“The _Nabob Mohammedan Magazine_ relates, that years after the _Hegira_, a _saracen caliph_ or _Mameluke sultan_, sat with his _mussulman emir_, _admiral_, _vizier_, _moslem mufti_ and _Koran-munshee_, (who knew _alchemy_ and _algebra_ and could _cipher_ the _azimuth_ and _nadir_ to _zero_), _sheikh_ of the _hareem_, _muezzin_ and _tariff-dragoman_ of the _arsenal_, under a _carob_-tree, on _sofas_ of _mohair-mattress_ covered with _jerboa-_ and _gazelle-skins_, drinking _coffee_, _saffron-elixer_, _arrack_, _alcohol_ and _syrup_ of _senna, carraway_ and _sumach_. For tonic they also had _rose-attar_, _artichokes_, _alkaline-nitre_ in _myrrh_, _taraxacum_, _otto-sherbet_, and _naphtha_ in _amber_ cups. The _Sultan’s_ infant daughter wore a _carmine cotton_ and-_muslin chemise_ or _diaper_ with a _civet talisman_ and _jasper amulet_; she played a _Tartar lute_. Suddenly a _giaour Bedouin assassin_ with an _assagai_ and _hookah-masque_ came down on them from behind an _alcove_ of the neighboring _arabesque mosque minaret_ like a _sirocco-simoon_ or _monsoon_ and killed them all.” Most of these words came from the Arabic through other languages such as French and Spanish; others were directly transferred from the Arabic to English; and still others have passed the long journey from Arabic to Greek, to Latin, to Italian, to French and thence to English. The word _magazine_ is perhaps the best example of how an Arabic-root found shelter in the soil of all the European languages and grew into manifold significations from its original meaning with the Arabs, _ghazana_ = to collect or store. In modern days, especially since the opening of the Suez canal, the English language is beginning to exert its influence on Arabic. In Egypt, Syria and the Persian Gulf many English commercial terms are being adopted into the language and the newspapers spread their use everywhere. Last, but not least, there is the immense, incalculable influence on the Arabic-tongue for all time exerted by the toil and sacrifice of the early missionaries to Syria through their college and press in giving to the world a modern Christian and scientific literature and that crowning work of Drs. Eli Smith and C. V. A. Van Dyck—the Arabic Bible. The mission press at Beirut has four hundred and eighty three volumes on its catalogue and prints about twenty-five million pages annually.[90] The Arabic Bible “one of the noblest literally monuments of the age” will yet prove a mighty influence in purifying and ennobling the language and preserving its classical diction to the utmost bounds of the Arab-world. There was only one Koran and there will be only one Arabic Bible—the finished product of American scholarship and her best gift to the Mohammedan world. [Illustration: TITLE PAGE OF A CHRISTIAN PAPER PRINTED IN ARABIC.] XXVI THE ARAB