This book describes the Arabic-speaking lands in Asia on the eve of the First World War. Their geography, their religious history (Mandaean, Christian, and Islamic, and extensive coverage of the modern effort to convert Arabia to Christianity from Ion Falkener to the author's wife and his brother, who was struck down by fever in Muscat. Political situation, at the height of the al-Rashid power in Ha'il; the Turkish rule and its limits; the British influence in the Gulf and Aden; French approaches to Oman; rumors of a Russian presence in Bandar Abbas. Discussion of the consequences of an anti-Turkish movement in the Hejaz. Chapters on Mecca, Medina, Aden, Yemen, Hadramaut, Muscat and Oman, Bahrein, Hassa (now the Eastern Province), Central Arabia, and three on Kuwait and Mesopotamia. Arab language, customs, literature, and arts. Printed 1900; this edition updated to 1912.