Topsy-Turvy Land

Land, by Samuel M. Zwemer

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Zwemer
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Title: Topsy-Turvy Land Arabia Pictured for Children
Author: Samuel M. Zwemer Amy E. Zwemer
Release Date: April 19, 2005 [EBook #15658]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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TOPSY-TURVY LAND ***

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TOPSY-TURVY LAND
ARABIA PICTURED FOR CHILDREN

[Illustration: ARAB BOYS.]
TOPSY-TURVY LAND
ARABIA PICTURED FOR CHILDREN
BY SAMUEL M. ZWEMER AND AMY E. ZWEMER
[Illustration]
Fleming H. Revell Company NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO
Copyright, 1902 by Fleming H. Revell Company (July)

[Transcriber's Note to the text version: in the original images, the word
Hadramaut has a breve above the u.]

DEDICATED TO THE BOYS AND GIRLS WHO ARE HELPING
TO TURN THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN

PREFACE
This is a book of pictures and stories for big children and small
grown-up folks; for all who love Sinbad the sailor and his strange
country. It is a topsy-turvy book; there is no order about the chapters;
and you can begin to read it anywhere. It is intended to give a
bird's-eye view to those who cannot take birds' wings. The stories are
not as good as those of the Arabian Nights but the morals are
better--and so are the pictures. Moreover the stories are true. You must
not skip any of the chapters or the pictures but you may the preface, if
you like.
{S.M.Z. {A.E.Z.

Bahrein, Arabia.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. WHY IS ARABIA TOPSY-TURVY LAND? 15 II. A LESSON IN
GEOGRAPHY 21 III. THE SQUARE-HOUSE WITH THE BLACK
OVERCOAT 27 IV. SABBACH-KUM BIL KHEIR! 31 V. AT THE
CORNER GROCERY 37 VI. BLIND FATIMAH 43 VII. DATES
AND SUGAR-CANE 47 VIII. THE SHEPHERD OF THE
SEWING-MACHINE 54 IX. THE CHILDREN OF THE DESERT 58
X. NOORAH'S PRAYER 64 XI. PICTURES WITH WORDS ONLY
69 XII. THE QUEER PENNIES OF OMAN AND HASSA 73 XIII.
ARAB BABIES AND THEIR MOTHERS 79 XIV.
BOAT-BUILDERS AND CARPENTERS 85 XV. ARABIC
PROVERBS AND ARABIC HUMOUR 92 XVI. GOLD,
FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 97 XVII. SLAVES AND SLAVE
TRADERS 101 XVIII. ABOUT SOME LITTLE MISSIONARIES 108
XIX. TURNING THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN 113 XX. TURNING
THE WORLD DOWNSIDE UP 118

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
ARAB BOYS Facing Title. MODES OF TRAVEL 16 EUROPEAN
VISITORS ON DONKEYS 18 MAP OF ARABIA 23 READY FOR A
CAMEL RIDE 24 THE SQUARE HOUSE WITH THE BLACK
OVERCOAT 29 SABBACH-KUM BIL KHEIR! 33 ARAB GROCER
38 ARAB BOY IN A CROCKERY SHOP 41 HOW A MOSLEM
BOY PRAYS 45 WOMEN SELLING SUGAR-CANE 48 DATES
GROWING ON A DATE PALM 50 FIRE WOOD MARKET,
BUSRAH 52 ARAB RIDERS WITH LANCES 60 PEARL
MERCHANTS 62 ARABIAN WATER-BOTTLE 63 [From the

Sunday School Times, by permission.] DESIGNS MADE OUT OF
ARABIC WRITING 70 ARABIC LETTER FROM A POOR
CRIPPLE 72 OMAN COIN 73 HASSA COINS 76 DATE-STICK
CRADLE 80 WOMEN GRINDING AT THE MILL 82 BEDOUIN
WOMEN EATING THEIR BREAKFAST 84 CARGO BOATS,
BAHREIN 86 RIVER BOAT BUSRAH 87 SAWING A BEAM 89 AN
ARAB CARPENTER'S TOOLS 90 PUZZLE OF THE THIRTY MEN
96 BRANCH OF THE INCENSE TREE 98 SLAVE GIRL IN
ARABIA 102 LIBERATED SLAVES AT BAHREIN 104 MISSION
HOUSE AT BUSRAH 110 THE SULTAN'S SOLDIERS 114
MUSCAT HARBOUR 122 AN OLD FRIEND IN A NEW DRESS
124

I
WHY IS ARABIA TOPSY-TURVY LAND?
On this big round earth there are all sorts of countries and peoples. Men
walk on it on every side just like flies crawling over a watermelon and
they do not fall off either. On the next page you can see how they travel
all around the world; some in steamships, some in carriages or on
horses, some in jinrickshaws and some in the railway coaches. In
Topsy-turvy Land they have no railroads and not even waggon-roads or
waggons. A horse or a camel or a donkey is used for passengers and the
camel caravan is a freight train.
Or if you wish, the camel is a topsy-turvy ship which sails in the sand
instead of in the water. It is called the ship of the desert. The masts
point down instead of up; there are four masts instead of three; and
although there are ropes the desert-ship has no sails and no
rudder--unless the rudder be the tail. When the ship lies at anchor to be
loaded it feeds on grass and the four masts are all snugly tucked away