i88i] A JOURNEY IN THE HEjAZ 565 



home. Hosein is said to know Turkish better than any 

 one in Taif, and is very proud of the accomplishment. 

 Yet he can hardly read and write, and his sons are in 

 the same case. It is, indeed, extraordinary how few of 

 the Arabs of the interior possess the elements of education. 

 People in a very respectable position write and spell 

 about as well as a ploughman in Scotland, and are equally 

 unhappy when compelled to attempt a letter. Hosein, 

 who is a shrewd fellow, and full of curiosity, was anxious 

 to see the New Testament, and to hear how it had been 

 revealed. I had furnished myself with a small copy of 

 the excellent Beyroot version, and with some small 

 prints of single gospels, so I was able to gratify his wish. 

 I turned up the story of the Prodigal Son, but he could 

 not spell it out with any comfort, and I had to read it 

 for him. He followed it with great interest, and told me 

 next morning that he had it firmly in his head. He is, 

 indeed, somewhat of Plato s opinion that reading and 

 writing are of little use to a man of retentive memory, 

 and rather despised my intellect when he saw me always 

 taking notes. 



I shall take this opportunity to say a word or two as 

 to the attitude of the Hejaz Arabs towards Christian books. 

 When I came here only one inhabitant of Jeddah, so far 

 as I am aware, possessed a copy of the Bible in Arabic. 

 This was Sheikh Aly Qasim, a liberal-minded man who 

 has seen the world, and was long in the service of 

 Mohammed All in Egypt. He is quite aware that the 

 old Arabs, for whose literature he has a great love, were 

 much opener to foreign influences than their descendants. 

 He regards it as necessary to the regeneration of Arabia 

 that people should be willing to learn what is useful from 

 any source, and he finds the root of all present mischief 

 in fanaticism, especially the fanaticism of the Turks. 

 From this point of view he thinks it right to possess the 

 Christian Scriptures. The possession is a protest against 

 bigotry, but I don t think he has read very much of the 



