Not only in the villages on the coasts of the Red Sea and the Persian
Gulf are there boat builders and sailors; Arabia has two large rivers that
help to make its northern boundary and they are highways of traffic.

Our picture shows a river boat on the canal at Busrah. It goes the long
journey from Busrah to Bagdad over five hundred miles or even to Hillah
and the other towns on the Euphrates river. This kind of boat has a cabin
in the bow and can carry a large cargo of wheat or wool. It sails by all
the interesting country which was once the home of Abraham and is still
called Mesopotamia.

The largest boats used by the Arabs are called _dhows_ or _buggalows_. You
will hear something more about these boats in the chapter on the slave
trade.

The carpenters of Arabia, like the boat builders, work in a very
old-fashioned way. But they are much less skillful in their work. You
often see well-built boats but never a well-made door or a window that
shuts properly. Perhaps the fault is with their tools and perhaps they are
not as skillful as they once were in using them.

The Arab carpenter uses no bench or vise; he squats upon the ground in the
shade of some old building or tree and carries all his tools in a small
basket with him. He has four hands instead of the two hands of an American
carpenter, for his feet are bare and he can work as well with his toes as
you can with your fingers. It is wonderful to see how an Arab carpenter
can hold a board with his toes while his hands are busy sawing or planing
it!