After seven years of negotiations, in 1907 the sultan finally conceded in a formal manner the same rights and privileges to American institutions in his dominion which had already been granted to similar institutions of France, Russia, Germany and other countries; but as yet in most cases this concession exists largely in form, while the actual enjoyment of the privileges is withheld. At the same time insuperable obstacles are thrown in the way of the purchase of real estate by Americans and they are even forbidden to improve property which they have already acquired. It is only by eternal vigilance that American interests in Turkey can be safeguarded. XXIV. RELIGIOUS TOLERATION One distinctive feature of Islam in Turkey—and this applies to nearly all Moslem races in the Ottoman empire except the Arabs—is that the Turk does not know the language of his sacred book. The Koran is as much a sealed book to the Turk as the Bible is to the peasant Roman Catholic of Central Europe. He knows, even if he is a peasant, many Arabic words and phrases, but although he may read the Koran, he cannot understand it; and it is, to the Mohammedan, a greater impiety to attempt to translate the Koran from the Arabic, than it was, till recent years, in the eyes of the faithful but ignorant Romanist to translate the Latin Bible into French or German. This ignorance of Arabic is a fact even among the more or less educated Turks of the capital and coast cities. It is very rare to find one who can read Arabic intelligently, and who speaks it correctly. Some years ago, when K—— Effendi, a learned Arab Koord, who had embraced Christianity, was called before the highest Mohammedan court, his perfect knowledge of the Arabic, of the Koran and of Mohammedan law and traditions completely confounded and silenced those who would have been his judges. —From “The Mohammedan World of To-day.” At the beginning of mission work in Turkey the government and high officials seemed indifferent. They looked upon missionaries as only another sect of Christians. It apparently did not occur to them that Christians would attempt to present the claims of their religion to Moslems, or that there was the least probability that any Mohammedan would listen to a Christian upon the subject of religion. For centuries no Christian in Turkey had made any such attempt. Indeed, the lives of the Christians there exhibited little that was attractive in the religion of Jesus Christ. The Turks, therefore, appeared to assume that the missionary movement was an effort to reform the Christians or to divide and weaken them. To either of these purposes or results the sultan and his officers saw no objections. To the Turks all who are not Moslems are infidels, and it mattered little to them what these believed since they denied faith in Mohammed.