Except for the portion of Arabia seen by those bold travellers and by others like them, a great part of the country is still unknown. No missionaries have ever crossed Arabia although they have made journeys into the interior and along the coasts. It is surprising, but it is true that the most unknown country in the world to-day is Arabia. We have better maps of the North Polar regions and even of the moon than we have of Southeast Arabia and portions of the interior. The barren desert, fear of the Bedouin, always ready to rob and waylay the caravan, and the hatred of the Moslem for the Christian have closed the country for many years against travellers and missionaries; but, although so long neglected, Arabia is now becoming better known. The coasts have been explored, and they are actually building a railway to-day across the desert from Damascus to Mecca and another railway along the northern borders to Bagdad. A few months ago a British traveller crossed Arabia in a motor car. How the camels must have been surprised! In the chapters that follow, we will take some zigzag journeys together,—sometimes on camels, sometimes on donkey-back, or in the Arab sailing-boats along the coast. We will not tell you what others have seen or heard in this wonderful country of the camel, but tell our own story; and we hope that you will learn to love the Arab, his country, and his camel as much as we do, and make many a new zigzag track across the map of Arabia to mark your journeys as future missionaries. II THE CAMEL AT HOME +----------------------------------+ | _Mr. and Mrs. Camel_ | | | |_At Home_ _All Over Arabia._ | | | | _B. C. 4000 — A. D. 1911._ | +----------------------------------+