No! the Ethiopian cannot change his skin; and just as Christianity is the religion best suited, apart from its inestimable truth, to Northern people, so is Islam to the Arabs and the children of the south. Each has sorted itself and taken root where best it will flourish. Any attempt to influence one by the introduction of the other must, by the laws of nature which have thus sorted them, be prejudicial to the world at large. A few words as to the general tenets of the Mahammedan religion. It must not be forgotten that it was in A.H. 12, a year after the Prophet’s death, that the Koran was collected by Zaid, and that therefore there can be little doubt that in its arrangement and sequence it is far from the order in which the words were uttered. The fragments of which it is composed were collected from every source, but although it may be said in its present form to follow no particular chronological order, at the same time there can be little doubt that, apart from this weakness, it contains the words of the Prophet himself. However, in the building up of a new religion, it was impossible to ordain for every class of society likely to embrace it; and on this account the Moslems, especially the Sunnis, hold that, after the sacred book, the “traditions” are next in sanctity. These “traditions” are the teaching, verbal or in example, of the Prophet himself, not absolutely inculcated in the Koran, but handed down upon the authority of “his companions.” On these traditions many schools of theology and law have been built up, referring to them in cases in which the Koran does not sufficiently render clear, or perhaps omits altogether some point. Needless to say these “traditions,” being almost innumerable and often disputed, have caused more dissension amongst the world of Islam than any passages in the Koran itself. The central idea of Islam is the unity of God, and the association of any other with the Deity is the one mortal sin.[26] There is no priesthood; the religion is a religion of the people, explained to them by doctors, such as the Sheikh el-Islam, the Moulas, and the Cadis, whose authority is acknowledged, but solely as exponents of religion and law, which it is in no one’s power to revise or alter. Idolatry is to be rooted out and trampled under foot. “There is no God but God, and Mahammed is the prophet of God.” Soundless, rhythmless, as are the words to us, their very repetition stirs the Moslem heart; their very mention is sufficient for an infidel to become a Moslem. They are the only bond that binds Sunnis and Sheiyas together, the common birthright of all Islam. [Illustration: _A Yemeni._]