568 LECTURES AND ESSAYS [1880- 



Arabian ways of thought in Mohammed s day were not 

 nearly so stereotyped as they have since become under 

 the sanction of a religion whose material successes gave 

 it an enormous prestige. Before Islam, Arabia was in 

 a state of transition. It was largely accessible to new 

 and foreign influences, and conservative traditions being 

 rather tribal than national, had not the strength which 

 they acquired by the religious unification of the race. 

 The Koran is the bulwark of all prejudices and social 

 backwardness in the East. I am far from saying that 

 no progress can be made by a Mohammedan people, 

 but it is indispensable to progress that a freer attitude 

 be taken up towards the Koran, and the best means 

 towards this is a better knowledge of the ethics and 

 religion of the Western nations. 



And now to go back to Taif. The hospitalities of 

 Hosein and his sons were unsparing and a little burden 

 some. My host and Al Mas between them fairly took 

 possession of me. I had the greatest difficulty in being 

 alone long enough to wash or change my clothes, and 

 even at night, when a bed was laid for me in the mejlis, 

 Al Mas, and sometimes Salim, slept in the room. During 

 the day one or more of the family was constantly with me. 

 It must have been rather trying to the poor Mohtesib, 

 but Oriental patience, fortified by the unfailing water- 

 pipe, can endure much in the cause of hospitality. I, 

 of course, made the most of my opportunities, and col 

 lected a good deal of information about tribes customs 

 and the like, of which I shall give some of the more interest 

 ing particulars in another letter. As the weather broke 

 the day after my arrival, I had to spend more time within 

 doors than I should otherwise have cared to do. But, 

 indeed, it required a good deal of pressure to get out into 

 the surrounding country. After I had seen the orchards, 

 which to the Arabs are the great sight of Taif, and had 

 also conscientiously visited a garden in which an enter 

 prising Egyptian raises European vegetables from seed 



