has conquered Arabia, the name of Jesus will be written on every
mosque and in every heart; then contradiction will give way to the truth,
and whoever trusts in Christ will find Him sufficient.

Would it not be nice to make something pretty for use in the home or in
the Sunday-school, and embroider the Arabic words on it? It would be a
constant reminder of Arabia and of the beautiful motto--only an Arabic
version of Paul's words, _Our sufficiency is of God._

Our last illustration to close this chapter is an example of Arabic
every-day penmanship. It was written in the mountains of Oman, and is a
letter from a poor cripple asking for a copy of the Psalms and other
books. It was sent to our brother Peter J. Zwemer a year before he died,
when he was on a missionary journey in Oman.

[Illustration: ARABIC LETTER FROM A POOR CRIPPLE.]

XII

THE QUEER PENNIES OF OMAN AND OF HASSA

If Jesus Himself, on one occasion, said, "Show me a penny," and preached a
sermon from it, surely we may follow his example and learn something from
these strange coins which you see in the pictures at the beginning and end
of this chapter. The coin on this page comes from Oman, the home of the
Arabian camel and one of its most fertile provinces. Perhaps some of the
boys and girls can tell where Oman is and give its boundaries without
looking in the geography, but I am sure none of you can read the
inscription on the penny, and tell what it all means. Who is Fessul bin
Turkee? What is an Imam? How much is one-quarter of an Anna? And when did
this queer coin come fresh from the mint?

[Illustration: OMAN COIN.]

Let us begin at the beginning. Fessul bin Turkee, the present ruler of
Oman, lives in a large, tumble-down old castle in Muscat, and his big red
flag waves over the town every Friday, the Mohammedan Sabbath. He is not
much better nor worse than his father, Turkee, or than other rulers in
Arabia, but he certainly is far more enterprising, and is generally liked
by the Arabs of Muscat. He is not however in all respects a merciful
ruler. When I visited Muscat a few years ago this petty king had a real
lion's den, like Nebuchadnezzar, and the story goes that he sometimes used
it in the same way to get rid of his enemies. He once had a steam-launch,
and even put up an electric light on the top of his castle, but both of
these modern improvements came to grief. He also started a small ice
factory to supply his household with cold w