lesson. To a hungry man a handful of wheat is better than all the pearls
of the ocean.

[Illustration: PEARL MERCHANTS.]

In his tent the Arab is very lazy. His only occupation is feeding his
horses or milking his camels. The Arab girls go out to take care of the
flocks while the wife performs all the domestic duties. She grinds wheat
in the hand-mill; kneads and bakes bread; makes butter by shaking the milk
in a leather bag; fetches water in a skin; works at the loom and is busy
all the time. The Arab smokes his pipe, drinks coffee and talks to his
friends; unless he is on the march or on a robbery excursion his life
seems very lazy.

[Illustration: ARABIAN WATER-BOTTLE.]

Scarcely any of the Bedouin can read, and they have neither schools nor
mosques. The Bedouin sometimes say, "Mohammed's religion cannot have been
intended for us; it demands washings, but we have no water; alms, but we
have no money; pilgrimage to Mecca, but we are always wandering and God is
everywhere." Yet outwardly they observe the Moslem religion of which they
know so little. In our next chapter you will read how earnestly even the
nomad children pray in the desert. And I believe God loves these sons of
Ishmael and will yet bring them back to Abraham's faith. Don't you think
so too?




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