that the angel of the Lord was 
 expe6led to descend at any moment to stir the 
 waters of Bethesda."^ And of the ordinary 
 Syrian village, as the modern traveler finds it, he 
 adds : " rinally you come to several sore-eyed 
 children, and children in all stages of mutilation 
 and decay ; and sitting humbly in the dust, and 
 all fringed with filthy rags, is a poor devil whose 
 arms and legs are gnarled and twisted like grape- 
 vines." 
 
 As our traveling party passed out the western 
 o-ate of Nablus — the site of ancient Shechem, 
 "a city of Samaria"" — a group of repulsive 
 
 'John 5 : 2-9. "•^John 4 : 5. 
 
Calls for Healing in the East. 301 
 
 lepers greeted us with calls for help. They 
 showed various forms of that terrible disease ; 
 the nose, or the lips, or a hand, or a foot, eaten 
 away ; the limbs distorted ; and in one case, at 
 least, there was "a leper as white as snow." ^ 
 Wlicn we were fairly in our tents, beyond the 
 city westward, those lepers came, fifteen in all, 
 and seated themselves afar off in a semicircle 
 facing our tents, with one of their number a 
 little in advance of the others, holding out a 
 dish for alms ; and as with one voice they cried 
 aloud to us to have pity on them, and to give 
 them aid. This surely was not unlike the days 
 of Jesus in that very region, if not at that identi- 
 cal spot: "And it came to pass, as they were 
 on the way to Jerusalem, that he was passing 
 throu'di the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And 
 as he entered into a certain village, there met 
 him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar 
 off: and they lifted up their voices, saying, Jesus, 
 Master, have mercy on us."^ 
 
 In view of the innumerable cases ol blindness 
 in the East, there is only ludicrousness in the 
 many critical attempts which have been made to 
 
 >2 Kings 5 ; 27. == Luke 17 : 11-13. 
 
■502 S//h//cs ill Oi'icii/a/ Sofia/ Life. 
 
 v) 
 
 reconcile the several narratives, in tin; Synoptical 
 Gospels, of the healing of blind men by our Lord, 
 on the occasion of his last visit to Jericho. Luke 
 sa\s' that as Jesus wcmU into Jericho a blind 
 man called on him for mercy, and was cured. 
 Mark says- that a blind man, known as Barti- 
 meus, called out and was cured, as Jesus was leav- 
 ing Jericho, Matthew says'^ that as Jesus departed 
 from Jericho two blind men sitting by the wayside 
 called for mercy, and were cured. And what a 
 fuss has been made over these several statements, 
 as if the very integrity of the Gospel revelation 
 were involved in their harmonizing ! 
 
 Was there one blind man, or were there two, 
 or could there have been three, at the same time, 
 near Jericho? Was it when he went into, or when 
 he came out from, the city, that Jesus heard the 
 cry of the one blind man, or of the two ? Or, is 
 it possible that one blind man cried out for help 
 without securing it, as Jesus went into the city, 
 and that, a second blind man having joined the 
 first before Jesus came out, both then cried for 
 mercy, and both received their sight ? Or, were 
 there two Jerichos, and this happened between 
 
 ^ Luke i8 : 35-43. - Mark 10 : 46-52. ^ Matt. 20 : 2')-34. 
 
Calls J or Healing in the East. 2ft 
 
 
 them? A well-known commentator in mention- 
 ing this clithculty refers to "the fourteen or fi(- 
 teen proposed ways of harmonizing the discrep- 
 ancies," 
 
 What nonsense ! Why, whenever you enter 
 any cit)' or any village in the East, you are likely 
 totind one blind man on one side ot the way, and 
 two blind men on the other side of the way, and 
 all three of them are sure to call on you lor help! 
 Antl when you go out of tiiat place you will 
 probably tind first two blind men. and then one 
 blind man, and then two blind men more, all ot 
 them calling on you to show mercy to them in the 
 name of God. It is the most natural thing in 
 the world to believe that olu" Lord cared one 
 blind man as he went into Jericho, and two or 
 three as he went out. All that either of the 
 Evangelists reports in this line is to be taken 
 as the literal truth, eminently reasonable in the 
 light of the present state of things in the land of 
 our Lord — as illustrative of the state of things in 
 the days of his mission there. 
 
 l\Iy friend I )r. Hil[jrecht gave me his testi- 
 mony at this point in a striking illustration. 
 While in the line of his Oriental researches in 
 
 2 I 
 
304 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 Constantinople, he passed daily over \\\v. " New 
 HridLie" across the Golden Horn, connecting the 
 old city of Stamboul with the European quarters 
 of Galata and Pera. On that bridge, at the very 
 threshold of the East, he saw, every time he 
 crossed, from four to six blind beggars, half a 
 dozen lepers, and a dozen or more cripples, in- 
 cluding repulsive deformities of various sorts, and 
 all were pleading for help in their need. Again 
 and again, as he said, the cry of his heart went 
 up, " Oh, if the dear Master would only come 
 down again and clear this bridge of its crowd of 
 sufferers ! " 
 
 Another facl that sheds light upon the work 
 of Jesus and his disciples in their ministry of 
 healing, is the universal expecftation, in the East, 
 of the cure of disease through \\\v. supernatural 
 power of some reputed representative of Ciod. 
 So it is, and so it has been. This it was that 
 crowded the five porches of Bethesda with the 
 "multilLidc of them that were sick, bhml, lialt, 
 withered," ' waiting anxiously ior a periodic 
 troubling of the waters, supposed to give them 
 curative power, as from heaven. 
 
 * John 5 : 3. 
 
Calls for Healing in iJic East. 305 
 
 Lane and Klunzinger botli bear testimony to 
 the power still exercised in lower and in upper 
 Kg-ypt by the aid cl baraka, or " people of bless- 
 ing." who are supposed to bring the cure of dis- 
 ease, or other benefits, through their possession of 
 supernatural favor. This class includes "sha\-khs 
 or saints, especially silly, childish, crazy people, 
 as well as ascetics and hermits ; " also the •' she- 
 chas of the sar," or women who claim to rep- 
 resent the sdr, or the ginji (genii) of sickness. 
 Dr. Jessup gives a corresponding picture of the 
 "strange-looking saints," or "horrible wretches." 
 who wander about the Syrian country on their 
 reputed mission of good through healing, at the 
 present time. 
 
 Herodotus told of the Babylonian custom, in 
 his day, of la\ing a sick man in the jjublic square, 
 in order that passers-bv miirht be of service to 
 him ; and Dr. Edersheim quotes the Talmud in 
 evidence that, before the days of the Apostle 
 James,^ the " visitation of the sick was regarded 
 as a religious duty ; the more so. that each visitor 
 was supposed to carry away a small portion of 
 the disease." One Talmudic writer afhrms spe- 
 
 ' James 5 : 14. 
 
3o6 Studies in Orioital Social Life. 
 
 cifically, that " wliocvcr visits the sick takes away 
 a sixtieth part of his suffering;s." Dr. Van Len- 
 nep. referring to tlie testimony of Herodotus, 
 shows that a similar hope of help to the sick from 
 the prescriptions of chance visitors prevails in 
 Syria to-tlay as in Ikibylon twenty-five centuries 
 ago. Certainly the calls for help to the sick and 
 suffering in the East are hardly less impressive 
 to the modern traveler than the need of such 
 help, all the way through Egypt, Arabia, and 
 Palestine. 
 
 As three of us sat in our tent at Wady Gharan- 
 del, during a Sunday rest in the desert, an Arab 
 came and sc^uatted at the tent entrance, and 
 looking up into our faces beseechingly pointed 
 to one of his teeth, making signs that it gave 
 him pain, and he wanted it pulled or cured. He 
 was not of our caravan, but having heard that 
 " Europeans " — as all Occidental travelers are 
 called in the East — were on the desert, he had 
 come to us for help, in accordance with the uni- 
 versal feeliniJ: that a wise man can cure disease. 
 A simple palliative gave him relief, and quickly 
 it was known in our caravan that a hakeem or 
 "medicine-man" was one of our number, and 
 
Cnl/s for Healing in the East. 307 
 
 from that time forward calls for medical treat- 
 ment were made on us at every turn. 
 
 When ihc Re\^ Dr. Georcre Dana Boardman 
 was traveling" over this very path, in comj)any 
 with Dr. Darby, a well-kncnvn dentist of Phila- 
 cU-lijJiia, th(; latter found an Arab suffering" from 
 toothache, and relieved him by extracting^ the 
 tooth. The next morning, as the travelers were 
 starting on their journey, a stranger shaykh with 
 the toothache presented himself, seeking relief 
 lUit as Dr. Darl^y's baggage, including his case 
 of instruments, was already packed on a baggage 
 camel, th(; request had to be refused. When the 
 party halted again at the close of the day, and 
 the travelers were in their tents once more, this 
 shaykh, wlio had patiently jogged after the cara- 
 van all the- day long, was found squatting at the 
 entrance of Dr. Darby's tent, pointing compla- 
 cently at his aching tooth, with a look that seemed 
 to say, "Perhaps you can get at your instruments 
 now, Doctor;" and Dr. Darby so interi)ret(;d it. 
 When the tooth had been pulled, thci old siia)kh 
 was so delight(.;d with the skill of the perform- 
 ance and the sense of relief followincr it, that he 
 asked to have another tooth pulled, in view of 
 
•208 Sf?i(^ics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 the possibility of a fnsli attack of toothache 
 when till- dentist was no loni^rr at liand. It 
 nia\- lie that tlie Aral) who canir to us to ha\e 
 a tooth piilk-d had been told ol Dr. Darby's 
 skill and kindnt^ss. 
 
 y\t W'ady Fayran there came a poor crii)ple 
 invokinj^r assistance. He had been bitten by one 
 of the "fiery serpents"^ of the desert. Rude 
 attempts at checking- the sweep of the poison 
 had rt;sulted in the sloughing; off of his foot and 
 the lower part of his leg; and an ugly stump, 
 with its withered muscles and its protruding 
 bone, was the result. But no other aid to him 
 than bakhsheesh was possible; from our party. 
 
 A blind beggar was one of the many outside 
 dependants of the Convent of St. Catharine at 
 Mt. Sinai. As he sat among the old ruins near 
 the Hill of the Golden Calf, basking in the sun- 
 light which he could not see, I proffered him an 
 orange, since I had found that fruit most rc^fresh- 
 ing in our des(;rt travc;l ; and he thanked me lor 
 it. Our dragoman suggested that the poor fel- 
 low would prefer a crust of bread to an orange. 
 To test him on this, the dragoman put a bit of 
 
 ^Num. 21 : 6. 
 
Calls f 07' Healing in the East. 309 
 
 dry bread, brouu'lit all the way Iroin Cairo, into 
 the blind ni;iii's Icfl hand, and ihci orange in his 
 right, telling him that he could have- his choice 
 between the two. Wdth a smile, the beggar cjuickly 
 gave back the orange, and retained the crust. 
 Then, in indication ot a want deeper than hun- 
 ger, he poised the cc:)veted crust in one hand, 
 and pointed with the other to his sightless eyes, 
 asking me, in Arabic, if I could not cure him of 
 his blindness.^ An orange was good ; bread was 
 better; but sight was best of all. How I wished 
 for the? power of opening those closed eyes, as 
 the eyes of Bartimeus and his fellow-beggars 
 were opened ! But I was helpless there. I w^as 
 no hakeem. 
 
 At Castle Nakhl, in mid-desert, the old Egyp- 
 tian o-()vernor, a veteran soldier of the Crimean 
 W^ar now well-nigh seventy years old, wanted us 
 to cure him of the growinof infirmities of a^-e. 
 Almost any medicine which we might have with 
 us would, he thought, answer his purpose. As 
 our party sat conversing with him, we saw three 
 dromedaries coming at top speed over the des- 
 ert h'om eastw^ard ; and soon old Shaykh Musleh, 
 'Matt. 9 : 27-30; Mark 8 : 23-25 ; John i : 1-7, 
 
3IO Sf It dies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 of th(' Tt'cyahah tril)c, witli his son and an at- 
 tendant, were witli us, having heard of our 
 approach and hurried to meet us. The shaykh 
 was evidently wasting away with consumption, 
 and his eyes were badly inlUimecl. He asked it 
 of us, as a personal favor, to cure his failing 
 sit)'ht and his troublesome couo-h. He seemed 
 to have no doubt that we could help him at both 
 points if we chose to do so. Then his attendant 
 wanted medicines for some sick ones who could 
 not come to us personally. And these are but 
 illustrations of the calls for healing, and of the 
 hope of cure by supernatural help, which prevail 
 throughout the East, as every traveler will be 
 ready to testify. 
 
 It was in recognition of this popular feeling 
 that, nearly a century ago, Napoleon passed 
 through the hospital of the Greek Convent at 
 Jaffa, and laid his hand on those who were in- 
 fetled with the plague, in order that they might 
 be healed through his touch, — a relic of this 
 Eastern superstition being found, initil lately, in 
 the European idea that scrofula — or "king's 
 evil" — could be cured by the touch of the king. 
 Forty years later, the American traveler Stephens 
 
Calls for Healing in the East. 3 1 1 
 
 saw so TTiiich of this state of thinq-s in his jour- 
 neying in Palestine and adjacent countries, that, 
 in view of tlie gratitude shown to liiin lor his 
 simple prescriptions to one sick shaykh after an 
 other, his testimony was: "I cannot helj) observ- 
 ing, ... as illustrating the state of society in the 
 East, that if a skilful physician, by the ai)pli- 
 cation of his medical science, should raise an 
 Arab from what, without such application, would 
 be his bed of death, the ignorant people would be 
 ver)' likel)- to believe it a miracle;, and to follow 
 him with that decree of faith which would eive 
 evidence to the savino- virtue of touching the 
 'border of his orarment.' "' 
 
 And when the Prince of Wales and his party 
 were in the regions of Lebanon, forty years ago, 
 they were beset with calls for help, not only in 
 the political restoration of a deposed shaykh, but 
 in the recovery of the sick. "\\\? found the 
 stairs and corridors of the castle lined with a 
 crowd of eager applicants," says Dean Stanley, 
 " 'sick people taken with divers diseases,'- who, 
 hearing that there was a medical man in the 
 party, had thronged round him, 'beseeching him 
 
 ' Mall. 14 : 36. ''■ See Mail. 4 : 24. 
 
3 1 2 Sf?if/ics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 that he would heal thc-m.'"^ "I mention this in- 
 cident," adds the Dean, "because it illustrates so 
 forcibly those scenes in the gospel history, from 
 which I have almost of necessity borrowed the 
 language best fitted to describe the eagerness, the 
 hope, the variet)', of the multitude who had been 
 attra(5ted by the fame of this beneficent influence." 
 What a light all this throws upon the human 
 ministry of Jesus Christ and his apostles in 
 Palestine ! He came into that vast open hos- 
 pital of suffering and need, where longing hearts 
 had hope, if at all, of help through some repre- 
 sentative of God. "And Jesus went about all 
 the cities and the villaQ^es, teachino- in their 
 synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the 
 [looked-for] kingdom, and healing all manner of 
 disease and all manner of sickness." "And the 
 report of him went forth into all Syria: and they 
 brought unto him all that were sick, holden with 
 divers diseases and torments, possessed with 
 devils, and epileptic, and palsied ; and he healed 
 them."'' "Wheresoever he entered, into \illacres, 
 or into cities, or into the countr)-. they laid the 
 
 ' See Matt. 8 : 6, 7 ; Mark i : 40 ; Luke 9 : 38. ^ Matt. 9 : 35. 
 
 ^Matt. 4 : 24. 
 
Calls for Healing in the F.ast. 313 
 
 sick in the in;irk('t-])lac('s, and l)(\sonoln hini that 
 they miolit touch if it were but the border of his 
 g-arment: and as man)- as touched liini were 
 made whole."' The l)hnd received their si^ht, 
 and tlie lame walked, the lepers were cleans(>d, 
 the cleat heard, and the dead were raised up. 
 It is no wonder that the people "were b(iyond 
 measure astonished, saying", He hath done all 
 thino-s well." ^ 
 
 And when Jesus Christ sent out his apostles, 
 in his name, and for his work, he "gave them 
 authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, 
 and to heal all manner of disease and all manner 
 ot sickness,""^ They, also, went everywhere, 
 preaching, and teaching, and healing ; and thus 
 the plan of God in the ministry of his Son was 
 conformed to the weaknesses and the needs of 
 the waiting people, among whom that ministry 
 was hrst exercised lovingly. 
 
 In his essay on The Essenes, De Ouincey calls 
 attention to the fa6l that "at least nine in ten of 
 Christ's miracles were medical miracles — miracles 
 applied to derangements of the human system." 
 *'As to the motives which sjoverned our Saviour 
 
 ^ Mark 6 : 56. ^ Mark 7 : 37. ^ Matt. 10:1. 
 
314 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 in lliis particular choice," lie says, " it would be 
 truly ridiculous, and worth)- of a modern utilita- 
 rian, to suppose that Christ would ha\'(; suffered 
 his time to be occupied, and the great vision of 
 his contemplations to be interrupted, b)- an em- 
 ployment so trilling (trilling, surel)', l)y compari- 
 son with his trausccndcut purposes) as the healing 
 of a few hundreds, more or less, in one small clis- 
 tri6l, through one brief triennium. This healing 
 office was adopted, not chiefly for its own sake, 
 but partly as a symbolic annunciation of a supe- 
 rior healing, abundantly significant to Oriental 
 minds ; chiefly, however, as the indispensable 
 means, in an Eastern land, of advertising his ap- 
 proach far and wide, and thus convoking the 
 people by myriads to his instru61:ions, 
 
 " P^rom Barbary to Hindostan — from the set- 
 tins' to the risinof sun — it is notorious that no 
 traveling character is so certainly a safe one as 
 that of Jiakiiu, or physician. As he advances on 
 his route the news flies before him ; disease is 
 evoked as by the rod of Amram's son ;^ the beds 
 of sick people," in every rank, are arranged along 
 
 'See I Cliron. 6 : 3; I{!xo<l. 4 : 17. 
 2 Mark 6 ; 56 ; Acts 5:15. 
 
Calls for Healing in the East. 315 
 
 the roadsides ; and the beneficent dispenser of 
 health or of rehef moves through the prayers of 
 hope on the one side, and of gratitude on the 
 other. . . . This medical character the apostles 
 anil their delegates adopted, using it both as the 
 trumpet of summons to some central rendezvous, 
 and also as the vt;ry best means of opening the 
 heart to religious inlluences — the heart softened 
 already by suffering, turned inwards by solitary 
 musing, or melted, perhaps, by relief from anguish 
 into fervent gratitude." 
 
 All the experience of modern missionaries in 
 the East troes to show the wisdom of the method 
 employed b)' Jesus Christ and his apostles in 
 eivinLT attention to diseased bodies as a means 
 of access to diseased souls. The practice of medi- 
 cine is. again, one of the recognized agencies of 
 Christian missions in Egypt, in Syria, in Turkey, 
 and in Persia, in India, in China, in Japan, and in 
 Siam ; and every\vhere its wisdom as a pioneer 
 evangelizing agency is illustrated in the potency 
 of its influence. 
 
 Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop sums uj) the results 
 of her observations on this subject, in various por- 
 tions of the world, in this emphatic testimony : 
 
3 1 6 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 "To my thinkinij;-, no one follows in the Master's 
 footprints so closely as the medical missionary, 
 and on no agency for alleviating human suffering 
 can one look with more unqualified satisfaction. 
 The medical mission is the outcome of the living 
 teachiuLTs of our faith. I have now visited such 
 missions in many parts of the world, and never 
 saw one which was not healing, helping, bless- 
 ing ; softening prejudice, diminishing suffering, 
 making an end of many of the cruelties which 
 proceed from ignorance, restoring sight to the 
 blind, limbs to the crippled, health to the sick, 
 telling, in every work of love and of consecrated 
 skill, of the infinite compassion of Him who came 
 *not to destroy men's lives, but to save them.'"^ 
 Sir William Muir, who has had rare opportuni- 
 ties of competent observation in the East, says 
 on the same point : "Throughout Eastern lands, 
 indeed, and especially amongst Mahometans, 
 the Christian hakccni is ahvays respected, and 
 always welcome ; and the gospel which he carries 
 in one hand is graciously received, because ol the 
 material benefits held out by the other. And so it 
 comes to pass that healing remedies, and kindly 
 
 ^ Luke 9 : 56. 
 
Calls for Healing in the East. 3 1 7 
 
 tR-atmrnt ot the siitfcring, become an imjiortant 
 means ot making the missionary popuhir. and [ire- 
 paring the soil for reception of the gospel." 
 
 A good illustration of the value of the medical 
 missionary as a pioneer agency of the gosj)el, in 
 the East, is furnished in the experience of Dr. 
 Allen who went from America to Korea. During 
 a political outbreak, soon after his arrival there, 
 ]\lin Vong Ik, a nephew of the king, was severely 
 wounded. "When Dr. Allen was called to ]\lin 
 Yong Ik, he found thirteen native doctors tr\inLr 
 to stanch his wounds bv fillin<f them with wax. 
 Standing aside tor the young missionary, they 
 KK)ked on with amazement while he tied the 
 arteries and sewed up the gaping wounds. Thus 
 in a few minutes a revolution was effected in the 
 medical treatment of the kino^dom, at the same 
 time an incalculable vantaLTe-irround was thus 
 gained for the introduction of the gospel." The 
 young prince said afterwards to Dr. Allen : "Our 
 people cannot believe that \ou came from Amer- 
 ica: they insist that you must have dropped trom 
 heaven for this special crisis." 
 
 The "medical mission" was inaugurated by 
 our Lord himself, as a proof (^'i his divine min- 
 
i8 
 
 Sliidics ill Oriciilal Social Life 
 
 istry, wlicn he "healed .ill that were sick : that 
 it nii_L;ht he fiihilled which was spoken by Isaiah' 
 the prophet, saying, Himself took our iiitn-niities, 
 and bare our diseases.'"'^ And this mission will 
 not be outgrown in any land of the East until 
 that other prophecy of Isaiah shall be fulfilled for 
 that land: "And the inhabitant shall not say, I 
 am sick : [and] the people that dwell therein 
 shall be forgiven their iniquity."-' 
 
 1 See Isa. 53 : 4. '^ Matt. 8 : 16, 17. Msa. 33 : 24. 
 
GOLD AND SILVER IN THE DESERT. 
 
 One of the puzzling things in the Bible story 
 of the wandering Israelites is the abundance of 
 gold and silver and precious stones which those 
 fugitive slaves appear to have had ready on any 
 call for religious gifts and offerings in the wilder- 
 ness. Although they had been held in bitter 
 bondage for irenerations, and therefore might 
 fairly be counted poor in this world's goods, they 
 first supplied golden ear-rings in sufficitMit quan- 
 tity for a molten calf; and then, when that gold 
 
 22 
 
 319 
 
320 Sfitdics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 had Ix'cn taken from them ami dcstroN-ccl,' they 
 responded to the summons lor the tabernacle 
 buildine and furnishuio- with such an abundance 
 of gold and silver ornaments, and of costly jew- 
 els, as wouUl j)ut to shame the contributions of 
 wealthy fivers in the richer cities of the? world 
 to-day in their highest enthusiasm of church erec- 
 tion. Can this l)e reasonable and consistent? 
 
 The mention, by a mistranslation in the author- 
 ized version of our English Bibk;, of the fa(5l that 
 the departing slaves had ^'borrowed"- jewels 
 of gold and jewels of silver, every man of his 
 neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, in 
 the land of Egypt, without a thought of ever re- 
 turning them, only threw a shade, in the popular 
 mind, over the morality of the IsraeHtes, without 
 sufficiently making clear the possibility of their 
 seemingly abounding wealth. Here again it is 
 that light is found in the unchanging peculiarities 
 of the lands and the people of Egypt and Arabia. 
 
 To this day the women of both Egypt and 
 Arabia adorn themselves with gold and silver 
 coins and other ornaments, to an extent quite 
 unknown in more enlightened lands, and far be- 
 
 ^ Exod. 32 ; 20. " Exod. 12 ; 35. 
 
Gold and Silver in the Desert. 32 1 
 
 yond their apparent wealth, as shown in their 
 frarments or their dweUins^s. Bracelets, anklets, 
 ear-rings, nose-rings, finger-rings, brooches, neck- 
 laces, and ornaments for the hair, are seen, not 
 alone on the persons of the rich, l)ut on those 
 also who are scantily and coarsely clad, and who 
 live ill mud huts. Several causes combint; to give 
 prominence and permanency to this custom. 
 
 There are no savings banks in those lands, in 
 which to deposit one's accumulations, nor are 
 there any safe modes of investment at usury. 
 The lack of confidence between man and man 
 makes each person cling to what he has, as in 
 safe hands only while it is in his own hands. He 
 hoards cash as a Christian in America does in a 
 time of financial panic. Therefore each new gold 
 or silver coin, as it is obtained, is likely to be 
 pundured, and attached by a wire to the string 
 of coins already wound about the owner's head 
 or hantrinir from the neck ;^ and so the weight of 
 hoarded personal treasure grows. The more 
 oppressive a system of bondage becomes in such 
 a land, the more the enslaved will prize gold or 
 silver for its own sake, and the less regard will 
 
 ' Luke 15 ; y. 
 
o 
 
 2 2 Studies ill Oriental Social Life. 
 
 be paid by those of that class to outer dress, or 
 to an uncertain liome and its furnishing. 
 
 Moreover, the system of polygamy, with its ini- 
 quities and hardships, prevaiUng in those lands 
 to-day, as it prevailed in the days of Moses, tends 
 to make this loading of the person with gold and 
 silver a temptation, and, in a certain sense, a 
 necessity, to the women there. A wife is likely to 
 be divorced at any time, and in such an event 
 she must leave her husband's house at once. 
 But she has an undisputed right to the posses- 
 sion of whatever is upon her person at that time, 
 even though there may be disputes about her 
 right of dowry. Hence it is an obje(;:t of interest 
 to a woman to have as large a treasure as possi- 
 ble upon her person at all times, as it may prove, 
 in an emergency, her only means of support. 
 
 Whatever causes may have led to this habit at 
 the outset, the fa6l of it is indisputable ; and the 
 people themselves would perhaps be unable to 
 tell why they indulge in it. The hoarding of gold 
 and silver in coin, and in ornaments for the per- 
 son, is wellnigh universal in those lands. It be- 
 gins in infancy. As the child grows in years, 
 constant additions are made to its stock of pre- 
 
Gold and Silver in the Desert. 323 
 
 cioiis metals in personal adornings. A bride's 
 dowry is hung iii)on her person. A wife's weal Lli 
 is carried there. The men, meantime, store their 
 treasures in coin and jewels out ot sight, but not 
 out of mind. 
 
 As we were traveling in the upper desert, near 
 the site of Kadesh-barnea, late one evening, there 
 was a sudden halt in the camel-train, and a jab- 
 bering in Arabic was heard among our Bed'ween 
 attendants in the darkness. Asking what had 
 happened, we were told that my camel-driver 
 had lost a lot of gold and silver coin, and wanted 
 to stop and hunt for it. The driver had every 
 appearance of poverty; there were no ornaments 
 of gold or silver on his person, and he had not 
 yet been paid for his present camel-service ; but 
 in a knotted corner of a coarse girdle, wound 
 about his single short and dirty cotton garment, 
 there had been tied uj) a stock of gold and silver 
 that would have supi)lied him with parched corn 
 or barley Hour for tlu; rcMiiainder of his natural 
 life. The kr.ot in his girdle slipping, as he fin- 
 gered it complacently in \\\v. darkness, his money 
 had suddenly gone from him, and that was the 
 cause of the jabbering. Then it was that a Yan- 
 
;24 Siicdics in Orioilal Social Life. 
 
 kee pockct-lantcrn did good service with its small 
 wax taper; and as its light pointed out the miss- 
 ing money on the desert, there was a new light 
 shed on the Bible story of the gold and silver in 
 that same desert forty centuries ago. 
 
 That this has been the state of things in all 
 the intervening ages, in both Egypt and Arabia, 
 the testimony of sacred and profane history 
 bears ample witness. Look at the paintings and 
 sculptures of the Egyptian tombs and temples, 
 in evidence of this ! See also the treasures of 
 gold and silver and precious stones, in the shape 
 of personal ornaments, unearthed from the 
 tombs of Egypt, and gathered in the museums 
 at Boolaq, Turin, the Louvre, and London. 
 
 Read the story of Gideon's triumph over the 
 Midianites at the plain of Jezreel, and of his 
 request for a share of the spoil in this very line 
 in the days of the Judges! "And Gideon said 
 unto them, I would desire a request of you, that 
 ye would give me every man the earrings of his 
 spoil. (Eor they had golden earrings, because they 
 were Ishmaelites. ) " ^ The Bed'ween of to-day are 
 descendants of those Ishmaelites. "And they 
 
 ijudg. ti : 24. 
 
Gold and Silver in the Pcscrt. 325 
 
 answcrctl, We will williiigl)- give them. Aiul 
 they spread a i^arment, and did cast therein 
 every man tlu; earrings of his s[)oil. And the 
 weight of the golden earrings that he requested 
 was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of 
 gold; beside the crescents and pendants, and the 
 purple raiment that was on the kings [shaykhs] 
 of Midian. and beside the chains that were about 
 their camels' necks." ^ 
 
 To-day the goldsmiths and silversmiths of the 
 bazaars of Cairo and Jerusalem and Damascus 
 are multiplying the personal ornaments of the 
 women and children of the East to an extent 
 unknown in the newer countries of the West, 
 but ahvays prevailing in the unchanged and un- 
 changeable lands of Egy[)t, Arabia, and Syria. 
 And on the desert to-day the Bed'ween men and 
 women have gold and siKer ornaments upon 
 their persons, and gold and siKer coin hoarded 
 away from sight, to an extent which brings the 
 Bible story of the treasured wealth of the Israel- 
 ites in that desert within the limits ot entire 
 reasonableness and probabilit)'. 
 
 J have seen a Bed'wy woman, in that desert, 
 
 'JudJ3^ 8 : 24-26. 
 
326 S/ II dies ill Oriental Social Life. 
 
 with a single scanty and filthy bhic cotton gar- 
 ment, hurrying out of sight into licr coarse black 
 goats' hair ttiil, iairl)- weighted down with lu r 
 swaying head-dri-ss and necklace of hanging 
 coins, and with hcax)' nose- ring and ear-rings 
 and brac(.:lets and anklets of silver. 
 
 An old sha)-k]i, in mid-desert, whose dress be- 
 sj)oke a disregard of appearances if not a lack 
 ol means, asked ni)' intercession in sectiring the 
 release of his nephew from custody at Jerusalem. 
 1 le was ready to pay a thousand dollars, it neces- 
 sary for the employment of an English-speak- 
 ing lawyer, and other thou.sands, if \\v,vx\ l)e, for 
 a ransom. lie had the hoartled gold, and he 
 could have brought it out if he had really l)e- 
 come inten^sted in the casting of a golden calf 
 or the builduig ami liu'nishing of a tabernacK.'. 
 ll, indeed, no su( h use was made ol il, he would 
 pass it down to his children; and so its accumu- 
 lations woidd increase, generation by generation, 
 in his tribe and household. 
 
 1 lajji Tarfa, sha)kh of the Affej tribes in Pjaby- 
 lonia, on whose: protection the members of the 
 Babylonian exploring expedition, sent out b)' the 
 University of Pennsylvania, depended while ex- 
 
Gold and Silver in the Desert. 2>'^'J 
 
 cavatinij;- at Niffcr, is said to have fully / 150,0x30 
 in <jold coin hoardcul and l^iricd. \\x lie makes 
 no show of wealth, and he lives as plainly as any 
 ordinary Arab shaykh. 
 
 And now as to the "borrowini^" of the jewels 
 of gold and jewels of silver, by th(! departing 
 Israelit(;s from their Egyptian neighbors, oxcr 
 which there have been so many carpings ])y evil- 
 disposed critics or by over-anxious readers '1 he 
 Hebrew word means "asking" not "bcjrrowing," 
 and is so translated in the Revised Version. '1 he 
 habit of asking a <nft from omt in whose service 
 a person has been, on the occasion of parting, is 
 universal in those kinds to-day — as always. I he 
 idea is very different from that of asking an alms ; 
 although a beggar will cr)' lor " l,'aklislic<-sh " 
 (a gift) for the ])urpose of raising the level ol his 
 request for assistance. 
 
 If an Oriental has served you, he expects to 
 be ncjt only paid for the service according to the 
 stipulated rate, but also to receive from you a 
 gift when he leaves you, as a t(jken ol )our 
 friendship, anfl as a proof of ycnir satisfacti(jn 
 with him. This is not in the case of menials 
 alone : it is the same all the way up t«j those in 
 
328 S/n(/ii's ill Oriental Social Life. 
 
 highest authority. Shaykh Moosa, chief shaykh 
 of the Tawarah Arabs, who took charge of our 
 party from Cairo to Sinai, and thence northward 
 to Castle Nakhl, was a man of character and 
 abihty, and of ample means also. A formal con- 
 trad; was made with him to convoy our party 
 over that route for a certain specified sum, bakh- 
 sheesh included ; but when we were at our jour- 
 ney's end with him, we found that unless we 
 gave him a special "gift" at parting, we should 
 seem to be lackins^ in satisfaction with his ser- 
 vices ; therefore we added a coin of gold to his 
 hoard, and gladdened his heart in so doing. 
 
 And the Egyptian military governor at Castle 
 Nakhl was glad to have us recognize his services 
 • — in entertaining us with true Oriental hospital- 
 ity — by paying his full price for a nominal guard 
 over our tents, and then adding as a parting 
 "trift" to himself a showy red silk handkerchief 
 and a box of Alexandria fig-paste. If we had 
 not been thoughtful enough to proffer these gifts 
 without beinjj asked, we should doubtless have 
 been reminded, as were the Egyptians of old, 
 that a {)arting "gift" was what might fairly be 
 expected under the circumstances. 
 
Gold and Silver ill tJic Pcscj^t. 329 
 
 A good illustration of this way of asking- a 
 parting "gift" was furnished by our accomplished 
 and faithful drao^oman, Muhammad Ahmad. He 
 was a man of intelligence and of wealth, the 
 owner of several houses in Alexandria. He had 
 no need to be in service as a dragoman ; in facl, 
 it was probably a loss to him pecuniarily ; but he 
 enjoyed the occupation, and followed it with en- 
 thusiasm. Our contracl: with him was a written 
 one. By its terms, all expenses — bakhsheesh for 
 himself, tor his attendants, and for our escorts, 
 included — were to be covered by the stipulated 
 price. As we neared our journey's end, how- 
 ever, he asked a "gift" of me ; not an outright 
 gift at parting, but the promise of something to 
 be sent to him from America, as a token of my 
 remembrance ot him, and as a proof to others 
 that he had served me satisfactoril)'. He even 
 told me what he would like the " ofift " to be : it 
 was a traveling valise ol a peculiar construction, 
 like one I had with me on the journey. 1 will- 
 ingly gave him a promise accordingl)-, and he 
 fretpiently reminded mc; of it afterwards. 
 
 A few days before we finally parted, Muham- 
 mad came to one ot my young friends, and, 
 
330 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 stating the case to him dchberatcly, he asked 
 whether he thought that Mr. Trumbull would take 
 offense if he should request him to discount that 
 promise before we separated, and give him its 
 value in hard cash.^ Being told of this, I spoke 
 to the dragoman about it, and he expressed the 
 hope that I would not think him grasping, but 
 really he would like a "gift" in his hands while 
 I was yet with him. Accordingl)', I gave him 
 the money desired, and as he thanked me he 
 suggested that I could yet send him something 
 from America, if I felt so disposed. This was not 
 begging — of course not ; but it was a way they 
 have in Egypt, and that they had there in the 
 days of Moses. 
 
 When Dr. Hilprecht journeyed into the Le- 
 banon region, he had a muleteer who was com- 
 mended to him by the sisters of the Prussian 
 hospital of the Knights of St. John, at Beyrout. 
 At the close of his journey he paid the man in 
 full according to the terms of his agreement. 
 Then the man asked for bakhsheesh. Dr. Hil- 
 precht protested that he had barely money enough 
 left to pay his fare to Alexandretta. But the 
 
 ' Matt. 5 ; 42. 
 
Gold and Si/vci' hi tJic Desert. 331 
 
 muU^tt^cr would not be; consolctl except with a 
 oift in casli. He said that \\v. could not face the 
 sisters who had commended him unless he could 
 show them bakhsheesh on his return, in i)roof of 
 his faithful serxdce. So Dr. Hilprecht had to 
 give him his last two mejeedis, and in conse- 
 quence to go without food for fifty-two hours. 
 Thus imperative is the demand for a gift to a 
 servant on parting \vith him. 
 
 It was in accordance with this very custom — 
 then, as now, universal and well understood in 
 the East — that the Lord said, by Moses, to the 
 long-oppressed and hard-working Israelites who 
 were to go out from Egypt into the land which 
 the Lord had prepared for them : "I will give 
 this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians : 
 and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye 
 shall not go empty : but every woman shall ask 
 of her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her 
 house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and 
 raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, 
 and upon your daughters ; and ye shall spoil 
 [carry away the treasures of] the Egyptians." ^ 
 It was not in dishonesty or unfairness, nor by any 
 
 ' Exod. 3 ; 21, 22. 
 
332 Studies in Oricnial Social Life 
 
 deceit or niisrcprcscMitatioii, but it was the most 
 natural thing- in the world, that "the children of 
 Israel did according to the word of Moses; and 
 they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and 
 jewels of gold, and raiment : and the Lord gave 
 the people favor in the sight of the Eg'yptians, 
 so that they let them have what they asked." ^ 
 And so it was that the Israelites had an abun- 
 dant store of gold and silver in the desert. 
 
 ' Exod. 12 : 35, 36. 
 
THE PILGRIMAGE IDEA IN THE EAST. 
 
 A traveler in the East is sure to be impressed 
 by the prominence and intluence of the pilgrim 
 age idea, as shown among different peoples, in 
 different countries, and for different apparent 
 reasons. And the more a student of i)rimitive 
 customs thinks about this thing, the more sug- 
 gestive to him it is in its fads and teachings. 
 At hrst thought, a pilgrimage might seem to be 
 a mere plan of visiting a sacred site or shrine in 
 companies ; but when thci sc'ntimt.-nt connected 
 
 with the journc;ying itself is considered, and when 
 
 333 
 
334 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 its acc(im|)aninicnt ol lonnal circuits and other 
 specified movements are taken into account, it is 
 obvious that there is a syml)oHsm in |)ilLi;-rimage 
 that is of widespread acceptance in the East, and 
 is reco_q"nized to a greater or less extent in other 
 parts ot the world. 
 
 In Rq-ypt I found the season of the annual 
 great Hajj, or ])ilgrimage t(3 Meccah, employed 
 as a date from which, or toward which, time was 
 popularly reckoned ; and the men who had borne 
 a part in that Hajj were held in honor as hajj is 
 because of their meritorious performance. On 
 the desert of Arabia I came more than once on the 
 track of the Hajj from Suez to Aqabar, dotted, 
 as it was, with the wayside graves of pilgrims 
 who had finished their course before their fellows, 
 and whose resting-place was marked only by little 
 stone heaps. And I saw along that route seve- 
 ral skeletons of camels, complete or partial, not- 
 withstanding the doubt that has been often ex- 
 pressed as to the existence, on the desert track, 
 of such signs of giving out by the way. At one 
 of the more prominent stopping- places of the 
 Hajj in the desert for rest and water, the ground 
 for an extensive circuit was trodden down, in 
 
TJic PUg7'image Idea in the East. 335 
 
 proof of the multitudes of pilgrims who hatl made 
 their temporary camp there year after year. 
 
 As I approached Jerusalem from Hebron, seven 
 days before the lieginninq; of llol)- Week, I saw 
 all alonf^ the wa)- pilgrims journeyinc^ toward the 
 Holy City. Outside of the Jafia (iatc, and just 
 inside also, wen; pilgrims who had recently ar- 
 rived. The open place in front of the Church 
 of the Holy Sepulcher was thronged like a Cairo 
 bazaar with sight-seers, and with various sellers 
 and buyers of rosaries and crucifixes and relics 
 and amulets and pictures and colored candles and 
 gold-tlecked incense cakes, and glass and metal 
 ornaments, and fruits and sweets. 
 
 There were Syrians, Turks, Persians, Russians, 
 Egyptians, Nubians, Abyssinians, Europeans, and 
 Americans ; Greek and Latin and Maronite and 
 Armenian and Coptic Christians ; also Muham- 
 madans and jews — for Jews could be sight-seers 
 and trinket -sellers even though they were not 
 reverent pilgrims to that shrine. Every shade 
 of complexion and every style of dress were repre- 
 sented there. Each day of the next fortnight 
 added to the multitude, with no lessening of it 
 
 at any point. 
 
 ^ ^ 23 
 
336 Studies in Orie7ital Social Life. 
 
 For a week after reaching Jerusalem our 
 party had its tents on the crown of the Mount of 
 OHves, under the very walls of the Chapel of 
 the Ascension. Pilgrims in an almost constant 
 stream were comincf and cfoint^ amoncf the sa- 
 cred sites of that locality. They were from all 
 parts of the East, and from Europe and America 
 as well. Very many of them were Muhamma- 
 dans ; for the Chapel of the Ascension is at- 
 tached to a Muhammadan mosk, and in charge 
 of a darweesh, but the larger number of pilgrims 
 were Greek Christians. Inside the chapel is an 
 indentation in the rock, said to be a footprint 
 of Jesus, made at the moment of his ascension. 
 The French bishop Arculf, who visited this spot 
 as a pilgrim nearly eleven hundred years ago, 
 says that then the prints of both feet were to be 
 seen in the dust of the ground within the church, 
 " and although the earth is daily carried away 
 by believers, yet still it remains as before, and 
 retains the same impression of the feet." 
 
 "Can you tell me where I can find the foot 
 prints of Jesus?" was a question asked of us by 
 the pilgrims to that site. And that question was 
 easy of answer by us ; " The footprints of Jesus 
 
The Pilgrimage Idea in the East. 337 
 
 are to be louiul wherever his story is known. 
 You can not only look down at th(;m. but you 
 can walk in them. 'For hereunto were ye called: 
 because Christ also suffered for you, leaving- you 
 an example, that ye should follow^ his steps.' " ^ 
 As the oKl Collect has it: "We kiss Thy foot- 
 steps when we love Thy wa)-s, when we humble 
 ourselves and walk in Thy paths." 
 
 On the Monday of Holy Week our party started 
 northw^ard. Going down the slope of the Mount 
 of Olives, we passed an almost unbroken line 
 of pilgrims. Some were clambering toward the 
 Chapel of the Ascension ; others were kneeling 
 at the Tomb of the Virgin ; yet others were turn- 
 ing aside into the Garden of Gethsemane. All 
 parts of Syria, Turkey, Greece, Lower Egypt and 
 Upper, were represented among them. The men 
 were on foot. The women and children w'ere on 
 clonk(?VS, or in baskets swungf across tht; donkeys. 
 In some instances two or three old women were 
 in a single basket, balanced, of course, by a like 
 weieht of women or children on the other side 
 of the overloaded donkey. 
 
 From opposite the Damascus Gate, we went 
 
 ' I Pet. 2 : 21. 
 
338 Studies ill Oriental Social Life. 
 
 along the road toward Nazareth, down which the 
 panMits of Jesus came "every year to J(;riisalem 
 at the feast of the passover,"' — the road by 
 which he probably came when he first made the 
 journey with them at this season of the year. 
 Th(; ])il^rini line was alwa)s in sight. More than 
 on(' lad of twelve was with his pan^nts, in parties 
 which \\v. met and passed that day. We saw one 
 stranger overtake a loitering group of pilgrims, 
 and join them with an Eastern greeting, much 
 as might have been the manner of those who, 
 at the close of the first Easter, "were going 
 that very day to a village named Emmaus, which 
 was threescore furlongs from Jerusalem. And 
 they communed with each other of all these 
 things which had happened. And it came to 
 pass, while they communed and questioned to- 
 gether, that Jesus himself drcnv near, and went 
 with them.'"" 
 
 The wondering question of those travelers 
 to their new companion, wdien he seemed in 
 io-norance of the all-absorbinc;- theme of thought 
 and converse among the Galileans at the Pass- 
 over feast, shows that he and they were counted 
 
 * Luke 2:41. ^ Luke 24: 13-15. 
 
Tlic Pi/oriinai^e Idea in the East. 339 
 
 '<b ' """.b 
 
 as a part of tlic great pilgrim host of then. 
 "Dost thou alone sojourn in Jerusalem and 
 not know the things which are come to pass 
 there in these elavs ? " ^ Art thou the only one 
 of the pilij-rims to the Holv Citv who knows 
 nothing of the great event of this year's Holy 
 Week ? 
 
 Our first night's stop — we could not call it rest 
 — was at a spring known as Robbers' Fountain. 
 All through the night, groups or caravans of 
 pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem were coming 
 into that wild valley from the north, and pushing 
 up and out again southward after a brief halt 
 there for refreshing at the spring. Night is a 
 favorite time for traveling in Palestine during 
 the warmer season of the year. These pilgrims 
 were sometimes accompanied by musicians, and 
 always seemed bent on making as much noise as 
 possible. They were a good deal more success- 
 ful in their efforts, so far. than we were in ours — 
 at ijettinLT an undisturbed nap. 
 
 The pilgrimage idea was an old one long be- 
 fore the days of our Lord. It shows itself but it 
 did not oriLrinate. in the divine command at the 
 
 O 
 
 1 Luke 24 ; iJj. 
 
340 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 lips of the great lawgiver to Israel : "Three times 
 in a year shall all thy males appear before the 
 Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose ; 
 in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast 
 of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles : and 
 they shall not appear before the Lord empty." ^ 
 Here a pilgrimage was recognized as a duty in- 
 cumbent on every household head ; for the form 
 of the command implies that the place which the 
 Lord should choose w^ould be at such a distance 
 from many homes that it could be visited by all 
 only on occasions, and at the cost of an extended 
 journey. And long before this the Hebrews had 
 know^n of the Egyptian pilgrimages to the sacred 
 sites of Bubastis and Busiris and Sais and Heli- 
 opolis, including, according to the extravagant 
 estimate reported by Herodotus, as many as 
 seven hundred thousand pilgrims annually at the 
 first-named of these sites. 
 
 It would seem from many references to the 
 matter in the Bible, and from the place given to 
 the thought in outside religions, that the pil- 
 grimage idea represents the course of a child of 
 God in his life's journey through a land of train- 
 
 ' Dcut. i6 ; 16. 
 
TJic PilgriiJiaoc Idea in tJic East. 34 1 
 
 xwg toward the r'athcr's house beyond. Thus 
 when God would <rather out from the race a 
 pecuhar covenant people, he called its proi^enitor 
 Abraham to be a pilgrim, beginning a journey 
 the end of which he could not yet know/ And 
 the life of Abraham was one of continuous pil- 
 grimage. When, again, the patriarch Jacob was 
 asked his age by Pharaoh, he answered by a figure 
 which is given as if even then intelligible to all : 
 "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an 
 hundred and thirty years : few and evil have been 
 the days of the years of my life, and have not 
 attained unto the days of the years of the life 
 of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage." 
 
 "Thy statutes have been my songs in the 
 house of my pilgrimage,"'^ says the Psalmist, 
 His exclamation, rendered in our version, "I had 
 rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, 
 than to dwell in the tents of wickedness," * con- 
 veys, in the original, the idea of one who has 
 come as a glad pilgrim to the sanctuary en- 
 trance, and prefers that [)lace to a more luxu- 
 rious abode elsewhere; as if it were to be para- 
 
 * Gen. 12:1. ^ Gen. 47 ; 9. 
 
 ^ Psa. 1 lij : 54. * Psa. 84 : 10. 
 
342 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 phrased : " I choose the toilsome pili^rrim life of 
 Abraham toward 'the city which hath the founda- 
 tions,'' rather than the abode of Lot in the ease- 
 supplying' city of Sodom. "^ 
 
 As to the idea of the Hajj among Muham- 
 madans, Professor Palmer says that it "is a very 
 ancient institution, and one which . . . Moham- 
 med could not. if he would, have abolished," 
 And Sir Richard Burton adds : "The word ' Hajj ' 
 is explained by Moslem divines to mean ' Kasd ' 
 or 'aspiration,' and to express man's sentiment 
 that he is but a wayfarer on earth, wending to- 
 wards another and a nobler world. This explains 
 the origin and the belief that the greater the 
 hardships the higher will be the reward of the 
 pious wanderer. . . . Hence it is that pilgrimage 
 is common to all old faiths." 
 
 The colleclion of sacred psalms (Psalms 120- 
 134) known as "Songs of Degrees," or "Songs 
 of the Goings Up," is supposed to have been 
 compiled for the Hebrew pilgrims, in their an- 
 nual goings up to Jerusalem to keep holy day 
 before the Lord in his temple. Take, for ex- 
 ample, the second of these psalms : 
 
 ^ Heb. 1 1 : 10. ' Gen. 13 : 12. 
 
The Pilgi'imagc Idea in the East. 343 
 
 " I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains: 
 From whence shall my help come ? 
 My help cometh from the Lord, 
 Which m.ule heaven and e.irtli. 
 
 lie will nut sutfer thy fool to l)c moved; 
 
 He that keepeth thee will not slumber. 
 
 15eholil, he that kcci)elh Israel 
 
 Shall neither slumber nor sleep. 
 
 The Lord is th\ keeper : 
 
 The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand, 
 
 The sun shall not smite thee by day, 
 
 Nor the moon by night. 
 
 The Lord shall keep thee frcMir all evil ; 
 
 He shall keep thy soul. 
 
 The Lord shall keep thy going out and thy coming in, 
 
 From this time forth antl for evermore." ' 
 
 As Dr. Samuel Cox says : "The local color of 
 this charming" poem is rich and abundant. The 
 allusions to help coming trom over the moun- 
 tains, to the watch set when the caravan halted 
 for the night, to sunstroke and moonstroke, all 
 carry our thoughts to the East, and are charad:er- 
 istically Oriental in their tone. The best English 
 commcntalor k^w the Psahns K-ans lo liic im[)res- 
 sion that this was 'the song siuig by the cara\an 
 of pilgrims going up to the )\'arly feasts, when 
 first they came in sight of the mountains on 
 which Jerusalem stands.' " 
 
 ' I'sa. 121. 
 
;44 Sttidics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 As if to make it clear to the Israelites that the 
 pilgrimage idea must not be lost sight of by 
 those who lived so near the tabernacle or the 
 temple that they need not make a journey to 
 reach it, the third feast of each year included the 
 going out ot all the people to dwell in booths, or 
 huts of boughs, in symbolism ot the pilgrim life 
 of the people of God. "Ye shall dwell in booths 
 seven days ; all that are homeborn in Israel shall 
 dwell in booths : that your generations may know 
 that I made the children of Israel to dwell in 
 booths, when I brought them out of the land of 
 Egypt: I am the Lord your God."^ 
 
 Of the three great feasts of Israel, the Feast 
 of Tabernacles is the only one of which the 
 symbolism is yet unfulhlled. And did not these 
 three feasts in a peculiar sense symbolize, or rep- 
 resent, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost? 
 Surely the Passover was fulfilled in Christ ; "for 
 our passover also hath been sacrificed, even 
 Christ,"" This was the first ot the three leasts. 
 Pentecost" came next, commemorating the giving 
 of the Law as our guide. This also was tul- 
 filled by the coming of the Holy Spirit to guide 
 
 ^ Lev. 23 : 42, 43. ^ I Cur. 5 : 7. ^ Actb 2:1. 
 
The Pilgi'iDiagc Idea in the East. 345 
 
 us into all truth. But the Feast of Tabernacles, 
 which commemorated and symbolized the i)il- 
 erim life of the children of God on tlu-ir way to 
 the Father's house, is not yet fuUiUed ; nor can 
 it be until all of those children have reached 
 their home. There is a saying among the Jews, 
 that, while the other two feasts shall be fulfilled, 
 the Feast of Tabernacles shall never cease until 
 all things are accomplished. 
 
 In this light, there is a pregnant meaning to 
 the pilgrimage idea, as it shows itself in every 
 form of religion, and as it is manifested so pecu- 
 liarly at Easter season in the Holy Land. It 
 represents, however vaguely, that consciousness 
 of beino- absent from the Father's home while 
 yet present in the body, 
 
 " Here in tlie body jicnt, 
 
 Abbcnl iVoni liim I ro.iin ; 
 Yet uiLjhtly pitch my in()\ in^,^ tent 
 A day's nuin h nc.ncr iioine." 
 
 The writer of Hebrews, recalling the long line 
 of godly witnesses for the truth, from the days 
 of righteous Abel to the successors of Ste[)hen in 
 martyrdom, declares that "these all died in faith, 
 
 . . and . . . confessed that they were strangers 
 
346 Studies In Oriental Social Life. 
 
 and i)ilL,n'ims on the earth." ^ And Peter ad- 
 dresses us all in the exhortation, "Beloved, 1 be- 
 seech you as sojourners and pilgrims, to abstain 
 [in your pilgrimag'e of life] from fleshly lusts, 
 which war against the soul." '^ 
 
 And is it not an indication of the universality 
 of this idea, that the one religious book which 
 comes next to the Bible in perennial freshness 
 as a truthful exhibit of Christian experience 
 among English-speaking peoples is the "Pil- 
 grim's Progress " ? 
 
 But closely connetled with the pilgrimage idea 
 is the moving in a circle, from east to west, or 
 in the course of the sun, around a center of 
 sacred interest. This also would seem to sym- 
 bolize the completing of an earthly course — mak- 
 intr the full round of life. 
 
 The Hebrew word ehag, like its Arabic equiva- 
 lent, hajj, represents both a festival and a pil- 
 p-rimaee circuit. It is the word which is used in 
 the request of Moses to Pharaoh to permit the 
 Hebrews to go a "three days' journey into the 
 wilderness," to "hold a feast" (a chag), or to 
 make a series of circuits, as a religious observ- 
 
 ' Hel>. 11:13. ^ I I'et. 2: II. 
 
The Pilg7'uiiage Idea in the East. 347 
 
 ancc.^ The Feast of Tabernacles'- is the chag, 
 or hajj, of booths or tc:nts. And when the He- 
 brew pilgrim band had reachc.-d the Promised 
 Land it moved in formal procession across the 
 Jordan bed, folic )winL;' the ark of the covenant,'' 
 and then, ha\ ing compassed the city of Jericho 
 six da)s in succession, on the seventh day it com- 
 passed the city seven times, until "the wall t(-ll 
 down Hat, so that the; people went up into the 
 city, every man straight before him;"^ and the 
 pilgrims were in their new earthly home. 
 
 In the days of the temple worship, the priests 
 were accustomed to form in procession, and to 
 make the circuit of the altar, on every one of the 
 seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles. And 
 on the seventh day they made that circuit seven 
 times. It was "on the last day, the great day 
 of the feast," while the procession, following the 
 priest who had brought water from Siloam to 
 pour it out in libation at the altar, that Jesus 
 "stood and cried, saying. If any man thirst, let 
 him come unto me, and drink."' And it was at 
 that same feast that Jesus said, as if to all of 
 
 ' Exod. 5:1-3; see also 10:9. ' Lev. 33 ; 36. 
 
 3 Josh. 3 : 3-6. * Josh. 6:15, 16, 20. ^John 7 : 37. 
 
348 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 life's pilL^rims. " He that followeth mc shall not 
 walk in darkness, but shall have the light of 
 life."^ 
 
 It is a custom among- the modern Jews, in the 
 West as in the East, to make a sevenfold circuit 
 of the synagogue, in procession, following the 
 sacred roll, on the day after the close of the 
 great festival season of the year. This ceremony 
 is known as ''Rejoicing in the Law." 
 
 To the present day Christian pilgrims at Jeru- 
 salem, on Easter-tide, Greek and Roman Catho- 
 lic alike, make the circuit of the Holy Sepulcher 
 seven times in succession, at first slowly, and then 
 in increasingly rapid succession. 
 
 In the Greek Church, in Palestine as in Russia, 
 a newly married couple make together a three- 
 fold circuit of the altar before which they have 
 just pledged their mutual marriage vows. And 
 in the Roman Catholic Church, as also in the 
 English, the conventional "processional" circuit 
 would seem to be a survival of the symbolic pil- 
 grimage idea. 
 
 The Abbe DuBois tells of a custom, at a Hin- 
 doo wedding, of the bridegroom taking his bride 
 
 ijohn 8: 12. 
 
TJic Pil ovinia i^c Idea in fJic F.ast. 349 
 
 by the hand and making- the thr^c'fold circuit 
 with her of the fire on which he offers the sacri- 
 fice of the; " homam." This would seem to be 
 symbolic of the beginning of their pilgrimage of 
 life together. 
 
 At Meccah all the pilgrims from abroad, and 
 all the residents of the city, must make; at certain 
 times a sevenfold circuit of the Ka'bah, the first 
 three circuits being made slowly, and the last 
 four on a quick trot, in a manner similar to that 
 of the; Easter pilgrims to the Holy Sepulcher in 
 Jerusalem. Life's earlier years lag, but as life 
 goes on the speed of the years accelerates. The 
 Arabs of the Desert of Sinai also encircle, some- 
 what after the same fashion, the ancient tomb of 
 Neby Saleh ; and this is a part of the common 
 worship at the welee, or tomb, of any Arab saint. 
 
 Sir Monier Monier-Williams says of Booddhist 
 observances in India and elsewhere: "One com- 
 mon way of showing piety is by walking round 
 tt-mpk;s, monasteries, stupas, and sacred walls, 
 from east to west, keeping the right shoulder 
 towards them, and even occasionally measuring 
 the ground with the extended body." 
 
 M, Hue tells of the same custom among the 
 
350 Sf?idics jn Oriental Social Life. 
 
 Booddhists of Monc^olia and Tibet. Thousands 
 of pilgrims from China, Tibet, and Mongolia, 
 come each year in processions to sacred lama- 
 series, or monasteries of the Rooddhist lamas ; 
 and, b.ax'inLT reached their destination, they cir- 
 cuniamlndate the lamasery with prostrations in 
 prayer at every step of the way. "Sometimes 
 the number of devotees performing- together this 
 painful pilgrimage is perfectly prodigious," says 
 M. Hue. "They follow each other, in Indian 
 file, along a narrow path which encircles the en- 
 tire lamasery and its appendant buildings. . . . 
 Where the lamasery is of any extent, the devo- 
 tees have hard work to get through the ceremony 
 in the course of a long day, . . . The pilgrim- 
 age must be performed without intermission — so 
 stri(5lly that the pilgrims are not allowed to stop 
 for a moment, even to take a little nourishment. 
 . . . Each prostration must be perfect, so that 
 the body shall be stretched fiat along the ground 
 and the forehead touch the earth, the arms being 
 spread out before you, and the hands joined as if 
 in prayer." 
 
 Here would seem to be a representation of 
 life's pilgrimage, in its persistency, in its toilsome- 
 
The Pilgrimage Idea in the East. 35 i 
 
 ncss, and in its prayerfulness. "There arc vari- 
 ous modes of performing' the pilgrimage round 
 a himasery. Some pilgrims do not prostrate 
 themselves at all. but carry, instead, a load of 
 prayer-books, the exacl weight of which is pre- 
 scribed by the Grand Lama, and the burden of 
 which is so oppressive at times that you see old 
 mcMi, women, and children absolutely staggering 
 luuler it. When, however, they have successfully 
 completed the circuit, they are deemed to have 
 recited all the prayers contained in the books 
 they have carried," 
 
 Mr, Talcott Williams, describing various sur- 
 vivals of primitive rites and customs in North 
 Morocco, says of the "local pilgrimages" which 
 he observed there: "They occur all over the 
 East ; but I will confess to a new sensation as I 
 was told of the annual pilgrimage to the shrine 
 of Abd es-Salem (Servant of Peace), where his 
 descendant lived on the annual offeriuLTs, the sons 
 of the worthy man making no small scandal by 
 their grasping avarice, to which people went up 
 — men, women, and children — in companies of 
 two or three hundred, and which broke into a 
 
 solemn intoned chant when the distant shrine 
 
 24 
 
352 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 was seen, in which men and women went to lay 
 their offerings and pray for children. The fakirs 
 from this shrine came to one village fair I at- 
 tended, and compassed it with a solemn chant 
 of the Moslem creed and the Fathah or opening 
 chapter of the Koran ; and as I saw them pass 
 around with their banner inscribed with the sacred 
 name, and heard the slow rise and fall of their 
 Gregorian notes, I felt I might be listening to 
 sounds as old as the march of priest and Levite 
 in the desert." 
 
 There are vestiges of the primitive pilgrimage 
 idea in surviving customs of peoples of Europe 
 and America, as well as of Africa and Asia. Mrs. 
 C. F. Gordon-Cumming, in her sketches of life 
 " In the Hebrides," tells of such traces in lona. 
 Speaking of the old time, she says : "When the 
 dead were carried ashore in the Martyrs' Bay, 
 they were laid on the green hillock of Eala, the 
 Mound of the Burden, round which the funeral 
 company tJirice marched suuzcise in solemn proces- 
 sion, as they had been wont to do from time 
 immemorial, in common with many races, both 
 ancient and modern, in all parts ot the world. I 
 do not suppose this custom is even now wholly 
 
The Pilgrimage Idea in the East. 35 
 
 o r T 
 O 
 
 extincl:, for even on the more advanced mainland 
 ihc path to a church)ard is often led circuitously, 
 so as to ensure the corpse beinL,^ carried in the 
 more orthodox sunwise course, and the people 
 strongly oppose any short cut, which would inter- 
 fere with this beneficial circuit." 
 
 In Philadelphia, within a comparatively few 
 years, the body of an eminent Israelite was borne 
 in procession seven times round the synagogue 
 before bein^r removed for burial. And it is a 
 common sentiment, in different parts of the United 
 States, that a body ought not to be brought out 
 of a church by the same aisle that it was borne 
 along on its entrance, but that, in some way at 
 least, a circuit should be made with it. 
 
 Even the games of children, in so many of 
 which are survivals of primitive customs, include 
 the circuit pilgrimage idea. 
 
 '"Here we go ruuiul, round, round." 
 
 " Here we go round ihc mulberry bubh." 
 
 " Ring around tlie rosic." 
 
 Indeed, it would seem to be fair to infer that 
 the love of the formal procession and circuit at 
 weddinirs. at funerals, and on occasions ot dis- 
 play the world over, is but a phase ot this idea, 
 
154 Si It dies in Oricnial Social Life. 
 
 whicli would give renewed expression to the 
 thoLigiu in every thoughtful heart : 
 
 " I'm a pilgrim, and I'm a stranger; 
 1 can tarry, I can tarry but a night." 
 
 "So runs the round of life from hour to hour." 
 
AN OUTLOOK FROM JACOB'S WELL. 
 
 No spot in all the Holy Land was more lovely 
 and attractive in its natural scenery, and none 
 was richer in its varied associations of the earlier 
 and th(' later history of the peculiar people of the 
 Holy Land, than that re2;-ion which came within 
 the sweep of the eyes of Jesus of Nazareth, as he 
 sat down to rest !>)' the well which the patriarch 
 Jacob had dui; in the field that he liought of 
 the sons of Hamor, and gave to his loved son 
 Joseph.^ 
 
 ' Josh. 24 : 32. 
 
 355 
 
•56 Sf?if/irs in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 That well is on the western border of the Plain 
 of Miikhna. or the IMain of tlie Cornfields,, where 
 the Valley of Shechem opens from th<.' westward, 
 between \\\ii mountains, Ebal on the north and 
 Gerizim on the south, into the great caravan 
 route that runs northward and southward bt;- 
 tween the Nile and the Euphrates — as the hiij^h- 
 way of the nations from the far East to the ever- 
 extending- West. The reiii^ion itself is still the 
 one beautiful spot in central l^alestine. Away 
 from the extended fertile plain, with its signs of 
 varied and hopeful cultivation, there sweeps west- 
 ward between the mountains "a valley green 
 with grass, gray with olives, gardens sloping 
 down on every side, fresh springs rushing down 
 in all directions." Northward the snowy summit 
 of Hermon is seen in the far distance — beyond 
 the hills of Ephraim, which skirt this plain. East- 
 ward are the hills above the valley of the Jordan, 
 over against the Land of Gilead, and southward, 
 beyond Shiloh, are the hills which stand round 
 about Jerusalem northward. 
 
 The highway which was then the dire6l route 
 between Judea and Galilee (and near which is 
 the well of Jacob) was one of the roads which 
 
An Outlook frovi Jacol) s JIW/. 357 
 
 Kedor-la'omcr,' the I'^laniitc king-, sought to con- 
 trol in his memorable campaign — the first great 
 campaign of recorded history. It was a road 
 over which the mightiest rulers of Hgypt had 
 passed in their conquering sway — from th(; days 
 of Thotmes HI. and Set)' I. and Rameses II. 
 down to Shishak and Necho and tlie Ptolemies, 
 and along which I>enhadad and Hazael and 
 Rezin and Tiglath-pileser and Scnnacheril) and 
 Shalmaneser and Nebuchadnezzar, and Alexan- 
 der of Macedon also, had moved in their marches 
 of invasion and conquest. Yet never had that 
 road felt the tread of so mighty a ruler as the 
 Avay-worn traveler whose tired feet rested by that 
 well that da}', while his few humble followers had 
 turned from the highway into a neighboring city 
 to purchase bread. 
 
 The Valley of Shechem, in full sight of the 
 well of Jacob, was a very center, both geographi- 
 cally and historically, of the Land of Promise. 
 It was the first formal resting-place of Abra- 
 ham, in Canaan,- on his pilgrim way from Chal- 
 dea Egypt-ward. I'here Abraham reared the 
 earliest altar in all that land to Him who called 
 
 ^ Gen. 14 : 1-7. ^ tien. 12 : 5. 
 
358 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 liini. ill iinicjiK'ncss, his " iVicMKl." ' Jacob made 
 that spot his liomc also.- There he purchased 
 a liomestead lot, and, of course, lie diio^ a w H 
 there; for land has no value in the East unless 
 there is livinu; water within its bounds, at its 
 owner's control. W hen Joseph died in a royal 
 home in Egypt, his heart looked tcnvard Shechem 
 lor a burial-site, and he made, his brethren prom- 
 ise to carry his bones thither when their })ilg;rim 
 days were over. That promise they made good, 
 after strange vicissitudes.'' In that valley, ac- 
 cording to the command of Moses, the whole 
 land was formally dedicated to the God of Is- 
 rael in a solemn assembly of the people under 
 Joshua, '^ and Shechem itself was made a city of 
 refuge.^ 
 
 There again the people met from time to time 
 to renew their covenant vows toward Jeho\'ah, 
 There, on the plain, Abimelech, the first claim- 
 ant of royal honors in Israel, was declared kint> 
 in the days of the judges \^ and there, from one 
 of the mountain cliffs, still pointed out, his brother 
 
 ' Isa. 41:8; 2 Chron. 20 : 7 ; James 2 : 23. - Cen. 33 : 18. 
 
 ^ Gen. 50 : 24-26; Exod. 13 : 19; Josh. 24 : 32. 
 * Josh. 24 : 1-28. ^ Josh. 20 • 2, 7. ^ Judg. 9 : 6. 
 
An Outlook from JacoU s 1J\'//. 359 
 
 Jotham spoke his parable aL,^ai^st tliis 1)rief-lived 
 usurpation/ 
 
 There also, after the clays of royal splendor 
 under David and Solomon in Jerusalem, the 
 whole people gathered as of old in their sacred 
 trysting-place, to inauo^urate a successor to the 
 wisest of their monarchs ; and there the wise 
 king's foolish son wrought the folly that divided 
 for all time the kingdom of his fathers.- Then 
 then; followed the days of Jeroboam and Ahab 
 and Jehu and Jehoash and Hoshea, v.hile the 
 words of Elijah and his successors rang out from 
 time to time on the air of that mountain-girt re- 
 gion ; and fmally the temple, rivaling that of 
 restored Jerusalem, had stood for two centuries 
 on the summit of Gerizim, before its destruction 
 by Hyrcanus. 
 
 What crowding memories of the varied past, 
 and what teeming thoughts of the possible future, 
 of that center of interest to the descendants of 
 Israel, must have burdened the dream)- air about 
 the well of Jacob, as fesus sat there by himself, 
 in the absence of his disciples ! 
 
 As Jesus sat thus b)' th(; well, then; came a 
 
 ' Jiulg. 9 : 7-21. ^ I Kings 12:1; 2 Chron. 10 ; i. 
 
360 Siicdics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 Samaritan woman to draw water from th(; wcll.^ 
 It has been a pu/zle to many to know wh)' this 
 woman came from the city for water from tliis 
 well, wlien man)- other ooocl w(;lls were nearer ; 
 and no little ingenuity has been shown in the 
 various sugg-estions of her possible n^asons for so 
 cominc^. F)Ut the text does not say that she came 
 directly froni tin; cit)-, nor would it be natural to 
 suppose that she; did so. This was the well of 
 the cornfields, dug there for the express purpose 
 of providing water for those employed in the 
 sowing and the reaping of those fields. Women 
 were often encjaofed in the labor of the fields, or 
 in ministry to laborers there, and this Samaritan 
 woman seems to have been so employed. Com- 
 monly, the women drew water for the men, al- 
 though, as a special favor, it was said by Boaz to 
 Ruth, when sJic gleaned in th(? field with his 
 maidens: "When thou art athirst, go unto the 
 vessels, and drink of that which the young men 
 have drawn." " 
 
 In this instance the Samaritan woman seems 
 to have come up to the well from a remoter 
 portion of the great grain-field, to draw water 
 
 * John 4 • 5-14. * Ruth 2 : 9, 
 
A?i Outlook from Jacob's Well. 361 
 
 for herself or for those to wliom she was a 
 helper. It is even mentioned that when she was 
 prompted to return to her home for a special 
 purpose, she " left her water pot" — there by the 
 well in th«- field where it was needed — " and went 
 away [from her work] into the city."' Why it is 
 that this simple explanation of a natural incident 
 in an Oriental nrrain-field has escaped the notice of 
 commentators so oenerall)-, is in itself a mystery. 
 
 Jesus said to the woman : "Give me to drink." 
 Her answer was : " How is it that thou, being a 
 Jew, askest drink of me, which am a Samaritan 
 woman ?"''^ An Oriental would not as a rule 
 speak to a stranger woman ; far less would he 
 ask a drink froni her. In our day, and among us, 
 even an enemy might ask or receive a drink of 
 water without fear of compromising himself or his 
 opponent ; but not so in the East — in th(; olden 
 time or now. There, the giving and receiving of 
 a drink of \vat(;r is the seeking and the making 
 of a covenant of hospitalit)-, with all that that 
 covenant implies. It is not, ind(H'd, like a cove- 
 nant of blood, or a covenant of salt, indis- 
 soluble -. but it is like the covenant of bread- 
 
 'John4:28. ^john 4 : 7, 9. 
 
362 Sfitr/ics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 sliarinL^-. wlilcli makes a truce, for the time bcin^'- 
 between deadliest enemies, 
 
 Al^oolfeda tells, for exampl(% of \\m\ different 
 receptions awarded by Saladeen to the king of 
 the b>anks on the one hand, and to Prince 
 Arnald of Caracca on the other, when the two 
 Christian leaders were received in liis tent by 
 the vidorious Saracen, after th(^ battle of Hat- 
 teen. Saladeen seated the Christian king^ l^y his 
 side, and gave him drink cooled with snow. 
 When the king, having tasted it, offered it also 
 to Prince Arnald, Saladeen protested, saying, 
 "This wretch shall not drink of the water with 
 my permission, in which there would be safety 
 to him;" and then, rising up, he smote off the 
 head of the prince with his own sword. 
 
 Again, we are told, that when Hormozan, a 
 Persian ruler, surrendered to the khaleef Omar, 
 the successor of Aboo Bekr, and was brought a 
 prisoner into the presence of his captor, he asked 
 at once for a drink. "Omar asked him if he 
 Avere thirsty. ' No.' he said ; ' I onl\' wish to 
 drink in your presence, so that I may be sure of 
 my life.' He was assured that he might rest per- 
 fec^lly secure ; and that assurance was kept." 
 
An Outlook fro))i Jacol) s U\'ll. 363 
 
 The wonder of the Samaritan woman was that 
 a jew should seek, by askini; and receivuig- drink, 
 to make a h'iendly compact with a member ot a 
 hostile race. Yet Jesus was wilHng to show that 
 he would not holel liimseU" aloof from such as 
 she. When the disciples of Jesus had returned to 
 the well, and were wondering over tlu- lact that 
 their Master was in conversation there with a 
 Samaritan woman concerning the holiest truths 
 of their religion. Jesus gave them a lesson of les- 
 sons out of the faclis of the great grain-held 
 about them there. And that lesson it is which 
 all the followers of Jesus have reason to consider 
 anew to-day. 
 
 In Palestine, neither all the sowing nor all the 
 reaping of tin- fields is done at one and \\\v. same 
 season. As soon as one crop is out of the ground, 
 another is prepared for. Plowing and sowing 
 follow close after reaping and gleaning. Difterent 
 crops require different lengths of time for their 
 maturing ; and, as a consequence, the planting 
 for one crop will sometimes be going on while 
 another crop near it is \\(A yet ready tor the 
 harvest. As soon as the fields are cleared, m the 
 midsummer or in the early autumn, the ground is 
 
[64 Studies ill Oriental Social Life, 
 
 plowed, and the winter wheat or some other grain 
 is sowed, in advance of the rainy season. Again, 
 between the early and the latter rains of the 
 springtime there will be plowing, and the sow- 
 ing ot barley or oats or lentils lor a later crop. 
 
 In the second week in April, I saw on the 
 Plain of the Cornhelds, not far from Jacob's \\\1I, 
 the grain already well ripened toward the har- 
 vest ; while just southward of that region, and 
 again, two days later, just northward of it, I saw 
 plowing and planting going on. Indeed, I might 
 have been in doubt, from my own observations, 
 whether that were the time of seed-sowing or of 
 harvest; and so it is likely to have been in the 
 days of Jesus, 
 
 Whether this were the springtime or the early 
 winter, whether it were at noonday or at even- 
 tide, are points which have been much discussed 
 in connecflion with the Gospel narration of the 
 visit of Jesus. It would seem most natural, from 
 the story as it stands, to suppose that the season 
 was the springtime, and that the hour was noon- 
 day ; but, however that may be, it is obvious that 
 there were within the eye-sweep of Jesus and his 
 disciples the signs of seed-sowing on the one 
 
An Outlook from Jacob' s Well. 365 
 
 hand and of ripcnino;- harvest on the other ; and 
 that it was b)' caUing attention to these two pro- 
 cesses of nature in so close proximity of time and 
 space that Jesus taught the lesson he would have 
 his disciples there receive. 
 
 Pointing, perhaps, with his outstretched hand, 
 tow^ard the sowers in the field for wdiose ministry 
 the Samaritan woman had come to that well to 
 draw water, he said: " Say not ye [Would ye not 
 say, if ye were to judge from tJiat scene only], 
 There are yet four months, and then cometh the 
 harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your 
 eyes, and look on the fields [and here he may have 
 waved his hand toward the ripening fields in an- 
 other direction], that they are w^hite already un- 
 to harvest." ^ And by those w^ords his disciples 
 were showni that even while seed-sowing for one 
 crop was going on in the natural world, there 
 miLdit be also a makin^r ready for an ingathering 
 of former cro|)s ; so that sowing and reaping 
 should eo on totrether. Then came our Lord's 
 application of this fact from nature's sphere. 
 
 Here were sowers of spiritual seed starting out 
 into the world with a mission to make ready for 
 
 ijuhn 4: 35. 
 
366 S//ui^ics ill Oriental Social Life. 
 
 o 
 
 a new planting; of the fields they visited. Yet 
 those very fields had been planted by other 
 laborers in seasons already past ; and there was 
 a harvest work of the earlier crops to be carried 
 on in conjunction witli the new planting. 
 
 Long before these days there had been truth 
 taught in that region, even by the rites and cere- 
 monies on Gerizim, and by the words of the Law 
 read responsively across the Valley of Shechem 
 under Joshua, and by the loving worship of Je- 
 hovah there, in the days of Jacob and his fathers, 
 and by such teachings as were represented in 
 the spirit and service of Melchizedek, the neigh- 
 boring kingly priest of God Most High; and 
 now the day had come for the gathering-in of a 
 harvest from that old-time planting, as well as 
 for new seed-sowing by Jesus and his disciples. 
 " For herein [in this winning of the outside 
 Samaritans to the truth as the truth is in Jesus] 
 is the saying true, One soweth, anel another 
 reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye 
 have not labored : others have labored, and ye 
 are entered into their labor." ^ 
 
 The disciples ot jesus everywhere are to realize 
 
 ^Johii 4; 37, 38. 
 
An Outlook from yacob' s Well. 367 
 
 that Christianity is not set to seed-sowinc;' alone, 
 but that it has a mission of reaping a harvc^st out 
 of all th(; truth-plantini^ of the ages. God did 
 not leave himself without a witn(?ss in fu -kls 
 ■which, until to-day, were unvisitc^l by Christian 
 teachers. He, therefore, who cmters any field, 
 to plant there? the best of seeds, should have an 
 eye to the whitening crop in that very field, 
 which marks the good work of former laborers 
 known to God alone. Herein is that saying 
 true : " Behold the days come, saith the Lord, 
 that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and 
 the treader of grapes him that soweth seed." ^ 
 And herein is true that other saying also : "So 
 then neither is he that planteth anything, neither 
 he that watereth [nor yet he that reapeth] ; but 
 God that giveth the increase." "^ 
 
 There is no form of religious belief which has 
 not some vestige or phase of truth as its basis, 
 however that measure of truth may be overlaid 
 with error or obscured by evil traditions. Thus 
 Brahmanism starts v/ith the truth of the spirit- 
 uality of God ; ^ Booddhism with the truth of a 
 sin-cursed world, and of man in wretched helpless- 
 
 ' Amos 9 : 13. ^ \ Cor. 3 : 7. '^]o\ix\ 4 . 24. 
 
 25 
 
368 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 ness ; ^ Zoroastrianism Avith the truth of a con- 
 stant contlicl bctwt'cn oood and evil, lio^Iit and 
 darknc^ss ;•■ Confucianism with the primal superi- 
 ority of man as an ideal of aspiration in life's 
 struirirle ;•' and so on through all the forms of 
 false religion. 
 
 As saintly \\ hittier sings : 
 
 " Truth is one: 
 And, in all lands beneath the sun 
 Whoso hath eyes to see may see 
 The tokens of its unity. . . . 
 In Vedic verse, in dull Koran, 
 Are messages of good to man ; 
 The angels to our Aryan sires 
 Talked by the earliest household fires; 
 The prophets of the elder day, 
 The slant-eyed sages of Cathay, 
 Read not the riddle all amiss 
 Of higher life evolved from this. 
 
 " Nor doth it lessen what he taught, 
 Or make the gospel Jesus brought 
 Less precious, that his lips retold 
 Some portion of that truth of old; 
 Denying not the proven seers, 
 The tested wisdom of the years ; 
 Confirming with his own impress 
 The common law of righteousness. 
 
 *Rom. 3 : 23. ^Eph. 6 : 12. ^Gen. i : 26; Psa. 8 : 4, 5. 
 
All Outlook from Jacob's U^cll. 369 
 
 "We search the world for truth : we mil 
 The good, tlic true, the beautiful, 
 From f^ravcn stone and written snoll, 
 From all old flowcr-fields of the soul; 
 And, weary seekers of the best. 
 We come back laden from our quest, 
 To find that all the sages said 
 Is in the Book our mothers read, 
 And all our treasure of old thought 
 In His harmonious fulness wrought, 
 Who gathers in one sheaf complete 
 The scattered blades of God's sown wlicat, — 
 Tlie common growth that maketh good 
 His all-embracing Fatherhood." 
 
 He who would go in the spirit of Christ to 
 non- Christians as a missionary worker, should 
 begin with them at that which he and they hold 
 in common as a sacred truth, in order that he 
 may lead them onward and upward to the truth 
 which includes all truths, and which reconciles 
 all discrepancies in Him who is " the Way and 
 the Truth and the Life."^ "The hour comcth, 
 and now is, when the true worshippers [(every- 
 where] shall worship the Father in spirit and 
 truth : for such doth the Father seek to be his 
 worshippers."-^ All the heart-yearnings, and all 
 
 - John 14:6. ^ Joim 4 . 23. 
 
\lo 
 
 Studies in Oi'icntal Social Lije. 
 
 the soiil-outrcachini4"s toward (iod the I'^athca", in 
 all the ages, can fnid their satisfying- in the onh'- 
 begotten Son of God. The disciple of Jesus is 
 to recognize the direction of all these strivings, 
 in order to aid in their satisfying. That is the 
 lesson of an outlook from the well of Jacob. 
 
THE SAMARITAN PASSOVER. 
 
 So long as the temple at Jerusalem remained, 
 the Jews went thither to celebrate the passover 
 feast. But when the temple was destroyed, it 
 was no longer lawful for them to sacrifice the 
 paschal lamb ; for the command was explicit : 
 "Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within 
 any of thy gates ; . . . but at the place which the 
 Lord thy God shall choose to cause his name to 
 dwell in."'^ And now the Jewish observance of 
 that feast is but a partial one. in the household, 
 with a bit of roasted lamb to represent the com- 
 
 'Deut. i6: 5, 6. 
 
2,^2 S/u(//\-s ill Oriental Social Life. 
 
 mandcd sacrifice. In only one place in all the 
 workl is ihere any conlinuation of that sacrifice; 
 and that is near the ruins ut the ancient Samaritan 
 temple on Mount Gcri/im, by the scanty rem- 
 nant of the Samaritan people. 
 
 Although that temple was imauthorized by Je- 
 hovah, and the Samaritans were a mongrel peo- 
 ple, with a mongrel religion,^ so many sacred 
 associations cluster around Mount Gerizim, and 
 the connection of the Samaritan rites and cere- 
 monies is so direCl with the original Hebrew 
 ritual, that an exceptional interest attaches to 
 this one vestige of the ancient passover sacrifice, 
 with its standing witness to God's foreshadowed 
 plan of salvation b}' the blood of the Lamb.^ The 
 details of this annual sacrifice, brinoino- to mind 
 the night of the hurried exodus from Egypt, have 
 been several times described by modern eye- 
 witnesses ; but to each fresh observer they bring 
 fresh inijM'essions, which justif)- their fresh recital. 
 
 On an afternoon in April, with two traveling 
 
 companions and our trusty dragoman, I rode 
 
 from Jacob's Well up along the way by which 
 
 the disciples of Jesus had gone to the city ot 
 
 ' I Kings 27 : 8-12 ; 2 Kings 17 : 24-28. ^ See i Cor. 5 : 7. 
 
The Saviaritan Passover. 373 
 
 Sychar to purchase footl, while he sat by the 
 well aiul had that memorable conversation with 
 the woman of Samaria.^ At our right, on the 
 north, frowned Ebal, the mount of cursing;- at 
 our left was Gerizim. the mount of blessing/' 
 Before us was Nablus, the modern city near the 
 site of Sychar, and yet earlier the site of She- 
 chem. Passing through the narrow main street 
 of the walled town, and out of the western gate, 
 we came to our tents, already pitched for us, 
 where we \vere greeted by the Rev. Yohannah 
 el-Karey, a Christian missionary at Nablus, and 
 told that we were just in season for the pass- 
 over sacrifice in Gerizim. A few minutes later 
 found us ascending the mountain under his kind 
 
 escort. 
 
 To the manifold associations and traditions of 
 this sacred site the remaining Samaritans cling 
 with superstitious veneration, saying, as said the 
 woman at the well, "Our fathers worshipped in 
 this mountain ; " ^ saying even more than this, — 
 that it was there that IMelchizedek met and 
 blessed Abraham,'' and that there Abraham laid 
 
 1 See John 4 : 5-26. ^ Deut. 17 : 29. ' Deut. 1 1 : 29. 
 
 * John 4 : 20. ^Gen. 14 ; 18, 19. 
 
374 Sindics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 his son Isaac on the altar for sacrifice ; ^ saying 
 this with such earnestness that more than one 
 Christian schohir has been swept along by the 
 strong current of local tradition to the conclusion 
 that the claim of the Samaritan on these points 
 is not without reasonable foundation. Nor do the 
 Samaritans stop here w^th their claims for Geri- 
 zim. They deem it the center of the earth, the 
 highest mountain in the world — the only one not 
 covered by the deluge, the place where Adam 
 and Noah ere6led altars, and where Jacob had 
 his vision of the heavenly ladder." It is to them 
 the house of God and the gate of heaven. 
 
 The ruins of the old Samaritan temple, still to 
 be seen there, include, according to their tradi- 
 tion, the twelve stones taken up out of the bed 
 of the Jordan, by the command of Joshua, and 
 set up as a memorial of the miraculous stoppage 
 of the river's flow when the Israelites entered 
 Canaan, after their forty years of wandering in 
 the desert.'^ 
 
 Less than a hundred and fifty of the Samari- 
 tans, all told, now remain, and their number has 
 nut materially changed for many years. They 
 
 ^Gen. 22 : 9, 10. ^ Gen. 28 : 12. ^Josh. 4 : 1-9. 
 
The Samaritan Passover. 375 
 
 live in Nabliis, but on the fourteenth day of their 
 month Nisan — at a time corresponding to our 
 Passion Week — they leave their homes, and take 
 themselves to the summit of Gerizim, where they 
 pitch their tents, famih' by family, at a spot a 
 little west of tlie temple ruins, and on somewhat 
 lower ground, for the celebration of the passover 
 feast. It was there that we found them as we 
 reached the mountain top. 
 
 It was near the close of day. All was ready 
 for the sacrificial services. Between the temple 
 ruins and the tents two fires were burning : the 
 first in a trench, within a low-walled enclosure at 
 the place of sacrifice, for the heating of water in 
 two huiie caldrons or kettles tor scaldinu- the 
 deatl lambs ; the other at a little distance from 
 this and outside the enclosure, in a great oven or 
 pit, some seven or eight feet deep and three or 
 four across it, stoned up inside from the bottom, 
 for the roastini/ of the lambs. Within the limits 
 of the enclosure the congregation had gathered 
 for worship. 
 
 The high-priest, with a white turban, and in a 
 pearl-colored silk surplice, knelt on a scarlet rug 
 before a small stone bench or desk, facing the 
 
376 Sfitdics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 temple site eastward. Two priests were back of 
 him. His children and the children of the assist- 
 ing- i)riests were with their fathers. The men 
 and children of the congregation (the women 
 remaining in their tents) were in a semicircle 
 back of the priests, also facing the temple site. 
 At the right of this semicircle were seven men 
 ready to bring the prepared lambs to slaughter. 
 Their dress was a simple white shirt or tunic, 
 with white under-drawers. They were called 
 "the sacrificers," or slayers. Seven lambs ap- 
 pointed to slaughter were just before the high- 
 priest as he knelt. 
 
 It was about twenty minutes before sundown 
 that the kneeling high-priest began the service 
 by an invocation, imploring God's acceptance of 
 this sacrifice according to his word, and a con- 
 tinuance of the blessing on his people, accord- 
 ing to his dealings with their fathers the patri- 
 archs of old. Then came a recital of the story 
 of the exodus, and of the institution of this 
 sacrifice, in which the people joined with the 
 high-priest. The service was intoned, some- 
 what like the peculiar singing of the Egyp- 
 tians, or the notes of the wailing darvveeshes. 
 
TJic Sauiayiian Passover. 377 
 
 At the first mention of the- name of Jehovah, 
 all prostrated themselves, as the Israelites did 
 when they heard that (iod would brini^ them 
 out of l{L;\])t.' Then all rose and stood in 
 silent prayer — in most imi)rt;ssive silence. At 
 every subsequent mention of Jehovah's name the 
 people put their hands to their faces, as if cover- 
 ing their faces in the presence of God. In token 
 of emphasis, as they recited, they repeatedly 
 stretched out their hands with upturned palms, 
 in Oriental demonstrativeness. In every move- 
 ment the children followed their parents, whom 
 they watched closely as the service proceeded. 
 
 The service of worship must continue until 
 a6lual sundown. As it went on, arrangements 
 were in progress for the sacrifice. The lambs 
 were carefully examined separately by an assist- 
 ant of the high-priest, to see that they were cere- 
 moniall)' worthy — "without blemish."- The un- 
 leavened bread and bitter herbs were brought in 
 on a straw mat, or platter, and laid before the 
 high-priest. When the sunlight on the temple 
 site above him showed that sunset was just at 
 
 ^ Sec Exod. 4:31; 12 : 27. 
 2 Exod. 12 : 5 ; Lev. 9:3; 14 : 10 ; 23 : 12 ; Num. 29 : 2. 
 
;^yS Studies in 07Hcntal Social Life. 
 
 hand, the high-priest stepped on to the stone 
 bench which had been his reading-desk, and 
 looked intently toward the west, watching the 
 sun for its slow dipping in the blue waters of the 
 Mediterranean beyond the Plain of Sharon. He 
 was still reciting the story of the first passover, 
 and the people were intoning with him more 
 earnestly than before. The seven lambs were 
 led by attendants to the place of sacrifice, around 
 the caldron fire, and held firmly there, without 
 a single bleating cry. The flashing knives for 
 their slaying were tested by the attendants. 
 The interest in the service was intensified mo- 
 ment by moment. 
 
 At precisely sundown — "between the two 
 evenings" — the high-priest gave the signal for 
 the sacrifice by repeating the words of the origi- 
 nal command to Moses: "And the whole as- 
 sembly of the congregation of the children of 
 Israel shall kill it at even."^ Instantly two per- 
 sons at each lamb struggled for the privilege 
 of killing the lamb. The high-priest was at his 
 desk, some thirty or forty feet from the place of 
 sacrifice, where the designated "slayers" were 
 
 ^ Exod. 12-6. 
 
TJic Saiuaritau Passover. 379 
 
 already gathered. Throwin<^ off his silken sur- 
 plice, he sprang- to the place of slaughter, and so 
 quick and agik; was he that he killed four of the 
 seven lambs himself. The lambs were thrown 
 on their sides, and their throats cut with a single 
 stroke — nearly severing the head from the body. 
 The spurting blood was caught in basins, and 
 the children's foreheads were marked with it, — 
 a straight lin(^ up and down between the (;yes. 
 The tents also were at once sprinkled with the 
 fresh blood, above their entrance way. 
 
 At the bloody sight of the slaughtered lambs, 
 some of the children, who had borne a part in 
 the service up to this point so heartily, began to 
 sob and to cry aloud, which added to the excite- 
 ment of the strange scene. Then came an out- 
 burst of general rejoicing and mutual congratu- 
 lations. It was "the beginning of months"^ to 
 that people — a new year's service of thanksgiv- 
 ing. It was like the exchanges of greetings in a 
 New Year's morning prayer-meeting, only far 
 more demonstrative. 
 
 All embraced one another most heartily, kiss- 
 ino- on the cheek again and again, except in 
 'Sec Num. 10: 10 , 28: ii. 
 
3<So Sfiidics ill Oriental Social Life. 
 
 the case of the hioh-priest and of the more ven- 
 erablc! patriarchs, whose hands instead of their 
 cheeks were kissed by all. It was a scene of un- 
 mistakable delight in the memories and privi- 
 leges and hopes of the hour. Then it was that 
 the startled children could say to their parents, 
 "What mean ye by this service?" and that the 
 glad-hearted parents could answer them, "It is 
 the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who passed 
 over the houses of the children of Israel in 
 Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and de- 
 livered our houses."^ 
 
 And now the slaucrhtered lambs were to be 
 made ready for the oven. Scalding water was 
 thrown on them, to loosen their fleeces. They 
 were not skinned, but the wool was pulled from 
 them by busy fingers, hot water being added 
 from time to time as was needful. Then the 
 lambs were opened, their entrails were taken out, 
 and these, tooj-ether with their wool, were laid on 
 the fire and burned. The prepared lambs were 
 each run through lengthwise by a sharpened 
 stake or spit of from eight to ten feet long. 
 Their heads were still on, and their legs also, 
 
 ^ Exod. 12 : 26, 27. 
 
Tlic Samaritan Passover. 3cSi 
 
 except the rio'ht foreleo^, which belonors to the 
 pri(;st. i\ll this took about an hour and a half 
 from th(^ time of sacrificing. Meanwhile, as be- 
 fore, the enclosure where the services were in 
 procrress was sacredly guarded from the intrusion 
 of strangers, althouo;h outside observers were 
 permitted to approach the low wall, or even to 
 stand upon it, and watch the ceremonies. 
 
 At a new signal from the high-priest, the seven 
 spitted lambs were borne from the place of sacri- 
 fice to the place of roasting, and arranged around 
 the oven, at the bottom of which the fire was 
 burning brigluly. Again brief services of prayer 
 and recitation were intoned, and at another sig- 
 nal the seven lambs were lifted and simultane- 
 ously thrust into the oven, the sharp stakes being 
 forced into the oven-bottom to hold them upright. 
 A grating, or hurdle, of green twigs was laid 
 over the oven-mouth, fresh boughs were laid on 
 this, and earth was heaped above all as an etfe<5l- 
 ual cover. There the lambs were left to roast 
 for three or four hours. 
 
 The high-priest, meanwhile, retired to his 
 spacious tent, and we were courteously welcomed 
 there as his guests. We passed in under the 
 
382 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 blood-sprinkled doorway, and were seated, two 
 on rich ru^"s and two on a scarlet divan, in the 
 family group, which included his younj^ wife, and 
 their three children, and his mother, who, ac- 
 cordiuL!;" to Oriental custom, was treated with 
 marked consideration. The Samaritan hi^^h- 
 priest at that time was named Jacob Aaron 
 (Ya'koob Haroon). He was a man seemini^dy not 
 above thirty-five years of age, with a pleasant face 
 and a full dark beard. He freely answ^ered every 
 question I asked him about the ceremonies he 
 was conducting-, as I made the notes for this writ- 
 ing. He gave us also of the " bitter herbs," 
 leaves of a kind of dandelion, to taste ; for a 
 foreigner may share the bitterness of the pass- 
 over feast, wdiile he can have no taste of the 
 paschal lamb. The blood above the doorway 
 was deemed a prote6tion to all who were within 
 that consecrated home. 
 
 While the high-priest and many others rested 
 in their tents, there were those who watched and 
 worshiped outside. It seemed to be a season of 
 general rejoicing, like that of an Oriental wed- 
 dinof. Yet there were some who did not leave the 
 sacred enclosure, but continued there, facing the 
 
The Saiuaritan Passover. 2)^'^ 
 
 temple site, aiul praying demonstratively. All 
 who were to partake of the passover must have 
 lasted since the day beiore, until they should 
 partake first of the unleavened bread and bitter 
 herbs alter the new year was fairly ushered in. 
 
 Suddenly, just before midnight, there was a 
 cry that the lambs were now ready ; and all who 
 had rested in their tents were quickly astir. 
 Then there was a hurrying from the tents to the 
 place of assembling. The high-priest was now 
 clad in a plain white robe, fastened about the 
 waist with a coarse girdle, with slippers on his 
 feet and a long staff in his hand.^ All who joined 
 him were similarly clad. Heavy clouds had gath- 
 ered, the sky was wholly overcast, and rain was 
 falling. At the still-closed oven there was a brief 
 service of worship, in the flickering light of the 
 still-burnini^ sacrificial fire. 
 
 The earth was removed from the oven's cover, 
 and the hurdle itself was lifted off. All sii^ns of 
 fire were gone, and the oven's mouth was dark 
 as the night. One by one the stakes were up- 
 lifted, and the roast meat was stripped from them 
 into large straw mats or baskets at hand for the 
 
 ' Exoci. 12 ; 1 1. 
 26 
 
384 Siicdics in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 purpose, Porlions of meat had lallcn lo the 
 oven bottom. These must be rescued, that noth- 
 io": of it miijht be lost. One man after another 
 was lowered by his fellows into the heated oven, 
 to gather up as much of it as he could in the few 
 seconds he could exist there. At length all was 
 taken out, and was fairly in the baskets. These 
 baskets were carried within the hollowed enclos- 
 ure, and laid in a line not far from the place of 
 sacrifice. On either side of them the people took 
 their places for a share in the feast. 
 
 At this moment there was a lull in the storm. 
 The clouds broke away, and the full moon — for 
 of course it w^as the niifht of the full moon — 
 shone out on that weird scene on the summit of 
 Gerizim. There crouched the girded and shod 
 pilgrims, — not standing, as in olden time.^ but sit- 
 ting or crouching in Oriental style, — the last sur- 
 viving celebrants of the sacrificial feast which 
 Moses instituted, at the command of God, on that 
 memorable nii^^ht of deliverance from the anofel 
 of death in the land of Egypt, more than thirty 
 centuries ago. The whole story of the j>assover 
 never seemed so real before. The men ate in 
 
 ^ 2 Chron. 35 : 5, 6. 
 
The Samaritan Passover. 385 
 
 haste. Portions were taken to the women in 
 their tents. Whatever remained of tlie lamb — 
 meat or bone — was carefully gathereel up and 
 burned in the hre. "Ye shall let nothiuL^ of it 
 remain until the morniuL;-; but that which re- 
 maineth of it until the morning ye shall burn 
 with fire." ^ 
 
 After the feast, prayers were continued by the 
 Samaritans until the break of day, when all re- 
 tired to their tents, — not to their homes in Na- 
 blus, as Dean Stanley supposed ; for although 
 the command was "Thou shalt turn in the morn- 
 ing, and go unto thy tents," the day thus be- 
 gun is a day of holy convocation, the hrst of the 
 seven days' feast of unleavened bread." The 
 first day of that feast and the day following it 
 are observed as a sabbath, and durinof all its 
 days the Samaritans remain at their mountain 
 encampment. 
 
 And in the early morning, in the renewed 
 storm of rain and hail, we tound our way down 
 the slope of Gerizim to our tents at its western 
 base, with a new sense of the truth that "the law 
 
 ' Exod. 12 : 10. 
 '^ See 2 Chron 30:13 21 ; 35-. 17; Ezra 6 : 22 ; Ezek 45:21, 
 
;86 
 
 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 luuiiiL" a shadow of the ijood thini's to come, not 
 the very image oi the things, they can never with 
 the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer 
 continually, make perfect:! them that draw nigh " ^ 
 — " a shadow of the things to come ; but the body 
 is Christ's." ^ 
 
 ' Heb. lo : i. 
 
 ''Col. 2 ; 17. 
 
LESSONS OF THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 The Old Testament has been called the Soid's 
 Picture Book — God's picture book tor the teach- 
 ino- of his children. Both the history and the pre- 
 cepts of the Old Testament are given largely in 
 pictures, strongly drawn, clearly defined pi(::lures, 
 the lessons of which are for all peoples and lor 
 all times. 
 
 One of the mon; prominent and more; fre- 
 quently repeated [)ictures of the Old Testament 
 is "The Wilderness." This picture appears over 
 and over again, under varying designations and 
 
 387 
 
o 
 
 88 Sfitdics in Oi'icntal Social Life. 
 
 with varyinc^ accessories ; l)Ut it is wcllni^'h always 
 the same wilderness, and ii is tu illustrate or to 
 enforce the same great lessons. 
 
 " The wilderness of Beersheba;"^ " the wilder- 
 ness of Paran;"- "the wilderness of the Red 
 Sea;"" " the wilderness of Etham;"^ "the wil- 
 derness of Shiir ; " ' "the wilderness of Sin ; " '^ 
 "the wilderness of Zin ; " " "the wilderness of 
 Sinai ;"* " the wilderness of Kadesh ;"■' "the wil- 
 derness ;"'" the "desert land ;"" "the w^aste howl- 
 ing wilderness;"'^ "the great and terrible wilder- 
 ness, wherein w^ere fiery serpents and scorpions, 
 and thirsty ground w^here w^as no water," '- — 
 all these are but parts, or but different descrip- 
 tions, of the one great desert of Arabia Petraea, 
 includino- the reofion between the two arms of the 
 Red Sea, and extending northward to Canaan or 
 Palestine. 
 
 It was there that poor Hagar'^ wandered, with 
 her disowned son, fainting with thirst, finding 
 God nearest when he seemed farthest away. It 
 was there that Hagar's son IshmaeP^ grew up to 
 
 'Gen. 21 ; 14. -Gen. 21:21. ^Exod. 13 : 18. ''Num. 33:8. 
 
 *Exod. 15:22. •'Exod. 16:1. "Num. 13:21. ^Exod. 19:1. 
 
 3?sa. 29:8. '"Exod. 3:1. '-Deut. 32: 10. '-Deut. 8:15. 
 
 "Gen. 21 : 14-21. '*Gen. 16:12. 
 
Lr<;sons of flic JVi/do'iicss. 389 
 
 sturdy manliood and became a rovinor hunter, the 
 promised progenitor of a separate and huvless 
 peopU;. It was there that Moses,' having left 
 the luxuries of an Egyptian palace- and having 
 crraduated from the hio;hest school of human wis- 
 dom,'' passed forty years of quit^t training for 
 his mighty work of lawgiver and leader to God's 
 peculiar people ; feeding his Hock in " the back 
 [the western side] of the wilderness,"'* and finally 
 seeing the light of God's presence in the thorny 
 sunt, or sin, or sina bush,'' from which the penin- 
 sula is thoucrht to have taken its name. It was 
 there that the children of Israel led a nomadic life 
 "for forty years, to humble them and to prove 
 them ; to show what was in their heart, and 
 whether they would keep God's commandments 
 or no." •"■ It was there that the Lord himself came 
 down on the mountain top, and declared the law 
 which was for all time" — "the word which he 
 commanded to a thousand generations." * 
 
 It was there again, that, in the days of apos- 
 tate Israel, the hunted and heroic jjrophet Elijah 
 sought a refuge in his flight from the Jehovah- 
 
 ' Exod. 2:15. ^ Heb. ii : 25. ''Acts 7:22. 
 
 ^Exod. 3:1. -"^Plxod. 3 :2. •■' Deut. 8 : 2. 
 
 'Exod. 19:20. *Psa. 105:8. 
 
390 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 hating Jezebel ; and it was there that an angel 
 awakened him Iroin liis tin-d sleej) under a wide- 
 stretching rettnn shrul; (such as gixes noontide 
 shelter to many a weary child of the desert to- 
 day), and fed liini willi heaven-sent food, in the 
 strength of which he went forty days and nights, 
 while God gave him lessons of rebuke and coun- 
 sel and encouragement, in sights and sounds such 
 as have never been seen and heard elsewhere 
 than there from the beginning of days/ 
 
 And there is ground for the belief that it was 
 in that same wilderness of Arabia that Jesus of 
 Nazareth w^as led up of the Spirit to l:ie tempted 
 of the Devil," in those fearful forty days and 
 nights of spiritual trial of which so much is 
 hinted to us, beyond the little that is described. 
 And we know that the Apostle Paul, with all his 
 rabbinical lore and his religious zeal, and witli 
 the special revelation to him ot the risen and 
 glorified Saviour, w^as not yet counted ready for 
 his pre-eminent mission in the preaching of 
 righteousness by faith in Christ to all the ends 
 of the earth, until he also had had his "perils in 
 the wilderness " " by a visit to " Arabia." * 
 
 ^ I Kings 19 ; 1-14. ^ Matt. 4:1. ''2 Cor. 1 1 : 26. * Gal. i : 17. 
 
Lessons of tJic Wildcinicss. 391 
 
 A wonderful wilderness that ! What arc its 
 lessons to you and to me to-day? 
 
 We have no need of drawing" on our fancy for 
 the teachings of this wilderness picture in the 
 Soul's Picture Book. The ins|)ired text makes 
 them plain beyond a peradventure ; and a per- 
 sonal examination of the region portrayed only 
 brings out the same lessons more vividly, and 
 impresses them indelibly. 
 
 Arabia stands between Egypt and Canaan. 
 These three lands are typical, — typical in the his- 
 tory of God's ancient people, and typical in the 
 history of every individual child of God. Egypt 
 is the soul's land of bondage — the bondage of 
 sin and sense;'' Canaan is the soul's land of 
 promise — a land of rest by faith.- Arabia is the 
 soul's training-school." the? land of preparation 
 by trial and teaching for the privileges and en- 
 joyments of the spiritual Canaan. Every soul 
 
 ' Rxnd. 13 : 14; 20 : 2 ; Dcut. 5 : 6 ; 6 ; 12 ; 8 : 14 ; 13 . 5 ; Josh. 
 24: 17; Judg. 6: 8; 2 Kings 16 : 21 ; Isa. 19: 1-18; Ezck. 29:6-12 ; 
 Rev. II -.8. 
 
 2 Exod. 3 : 7, 8 ; Dent, i : 7, 8, 21 ; 3 : 24-28 ; 6 : 3-12 ; 8 : 710; 
 II ; 10-15 ; Heb. 3 : 8-11, 16-18 ; 4 : i-io. 
 
 '■'■ Exod. 2 : 11-22; 3:1-6; I Kings 19 : 1-18; Gal, i : 1-17. See 
 also Deut. 8 : 1-6, 15, 16; Gal. 4 . 22-26. 
 
392 Sf?(dirs in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 that would pass from the hmd of its sensuous en- 
 thrahnent to the land of its promised inheritance 
 must nc:eds !>o through the; hmd of its trainingf 
 and instruction, there to learn lessons which can 
 be tauorht impressively only in the facts and ex- 
 periences of "that great and terrible wilderness." 
 
 It is in the land of discipline and trial that 
 man learns his littleness and his needs, and is 
 impressed with a sense of God's majesty, near- 
 ness, and love. These lessons are taught in the 
 wilderness as they cannot be taught in the land 
 of indulofence or of rest. 
 
 There is something awe-inspiring in the natural 
 scenery of the Arabian desert. That desert is 
 by no means, as some might imagine, an exten- 
 sive and monotonous sand plain. It is rather a 
 wild mountain w^ilderness than a wilderness plain. 
 It is a vast rolling prairie of mountain and hill 
 and valley. Its lower portion is, indeed, such an 
 acrg-recration of mountains that it seems rather 
 an " infinite complication of jagged peaks and 
 varied ridges" than a cluster of separate moun- 
 tains. Of this portion it has been said poeti- 
 cally, that " it would seem as if Arabia Petraea 
 had once been an ocean of lava, and that while 
 
Lessons of the IVi/f/crncss. 393 
 
 its waves were ninniiii;- litcralU' mountains high, 
 it was conimanded suddenl)' to stand still." 
 
 The wilderness has, it is true, its watercotirses 
 and springs, and its trees and shrubs and tlowers ; 
 but all these are merely incidental to the wilder- 
 ness as a wilderness, — a wilderness over which 
 man never had, nor ever can have, the mastery ; 
 and which in its divinel)' ordered diversity and 
 gracefulness of material and arrangement, and in 
 the magnitude of its proportions, sets at mockery 
 man's hieht^st attainments of strens^th and taste 
 and skill. 
 
 Variety and beauty are found in the very sand 
 of the desert plains and hills. Sometimes this 
 sand glares in chalky whiteness ; again it glistens 
 and sparkles in silvery mica and quartz ; yet 
 agrain it is of crolden yellow. The bare hills, 
 which often shut one in, and among the shifting 
 passes of which one must wind and clamber for 
 days together, are now white, now yellow or 
 orange, now red or pink, now olive-green, now- 
 brown or black; then they show all these hues, 
 and others combined. 
 
 These hills rise like vast temples, pillared and 
 chambered mysteriously ; they tower like great 
 
394 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 cathedrals wilh Lj;"raccfiil ])iiinacl('s and turrets ; 
 they open and make wa\- tor hnished amphi- 
 theaters, — amphitheaters as well defined as the 
 Roman Colosseum, but vaster far ; the)' mount 
 like lotty pyramids ot different-colored strata ; 
 they are iiplitted in the tcjrm ot hug-e sarcophag'i. 
 At one point they show massiv(; walls, as of 
 blocks of stone in reg^ular courses; at another 
 they close together as if for military defense, 
 leaving' only a narrow defile with rocky ramparts 
 risincj eicrht hundred feet or more above the 
 roadway. And so they exhibit the \'aster pat- 
 terns of all the vastest works of man — as from 
 the hand of God alone, with no sign of man's 
 hand in their construcilion. 
 
 None of the mountains, any more than the 
 hills, are verdure-clad. They have been char- 
 a61:erized as "the Alps unclothed." and their 
 mighty forms are upreared in naked grandeur, 
 ridge upon ridge and crag upon crag, from the 
 vast Hint-covered plains at thtnr rugged bases to 
 the jagged peaks of their loftiest summits. 
 
 " Shoulder and shelf, red slope nndiry horn, 
 Riven ravine and splintered precipice, 
 Lead climbing thought higher and higher, until 
 They seem to stand in heaven and speak with God." 
 
Lessons of the Wilderness. 395 
 
 Mountain upon mountain in that wild and sea- 
 girt region stands to-day as all stood in creation's 
 dawning. It is the primitive formation that we 
 sec: there : red feldspar, [)urple porphyry, black 
 hornblende, green diorite, crystal cpiartz, gray 
 gneiss, as they glowed and glistened "when the 
 mornino" stars sani^ tOi>;ether, and all the sons 
 of God shouted for joy." ' They have never 
 changed meantime, nor has man the power to 
 change them. 
 
 How impressive to the natural sense must 
 have been the lessons of the wilderness to the 
 Hebrews, as they came from Egypt toward the 
 "mount of God"- in the desert of Sinai ! As they 
 turned from the Red Sea, after their rest at Elim, 
 the scenery about them grew wilder. The crags 
 and bluffs were bolder. The foot-hills of the 
 great central mountain range of the peninsula 
 had to be crossed. There were towering hills in 
 startling contrasts of color on every side. The 
 wa)- led through rugged dehles and vast amphi- 
 theaters, and over one lofty mountain pass which 
 gave a final \ iew of the sea they had left, and of 
 the forsaken Egypt beyond it. They had come 
 
 'Job 38:7. ^See Gen. 22 ; 14; E.\od. 3:1; 18 : 5. 
 
396 Slii'-iirs in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 out iroin a hiiul which had no ccjiial in the gran- 
 deur and niagniticcnccof its pyramids, its palaces, 
 and its temples. Its people and its deities had 
 rested their claim to reverence on the surpassing 
 glory of these earthly structures and their adorn- 
 ings ! i\nd now these wanderers Irom Egypt 
 found themselves surrounded by such natural 
 pyramids and temples and obelisks as made the 
 works of Gheezeh and Karnak and On and Zoan 
 the merest playthings of an hour. The brightest 
 colors on the walls of temple or tomb at Luxor, 
 Philaf, Aboo Simbel, Saqqarah, and Beni Hassan, 
 were paled by contrast with the glowing hues of 
 the mountains and the hills among which the 
 Hebrews found their winding way. Nothing that 
 they had ever seen approached the sight that was 
 now before their eyes. 
 
 And as they passed on from day to day, seeing 
 neww^onders of nature, and hnding the grandeur 
 of the mountain scenery growing with each hour, 
 until the magnificent five-peaked summit of Ser- 
 bal, and again loftier summits beyond it, rose 
 commandingly before them, would it be strange 
 if the feeling of their hearts found expression in 
 the cry of Moses, their divinely sent leader : 
 
Lessons of iJic JJlidcrncss. 397 
 
 "Jehovah, thou hasl Ijccn our dwcllinc^-place 
 In all generations. 
 
 Before the mountains were ljrou;.;ht fortli, 
 Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and ihe world, 
 Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art dod" ?^ 
 
 What were the sanctuaries of the many L^ods of 
 Egypt in comparison with the vast naUiral It-m- 
 ple of the great I AIM,- the outer corridors of 
 which they were now traversing in order to meet 
 him in the place which he; had said was "holy 
 ground" ! ■' And the experience of the Hebrews 
 is the experience of every traveler in this wilder- 
 ness to-day, as to its impressiveness and its practi- 
 cal lessons. 
 
 The very silence in those mountain stillnesses 
 is oppressively e;loc|uent — 
 
 " A silence as if God in heaven were still. 
 And meditating some new wonder ; " 
 
 and any breaking- of that silence is not less elo- 
 quent, to remind man of his littleness before God. 
 The loneliness of the resfion, the nakedness of the 
 sheer granite walls, and a peculiar atmospheric 
 condition, coniliinc to give a preeminence to the 
 human voice which makes its very use a rever- 
 
 ^Psa. 90 : I, 2. ^Exod. 3 ; 14. ^Exod. 3 : 5. 
 
\gS Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 bcraLiiiL-' rebuke lo the iiUriKler who has vcn- 
 tui'cd it. It is as tliou^h one were si)eakinL,^ in 
 a vast glass bell, his vuice ringing back to liini 
 ironi every side. 
 
 Deeply cut inscriptions are seen at the en- 
 trance of cavernous mines, — inscriptions showing 
 that Egyptians worked those mines in the days 
 t)f Snefru and Cheops, builders of the first great 
 pyramids ; inscriptions which were already dark- 
 ened by the changes of a thousand years when 
 Moses read their familiar writing as he led his 
 father-in-law's flocks to feed along their front.^ 
 But those inscriptions only suggest how many 
 generations of the wisest and strongest sons of 
 men have sought the treasures of those moun- 
 tains, and have come and gone over those desert 
 wastes, without the possibility of making that 
 region other than it is, and was, and is to be, a 
 "great and terrible wilderness." 
 
 It is not as when one moves among the ruins 
 of a former civilization, now a wilderness but once 
 a place of teeming life ; nor is it as when one 
 visits a region yet unsought by man, but which 
 may be rescued from its desolateness. Here, 
 
 * Exod. 3 : 1. 
 
Lessons of tJic U^ildcrness. 399 
 
 save in one or two utterly exceptional spots, man 
 never has been, nor ever can he, a dweller, ex- 
 cept as a pilgrim, a fugitive, or an explorer. This 
 is God's region, not man's. 
 
 Bright -colored flowers, beautiful llowt^rs in 
 varied form and hue and fragrance, spring up 
 startlingly out of the crystal sand, and from 
 among the spear-head flints ; but these give no 
 sign of man's presence, nor encourage it. They 
 are not there by cultivation ; nor could cultiva- 
 tion promote their growth in such a soil. They 
 only show what God can do — anywhere. And 
 the same is true of the scanty and scattered trees 
 and shrubs of the desert. They are there be- 
 cause God is there, not because man is or has 
 been there. 
 
 Then again there are great stretches of bald 
 desert, of waste howling wilderness, of burning 
 sand under a burning sky. 
 
 " All around 
 To the bound 
 
 Of the vast horizon's round 
 All sand, sand, sand ; 
 All burning, glaring sand. 
 
 • • • • 
 
 Not a sound, 
 
 All around, 
 27 
 
400 Studies ill Oriental Social Life 
 
 Save the padded beat and bound 
 Of the camel on the sand, 
 Of the feet of the camel on the sand. 
 
 Not a bird is in the nir, 
 
 Thouj^h the sun with l)urnin,LC stare 
 
 Is ]irying everywhere, 
 O'er the yellow thirsty desert, so desolately 
 trrand." ' 
 
 &' 
 
 And there are flint-covered plains l)ounded by 
 fire-blackened hills, at the foot and along the 
 sides of which volcanic slag is scattered and 
 heaped as if all the furnaces of earth had thrown 
 their refuse there for centuries. Hissine ser- 
 pents and crawling lizards are the chief signs of 
 life in such regions as this ; and blinding sand- 
 storms and the deceitful miraLre are its bewilder- 
 ing accessories. 
 
 To move on throucrh the mountain ranches, and 
 among the winding hills, and over the flint plains 
 and sand wastes, of this " great and terrible 
 wilderness" for days and weeks together, with 
 scorching flesh and parching lips, seeing so much 
 of the might of God, and so little of man save 
 his helplessness, forces on the traveler a sense 
 of his dependence and littleness, and brings him 
 
 1 W. W. Story. 
 
Lessons of the Wilderness. 401 
 
 to cry with the Bed'ween : " AlldJiiL akbar Id ildha 
 iir alldJi,^' — "Only God is great. There is no 
 God but God," 
 
 The Arabian desert proffers in itself no suffi- 
 ciency for the support of human lift; ; and this 
 very lack brinies to a traveler there a peculiar 
 sense of human needs. You must, at all events, 
 face such of your needs as you are called to pro- 
 vide against before starting on your journey. 
 There are no houses of entertainment along the 
 way. You cannot hope to find even a Bed'wy 
 camp to rest in at night. Nor are you sure of a 
 retem-bush or a turfa-shrub to shield you from 
 the glare of noonday. You must carry tents or 
 be without shelter. 
 
 You must also carry a supply of water, in 
 wooden casks or in leathern sacks, — "bottles," 
 the Bible calls them ; and you never so realize 
 your constant need of water as when )'Our scanty 
 stock of it is failing, and you cannot safely use 
 enough of it to moisten freely your parching 
 throat. All the food you are to live on you must 
 bring from outside, and you are surprised to find 
 how much food you require, and how man)'^ camels 
 to carry your food and water and tents, for even 
 
402 Studies in Oriental Soeieil Life 
 
 a thirty clays' stretch across the desert. To see 
 your caravan made ready for you, and to learn 
 that it is as small as will meet your necessities, 
 forces the thought, "I never knew before that I 
 had so many needs." 
 
 You need special guidance as well as supplies. 
 Moses realized this when he entreated Hobab, 
 his brother-in-law, to be a guide to the Israelites 
 on their journey from Sinai to Canaan : "Leave 
 us not, I pray thee ; forasmuch as thou knowest 
 how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and 
 thou shalt be to us instead of eyes."^ You must 
 have a skilled drao^oman — a man familiar with 
 the desert w^ants and the desert ways — to make 
 intelligent provision for your necessities, and to 
 guide you on your course. 
 
 And you must have protection as well as guid- 
 ance. The most venturesome dragoman dares not 
 attempt to guide a party over the desert except 
 under the guardianship of the local shaykh of 
 the Arab tribe whose territory he traverses. At 
 each new stretch of the desert you must ha\'e 
 the protection and company of a new shaykh. 
 "If thy presence go not with me, carry us not 
 
 ' Num. lo : 10-32. 
 
Lessons of the Wilderness. 403 
 
 up hence ! " ^ was a fitting- cry of Moses, as he 
 thouirht of his mission of "-uidino:- the Israehtes 
 through Jehovah's domain of the "great and 
 terrible wilderness." 
 
 Yet with the sense of man's littleness and 
 needs, and of God's majesty, coming in the les- 
 sons of the wilderness, the proofs of God's loving 
 nearness are about and above the traveler. 
 
 Nowhere else in all the world do the heavens 
 seem more impressive, more glorious with the 
 immediate presence of their Creator, than at 
 night in the lonely desert, where their blue vault 
 comes down on every side to touch the horizon 
 of the boundless sea of sand : 
 
 " In full-orbed glory yonder moon divine 
 Rolls through the dark-blue deptli^. 
 Beneath her steady ray 
 The desert-circle spreads, 
 Like the round ocean, girdled with the sky." 
 
 Then, indeed, you seem face to face with God, 
 and God's love shines toward you in the soft 
 litfht of his stars. 
 
 o 
 
 " The heavens declare the glory of God ; 
 And the firmament showeth his handywork." * 
 
 ^ Exod. 33 : 13. ^Psa. 19 : I. 
 
404 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 And the awe-impressed observer, in the desert, 
 of the divine handiwork above and around him 
 exclaims, in reverence and gratitude : 
 
 "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, 
 The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained ; 
 What is man that thou art mindful of him ? 
 And the son of man that thou visitest him ? 
 For thou hast made him but httle lower than God, 
 And crownest him with glory and honor. 
 
 O Lord, our Lord, 
 
 How excellent is thy name in all the earth I " ^ 
 
 God's love shines out there also in the beautiful 
 flowers which start up in varied shape and color 
 from among- the flints and out of the sand, as if 
 to speak cheering words to the traveler, who 
 might doubt whether God's curse had not rested 
 on all that region. Flowers nowhere tell of God's 
 love more eloquently than in the desert, where 
 that mission seems their only one. 
 
 So, again, it is with the occasional springs and 
 wells of water in the desert. The very facl; that 
 they are so few, and, from the appearance of 
 the country, so unlooked for, helps the thirsting 
 traveler to realize that it is God's love which has 
 
 » Psa. 8 : 3-9. 
 
Lessons of the Wilderness. 405 
 
 provided them at all ; " which [has] turned the 
 rock into a pool of water, the llint into a foun- 
 tain of waters ;" ' which makes in "the wilder- 
 ness a pool of water, and [in] the dry land 
 springs of water." '^ Every spring or pool in the 
 desert seems hardly less truly a loving gift of 
 God than was the water from the smitten rock at 
 Rephidini'^ or at Kadesh.* 
 
 The Bed'wy dweller in, or passer over, the 
 desert, seems to realize in a peculiar degree the 
 ever-present love and the unfailing protection 
 and ministry of God. He calls himself, in his 
 nomad life, the "guest of God," and he welcomes 
 gladly every stranger pilgrim as his brother wan- 
 derer in God's domain, and invites him to a share 
 in the free cfifts of their common Father. 
 
 Striking his "house of hair" in the early morn- 
 ing, the Bed'wy gathers up all his earthly belong- 
 ings, and with his wife and children starts out on 
 another stage of pilgrimage, to seek a temporary 
 rest where the night shall find him; and so he 
 lives from day to day in unwavering trust in, and 
 as a constant witness to, the Divine love that 
 
 ' Psa. 114 : 8. 2 isa. 41 : 18. 
 
 ^Exod. 17 : 1-6. *Num. 20; 11. 
 
4o6 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 never fails nor falters. The water springs out 
 from the desert for the quenching of his thirst, 
 and the scanty food of the desert supplies his 
 hunger ; and his safety and his sustenance are 
 alike proofs of his Father's love. He has here 
 no "continuing city,"^ but, like the Father of the 
 Faithful, he is a sojourner in a land not his own, 
 dwelling in tents like Isaac and Jacob, looking 
 forward to an abode " in the city which hath the 
 foundations, whose builder and maker is God.'"^ 
 Only God's love could make such a life tolerable, 
 and only in the desert is it a reality. 
 
 Even the great, ungainly, grotesque camel is a 
 living witness to God's love in the wilderness. 
 What but that love could have designed such a 
 creature for such a region ? Even its seeming 
 malformations all have their special adaptedness 
 to the special necessities of the wilderness. Its 
 broad, spongy, shapeless foot fits the sand and 
 the flint, to steady the tread where a hoof w^ould 
 sink, or crack, or stumble. Its ugly hump holds 
 a pack-saddle in place as no girth would do it in 
 the wild mountain passes which it must clamber 
 and descend ; and that hump is its reserve sup- 
 
 ^Heb. 13 : 14. '^Heb. 11 ; 8-10. 
 
Lessons of the Wilderness. 407 
 
 ply of life-nourishment in the desert. A more 
 shapely or graceful neck or lip would be less 
 suited to reach after and to catch at the scanty 
 herbage along its path as it journeys — its chief 
 mode of desert feeding. If its limbs or its joints 
 or its hide were like any other creature's, or if it 
 lacked its own unique stomach-cistern, it could 
 never fill the place or do the work in the wilder- 
 ness to which it is now so wonderfully adapted 
 by the wonderful love of God. 
 
 So. in the desert itself, in its produclions and 
 accessories, and in the characteristics and ways 
 of its inhabitants, there are lessons of the needs 
 and the dependence of man, and of the greatness 
 and the love of God, which cannot be ignored 
 there, however they might be ignored elsewhere. 
 They stand out in the greater prominence and 
 impressiveness because of the desolateness and 
 dreariness of their surroundings, and the mind 
 of the dweller there is better prepared to per- 
 ceive and gratefully to acknowledge them. 
 
 And these lessons of the wilderness are for us 
 all, in our earthly pilgrimage. 
 
 " The path of hfe we walk to-day- 
 Is strange as that the Hebrews trod ; 
 
4o8 Studies in Oriental Social Life. 
 
 Wc need the shadowing rock as they, — 
 We need, like them, the guides of God. 
 
 " God send his angels. Cloud and Fire, 
 To lead us o'er the desert sand I 
 God give our hearts their long desire, 
 His shadow in a weary land ! " 
 
INDEXES. 
 
TOPICAL INDEX. 
 
 Aahmes - Neferlari, queen - dowager, 
 
 251- 
 
 Aaron, house of, 112. 
 
 Aaron, Jacob, Samaritan high-priest, 
 382. 
 
 Alicl es-Saleni, shrine of, 351. 
 
 Ahderrahinan, mourning over, 157 f. 
 
 Abdominal responses, 265. 
 
 Abel as pilgrim, 345 f. 
 
 Abigail and David, 63. 
 
 Abimelech made king of Israel, 358. 
 
 Abimelech's covenant with Isaac, 108. 
 
 Abishag and Adonijah, 63. 
 
 Ablutions and postures, 266. 
 
 Abner and Joab, 130 f. 
 
 Aboo Bekr, mention of, 362. 
 
 Aboo Simbel, teinples and tombs at, 
 396. 
 
 Aboolfeda ; cited, 362. 
 
 Abraham : and Isaac, 12 ; his gift to 
 Rebekah, 22; references to, 77, 140, 
 225, 239. 264; tomb of, 195 ; " chil- 
 dren of," 241 ; his old home, 257 f. ; 
 his pilgrim life, 341 f., 406; his first 
 resting-place in Canaan, 357 ; friend 
 of God, 357 f. ; blessed by Melchise- 
 dek, 373 ; offering up Isaac, 373 f. ; 
 dwelling in tents, 406. 
 
 Absalom, 214 f., 225. 
 
 Abyssinia: reference to, 81, iii; pre- 
 paring the way m. 226 f. , pilgrims 
 from, 335. 
 
 Achsah promised in marriage, 12. 
 
 Acre and Sidon, pasha of, 115. 
 
 Adabazar, incident in, 115 f. 
 
 Adam, tradition of, at Gerizim, 374. 
 
 Adonijah and Abishag, 63. 
 
 Adonis, Venus lamenting over, 197. 
 
 Affcj tribes in Babylonia, 326. 
 
 Africa: hospitality in, 1 18-120; food 
 for dead in, 176 ; burial customs in, 
 
 23- 
 
 176 f. ; reference to, 222 f. 
 
 vivals of pilgrimage in, 352. 
 
 Ahab, 214, 359. 
 
 Aldcn, John, as " go-between,' 
 
 " Alderman," meaning of, 243. 
 
 Alexander, Grand Duke, prcjvaring 
 the way for, 217 f. 
 
 Alexander the Great : projedled road- 
 making of, 222 f. ; campaigns of, 357. 
 
 Alexandretta, reference to, 330. 
 
 Alexandria: hospitality in, 95; mourn- 
 ing party in, 188 f. ; first glimpse of, 
 209 ; harbor of, 209 f. ; sights of, 
 212; Arab quarter of, 212, 295 f . ; 
 preparing the way in, 216; Oriental 
 at prayer in, 255 f. ; dragoman of, 
 266, 329. 
 
 " AH roads lead to Rome," 224. 
 
 Allah Nazr, hospitableToorkoman, 97f. 
 
 Allen, Dr., in Korea, 317. 
 
 Alms : crying for, 296, 298, 301 ; dif- 
 ference between asking gift and ask- 
 ing, 327. 
 
 "Alps unclothed," Sinaitie mountains 
 referred to as, 394. 
 
 Altar . circuit of, 347 ; to God, earliest 
 in Canaan, 357 f. 
 
 Amen, reference to, 248. 
 
 Amenophis II., reference to, 248. 
 
 America: pilgrimage survivals in, 3:;2. 
 
 American Indians : their hospitality, 
 138 f. ; their buri:d customs, 176. 
 
 Amorites, road through land of, 223. 
 
 Amos . his references to mourning, 
 153. 161. 
 
 Amulets, sellers of, 335. 
 
 'Anazehs, hospitality among, 76, 115. 
 
 Animal, "sacrificing" of, 165-167,285. 
 
 Animal food, rarity of, in desert, 48, 
 285-287. 
 
 Anklets ; as bridal ornaments, 41 ; 
 
 411 
 
412 
 
 Topical Index. 
 
 worn by ricli and poor, 321 ; made 
 of silver, 326. 
 
 Anti-Lebanon, hospitality in, 83 f. 
 
 Anticiuity : of hospitality, 136 f. ; of 
 funeral procession, 163 f . ; of fune- 
 ral feast, 167; of pilgrimages, 339 f. 
 
 Apocalypse, marriage rejoicings in, 56. 
 
 Ajioslles: reference to, 312; given 
 authority to heal diseases, 313. 
 
 Apricots, preserved, in desert, 289. 
 
 April: grain ripened in, 364; visit to 
 Gerizim in, 372. 
 
 Aqabar, Gulf of, 334. 
 
 Arab quarter of Alexandria, 212, 295 f. 
 
 Arabia : marriage of blood relatives 
 in, 31 ; wedding scene in, 45-58; 
 hospitality in, 81, 94 f,, 125; guest- 
 houses and guest-chambers in, 95; 
 funeral feasts in, 165 ; roads in, 216 ; 
 need of help for sick in, 306; un- 
 changing customs of, 320 f., 325; 
 gold and silver in, 324 ; many names 
 for, 388 ; Jesus in wilderness of, 390 ; 
 Paul's training in, 390; soul's train- 
 ing-school, 391 ; description of, 392 ; 
 scenery of, 392 ; no support for man 
 in, 401. 
 
 "Arabian Nights:" description of 
 wedding in, 40; reference to, 271. 
 
 Arabic Africa, hospitality in, 118-120. 
 
 Arabic words, reference to, 245, 309, 
 323. 346. 
 
 Arabs: of Sinaitic Peninsula, betrothal 
 among, 29 f. ; marriage of bloodrela- 
 tives among, 31; of Nakhl, 48; 
 their idea of value of time, 80 ; their 
 estimate of hospitality, 96, 120 ; 
 proverb of, loi ; sharp pradtice of, 
 loi ; their self-control when im- 
 posed on, 102; references to, 124, 
 210 f., 241, 243, 250, 256, 258, 281, 
 306-308, 311, 327, 349; mourning 
 among, 194 ; at tomb of Shaykh 
 Szaleh, 195 ; reverence for parents 
 among, 249 f. ; greediness of, 284 f. ; 
 scanty fare of, 284, 286 ; preparation 
 of food among, 287. 
 
 Arculf, Bishop, quotation from, 336. 
 
 Ark of the covenant, 347. 
 
 Armenian love-tale, 65 f. 
 
 Armenian Christians in Jerusalem, 335. 
 
 Arnald, Prince, refusal of water to, 362. 
 
 Artemisia's monument to her hus- 
 band, 71. 
 
 Aryans : betrothal among, 27 ; refer- 
 ence to, 368. 
 
 Ascension, Chapel of the, 273 f., 336 f. 
 
 Ascriptions before prayer, 266. 
 
 Asia : hospitality in, 82 f., 96 f. ; royal 
 roads in, 220 f. ; reference to, 221 ; 
 survivals of pilgrimage in, 352. 
 
 "Asking" not "borrowing," 327. 
 
 Assyria: betrothal contrails in, 23 f . ; 
 marriage of blood relatives among, 
 32 ; romantic love in mythology of, 
 63 f. ; docftrine of future life in, 199; 
 roads in, 220 f. 
 
 Asylum, right of, 105 f., 126 f., 130 f., 
 
 134- 
 Atad, threshing-floor of, 169. 
 Athaliah as ruler, 68. 
 Austria, Crown Prince of, 217. 
 Avenger of blood, appeal from, 134 f. 
 'Ayn Qadis, sowing and reaping near, 
 
 292. 
 'Azazimeh tribe, adventure with, 107 f. 
 'Azazimeh shaykh, 258. 
 
 Baal, priests of, 214, 261. 
 
 Babel and Pandemonium, 210. 
 
 Babylon: marriage customs in ancient, 
 22; prophecy against, 174; king- 
 dom of, 233 ; reference to, 269, 306. 
 
 Babylonia: road-making in, 221 f . ; 
 healing custom in, 305; Affej tribes 
 of, 326 ; exploring expedition to, 
 326 f. 
 
 Bacon, Leonard Woolsey : cited, 150. 
 
 Bakhsheesh : refused for hospitality, 
 89-91, 115; from howajji, 299; for 
 cripple, 308 ; beggar's cry for, 327 ; 
 conception of, in East, 327-332 ; in- 
 cluded in contradl, 328. 
 
 Barak and Deborah, 127. 
 
 Barbarians, hospitality a virtue of, 81. 
 
 Barbary : scenes of mourning in, 
 155 f. ; reference to, 314. 
 
 Barley : land of, 278 ; cakes of, in 
 desert, 280 f. ; references to, 280, 
 28. ^, 289, 323 ; sowing of, 364. 
 
 Bartimeus, blind, reference to, 309. 
 
 Battle of Hatteen, 362. 
 
 Bazaars : of Cairo, 296, 325, 335 ; of 
 Jerusalem and Damascus, 325. 
 
 Beard, advantages of patriarchal, 245. 
 
 Bed'ween : hospitality among, 76- 
 82, no f. ; funeral feasts among, 
 166 f. ; honor to Shaykh Szaleh, 
 
Topical Index. 
 
 413 
 
 194 ; tombs of protedling saints 
 among, 195 ; references to, 244 f., 
 281, 290 ; reverence for father 
 among, 250 ; praying man among, 
 258 ; limited requirements of, 278- 
 285 ; comparative hcaltli of, 298 ; 
 descendants of Ishmaelites, 324; 
 gold and silver among, 325. j 
 
 Roerslicha: adventure at, 107 f. ; cove- 
 nant at, 108; wells of, 108, 257 f. 
 
 Beggars : references to, 284, 327 ; of 
 Alexandria, 295 f ; of Constanti- 
 nople, 304 ; near Mt. Sinai, 308. 
 
 ■' Beginning of months, the," 379. 
 
 Belial, " daughters of " and "sons 
 of," 242. 
 
 Bcnhadad, campaigns of, 357. 
 
 Benjamin: reference to, 191; wailing 
 among tribe of, 192; "sons of" 
 241 f. 
 
 Benjamite lack of hospitality, 133 f. 
 
 Berber, funeral feast in, 166. 
 
 Besharah, reference to, loi. 
 
 " Best man," 17-19. 
 
 Bethany : grave of Lazarus at, 177 f. ; 
 road from, 274. 
 
 Bethel, mourning at, 151. 
 
 Bethesda, waters of, 300, 304. 
 
 Bethlehem : and Ramah, lessons from, 
 191 f ; Rachel's tomb near, 191 f. ; 
 wailing in, 192; founder of, 240. 
 
 Betrothal : before birth, 8 ; in China, 
 8, II ; in India, 8, 26; prominence 
 of, in East, 8 ; based on dowry, 9; 
 cord of, n ; recognition of daugh- 
 ter's choice in, 13; in Lebanon 
 region, 14; in Upper Syria, 14; in 
 Upper Egypt, 14-21 ; among Arabs, 
 14-21, 27 f. ; food-sharing before, 
 15 f. ; preliminaries to, 15-20 ; ex- 
 amination of candidate for, 17; vari- 
 ations in customs of, 20-22 ; con- 
 tradts of, between parents, 20, 23 f.; 
 compensation to bride's parents at, 
 22 ; of Isaac and Rebekah, 22; 
 sought as means of influence, 25 ; 
 in childhood, 26 : sacred as mar- 
 riage ceremony, 26 ; among Aryan 
 and Semitic peoples, 27 ; feast at, 
 27; arranged by professional "go- 
 between," 31 ; lessons from wed- 
 dings and, 63, 206. 
 Betrothal and marriage, contra(5ls of, 
 equivalent, 21 f. 
 
 Betrothed regarded as wife, 26. 
 
 Betrothing eider sister for younger, 31. 
 
 Beyrout : route from Hebron to, 298 ; 
 Prussian hospital at, 330. 
 
 Bible : dodlrine of marriage in, 33; 
 wedding customs in, 41 f . ; wed- 
 ding processions in, 45 ; descrip- 
 tion of model woman in, 69 f ; guest- 
 chamber in, 95; word dakhecl in, 
 135 f ; teachings of, as to hospi- 
 tality, 140 f ; tear-bottle in, 160; 
 wailing and mourning in, 161; life 
 afterdeath in, 173 f.. 198-200; assem- 
 blies at graves in, 191 f . ; references 
 to, 207 f , 286, 346; forerunner in, 
 216 ; translation oiderekh and hodos 
 in,2i9f. ; word "ways" in, 230-236; 
 word "father" in, 239; prayer in, 
 255 ; posture in prayer in, 268 ; story 
 of Israelites in, 280, 291, 319, 324 f ; 
 resonableness of miracles in, 292- 
 294; promises of, 318; pilgrimage 
 idea in, 340. 
 
 Bicycle safe in strangers' hands, 82. 
 Bishop Arculf, quotation from, 336. 
 Bishop, Isabella Bird, quotation from, 
 
 315 f- 
 
 Bitten by " fiery serpent," 308. 
 
 " Bitter herbs " at passover, 377, 382. 
 
 Blessmg, mount of, 373. 
 
 Blind: in Alexandria, 212, 295 f ; in 
 Cairo, 296 ; among Bed'wcen, 298 ; 
 in Palestine, 298-304, 313, 316 ; in 
 Constantinople, 304 ; near Mt. Sinai, 
 308 f. 
 
 Blood : for God, flesh for man, 47 f. ; 
 represents life, 157, 285; sprinkled 
 over dead, 157 f. ; aprons stained 
 with, 158 f. ; Levitical prohibition 
 of, 160; covenant of, 361 ; of the 
 Lamb, 372 ; of sacrifice, 379; chil- 
 dren marked with blood 379; door- 
 way springled with, 381 f. 
 
 Blunt, Lady Anne, quotation from, 
 31, 94, IIS, 132 f- 
 
 Blunt, Sir Wilfred, quotation from, 31, 
 96. 
 
 Boardman, George Dana: cited, 307 f. 
 
 Boaz and Ruth, 360. 
 
 Body taken around church, 353. 
 
 Booddha's " Dhammapada," 230. 
 
 Booddhism : and "the way," 230; 
 prayer formula of, 261 ; belief of, 
 261; in India, 349; circumambula- 
 
4U 
 
 Topical Index. 
 
 tions in, 349-351 ; monasteries of, 
 350; trutli of, 367. 
 
 Roocklliist temple in Darjiling, 262. 
 
 Book of the Dead, Egyptian, 136, 264. 
 
 Hookbindcrs' paste as food, 280 f. 
 
 Boolaq, museum at, 324. 
 
 Booths: livingin,344; and tents, 347. 
 
 " Borrowed," word translated in Eng- 
 lish Bible, 320. 
 
 " Borrowing " of Israelites, 320, 327. 
 
 " Bosh," use of word for divorce, 37. 
 
 Bottled tears : buried with dead, 156 , 
 preserved among living, 156 f., 187. 
 
 Bottles, goat-skin, 213. 
 
 Bowing; prescribed by Muhamma- 
 dans, 267 ; toward temple ruin, 272 f. 
 
 Bracelets ■. worn by all classes, 321 ; 
 of Bed'wy woman, 326. 
 
 Brahmanism, truth of, 367. 
 
 Brahmans, food for dead among, 176. 
 
 Bread : baked on ashes, 93 , sharmg 
 of, 97, no f., 361 f . ; with grape- 
 molasses, hi; made in hard balls, 
 283 f., 289 f. ; crust of, 285 ; manna 
 as material for, 293 ; preferred to 
 fruit, 308 f. ; feast of unleavened, 
 340 ; for passover feast, 377. 
 
 Bread-sharing, covenant of, 361 f. 
 
 Breast-beating and wailing, 169, 181. 
 
 Bridal ornaments hired, 51. 
 
 Bridal veil in ceremony, 42 f. 
 
 Bride: donor of, 11 ; dowry paid to, 
 22 ; compensation of parents of, 22; 
 " capture of," 27-30; taken to new 
 home, 32 f., 44 ; belonging to her 
 mother-in-law, 33 ; loaded down 
 with treasure, 35 f. ; presented in her 
 various costumes, 39 f. ; her trous- 
 seau exhibited, 39 f., 44 ; ornaments 
 of, in Damascus and Constantino- 
 ple, 41 ; veiled in red shawl, 50 ; 
 lifted over threshold, 53. 
 
 Bride and bridegroom : first meeting 
 of, at marriage, 58 ; borne in 
 "palankeens," 61; making circuit 
 of fire, 348 f. 
 
 Bride's dowry : portion of, 20, 22 ; 
 carried with her, 323. 
 
 Bridechamber, children of, 242. 
 
 Bridegroom: " friend of," 17; proces- 
 sion of, to meet bride, 44-46, 53 f. ; 
 joy of, 45, 59; going to prayers, 57. 
 
 Brooches: as bridal ornaments, 41; 
 worn by rich and poor, 321. 
 
 Brotherhood of man, 125, 131, 206 f. 
 Browning, Robert, quotation from, 10. 
 Bruce, James, quotation from, 81, 107, 
 
 226. 
 Bubastis, pilgrimage to, 340. 
 Buffalo for funeral feast, 166-168. 
 Burckhardt, J. L., quotation trom, 
 
 83-89, 96, 101, 114 f., 149, 165 f., 
 
 175 f-. 195- 
 
 Burghul m funeral feast, 167. 
 
 Burial' on day of death, 162, 177; 
 sharing food at, 165-167; forbidden 
 to unworthy, 171 -175; supplies for 
 dead at, 175-177; circuit of syna- 
 gogue at, 353. 
 
 Burial customs: in Egypt, 156, 165, 
 175; in Syria, 156, 165 f. ; in Arabia, 
 165; among Bed'ween Arabs, 166; 
 in Palestine, 172; in Nubia, 175 f . , 
 in China, Russia, South Africa, and 
 America, 176 ; in India, 176 f. 
 
 Burning; of wives, 177; of wool and 
 entrails of lamb, 380. 
 
 Burton, Lady, quotation from, 38. 
 
 Burton, Sir Richard, quotation from, 
 24, 82, 96, 102, 342. 
 
 Busiris, place of pilgrimage, 340. 
 
 "Butter;" in Bible, 78; in desert, 
 289 f. 
 
 Cairo : strings of coins on school- 
 girls in, 36 ; wedding processions 
 in, 44; funeral procession in, 162, 
 "howling" darweeshes in, 259 ; pre- 
 paring to pray in, 265 ; sickness and 
 suffering in, 296 ; bread from, 308 f. : 
 bazaars of, 325, 335. 
 
 Caleb and Achsah, 12. 
 
 Calf, golden ear-rings made into, 319. 
 
 Calling : on name of Lord, 135 ; on 
 the dead, 151, 177. 
 
 Camel-driver's loss of coin, 323 f. 
 
 Camels: wedding gifts exliibited on, 
 44; sacrifice of, 93 ; throwing dust 
 on, 194 ; milk of, 284 ; skeletons of, 
 on great Hajj route, 334. 
 
 Canaan : Jacob's burial in, 169 f. ; 
 marcli of Israelites to, 292, 374 ; 
 Abraham's pilgrimage to, 357. 
 
 Canaanite doctrine of future life, 199. 
 
 Candace, queen of Ethiopians, 68. 
 
 Canopy for bride in processions, 51. 
 
 " Capturing a bride," 27-30. 
 
 Caracca, Prince Arnald of, 362. 
 
Topical Index. 
 
 4^=^ 
 
 Caravan of pilgrims : to Meccah, 291 ; 
 to Jerusalem, 339. 343. 
 
 Caravan route, great, 356. 
 
 Carmcl, Ahab at, 214. 
 
 Castle Naklil : wedding at, 45-58; 
 changing camels at, 244; incident 
 at, 250 ; governor of, 309, 328 ; call 
 for healing at, 328 ; bakhsheesh at, 
 32S. 
 
 Catafalques in funerals. 168. 
 
 Catechism, Westminster, 267. 
 
 Catharine, St., Convent of, 283, 308. 
 
 Cathay, sages of, 368. 
 
 Celtic mourning survivals 152 f., 198. 
 
 Ceremonial cleansing, 266-268. 
 
 Ceremonies on Gerizim, 366, 371-386. 
 
 Ceremony : of hand-shaking, 15 ; of 
 pilgrimage, 350. 
 
 Chabas, Frangois, quotation from, 249. 
 
 Chaldea: inscriptions of, 153 ; mourn- 
 ing in, 197; Abraham's pilgrimage 
 from, 357. 
 
 Changeless Oriental mind, 7. 
 
 Chanting of religious sentences, 163 ; 
 of dirge, 184, 193; of Quran and 
 IMoslem creed, 352. 
 
 Chapel of the Ascension, 273, 336 f. 
 
 Chardin.Sir John, quotation from, 148. 
 
 Chenan, Shaykh, legend of, 65 f. 
 
 Cheops, builders of pyramid of, 398. 
 
 Chicken in desert, 289 f. 
 
 Chicken-bones and egg-shells as food, 
 285. 
 
 Chieftain, burial of wives with, 176 f. 
 
 Child-betrothals in Chinaand India, 8. 
 
 Child-marriage in India, 10 f. 
 
 Child-widows in India, 26. 
 
 Children : in wedding processions, 
 50 ; in streets of Alexandria, 212 ; 
 with sore or sightless eyes, 295 f., 
 300 ; personal ornaments of, 325 ; 
 making circuit with load of prayer- 
 books, 351 ; of Gerizim, 376 f. ; their 
 share in sacrifice, 377-380; marked 
 with blood, 379. 
 
 Children: of Abraham, 241 ; of Israel, 
 241, 286, 380, 389; of disobedience, 
 of light, of bridechamber, of the East, 
 of wisdom, of wrath, of God, 345. 
 
 Children's games, pilgrim idea in, 353. 
 
 Chin.a : betrothals in, 8, 11; "go- 
 between" in, 21 ; hospitality in, 99; 
 "cloths to cry with," in, 159; food 
 for dead in, 176 ; religions of, 229 f. ; 
 
 emperor of, 251 ; reverence for par- 
 ents in, 253 f. ; medical missions 
 in, 315; pilgrims from, 350. 
 
 Christ's estimate of marriage, 10. 
 
 Christian chapel on Mount of Olives, 
 
 275- 
 
 "Christian dogs," 48 f. 
 
 Christian hakeem welcomed by Mu- 
 hammadans, 316. 
 
 Christian pilgrims at Jerusalem, 34S. 
 
 Christian posture in prayer, 267. 
 
 Christianity: its influence on position 
 of woman, 66 f . ; mission of, 71 f . ; 
 as " the way," 233 ; compared with 
 outside religions, 367 f. 
 
 Church of England marriage service, 
 II. 
 
 Church of the Holy Sepulcher, 335. 
 
 Churchyard, circuitous path to, 353. 
 
 Cigarettes, refusal of, in father's pres- 
 ence, 250. 
 
 Circuit: pilgrimage, 346; at Jeru- 
 salem, 347 ; of altar at Feast of 
 Tabernacles, 347; of walls of Jeri- 
 cho, 347 ; in Christian churches and 
 synagogues, 348 ; in India, 348 f. ; 
 at Aleccah, 349; of tomb of Neby 
 Saleh, 349; of monasteries, stupas, 
 and sacred walls, 349 ; of grave, 
 352 f. ; at Jewish funeral in Phila- 
 delphia, 353 ; at weddings and fune- 
 rals, 353 f. 
 
 Circuitous route : of wedding proces- 
 sion, 52 f. ; to churchyard, 353. 
 
 Circumambulations of Booddhists. 
 
 349-351- 
 Circumcision, sharing sacrifice at, 285. 
 Cities of refuge in land of Israel, 126 f. 
 Cleopatras, the, reference to, 68. 
 " Close fist, narrow heart," 94. 
 " Cloths to cry with," 159. 
 Coffee : from Hejaz, 78 ; poured out 
 
 before God, 79 ; served to guests, 79, 
 
 93, 95, 244 ; covenanting in sharing 
 
 of, 107. 
 Coffins in Egypt, 168. 
 Coins : strings of, on school-girls, 36 ; 
 
 worn by Oriental women, 320; for 
 
 necklace, 321, 326. 
 Collect, old, reference to footsteps of 
 
 Jesus in, 337. 
 Colosseum of Rome. 394. 
 " Commandment with promise," 25a. 
 Commentaries, uninspired, 292. 
 
 8 
 
4i6 
 
 Topical Index. 
 
 Commentators puzzled over natural 
 
 incidents, 302 f., 360 f. 
 Comparison of mourning ways in East 
 
 and West, 185-188. 
 Compendium of all knowledge, 261. 
 Concealing suffering from guests, 87 f. 
 Conder, C. R., quotation from, iii, 
 
 195 ; cited, 112. 
 Confucianism, truth of, 368. 
 Connal, death-cry over, 152 f. 
 Constantinople: bridal ornaments in, 
 
 41; wedding procession in, 44; 
 
 blind beggars and cripples in, 304. 
 Contra(5t of betrothal, 20-22. 
 Contract of betrothal and of marriage 
 
 equivalent, 21 f. 
 Convent of St. Catharine, 283, 308. 
 Coptic Christians in Jerusalem, 335. 
 Corn : Egyptian and Indian, 281 ; 
 
 parched, as food, 284, 289, 323. 
 Cornfields, Plain of, 356, 364. 
 Cornfields, well of the, 360. 
 Corpse taken toward setting sun, 352 f. 
 Courtship and marriage unchanged 
 
 since Abraham's time, 31. 
 Covenant: of blood, 15,361; tokens of, 
 
 41 ; of peace and friendship, 105 f. ; 
 
 of hospitality, 105-116, 361 ; bread 
 
 and salt, in; with dead, 165; of 
 
 salt, 361 ; of bread-sharing, 361 f. ; 
 
 in drinking, 361-363. 
 Cow sacrificed for funeral feast, 165 f. 
 Cox, Samuel, quotation from, 343. 
 Cradle among wedding-gifts, 44. 
 Craftsmen, valley of, 240 f. 
 Crazy "people of blessing," 305. 
 Creed, Moslem, chanting of, 352. 
 Crime of inhospitality, 138. 
 Cripples: of Alexandria, 212; of 
 
 Cairo, 295 f. ; of Gheezeh, Saqqarah, 
 
 and on Nile, 296 ; among Bed'ween, 
 
 298 ; between Hebron and Beyrout, 
 
 298 ; of Jaffa and Jerusalem, 299; 
 
 of Xablus,3oof. ; of Constantinople, 
 
 304 ; at Wady Fayran, 308. 
 Crown or diadem at weddings, 41. 
 Crown Prince of Austria, 217. 
 Crucifixes, sellers of, 335. 
 Cry of forerunner, 213-218, 227 I. 
 Cure, calls of sick for, 295-318. 
 Cursing, mount of, 373. 
 Customs founded on sentiment, not 
 
 on historic incident, 29. 
 Cutting one's flesh, 157-159. 
 
 Dahf.er, reference to, 89. 
 
 " Dakheel," naming one's, 134-136. 
 
 Damascus: wedding in, 38; bridal 
 ornaments in, 41 ; wedding proces- 
 sions in, 44 ; bazaars of, 325. 
 
 Damascus Gate of Jerusalem, 337. 
 
 Dancing: before the Lord, 52; in 
 wedding procession, 52, 54 f. 
 
 Daniel praying toward Jerusalem, 269. 
 
 Darby, Dr. : cUcd, 307 f. 
 
 Darius, royal road of, 222. 
 
 Darjiling, prayer machinery in, 262 f. 
 
 Darweeshes, references to, 258-260, 
 265, 336, 376. 
 
 Daughter : consulted in betrothal, 13 ; 
 equivalent value of marriageable, 23; 
 " of men," 241; "ofjabal," 242; 
 " of Belial," 242. 
 
 David : Michal and Merab promised 
 to, 13 ; his service in lieu of dowry, 
 23; dancing before Lord, 52; his 
 love for Abigail, 63 ; house of, 112; 
 and Joab, 130 f. ; wailing of, 151, 
 160 f. ; royal splendor under, 359. 
 
 Dead: Egyptian Book of, 136; call- 
 ing on, 151, 177; sharing food with, 
 165, 176; raising of, 313. 
 
 Death-cry: description of, 143-150; 
 intelligence announced by, 147. 
 
 Deborah, reference to, 68, 127 f. 
 
 Dedication : of Solomon's Temple, 
 269 ; of Promised Land to God, 358. 
 
 Deluge : command to Noah after, 116; 
 Gerizim tradition as to, 374. 
 
 Dependants of Convent of St. Cathar- 
 ine, 283 f., 308. 
 
 De Quincey, quotation from, 313-315. 
 
 Derekh, meaning of word, 219 f. 
 
 Descendants of Israel, 359. 
 
 Description: of death cry, 143-150; 
 of funeral feast in Hiileh, 166 f. ; of 
 mourning week, 178-183 ; of life in 
 Alexandria, 209-216. 
 
 Desert: worshiping in, 258; freedom 
 from sickness in, 296 ; first Sunday 
 in, 297; track of Hajj in, 334; 
 Arabs circuiting tomb in, 349 ; Is- 
 raelites wandering in, 374 ; chalky 
 whiteness of, 393. 
 
 Devils, casting out of, 312. 
 
 " Dhammapada," Booddha's, 230. 
 
 Diamonds on person, 41. 
 
 Dido, queen of Carthage, 68. 
 
 Duiah and Shechem, 13, 63. 
 
Topical Index. 
 
 417 
 
 Diodorus, quotation from, 221 f. 
 
 Dirge : clianlinsj; of, for dead, 184, 193 ; 
 in Egypt and I'alestinc, 200-202. 
 
 Disease: varying phases of, 297 ; uni- 
 versal expedtation of cure of, 304, 
 306. 
 
 Diseased : in Egypt, 295-298, 305, 315 ; 
 in Arabia, 297 f, 306-310; in Pales- 
 tine, 298-304, 310-318 ; in Syria, 300, 
 305 f., 315 ; jesus' worl'C among, 301- 
 304, 312-318 ; in 'rurl<ey, 303 f., 
 315; in Babylonia, 305; in Lebanon 
 regions, 311 f . ; in Persia, India, 
 China, Japan, and Siam, 315 ; in 
 Korea, 316. 
 
 Divine sonship of kings, 248. 
 
 Divorce : Muhaniniadan law of 36 f. ; 
 Mosaic law of, 37 ; protection in 
 case of, 322 f. 
 
 Divorced from husband by a word, 322. 
 
 Divorced wife, rights of, 37. 
 
 Djezzar, reference to, 115. 
 
 Dogs buried with dead, 176. 
 
 " Donation party," modern, loi f. 
 
 Donkeys: in Alexandria, 212; near 
 Cairo, 215 ; near Jerusalem, 337. 
 
 Donor of bride, 11. 
 
 Doolittle, quotation from, 159. 
 
 Doorway sprinkled with blood, 381 f. 
 
 Dothan, incident near, 102 f 
 
 Doughty, C. M., quotation from, 125. 
 
 Douglas, R. K., quotation from, 253. 
 
 Dowry: not "price of wife," 9; ar- 
 ranging for, 9, 20 ; invested in 
 jewelry, 20; paid to bride, 22; in 
 ancient times, 24 ; wife's right of, 
 322 ; carried on bride's person, 323. 
 
 Dragoman : of Alexandria, 210, 308, 
 329 ; at Wells of Moses, 257. 
 
 Dressing day in wedding ceremonies, 
 40. 
 
 Dressmakers among bereaved Occi- 
 dentals, 187. 
 
 Drinking together in covenant, 106-108. 
 
 Dromedaries: milk of, 284, 289; sacri- 
 ficed in desert, 285 f. 
 
 Dromedary sacrificed at wedding feast, 
 
 47-49- 
 Druses,hospitality among, 91, 113-115. 
 Dryden : cited, 30. 
 Du Bois, Abbe : cited, 348 f 
 Dust: thrown on head at tomb, 194; 
 
 thrown on camel, 194 ; substituted 
 
 for water, 26S. 
 
 Ea-RANI and Harimtu, legend of, 63 f 
 
 Eala, green hillock of 352. 
 
 " I-'ar of God," 272. 
 
 Ear-rings: as bridal ornaments, 41 ; 
 among Israelites, 319 ; worn by rich 
 and poor, 321; jewels and, 325 ; of 
 Bed'wy woman, 326. 
 
 Ears cleansed for prayer, 266. 
 
 East: proverbs of 64 f ; first glimpse 
 of, 209; ''children of the," 242; 
 threshold of 304. 
 
 Easter: at Jerusalem, 298, 348; the 
 first, 338 ; pilgrimages at, 345 ; at 
 the Holy Sepulcher, 349. 
 
 Eastward position in prayer, 269,375 f. 
 
 Eating: in covenant, 106, 110; in be- 
 half of dead, 167; with father un- 
 usual, 250 ; enough for forty days, 
 287-289. 
 
 Ebal, mount of cursing, 356, 373. 
 
 Edersheim, Alfred, quotation from, 
 
 305- 
 
 Edom, road through, 223. 
 
 Edris : his hospitality, 166. 
 
 Edwards, Amelia B., quotation from, 
 149, 201 f. 
 
 Egypt : betrothal in, 14-21 ; " go- 
 between " in, 21; ancient marriage 
 customs in, 22; betrothal contracfis 
 in, 23 f ; marriage of blood relatives 
 in, 31 f . ; romantic love in, 64; 
 woman's place in ancient, 66-68; 
 woman in sculpture of 67 f ; hos- 
 pitality in, 88 f ; guest-houses and 
 guest-chambers in, 95 ; covenanting 
 in, 107 ; mourning in, 143-148, 183, 
 197 f. ; monuments of 153, 264; 
 funeral processions in literature of, 
 164; scarfs on mourners in, 165; 
 funeral feasts in, 165; coffins in, 
 168 ; Jacob's funeral procession 
 from, 169 f. ; funeral service in, 170; 
 burial only to worthy in, 173-175; 
 food for dead in, 176; dodtrine of 
 future life in, 199-201 ; embalming 
 body in, 200; requests for prayer 
 in, 201 f . ; dirges in, 202; music 
 in, 213, 376; decline of 215 ; road- 
 building in, 216, 220; gold-mines 
 of 220 ; " father " idea in the- 
 ology of 248 ; teachings of an- 
 cient, 248 f ; family attachment in, 
 249-251 ; woman's right of succes- 
 sion to throne in, 251 ; darweeshes 
 
4i8 
 
 Topical Index. 
 
 in, 259 f . ; ancient ritual of, 264; 
 exodus from, 288, 372 ; sickness and 
 suffering in, 295-298, 306; " people 
 of blessing " in, 305; medical mis- 
 sions in, 315; children of Israel in, 
 320, 328, 380, 384, 395 f. ; unchanged 
 land of, 320, 325 ; gold and silver in, 
 324; treasures in tombs of, 324; 
 bakhsheesli for Hebrews in, 331 f . ; 
 Meccah pilgrimage from, 334; pil- 
 grimages to sacred sites in, 340; 
 mightiest rulers of, 357; Joscpli's 
 death in, 358 ; souls land of bond- 
 age, 391 ; sandluaries of gods of, 397. 
 
 Eg\ i)tian Book of the Dead, 136, 264. 
 
 " ]£lder," meaning of, 243. 
 
 Eify Bey, reference to, 121. 
 
 Eliezer: as "go-between" for Isaac, 13, 
 18, 22, 43 ; servant of Abraham, 106. 
 
 Elijah, references to, 109 f., 214, 359, 
 389 f. 
 
 Elim, references to, 291, 297, 395. 
 
 Elisha's prophecy against Jezebel, 174. 
 
 El-Karey, Yohannah, as guide, 373. 
 
 El-Leja, hospitality at, 91, 124. 
 
 Ellis, William, quotation from, 158 f. 
 
 Elopements, romantic, 65. 
 
 El-Faran, reference to, 271. 
 
 Embalming of body in Egypt, 200. 
 
 Emmaus, Jesus on way to, 338. 
 
 Emperor of China, reference to, 251. 
 
 English Church, "processional" in, 
 348. 
 
 Ephesus, reference to, 235. 
 
 Ephraim, hills of, 356. 
 
 Epilei^tic cured by Jesus, 312. 
 
 Esau, old home of, 257 f. 
 
 Esdraelon, plain of, 214. 
 
 Essenes, The, on Bible miracles, 313 f. 
 
 " Etham, wilderness of," 388. 
 
 Euphrates, reference to, 356. 
 
 Europe: pilgrims from, 336; sur- 
 vivals of |)ilgrimage in, 352. 
 
 Ewing, William, quotation from, 124 f. 
 
 Examining candidate for betrothal, 17. 
 
 Exodus, reciting story of, 376. 
 
 Exploring expedition to Babylon, 326 f. 
 
 Ezekiel : his prophecy to Israel, 41 f. ; 
 rebuking Samaria and Jerusalem, 
 42 ; reference to, 196. j 
 
 Family, traveling party called, 238 f. ' 
 
 Fan and smelling-bottle among Occi- [ 
 
 dentals, 92. i 
 
 Fiisting : in mourning, 186; gorging 
 and, 286-288 ; before partaking of 
 passover, 383. 
 
 Falhah, chanting of, 352. 
 
 Father: duty of, to seledl wife for son, 
 II f. ; head of household called, 237; 
 not merely parent, 237 ; meaning of, 
 237-239; "of a multitude of na- 
 tions," 239; "of a beard," 241 ; "of 
 a saucepan," 241 ; of the skaykh, 
 245; " of the Faithful," 406. 
 
 Fayran, Wady, reference to, 308. 
 
 Feast: accompanying betrothal. 27; at 
 funeral, 165-168, 178 f. ; Arabs gor- 
 ging at, 286-288 ; of weeks, 340 ; of 
 Tabernacles, 340, 344 f., 347 ; of un- 
 leavened bread, 340, 385; of Israel 
 representing Trinity, 344; of pass- 
 over at Jerusalem, 371. 
 
 Feasting, week of, at wedding, 44. 
 
 Feldspar, red, in desert, 395. 
 
 Fellaheen Arabs, reference to, 290. 
 
 Festivities for bride and groom sepa- 
 rate, 32, S3. 
 
 " Fiery serpents " in desert, 308, 388. 
 
 Fifth Commandment, references to, 
 237 f-. 250, 252 f. 
 
 Fig-trees, land of, 278. 
 
 Figurative meaning of pilgrimage, 
 340 f. 
 
 Finger-rings worn by all classes, 321. 
 
 Fire, circuit of, among Hindoos, 348 f. 
 
 Flowers in desert, 399, 404. 
 
 Food: sharingof, 15?., io5f. ; fordead, 
 in Egypt, China, Russia, and India, 
 176 ; for Israelites in wandering, 
 291-293 ; from heaven for Elijah, 
 390; supply of, for journey across 
 desert, 401 f. ; scanty supplies of, in 
 desert, 406. 
 
 Footprints of Jesus on Mount oi 
 Olives, 336 f. 
 
 Forerunners, cry of: in Alexandria, 
 213 f., 216; in Holy Land, 214 f., 
 2171.; near Cairo, 215; in Bible, 
 216; in Abyssinia, 226 f. 
 
 Forgiving the dead, 172 f. 
 
 Franks, king of the, 362. 
 
 Friday at Jew's wailing-place, 272 f. 
 
 " Friend of bridegroom," 17, 34 f., 59- 
 61. 
 
 Friendship : covenant of, 105 f. ; gift 
 as token of, 327. 
 
 Funeral leasts: in Egypt and Arabia, 
 
Topical Index, 
 
 419 
 
 165; in Syria and Xuhia, 165 f . ; 
 among Bed'wccn Arahs, 166 f ; 
 among Irish, English, and Ameri- 
 cans, 168. 
 
 Funeral processions: East and West, 
 162-165, 168-171; antiquity of, 
 163 f. ; barges in, 168 ; making 
 threefold circuit, 352 f. 
 
 Funerals: in Egypt, Italy, Ireland, 
 Pennsylvania, and New England, 
 162 f. ; displays at, 16S, 170 f. ; of 
 Jacol), 169 f. ; in Paris, in London, 
 in New York, in Washington, 170; 
 long-continued ceremoniesat, 178 f. 
 
 Funerary tablets, prayers on, 201. 
 
 Funereal Ritual, 264. 
 
 Furniture broken to show sorrow, 187. 
 
 Future life : among Africans, 176 f. ; 
 teachings of Scripture regarding, 
 198-200; dodlrine of, 199-201. 
 
 Galata, reference to, 304. 
 Galileans at Passover feast, 338. 
 Galilee : Jesus passing through, 301 ; 
 
 and Judea, road from, 356. 
 Gallic mourning survivals, 153. 
 Game, wild, in the desert, 286. 
 Games of children, pilgrim ideain, 353. 
 Gaza, tomb of Samson near, 195 f. 
 Gazelle for food in desert, 286. 
 Ge-harashim, Joab fiither of, 240. 
 Generosity greatest of virtues, 93 t. 
 Genuine sorrow in conventional form, 
 
 Gerizim : mihrab at, 270 f. ; destruc- 
 tion of temple on, 359 ; ceremonies 
 of Samaritan passover on, 366, 375- 
 385; visit to, 372 f. ; mount of bless- 
 '",?• 373 ; sacrifice on, 373, 378-381 ; 
 claimed as center of earth and as 
 highest moiuitain, 374 ; called house 
 of (jod and gate of heaven, 374; 
 pilgrims at, 384. 
 
 Gethsemane, (iarden of, references to, 
 
 273.299.337- 
 
 Gharandel, Wady, incident at, 306. 
 
 Gheezeh: wailing at, 143; forerunner 
 to, 215; pyramids at, 296, 396. 
 
 Gibeah : in days of Judges, 84 f. ; de- 
 stroyed for inhospitality, 133 f. 
 
 Gibeonites and Israelites, 109 f. 
 
 Gideon: his battle with Midianites, 
 76,324; his spoil from Midianites, 
 324 f- 
 
 Gift: of Abraham to Rcbekah, 22; 
 
 i request for, as token of friendship, 
 
 i 327 ; to show satisfadlion with ser- 
 
 i vice, 328 f. ; illustration of way of 
 
 asking, 329 f. 
 
 " Gift of God," water as the, 213. 
 
 Gifts : sent to groom in advance of 
 guests, 35 ; for bride borne in pro- 
 cession, 44 ; of Israelites, 319 f. 
 
 Gilead, Land of, reference to, 356. 
 
 Girdle : as bridal ornament, 41 ; as 
 coin-storer, 323; of high-priest, 383. 
 
 Gneiss, gray, in desert, 395. 
 
 Goat-hair tent, 242, 326. 
 
 Goats : sacrificed for guest, 97, 285 ; 
 in streets of Alexandria, 212 ; milk 
 of, 284. 
 
 "Go-between " in betrothals, services 
 of, 13, 17-22, 31. 
 
 Gold : destroyed for molten calf, 319 f.; 
 jewels of, 319 f., 323, 325, 327, 331 f. ; 
 hoarding of, 322, 325. 
 
 Gold ornaments: of Israelites, 319- 
 321, 327; in Egypt, 320, 322-325 ; 
 in Arabia, 320-326 ; in Palestine, 
 324 f. ; in Syria, 325. 
 
 Golden calf: worship of, 230 f. ; ear- 
 rings furnished for, 319. 
 
 Golden Calf, Hill of the, 308. 
 
 Golden Horn, bridge over, 304. 
 
 Gold-mines of Upper Egypt, 220. 
 
 Goldsmiths of bazaars of Cairo, Jeru- 
 salem, and Damascus, 325. 
 
 Goodwin, C. W., quotation from, 249. 
 
 Gordon-Cumming, Mrs. C. F., quota- 
 tion from, 352 f. 
 
 Gorging at feasts, 2S6-288. 
 
 Government : an enlarged family, 247 ; 
 based on filial reverence, 252 f. 
 
 Governor of Castle Nakhl, 45 f., 328. 
 
 Grand Duke Alexander, reference to, 
 217 f. 
 
 Grand Lama, reference to, 351. 
 
 Grape -molasses among Bed' ween, 
 no f. 
 
 Grapes, trcader of, 367. 
 
 Greece, pilgrims from, 337. 
 
 Greek Christian pilgrims : at Jeru- 
 ' salcm, 335, 348 ; to Mount of 
 I Olives, 336. 
 
 I Greek Church : burial custom of, 
 I72f. ; in Palestine and Russia, 348. 
 
 Greek convent at Jaffa, 310." 
 i Greek word for " the way," 219/. 
 
420 
 
 Topical Index. 
 
 Greeks : hospitality among, 136 f. ; 
 mourning among, 197. 
 
 Griffin, Gerald, quotation from, 122 f. 
 
 (iroom (sec Bridegroom). 
 
 Guest : meaning of word, 75 ; be- 
 coming one by asking question, 
 77 ; concealing suffering from, 87 f., 
 protected from violence by in- 
 sulted host, 89-91 ; weeping for joy 
 over, 97; never turned away, 98 ; 
 life and honor pledged for, 98 f. ; 
 set at work after three days, 105 ; to 
 share meat of sacrifice, 285. 
 
 Guest-friends among Greeks, 137. 
 
 Guest-houses : in Kerek, 86 ; in 
 Egypt, Arabia, and Syria, 95. 
 
 "Guests of God," 123-125, 131, 405. 
 
 Hagar and Ishmael, 12, 388 f. 
 
 Haifa, funeral custom at, 172 f. 
 
 Ha'il, hospitality in, 94. 
 
 Hair, house of, 405. 
 
 Hair ornaments : for bride, 41 ; worn 
 by all classes, 321. 
 
 Hajj : wedding scene on route of, 
 45-58 ; Meccah pilgrimage called, 
 334; Muhammadan idea of, 342; 
 antiquity of institution, 342 ; mean- 
 ing of Arabic word, 342, 346 f. 
 
 Hajji Tarfa, reference to, 326 f. 
 
 Hajjis, pilgrims to Meccah called, 
 
 334- 
 Hakeem : healing expedled from, 306- 
 
 318; safe from harm, 314. 
 Hakim (see Hakeem). 
 Hall of Two Truths, 136. 
 Hamayde shaykh's hospitality, 87 f. 
 Hamd, 244 f., 250. 
 Hamlin, Cyrus, quotation from, no, 
 
 115 f. 
 Hamor: and Shechcm, 13 ; and Jacob, 
 
 22 f. ; sons of, 355. 
 
 Hand-shaking, ceremony of, 15. 
 
 Hands : cleansed for prayer, 266 ; 
 position of, in prayer, 266 f. ; kiss- 
 ing high-priest's, 380. 
 
 Harimtu and Ea-bani, legend of, 63 f. 
 
 Hassan, Mosk Sultan, 265. 
 
 Hat -bands at funerals in England, 
 America, and Egypt, 165. 
 
 Hatteen, battle of, reference to, 362. 
 
 Hauran, Arabs of the, 124. 
 
 Hazael, campaigns of, 357. 
 
 Head-bands as bridal ornaments, 41. 
 
 Heads of children marked with blood 
 at Samaritan passover, 379. 
 
 Healing: of blind at Jericho, 301-303 ; 
 ministry of, 304; in Syrian country, 
 305; apostles' work of, 313. 
 
 " Heard for their much si^eaking," 
 257. 263. 
 
 Hebcr the Kenite, 127. 
 
 Hebrew posture in prayer, 268 f. 
 
 Helirew ritual, 372. 
 
 Hebrew word : for " the way," 219 f. ; 
 for "borrowing" and "asking," 
 327 ; chag, meaning of, 346 f. 
 
 Hebrews : marriage with relatives 
 among ancient, 31 f. ; idea of future 
 life among, 199; references to, 202, 
 220, 235, 291, 342,345-347, 395-397, 
 407 f. ; pilgrimage idea among, 340 ; 
 Epistle to, writer of, 345 f. 
 
 Hebrides, pilgrimagesurvivals in, 352 f. 
 
 Hebron: burying- place of Jacob, 
 169 f. ; tombs at, 195 ; preparing 
 the way near, 217; references to, 
 244 f., 250, 270, 298, 335. 
 
 Hejaz: coffee-berries from, 78 ; hos- 
 pitality in, 88 f. 
 
 Heliopolis, sacred pilgrimage to, 340. 
 
 Herakles, pillars of, 222 f. 
 
 Herbs, bitter, at Samaritan passover, 
 377, 382 f. 
 
 Hermits as "people of blessing," 305. 
 
 Hermon, reference to, 356. 
 
 Herod, slaying of infants by, 192. 
 
 Herodotus : cited, 146, 153, 305 f., 
 340 ; mourning in time of, 148 ; 
 quotation from, 222. 
 
 " Heth, sons of," 241. 
 
 High-priest at Samaritan passover, 
 
 375 f-, 378-383- 
 Highways: in Holy Land, 216-218, 
 
 356 f. ; of rulers, 219 f., 356 f. ; to 
 
 cities of refuge, 223. 
 Hill of the Golden Calf, 308. 
 Hilprecht, H. V. : quotation from, 
 
 89 f-, 303 f-; cited, 330 f. 
 Hindoo child-brides, 58. 
 Hindoo sacrament of marriage, 11. 
 Hindoo wedding, circuiting fire at, 
 
 348 f. 
 
 Hindoostan, reference to, 314. 
 
 History, first great campaign of, 357. 
 
 Hittite princess and Rameses II., mar- 
 riage between, 25. 
 
 Hobab as guide to Israelites, 402. 
 
Topical Index. 
 
 421 
 
 Hodos, inorinins "f Greek word, 219 f. [ 
 Holland, !•". W., quotation from, 281. j 
 Holy City : reference to, 269, 273 f. ; | 
 
 pilgrims to, 298, 335, 339- I 
 
 Holy Land: roads in, 216-218 ;^ pre- 
 
 parations for prayer in, 257 ; Easter 
 
 pilgrimages in, 345; scenery and 
 
 associations of, 355. 
 Holy place, praying toward, 266, 268- 
 
 270, 272, 382 f. 
 Holv Sepulcher, circuiting, 348 f. 
 Holy Sepnlcher, Church of the, 335. 
 Holv Week in Palestine, 298, 335-339- 
 " Homam," sacrifice of, at wedding, 
 
 349- 
 
 Honey, land of, 278, 283. 
 
 Hornblende, black, in desert, 395. 
 
 Horses : sacrifice of, 168 ; buried with 
 dead, 176. 
 
 Horus, reference to, 248. 
 
 Hoshea, reference to, 359. 
 
 Hospital of Knights of St. John, 330. 
 
 Hospitality: Oriental estimate of, 73- 
 75; meaning of word, 75; payment 
 not accepted for, 80; the virtue of 
 barbarians, 81 ; in Syria, Egypt, and 
 the Hejaz, 88 f. ; among Druses, 91 ; 
 in Central Arabia, 94; east of Jor- 
 dan, 95 f. ; in Central Asia, 96 f. ; 
 of Toorkomans, 96 f. ; in Eastern 
 Turkey, 98 ; in India, 98 f., 120; 
 in China and Japan, 99 ; among 
 Tawarah Bed'ween, 100 f.; abuse 
 of, loi, 105 ; unwritten law of, 
 105; covenanting in, 105-142; of 
 'Azazimehs, 107 f. ; sharing of, with 
 God, 109; for enemy or stranger, 
 113-115; overriding desire forblood- 
 avenging, 116 -124; religious basis 
 of, 123; as viewed by Occidentals, 
 132 f. ; antiquity of, 136 f. ; among 
 American Indians, 138 f. ; lessons 
 from virtue of Oriental, 141 f. ; 
 
 'sacri- 
 in drink of 
 
 paramount to grief, 150 f. 
 
 ficing " as a(5t of, 285 ; 
 
 water, 361. 
 " Host," meaning of word, 75. 
 " Hostile," meaning of word, 75. 
 " House of hair," 125, 405. 
 Howaiji, reference to, 299. 
 " Howling" darweeshes, 258-260,265, 
 
 376. 
 Hue, M., quotation from, 349 f. 
 Huldah, reference to, 68. 
 
 Iluleh, funeral feast in, 166 f. 
 Hyrcanus, reference to, 359. 
 
 I HEX for food in desert, 286. 
 Ibn Arooks, seeking wife among, 31. 
 Ibn Kashid, Emeer Muhammad, refer- 
 ence to, 94. 
 Ibrahecm, reference to, 117. 
 " Ibraheem," reference to, 287 f. 
 Ibrahim Pasha, reference to,- 227. 
 Ilias, reference to, 98. 
 " In the Hebrides," reference to, 352. 
 Incense-sellers in Jerusalem, 335. 
 India: betrothals in, 8 ; child-marriage 
 in, 10 f . ; child-widows in, 26; 
 honored married life in, 59; hos- 
 pitality in, 98 f , 120; food for dead 
 in, 176; wife-burning in, 177; 
 medical missions in, 315 ; circuits 
 in, 348 f. 
 Indians, American : hospitality among, 
 138 f. ; burial customs among, 176. 
 Inscriptions : of Telloh, 153 ; at en- 
 trance to cavernous mines, 398. 
 Intoned: prayer in desert, 256 f . ; 
 chant, 351 ; recital of story of pass- 
 over, 376, 378. 
 Inventor called " father," 241. 
 lona, traces of pilgrimage in, 352. 
 Ipsambul, reference to, 248. 
 Ireland, funeral procession in, 162 f. 
 Irish, hospitality among, 122 f. 
 Irish wake : a survival of mourning, 
 152 ; feast accompanying, 167 ; refer- 
 ence to, 198. 
 Isaac: and Abraham, 12; and Rebe- 
 kah, 13, 18, 22, 32 f., 43; his cove- 
 nant-feast, 108 ; tomb of, 195 ; old 
 home of, 257 f. ; and Jacob, 406. 
 Isaiah, prophecy of, 174, 225, 227, 
 
 318, 333 f. 
 
 Ishmael: seeking wife for, 12; as hun- 
 ter in wilderness, 388 f. 
 
 Ishmaclites, golden car-rings of, 324. 
 
 Ishtar lamenting over Dumuzi, 197. 
 
 Isis and Osiris, 197 f. 
 
 Israel : as betrothed of the Lord, 41 f ; 
 cities of refuge in, 126 f. ; mothers of, 
 likened to Rachel, 191 ; mourning 
 of daughters of, 196; king of, 214, 
 358 ; references to, 233 f., 240, 
 286 f., 297,358, 389 f.; "children 
 of," 241, 256 f., 331, 344, 380, 389; 
 queen-mothers of, 251 ; sustaining 
 
42: 
 
 Topical hidex. 
 
 host of, 292 f. ; descendants of, 
 
 359- 
 Israelites : and Giheonitcs, 109 f. ; 
 
 references to, 191, 214, 230, 277, 
 
 280 r, 286 f , 289, 291 f, 327, 331, 
 
 402 f. ; directed to luiild roads, 223 ; 
 
 treasured wealth of, 325 ; living in 
 
 l)ootlis, 344; crossing Jordan on dry 
 
 land, 374; prostrating themselves at 
 
 mention of Jehovah, 377. 
 
 Italionote Greeks, reference to, 223. 
 
 Italy, funeral processions in, 162. 
 
 Izdubar epic of Chaldeans, 63. 
 
 Jaual: father of tent-dwellers, 239; 
 " daughter of," 242. 
 
 Jacob : and Ilamor, 22 f ; his service 
 in lien of dowry, 23 ; and Rachel, 
 26, 62-64; and Laban, 34, 108; 
 funeral procession of, 169 f ; refer- 
 ences to, 191, 257 f., 366 ; before 
 Pharaoh, 341; tradition of, on Ge- 
 rizim, 374; his home in Valley of 
 Shechem, 358. 
 
 Jacob's Well, 355-370, 372. 
 
 Jael and Sisera, 127-129. 
 
 Jaffa: market-day at, 299; sick at, 
 310. 
 
 Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem, 299, 335. 
 
 Jairus, [esus at house of, 161 f. 
 
 James, Apostle, reference to, 305. 
 
 japan : hospitality in, 99 ; ancient 
 religion of, 230 ; medical missions 
 
 in, 315- 
 
 Jebel Moosa, convent at foot of, 283. 
 
 Jebeleeyeh, reference to, 283. 
 
 Jehoash, reference to, 359. 
 
 Jehoiakim, reference to, 151. 
 
 Jehovah : Samaritan temple unau- 
 thorized by, 372; prostrations at 
 mention of, 377. 
 
 Jehu, reference to, 359. 
 
 "jcphthah's daughter, reference to, 
 196. 
 
 Jeremiah : his references to mourn- 
 ing, 151, 153, 161, 191 f , 196. 
 
 Jericho : healing of blind in, 301-303 ; 
 circuit of walls of, 347. 
 
 Jerusalem : wedding processions in, 
 45; references to, 151, 359 ; mourn- 
 ing for Josiah, 196; preparing the 
 way to, 225; Paul as prisoner in, 
 242 ; sacredness of, to Muham- 
 madans, 272 ; its desolation, 272 f. ; 
 
 pilgrims going to, 298 f., 339, 342 f ; 
 diseased in, 300; bazaars of, 325; 
 passover feast at, 338 ; circuits at, 
 347 ; Kaster ))ilgrimage to, 348 ; its 
 royal splendor under David and 
 Solomon, 339. 
 
 Jessup, H. H. : quotation frfim, 305. 
 
 Jesus: at Jacob's Well, 106 f., 355, 
 
 359-361, ' 3''4 <". 373; his reference 
 to hospitality, 139 ; at house of 
 Jairus, 161 f. ; resurredlion of, 178 ; 
 death of, 192 ; as the Way, 233-235 ; 
 his reference to " fither," 242 f; on 
 Mount of Olives, 273-276; disciples 
 of, 274 f., 366 f. ; lej^ers appealing 
 to, 301 ; his ministry of healing, 301- 
 304, 312; healing blind in Jericho, 
 302 f ; giving apostles power over 
 unclean spirits, 313; footprints of, 
 336 ; words of, to life's pilgrims, 
 347 f . ; sowing and reaping in days 
 of, 364; temptation of, in wilder- 
 ness, 390. 
 
 Jew and Samaritan, 360 f., 363. 
 
 Jews: as trinket-sellers in Jerusalem, 
 335 ; belief as to Feast of Taber- 
 nacles, 345 ; circuit of synagogue 
 among, 348 ; celebrating passover 
 feast, 371. 
 
 Jewel in the Lotus, 261. 
 
 Jewelry: bride's portion invested in, 
 20; its prominence among women, 
 38, 50 f. ; loaded on slave girls, 38 f. ; 
 offered for tabernacle in wilderness, 
 320; of silver and gold, 331 f. 
 
 Jewish council, reference to, 242. 
 
 "Jewish disciples of John and Jesus, 
 264. 
 
 Jezebel : as queen, 68 ; prophecy 
 against, 174. 
 
 Jezrecl : Bed'wy hospitality near, 76- 
 81; references to, 174, 214; Gideon's 
 triumph at plain of, 324. 
 
 Joab : slaying of, 129 f.; and Abner, 
 130 f ; flither of Ge-harashim, 240. 
 
 Job : references to, 179, 240. 
 
 Joel, reference to, 135. 
 
 John the Baptist : his reference to 
 Christ as bridegrooiri, 60 f. ; preach- 
 ing in the wilderness, 234 ; teach- 
 ing his disciples to pray, 264. 
 
 Jordan: hospitality east of, 95 f; 
 primitive customs east of, 124 f ; 
 Hebrews crossing, 347 ; valley of. 
 
Topical Index. 
 
 423 
 
 356 ; tradition ns to memorial stones 
 
 in, 374- 
 
 Joseph : references to, 102, 191, 240; 
 hurvinc; |;icob in Hebron, 169 f. ; 
 field brought by Jacob for. 355; 
 burial -site in Shechcm of, 358. 
 
 Joseph and Mary of Nazareth, 27. 
 
 Josephus, quotation from, 223. 
 
 Joshua : land dedicated to Ciod under, 
 3^8 ; responsive reading of the Law 
 under, 366 ; reference to, 374. 
 
 josiah. King, mourning over, 196. 
 
 ■jotham: reference to, 271 f.; his para- 
 ble to people of Israel, 358 f. 
 
 Jubal, father of musicians, 239. 
 
 Judah : references to, 196, 233 ; " sons 
 of," 241 ; queen-mothers of, 251. 
 
 Judca and Galilee, road between, 356. 
 
 Judges, days of: sharing spoil in, 324; 
 Aljimelech declared king in, 358. 
 
 Jugglers in wedding processions, 61. 
 
 Justinian, reference to, 283. 
 
 K A' I! All : praying toward, 269 ; refer- 
 ence to, 272 ; circuit of, 349. 
 
 Kadcsh: reference 10,292; "wilder- 
 ness of," 388 ; water at, 405. 
 
 Kadesh-barnea : resting-place of He- 
 brews, 291 f. ; sudden halt at, 323. 
 
 Kadesh-on-Orontes, battle of, 25. 
 
 " Kantuffa," references to, 226. 
 
 Karnak, reference to, 396. 
 
 " Kasd," reference to, 342. 
 
 Kedor-la'omer: reference to, 271 
 his attempt to control road, 356 f. 
 
 " Keen," the, in Irish mourning, 152 f. 
 
 Kerek, hospitality in, 86 f. 
 
 Khaleefs: hospitality in time of, ii/f-; 
 city of, 271. 
 
 Khaleel Omar, reference to, 362. 
 
 Khaleel Sekhali, reference to, 172 f. 
 
 Khedive's forerunner, 215. 
 
 Khonds : proverbs of, 98 ; hospitality 
 among, 98 f.; sacredness of sanctu- 
 ary obligations among, 120. 
 
 Kibroth-Nattaaveh, Israelites at, 286 f. 
 
 Kid, sacrifice of, 93, 100 f., 285. 
 
 Kidron, reference to, 273. 
 
 King: kejit from burial by charges 
 against him, 173; as living repre- 
 sentative of Deity, 249. 
 
 "King'sevii," king's touch to cure, 310. 
 
 King's highway, 219 f., 228. 
 Kings of Midian, 325. 
 
 Kirialh-sepher, wife promised for cap- 
 ture of, 12. 
 
 Klunzinger: quotation from, 149, 133; 
 cited, 305. 
 
 Kneeling: in prayer. 267-269, 37''^ ; ^t 
 Tomb of the Virgin, 337. 
 
 Knights of St. John, hospital of, 330. 
 
 Koordistan, hospitality in, 150 f. 
 
 Koran (see Quran). 
 
 Korea, medical missionary in, 317. 
 
 Lai^AN : and Jacob, 34 ; reference 
 to, 108. 
 
 Lamas, monasteries of Booddhist, 350. 
 
 Lamasery, processions to and circuit 
 of, 350. 
 
 Lamb, paschal sacrifice of: at Jerusa- 
 lem, 371 ; at Gcrizim, 375-383- 
 
 Lambs : sacrifice of, for guest, 285. 
 
 "Lamentation, skilful in," 153-156 
 (sec, also, Mourning). 
 
 Lamps : sent with wedding invita- 
 tions, 35 ; placed in tombs, 194. 
 
 "Land and the Book, The," refer- 
 ence to, 299. 
 
 Land: of Promise, 223, 357; ofGilead, 
 
 356- 
 Lane : quotation from, 171 f., 240 f. 
 Lane and Klunzinger, quotation from, 
 
 305- 
 Latin Christians in Jerusalem, 335. 
 
 Law: of hospitality"as to enemy, 113- 
 115; first table of the, 247; words 
 of the, 366. 
 
 Lawgiver commanding pilgrimages, 
 
 339 f- 
 Laying on hands for cure of scrofula, 
 
 310. 
 
 Lazar-house, Egypt as a, 296. 
 
 Lazarus of Bethany, Martha at grave 
 
 of, 177 <■- 
 
 Leah, reference to, 58. 
 
 Leathern "bottles," 401. 
 
 Lebanons : betrothal in, 14 ; hos- 
 pitality in, 83 f., 89-91, 113 f- ; refer- 
 ence to, 227 ; visit of Prince of 
 Walesin, 311 ; an experience in, 330. 
 
 Leben carried in bags, 76 f. 
 
 LeBruyn, Corneille : cited, 192 f. 
 
 Legends : of Ishtar, 63 ; of ancient 
 East, 63-68 ; of romantic love in 
 Arabia, Svria, Turkey, and Persia, 
 64 f. 
 
 Lentils for food, 283, 364. 
 
424 
 
 Topical hidcx. 
 
 Lconowens, Mrs., quotation from, 59. 
 
 Lepers: in Palestine, 298-301,313; in 
 Syria, 298, 300; village of, in Jeru- 
 salem, 299; of Constantinople, 304. 
 
 Leprosy: hand, lips, and nose, eaten 
 away by, 301 ; distortion of, 301. 
 
 Levitc, references to, 84 f., 240, 352. 
 
 Levitical law : on equivalent value of 
 daughter, 23 ; on betrothal, 26 f. ; 
 of divorce, 37; of " peace offering," 
 109 ; prohibiting blood-letting, 160. 
 
 Life : beyond grave, primitive belief 
 in, 201 f., 207; blood is, 285. 
 
 " Lifting of the veil " at wedding, 43. 
 
 Lizards and serpents in desert, 400. 
 
 Loftie.W. J. : cited, 92. 
 
 London : funeral of Wellington in, 
 170; British Museum in, 324. 
 
 Lords Prayer, references to, 175, 
 263 f, 275. 
 
 Lot : and his guests, 84 ; reference to, 
 98 f. ; his abode in Sodom, 342. 
 
 Louvre, the, museum of, 324. 
 
 Love, romantic, 61-66. 
 
 Lower Egypt, pilgrims from, 337. 
 
 Luke's account of blind man at Jeri- 
 cho, 302. 
 
 Luxor, reference to, 396. 
 
 Lydia, reference to, 270. 
 
 Lynch, Lieut., quotation from, 95 f. 
 
 "AL\'ASSAL.A.ME," partingblessing, 80. 
 
 Macedon, Alexander of, campaigns 
 of, 357- 
 
 Maine, Sir H. S., quotation from, 246 f. 
 
 Mamlook Beys, reference to, 121. 
 
 Manna, miracle of, 277, 283, 291-294. 
 
 Maps, uninspired, reference to. 292. I 
 
 Marah, murmuring of Israel at, 297. i 
 
 Marcy, General : cited, 282 f [ 
 
 Mark's account of blind man at Jeri- 
 cho, 302. 
 
 " Mark Twain " in Holy Land, 300. 
 
 Maronite Christians, reference to, 335. 
 
 Marriage : regarded as divine union, 
 II ; for diplomatic reasons, 25 f. ; 
 "by capture," based on sentmient, 
 29 f. ; of blood relatives, 30-32; 
 preparations for, m East, 32 ; first 
 glimpse of bride at, 58-60 ; pilgrim- 
 age procession at, 164 ; circuit of 
 altar at, 348. 
 
 Marriage contra(5t and betrothal con- 
 tra6l equivalent, 21 f. 
 
 I Marriage customs in ancient Egypt 
 and Babylon, 22. 
 
 Marriage service of Church of Eng- 
 
 I land, II. 
 
 Marriage settlement, arranging, 9. 
 
 Martha at her brother's grave, 177 f. 
 
 j Martyrs' Bay, reference to, 352. 
 
 Mary and Joseph, reference to, 27. 
 
 " Match-makers" in Egypt, Syria, and 
 China, 21. 
 
 Matthews account of blind man at 
 Jericho, 302. 
 
 Meaning: of " the way," 219 f. ; of 
 Chinese words tao and shin, 229 f. 
 of "father" in the East, 237-239 
 of " vvuzoo," 266; of "qiblah, " 269 
 of " mihrab," 270 ; of"Hajj,"342 
 of chag, 346 f. 
 
 Meccah : tradition of, 104 ; turning 
 toward in worship, 258, 266, 268- 
 273; niches toward, 270; value of 
 prayer at, 272 ; pilgrimage to, 291, 
 334 ; circuiting Ka'bah at, 349. 
 
 Media, royal road through, 221 f. 
 
 Medical miracles, preponderance of, 
 313 f- 
 
 Medical missionaries, importance of 
 311, 314-318. 
 
 " Medicine-man " in desert, 306. 
 
 Mediterranean Sea, reference to, 378. 
 
 Megiddo, plain of, reference to, 196. 
 
 Melchizedek : spirit and service of, 
 366; blessing Abraham, 373. 
 
 Merab and Saul, 13. 
 
 Mesopotamia, hospitality in. 106. 
 
 Mica and quartz in desert, 393. 
 
 Micah, reference to, 150, 240. 
 
 Michal, betrothal of, 13. 
 
 Midian, kings of, 325. 
 
 " Midian, sons of, " 241. 
 
 Midianites, Gideon's battle with, 324. 
 
 " Mihrab," meaning of, 270 f. 
 
 Milk : living for years on, 284 ; of 
 dromedaries, 289. 
 
 Milton : cited, 30. 
 
 " Minstrels : at house of Jairus, 162; 
 music of, in mourning, 179. 
 
 Min Yong Ik, reference to, 317. 
 
 Miracle : of manna, 277 ; of supply 
 of food, 292 ; of healing by Jesus, 
 313 f. ; of stoppage of flow of Jor- 
 dan, 374; water supplied by; 405. 
 Mirage in desert, 400. 
 Miriam, reference to, 68. 
 
Topical Index. 
 
 425 
 
 Mission: of wakcel, 17-22 ; of Chris- 
 tianity, 71 f. 
 
 Monasteries : circling, in India, 349 ; 
 of I5oo(idhist lamas, 350. 
 
 Moni;;olia: hospitality from, to Abys- 
 sinia, III ; fiooddhists of, 350; pil- 
 grims from, 350. 
 
 Monier-Williams, Sir Monier : cited, 
 59; quotation from, 261-263, 349. 
 
 Moors: liospitality of, 120; mourn- 
 ing among, 157 f. 
 
 Moosa, Jebel, reference to, 283. 
 
 Moosa, Shaykh : liospitality of, 77 f. ; 
 reference to, 244, 287, 328. 
 
 Morality of Israelites, 320. 
 
 Morier, Sir R. B. D., quotation from, 
 33, 65 f., 156. 
 
 Morocco: mourningcustomsin, 157 f.; 
 pilgrimages in, 351. 
 
 Moses: andZipporah, 12; references 
 to, 194, 202, 223, 231, 251, 293, 297, 
 331 f., 402 ; Wells of, 256 f. ; his re- i 
 quest to Pharaoh, 346 f. ; his com- 
 mand to dedicate land to God, 358; • 
 his command to sacrifice at even, i 
 378 ; sacrificial feast instituted by, 1 
 384 ; his training in wilderness, 389, ' 
 396-398 ; and Hobab, 402. 
 
 Mosk Akbar, reference to, 259. 
 
 Mosk Sultan Hassan in Cairo, 265. 
 
 Mosks : of Alexandria, 212; on Mount 
 of Olives, 273 f. ; sick at door of, 296. 
 
 Moslem creed, solemn chant of, 352. 
 
 Mother, honor to, 33, 251, 382. 
 
 Mother-in-law, reign of, in Egypt, 251. 
 
 Mound of the Burden, 352. 
 
 Mount Gerizim, references to, 270 f., 
 371-386. 
 
 Mount of God, 395. 
 
 Mount of Olives, references to, 273 f., 
 
 299. 336 f- 
 
 Mount Sinai, references to, 194, 308. 
 
 Mourners: shrieking chorus of, 146; 
 cutting and slashing themselves, 
 157 f. ; insincerity charged against, 
 185-188 ; circling grave, 193. 
 
 Mourning: in Egypt, 143-148; centu- 
 ries before Moses, 145 f. ; customs of, 
 unchanged by time, 147 ; in Barbary, 
 155 f. ; in South Sea Islands, 158 f. ; 
 at Atad, 169 ; long after death, 177- 
 179, 183 f . ; description of week of, 
 179-183; in Eastern cemeteries, 
 188-190 ; circle of, 193. 
 
 Mourning veil East and West, 193. 
 
 Mu'azzin's call to prayer, 256, 275. 
 
 Muhammad: on duty of hospitality, 
 140 ; his efforts to stop wailing, 170 ; 
 "way" of, 230 praying toward Jeru- 
 salem, 269 ; and Ilajj, 342. 
 
 Muhammad's retjuestfor "gift," 329 f. 
 
 Muhammad Ahmad, reference to, 329. 
 
 Muhammad Alee, reference to, 121. 
 
 Muhammadanism : its relation to 
 other beliefs, 269. 
 
 Muhammadans : law of divorce of, 
 36 ; wedding preliminaries among, 
 49 ; wedding party at prayers 
 among, 57 ; funeral service of, 171 f. ; 
 prayer ritual of, 256, 265-268 ; diffi- 
 culty in directing prayers aright, 
 271 f. ; their mosk on Mount of 
 Olives, 275, 336 ; Christian hakeem 
 respedled by, 316 ; in Jerusalem, 
 335 f. ; their idea of Hajj , 342. 
 
 Muir, Sir W., quotation from, 316 f. 
 
 Mukatteb, Wady, reference to, 281. 
 
 Mukhna, Plain of, reference to, 356. 
 
 Mulberry bush, children circling, 353. 
 
 Muqam of prophet or shaykh, 195 f. 
 
 Murderer entertained : by son of his 
 vidlim, 117-120 ; by father of vic- 
 tim, 120. 
 
 Museums of Boolaq, Turin, the 
 Louvre, and London, 324. 
 
 Music and dancing : at wedding, 47; 
 in wedding procession, 57 f. 
 
 Musical instruments, use of, in an- 
 nouncing death, 148. 
 
 Musleh, Shaykh, references to, 244 f., 
 250, 309 f. 
 
 Nabi.US : lepers at gate of, 300 f. ; 
 near site of Sychar, 373 ; reference 
 to, 374 f ; Samaritans of, 385. 
 
 Nakhl (see Castle Naklil). 
 
 Naples, reference to, 209 f. 
 
 Napoleon: funeral of, 170; touching 
 sick at Beyrout, 310. 
 
 Nazareth : mourners from, 180 ; 
 mourning at grave in, 190; mihrab 
 near, 271 ; road to, 298, 338. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar, campaigns of, 357. 
 
 Xeby Saleli, tomb of, 349. 
 
 Necho, Pharaoh, campaigns of, 196, 
 
 357- 
 Necklaces : as bridal ornaments, 41 ; 
 worn by all classes, 321 ; of coins,326. 
 
426 
 
 Topical Index. 
 
 Negoh, tho : mcetincf of Isanc nnd 
 
 Kol)oknh in, 43 ; adventure in, 107 f.; 
 
 bniin(i:iry of, 2qi. 
 Ncjri, refcronco to, 31. 
 New EnLjland, funeral fo.ist in, 168. 
 New Teslament, references to, 235 f. 
 New York : references to, 162, 215 ; 
 
 funeral of (Irant in, 170. 
 Niches of direCliion in prayer, 270. 
 Niglit traveling in East, 339. 
 Nile: references to, 143,215,296,356. 
 Nineteenth Dynasty roadinaking, 220. 
 Nirvana, way to, 230. 
 Noah : God's command to, 116 ; claim 
 
 that altar was erecTled on Gerizim 
 
 Ijy. 374- 
 
 Noor al Deen Alee, tale of, 40. 
 
 North American Indians, burial cus- 
 toms among, 176. 
 
 North American Review : cited, 10 f 
 
 North Morocco, pilgrimages in, 351, 
 
 Nose-pins as bridal ornaments, 41. 
 
 Nose-rings : as bridal ornaments, 41 ; 
 worn by women, 326. 
 
 Nubia : funeral feast in, 165 f. ; pebbles 
 on grave in, 175 f.; gold-mines of,220. 
 
 " Nuptial," meaning of word, 43. 
 
 Obadiah of Samaria, reference to, 
 109 f. 
 
 Occidental view of Oriental things, 7. 
 
 Oholah and Oholiljah rebuked for 
 breach of espousals, 42. 
 
 Oil, olives, and honey, land of, 278. 
 
 Old Testament : silence of, as to future 
 life, 198 f., 202-206 ; unique inspira- 
 tion of writers of, 204 f. , references 
 to, 214, 232-235, 278 ; as Soul's 
 Pi(5lure Book, 387. 
 
 Olives, land of, 278, 356. 
 
 Olives, Mount of, 273. 299. 
 
 Omar and Hormozan, 362. 
 
 On, reference to, 396. 
 
 Orange : bread in shape and size like, 
 284 ; hard crust preferred to, 308 f. 
 
 Orangeman and Roman Catholic, 
 tradition of. 123. 
 
 Ordinary day'ssupply of food, 280-285. 
 
 Oriental forms of prayer, 263 f. 
 
 Oriental hospitality, 73-142, 328, 381 f. 
 
 Oriental law regarding woman's prop- 
 erty, 36. 
 
 Oriental social life : advantage of its 
 study, 1-6. 
 
 Oriental " way," 230. 
 
 Orientals demonstrative, 155, 377,382 f. 
 I Origin of the rosary, 175 f. 
 ; Orissa, hospitality in, 98. 
 
 Ornaments: offerings of Israelites of, 
 319 f . ; of silver or gold, 319-327; 
 ! hoarding of personal, 321 f . ; un- 
 ' earthed from I'.gyptian tombs, 324. 
 : Osiris, Isis lamentmg over, 197. 
 I Osinan, reference to, 121. 
 
 Ostrich eggs on walls of tombs, 194. 
 
 Othniel's service in lieu of dowry, 23. 
 
 Outlook from star, supposed, 3-6. 
 
 Oven : for roasting paschal lamb, 375, 
 ; 380, 383 f. ; worshiping at an, 383. 
 j Ox, sacrifice of, 166 f. 
 
 I 
 
 Palestine: hospitality in, 76-81; 
 funeral custom in, 172 ; descriptidn 
 of mourning scene in, 179-183; 
 mourning party in, 190; muqams 
 in, 195; dirges in, 202; roads in, 
 216-218; contrast of desert with, 
 278 ; blind, crippled, and sick in, 
 298; calls for healing in, 300, 306, 
 312; as a great hospital, 312 ; travel- 
 ing at night in, 339 ; Greek Church 
 in, 348; beautiful scenery of, 356; 
 sowing and reaping at once, 363. 
 
 Palmer, E. H., reference 10,46; quo- 
 tation from, 284, 342. 
 
 " Panacea for all evil," 261. 
 
 Papyri : romantic love in, 64 ; forms 
 of prayer in, 264. 
 
 " Paran, the wilderness of," 388. 
 
 Parched corn as food, 282-284, 289, 323. 
 
 Parents, reverence for, 249-251, 3S2. 
 
 Paris: funeral of Napoleon in, 170; 
 museum of the Louvre in, 324. 
 
 Paschal lamb, 371, 375-385. 
 
 Pasha's forerunner, 215. 
 
 Passion Week, reference to, 375. 
 
 Passover: feast of, at Jerusalem, 298, 
 338; fulfilled in Christ, 344; of 
 Samaritans at Gerizim, 371-386; 
 feast of, not for foreigners, 382 ; 
 reciting story of, 384. 
 
 '• Path of Virtue," 230. 
 
 Patriarchal beard, advantages of, 245. 
 
 Paul : his reference to hospitality, 95; 
 reference to, 140; at Ephesus, 235 ; 
 liis reference to "father " idea, 242 f.; 
 and Lydia, 270; his training in wil- 
 derness, 390. 
 
Topical Index. 
 
 427 
 
 " Peace ofTering " of Israelites, 109. 
 Pebbles strewn over grave for telling 
 
 prayers, 175 f. 
 Pennsylvania, references to, 162 f. 
 Pennsylvania, University of, reference 
 
 to, 326. 
 Pentecost commemorating giving of 
 
 Law, 344. 
 " People of Blessing," 305. 
 " Peojile of the Path," 230. 
 Pepi-Na, inscription at tomb of, 201 f. 
 Pera, reference to, 304. 
 Persia: place of mother in kings' 
 household, 33 ; waitings over dead 
 in, 156 f . ; reference to, 221,233; 
 road-making in, 222; medical mis- 
 sions in, 315 ; pilgrims from, in 
 Jerusalem, 335; reference to ruler, 
 362. 
 Peruvians, marriage of blood relatives 
 
 among, 32. 
 Peter : reference to, 140 ; his reference 
 to David's prophecy, 178 ; his words 
 to sojourners and pilgrims, 346. 
 Pharaoh : sending servants to bury 
 Jacob, 169; Joseph father to, 240 ; 
 Jacob before, 341. 
 Pharaoh Necho, killing of Josiah by 
 
 archers of, 196. 
 Pharaoh the oppressor: as a road- 
 maker, 220; Moses' demand of, 346. 
 Pharaohs, earlier, funeral processions 
 
 in time of, 164 f. 
 Pharisees, reference to, 259. 
 Pharonic Road, reference to, 220. 
 Philadelphia : reference to, 216 ; ex- 
 perience in desert of dentist from, 
 307 f. ; funeral circuit in, 353. 
 Philce, reference to, 396. 
 Philiiipi, reference to, 270. 
 Physician: influence of skilful, 311; 
 
 safety of, in East, 314. 
 Pigeons : sacrificed at wedding, 47. 
 Pilgrimage : manifested in funeral 
 processions, 164; to Meccah, 291 ; 
 to lerusalem, 335-339; duty of, 340; 
 represents life's journey, 340, 407 f.; 
 to Bubastis, Busiris, iSa'is, and Heli- 
 opolis, 340; circuits in, 346 f. ; to 
 shrine of Abd es-Salem, 351 ; in 
 desert, 405 ; of Abraham, 406. 
 Pilgrimage idea : its antiquity, 339 f. ; 
 in all forms of religion, 342, 345; in 
 games of children, 353. 
 
 Pilgrims : from Europe and America, 
 336; to Holy Sepulcher, 349; from 
 China, Tibet, Mongolia, 350; carry- 
 ing load of books, 351 ; substitute 
 for prostrations among, 351. 
 
 "Pilgrim's Progress, " referenceto, 346. 
 
 " Pin-money" in early civilizations, 24. 
 
 " Places of prayer " near rivers, 270. 
 
 Plain of the Cornfields, references to, 
 
 356, 364- 
 Plain of Mukhna, reference to, 356. 
 Plain of Sharon, reference to, 378. 
 Plowing and reaping at once, 363 f. 
 Poisoned by serpent bite, 308. 
 Polygamy, system of, in East, 322. 
 Polynesia, mourning custom in, 158 f. 
 Polytheism, temptation to, 204-206. 
 " Pompey's Pillar," reference to, 188. 
 Porphyry, purple, in desert, 395. 
 Port Said, reference to, 272. 
 Posture in prayer : directions for, 
 265 ; of Christians, 267 ; no one 
 proper, 268. 
 " Prairie Traveler," reference to, 282. 
 Pray, learning how to, 263-265, 267. 
 Prayer : requests for, on Egyptian 
 funerary tablets, 200-202; references 
 to, 255, 385 ; intoning of, 256 f., 381 ; 
 posture in, 256, 265, 267-269, 337, 
 350, 376 f ; Oriental forms of, 261, 
 263 f. ; Egyptian monuments on, 
 264; nullified by slip in ritual, 267, 
 morning call to, 274 f. ; place of, for 
 all nations, 275 ; for sick, 315. 
 Prayer-books carried in circuit, 351. 
 Prayer-chamber in tombs, 200 f. 
 Praying: to be seen ofmen,255f. ; to- 
 ward holy place, 266, 268-273, 375 f. 
 Praying-cylinders, reference to, 262. 
 Preserving funeral wreaths among 
 
 Occidentals, 160. 
 Priest : of God in every home, 125 f. : 
 coUedling tears of mourners, 156 f ; 
 of Baal, 261 ; Melchizedek the 
 kingly, 366 ; kissing hand of, 380. 
 Primeval nobleness of man, 206. 
 Primitive customs founded on senti- 
 ment, 29. 
 Prince of Wales in East, 217 f., 311. 
 Prisoner assured of his life by drink- 
 ing water, 362. 
 Prisoner-guests among Arabs, 134-136. 
 Procession : gifts borne in, 44 ; at wed- 
 ding ceremonies, 44, 51 f., 164; for 
 
428 
 
 Topical Index. 
 
 bride, and for groom, 44, 49-55,57 f. ; 
 funeral, 162-165, 168-171 ; of jsriests, 
 347 ; to sacred lamaseries, 350 ; cir- 
 cuiting of grave, 352 f. 
 
 " Processional" in Greek and English 
 churches, 348. 
 
 Proclamation to prepare the way, 226. 
 
 Prostrations : m prayer, 267 f. ; in 
 circuniambulations, 350; at men- 
 tion of name of Jehovah, 377. 
 
 Protedlion : through marriage, 25 f. ; 
 in case of divorce, 322 f. ; securing, 
 of local shaykhs, 402. 
 
 Proverbs in East, 64 f., 75, loi. 
 
 Prussian hospital at Heyrout,33o. 
 
 Psalmist's mention of pilgrimage, 341 f. 
 
 Psalms, reference to, 341-343. 
 
 Ptolemies, the, campaigns of, 357. 
 
 " Pyramid of Degrees," references to, 
 143, 146. 
 
 Pyramids, references to, 215, 296. 
 
 " QiBLAH," meaning of, 269 f. 
 Qoheleth, time of, reference to, 148. 
 Quail for food in desert, 286 f. 
 Quartz in desert, 393, 395. 
 Queen-motliers, reference to, 251. 
 Queen of Roads, reference to, 224. 
 Quran, references to, 184, 368. 
 
 Ra, reference to, 248. 
 
 Rabbinical diredtions for prayer, 264 f. 
 
 Rachel : her betrothal to Jacob, 26, 
 
 62 f. ; references to, 58, 191 f. 
 Rainy season in East, 364. 
 Raj Coomar Roy, quotation from, 10. 
 Ramah, lessons from, 191-193. 
 Rameses II.: his marriage alliance 
 
 with Hittites, 25 ; references to, 220, 
 
 248 ; campaigns of, 357. 
 Reaping: near 'Ayn Qadis, 292; les- 
 sons from sowing and, 363-367 ; near 
 
 Jacob's Well, 364-366. 
 Rebekah : sought for wife of Isaac, 13, 
 
 18, 22 ; Abraham's gift to, 22 ; 
 
 brought to Sarah's tent, 32 f. ; veiled 
 
 only from her betrothed, 43. 
 Red cord at betrothal and wedding, 11. 
 Red Sea; Wells of Moses on, 256 f. ; 
 
 Hebrews at, 281, 395; "wilderness 
 
 of the," 388. 
 Refuge, cities of, 126 f , 223, 358. 
 Refusal : of money for hospitality, 88- 
 
 91 ; of drink to Prince Arnald, 362, 
 
 Regina Viarum, reference to, 224. 
 
 "Rejoicing in the Law " ceremony, 
 348. 
 
 Religion : " ways " in, 228 ; all forms 
 of false, 368. 
 
 Religious duty of visiting sick, 305. 
 
 Religious instruction among Muham- 
 madans, 265. 
 
 Renouf, Le Page, quotation from, 248. 
 
 Rephidim, water miracle at, 293, 405. 
 
 Representatives of God, guests as, 125. 
 
 Retem shrub of desert, 390, 401. 
 
 Reuel's gift of Zipporah to Moses, 12. 
 
 Revised Version, corredlness of, 327. 
 
 Revolution in medical treatment, 317. 
 
 Rezin, campaigns of, 357. 
 
 Rice : for guests, 93 ; in funeral feast, 
 167; for dead, 176; in desert, 289. 
 
 Ring and crown at weddings, 41. 
 
 " Ring around the rosie " game, 353. 
 
 Rites and ceremonies on Gerizim, 
 366, 372. 
 
 Ritual, original Hebrew, 372. 
 
 Road of Semiramis, 221 f. 
 
 Road-making, earliest mention of, 220. 
 
 Roads : wretched ones in East, 216 f. ; 
 in Egypt, in Arabia, in Palestine, 
 216-218 ; preparing, for coming 
 ruler, 217 f. ; originally built for 
 kings, 219-223. 
 
 Robbers' Fountain, spring called, 339. 
 
 Robinson, E., quotation from, 100 f. 
 
 Rogers, Miss, quotation from, 172 f., 
 179-183. 
 
 Roman Catholic and Orangeman, tra- 
 dition of, 123. 
 
 Roman Catholic Church : sacrament 
 of marriage in, 11 ; members of, 
 warned against funeral disjjlays, 
 170 f. ; " processional " in, 348. 
 
 Roman Colosseum, reference to, 394. 
 
 Roman Empire, military roads to, 223. 
 
 Romantic love : power of, in primitive 
 ages, 61-66 ; not a modern senti- 
 ment, 62-66 ; in Assyrian mythology, 
 63 ; in Egyptian papyrus, 64. 
 
 Rome : hosjiitality in, 137 f. ; the 
 world's road-maker, 221, 224. 
 
 Rosary : its origin, 175 f. 
 
 Royal Road of Syria, 220. 
 
 Russia: food for dead in, 176; pil- 
 grims from, 335; Greek Church in, 
 348. 
 
 Ruth gleaning in field, 360. 
 
Topical Index. 
 
 429 
 
 Sabbath, Samaritan, on Gerizim, 385. 
 Sacrament: of marriage, 11; of com- 
 munion, 285. 
 Sacred roll, in procession, 348. 
 Sacredness: of betrothal, 26 : of right 
 of asylum, 112-135 ; of hospitality, 
 134; of Jewish tithe, 167. 
 Sacritice :" of dromedary and pigeons, 
 47-49 ; of sheep, 47-49. 165 f., 285 f. ; 
 of goat, 97, 165 f., 285 f. ; of kid, 
 100 f. ; " of completion," 109 ; of 
 cow, 165 f. ; of buffaloes and horses 
 of deceased, 167; of " homam," at 
 wedding, 348 f. ; of paschal lamb, 
 371.373.378,380. 
 Sacrificial outpouring of blood, 165. 
 " Sacrificers, the," office of, 376. 
 " Sacrificing: " meaning of, 285. 
 Sacrilegious, Orientals not, 195. 
 St. Catharine, Convent of, 283, 308. 
 St. John, Knights of, hospital of, 330. 
 Saints as " people of blessing," 305. 
 " Sais," gaily dressed, 213, 215. 
 Sais, sacred place of pilgrimage, 340. 
 Saladeen and King of Franks, 362. 
 Salma, father of Bethlehem, 240. 
 Salt: symbol of life, in f ; in cake, 
 
 280; covenant of, 361. 
 Samaria, Jesus passing through, 300 f. 
 Samaritan passover, 366, 371-386. 
 Samaritan temple on Gerizim , 372, 374. 
 Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well, 
 
 106,359-363, 365, 373. 
 Samnites, reference to, 223. 
 Samson: and woman of Timnah, 13, 
 
 23, 63 ; tomb of, 195 f. 
 Samuel's warning to Israelites, 214. 
 " Sandtified " for prayer, 266-268. 
 Sandluary rights, 112 f., 125-127, 134 f. 
 San Francisco, Chinese burials in, 176. 
 Saticiarah : wailing at tomb at, 143-147 ; 
 
 suffering at. 296 ; tombs of, 396. 
 Sarah, Rebekah brought to, 32 f. 
 Sardis and Susa, road between, 222. 
 Saul : daughterof, pledged to Goliath's 
 conqueror, 12 ; and his daughters' 
 betrothals, 13 ; house of, 130, 215. 
 Sayce, A. II., quotation from, 220 f. 
 Scenery : of Palestine, 355-357 ; of 
 
 Arabian desert, 392. 
 Scrofula, touch supposed to cure, 310. 
 Sculpture, Egyptian: woman in,67f.; 
 
 of tombs and temples, 324. 
 Semakh, shaykh of, reference to, 95 f. 
 
 Semiramis, story of, 68, 221 f. 
 Semitic and Aryan betrothals, 27. 
 "Senator," meaning of, 243. 
 " Senior," meaning of, 243. 
 Sennacherib, campaigns of, 357. 
 Sentiment : as basis of primitive cus- 
 toms, 29 ; in pilgrimage, 333. 
 " Sepulchres, whited," referenceto, 57. 
 Serbal, reference to, 396. 
 Serpents in desert, 278, 308, 400. 
 Sety I., road-building by, 220; cam- 
 paigns of, 357. 
 Shahrazad : cited, 40. 
 Shakespeare, quotation from, 168. 
 Shalmanezer, campaigns of, 357. 
 Shame a passion with Orientals, 102. 
 Shammars, hospitality among, 115. 
 Sharing: of food, 97, 105 f., no f.. 
 165, 176, 285, 361 f. ; of water, 105- 
 108, 112,176,361 ; of covenant hospi- 
 tality with God, 109. 
 Sharon, Plain of, reference to, 378. 
 Shaw, Thomas, quotation from, 155 f. 
 Shaykh : tenure of power of, 95 f. ; 
 meaning of, 243 ; young men some- 
 times made, 243-245. 
 Shavkh Hamd, reference to, 245. 
 Shaykh JSIoosa, references to, 238, 
 
 244, 287. 328. 
 Shaykh Musleh, references to, 244 f., 
 
 250, 309 f. 
 Shavkh of Affej tribes, 326. 
 Shavkh Szaleeh, inuqam of, 195 f. 
 Shaykh Talhouk, reference to, 114. 
 Sheba, Queen of, reference to, 68. 
 " Shechasof the5(?r," 305. 
 Shechem's love for Dinah, 13, 22 f., 63. 
 Shechem, ancient: lepers at, 300 f . ; 
 as a city of refuge, 358 ; site of, 373. 
 Shechem,' Valley of, references to, 356- 
 
 i 358, 364. 
 Sheep, sacrificing of: at wedding, 47 ; 
 
 at funeral, 165 f. ; in desert, 285 f. 
 Shefa 'Amer, mourners from, 180. 
 Sheridan, funeral of, reference to, 170. 
 Shiloh, reference to, 356. 
 Shin, Chinese word, 230. 
 "Shintooism," meaning of, 230. 
 Shishak, campaigns of, 357. 
 " Shouting " darweeshes (see Howling 
 
 darweeshes). 
 Shrine: of Abd es-Salem, pilgrims to, 
 
 351 ; at Jerusalem, 268 f. ; at Mcc- 
 
 cah, 269, 272, 349 (see, ^iXso.Muqdm). 
 
430 
 
 Topical Index. 
 
 "Sliur, wilderness of." 388. 
 
 Siaiii, medical missions in, 315. 
 
 Sibylline Books, hospitality in, 138. 
 
 Sick: in Kgypt, 295-298, 305 f., 315 ; 
 in Arabia, 297 f., 306-310; in Pales- 
 tine, 298-304, 306, 310-318, 373; in 
 Syria, 298, 300, 305 f., 313 ; in Baby- 
 lonia, 305 f. ; touched by Napoleon, 
 310 ; Prince of Wales asked to heal, 
 311 ; in Lebanon, 311 f . ; in Persia, 
 India, China, japan, and Siam, 315. 
 
 Significance : of ring, bracelet, crown, 
 41 ; of bridal veil, 42 f. 
 
 Sikkeh es-Sooltanieh, road called, 220. 
 
 Siloam, libation of water from, 347. 
 
 Silver; abundance of, among Israelites, 
 319-322 ; jewels of, 320, 325, 331 f. 
 
 Silversmiths of bazaars of Cairo, Jeru- 
 salem, and Damascus, 325. 
 
 Sin of inhospitality, 131 f. 
 
 " Sin, wilderness of," 388. 
 
 Sinai : betrothal among Arabs of, 27 ; 
 Desert of, 278 f., 286, 289 f., 349, 
 395; resting-place of Hebrews, 291 ; 
 " wilderness of," 388 ; supposed 
 origin of name, 389. 
 
 Sinai, Mount : reference to, 231 ; con- 
 vent on, 283, 308. 
 
 Sinaitic Peninsula, hospitality in, 100 f. 
 
 Sisera and Jael, 127-129. 
 
 Slayers, office of, 376, 378 f. 
 
 Smelling-bottle among Occidentals, 92. 
 
 Smoking in fathers presence, 250. 
 
 Snefru, builder of pyramid, 398. 
 
 Social life, teaching of Oriental, 206-208. 
 
 Sodom ; destroyed for inhospitality 
 in, 84, 133 ; protedlion of Lot's 
 guests in, 98 f. ; reference to, 342. 
 
 Solomon ; his estimate of marriage, 
 10 f. ; his marriages for diplomatic 
 reasons, 25 ; his royal causeway, 
 223 ; his prayer at dedication of 
 temple, 269 ; royal splendor of, 359. 
 
 Song of death, 157 f. 
 
 Songs: of grief, 181-184; "of De- 
 grees," " of the Goings Up," 342. 
 
 Sons: of God, of Heth, of Judali, of 
 Midian, 241; of Benjamin, 241 f . ; 
 of Belial, 242. 
 
 Soul's Picture Book, 387, 391. 
 
 South Country, adventure in, 107 f. 
 
 South Sea Islands, mourning in, 158 f. 
 
 Southern Africa, burial custom in ,176 f. 
 
 Sowing and reaping, 292, 363-366. 
 
 Sphinx, reference to the, 215. 
 
 Spinning and wailing combined, i85f. 
 
 Springs and wells in desert, 404. 
 
 Stamboul, reference to, 304. 
 
 Stanley, Dean : quotation from, 311 f. ; 
 cited, 385. 
 
 Star, supposed outlook from, 3-6. 
 
 Stephen, references to, 242, 345 f. 
 
 Stephens, John L. : cited, 310. 
 
 Stevens, Thomas, quotations from, 82 f. 
 
 Stones from Jordan, tradition of, 374. 
 
 Story, W. W., quotation from, 399 f. 
 
 Stupas, circling, in India, 349. 
 
 Suez: references to, 281, 334. 
 
 Sulian Hassan,Mosk, reference to, 265. 
 
 Sultan's Road, 220. 
 
 " Summary of all religion," 261. 
 
 " Sunnah," reference to, 230. 
 
 " Sunnis, " reference to, 230. 
 
 Sunt, thorny, of wilderness, 389. 
 
 Superstition : about bottled tears, 157; 
 as to healing diseases, 310. 
 
 Survivals : of blood-covenant, 15 ; of 
 wailing, 152; of pilgrimage, 348, 352 f. 
 
 Susa to Sardis, royal road from, 222. 
 
 Sychar, city of, reference to, 372 f. 
 
 Symbol of covenanting, 106. 
 
 Symbolism : in pilgrimage, 334 ; of 
 Feast of Tabernacles unfulfilled, 
 344 f. ; of feasts of Hebrews, 344-346. 
 
 Sympathetic nature of Orientals, 155. 
 
 Synagogue: references to, 255, 312; 
 circuit of, 348, 353. 
 
 Synoptical Gospels, reference to, 301 f. 
 
 Syria, Upper, betrothal in, 14. 
 
 Syria: "go-between" in, 21; mar- 
 riage of blood relatives in, 31 ; hos- 
 pitality in, 81, 88 f., 92, 95; guest- 
 houses in, 95; funeral feasts in , 165; 
 Royal Road of, 220 ; disease in, 300, 
 305 f., 315 ; healing saints from, 305 ; 
 medical missions in, 315; pilgrims 
 from, 335, 337. 
 
 Szaleh, Shaykh, tomb of, 194. 
 
 Szowaleha Bed'vveen, reference to, 85 f. 
 
 Tabern.\cle, offerings for, 320. 
 Tabernacles, Feast of, 340, 344 f., 347. 
 " Tadmor, in the wilderness," 31. 
 Taj Mahal, memorial to a wife, 71. 
 Talmud : on road-repairing, 225 ; on 
 
 visitation of sick, 305. 
 " Tammuz, weeping for," 196 f. 
 Tdo, C^hinese word, 229 f. 
 
Topical Index. 
 
 431 
 
 " Taouism," meaning of, 229 f. 
 
 Tawarah Hcd'wecn : tlicir hospitality, 
 ICO f. ; learning to pray, 267. 
 
 Teaching : to pray, 263-265, 267 ; 
 ajiostlcs sent healing and, 313. 
 
 Tear-cloths among Polynesians and 
 Ciiinese, 158 f. 
 
 Tears, preserving, 156-160. 
 
 Teeyaiiah Bed'ween; marriage among, 
 25 f. ; references to, 107, 244, 310. 
 
 Tclioh, inscriptions of, 153. 
 
 Temple : bowing toward, 272-274, 
 375 f . ; circuit of, 349; at Jerusa- 
 lem, 371 ; on Gerizim, 372, 375 f. 
 
 Tent-dwellers, references to, 239, 274, 
 289 f., 307, 347, 373. 375. 385. 406. 
 
 Tents: of goats' hair, 242, 326; wor- 
 shipers in, 375, 383,385; sprinkled 
 with blood at passover, 379. 
 
 Tey, Egyi^tianarchitedl, references to, 
 
 144. 146- 
 
 Thebes, references to, 238. 
 
 Thoms<5n,\\'.M., quotation from,iiof., 
 149 f., 154, 166-168,227, 241 f., 299. 
 
 Thotmes III., campaigns of, 357, 
 
 " Three days of grace," 105, 177 f. 
 
 Threshold, lifting bride over, 53. 
 
 Tilx't : form of prayer in, 26T ; Bood- 
 dhist i^ilgrnns from, 350. 
 
 Tiglath-pileser, cam|:)aigns of, 357. 
 
 Tigris, reference to, 272. 
 
 Time, .Arab's idea of value of, 80. 
 
 Tininah, Samson and woman of, 13, 63. 
 
 Tithe, sacredness of, 167. 
 
 "Toilet-money, " in ancient times, 24. 
 
 Token of covenant : between husband 
 and wife, 41 ; breaking of, 137. 
 
 Tolhng age of deceased among Occi- 
 dentals, 148. 
 
 Tomb: of Shaykh Szaleh, 194; of 
 Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, 195; ' 
 of Samson, 195 f. ; more important 
 tiian house, 200 ; of Pepi-Xa, 201 f. ; 
 oftheVirgin, 337; ofNet)y Saleh,349. 
 
 Tombs of Egvpt : walls of, decorated 
 with scarfs, 194 ; ornaments and 
 paintings unearthed from, 324. 
 
 Toorkomans: hospitality among, 96 f. ; 
 chanting daily dirge for dead, 184. 
 
 Touch : of tent as means of safety, 
 113, 115; healing by, 311-313. 
 
 Traditions: of Meccah, 104; of Jeru- 
 salem, 336 f . ; of Gerizim, 374. 
 
 Training, Arabia the land of, 340 f. 
 
 2 
 
 " Treasury of all wisdom," 261. 
 
 Tripoli, sacredness of sancftuary obli- 
 gations in, 1 18-120. 
 
 Trousseau, bridal, exhibit of, 44. 
 
 TuUy, Richard, quotation from, 118, 
 154 f., 157 f. 
 
 Tunis, wedding customs in, 40. 
 
 Turfa-shrub in desert, 401. 
 
 'Turin, museum at, 324. 
 
 Turkey : hospitality in, 98, 110, 115 f. ; 
 medical missions in, 315; pilgrims 
 from, 335, 337. 
 
 Ti'irkomans (see Toorkomans). 
 
 Turning toward : Meccah in w'orship, 
 266, 268-272 ; Jerusalem, 268 f. ; 
 tlie East, 269; the Ka'bah, 269. 
 
 U.M.EAVENED bread : feast of, 340, 
 385 ; at Samaritan passover, 377, 383. 
 
 Unveiling of bride, 58 f. 
 
 Unworthy dead : no burial for, 171- 
 175 ; Bible references to fate of. 173 f. 
 
 Upper Egypt: mourning in, 183 ; gold- 
 mines of, 220; ijilgrims from, 337. 
 
 Urqnhart, quotation from, 247. 
 
 Utilitarian aspect ofwedding gifts, 35 f. 
 
 V.ACKANCV, guards against, among 
 Orientals, 104 f. 
 
 Valley of Shechein, references to, 
 356-358. 
 
 ■Vambery , quotations from , 96-98 , 1 84 f. 
 
 Van Lennep, H. J. : quotation from, 
 10, 149 ; cited, 306. 
 
 Vedic verse, reference to, 368. 
 
 Veil: in marriage ceremony, 42 f ; lift- 
 ing of bride's 58 f. ; mourning, East 
 and West, 193 ; Alexandria women 
 covered with, 212. 
 
 Wnus weejjing over Adonis, 197. 
 
 Viii Appiij, reference to. 224. 
 
 Virgin, tomb of the, reference to, 337. 
 
 Volcanic slag in desert, 400. 
 
 \'ulney, quotation from, 92-94, 113 f, 
 117 f. 
 
 Votive offerings at lom!), 194 f. 
 
 Wady Rrissa, hospitality in, 89-91. 
 Wady Eayr.in, poor cripple at, 308. 
 Wady Ghar.indel, reference to, 306, 
 Wady Mukattel), reference to, 281. 
 Wailers, professional, 153-156, 187. 
 Wailing for dead : in Egypt, 143-148 ; 
 
 9 
 
4.32 
 
 Topical Index 
 
 survival of, in Irish wake, 152 ; Bil)le 
 references to, 160-162 ; forbidden 
 by Muhammad, 170 ; and feasting, 
 178 f. ; at graves, 189. 
 
 Waiiing-place of jews, 272 f. 
 
 Wake among Irish, 152. 
 
 ^\'akeel, mission of, 17-22. 
 
 Wales, Prince of: preparing the way 
 for, 217 f . ; asked to heal sirk, 311. 
 
 Wallaciiian slaves, reference to, 283. 
 
 Walls, circling, in India, 349. 
 
 Warburton : cited, 120 f. 
 
 War-weapons buried with dead, 176. 
 
 Washington, Sheridan's funeral in, 170. 
 
 A\'ater : sand substituted for, 21 ; 
 drinking together in covenant, 106- 
 108, 112, 361; for dead, 176; "the 
 gift of God," 213; in bottles, 213, 
 401 ; scarcity of, in desert, 278 ; liv- 
 ing without, 284; miraculous sup- 
 ply_^ of, at Rephidim and Kadesh, 
 293; for great Hajj in desert, 334 f. ; 
 for grain -field, 360 f., 365 ; from 
 springs and wells in desert, 404-406. 
 
 Water-carrier of Alexandria, 213. 
 
 Waters of Bethesda, cure in, 300, 304. 
 
 Wax used to stanch wounds, 317. 
 
 W^ay : preparing the, 216-218 ; of 
 kingdoin, 228 f. ; of duty, of privi- 
 lege, of safety, 229 ; of Muhammad, 
 " of holiness," 230 ; of God, 231, 235. 
 
 "Ways:" of death, of evil, 231; 
 numerous references in Bible to, 
 235 ; thronged by beggars, 298 f 
 
 Wedding : preparations for, 32 ; in 
 Dam.ascvis, 38 ; in Tunis, 40 ; in 
 Arabian Nights, description of, 40 ; 
 at Castle Nakhl, 45-58; taking low- 
 est place at, 55 f. ; first glimpse of 
 bride at, 58-60 ; circuits at, 348, 353 f. 
 
 Wedding festivities : in Jacob's and 
 in Samson's time, 34; in l'"gypt, in 
 Arabia, in Syria, 34; at Castle Nakhl, 
 47-49; sharing sacrifice in, 285. , 
 
 Wedding gifts, estimating value of, 35. 
 
 Wedding processions : gifts borne in, 
 44 ; in Cairo, Constantinople, Da- 
 mascus, and Jerusalem, 45 ; at Castle 
 Nakhl, 45-5S ; pilgrimage in, 164. 
 
 Wedding symbols, 41 f. j 
 
 W^eeks, feast of, 340. | 
 
 " Welee : " mihrab in every, 270 ; cir- 
 cling, 349. 
 
 Wellington's funeral in London, 170. 
 
 Wells : of Beersheba, 108, 257 f. ; of 
 Moses, 256 f.; of Jacob, 355-370. 
 372 ; in desert, 404-406. 
 
 Western Asia, roads in, 220 f., 267. 
 
 Whately, Miss, quotation from, 36 f. 
 
 Whittier, J. G,, quotation from, 368 f. 
 
 Wife: not bought with dowry, 9; 
 luethod of seeking, 14 f., 31; be- 
 trothed deemed as already, 26 , 
 divorced at any time, 36 f., 322 ; 
 killed and buried with king, 176 f. ; 
 burning of, in India, 177; carrying 
 wealth on her person, 323. 
 
 Wilderness ; of Beersheba, of Paran, 
 of Red Sea, of Etham, of Sliur, of 
 Sin, of Zin, of Sinai, of Kadesh, 388. 
 
 "Wilderness, The," in Bible, 278, 
 
 387 f. 
 Wilkinson, Sir G., quotation from, 173. 
 Williams, Talcott, quotation from, 
 
 351 f. 
 Woman : as "marketable commodity," 
 24 ; will of, must be considered, 28 ; 
 property rights of, 36 ; decked with 
 jewels, 38, 322-325 f ; influence of 
 Christianity on position of, 66 f. ; 
 honor accorded, in earliest times, 
 66-71 ; her right of succession to 
 throne, 67, 251 ; in oldest Egyptian 
 scul]5ture, 67 f. ; description of 
 model, 69 f. ; of Samaria and Jesus, 
 
 106 f., 355. 359-361. 364 f-. 373- 
 \\'onien : as professional wallers, 153- 
 156, 187; adorned with gold and 
 silver, 320, 325; in Easter jiilgrim- 
 age, 337 ; circuiting lamasery, 351 ; 
 laboring in fields, 360; sharing in 
 passover feast, 385. 
 " Wuzoo," meaning of, 266, 268. 
 
 Ya'KOOB Haroon, reference to, 382. 
 Yohannah el-Karey, reference to, 373. 
 Yu Shun, reference to, 253 f. 
 
 Zahouet, hospitality at, 88. 
 Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, 68. 
 Zeta, shaykh of hospitality of, 89-91. 
 Zeus, proteCling deity ofstrangers,i37. 
 " Zikrs " of darwecshes, 259. 
 " Zin, wilderness of," 3S8. 
 Zipporah given to Moses, 12. 
 Zoan, reference to, 396. 
 Zoroastrianism, truth of, 368. 
 Zugaret, cries of rejoicing, 49 f. , 55. 
 
SCRIPTURAL INDEX. 
 
 GENESIS. TEXT PAGF. EXODUS. 
 
 TEXT PACK 24 : 1-67 4 TEXT PAGE 
 
 1 : 26 368 24 : 2-4 32 2 : 11-22 391 
 
 2 : 18-24 12 24 : 10-21 106 I 2 : 15 389 
 
 2 : 24 33 24 : 33 18 2 ; 16-21 ..... 12 
 
 4 : 20 239, 242 24 : 48 268 I 3 : I . 388, 389, 395. 398 
 
 4 : 21 239 24 : 53-58 13 • 3 : 1-8 391 
 
 6 : 2, 4 241 24 : 65 43 3 : 2 389 
 
 9:6 116 24:67 33.53 3:5. M 397 
 
 10 : 8-10 222 25 : 4, 10 241 3 : 21, 22 331 
 
 11 : 29-31 32 26 : 23, 33 257 4 : 17 314 
 
 12 : I 341 26 : 26-33 108 4 : 31 377 
 
 12 : 5 357 28 : I, 2 32 5 : 1-3 347 
 
 12 : 10-13 32 28 : 10 257 10 : 9 347 
 
 13 : 12 342 28 : 12 374 12 : 5 377 
 
 14:1-7 357 29:1-30 4 12:6 378 
 
 14 : 1-17 271 29 : 10-18 62 12 : 10 385 
 
 14 : 18, 19 373 29 : 15-28 23 12 : 11 383 
 
 16 : 12 388 29 : 16-25 58 12 : 26, 27 380 
 
 17 : 3, 22 268 29 : 20 63 12 : 27 .... 241, 377 
 
 17 : 5 239 29 : 20, 21 26 12 : 35 320 
 
 18 : I 77 29 : 27 34 12 : 35, 36 332 
 
 18 : 1-8 4, 285 31 : 43-49 109 13 : 14 391 
 
 18 : 6 78 32 : 25 266 13 : 18 388 
 
 18 : 6-8 80 32 : 32 241 13 : 19 358 
 
 18 : 9, 10 78 33 : 18 358 14 : 9 257 
 
 18 : 16-33 133 34 : 1-4 13 15 : 20, 21 68 
 
 19 : 1-3 84 34 : 1-31 63 IS : 22 388 
 
 19 : 1-25 133 34 : 12 23 15 : 26 297 
 
 19 : 8 99 35 : 16-20 62 16 : i 388 
 
 20 : 2-12 32 35 : 19-20 191 16 : 13 286 
 
 21 : 14-21 . . . 12,388 45 : 8 240 16 : 31 283 
 
 21 : 14, 31-33 . . . 257 46 : I, 5 237 17 : 1-6 . . . . 293, 405 
 
 22 : 9, 10 374 47 : 9 34i 18 : 5 395 
 
 22 : 14 395 48 : 1-7 62 19 : I 388 
 
 22 : 19 257 49 : 32 241 19 : 20 389 
 
 24 : 1-4 12 50 : i-ii 170 20 : 2 391 
 
 24 : 1-6, 22,47 (R.V.) 50:7-13 5 20 : 10 48 
 
 50-53 22 , 50 : 24-26 358 20 : 12 252 
 
 433 
 
434 
 
 Scriptural Index. 
 
 TEXT PACK 
 
 22 : i6, 17 23 
 
 29 : II. 12 283 
 
 29 : 18-21 2b6 
 
 32 : 7. 8 231 
 
 32 : 20 320 
 
 33 : 15 403 
 
 LliVITICUS. 
 
 3 : 1-17 109 
 
 4 : 7, 18, 25, 30, 34 . 285 
 
 7 : 15 109 
 
 8 : 12, 22-30 .... 266 
 
 8 : 15 285 
 
 9:3 377 
 
 9:9 285 
 
 14 : 10 377 
 
 17 : 3-5. 13. 14 • • • 48 
 
 17 : 13 285 
 
 19 : 20 26 
 
 19 : 28 160 
 
 19 : 32 244 
 
 21 : 5 160 
 
 23 : 12 377 
 
 23 : 14 282 
 
 23 : 42, 43 344 
 
 24 : 9 285 
 
 24 : 22 48 
 
 33 : 36 347 
 
 NUMBERS. 
 
 2:2 241 
 
 10 : 10 379 
 
 10 : 10-32 402 
 
 " : 4. 31-33 • ... 287 
 
 1 1 : 8 283 
 
 II : 18 266 
 
 It : 31, 31-34 . . .286 
 12:1 68 
 
 13 : 21 388 
 
 14 : 33. 34 292 
 
 16 ; 22 268 
 
 18 : 8, 19 112 
 
 20 : I 292 
 
 20 : I -I I 293 
 
 20 : 5 278 
 
 20 : 1 1 405 
 
 20 : 14-20 223 
 
 21 : 6 308 
 
 21 : 21-23 223 
 
 26 : 20 241 
 
 26 : 38, 41 242 
 
 28 : II 379 
 
 29 : 2 377 
 
 33 : 8 388 . 
 
 TI£XT PAGE 
 
 35 : 6, 11-15, 25-28, 
 
 32 127 
 
 DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 I : 7. 8, 21 391 
 
 2:7 293 
 
 3 : 24-28 391 
 
 .t : 43 127 
 
 5:6 391 
 
 6 : 3-12 391 
 
 8 : i-io, 14-16 . . . 391 
 
 8:2 389 
 
 8 : 3. 4 294 
 
 8 : 7. 8,15 278 
 
 8 : 15 388 
 
 10 : 17, 18 48 
 
 II : 10-15 391 
 
 11 : 29 373 
 
 13 : 5 231,391 
 
 13 : 13 .242 
 
 14 : I 160 
 
 16 : 5. 6 371 
 
 16 : 16 ...... 340 
 
 17 : 29 373 
 
 19 ■ 1-3 223 
 
 19 : 2, 3 127 
 
 20 : 7 27 
 
 , 22 : 23, 24 26 
 
 22 : 28, 29 23 
 
 24 : I 37 
 
 26 : 14 167 
 
 27 : 7 109 
 
 28 : 30 27 
 
 28 : 59, 60 298 
 
 29 : 29 208 
 
 31 : 29 231 
 
 32 : 10 388 
 
 32 : 35 126 
 
 JOSHUA. 
 
 3:3-6 347 
 
 3:5 266 
 
 4:1-9 374 
 
 5 : 14 268 
 
 6:15, 16, 20 ... . 347 
 7:6 268 
 
 9 : 3-27 109 
 
 15 : 16, 17 ... 12, 23 
 
 17 : 13 266 
 
 20 : 1-9 127 
 
 20 : 2, 7 358 
 
 21 : 13, 21, 27, 32, 36, 
 
 38 127 
 
 TEXT PAGE 
 
 24 : 1-28 358 
 
 24 : 17 S91 
 
 24 : 32 .... 355, 338 
 I 
 
 JUDGES. 
 
 1 : 12, 13 . . . . 12, 23 
 
 2 : 22 231 
 
 4 : 1-24 128 
 
 . 4 : 4-10 68 
 
 '4: 19 78 
 
 5:1 68 
 
 5 : 1-31 128 
 
 5 : 25 78 
 
 6 : 3. 4.33 76 
 
 6 : 3. 33 242 
 
 6:8 391 
 
 7 : I, 12-23 .... 76 
 
 ,7:12 242 
 
 I 8 : 10 242 
 
 8 : 24 324 
 
 8 : 24-26 325 
 
 9:6 358 
 
 9 : 7-21 .... 271, 359 
 II : 39, 40 196 
 
 14 : 1-3 13. 63 
 
 14 : 10-12 34 
 
 14 : 20 17. 23 
 
 16 : 3 . . . . . . .196 
 
 17 : 10 240 
 
 18 : 19 240 
 
 19 : 1-30 134 
 
 19 : 15-21 85 
 
 19 : 22 242 
 
 19 : 22-24 99 
 
 20 : 1-48 134 
 
 20 : 13 242 
 
 RUTH. 
 
 2:9 360 
 
 2 : 14 2S2 
 
 4:11 191 
 
 I SAMUEL. 
 
 1 : 16 342 
 
 2 : 12 242 
 
 8:11 214 
 
 10 : 2 191 
 
 10 : 27 242 
 
 16 : 5 266 
 
 17 : 1-25 12 
 
 17 : 17 282 
 
 17 : 25 23 
 
 18 : 17-21 13 
 
Scriptural Index. 
 
 435 
 
 TEXT 
 
 i8 : 17-27 23 
 
 23 : 6 242 
 
 2t : 1-42 63 
 
 18 282 
 
 40, 41 ^9 
 
 PACE TEXT 
 
 9 : 10 
 
 ■=3 
 25 
 
 2 s.\Mri':L. 
 
 1 : 11, 12 161 
 
 3 : 6, 20-29 .... 130 
 
 6 : 12-16 52 
 
 13 : 10-13 32 
 
 i:; : I 215 
 
 .... 282 
 .... 225 
 
 .... 151 
 .... 194 
 
 17 : 28 
 6-9 
 
 33 
 9 ■ 
 
 18 
 18 
 19 
 
 II 
 II 
 
 12 
 14 
 15 
 16 
 
 17 
 18 
 21 
 21 
 22 
 22 
 23 
 
 16 
 
 PAGE I 
 
 . 68 
 ■ 257 
 
 ]OH. 
 
 TEXT 
 
 1:6.. 
 
 2:1 
 
 2 : 11-13 
 2 : 12 . . 
 
 PAOE 
 
 . 241 
 . 241 
 
 • 179 
 194 
 
 2. 33 
 
 21 
 
 24-28 
 
 I, 19 
 
 I . . 
 12-20 
 31. 36 
 
 251 
 391 
 372 
 251 
 251 
 231 
 251 
 68 
 
 251 
 • 251 
 
 29 : 16 240 
 
 38 
 42 
 
 1 KINGS. 
 
 2 : It) 
 2 : 13-17 
 2 : 19, 20 
 
 130 
 63 
 
 2SI 
 
 2 : 28-34 ^29 
 
 ^5 
 
 24.2 
 
 268 
 
 26n 
 25 
 31 
 
 68 
 
 3:1 
 
 4 : 30 
 
 8 : 22, 54 ... 
 
 8 : 29-49 . . . 
 
 9 : 16 
 
 9 : 18 
 
 10 : 1-13 . . . 
 
 11 : 3, 19 . • . 
 
 11 : 26 .... 
 
 12 : X 
 
 13 : 30 .... 
 
 14 : 21, 31 • • • 
 
 15 : 2. 10 ... 
 
 16 : 29-33 . . . 
 
 16 : 31 25 
 
 18 : 3-16 no 
 
 6 
 8 
 8 
 16 
 
 19 
 19 
 
 27 
 
 241 29 
 257 35 
 
 6:3 3i4!5^ 
 
 6: 57, 67 127 50 • B 
 
 243 '79 
 
 24 : 8, 12, 15 
 
 I CHROXIlLl':S. 
 2 : 51 240 
 
 PSALMS. 
 
 6, 7 . . ■ ■ 
 3-9 • • • ■ 
 4. 5 • ■ • • 
 : 10 .... 
 
 : I 
 
 : 4, 5 . . . . 
 : II .... 
 
 14 
 28 
 
 10 
 18 
 
 8 : 40 
 
 9:7 
 
 15 : 25-29 . . . 
 
 16 : II .... 
 21 : 16, 17 . . . 
 
 2 CHRONICLES. 
 
 242 
 
 52 
 
 266 
 
 268 
 
 26 
 
 45.46 
 
 1-3 • 
 1-14 
 
 1-18 
 
 3 • ■ 
 8 . . 
 4-16, 2 
 
 '3 
 
 18 
 18 
 19 
 19 
 19 
 19 
 19 
 21 
 
 21 : 10, I 
 
 22 : 42 
 27 : 8-12 
 
 6:13 . ■ 
 
 8:4 • ■ 
 
 9 : 1-12 . 
 
 10 : I . . 
 
 13 : 5 ■ ■ 
 
 19 : 4 . . 
 
 20 : 7 . . 
 
 20 : iS . 
 
 21 : 6 . . 
 24 : I . . 
 30 : 13. 21 
 
 ")X 34 : 20-28 
 35 
 
 251 
 359 
 151 
 251 
 251 
 68 
 
 261 
 
 KINGS. 
 
 27 
 18 
 
 68 
 390 
 391 
 257 
 288 
 
 68 
 242 
 
 251 
 372 
 
 301 
 25 
 
 35 
 25 
 
 5.6 - 
 
 17 • 
 22-25 
 
 268 
 
 31 
 68 
 
 359 
 112 
 
 257 
 358 
 268 
 
 25 
 257 
 385 
 
 68 
 
 384 
 385 
 196 
 
 1.4.9 
 
 10 . 
 
 11 . 
 1.2. 
 I . . 
 6 . . 
 
 105 : 8 . 
 
 106 : 15 . 
 114 : 8 . 
 119 : 54 
 
 395 
 194 
 
 i6i 
 404 
 368 
 178 
 
 403 
 61 
 232 
 388 
 265 
 
 273 
 160 
 
 273 
 
 • 341 
 . 232 
 
 ■ 397 
 . 126 
 . 268 
 
 ■ 389 
 . 287 
 
 ■ 405 
 341 
 
 EZRA 
 
 3:9 
 6 : 22 
 
 9:5 
 10 : I 
 
 NEHEMLMI. 
 
 241 
 
 385 
 268 
 268 
 
 119 : 136 161 
 
 120 to 134 342 
 
 343 
 
 265 
 
 121 
 130 
 
 PROVERBS. 
 
 14. 19 
 
 II 
 II 
 
 242 
 257 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 13 : 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 25 
 
 30 : 17 . 
 
 31 : 11-29 
 
 12 
 19 
 25 
 10 
 
 14 
 
 21 
 
 232 
 232 
 232 
 
 231 
 232 
 
 231 
 135 
 II 
 142 
 173 
 
 ECCLi:si.\srEs. 
 
 9 : 10 266 
 
 12:5 148 
 
43^ 
 
 Scriptural Index. 
 
 SONG OF SONGS. 
 
 TKXT I-AGI! 
 
 1:5 76 
 
 3 : 6-10 61 
 
 5:2 274 
 
 -33 
 
 2 
 
 ■ ■-> 
 
 TEXT PAGE ■ TEXT 
 
 44 : 9 241 9 : 23 . 
 
 45 : 21 385 9 : 27-30 
 
 9 : 29 . 
 
 DAMKL. 
 
 ISAIAH. 
 
 6:7 266 
 
 14 : 18-20 174 
 
 19 : 1-18 ..... 391 
 30 : 21 232 
 
 32 : 2 290 
 
 33 : 24 318 
 
 35 : 6, 8, 9 234 
 
 40 : 1-5 234 
 
 40 : 3 . • . 216,218, 225 
 
 40 : 3, 4 . . . . . .216 
 
 41 : 8 358 
 
 41 : 18 405 
 
 49 : II 234 
 
 53 : 4 318 
 
 56 : 7 275 
 
 62 : 3 42 
 
 6 : 10 
 
 I : 10 
 3 : 4 
 
 PAGE 
 
 .... 162 
 
 .... 309 
 
 .... 266 
 
 9:35 312 
 
 269 10 : I 313 
 
 IIOSEA. 
 
 JOEL. 
 
 10 : 40 
 
 10 : 42 
 
 11 : 15 
 
 32 
 
 AMOS. 
 
 5 : 16 
 
 5 : 16, 17 . . . 
 
 9:7 
 
 9 : 13 
 
 MIC.\H. 
 
 ■ • 139. 207 
 . - . . 106 
 
 __ . _^ 228 
 
 ^■}' 13 : 9. 43 228 
 
 • ■^•^'14:36 3" 
 
 15:1 266 
 
 1 15 : 27 285 
 
 .. 135 1 17: 14 268 
 
 19 : 3-11 . . . .37.72 
 19 : 4-8 .... 206, 248 
 
 I 29 : 6 10 
 
 i53i 155 20 : 29-34 302 
 
 • • i^^ 22 : 2 47 
 
 22 : 13 58 
 
 23 : 9 243 
 
 23 : II 93 
 
 23 : 27, 29 57 
 
 241 
 367 
 
 I : 
 
 lEREMIAH. 
 
 9 ■ 
 
 17, if 
 
 4. 5 
 16 . 
 I 
 34 
 
 ■ 153 
 
 266 
 
 155 
 
 • 231 
 
 . 248 
 
 . 161 
 
 45.53 
 
 ZECHAr<IAII. 
 
 12 : II 
 
 14 : 4 274 
 
 150 24 : 40 
 25 : 6 . 
 ' 25 : 10 
 
 145 
 
 54 
 58 
 
 MALACHI. 
 
 196 ^5 : 31 • 142 
 
 25 ; 31-40 . . . 48,139 
 
 26 : 41, 45, 46 . . . 275 
 
 27 : 9 241 
 
 18 : I . 190 
 
 13 : 18 42 
 
 16 : 9 45. 53 
 
 21 : 8 232 
 
 22 : 18 151 
 
 25 : 10 45. 53 
 
 31 : 15-17 192 
 
 33 : 10, II S3 
 
 LAMENTATIONS. 
 
 1 : 16 161 
 
 2 : 10 194 
 
 3 : 16 194 
 
 3 : 48, 49 161 
 
 EZEKIEL. 
 
 .8 : 14 196 
 
 12 : 2 228 
 
 16 : 10-13 42 
 
 23 : 42 42 
 
 27 •• 30 194 
 
 29 : 6-12 391 
 
 248 
 234 
 
 MATTHEW. 
 
 18-25 27 I 
 
 i6-i8 192 2 
 
 1-3 234 2 
 
 33 ■ • 
 40 . . 
 
 19 . . 
 19, 20 
 
 I 390 4 : 9. 23 
 
 MARK. 
 2, 3 . . 216, 2x8, 225 
 . . .213 
 • • -312 
 . . . 242 
 ... 48 
 . . . 228 
 
 4 : 23 296 5 : 38 161 
 
 [4 : 24 311,312 6 : 10 105 
 
 I 5 : 31, 32 . . . . 37. 72 6 : 56 313, 314 
 
 5 : 42 330 7 : 3. 33 266 
 
 6:5 255 7 : 16 228 
 
 6:7 . . . 258, 261, 263 I 7 : 28 285 
 
 6 : 9-13 264 7 : 37 313 
 
 6 : 12, 14, 15 ... . 175 8 : 23-25 309 
 
 7 : I, 2 175 9 : 41 106 
 
 7:9 284 10 : I 274 
 
 7 : 13, 14 232 10 : 3-12 72 
 
 8 : 6, 7 312 10 : 9 10 
 
 8 : 15 266 10 : 46-52 302 
 
 8 : 16, 17 318 II : 17 275 
 
 9 : 15 48,242 12: 14 . . . . . .23s 
 
Scriptural Index. 
 
 437 
 
 TEXT 
 
 14 : 14 
 14 : 41 
 
 PAGE 
 
 • 95 
 
 • 275 
 
 LIKE. 
 
 TEXT 
 
 4 : 24 . . 
 4 : 35 • . 
 4 : 37. 38 
 
 26, 27 
 
 4. 5 .. 
 41 . . 
 16 . . 
 
 34 ■ • 
 34. 35 
 
 35 • . 
 
 4 
 5 
 5 
 7 
 
 8 : 8 
 
 9:38 
 
 9 : 56 
 
 10 : 4 
 
 ■ 27 
 
 ■ 27 
 
 •338 
 
 • 274 
 , 242 
 
 48 
 242 
 228 
 312 
 316 
 
 81 
 
 II 
 12 
 13 
 
 13 
 14 
 16 
 
 PAGE 
 
 • • • 367 
 
 • ■ .365 
 . . .366 
 . . . 300 
 ... 304 
 
 • • • 347 
 ... 348 
 . . .241 
 
 ... 178 
 . . . 266 
 
 ■ • • 93 
 ... 139 
 
 ^ 234, 309 
 
 12 20S 
 
 TEXT PAGE 
 
 3 •■ 7 239,241 
 
 4 •■ 22-26 391 
 
 2-9 
 
 3 . 
 
 37 • . 
 12 . , 
 
 39 ■ . 
 ••39 ■ • 
 : 3 ■ . 
 :3-i5 
 : 20 . 
 
 i:i'ni:si.\x.s. 
 
 2 : 2, 3 
 
 5:6 . 
 6:1 . 
 6:12. 
 
 . 242 
 . 242 
 
 . 2S2 
 
 • 3'j8 
 
 PlilLll'J'l.WS. 
 2 •• 15 
 
 COLOSSIAXS. 
 2 : 17 . . . 
 
 3:6 : ; 
 
 241 
 
 386 
 242 
 
 II : I 264,267 I 
 
 .... 264 
 .... 175 
 
 .... 56 
 .... 48 
 
 ACTS. 
 
 II : 2-4 . 
 II : 4 . . 
 14 : 7-11 
 14 : 13 ■ 
 
 14 : 35 • 
 
 15 : 8 . . 
 
 15 : 25 . 
 
 16 : 8 . . 
 16 : 19 . 
 16 : 20 
 
 16 : 21 
 
 17 : 11-13 
 
 18 : 35-43 30 
 
 19 •• 41 274 
 
 20 ; 21 23:; 
 
 22 : II 9^ 
 
 22 : 39 274 
 
 22 : 41 268 
 
 22 : 46 27s 
 
 321 
 
 47 
 242 
 2S9 
 296 
 285 
 301 
 
 2:1 . 
 2 .' 21 
 
 2 : 22-3 
 
 5 : 15 . 
 5 : 21 . 
 7:2 . 
 
 7 '. 23 
 
 7 : 60 . 
 
 8 : 27 . 
 
 9 : 40 . 
 13 : c6 
 
 344 
 135 
 178 
 
 314 
 241 
 
 389 
 268 
 
 68 
 268 
 
 41 
 
 iTHESSAI.OXFANS, 
 
 5 -5 
 
 1 TIMOTHV. 
 
 2TIMOI IIV. 
 
 10 
 
 242 
 
 95 
 
 205 
 
 16 : 14 270 
 
 19 
 20 
 21 
 
 9-23 
 
 • 235 
 . 268 
 . 268 
 . 242 
 
 • 235 
 
 HEP.RFAVS. 
 
 3 : 8-11, 16-18 . . 
 
 4 : i-io 
 
 9 : 27 
 
 10 : I 
 
 10 : 19-22 .... 
 
 10 : 30 
 
 11 : 8-10 .... 
 II : 10 
 
 i^ 
 
 22 
 24 
 24 
 
 51 
 IV 
 
 18 
 
 266 
 338 
 339 
 
 JOHN. 
 
 . 216, 218, 
 
 309 
 241 
 
 I : 1-7 
 
 I : 12 . 
 
 I : 23 . 
 
 3 : 27-30 61 
 
 3 : 29 17 
 
 4-5 300 
 
 4:5-9 107 
 
 4 : 5-14 360 
 
 4 : 5-26, 29 .... 373 
 
 4 : 7. 9. 28 361 
 
 4 ; 10 213 
 
 4 : 21, 23 276 
 
 4:2- 369 
 
 ROMANS. 
 
 23 
 
 14. 19 ■ . . . 
 
 : 13 
 
 : 13 
 
 : 15 
 
 : 20 .... 
 
 368 
 241 
 
 ^35 
 1401 
 
 155 
 142 
 
 II 
 II 
 13 
 
 I coRiNrin.\Ns. 
 
 3:7 ■ • ■ 
 
 4 : 15. i^J • 
 
 5:7... 
 8:4.5 . . 
 
 2 COR IN' 
 II : 26 . . 
 
 344 
 
 3^>7 
 243' 
 372 
 231 I 
 
 : 14 
 
 23 ■ 
 14 • 
 
 II 
 21 
 9 
 
 JAMES. 
 
 I i'i:ri:R. 
 
 I lOIIN. 
 
 • 391 
 
 • 391 
 . 207 
 .386 
 
 • 235 
 . 126 
 . 406 
 
 • 342 
 346 
 389 
 141 
 406 
 
 358 
 305 
 
 ■346 
 
 • 337 
 . 140 
 
 III.X.N.S. 
 , ... 390 
 
 GALATIANS. 
 
 I : 1-17 
 
 I : 17 
 
 390 
 391 
 
 241 
 
 REVEEATION. 
 II : 8 391 
 
 18 : 19 194 
 
 19 : 6-9 ■;6 
 
 21 : 12 ...... 240 
 
Crije tSrpgljain Press, 
 
 UNWIN BEOTHERS, 
 CHILWORTH AND LONDON. 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
 RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED 
 
 LOAN DEPT. 
 
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 or on the date to which renewed. Renewals only: 
 
 Tel. No. 642-3405. 
 Renewals may be made 4 days priod to date due. 
 Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. 
 
 Nd 
 
 or 
 
 DAVIS 
 INTERLl&RARY LOaM 
 
 AUG 4 1972 
 
 p- 
 
 LD21A-60m-8,'7O 
 (N8837slO)476— A-32 
 
 General Library 
 
 University of California 
 
 Berkeley 
 
727790 
 
 OS 4-7 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY