reverence which is now paid to Christianity in the developed portions of the country may be traced back to the efforts of such intrepid travelers as Livingstone, Speke, Grant, Baker, Schweinfurth, Miani, Cameron, and Stanley. The Republic of Liberia, on the West Coast, modeled after the American Republic, was established after the great Civil War in the United States as a home for the manumitted slaves, and placed under the control of the various Protestant denominations. In 1869 the cause of Christianity received a great impetus through the conversion of Queen Ranavalona, of Madagascar. At this time the Protestant population of Africa was estimated at about 700,000. In Morocco, Algeria, and Abyssinia there was a Jewish population of about the same numbers. The Abyssinian and Coptic churches were credited with 3,500,000 members; the Roman Catholic with from 1,000,000 to 4,000,000; and the Mohammedan with 100,000,000. The Catholic and Protestant denominations have since grown very materially, in consequence of the political movements of Great Britain.

CHAPTER IX.

THE MOHAMMEDANS.

Arabia before Mohammed's Birth-His Birth and Early Life-First Conversions-The Hejira--His famous Pilgrimages to Mecca-His Last Days and Death.

ARABIA BEFORE MOHAMMED'S BIRTH.

RABIA, the birth-place of Mohammed, has at all times

A been an object of curiosity, both on account of the

peculiarities of its soil and climate, and the remarkable character of its inhabitants. Arabia proper is bounded on the northeast by the Persian Gulf; on the southeast by the Indian Ocean. The Red Sea extends along the whole of its southwestern coast, and an imaginary line drawn from the head of the Persian Gulf, to that of the Red Sea, completes the limits of the peninsula. More extended limits, however, are often assigned to the country designated by the term Arabia. Beyond the imaginary line running from Ailah, at the head of the Red Sea, to the head of the Persian Gulf, the territory of Arabia is sometimes made to extend on the west to Palestine, the isthmus of Suez, and Syria; on the east to the Euphrates, and on the north to Syria, Diyarbekr, Irak, and Kuhestan. By the Greeks and Romans Arabia was usually divided, on account of the differences of the soil, into the Sandy, the Stony, and the Happy. In the Happy Arabia, which occupies the greater part of the coast running along the Red Sea, and in the province of Iejaz, are situated the two famous cities of Mecca and Medina. The

former was the birth-place of Mohammed; the latter, when he fled from Mecca, was the city of his refuge, the scene of his first victories, the first territory over which he ruled with the authority of a king, and his last resting-place on earth.

Although the Romans made no extensive conquests in Arabia, the effects of their near neighborhood were visible among the Arabian population. The constant disputes between the Christian sects of Syria, and the depressed situation of the Jewish people among the Christians, induced many of both persuasions to seek refuge among the idolatrous Arabs, who knew not, or knowing, regarded not, the differences in their creeds. Enjoying peace and security, these differing sects continued to increase in numbers, in wealth, and in power; and before the appearance of Mohammed spread their religion over the greatest part of Arabia. The tolerant spirit of the Arabian religion allowed them unmolested to erect places of worship, and to educate their children to his faith. But in the seventh century of the Christian era a revolution took place in the religion of this people, which not only changed the manners and institutions of the Arabians themselves, but materially influenced the destinies of the largest portion of the civilized globe. The wandering and insignificant tribes of Arabia were by this religion united into a powerful nation, filled with a spirit of desperate enthusiasm, and sent forth to be the conquerors of the greatest part of Asia, and some of the most powerful kingdoms in Europe. In a few years these enthusiastic warriors spread their new faith from the Ganges to the Danube.

Mohammed was the author of these mighty changes. Arising amidst a rude and ignorant people, he assumed the attributes of the messenger of God; he declared himself to be divinely inspired; to be expressly sent among mankind to overturn the idolatrous worship of his countrymen, and to establish in its place a new and more pure religion, dictated by the Almighty himself, and destined eventually to be the faith of all the nations of the earth.

The history of this remarkable man and of the institutions which he framed, will be found one of the most interesting