In Hejaz and Yemen, regions under the sultan, no Christian is permitted to reside or travel, and in the rest of the country the ruling emirs or imams readily inflict the death penalty upon Moslems for departure from the faith. Long after the English took control of Aden, at the extreme southwestern part of the peninsula, a mission was opened there which is called the Keith-Falconer mission, and which is now carried on by the United Free Church of Scotland. In 1889 an independent inter-denominational mission was opened upon the western shore of the Persian Gulf. Members of this mission have penetrated into the interior of the country and have given to the world much valuable information regarding this land of mystery and its inhabitants of ancient name and fame. This mission was adopted by the Board of the Reformed (Dutch) Church of America in 1894. It is remarkable that this cradle of Islam, lying so close to the great highway between the West and the far East, should still remain practically untouched by modern education and the fundamental truths of Christianity. It cannot long maintain its barriers against the onrush of modern thought and life. XIII. ESTABLISHED CENTERS So far as Americans are concerned, the missionary work in European Turkey and Asia Minor is and long has been almost exclusively in the hands of the American Board. In no part of the world has that Board or any Board had abler or more devoted representatives to preach the gospel, to conduct schools and colleges or to establish and administer hospitals. Their original aim was to infuse new life into the native Armenian and Greek churches, to rescue them from mere formalism, and to imbue them with the spirit of a pure and active Christianity. Circumstances compiled them in due time to organize independent churches on which the old churches at first looked with unfriendly eyes. But of late years in many places a more friendly and sympathetic spirit has been manifested towards them by the clergy of the old order, and the life of some of the native churches has been quickened by the example of the missionary churches. The excellence of our schools has been so manifest that its stimulating effect has been felt by not only the Armenian and Greek schools, but also by the Turkish schools. The medical work of our missionary physicians has also widely commended itself to men of all faiths and has awakened a decided interest not only in the religion which so humanely brings its generous hospital treatment to all who desire it, but also in the rational system of medicine and surgery which it illustrates. Even the Mohammedans who are generally inaccessible to the approaches of our missionaries cannot but have some appreciation of the benevolent and Christlike work of our physicians.