From the folklore of the Arabs: Luqman bin 'Ad, an ancient Polonius who lived a long time, thought a great deal, and left the fruits of his wisdom to posterity.

He began as a sailor for the Confederacy, became a soldier of fortune in Latin America, and ended as an explorer and administrator in the court of the Khedive Ismael.

To improve agricultural output, contractors poured some five million cubic feet of concrete to complete this dam, near Jaizan, in southeastern Saudi Arabia.

In the rubble that was Fustat, once a capital of Islam, a midwestern housewife plunges into the arcane techniques of archeologicaI exploration and learns an empire's history.

To this day Arab dhows sail the blue waters of the East, weather-beaten, hand-crafted ghosts from another age, carrying the products of this one.

The pay is low, the hours long and the challenge enormous: better health for the diverse peoples in the villages, the cities, the deserts and the mountains of the Arab world.