us climb up to the
roof and read the inscription on it. "From little Sabbath School
Children in America to the Mission Church in Tripoli, Syria." It was
sent in 1862 by the children in Fourth Avenue Church, New York, and in
Newark, Syracuse, Owego, Montrose and other places.

The Moslems abhor bells. They say bells draw together evil spirits. We
are not able yet to have a bell in Hums, on account of the Moslem
opposition. They do not use bells, but have men called Muezzins
stationed on the little balconies around the top of the tall minarets,
to call out five times a day to the people to come to prayer. They
select men and boys with high clear voices, and at times their voices
sound very sweetly in the still evening. They say, "There is no God but
God." That is true. Then they add, "and Mohammed is the Apostle of God,"
and that is not true. As the great historian Gibbon said; these words
contain an "eternal truth and an eternal lie."

The Moslems are obliged to pray five times every day, wherever they may
be. At home, in their shops, in the street, or on a journey, whenever
the appointed time arrives, they fall on their knees, and go through
with the whole routine of prayers and bodily prostrations. One day
several Moslems called on us in Tripoli, at the eighth hour of the day
(about 2 o'clock P.M.), and after they had been sitting some
time engaged in conversation, one of them arose and said to his
companions, "I must pray.". They all asked, "Why? It is not the hour of
prayer." "Because," said he, "when I went to the mosque at noon to pray,
I had an ink-spot on my finger nail, and did not perceive it until after
I came out, and hence my prayer was of no account. I have just now
scraped it off, and must repeat my noon prayer." So saying, he spread
his cloak upon the floor, and then kneeling upon it with his face
towards Mecca, commenced his prayers, while his companions amused
themselves by talking about his ceremonial strictness. One of them said
to me, "He thinks he is holy, but if you could see the _inside_ of him,
you would find it black as pitch!" He kept his head turned to hear what
was being said, and after he had finished, disputed a remark one of them
had made while he was praying. Such people worship God with their lips,
while their hearts are far from him.

Moslems have a great horror of swine. They think us barbarians to eat
ham or pork. In February, 1866, the Moslems of Beirut were keeping the
Fast of R