VIII

THE SHEPHERD OF THE SEWING MACHINE


In the blue waters of the Persian Gulf there lies a coral island called
Bahrein. At a few hundred yards to the northeast of it is a still smaller
island shaped like a pack-saddle, where palm trees and white coral rock
houses are reflected in the salt water at high tide. The little island
town is called Moharrek, that is, the "Burning Place," because it is very
hot there in summer. After sailing across in a boat one day, and wending
our way through a dirty bazar full of flies and Arabs, we were directed to
the house of the man called "The Shepherd of the Sewing Machine." His real
name is Mohammed bin Sooltaan, but nobody knows him by any other name or
title than _Räee el karkhan_, which literally means shepherd of the sewing
machine. Let me tell you his story and how he got that queer name.

Years ago, as pilot on the native boats that sail from Bahrein to Bombay,
Calcutta, Zanzibar and Jiddah, he had experience of a wider world than the
little island where he was born. But the life was a hard one and his wages
were small. Moreover, the coming of steamships up the Gulf took away the
profit of the sailing craft, and so Mohammed fared from bad to worse. He
loved an Arab lass with plaited, well-greased locks of hair and a pleasant
face, but her father asked a larger dowry than he could ever pay.

An Arab young man must always pay a good price to the father of his
sweetheart before he is allowed to marry her. But this Mohammed was too
poor to pay the price asked. What a queer topsy-turvy custom it is for a
man to buy his wife just as he buys a horse or a camel! The Arabs often
ask how much a wife costs in America and wonder that we are not allowed by