"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الجزء II. ج. ج. لوريمر. ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٣‎٩‎٦] (١٢٦٢/٩١٣)

2396
until 1894^ when the Mission was transferred to the management and
care of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed Churchy its
distinct existence as a corporation beings however, preserved.
The first agents of the Mission to reach the Gulf were the Rev. J.
Cantine and the Rev. S. Zwemer^ two of the original founders, who
before going there examined, with reference to their suitability for mission
work, various places in the western and southern districts of Arabia.
Mr. Cantine eventually sailed from Aden for Masqat towards the end of
May 1891, and, after spending a fortnight at that port and visiting
Bahrain and other places in the Gulf, made a tour to Basrah and Baghdad.
A little later he was joined by Mr, S. Zwemer, and Basrah was selected
as the local headquarters of the Mission. Persistent hostility had to be
encountered from the first on the part of the local Turkish authorities;
and the early experiences of the mission were by no means fortunate.
On the 24th of June 1892 Kamil ^Abdul Masih, a Syrian
Christian who had attached himself to the Mission, died in suspicions
circumstances indicative of poisoning; colporteurs of the Mission were
arrested; the Bible shop was sealed up and various books were confiscated;
a guard was placed at the door of the house occupied by the missionaries;
and a petition for their expulsion was sent to the Porte. In the
course of the year, however, arrangements were successfully
made for carrying on the work of the British and Foreign Bible Society
in the region occupied by the Mission ; and, in December 1892, the
Mission itself was reinforced by the arrival of the Rev. Peter J. Zwemer,
a brother of the Rev. S. Zwemer, from America.
In 1893 a second station was established in Bahrain in charge of
Mr. P. Zwemer; and, after the lirst difficulties had been surmounted, the
situation in those islands appeared not unpromising. Before the end ^ of
the year over 100 portions of Scripture had been sold, and the first visit
of a Christian missionary to Hasa on the adjoining mainland had been
paid. At Basrah evangelistic work and the circulation of the Scriptures
made progress; but no medical work could be undertaken, as there was
no doctor.
In 1894 Dr. James T. Wyckoff, a medical missionary, was added to
the staff at Basrah ; but after a very short space of time, on a visit to
Bahrain, he became seriously ill and was obliged to return to America,
leaving the Mission again without any physician. Meanwhile several
journeys of exploration were made by the Rev. P. Zwemer in > tne
•'Oman Sultanate; and it was decided, on the information so obtained,
that Masqat should be occupied by him as a third station.
In 1895 Mr. Cantine went on furlough to America, and M r *
S. Zwemer, who had meanwhile assumed charge of the station in Bahrau 1 )
temporarily took his place at Basrah. The staff was strengthened by the
addition of a medical missionary at Basrah in the person of Dr. H- i*-
Lankford Worrall. At the end of the year an out-station was opened a
the town of "'Amarah on the Tigris,
In 1896 work among Muhammadan women was begun by Mrs. S-
Zwemer at Basrah and was continued by her in Bahrain and Qatu.
Distant tours, extending to Wadi Samail, Rnstaq, and Jabai Akhdhar,
were made in 'Oman by Mr. P. Zwemer and his colporteurs; and by