ARABIA.

This extensive country, which is situated at the southwestern extremity of Asia, has been famed in all ages for freedom and independence; for the peculiar character and manners of its rude tribes; and for the wild and interesting aspect of its interior deserts, contrasted with the fertility of other tracts, of which the rare and precious products have always formed the staple articles of the Arabian trade. It has been distinguished in history as the scene of great events, and especially of that wonderful revolution in religion, under the influence of which the Arabs, inflamed with the spirit of proselytism and of conquest, spread their victorious arms over the fairest portions of the earth, and brought about not merely the downfall of empires, but a revolution of opinion and manners which gradually extended over the greater portion of Africa, and over the eastern world from Constantinople to the frontiers of China.

Arabia is a peninsula, stretching north-west and southeast. It has the form of an irregular triangle, and is inclosed on three sides .by the ocean. It is bounded on the south-west by the Red Sea and the Isthmus of Suez; on the north-east by the Persian Gulf and the lower course of the Euphrates; on the north-west by Syria, the Euphrates, and the intervening desert; and on the south-east by the Indian Ocean. Its length from this ocean to the frontiers of Syria is about 1430 miles, and its breadth [7:3:324]from the Isthmus of Suez to Bassora abôut 700. The peninsula enlarges in breadth as it approaches the Indian Ocean, the southern basis of the triangle; and from the Straits of Babelmandib to the Persian Gulf its extent cannot be less than 1000 miles. The division of this country by the ancients was, according to the natural qualities of the soil, into Arabia Petraea, or the Stony, .Arabia. Deserta, and Arabia Fclix. No very distinct boundary was assigned to these divisions. Under Arabia Petraea was included that barren and rocky tract in the .north-west. of Arabia which is situated between the northern shores of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, and which may have extended southwards nearly to Mecca. Arabia Deserta was separated on the north by the Euphrates from Mesopotamia; on the west it was bounded by Syria, Judea, and Arabia Petraea; on the east and south it was separated from Chaldea and Arabia Felix by ridges of mountains. Arabia Felix was bounded on the north by Arabia Petraea and Arabia Deserta, on the south by the Indian Ocean, and on the east and west by the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. The modern division of the country is entirely different, and if possible more indistinct. It does not appear that the eastern geographers are either agreed as to the divisions of the country, or as to the limits of those divisions. By some the whole country is divided into two parts, namely, Yemen and Hedjaz; while others will have it divided into the five great provinces of Yemen, Hedjaz, Nedjed, Tehama, and Ÿemama. Others, again, adopt a different division, into six or seven parts; and Hadramaut, Mahrah, Shejr, Oman, and other subdivisions, have been raised to the rank of independent provinces; while, according to a different hypothesis, they are held to form a part of the lower provinces of,Yemen and Hedjaz. Niebuhr adopts the division into six provinces; but, along with other geographers of eminence, he includes Arabia Petraea in the Hedjaz, which is erroneous, and is inconsistent with the more correct geography of modern travellers.^[1. See Travels in Arabia, by J. Lewis Burckhardt. Preface of the Editor. ] Those divisions of the country, which are purely arbitrary, are noway essential to accuracy of description. The following, therefore, may be given as the modern divisions. Aiabia Petraea, the Hedjaz, Tehama, and Yemen, comprehend the western portion of the peninsula, including the -range of mountains that extend from the Mediterranean along the coast of the Red Sea as far as the Indian Ocean. The province of Yemen lies along the coast of this ocean. To the east are the provinces of Hadramaut and Oman, which last is at the entrance of the Persian Gulf, and is washed by it; while on the north-east the province of Lahsa or Hajar is on its western shore. These provinces encircle the central deserts, which are partly included in the extensive province of Nedjed.

Arabia may be generally described as a vast collection of rocky and precipitous mountains, encircled by a border of low, barren, and sandy plains. On all the sides on which it is washed by the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Persian Gulf, it is bounded by these plains, which extend from the sea-shore 100 or 200 miles into the interior as far as the hills; and towards the north the extensive plain is formed by the vast deserts which extend to Syria and over Arabia Petraea; while to the south, as far as the mountains which overlook the Indian Ocean, the intervening country, judging from the imperfect accounts of travellers, forms one extensive and continued' desert. The plains and mountainous districts differ widely in their climate, soil, and productions.

The great characteristic of those vast tracts of desert which frequently extend on a dead level for several hundred miles, is aridity, and its necessary consequence, barrenness. They consist either of bare rocks or of hard or loose sand, and are almost destitute of fresh water. There is no eminence to arrest the clouds as they pass along the plain, and whole years frequently-pass away without rain. The drought is consequently extreme; vegetation withers under the fierce influence of a scorching sun; and the burning sands, reflecting the solar rays, occasion such intense heat as is not felt even in countries that he directly under the equator. There are norivers, the mountain torrents being speedily imbibed by the sandy soil; and the scanty supplies afforded by deep wells and springs, scattered at distant intervals, are the sole dependence of the fainting traveller for refreshment, and frequently for life. Without this resource these deserts must have for ever remained impervious to man. The aspect of desolation is sometimes relieved by verdant spots, which appear like islands in the trackless ocean; and some rare and hardy plants, such as the tamarind and the acacia, which strike their roots into the clefts of the rocks, find here a congenial soil, and flourish amid the surrounding waste.

In the Arabian plains the thermometer is generally! above 100° during the night, at 108° in the morning, and^ in the course of the day it rises to 110°, and sometimes higher in the coolest and shadiest parts. All travellers who have visited the coasts of the Red Şea appear to have been oppressed by the extraordinary heat, and to have considered the temperature of other tropical countries as moderate in comparison. The sultriness of the nights is another peculiar evil of the Arabian climate, and a predisposing cause of disease.^[2. Fraser’s Narrative of a Journey into Kkorassan, chap. i. Climate of Oman. ] For this peculiarity the country is partly indebted to its position, hemmed in be? tween the. continents of Asia and Africa, and effectually protected by the latter from the influence of the southwest moħsoon, which blows during the summer on the coasts of India, and ushers in the periodical rains. Arabia never experiences the refreshing influence of this wind. It seems to blow exactly along its south-eastern shore, on which baffling winds prevail, or a dead calm.^[3. It is mentioned by Fraser, in the account which he gives of a Voyage from Bombay to Mascat, in the Persian Gulf, that the moment they doubled Cape Rassel Gate, a corruption of Raus-ul-Hud, literally land’s end, and entered the Persian Gulf under the lee of the Arabian land, they were forsaken by the south-west monsoon, and encountered baffling winds or calms until they arrived at Mascat, which is about 120 miles up the Gulf. ] During the whole summer the heat in the lower plains on the coast is so steady and equable that the atmosphere remains in a state of repose. No change of temperature takes placeto set the winds in motion; and dead calms occur, and sometimes continue for sixty days without interruption. When the temperature begins to vary with the change of the sear sons, and the winds resume their activity, the country is visited by the simoom or the hot blast from the deserts, under whose withering influence all nature seems to languish and expire,—which has the quality of extracting from whatever it touches every trace of moisture, and to produce, when it is inhaled by men or animals, a painful feeling, as of suffocation. But though its effects are ρerr nicious to health, they have been greatly exaggerated by credulous or ill-informed travellers; and among others Niebuhr, to whom we are indebted for much valuable information respecting Arabia, ascribes to it the power of [7:3:325]-.uffocating any living creature that is exposed to its in- ’ fluence. Others imagine that it has poisonous qualities. It appears, however, from the accounts of various travellers, and among others of Mr Buckingham, that its effects are produced solely by heat. When it is suddenly inhaled, it may, in the same manner as a hot blast from an oven, cause faintishness or sickness, and even swooning; but this feeling is occasioned wholly by the heat and parching qualities which it contracts in its passage across the burnin n- sands. The desert consists in many parts of loose sand, interspersed with sharp and naked rocks; and the effect of these violent winds is to raise up in clouds this fine sand, and to set it afloat in the atmosphere in such quantities that it is impossible to see to the distance of a few yards. On such occasions, during the violence of these sand storms, it is the practice of camels and other animals to lie down by instinct, and bury their nostrils under the sand, to avoid the influence of the wind. In this situation the traveller generally lies down on the lee side of the camel, and in a short time the sand is blown up to the level of the animal, which has accordingly to rise and to lie down on a new foundation, in order to avoid being entirely covered. But in many cases, from weariness, faintness, or sleepiness, occasioned by the great heat, and often from a feeling of despair, both the man and the animal remain on the ground, and in twenty minutes they are buried under a load of sand, and perish miserably in those inhospitable deserts. The approach of the simoom wind is indicated by an unusual redness in the sky, which during the prevalence of the wind seems to be all on fire.

But though a large proportion of Arabia consists of arid and burning deserts, the country immediately behind the dry and sandy plains, which stretches backwards from the sea-shore, rises into rocky and precipitous hills, with intervening valleys of remarkable fertility. Those mountainous tracts, which send forth ridges into the interior in various directions, enjoy a temperate climate; and in some parts snow has been even known to fall, though it does not lie on the ground. Near Sana, about 20Ó miles north-east of Mocha, Niebuhr was informed that ice had been seen.^[4. Niebuhr, vol. ii. chap. ii. sect. 28. ] All these interior and highland districts are occasionally refreshed by copious rains, though they do not lie within the range of the monsoons, which in the peninsula of Hindostan usher in the rainy season. Those rains occur at different times of the year, according to the position of the mountains. On the western declivity of the mountains of Yemen, along the shore of the Red Sea, they commence in June and terminate in September, which is the season of the monsoons in India. This tract is also refreshed by a spring rain, while on the eastern declivity of the same mountains the season of the rains is between the middle of November and the middle of February. In Hadra-niaut and Oman, along the shores of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, the rainy season lasts from the middle of 1cbruary to the middle of April; and the interior deserts have their winter rains, which occasionally fail, and leave the country a prey to severe drought. The prevailing wind in summer is from the west. The simoom, by which name the Arabs distinguish every hot wind, comes from the east. The south is reckoned favourable to vegetation; while the influence of the north wind, whether it be hot or cold, is always thought to be pernicious to the health both of man and beast. It is occasionally so sultry that it heats metals in the shade as if they were exposed to the sun. On the Persian Gulf the south-east wind is common, and is accompanied with moisture, which, when the heat is intense, occasions violent sweatings, and is even more injurious to health than the hot and dry blast' from the northern desert. No traveller has given any accurate measurement of the height of the Arabian mountains;, but the decided change of climate which takes place in these upland regions marks a considerable elevation above the adjacent plains.

Among the Arabian highlands great diversities of soil prevail; and the craggy precipitous form of the hills is unfavourable to fertility. They afford neither sufficient space nor soil for vegetable productions, and the earth is continually washed away by the torrents. In many parts the rocks are basaltic in their form, and so steep that the road ascends by regular steps cut in the rock. These mountainous tracts are in general well cultivated and productive, especially the southern and mountainous provinces of Yemen and Hadramaut. This was the celebrated region of Arabia Felix, which, contrasted with the adjacent deserts, might deserve that appellation, being a fertile country, yielding the far-famed productions of balm and frankincense, and many sweet-scented trees and shrubs, of which the delicious fragrance, according to the descriptions of poets, was wafted by the winds over the surrounding seas. The mountains of Hedjaz and Yemen, which run along the eastern shore of the Red Seă, are precipitous and often rocky; but water abounds in wells, springs, and rivulets. This entire tract of country is well peopled as far as the mountains which overlook the Indian Ocean, and contains numerous villages of the Arab tribes. In all parts where water is near, and can be artificially spread over the ground, trees and inclosed fields are found; and among the rugged and basaltic mountains extensive and well-watered valleys, which to the south and the east are covered with the herds and flocks of the Bedouin Arabs, and to the north and west, towards the Red Sea, with industrious cultivators, who have relinquished their vagrant habits, and live in houses. In these valleys, which are frequently separated by intervals of barren rock, and the passes or entrances into which, through the mountains, are so narrow that they scarcely allow two camels to walk abreast, the villages are embellished with gardens, palmgroves, and date-trees, the fruit of which forms in many districts the staple article of the agriculturist; and with extensive plantations of coffee, which, when in flower; exhale an exquisite perfume. In many parts of Yemen whole mountains of basaltic columns are seen, which are rendered subservient to many useful purposes. Being easily separated, and formed into steps, they facilitate the ascent of the heights where it is difficult; and they supply materials for walls to support the plantations of coffeetrees on the steep declivities of the mountains.

The country between the mountains of the Hedjaz and the Red Sea is part of that narrow belt of sand which encircles Arabia. It is called Tehama, the appellation given to all the low plains on the coast, which are generally barren, having fewer fertile spots and more scanty pasturage than the mountains, where rain is more common.^[5. Burckhardt’s Travels in Arabia, vol. ii. Appendix, p. 377∙ ] Of the regions which are washed by the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf we have no full or accurate information. We knojv, however, that they are skirted by sandy plains similar to those on the western shore. The country which overlooks the Persian Gulf at Mascat has an extremely desolate appearance, consisting merely of sands, and naked rocks blackened by the scorching rays of the sun. It rises into mountains, which may be seen from the sea, and probably attain an elevation of from 1500 to 2000 feet.^[6. Eraser’s Journey into Khorassan. Description of Mascat. ] These mountainous tracts are [7:3:326]but little known; but it does not appear that they differ ’in their aspect, produce, or the manners of the inhabitants, from the corresponding tracts on the western shore. The province of Hadramaut, which lies along the shore of the Indian Ocean to the east of Yemen, was described to Niebuhr by a native. It is bordered by a sandy plain towards the ocean; but the hilly country from the coast, though in some places dry and desert, is intersected by well-watered vales. The hilly parts of Oman, which is to the east of Hadramaut, along the lower shores of the Persian Gulf, produce grain and fruits. The mountainous tract of Hassa, or El Ahsa, to the south, along the upper shores of the Persian Gulf, which is somewhat better known, extends about two days’ journey in a direction parallel with the sea coast, and is about 35 miles broad. It is celebrated for its numerous wells, which enable the Arab tribes to cultivate clover, with which they rear a breed of excellent horses. This district contains the populous and walled town of El Hassa, the residence of some wealthy merchants, and one of the ’principal strongholds of the Wahaby sect. Akyr, the sea-port of El Hassa, is much frequented by Arab pirates. The territory contains, besides, about 20 villages, inhabited by the Bedouin Arabs.

Arabia appears to be divided by the ridges which branch outfrom these mountains through the interior, into thegreat northern and southern deserts. The first extends from the mountains eastward to the Euphrates, and northward to the frontiers of Syria and Damascus, and is intersected by the caravan routes to Syria and Egypt, along the western range of mountains, and to Bagdad eastward across the country from Mecca. The direct route to Syria, which is the route of the pilgrim caravan, is over a rugged country, through some very narrow defiles. Sometimes a few Bedouin merchants take camel-loads of coffee-beans by this route to Damascus. But it is not much frequented, being infested by strolling parties of the Arabs, who descend from the western mountains and rob the passing traveller in the plains. Seven days’ journey north of Medina is the small district of Hcdjer, watered by many wells and a running stream, where are large encampments of the Bedouins. In a mountain which bounds this fertile plain on the west arc large caves or habitations cut out of the rock, with sculptured figures of men and animals, and small pillars, on both sides of the entrances. There is a continued line of small towns or Arab settlements from Medina across the northern desert to the Euphrates, which appear like islands in the wide waste by which they are surrounded. These settlements are the abode of Bedouin cultivators, or of petty merchants, who supply their wandering brethren in the desert with goods, which they purchase in the Syrian and Arabian towns, and form an intermediate class between the vagrant tribes and the peasants. There is, besides the routes already mentioned, a caravan route which passes northward to Syria from the hilly and the central districts of the interior, through the province of Djebe] Shammar, more commonly called El Djebel, which is a mountainous tract between 400 and 500 miles east-north-east of Medina. The route through this district is in many parts over deep sand; and there is one stage of four days over a tract entirely destitute of water, which does not happen in any of the other routes across the desert, these being often, by a long circuit, brought near to the wells and springs. Here, as well as in the province of Nedjed, palm-trees are cultivated by means of water drawn up by camels from deep wells in leathern buckets.

The northern is divided from the southern desert of Arabia by the central province of Nedjed, which is eastoi Medina about 200 miles. The name, in opposition to Tehama, or “lowlands,” signifies high or elevated ground. This province is an oblong tract extending between three or four journeys from west to east, and two journeys in breadth from south to north. Of all the interior provinces of Arabia it is the most fertile and populous, and is situated in the centre of the country. It contains 26 small towns or villages; and it produces corn, barley, fruits, and luxuriant pasturage, which abounds even in the deserts after rain, and affords subsistence to the wandering Arabs and their flocks, after they have consumed the herbage and water of less fertile districts. On its fine pastures is reared an excellent breed of camels, which are exported not only to the western province of ∏edjaz, but to Syria and Yemen. The breed o horses is equally excellent, and so highly prized, that the finest Arabian horses are denominated Nedjed horses. Irrigation is a great aid of Arabian agriculture, in this as in all the other provinces; and there are numerous wells of great antiquity, and generally of the depth of from 25 to 30 fathoms. They are lined with stone, and are ascribed by the inhabitants to a primeval race of giants. They are mostly the property of individuals, who exact payment for the supplies which they furnish. The greatest evil to which this province is exposed is a failure of rain, which occurs every three or four years, bringing along with it scarcity and disease. Nedjed is occupied by Bedouin Arabs who do not emigrate, and by settlers who often travel as merchants to Damascus, Bagdad, Medina, Mecca, and Yemen. The people generally have a true commercial spirit: they are wealthy, and have a better character for honesty than most of the eastern traders. They are all armed with matchlocks, and every family manufactures gunpowder for domestic use. In this remote district the Arab manners have never been corrupted byany intercourse with strangers; for, excepting the pilgrim caravan from Bagdad to Mecca, none ever visit the country. Deraych, east by south from Medina, is the capital. It is situated in a valley, which is approached by a defile so narrow as to afford access only to a single camel at a time. It has always been a place of note. Before the overthrow of the Wahabys it was the capital of the state, and contributed to the Wahaby armies a quota o 3000 soldiers armed with matchlocks. Ancyzy, 100 mile, to the north-west of Deraych, contains 3000 houses: itis furnished with bazars, and is inhabited by respectable Arab merchants.^[7. Burckhardt’s Travels in Arabia, vol. ii. Appendix. ]

The central desert in Southern Arabia is perhaps one of the most dreary regions on the face of the earth. It has the province of Nedjed on the north, that of Hadramaut on the south, and extends eastward from the western ridge of mountains to the frontier of Oman, comprising a space of 600 or 700 miles each way. It is called by the Bedouins Iłoba el Khaly, “ the empty or deserted abode-’ This vast expanse of desolation is entirely destitute o' wells, and the only supply of water is from the rains During the absence of rain in summer the country “one continued tract of burning sands, and is entirely deserted. When these sands are refreshed by the win ter rains they produce herbage, to which the pastora tribes of Necijed, Hedjaz, and Yemen resort with then flocks. But the depths of this frightful wilderness haw never been fathomed, and many parts, especially toward! the cast, exhibit no trace of vegetation. One single sta tion, the Wady Djebryn, through which passes the rout· from Nedjed to the southern province of Hadramaut, di [7:3:327] versifies the solitary tract. It has wells and date-trees, but from its noxious climate is uninhabited.

Arabia, from its diversified surface, contains within its bounds the climates and the vegetable produce of different countries. The mountainous tracts yield in great abundance wheat, barley, and an inferior species of grain called durra; also the fruits of Europe in equal variety and perfection, such as figs, apricos, peaches, apples, almonds, pomegranates, grapes of the very best quality, and excellent dates, which in many parts are the chief food of the inhabitants, as well as an article of export. Many of the fine fruits of India have been transported thither, and are now naturalized. Such are the banana tree, the mangoustan, the Indian palm, and the Indian fig-tree. Besides the European grains it yields abundantly rice and maize. In the highland provinces forests are sometimes seen, which contain many trees little known, or differing extremely from the same genera in northern countries. The tamarind-tree refreshes and embellishes the country by its agreeable shade and elegant form. The balm-tree is peculiar to Arabia, which is also the native country of the coffee-tree, though, according to the Arabians, it comes originally from Abyssinia. The balm-tree has not a beautiful appearance, and its qualities are not appreciated in the southern province of Yemen, where its wood is burnt for a perfume. In the Hedjaz the inhabitants collect the balsam and bring it to Mecca: it is thence exported to Turkey, where it is in high estimation. The tree from which incense distils is found in part of Hadramaut, along the shores of the Indian Ocean. Arabia has been in all ages celebrated for sweet-scented shrubs and trees; and Burckhardt mentions, that one morning at sunrise, when he was on his road from Tayf to Mecca, every tree and shrub exhaled a delicious fragrance. There are various species of the sensitive plant, of which the splendid flowers, of a beautiful red, are formed into crowns for festive occasions. The sugar-cane and the indigo-shrub are found in different provinces; and the shrub from which senna is produced is cultivated in all that part of the country which lies opposite to Upper Egypt. The Arabians cultivate garden vegetables, such as lettuce, carrots, radishes, water-cresses, and a great variety of gourds, cucumbers, pumpkins, and melons. The melon is in such variety and abundance that, for a part of the year, it constitutes an article of food. Many plants and herbs which have been brought from India are now naturalized in the country; ind there is abundance of indigenous plants, noted for the beauty of their flowers and their fragrant smell. The gardens at Tayf, among the mountains, 72 miles east 3 Mecca, are renowned for roses of such exquisite beauty and fragrance, that they are sent to all parts of the country. The soil of the desert, though it is sandy, yet yields a variety of herbs, which constitute the food of cattle; and every district has a peculiar plant, which will grow in no other part. Those herbs grow to the height of three, and some of them of six feet; and when they are withered by the sun they are eagerly devoured by the camel.^[8. Burckhaľdt’s Arabia, vol. ii. Appendix. ]

Ιhe wild animals of Arabia, which are principally found m the mountains, are the panther, sometimes mistaken for the tiger, the ounce, the hyena, the wolf, the fox, a species of wild dog of a black colour, common in many countries in the East, the wild cat, the jackal, the wild ox, and monkeys in great numbers. In the sandy tracts is found that curiously constructed animal the jerboa. The wild boars∣ are very numerous, but not in the heart of the desert. 1he Arabs who live at Tadmor in northern Arabia are famous for their dexterity in killing them with the lance. The beautiful and timid gazelle is found all' over the Arabian desert. On the eastern frontiers of Syria there are several places allotted for the hunting of these animals, which are taken by hundreds. There are several sorts of lizards, and the land-tortoise is common, being brought by the peasants in cart-loads to the markets of many towns in the East. The domestic animals are the horse, the ass, the camel, and the ox.

The Arabian horse has been justly renowned in all ages of the world for all the finest qualities, namely, swiftness, patience of fatigue, spirit, and docility of temper; and it is from the Arabian breed that the European horses derive all their most valuable properties. The best horses are found in the greatest numbers in the luxuriant pastures of Meso-, potamia, the banks of the Euphrates, and in the Syrian plains. In Ncdjed the horses are also of a very fine qua-, ĩity, though they are not so numerous as in these countries; and they are still more scarce in the southern provinces of Yemen, Oman, and Hadramaut, on the shores of the Indian Ocean, owing to the great heat of the climate; nor are the mountainous regions of the Hedjaz favourable to the rearing of this fine animal. There, are not, according to Burckhardt, more than 6000 horses in the whole western country of Arabia, from the northern point of Akaba on the Red Sea to the southern coasts, comprising the great chain of mountains and the western plains. The provinces of Yemen, Hadramaut, and Oman, are also supplied with horses from the pastures of Nedjed.?

In the wars and inroads of the desert, the Arab soldier, whether he is pursuing, or flying for his life over the naked plain, wholly relies on the quality of his horse. On this account they spare no pains in rearing their horses, and in preserving the purity of the breed. The birth of every noble foal is ascertained by the presence of eye-witnesses, and a written certificate is made out of its distinctive marks, with the names of its sire and dam, which is wrapt in a small piece of leather covered with wax-cloth, and is hung round the animal’s neck as the standard and evidence of its value. The genealogical table never ascends to the grand-dam, because every Arab knows by tradition the purity of the whole breed; and there are many horses and marcs of which the noble descent is of such notoriety throughout the tribes, that no written evidence of the fact is required. The Arabs reckon five noble breeds of horses, whose lineal descent they assert to be from the five favourite mares of the prophet. But as all the collateral branches claim the same illustrious ancestry, there is an infinite variety of noble breeds in the desert; and every mare which is particularly handsome, and belonging to any of the five chief races, may give rise to a new breed, the. descendants of which bear her original name. Those pastoral tribes, when a foaI is born, receive it in their arms, and so cherish it for several hours, stretching its tender limbs, and caressing it as if it were a child; and when it is placed on the ground, they watch its feeble steps, prognosticating its future excellencies or defects. The colt is mounted after its second year, after which it is fed upon barley, which is the usual provender throughout Arabia, though in Nedjed the horses are regularly fed on dates; and the wealthy inhabitants give them flesh, raw as well as boiled, and all the fragments of their own meals. In other respects they are hardily treated. They remain in the open air during the whole year, with the saddle constantly on* their backs, and are not even taken under the shelter of the [7:3:328]tent in the rainy season, or during the heat of the mid-day 'sun; yet with all this treatment they are seldom ill. The Arabs never clean or rub their horses; but they are careful to walk them about gently on their return from a ride. They prefer mares for riding, on account of their more patient endurance of fatigue, hunger, and thirst, than horses, and because they are gentler and less vicious, and never neigh when they are lying in ambush to surprise passengers. According to Burckhardt, the finest race of Arabian blood horses may be found in Syria; and of all the Syrian districts the breed in the Hauran is the best. But all the horses of the noble breed are not equally distinguished. Among these there are only a few, perhaps not above five or six in a whole tribe, of the first-rate class in respect to size, bone, beauty, and action. In the whole extent of the Syrian deserts there are not, according to the estimate of this traveller, more than 200, worth, even in the desert itself, about L.150 or L.200 each; and of these very few, if any, have ever found their way to Europe, although many horses of second and third-rate quality from Syria, Barbary, and Egypt, have been imported into England, and have passed for the pure Arabian breed. The price of horses in Syria is from L.10 to L.120. An Arab mare cannot be obtained under L.60: a celebrated mare will often bring from L.200 to L.500. A mare is frequently the joint stock of two, three, four, or any greater number of proprietors; and when she has foaled, the colt is sold, and the price is divided among the proprietors. Burckhardt mentions a scheik who had a Nedjed mare, for the half of whose belly, according to the phraseology of the Arab market, he paid L.400. D’Arvieux mentions an emir who “had a mare that he would not part with for 5000 crowns, because she had travelled three days and three nights without drawing bit, and by that means got him clear off from those that pursued him.” A similar anecdote is told of a troop of Druses, who, having attacked an Arab encampment, were assailed by a superior force, and all killed except one man, who fled, and was pursued by some of the best mounted Bedouins. “But his mare, although fatigued, continued her speed for several hours, and could not be overtaken. Before the pursuers gave up the chase, they cried out to the fugitive, promising him quarter and safe-conduct, and begging him that he would allow them to kiss the forehead of his excellent mare. Upon his refusal they desisted from pursuing, and, blessing the generous creature, they exclaimed, addressing her owner, “Go and wash the feet of your mare, and drink up the water a phrase by which the Bedouins express their sense of the invaluable services rendered by those fine animals.^[9. Burckhardt’s Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys. ] The Arabs treat the mares which they keep for riding with invariable tenderness. They never beat them, but make much of them, reason with them, talk with them, and take all imaginable care of them. They never spur them, except in cases of peculiar urgency, when the generous animal flies over the plains with so rapid a motion that the rider is apt to be stunned. Many curious instances are given by travellers of the care and affection with which the Arabs treat their horses. An affecting anecdote is related of an Arab, who having sold the half of a mare renowned for beauty and other fine qualities, for 1200 crowns, made frequent journeys to inquire after her welfare. “I have many a time,” says D’Arvieux, “had the pleasure to see him cry with tenderness, whilst he was kissing and caressing her. He would embrace her, would wipe her eyes with his handkerchief, would rub her with his shirt-sleeves, would give her a thousand blessings during whole hours that he would be talking with her. ‘ My eyes,’ would he say t 0 her, ‘ my soul, my heart, must I be so unfortunate as to have thee sold to so many masters, and not to keep thee myself? I am poor, my Antelope; I have brought thee up like a child; I never beat nor chid thee. God preserve thee, my dearest; thou art pretty, thou art sweet thou art lovely; God defend thee from the looks of the envious!’ He then embraced her, kissed her eyes, and went backwards, bidding her the most tender adieus. Another Arab, who had sold his mare and put the money in the bag, looked wistfully on the animal, and began to weep. ‘ Shall it be possible,’ said he, ‘ that, after having bred thee up in my house with so much care, and had so much service from thee, I should be delivering thee up in slavery to the Franks for thy reward!’ on which he threw down the money on the table, embraced and kissed the mare, and took her back to his tent.”^[10. D’Arvieux, chap. xi. ]

The camel is an invaluable animal in Arabia, being peculiarly qualified, by its power of enduring thirst and fatigue, for traversing its burning plains. The camels of the Arabian and Syrian deserts are of a smaller make than those of Anatolia or Kurdistan and other northern countries, and they have only one hump. They are used either for the purposes of riding, or for carrying heavy burdens. The smaller and more active camels, or dromedaries as they are termed, or in Arabia 'deloul, which are used for riding, are the same race as the heavier camels, which are employed in carrying burdens, being merely distinguished as a hunter is from a coach-horse. The common load of an Arabian camel is from 400 to 500 pounds on a short journey, and from 300 to 400 pounds when the distance is greater. The Egyptian camel, which is equal in strength to the Anatolian, will carry a load of three bales of coffee, equal to 1500 pounds, from Cairo to the water-side, a distance of three miles. The dromedary, or the riding camel, is used in travelling, though in speed it is far surpassed by the horse. Incredible stories are told of the wonderful expeditions performed by these animals. Burckhardt was assured by a Bedouin that his grandfather made a journey on a camel of 250 miles in one day; and he himself mentions that, on a wager, a camel was engaged to go in one day, between sunrise and-sunset, a space of 125 miles; and actually travelled in 11 hours 115 miles, when its strength failed. The rate of speed at which a camel goes, even on a gallop, which is not his natural pace, and cannot be maintained above half an hour, is never more than 16 or 18 miles in the hour. In trotting, 12 miles an hour is the utmost limit of his speed, which may be continued for several hours. But a camel will carry his riders without interruption for several days and nights, in an easy and gentle amble, the favourite pace, at the rate of about 5 or 5,} miles in the hour, and will travel for five or six days 10 or 11 hours each day. A sort of palanquin is fixed on the backs of these camels for women, in which they are concealed from the public eye, and may stretch themselves at ful length. The capacity of bearing thirst varies considerably in the different races. The Arabian camel must be watered on the evening of every fourth day. Some animals, though they may go five days without drinking, cannot be safely exposed to such a trial. The caravan routes are never at a greater distance than three or three and a half days’ journey from water; but the ca∙ ravans from Africa to Egypt travel, during the heat of summer, through deserts in which water is wanting, for nine or ten days; and though many camels perish, the greater number come safely to Egypt. The Turcomans [7:3:329]and Kurds purchase every year from 8000 to 10,000 camels in the Syrian deserts, of which the greater part are brought originally from Nedjed. The price of a camel varies almost in every place. In Hedjaz a common riding camel may be bought for 50 or 60 dollars, and for some of the first quality 200 and even 300 dollars are sometimes paid. ...

The wild ass is found m great numbers in the country adjoining the district of Djof, to the west of Djebel Shammar, between Tobeck, Sauan, and Hedrush, and to the south of those places. It is hunted by the Arab tribes, who eat its flesh, and sell its skin and hoofs to the pedlars of Damascus and to the people of Hauran. Out of the hoofs rings are made, which are worn by the peasants as a charm against rheumatism. The domesticated ass in Arabia, as in all the other countries of the East, is a strong, active, and spirited creature, the rival of the horse in utility, if not in beauty. It retains all the strength, swiftness, and fire of the wild animal.^[11. ^* e lmhr, vol. ii. chap. iii. Burckhardt’s Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys. ] Arabia is not famous for horned cattle. The cow is used, however, in many places, for drawing water from the wells, and other purposes. It is small, and of a stout, bony make, with short stumps of horns, and a hump on the back over the shoulder, like the cows on the Nile and in Nubia.^[12. Burckhardt’s Travels in Arabia, p. 12Ĵ. ] The northern tribes of Arabia, namely, the Aenezes, and the Ahl el Shemal, possess abundance of goats and sheep. The goats arc mostly black, with long ears. The sheep have not the fat tails of those that are found in some countries; their ears are rather longer than those of the common English breed. The Arabs use in their families the milk of their flocks. They also make great quantities of butter, part of which they sell to the peasants and town’s people.

Arabia produces a considerable variety of birds. In the fertile provinces tame fowls abound, and all sorts of poultry. The pintado inhabits the woods in such numbers that children kill them with stones and collect them to be sold in the towns. In the forests of Yemen pheasants abound; also the wood-pigeon, and other varieties of the same species. In the plains is found the gray partridge, the common lark, the wild goose, and a species of white crane having the under part of the belly of a beautiful red. Eagles, falcons, sparrow-hawks, and the Egyptian vulture, are the Arabian birds of prey. The last clears the country of all carrion, and also of field mice, which multiply prodigiously in some provinces. There is another bird of prey, of the thrush species, which is equally useful in pursuing and destroying the swarms of locusts with which the country is infested. There are various birds which are little known, and which are supposed to be birds of passage from India, distinguished by peculiar brilliancy of plumage. There is one which has two large and beautiful feathers, with which the Arabians adorn their caps; and another which, for its rare beauty, is sold for a high price. A beautiful lapwing is common on the shores of the Persian Gulf. The sandy tracts of the desert abound in ostriches: these are hunted by the Arabs for their feathers, which form a valuable article of trade. The ostrich inhabits both the great southern and northern deserts. I hey abound in the plain extending from Hauran towards the central provinces of Djebel Shammar and Nedjed. 8ome are seen in ∏auran, and a few are taken .almost every year within two days’ journey of Damascus. They generally breed in the winter, and the Arabs discovering the nest, scare away the birds, when they resort to the following contrivance for destroying them A hole is dug in the ground near the eggs, into which the Arab places a loaded gun, with a long burning match fastened to the lock. The ostriches resume their place generally both at once on the cggs: in due time the gun is discharged, and next morning the Arabs find one or both of the ostriches laid dead beside the eggs. The feathers are sold at from L.2. 6s. to L.2. 10s. per pound, and the finest at from one to two shillings each. In places where there is water, plovers and storks abound; and sea-fowls, feeding on fish, are numerous on the coasts of the Red Sea, which is deep, and copiously stored with their food. Here, and on the isles along the shore, the pelican is to be found.

The heat of the climate favours the breed of serpents, some of which only are dangerous, while others are perfectly harmless. The only one that is truly formidable is a small slender creature, with black and white spots, whose bite is followed by instant death, and an extraordinary swelling of the body from the malignity of the poison. Of the insects in Arabia, the most remarkable as well as the most destructive is the locust, which flies in swarms that darken the air, and with a frightful and stunning noise, such as is made by a water-fall. The fields are entirely despoiled of their verdure by these insects. The pulse and the date trees are also greatly injured; but the corn, when it is nearly ripe, resists, by its hardness, their attacks. Locusts are found in all parts of the Arabian deserts. They come invariably from the East,—from the waters of the Persian Gulf, according to the notions of the rude Arabs. In the central province of Nedjed they not only destroy the produce of the fields, but penetrate by thousands into private dwellings, where they devour whatever they can find, even to the leather of the water-vessels. In the peninsula of Sinai the inhabitants are driven to despair by swarms of locusts, which consume the fruits of the earth. All the Arab tribes, as well as the inhabitants of towns, are accustomed to eat this insect; and at Medina and Tayf there are shops in which they are sold by measure. After being salted, whole sacks are filled with them. The destructive insect the white ant, which preys upon victuals, clothes, furniture, and the leaves of trees, is common. There is another ant, whose bite is like that of the scorpion, although it is not dangerous. The scolopendra affects those whom it attacks with burning pains. It fixes its feet so firmly in the flesh that it cannot be got out but by burning the part with a hot iron. Other insects destroy reeds and stalks of corn, and make their way into houses. There are many species of crabs, some of them peculiar to the Red Sea, which are excellent, and, but for the peculiar aversion of the Mussulmans to shell-fish, would afford a wholesome subsistence. At Suez they form almost the sole food of the Copts.

Arabia has never been noted for its. minerals. It was supposed by the ancients, who had the most exaggerated ideas of its wealth and produce, to abound in precious stones, as well as gold and silver. Except it be the onyx, which is found in Yemen, and the cornelian, it produces no other stones of value. It does not contain anywhere mines of gold or silver, nor is this precious ore ever washed down by the mountain streams. There are mines of fossil salt among the mountains, which were formerly worked, but are now neglected; and the iron of Yemen is found to be of a coarse quality and brittle. In Oman are very rich lead mines, the produce of which is largely exported from the harbour of Mascat, in the Persian Gulf.

Burckhardt, whose posthumous work^[13. Notes on the Bedouins and Wahdbys. ] contains the most ample and satisfactory details of Arabian manners, gives a [7:3:330]particular classification of the Bedouin tribes. Those who inhabit northern Arabia he distinguishes into two classes; namely, the Aenezes, who migrate with the spring and summer to the fertile parts of Syria, and return with the winter to the desert; and others, who remain the whole year in the vicinity of the cultivated tracts. The Aenezes, reckoning their brethren in Nedjed, form one of the most powerful associations of shepherds in the Arabian deserts. They levy contributions on the Syrian villages, as well as on the pilgrim caravan in its passage from the desert to Mecca; and their numbers are estimated at from 300,000 to 350,000, and their military force at 10,000 horsemen, and from 90,000 to 100,000 camel-riders.

There are numerous other tribes in northern Arabia, scattered along the frontiers of Syria and the banks of the Euphrates. They are not so migratory in their habits as the Aenczes, with whom several of them carry on the most deadly strife, while others pay a yearly tribute to all the chief Aencze tribes, and in some cases to the pacha of Damascus. Many of them cultivate the land though they dwell in tents; and those on the borders of Syria carry their produce of milk, butter, and cheese to the market of Aleppo. There are other tribes that range over the country to the south, over the mountains that run in a direction parallel to the Red Sea as far as Medina and Mecca, or in the interior plains and mountains of Djebel Shammar, Kasym, and Ncdjed. Some of those tribes, as the Beni Shammar, can muster from 3000 to 4000 men, armed with matchlocks; others, such as Meteyr, who occupy the fruitful pastures of Nedjed, 1200 horse, and from 6000 to b000 matchlocks. The country from Kasym towards Medina and Mecca, and the coast southward from Yembo to Djidda and Leith, for about 250 miles, is inhabited by the Beni Harb, which, next to the Aenezes, is the most powerful tribe in Arabia. They can muster from 30,000 to 40,000 men, armed with matchlocks. The Harbs are partly settlers and partly Bedouins. They may be styled the masters of the Hcdjaz, and were the last tribe in those countries that yielded to the Wahaby arms. They take a yearly tribute from the Egyptian and Syrian caravans; and they extend their predatory inroads against the encampments of the Aenezes to the vicinity of Damascus. On the sea coast, where the territory is poor, they derive a subsistence from fishing; and many of them are sailors, and act as pilots between Yembo and Djidda. But these tribes, from their intercourse with the inhabitants of towns, and their maritime habits, are regarded with disdain by the genuine Arabs. To the east of Mecca and Tayf, in the fruitful pastures of the interior, resides the brave and powerful tribe of Ateybe, the inveterate enemies of the Beni Harb, who can muster a force of 10,000 matchlocks. In the neighbourhood of Mecca are many well-known tribes, now reduced to about 250 or 300 matchlocks. The tribe of Korcish, so famous in the Arabian annals, who encamp near Mount Arafat, now amount only to 300 matchlock-men. The tribe of Adouan, which 40 years ago mustered about 1000 matchlocks, and were celebrated all over Arabia for their valour and hospitality, are now reduced to 100 families. It is to this-tribe that the reigning sherifs of Mecca send their children to be educated. In the mountainous region between Mecca and Tayf reside the warlike tribes of the Hodheyl, mustering 1000 matchlocks, famed as excellent marksmen, brave soldiers, and daring high-way robbers; the Toweyrek, who muster 500 matchlocks, and have the character of dexterous thieves; and the Thekyf, who possess the garden country around Tayf, and the other equally fertile valleys on the eastern declivity of the great Hedjaz chain of mountains. The wealth of these mountain tribes consists in flocks of sheep and goats. They suffered severely, especially the Hodheyl, in their obstinate but unavailing resistance to the Wahabys. From Tayf southward, along the eastern face of the great chain of mountains to Sana, are several ancient and powerful tribes, renowned in Arabian history. Some are partly cultivators and partly Bedouins. The Beni Kahtan and the Beni Sad are famous from the most remote antiquity. The former is exclusively pastoral abounding in camels above any other tribe of the desert. Some of these southern tribes can muster from 500 to 1500 matchlocks. They are brave and warlike, and they extend from the mountains over the eastern and western plains. The tribe of Asyr can assemble 15,000 men, armed with matchlocks. Of the various tribes scattered over the mountains of Yemen and Hadramaut, and the countries that are washed by the Persian Gulf, we have no detailed or accurate accounts. The tribes in the mountains are, however, in general employed in agriculture; many of them live in tents, and descend in spring into the neighbouring plains for pasture to their flocks. The cultivators dispose of their produce, which is abundant, in the towns on the coast.

Arabia has been celebrated from time immemorial as the seat of independence and of pastoral simplicity, and it is perhaps the only country in the world which, until it was lately overrun by the troops of Mohammed Ali, was never profaned by foreign conquest. Mountains and deserts, as is well observed by Sir John Malcolm,^[14. History of Persia. ] have been in all ages the sanctuaries of the brave and the free; and thither the hardy Arabs, when pressed by powerful armies have always fled to enjoy freedom and independence. 0n the sea coasts and in the towns the Arab character hs been corrupted by commerce and a free intercourse with foreigners; but in those secure recesses the ancient manners of the country are still to be found. The genuine inhabitants of the desert unite the character of shepherds and soldiers. They live in tents, and they subsist by maintaining flocks of sheep and camels, and also cows and horses. The larger tribes are chiefly employed in rearing camels, which they either sell to their neighbours, or employ in the carriage of goods or in military expeditions. The petty tribes maintain flocks of sheep. They disdain the cultivation of the ground, as an employment degrading to a pure Arab, and which they accordingly leave to the inferior race of peasantry and slaves. These Bedouins live the usual vagrant life of shepherds emigrating from one place to another with the change of the seasons, in quest of pasturage, and transporting their dwellings along with them; so that a village arises often in a situation where, an hour before, not a hut was to be seen. The genuine Arabs, who live constantly in the open air, acquire a remarkable acuteness in all their senses. Their powers of vision and of hearing improve by constant exercise; and on the vast plains of the desert objects invisible to a less practised eye are at once seen by them. Their sense of smelling is extremely acute; and their dislike to a town life is occasioned by the nauseous exhalations which are produced among such a dense collection of people. The Arabs possess the same faculty of nicely distinguishing on the sand the footsteps of men and beast which the American Indians distinguish on the grass. To such perfection have they arrived in this art, that an Arab will at once recognise the footstep of any one of his own or of some neighbouring tribe; he will know [7:3:331]whether the person carried a load; whether he passed 'the same day, or a day or two before; whether, from a certain irregularity in the steps, he was fatigued, had come from a distance, and how far he has any chance of overtaking him. He knows at once the footsteps of his own camel—whether it was heavily loaded, or mounted only by one or more persons. A keen Arab guide has his eye constantly on the footsteps which he sees; and Burckhardt mentions that he has seen a man discover and trace the footsteps of his camel amid thousands of other footsteps crossing the road in every direction, and, by an inspection of the footsteps, tell the name of every person who had passed there in the course of the morning. Many secret robberies are brought to light by this power of nice observation.’ Instances have been known of stolen camels found after a journey of six days; and so long as the traces of men or camels can be seen on the sand by the practised Arab’s discriminating eye, robberies are almost sure of detection. So thoroughly are the Bedouins inured to fatigue and the want of water, that they will wander about five days without tasting it, and will at last discover a pit of water by examining the soil and plants in the environs. They ride on horses and camels, and are continually armed with a lance, a sabrc, and sometimes a matchlock or a pistol. Some of them wear coats of mail. All those wandering shepherds are addicted to violence, and to the fierce habits of a military life. They are either engaged in open war about their wells or pasture grounds, or in plundering excursions or secret robberies, which they do not consider to be in any degree criminal; and no more flattering title can be conferred on an Arabian youth than that of robber. The defenceless traveller, whom they descry from afar on the level plain, is marked out for their prey. He is seized, stript of every thing, and left naked in the desert. If he resists, and more especially if he sheds the blood of a Bedouin, they take his life. But the Arab plunders indiscriminately strangers and neighbours, enemies and friends, provided they are not actually in his own tent, where it is not reckoned honourable to rob, though acts of this nature daily occur, without drawing after them any lasting disgrace. Associations are frequently formed for the plunder of caravans, or of the cultivators who dwell in villages, whose cattle they carry off, and sometimes, though very rarely, their young women. In those cases they proceed with a considerable force. Their chief object, however, being still plunder, the great point of Arab tactics is to surprise the enemy’s encampment, and to carry off the cattle and the camels. They seldom engage in any sanguinary conflicts; for though the Arab, in facing the enemies of his country, behaves like a brave soldier, he is a mere poltroon in his plundering expeditions; and the caravan travellers and peasants frequently put to flight three times their own number of those wandering robbers. In undertaking an expedition for plunder at the distance of ten or twenty days’ journey, every horseman who is of the party chooses a companion, who is mounted on a young and strong camel, and who carries a provision of food and water. He mounts behind this companion, that his mare may be fresh and vigorous at the moment of attack. In approaching the enemy’s camp, the horsemen advance, leaving their followers and the camels behind, with instructions to await their arrival. The horsemen are sometimes all destroyed in the expedition; and they are at other times separated from their followers who carry the provisions, and either inevitably perish in the barren plain, or subnct to be stript and plundered by their enemies. In tie most inveterate wars of the Arabs the women are invariably respected; and neither men, women, nor slaves, are taken prisoners. Night attacks are generally avoided, lest during the confusion the women’s apartments should be entered, which would produce a desperate resistance, and probably in the end a general massacre—an extremity which the Arabs always try to avoid. The attack of a camp seldom occasions any great loss of lives, because no opposition is offered to superior numbers; and a Bedouin, except in avenging blood, never puts to death an unresisting foe. In flying from his enemy, an Arab may save his life by throwing himself from his horse and asking Tor merey; but he saves it at the expense of his honour, and loses his horse and all his clothes, while his enemy will ever after triumph over him. The more spirited of the Arabs defy their adversary, while he pursues them, calling out repeatedly, “Howel, howel,” get down, get down, and who, when his call is not obeyed, wounds or kills his enemy with a thrust of his lance. Among some of the Arab tribes it is the practice to steal unobserved on the enemy’s encampment during the night, and knocking down the principal tent-poles, to drive off the cattle amid the confusion.

But the Arabs often undertake merely thieving expeditions, in which they steal from friend and foe. The mode in which these are conducted affords some curious details of manners. In such enterprises ten or twelve persons usually engage, and clothe themselves in rags, to make their ransom easier if they should be taken. When they approach the camp which they intend to rob, three of the most daring advance about midnight, when its inmates, who seldom plant sentinels, are buried in sleep. One of the thieves now endeavours to excite the attention of the watch-dogs. -When they attack him he flies, and draws them off to a great distance, by which the camp is left unprotected. Another, called el haramy, or the robber, advancing towards the camels that are upon their knees before the tent, cuts the strings that confine their legs, when they rise and walk, as all unloaded camels do, without the least noise. One of the she camels being then led out of the camp, all the others follow. The third actor in the robbery watches at the tent door with a long and heavy bludgeon, with which he knocks down any of the inmates who may come forth. It often happens that as many as fifty camels are stolen in this mannor, and driven away by forced marches during the night to a safe distance. In many cases, however, the robbers are surrounded and seized; and the mode of treating these prisoners is extremely curious, and is a proof how powerfully these fierce barbarians are influenced by prejudice and immemorial usage. It is an established custom among the Arabs, that if any person who is in actual danger from another can touch a third person, or any inanimate thing which the other has in his hands, or if he can touch him by spitting or throwing a stone at him, and at the same time exclaims “I am thy protected,” he is bound to grant him the protection which he requires. This law, however absurd and capricious, seems naturally to arise out of scenes of violence, the evils of which it is calculated to soften. A prisoner detected in the act of plundering anxiously looks about for a protector, while the inmates of the tent are. equally desirous to deprive him of this privilege. The person who first seizes him demands oń what business he is come, accompanying his question by blows on the head. “I came to rob—God has overthrown me,” is the common answer. The captor (the rabat), binding the hands and feet of his prisoner, and calling in the people of his tribe, addresses him, saying, “renounce and the robber, fearing a continuation of the blows; answers, “I renounce,” namely, the benefit of any protector. But this renunciation being only valid for a day, the prisoner is secured in a hole dug [7:3:332]in the ground, about two feet deep, and large enough to contain him. Here he is laid, his feet chained to the earth, his hands tied, and his twisted hair fastened to two stakes on both sides of his head. Some tent-poles are then laid across this temporary grave, and corn-sacks and other heavy articles heaped upon them; a small opening being only left, through which he may breathe. Thus buried alive, the prisoner does not despair; and customs that are established among the Arabs sometimes favour his escape. If from his hole he can contrive to spit into the face of a man or a child, or if he receive a morsel of bread from a child, he claims the privilege of being protected. His mother or his sister sometimes contrive to enter the camp in which he is confined, in the disguise of a beggar. Approaching during the night the hole where he lies confined, and throwing a thread of worsted over his face, they guide it to his mouth, or fasten it to his foot; and by this token he knows that help is at hand. The woman winding off the thread, retires to some neighbouring tent, and awakening the owner, and placing the thread on his breast, addresses him in these words: “Look on me by the love thou bearest to God and thy own self—this is under thy protection.” The Arab comprehends at once the object of this nocturnal visit, rises, winds up the thread, and being thus guided to the tent of the prisoner, awakens the captor, and showing the thread still held by the prisoner, claims him as his “protected.” The right of freedom is at once allowed; the thongs which tied his hair are cut, his fetters are taken off, and he is entertained by the captor as his guest with all the honours of Arab hospitality. A prisoner sometimes remains for six months under this rigorous custody, always concealing his real name, and giving himself out for a poor beggar. He is generally discovered, however, when he must pay as a ransom all his property in horses, camels, sheep, tents, provisions, and baggage. In many cases a sum is agreed upon for his ransom, and he goes to his tribe to collect it, or find a surety for the payment. If he cannot collect the necessary sum among his friends, he is bound to go back to his prison; and he seldom fails either to pay or to return. A father considers his son to have ac quired high honour in being detained as a robber, and he willingly redeems him with his whole property, which he hopes to recover in some future expedition. ,

The Arabs are remarkable above all the nations of the earth for the spirit of clanship and for pride of family. The scheiks, or the rulers and nobles who govern Arabia, glory in their ancestry, which they can trace with undoubted accuracy to a long line of princes. Nobility of birth, which cannot be communicated by the smile of kings, is the true distinction of the Arabian aristocracy; and no scheik would exchange his title for any distinction depending on court favour. Those genuine nobles, who dwell in tents, look with contempt on the dwellers in cities, as a race debased by foreign alliances, which they hold in such contempt, that a scheik, if he were forced from poverty to marry his daughter to a citizen, would consider himself disgraced by the match. Besides the scheiks there arc the sherifs or sejids, or, in the Mahometan countries to the north of Arabia, the emirs. These are the descendants of Mahomet, who hold the first rank among the great families of Arabia, and who receive the double Honour that is due to splendid descent and superior sanctity. The title of sherifs distinguishes them from the scheiks, the common order of Arabian nobility. They are multiplied over all Mahometan countries. Whole villages are peopled with them, and they are frequently found in the lowest state of misery. The sherifs of the Hedjaz, who were once numerous, but are now reduced to a few families in Mecca,, have never contaminated their pure blood by' strange alliances; and they are esteemed above all th∣ other descendants of the prophet. The presence of a sherif commands universal respect. In a fray no arm would violate his person; his property requires no protection; the sanctity of his character supplies the place of bolts and bars, and scares away the boldest thieves.

From these sherifs arc chosen the rulers of Mecca and its adjacent territories, extending for about 250 miles along the coast, from Yembo on the north, to Haly or Gonfode on the south. Before the country was conquered by the Wahabys, and again by the Turkish troops under Mohammed Ali, they possessed the power of sovereigns within their dominions; and though they held their author rity ostensibly under the grand signior, being installed in their office by an investiture of a pelisse from Constantinople, thus formally acknowledging themselves his servants, and praying for him in the great mpsque, they were in reality elected by the powerful sherif families resident at Mecca, and they ruled according to the constitutional maxims of the desert, merely as Bedouin chiefs. The Arab tribes looked upon them as one of their own scheiks, the head of the family or clan; and they followed them in war under their own immediate chiefs, without receiving pay. In this manner Ghaleb, the last sherif, was accompanied in his wars against the Wahabys by 6000 or 8000 Bedouin Arabs. A system of well-regulated freedom was not to be expected from the rude policy of wandering shepherds, and the Arab chiefs accordingly own no restraint on their authority. But the rigour of despotic sway is softened by the influence of manners; and the independent princes of Mecca, in the pride of sovereignty, still acknowledge the tics which bind them to the simple Bedouins of the desert. The sherif descendants of Mahomet who reside at Mecca retain a singular practice of sending every male child, eight days after it is born, to the tents of some wandering tribe. Here he remains till his 8th or 10th year, when he is able to mount a steed, and sometimes till his 13th or 15th year. During all this period he only pays one short visit to his father’s house, in his sixth month, when his foster-mother returns with him to her tribe. The boy is trained by those shepherds in all warlike exercises: he shares in their hardships and perils, is familiarized with their manners, and acquires their pure language, and a lasting influence over them; while his affections, awakened at an age when the mind is peculiarly susceptible, still attach him to the scenes of the desert and the companions of his youth. The tent of a Bedouin shepherd is in this manner the constitutional school of an Arabian prince, in which he imbibes the maxims by which he afterwards rules the state. Some of the sherif boys become so fond of their foster-parents that they can scarcely be reconciled to their fathers’ house; and they have been sometimes known, after being settled at home, to escape to their friends in the desert. “The Bedouins,” says Burckhardt, “in whose tent a sherif had been educated, were ever after treated by him with the same respect as his own parents or brethren: he called them respectively father, mother, brother. Whenever they came to Mecca they lodged at his house, and never left it without receiving presents. He considered himself during his life as belonging to the encampment in which he had passed his early years ;. he termed its inhabitants ‘ our people,’ or ‘ our family,’ took the kindest interest in their various fortunes; and, when at leisure, often paid them a visit during the spring months, and sometimes accompanied them in their wanderings and their wars.” Sherif Ghaleb, whose reign was terminated by Mohammed Ali in 1815, was remarkably attentive to [7:3:333]his Beaouin friends. They alighted at his house in Mecca; ’ ust as they alight at the tent of a scheik in any Arab encampment of the desert; and when they departed, their sacks were filled with provisions for the road. On their arrival he used to rise from his seat and embrace them, though they were in the same mean attire as the other inhabitants of the desert. Many of the sherifs are also married to Bedouin girls. .

A sherif was generally succeeded by his relative, whether son, brother, or cousin, who had the strongest party, or the public voice in his favour; but it was seldom that an election took place without a violent contest, which frequently ended in bloodshed and civil broils. These, however, were carried on according to the laws of the desert, and they were seldom of long duration. The happiness of the people under these sherifs always depends on the personal character of the ruler. There are no tribunals to which the oppressed can fly for redress, and a sherif may harass his subjects to any extent by his extortions. He may imprison the refractory, and even put them to death, without endangering his authority. Such is the despotic character of all eastern governments.

In the Ottoman provinces the dignity of sherif is less respected, though even in Turkey they enjoy some substantial privileges. In the towns where they reside, the sherif or emir is subject, not to the pacha, but to a member of his own family, who is denominated nakib or general of the sherifs. Besides the scheiks and sherifs there is another branch of nobility at Mecca, who have an hereditary right to certain employments at the mosque, and who have a strong inducement to preserve an exact record of their genealogy. These are certain families descended from the tribe of Koreish, who hold the office of keeper of the keys of Kaaba, which is the most important office about the mosque, and was often an object of contention among the ancient Arabian tribes; and others who are muftis, or are employed in other capacities, and who, to preserve their title to these envied privileges, can show a faithful record of their ancestors for ten centuries back. There were formerly 12 other illustrious families of the tribe of Koreish, who are now reduced to three.^[15. Burckhardt’s Travels in Arabia, vol. ii. p. 12Ţ. ]

Arabia is divided into numerous petty states, governed by independent chiefs or scheiks, who are, strictly speaking, the heads of families; and the paternal government thus supplies the model of the Arabian institutions. The ιther is in all cases the natural ruler of his own family; and though the tie be necessarily weakened as families multiply, yet the relations of kindred and of blood are still acknowledged, and all the descendants unite in paying respect and reverence to their common head. An assemblage ĵffamilies constitutes a tribe; and all the scheiks of the same tribe acknowledge a common chief, who is called the schech es scheuch, or the scheik of scheiks, or the grand scheik or prince, who rules over the whole. The dignity of the grand scheik is hereditary in the family; but it is so far elective that he is chosen by the inferior scheiks, from the whole members of the reigning family, without regard to seniority or lineal succession: his only distinction is his qualification for the office. The right of election, as well as other privileges which belong to the inferior scheiks, obliges the grand scheik to treat them rather as. associates than as subjects, and in some measure to share with them his sovereign authority. If they are aggrieved by him, they depose him, or emigrate with their cattle to other tribes; and in this manner many powerful tribes have been weakened, while the number and the power of others have been augmented.

. The scheik has ĩń fact no acknowledgeu or formal authority over his tribe. His commands would be treated with contempt, and his advice only is received with the deference due to experience and talent. “The prerogative of the scheik,” says Burckhardt, “consists in leading his tribe against an enemy, in conducting negotiations for peace or war, in fixing the spot for encampments, in entertaining strangers o t ' note; and even these privileges are much limited. The scheik cannot declare war or conclude peace without consulting the chief men of his tribe. If he wish to break up the camp, he must previously ask the opinions of his people concerning the security of the roads, and the sufficiency of pasture and water in the districts to which he directs his view. Thus he strikes his tent and loads his camels without desiring any one to do so; but when they know that the scheik is setting out, his Arabs hasten to join him.” The Arabs are jealous of authority, and their freedom borders on anarchy. The Bedouin acknowledges no master but the Lord of the universe; and the most powerful chief, by inflicting punishment on the poorest man of his tribe, is exposed to the mortal vengeance of himself or his relations. A scheik, in place of deriving a yearly income from his tribe, is bound to show liberality, especially in his treatment of strangers; to maintain the poor, and to divide among his friends whatever presents he may receive. The only revenue possessed.by the northern chiefs is the tribute which they extort from the Syrian villages, and from the pilgrim caravan to Mecca. Among the numerous principalities in the south of Arabia, the scheik or imam imposes a land tax and a poll tax, also port and transit duties on all articles of merchandise, some of which, as on coffee, are very heavy. These duties on goods are not, as they have been sometimes considered, a mere ransom from pillage, but a tax and an acknowledgement of the paramount authority of the prince. Among so many petty sovereignties wars frequently arise, from the ambtion or jarring interests of the different chiefs. The more powerful princes frequently oppress their weaker neighbours; and in the fertile districts of the country extensive monarchies have arisen from conquest or religious prejudices, on the ruin of the smaller states. Of these are the dominions of the sherif of Mecca, of the imams of Sana and Mascat, and of several princ es in the province of Hadramaut. In some cases these smaller states have associated for their common defence; and, from the disunion or hostility of its various tribes, the country has been in all ages a scene of rapine and intestine wars. In later times the rise of the Wahaby power crushed all the inferior chiefs, and on their ruins had arisen a powerful empire, which was overthrown by the Egyptian army of Mohammed A4i.

The Arabs, though they enjoy a rude independence, have made little progress in the arts and institutions of civil life. In administering justice, they resort to the most barbarous expedients. The scheik has not the power of enforcing obedience to any sentence if it is not agreed to by the parties. The kady, so often mentioned by the Arabian writers, is the only judge; and such of them as still remain are famed for being expert in the laws and customs of the nation, and for their integrity. The office of kady continues in one family, but is not confined to any individual, a choice being made of the fittest person in the family by the other kadys of friendly tribes, as well as by the people of his own tribe. The kady is paid by the litigating parties; but all the judges, especially those in towns, are open to bribery, and justice is sold to the hiebest bidder. In cases where the witnesses directly [7:3:334]contradict each other, some superstitious ordeal is used to discover the truth. A particular judge is appointed for cases which must be decided by supernatural means. He directs that a fire shall be kindled before him: “he then,” says Burckhardt, “takes a long iron spoon, used by the Arabs in roasting coffee, and having made it red-hot in the fire, he takes it out, and licks with his tongue the upper end of the spoon on both sides. He then replaces it in the fire, and commands the accused person first to wash his mouth with water, and next to lick it as he had done. If the accused escape without injury to his tongue he is supposed innocent; if he suffer from the hot iron he loses his cause. The Arabs ascribed this wonderful escape, not to the Almighty protector of innocence, but to the devil.” In all cases of manslaughter or murder where the fact is denied, this superstitious ordeal is appealed to, and no other mode, of trial admitted. Where the parties refuse the decision of the judge, they resume their original right of avenging their own quarrel; and a strife of this nature once begun, and producing blood-shed, leads to a long series of cruel retaliations.

Among the Arabs crimes of every description are punished by fines; corporal punishments are entirely unknown; and there are no prisons to circumscribe the freedom of the desert. For every offence a fine is fixed in the kady’s court, which is rigidly exacted: all insulting expressions or acts of violence, from a slight blow to wounding and the effusion of blood, have their respective penalties. They adopt the following singular mode of ascertaining the fine payable for killing a watch-dog: The dead dog is held up by the tail, so that its mouth just touches the ground; its length is then measured by means of a stick, which is fixed in the earth, and the offender is obliged to pour out over the stick as much wheat as will wholly cover it, which is then given to the owner of the dog. The form observed by an Arab in summoning witnesses is by exclaiming, “Bear thou witness, 0 ;”

or he may touch their arms with his hand, which is considered as a summons to give testimony. Where a party is accused of a crime, and there are no witnesses, the matter is referred to his oath. The judicial oaths of the Arabs have different degrees of sanctity; and for certain oaths they have a superstitious veneration, which induces them to tell the truth. One of the most common oaths is for a party to take hold with one hand of the middle tent-pole, and to swear “by the life of this tent and its owners.” The following oath is often taken before the kady: A small piece of wood or some straw is presented to him who has to swear, with these words, “Take the wood, and swear by God, and the life of him who caused it to be green, and dried it up.” Another oath, even more solemn, is the “oath of the cross lines,” where the accuser leads the person accused of theft or any other crime to a distance from the camp, on account of the magical nature of the oath; and with his crooked knife drawing on the sand a large circle, with many cross lines inside of it, and obliging the defendant to place his right foot within the circle, he himself doing the same, he addresses him in the following words, which the accused is obliged to repeat: “By God, and in God, and through God, I swear I did not take it, and it is not in my possession.”

A singular institution, that of the wady or guardian, prevails among the Arab tribes. An Arab may in the prime of life request a friend to act as guardian to his children. If he accepts the trust, his friend presents himself before him with a she-camel; and leading it over to him, says, “I constitute you guardian for my children, and your children for my children, and your grandchildren for my grandchildren.” In this manner one family is constituted the hereditary protectors of another family; and thus this fierce and warlike community, the prey 0 f continual dissension, is held together by its own peculiar ties, domestic as well as political. To the weak, such as minors, women, and old men, the system of guardianship affords some security, however imperfect, against the oppression of the strong.

The Arabs are naturally a jealous and haughty people. They betray the quickest sensibility to an affront or i∏. jury, and carry the principle of revenge to the greatest excess. They consider the redress of their own wrongs as equally a duty and a privilege; and there are certain affronts and trifling violations of punctilio, which can only be expiated by the blood of the offender. To spit beside another is considered an insult which must be avenged; and Niebuhr mentions the case of an Arab who was so highly incensed at one of his neighbours for accidentally spitting on his beard, that he was with great difficulty appeased, although the offender humbly asked pardon, and kissed his beard in token of submission, lf one scheik says to another with a Serious air, “Thy bonnet is dirty,” or “The wrong side of thy turban is out,” it is considered a mortal offence. Murder is the deepest injury that can be committed; and the Arab code regulates the revenge for blood by the nicest rifles. It is a universal maxim, that he who sheds blood owes on that account blood to the family of the slain person; and this debt may be required not only from the actual murderer, but from all his relations. These claims constitute the right of thar, or of “blood revenge.” In the case of a slain parent, the fifth generation of his lineal descendants inherit the sacred duty of avenging his blood on a corresponding series of descendants on the other side; and this right is never lost by prescription, but descends to the latest posterity. If the death of the person killed is retaliated on one only of the murderer’s family, the account is considered to be cleared, though mutual hatred soon renews the quarrel. If two of the murderer’s family be killed by the relations of the deceased, the former retaliates; “the interest and principal of the bloody debt,” says the great Roman historian, “are accumulated; the individuals of either family lead a life of malice and suspicion; and fifty years may sometimes elapse before the account of vengeance be finally settled.” But a murder may be compounded for money. The nearest relations of the persons slain may accept the price of blood, which varies among the different tribes from 1000 piasters, or L.50, to 500 piasters. Among the Aenezes the blood of one of the tribe is compensated by 50 she-camels, one riding camel, a mare, a black stone, a coat of mail, and a gun; though it is seldom that all these articles are required: that of a stranger by the price paid in the stranger’s tribe. The matter being finally settled, a she-camel is brought by the homicide to the tent of his adversary, and there killed, the blood being supposed to expiate that of the person slain. The hostile parties fcast upon this camel; and at parting, the homicide flourishes a white handkerchief on his lance, as an emblem of his purity from guilt. Some of the great scheiks, however, account it shameful, and contrary to the true spirit of the Arab law, to compound the price of blood; and they invariably refuse to commute into a fine the sacred duty of revenge. Niebuhr mentions that he was visited by an Arabian of distinction at Loheia, who was bound to avenge the murder of a relation, and who told him that he was often haunted in his sleep by the fear of meeting his enemy. In the course of the continual wars in which the Arabs arc involved, debts of blood are frequently incurred. The blood of those who are killed in the heat of battle is required at the hands of their [7:3:335]enemies; and when any tribe violates the laws of war by slaughtering their enemies as they lie wounded on the field, the hostile tribe retaliate by killing double the number of their enemies with the same circumstances of cruelty; and hence long and bloody animosities frequently arise. , .

The tent of the Arab is covered with pieces of stuff made of goats’ hair stitched together, which afford a complete shelter against the heaviest rain. The tent is divided into two parts, one for the men, and the other for the women, whose respective apartments are separated by a white woollen carpet of Damascus manufacture, drawn across the tent, and fastened to the three middle parts. The men’s apartment is covered with a good Persian or Bagdad carpet; the women’s apartment is the receptacle for all the rubbish of the tent, the cooking utensils, the butter, and water-skins, &c. The height of the tent is seven feet, its length from 25 to 30 feet, and its breadth about 10 feet. The articles of the tent consist of saddles and camel furnishings; large bags for holding water, made of tanned camel-skin; goat-skins for holding camel’s milk, wheat-sacks made of wool or goat-hair; the leather bucket for bringing up water from deep wells; a large copper, the mortar, the hand-mill, wooden dishes, the coffee-pot, the iron chain which fastens the horse’s fore-feet while he pastures about the camp. They have no chairs throughout the East, the universal practice being to sit cross-legged. In the Arabian towns the houses are built of stone, and have always terrace roofs. The houses of the tribes on the banks of the Euphrates are formed of the branches of the date-tree, and have a round roof covered with rush mats.

The dress of the Arabs is a coarse cotton shirt, over which the wealthy throw a long gown of silk or cotton stuff. Most of them, however, only wear over their shirt a thin, light, and white woollen mantle, or one of a coarser or heavier kind, striped white and brown. The mantles worn by the scheiks are' interwoven with gold, and sometimes may be worth L.10 sterling. Some of the most considerable tribes, as the Aenezes, do not wear drawers, which are reckoned shameful for a man; and they usually walk and ride barefooted, even the richest of them, although they greatly esteem yellow boots and red shoes. They wear on their head a square kerchief of cotton: a few rich scheiks wear shawls of Damascus or of Bagdad manufacture. In winter they wear over the shirt a pelisse made of several sheep-skins stitched together. Many wear these skins even in summer, as they are taught by experience that thick clothing is a defence against the sun’s rays. The Arab endures with wonderful constancy the extremes both of heat and cold. In winter he sleeps barefooted in an open tent, where the fire is not kept up beyond midnight; and in summer on the burning sand, under the intense rays of the sun. The dress of the women consists of a wide cotton gown of a dark colour— blue, brown, orblack—and on their heads a kerchief. Silver rings are much worn by the Aencze women, both in their ears and noses. They wear glass or silver bracelets, of various colours, round their wrists and their ancles, and silver chains about the neck. They go barefooted at all easons. The women wear over their laces a dark-coloured veil, which conceals the mouth and chin. Near Mecca ι∏d Ίayf, and beyond these places southward, both men and women dress most commonly in leather. They both wear a leather apron round their loins, the women a larger one than the men, reaching down to their ancles, a ∏d adorned with many tassels. In summer the men wear no other clothing.

lhe diet of the Arabs consists everywhere of flour and butteŗ, variously made ready. Unleavened paste of flour and water, baked in ashes of camel’s dung, and mixed up*afterwards with a little butter, and thoroughly' kneaded, is served up in a bowl of wood and leather. Flour and sour camel’s milk, made into a paste and boiled {the ayesh), is the daily and universal dish of the Aenezes. Bread baked in cakes is used at breakfast. Bread, butter, and dates, are also mixed together into a paste. Bur-gout, the common dish of the Syrian Arabs, is wheat boiled with some leaves, and then dried in the sun; it is preserved for a year, and served up with butter and oil. The Arabs never indulge in luxuries, except on a festival, or the arrival of some stranger; and the richest scheik would think it a shame to order his wife to dress any rare dish merely to please his palate. For a guest of distinction a kid or lamb is prepared, and for one of less consideration coffee or bread with melted butter. In Hedjaz, or the hilly district of Arabia near the Red Sea, the usual dish is Indian rice, mixed with lentils, and without any bread; and in the districts where the date grows it forms the chief sustenance of the inhabitants. In Nedjed, Hedjaz, and Yemen, the Arabs use butter to excess. They frequently swallow a whole cupful of butter before breakfast, and all their food swims in butter. The constant exercise and motion to which they are accustomed so strengthens their powers of digestion, that they can endure without injury the extremes of excess and want. They can live for months on the smallest allowance, or devour at a sitting the flesh of half a lamb. Butter is made from the milk of sheep and goats; but never, except in cases of necessity, from that of camels. Among many of the Arab tribes it is considered shameful to sell any butter, or among the Bedouins near Mecca to sell milk; yet the Beni Koreish, one of the most noble of the Arabian tribes, freely supply the inhabitants of Mecca with milk.

Hospitality, the virtue of rude nations, is practised among all the Arab tribes, and no violation of its duties was ever known. When a stranger alights at the tent, the host, or in his absence the wife or daughter, spreads a carpet for him and prepares the hospitable meal. If he remains any time his aid is expected in the domestic business of the tent, in fetching water, milking the camel, or feeding the horse. But he may neglect these duties and still remain, though he will be censured for ingratitude; or he may go to another tent, where he will receive a hearty welcome; and every third or fourth day may change his residence, and be comfortably entertained during his stay, however long it may be. The greatest insult that can be offered to an Arab, is to tell him that he does not treat his guests well. Among some tribes women never eat or drink coffee in the presence of a man; and in this case some male relation, in the absence of the host, does the duties of hospitality. In the plain of Hauran, southward of Damascus, the wives and daughters of the Arabs may drink coffee with the strangers upon their arrival; and in the mountainous districts south of Mecca, towards Yemen, women are allowed, in the absence of their husbands, to entertain a guest, and to sit up with him.

The Arabs are not so dissolute in their morals as most of the nations in the East. They are generally content with one wife: instances of conjugal infidelity arc not common, and public prostitution is not seen in their camps. Yet they are far from being duly impressed with the sacred tie of marriage, which may be at any time dissolved at the pleasure of the husband; and this facility of divorce relaxes morality, though, to some extent, the manners correct the laws. A Bedouin, aware that a divorce is always in his power, contracts a temporary .marriage of a few weeks; and it is not uncommon for a [7:3:336]man, before he has attained the age of 40 or 45, to have had 50 wives. The wife also, if she is ill used, may fly for refuge to her father’s tent, whence she cannot be reclaimed by her husband. Yet among the Bedouins many instances are found of conjugal fidelity and love. This rash dissolution of the marriage union is frequently fatal to the peace of one or of both parties. In 1815, Burekhardt mentions that a Bedouin of the Syrian desert, who had divorced his wife, and who was present at her second marriage, shot himself in a fit of distraction, the moment he saw the new husband enter the marriage chamber. The Wahaby ruler Saoud exerted all his authority to prevent the frequent divorces of the Arabs, by disgracing at court, or otherwise punishing, any man who either divorced his wife or used the expression Aley et talah, “I shall divorce,” which, according to the Arab law or custom, cannot be revoked. Polygamy is permitted, but is not common, among the Arabs, owing chiefly to their poverty. The richer scheiks, however, indulge in a plurality of wives. The marriage ceremony among the Aenezes and most of the Arab tribes is extremely simple. The lover generally commences, through a common friend, a negotiation with the father of the girl; and if she is pleased, the friend, holding the father’s hand, says, “You declare that you give your daughter as wife to —;” to which the father assenting, the bridegroom comes on the marriage day with a lamb in his arms to the tent of his betrothed, and by cutting its throat before witnesses he completes the marriage ceremony. After the usual rejoicings the bridegroom retires after sunset to a tent at a distance from the camp, while the bride, in her maiden timidity, runs from tent to tent, struggling, kicking, and even biting those who attempt to conduct her to the bridegroom’s chamber.

The rite of circumcision is still practised among the Arabs, and is the occasion of a great festival. All the boys are generally circumeised on the canic day. Each man of the encampment kills at least one sheep in honour of his son, and the whole tribe feast on this abundant cheer. The men exhibit equestrian exercises and warlike evolutions; while the young women join in the national airs, and sometimes removing their veils, allow their lovers a hasty glance of their beauty as they pass. There are, besides, the festivals of Ramadhan and of the sacrifice of Arafat, where the same exercises are exhibited.

The Arabs are no great proficients in arts or industry, their only artists being a few blacksmiths to shoe the horses, and saddlers for the leather work. The arts of tanning and weaving are practised, the first by the men, the latter by the women. Of reading and writing all the Bedouins throughout Arabia are equally ignorant. The Wahaby chiefs were at pains to instruct them, and sent teachers among the different tribes, but with little effect. Nor have they made any progress in science or literature. In the first, their knowledge is confined to the names of the constellations and planets. Their literature consists in romantic tales of love and war, in which they delight; and the minstrel’s strain frequently beguiles the evenings of an Arab eneampment. Verses are recited or sung, and the voice is accompanied by a species of guitar, the only musical instrument which they possess. They have national airs also for female singers, which are chanted in choruses of six, eight, or ten voices, at some distance from the camp, in the solitude and silence of the desert. Many of the Arabian poets can neither read nor write, yet compose verses of exact measure, grammatically correct, and neither destitute of sentiment nor poetical beauty. Eloquence has from time immemorial been considered a necessary qualification of an Arab statesman: no scheik, however brave, can ever attain to influence among the Arabs without this talent. The language of Arabia is derived from the same original stock with the Hebrew, the Syriac, and the Chaldean tongues. Each tribe has its own peculiar dialect, but, by universal consent, the palm of elegance and purity has been, and still continues to be, assigned to the idiom of Mecca.

The preceding details exhibit in no very favourable view the moral character of the Arabs; and the boasted virtues of the desert, when they are calmly estimated, seem to resolve into the observance of certain rules or prejudices, without which no community can exist, however rude or lawless. The thieves and outcasts of civilized society are linked together by certain ties of good faith, without which all concert would be impossible even for their own evil ends; and the honour that prevails among the Arabs seems not to be of a much higher quality. They are, according to the accounts of all travellers, immoderately fond of gain, which they do not scruple to procure by the basest means. “Lying, cheating, intriguing, and other vices arising from this source, are as prevalent in the desert as in any of' the market-towns of Syria; and on the common occasions of buying and selling, where his dakheil (oath) is not required, the word of an Arab is not entitled to more credit than the oath of a broker in the bazaar of Aleppo.” An Arab will defend his guest at the peril of his own life; he will submit with resignation to the most cruel reverses of fortune; and at Mecca, during the pilgrimage, the true Bedouin of the desert, unlike the other pilgrims, disdains to ask alms, and always lives by his own industry, however precarious or humble. On the other hand, in pursuing the trade of rapine, he seems to be degraded, by his thievish, cruel, and treacherous habits, to the lowest rank of barbarism. In their familiar conversation the Arabs are free, sprightly, jocose, and decent. They are not reserved or silent, according to the report of some travellers, except perhaps in their journeys through the desert, where much speaking excites thirst, and parches the mouth. In their tents they are indolent, all that they do being to feed the horse, or milk the camels in the evening. The herds and flocks are committed to the care of a shepherd hired for the purpose; and the husband goes out to hunt with his hawk, or to amuse himself in any other mariner that pleases him; while the wife and daughters are engaged in the household cares, in grinding the wheat with the hand-mill or pounding it in the mortar, in kneading and baking the bread, making butter, fetching water, working at the loom, or mending the tent-covering. They are patterns of industry, yet they are not allowed to eat with the men, and only partake in their own apartments (the meharrem) of what they leave. If a lamb is killed, they seldom taste, except some of the worst parts, which the men are not able to eat. This degradation of the women is common to the Arabs with other Asiatic nations, and is a true feature of oriental barbarism.

,The small-pox continues to make serious ravages among the Bedouins, and to depopulate whole encampments. Inoculation is resorted to with benefit, and the practice of vaccination has extended over Syria. Obstructions and indurations of the stomach, occasioned by the use of camel’s milk, are common; but these complaints are alleviated by the purging qualities of the brackish water of the desert: also fevers, both intermittent and inflammatory; and the burning with a hot iron is here, as in the former case, the approved cure. Ophthalmic disorders are frequent, and leprosy, which is hereditary in families, and cannot be eradicated. It consists of white spots, as large as the hand, which appear on various parts of the [7:3:337]body, without rising above the śkiń. ' If the white spots 'appear on the cheek, the beard commonly falls off: the unfortunate sufferer is held in universal disgrace. The toothache is unknown among the Arabs, who have all the most beautiful teeth.

The chief towns of Arabia are situated either on the coast of the Red Sea, or in the range of mountains which runs parallel to its shores. They are, Medina, with Yembθ its sea-port; farther south, between 200 and 300 miles, Mecca, with Djidda, its sea-port; Tayf, east of Mecca; still farther south among the mountains, Sada, Sanaa, and on the coast of the Red Sea Gonfode, Loheia, Hodeida, and Mocha; Deraych is in the interior, and Mascat on the coast of the Persian Gulf. The population of the towns consists chiefly of foreign traders, who follow the customs of the place, but seldom imbibe the national spirit. Hence they form an entirely different class from the Bedouin Arabs. They have their faults without their virtues, are dissolute in their manners, and addicted to the grossest vices. The commerce and religion of Arabia concur to bring together in the towns a mixed population from the most remote parts of the world.

Arabia has no manufactures, for a supply of which it is therefore dependent on its foreign trade. From its central position, however, and its contiguity to the shores of the Red Sea, in former times the only navigable communication between Asia and Europe, it has always been a great entrepôt for the commodities of other countries. In the ancient world it was the medium of intercourse between India and Europe, and still continues to enjoy a portion of this commerce.

The sea-port of Djidda, on the Red Sea, seems to be the great emporium of the Arabian trade. Thither resort the annual fleets from Calcutta, Surat, and Bombay, about the beginning of May. They bring piece goods, Cashmere shawls, cocoa-nuts, rice, sugar, drugs of all sorts; small articles of Indian manufacture, such as china-ware, costly collections of which are often displayed by the rich inhabitants; hardware, pipes, beads, wooden spoons, glass beads, knives, rosaries, mirrors, cards, &c. These goods are mostly disposed of for cash to Indian houses, the most eminent of which are known to possess capital to the value of L.150,000 or L.200,000 sterling, while several inferior houses have capitals of L.40,000 and L.50,000. The Indian trade is carried on to a great extent, sales of entire ships’ cargoes being frequently made in the course of half an hour, and the money paid down next day. From every port of the Red Sea traders repair to Djidda during this annual fair, and lay out all that they possess in the purchase of Indian goods, which rise in price immediately after the departure of the fleet, and are always sold to good account. From Djidda they are sent to Suez find Cairo, whence they are dispersed over Egypt and the shores of the Mediterranean. Thie returns from Egypt are made either in dollars or sequins, or in produce or goods, such as wheat, for which Arabia depends on Egypt; tobacco, coffee, and butter, in the use of which articles an classes in Arabia indulge to excess; rice, biscuits, onions, soap; Bedouin cloaks, which are not manufactured m Arabia; inferior Turkish carpets, an indispensable article in the tent of every scheik; cotton quilts; linen for shirts, and other articles of dress; red and yellow slippers, used by the more opulent merchants, and by all the ladies, of which there is not one maker in any of the Arabian towns; red caps, all kinds of cloth dresses, Cashmere and muslin shawls; well-tinned copper vessels, a variety of "Inch may be found in every Arabian kitchen; waterskins very neatly sewed, canvass, and cordage made of the date-tree. The Indian goods imported into Djidda are sent into the interior by the caravans, one of which departs for Mecca every evening during the season of the pilgrimage, and at other times twice a week, with goods and provisions. To Medina goods are partly sent by sea through Yembo, the sea-port, and partly by a carayan, which sets out regularly once in forty or fifty days, accompanied by a crowd of pilgrims on a visit to Mahomet’s tomb.

Djidda is also the great entrepôt of the coffee trade. Ships laden with this article are constantly arriving from Yemen. The cargoes are generally disposed of for dollars, and are sent to Suez and Cairo for the supply of Egypt and the Mediterranean countries. This trade has been rather an the decline, Mocha coffee having been supplanted in the markets of European Turkey, Asia Minor, and Syria, by that produced in the West Indies. The importation of West India coffee into Egypt is now, however, strictly prohibited by the pacha Mohammed Ali. From Bagdad and Bosra Djidda receives large quantities of an inferior species of tobacco, called tombak; also a supply of tobacco-pipes, on which the Arabs, being extremely curious, expend large sums of money. From Abyssinia musk is brought by the inhabitants in horns, and in return they receive Indian glass beads, which are in great request all over Africa. Ships arrive from Mascat in the Persian Gulf, and from Bassora. with the produce of the adjacent countries, and slave-vessels from the coast of Mozambique. From the interior supplies of corn are received, as well as a great variety of fruits, especially the date, which for a part of the year is the common food of the people in Arabia. It is made into a sort of paste, and is exported to the East Indies and to other countries, where it is sold to great profit among the Mussulmans of Hindostan. The fine almonds and raisins produced in the gardens of Tayf are also taken in considerable quantities by the Indian fleet.^[16. See Niebuhr, sect. vi. chap. v.; Burckhardt’s Travels in Arabia, vol. i. ] Honey, which abounds in the mountainous parts, and of the best quality, is exchanged by the Arabs for manufactures. The celebrated balm of Mecca, so difficult to be obtained in a pure state, is another article of trade; and in adding to that the milk and the wool yielded by the flocks and herds, we sum up the whole surplus produce which the Bedouins have to give in exchange for other articles. Djidda is the great shipping port of the Red Sea, to which belong 250 vessels; yet no vessels are built here, the scarcity of timber being so great that a ship can scarcely be repaired either here or at Yembo. Suez, Hodeida, and Mocha, are the only harbours at which ships are built, and the timber is transported from Asia Minor, Yemen, or the African coast.

In Arabia, as in most other eastern countries where property is not protected, capital is slowly accumulated, and is in general far from abundant. The rate of profit is consequently high, amounting to 30, 40, or even to 50 per cent. No money can be lent out at interest as in Europe, it being contrary to the law of the Koran, and no one besides having confidence in another. There is no monied interest in Arabia. There are no stocks of any description, or public funds, in which money can be invested; and every capitalist is therefore engaged in trade, from which he never can withdraw to live on his money as in Europe. Credit is with difficulty obtained, and trade is carried on by means of barter or by sales for cash. Hence no Arabian merchant can contract debts which he is unable to pay; and there are consequently no mercantile failures in Arabia as in Europe.
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Mecca and Medina, besides being places of trade, are the two holy cities, to the former of which a visit is enjoined by the prophet on every pious Mahometan who can afford the expense. A visit to the tomb of Mahomet at Medina, though it is not strictly commanded, is still reckoned a highly meritorious part of the same holy pilgrimage. In obedience to this summons, which is heard throughout the wide precincts of the Mahometan world, crowds of devotees, to the number frequently of 70,000 or 80,000, ambitious of the honourable title of hadjy or pilgrim, arrive at Mecca during the fast of Ilamadhan, from the most remote quarters of the earth; from European Turkey and Greece; from the countries on the shores of the Mediterranean, namely, Syria and Palestine on the east, and the Barbary States on the south; from Timbuctoo, Soudan, and the depths of Central Africa; from Persia; from the regions of the Indus; and from Hindostan, Malacca, and the Asiatic Isles. So vast and various an assemblage of strangers collected into one city, from all the different nations of the East, forms a most singular spectacle, and is a striking proof of the power and extensive influence of the Mahometan faith. The crowds who resort thither consist of all classes of Mahometans. The proud noble, the rich merchant, the bashaw, and the prince in all the pomp of wealth and dignity, are mingled in the religious ceremonial of the holy city with the common crowd of poor pilgrims, the wretched and servile Hindoo, or the poor but independent negro of Soudan, who, as a mendicant or a labourer, makes his way for thousands of miles through unknown lands and hostile tribes. In arriving at the holy city, it is the duty of the pilgrims, before attending any worldly business, to visit the Beitul-lah or temple, which at night is brilliantly lighted up with lamps; to walk seven times round the kaaba or black stone, said to be brought down from heaven by the angel Gabriel, and to touch or to kiss it; to drink water, or wash in the holy well of Zemzem, miraculously created for Hagar and her son Ishmael; to proceed to Mount Arafat, distant from Mecca about 20 miles, and to be present from afternoon till sun-set at a sermon preached on that holy spot; to sacrifice a sheep in the valley of Muna, or to substitute, if the pilgrim be poor, a fowl at some future period; and, after several other ceremonies, many of them, such as throwing stones at the devil, sufficiently absurd, to return to Mecca, and to revisit the kaaba and the omrah.^[17. In visiting Mecca it is the practice of the more strict devotees to assume the ituram, a garment consisting of two pieces of linen woollen, or cotton cloth, one of which is wrapped round the loins, and the other thrown over the neck and shoulders, leaving th* right arm uncovered. The head remains totally uncovered. All other garments must be put off, even at night, when the ihram J* assumed. The use of this dress, whether in summer or in winter, is found extremely inconvenient and prejudicial to health. ] The Mahometan religion is not of a gloomy or ascetic cast, and the pilgrimage to Mecca is not undertaken in this spirit. On the contrary, the visit of the pilgrims to Mount Arafat, in which they are joined by almost the whole inhabitants of Mecca and Djidda, resembles not so much a religious ceremony as a holyday festival, in which all ranks indulge in revelry and show. The common people assemble in their best suits, as if to enjoy a splendid spectacle; and the rich and luxurious vie with each other in the splendid pageantry of their retinue and equipages. The whole crowd of pilgrims—tribes and tongues from all parts of the Mahometan empire, of the most various costumes, manners, and aspect, with their accompanying train of camels, dromedaries, and horses—press forward on the appointed day to the plain of Arafat, and present a scene so animated and impressive, and exhibiting such a picturesque variety of nations in so small a space, that it is certainly without a parallel in any other part of the globe. Burckhardt is the only European traveller who has ever been present at this great festival of the Mahometan faith; and his details are extremely interesting and curious. “Of the half-naked hadjys,” he observes, “all dressed in the white iliram, some sat reading the Koran upon their camels, some ejaculated loud prayers, whilst others cursed their drivers, and quarrelled with those near them who were choking up the passage.” On the plain of Arafat the mixed multitude encamp according to a certain order, each nation occupying its appointed place; and at night the fires which blaze throughout the encampment, and the arched and brilliant clusters of lamps which are lighted before the tents of distinguished pilgrims, illuminate the plain, and give a peculiar brilliancy to the scene. In the pilgrimage of 1814< Mohammed Ali the pacha of Egypt, Solyman the pacha of Damascus, and the mother of Mohammed Ali, were the most conspicuous for their rank and splendour. The latter arrived from Cairo with a princely equipage, her baggage being transported by 500 camels from the sea-coast of Djidda to Mecca. “Her tent,” says Burckhardt, “was in fact an encampment, consisting of a dozen tents of different sizes, inhabited by her women; the whole inclosed by a wall of linen cloth 800 paces in circuit, the single entrance to which was guarded by eunuchs in splendid dresses. Around this inclosure were pitched the tents of the men who formed her numerous suite. The beautiful embroidery on the exterior of this linen palace, with the various colours displayed in every part of it, constituted an object which reminded me of some descriptions in the Arabian Tales. Among the rich equipages of the other hadjys or pilgrims, or of' the Mecca people, none were so conspicuous as that belonging to the family of Djeylany the merchant, whose tents, pitched in a semicircle, rivalled in beauty those of the two pachas, and far exceeded those of Sher if Yahya.” On the following day the encampment is again broken up, the tents are struck, every thing is packed up, and the immense crowd, either on foot or mounted on camels and horses, throng round the mountain of Arafat to hear the sermon, an essential part of the ceremony, which is preached in the afternoon. The preacher, mounted on a finely caparisoned camel, harangues the multitude, most of whom are deeply affected weeping and beating their breasts, and denouncing themselves to be great sinners before the Lord ;' while others are fixed in silent adoration, with tears in their eyes. Thc; preacher reads his sermon from a book in Arabic. “At intervals,” Burckhardt adds, “of every four or five minutes, he paused and stretched forth his arms to implore blessings from above; while the assembled multitudes around and before him waved the skirts of their ihrams over their heads, and rent the air with shouts of‘ Lebeyk 1 Allah huma Lebeyk, ’ —Flere we are at thy commands. O God !” The natives of the towns and the Turkish soldiers were in the mean time conversing and joking and, while the more fervent devotees were waving the ihram, derided that ceremony by violent gesticulations in imitation of them. The preacher, when the sun descends behind the western mountains, concludes his discourse and closes the book, when the whole multitude of p∏∙ grims make their way over the plains at a quick pace in the greatest tumult and disorder, with a clamour tha ’ is quite astounding, and encamp, after a journey of twι hours, where another sermon is heard that lasts fron daybreak till sunrise of the following day. They thei move, on the 10th of Zul Hadjy, towards the valley o Muna, 1500 paces in length, and inclosed on both sides.
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by steep and barren cliffs of granite. Here they offer 'the sacrifice of, a sheep; repair to the barber’s shop, where their heads are shaved; throw at the devil 21 stones; and lay aside the ihram, their pilgrimage being so far completed. A new scene now commences. Almost all the pilgrims who visit the holy city have goods to dispose of, from which they hope to defray the expenses of the journey. The rich hadjys bring in the caravans large stores of merchandise, which they barter with the great merchants of Djidda who reside in Mecca, for Indian goods; and the poorer pilgrims have all some small stock of articles, the produce or manufacture of their respective countries, which they also propose to sell or exchange in this great resort of religion and of trade. The influx of such a vast multitude of strangers, with about 20,000 or 30,000 camels, gives a stimulus to several branches of internal commerce. It creates a great additional demand for provisions, for lodgings, and for other articles of necessary nse; and, accordingly, every inhabitant of Mecca who can scrape together the smallest sum lays it out during the pilgrimage in some adventure, however inconsiderable. With pious objects other pursuits are in this manner associated of a less spiritual nature; and the pilgrimage to Mecca is in reality a great annual fair, to which merchandise is brought from all parts of the world. This fair continues in the valley of Muna three days, from the 10th to the 12th of the month of Zul Hadjy. A row of buildings, mostly in ruins, are occupied by the Meccans or Bedouins for the purposes of trade during these three days, while every inch of ground not built upon is occupied by sheds or booths made of mats, or by small tents, where provisions and merchandise of all kinds are exposed to sale. The great merchants who travel with the Syrian caravans exhibit samples of the articles which they have brought for sale or to exchange for Indian goods, while the poorer pilgrims are crying their small adventures through the streets. After the return to Mecca business is still prosecuted with equal ardour by the pilgrim adventurers, and the town is so crowded that the principal street is almost impassable. The Syrian merchants hire shops, where they trade with activity till the departure of the caravans for Syria and Egypt, which takes place after a stay in the town of ten days.

The inhabitants of Mecca derive their subsistence either from trade or from the service of the mosque, which occupies a numerous body of individuals. These are maintained by fixed salaries remitted from Constantinople, and they also share in the presents made by the richer pilgrims to the temple. In the more fervent ages of Mahometanism the temple of Mecca drew its revenue from the various towns and districts of the Turkish empire, and large presents were received from the kings of Hindostan and other eastern countries; but those revenues have been discontinued, and the mosque is now solely supported from the Turkish treasury. The sum allotted for this purpose is distributed among its officers, according to their rank or services. The name of every servant of the mosque is inscribed in a register at Mecca, of which a duplicate is sent annually to Constantinople, where the name is also enrolled; and the whole sum is made up in small packets and%sent to Mecca, each indorsed with the name of the individual for whom it is designed. They are distributed by the kady of Mecca, in the mosque, after the departure of the pilgrims, and they amount from one piaster annually to 10, 20, and in a few cases to 2000, equal to about L.50 sterling. The tickets 11ca entitle those persons to a pension are transferable, tie transfer being signed by the kady and the sherif; and 'ey ŕoŗm a species of stock, which is bought and sold in the money market of Mecca. By the extension of the Wahaby power in Arabia the intercourse of the pilgrim caravans with the holy city was interrupted, and the holders of those tickets had not for eight years received any pay. Their value was consequently lowered, though it has been again somewhat raised since the overthrow of the Wahaby power by Mohammed Ali, and the return of the caravans. But some of the tickets were even after this sold at two and a half years’ purchase, which evinces no great confidence in the stability of the Turkish conquests.

At Mecca guides are required to all the holy places which it is incumbent on the pilgrims to visit. These form the most idle and profligate class of persons in Mecca, and they practise on the pilgrim every species of knavery. The guide, or delyl as he is called, besieges his room from sunrise to sunset; he obtrudes his advice; he sits down with him to breakfast, dinner, and supper; he is always asking him for money, always leading him into expense; and if he act as interpreter in any mercantile concern, he is sure to betray the poor ignorant Turk who trusts him. The following description by Burckhardt, of his own delyl or guide, may, he says, be taken as a general picture of the lower classes of Mecca. “He sat down,” he observes, “regularly at dinner with me, and often brought a small basket, which he ordered my slave to fill with biscuits, meat, vegetables, or fruit, and carried away with him. Every third or fourth day he asked for money. l . It is not you who give it,’ he said, ‘ it is God who sends it to me.’ Finding there was no polite mode of getting rid of him, I told him plainly that I no longer wanted his services—language to which a guide is not accustomed. After three days, however, he returned, as if nothing had happened, and asked me for a dollar. ‘ God does not move me to give you any thing,’ I replied; i if he judged it right he would soften my heart, and cause me to give you my whole purse.’ i Pull my beard,’ he exclaimed,‘ if God does not send you ten times more hereafter than what I beg at present.’ ‘ Pull out every hair of mine,’ I replied, ‘ if I sive you one pera until I am convinced that God will consider it a meritorious act.’ On hearing this he jumped up and walked away, saying, c We fly for refuge to God from the hearts of the proud and the hands of the avaricious.’” At Cairo the following proverb is used to repress an insolent beggar. “Thou art like the Mekkawy:” thou sayest, “Give me, and I am thy master.

From so great an annual concourse of opulent strangers and traders, and from the presents and stipends of the richer pilgrims to their guides and to the servants of the temple, great wealth flows into Mecca, which should be among the richest cities of the East. But, with the exception of the first merchants, who seldom spend their great gains though they live in splendour, their tables being furnished every day with the rarest delicacies, the inhabitants of Mecca are dissolute and luxurious in their habits. The departure of the pilgrims is succeeded by the marriage and circumcision feasts, on which all that has been gained during the last three or four months is frequently squandered away. The women give the most profuse and magnificent entertainments, while the men waste their means in the purchase of female Abyssinian slaves, and in other indulgences still more vicious and degrading. The utmost profligacy of manners prevails in all the Arabian towns, as indeed in all Mahometan countries; and the holy temple, the very sanctuary of the Mahometan religion, is daily profaned by the grossest depravities, to which no shame is attached. The young of all classes are encouraged in those immoralities by the old; and even parents connive at the disgrace of their children, and profit by their iniquities. From such vices the encampments[7:3:340] of the Bedouin Arabs are alone said to be exempt.

Medina is also a holy city, containing the mosque, with the tomb of the prophet, which is visited during the whole year by crowds of pilgrims, though this pilgrimage is not, like that to Mecca, a sacred duty. The tomb was the receptacle of the pious offerings of the pilgrims, consisting of precious jewels, ear-rings, bracelets, and other ornaments; and it contained also several magnificent manuscripts of the Koran. These were carried off by Saoud,. the Wahaby chief, when his armies entered Medina; and part of the precious spoils were presented to Mohammed Ali, by Abdallah his son, when he was prisoner in Egypt. The service of the mosque at Medina is provided for in the same manner as that of the temple at Mecca; its officers are more respectable and of higher rank, and greater decorum is everywhere maintained.

Arabia has been peopled from the earliest times, but its ancient history seems to have been lost or corrupted in a long course of oral tradition. The narratives of the Arabian historians are absurd and fabulous, resting on no evidence; nor have later writers succeeded in withdrawing the veil of oblivion from the history of those early ages. The common notion among the Arabs is, that they are descended from Joktan the son of Eber, as well as from Ishmael the son of Abraham by Hagar; and the posterity of the former are denominated pure Arabs, while those of the latter are called naturalized or insitious Arabs. Joktan had thirteen, or, according to the Arabian traditions, thirty-one sons, who, after the confusion of languages at Babel, are said to have settled in the south-eastern parts of Arabia, and to have gone afterwards to India, with the exception of two, namely, Yarhab and Jorham, the former of whom gave name to the country. Yarhab settled in Yemen, while Jorham founded the kingdom of the Hedjaz, where his posterity reigned. Ishmael being dismissed by Abraham, retired to the wilderness of Paran, where he married an Egyptian, by whom he had twelve children, who were the heads of as many potent tribes of the Scenite or wild Arabs. He afterwards, according to tradition, married the daughter of Modad, the king of the Hcdjaz, lineally descended from Jorham; and is thus considered by the Arabians the father of the greater body of their nation.^[18. Universal History, vol. viii. chap. ix. ] By these tribes Arabia was ruled in ancient times, and a genealogical l⅛t is preserved of a long line of kings in Yemen and other provinces, of whom nothingfurther is known than the names. The ancient tribes who inhabited Arabia maintained flocks and herds. They were addicted to commerce and rapine, and frequently by their inroads molested the neighbouring states. They were invaded in their turn by the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the Medes, and the Persians; but whatever ancient historians may relate concerning the victories of Sesostris, it does not appear that either the Assyrians, the Egyptians, or the Persians, ever obtained any permanent footing in the country.

The Greek and Roman writers describe with accuracy the general features of Arabia, the scarcity of water in the desert, the deep wells known only to the inhabitants, and the pastoral and predatory habits of the people; and, in the fertile districts, the rich produce of corn, wine, oil, honey, frankincense, myrrh, and odoriferous gums. But this authentic information is mixed with fabulous tales and absurd exaggerations. From the rare and precious produce wita which Arabia abounds, the most fanciful jdeas were formed of its vast wealth. It was said to possess abundant mines of precious stones, and gold, which was found i∏ small pieces of the size of nuts, of the brightest colour and polish. (Diodorus Siculus, Hist. lib. ii. sect. 48). This favoured land was besides supposed to be enriched by the peculiar nature of its commerce, its valued products being sold to other nations, while their produce was not required in return. The balance of trade was thus always in its favour; and, according to this hypothesis, a supply of gold and silver was perpetually flowing into it from all other countries.^[19. Plin. Historia Naturalis, lib. vi. cap. 32. “In universum gentes ditissimae, ut apud quas maximae opes Romanorum Parthorumqu≡ subsistant, vendentibus quae e mari aut silvis capiant, nihil invicem redimentibus.” Strabo (lib. xvi.) mentions that they sold their gums for precious stones and for gold; and that the invasion of Arabia under Augustus, by Aelius Gallus, was prompted by the desire of attaining the alliance of rich friends, or the conquest of rich enemies. If these ancient writers had been versed in the modern doctrines of political economy, they would have known that the balance of trade could not have becu permanently in favour of a country’ which abounds in gold. ] Cassia and cinnamon arc also erroneously mentioned as the products of Arabia, probably because they came directly to the Romans from that country, which has been in all ages the great depot of Indian produce. The great lake, mentioned by the ancient writers, and said to contain bitumen, and to yield a large revenue, must be the Dead Sea, thus included by the ancients within the limits of Arabia; or the existence of this sea so near Arabia may have given rise to the report of another lake in the interior, which we know does not exist. Pliny says that the inhabitants shave their beards, with the exception of the upper lip—a custom which, if it ever existed, has not been transmitted to the modern Arabs, who hold the beard in peculiar honour; and the story of their promiscuous cohabitation, related by Strabo and-Ptolemy, is entirely contradicted by all the latest and most authentic accounts of Arabian manners.

In describing the zoology of Arabia, the aupient writers give an accurate account of the camel and the dromedary; but some of them assert that the country contains no horses, for which in modern times it has been so famed; and their description of the ostrich is altogether fabulous and absurd. Pliny asserts that it exceeds the height of a man on horseback; Diodorus, that it is of the size of a newborn camel, that it throws stones with its feet at its pursuers, and adds various other equally unfounded details of its habits and the manner of its death. Ptolemy was the first writer who divided Arabia into three parts; namely, Arabia Petraea, Arabia Deserta, and Arabia Felix; which division, agreeing with the natural features of the country, is still recognised. Ptolemy, and also Pliny, give a long list of towns, and of the various tribes which ranged over the country. These have mostly disappeared; and the situation of Petra, the chief fortress of Arabia Petraea, is a subject of dispute among the learned. The nations who inhabited this tract were the Ishmaelites, the Nabatheans, the Cedrei or Kedareni, and the Hagarcni, all which appellations have in later times been lost in that of the Saracens, so celebrated for several centuries all over the East. Numerous towns arc mentioned in Arabia Deserta, of which, being originally’ of little note, all knowledge ⅛ now lost; and of the tribes of the Aesitae and the Agraci we know nothing but the names. Arabia Felix was the chief scat of population and of wealth. It included the fine provinces of Yemen, Hedjaz, Tehama, Nedjed, and Yu-mama. It was inhabited by many different tribes, such as the Sabaei, who, from the account of Pliny, were a powerful tribe, trading in frankincense, and extending trom sea to sea, either from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, or to the Persian Gulf;^[20. “Sabaei Arabum propter thura clarissimi, ad utraque maria porrectis gentibus.” Plin. Historia Natĭtralis, lib. vi. cap 32. ] by the Minaei, Atramitae, Marinatae, [7:3:341]Catabani, Ascitae, Homeritae, Sapphoritae, Omani, Saraceni, y &c. of whose history nothing is now known. The towns of Yaman or Yemen were, Aden, the emporium Arabics of Ptolemy, on the Indian Ocean; and Musa, the modern Mocha; both noted marts of trade, at which were exchanged the precious produce of the country (consisting of myrrh, frankincense, perfumes, and pearls, of which there was a noted fishery near some islands in the Red Sea), for goods brought by the annual fleets from India. Those goods appear to have been landed at Aden or Musa; to have been carried northward in caravans to Leucöcome, or Portus Albus, in lat. 25° N.; then, according to Strabo, to have been transported across the Red Sea to Myos Hormos, near the modern Cosseir; and being carried on camels to Coptos, in the Thebaid, a port on the Nile, to have been thence floated down in boats to Alexandria. Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, of great antiquity, is supposed to be the Saphor of Ptolemy; and Mareb, the modern Saba, which was a large, opulent, and strong city, is now an inconsiderable village. On the Persian Gulf was situated the port of Moscha, now the city of Mascat; and Gerra or Khatif, which, Pliny and Strabo mention, had turrets and houses formed of square masses of salt, some of which are still to be seen in the country. In the Hedjaz was Macoraba or Mecca, the seat of a very ancient temple; and Yathrib or Lathrippa, the modern Medina. Djidda, the port of Mecca, is seldom noticed by the ancients; and Yembo, the port of Medina, is the Jam-hia of Ptolemy. The frequent incursions of the Arabs into the neighbouring regions exposed them to retaliation from hostile armies; but the aridity of the country was found to be still its true defence. It was in vain that the invader vanquished the Arabs in the field; they fled from his pursuit on their horses and camels, and quickly disappeared in the burning desert, whither no army ever dared to follow them. The northern provinces bordering on Syria were invaded by Antigonus, and afterwards by Pompey, though they never succeeded in acquiring possession of Petra, the great stronghold of the country. But the most important expedition of the Romans was that of Aelius Gallus, in the reign of Augustus, who, with a force of 10,000 troops, of whom 500 were Jews, and 1000 Nabatheans, natives of the county, landed at Leucocome, in latitude 25° N., about 70 miles north-west from Medina, and in the following spring, his troops having been till that time disabled by disease, he advanced southward, crossed a desert of 30 days’ journey, and in 50 days more arrived in a pleasant and fruitful region, where he took by assault a city called Najran. He continued his march southward for other 60 days; and being finally compelled to retreat by fatigue and disease, he crossed the Red Sea, and, landing his troops at Myos Hormos, on the Egyptian shore, brought back the poor remains of his army to Alexandria, after an absence of two years.^[21. Cassius, īĩist. Hom. lib. liii. s.ct. 29. ] The situation of the towns in his route being entirely unknown, we cannot trace his course, though it must have been in the direction of Medina and Mecca. The great historian of the Decline and Fall of Rome places the march of Aelius Gallus between Mareb or Mecca and the sea.^[22. Gibbon, vol. iχ.chap. 50. ] But this is a desert tract, in no respect resembling the character given of the country into which e penetrated, which may therefore probably be the elevated tract on the Hedjaz ridge of mountains, extend-ıg north and south parallel with the Red Sea. Northern Labia was also invaded by the emperors Trajan and Severus, but they effected no settlement in the country; and though the cities of Bosra and Petra were at one time reduced by a lieutenant of Trajan, yet the Romans never seem to have extended their power over Arabia Petraea. On the decline of the empire Syria was invaded by the Arabian freebooters, who sometimes drew on themselves severe retaliation. The doubtful frontier of the respective territories was thus a constant scene of hostility, until the Arab tribes, inspired by the genius of Mahomet, advanced to permanent conquests.

Arabia afforded an asylum to the Jews who were scattered abroad by the destruction of Jerusalem, and to the Christian sectaries who were driven out of the Roman empire by their orthodox brethren. The Christian exiles introduced the Arian heresy among the Arabians, while the Jews spread their peculiar doctrines, and acquiring wealth by commerce, they built cities, enriched the country, and had become powerful among the tribes of Arabia, when they were exterminated by the sword of Mahomet.

Such are some of the early traditions and imperfect sketches of Arabian history. We now approach a new era, not only of greater certainty, but containing events of far deeper interest, and of lasting importance. The rise and progress of Mahomet, the prophet of the East, and the rapid propagation of his faith, which has changed the moral and political aspect of the eastern world, forms a most singular chapter in the history of human affairs, of which we shall now endeavour to present the most important details. Mahomet was born in the 569th year of the Christian era. His lineal descent from Ishmael, the founder of the Arabian nation, is a fablc of his disciples. Historians are agreed, however, that he sprung from the tribe of Koreish, and the noble family of Hashem. In the 40th year of his age he assumed the title of a prophet, and proclaimed the religion of the Koran, and the destruction of the ancient Arabian idolatry, namely, the worship of the sun, moon, and stars. The resort to Mecca as a holy place of pilgrimage was still continued, and he held in the same veneration as before the ancient temple and the square chapel of Kaaba, inclosing the black stone which the Mahometans suppose to have descended from heaven, round which the rude idolaters of Arabia walked seven times with hasty steps, and then kissed the sacred relic. The visit to the mountain of Arafat was also retained, and all the other minute observances connected with the pilgrimage already detailed. The temple of Mecca contained 360 idols of men and of animals. The rocks of the desert were carved into the same figures, or into altars in imitation of the black stone of the Kaaba; and in earlier times the Arabian altars were stained with human blood. In opposition to these idolatries, Mahomet proclaimed the unity of the Deity to be the basis of the new faith. He. declared “that there is only one God, and that Mahomet is the apostle of God.” For the adoration of saints, of idols, or of any sensible object, he substituted public worship by prayer, and a sermon in the mosque on the Friday of every week, as well as private prayers and daily lustrations; and the annual fast of the month of Ramadhan for 30 days, during which the Mussulman, from the rising to the setting of the sun, rigidly abstains from food or drink, from baths, perfumes, or any enjoyment that can refresh the body. Alms-giving was enjoined, and the use of wine was interdicted. The doctrines of toleration were maintained and practised for a time; but, with the power, the inclination to persecute was soon displayed, and the followers of the new faith were commanded to pursue unbelievers with fire and sword, and to extirpate the idolatrous nations of the earth. The first converts to [7:3:342]the doctrines of Mahomet were his own family; his wife Cadijah, her friend, his servant Zeid; afterwards Ali, the son of Abu Taleb, his uncle; and in three years fourteen other proselytes. Mahomet, by openly preaching to the people, and upbraiding them with their idolatry, obstinacy, and perverseness, drew on himself their hostility; and his life was threatened by the rival tribe of Koreish, who had been long jealous of the pre-eminence of the Hashemites, the hereditary guardians of the Kaaba and the holy temple. The death of Abu Taleb, his uncle, left him exposed to the malice of his enemies, who now resolved to take his life by dispatching a person from each tribe to bury a dagger in his breast; thus to divide the guilt of blood, and by their union to baffle the vengeance of the Hashemites. Mahomet, apprized of this conspiracy, with his friend Abubekr escaped to the cave of Thor, where he lay concealed for three days; and finally to Medina, into-which city he made his public entry sixteen days after his flight from Mecca, and was hailed with the acclamations of the faithful people. From this memorable event is dated the Mahometan era of the Hegira or Flight, which coincides with the 16th July A. D. 622. Assuming the office of pontiff and of king, he was soon surrounded by a devoted band, who were impatient to die as martyrs in his cause. His early exploits were against the trading caravans between Syria and Mecca; and his first battle, in which he defeated, at Beder, Abu Sophian, his enemy, the leader of the unbelieving Koreish, was fought in defence of a rich caravan. In the second battle, which he fought on Mount Ohud, six miles to the north of Medina, the Korcish, to the number of 3000, advancing in the form of a crescent, their right led on by Khaled, a name afterwards so terrible to the infidels, were broken by the fierce attack of Mahomet’s resolute band, who, rashly pursuing their advantage, while őO archers posted in the rear as a reserve at the same time quitted their ground to plunder, the Moslem army was in its turn attacked and overthrown by Khaled. Mahomet, wounded in the face with a javelin, and having two of his teeth shattered with a stone, while Khaled exclaimed in the fury of his attack that he was slain, as were seventy of his followers, and among them Hamza the prophet’s uncle, and Mosaab the standard-bearer, still succeeded, though with difficulty, in rallying his broken forces, and in effecting a retreat. In the following year Abu Sophian, with a combined army of Arabs and Jews, sat down before Medina, when he was obliged to retreat after a siege of twenty days. Mahomet, thus secure of his conquests, rapidly subdued the surrounding tribes. The numerous Jews who dwelt in Medina and the neighbourhood, rejecting the proffered faith of the prophet, were either put to the sword or made captives. The Khoreidhites were extirpated after a resistance of twenty-five days; and the ancient and flourishing city of Chaibar, the seat of the Jewish power, was reduced after a fierce resistance. Torture was applied to the chief in the presence of Mahomet, to extort from him a discovery of his hidden treasures. The captives were massacred; and, by the savage vengeance of the conquerors, 700 prisoners were buried alive.

But it was to Mecca, the holy city, that Mahomet’s longing eyes were directed; and, confident from recent conquests, and still farther strengthened by the conversion of Khaled and Amrou from active and formidable enemies to zealous friends, he now aspired to the conquest of this last remaining stronghold of the infidels in Arabia. He had concluded a truce for ten years with Abu Sophian,for the violation of which a pretext was sought and easily found; and he now advanced, at the head of 10,000 troops, to crown all his former achievements by the conquest of Mecca. So secretly had he taken his measures, that the first warning of darker was his approach to the city gates. The intrepid Khaled' routed a large body of the Koreish in the adjacent plain and hotly pursuing the fugitives into the city, massacred a number of the inhabitants, and so alarmed the survivors that they were glad to capitulate, and to deprecate the vengeance of the conqueror by a profession of the new faith. Mahomet made his public entry into the holy, city at sunrise. He walked seven times round the Kaaba, touching with his staff the black stone as he passed. He destroyed the 360 idols of the temple, prohibited for ever the idolatries of the Koreish, and ordained that no unbeliever should henceforth profane the holy city by his presence. The conquest of Mecca was followed by the submission of other Arabian tribes. Some made resistance, but were subdued; and in the end the whole peninsula yielded faith and obedience to the prophet’s creed and to his victorious arms. Mahomet, thus crowned with victory, was overtaken by a fever at Mecca, and expired a. d. 632, in the 62d year of his age. His death exposed the new state to the dangers of a disputed succession. The right to the throne, on which subject Mahomet was silent when he died, was respectively claimed by two powerful tribes, namely, those who fled to Medina with the prophet, or the fugitives, and those who aided him on his arrival, or the auxiliaries. To terminate this dangerous dispute, Omar, renouncing his own pretensions, held out his hand to Abubekr as his future sovereign; and his authority was recognised in all the provinces. The Hashemites, under Ali their chief, though averse to the new monarch, acknowledged him after some time as commander of the faithful. After a reign of two years he was succeeded by Omar, who was assassinated in the 12th year of his reign, and was succeeded by Othman; and it was not till his death that Ali ascended the throne. This contest for the dignity of caliph has ever since divided the Mahometans into the two hostile parties of the Shiites or sectaries, who reprobatu as usurpers Abubekr, Omar, and Othman; and the Sonmtes, who revere them along with Ali as the legitimate successors of the prophet. This schism is the source of the hatred which still exists between the Persians and Turks.

Arabia, during the reign of these several princes, was filled with distraction at home, while the most splendid conquests were achieved abroad. To give a detail of these events, which relate besides to other countries as much as to Arabia, would exceed our limits. We may therefore briefly observe, that during the short reign of Abubekr, the Syrian territories of the Greek emperor were overrun by the victorious Moslems under Abu Obeidah, and afterwards under Khaled, surnamed from his valour and fanaticism the sword of God; that the Greek armies were overthrown in several decisive battles; and that the rich and populous cities of the country, including Bosra and Damascus, were stormed by the barbarian invaders. A new army, raised by the Greek emperor, the last hope of the falling empire, was scattered before the barbarian host in the decisive battle of Yarmuk. Palestine was now subdued, and Jerusalem, which was reputed a holy city by its ferocious conquerors, and was visited by the Caliph Omar. Here he directed Amrou to invade Egypt, which was rapidly overrun; and his other lieutenants to complete the conquest of Syria. His orders were punctually obeyed, and Aleppo, Antioch, Tyre, Caesarea, and all the other citiesand fortresses in the province,) were successively taken.

On the east the empire of the Arabs was rapidly extended. “They advanced,” says the eloquent historian of the Decline and Fall of Rome, “to the banks and sources of the Euphrates and Tigris; the long-disputed [7:3:343]barrier of Rome and Persia was for ever confounded; the walls of Edessa and Amida, of Dara and Nisibis, which had resisted the arms and engines of Sapor or Nashir-van were levelled in the dust.” The fate of Persia was decided in the great battle of Cadesia. The victorious Arabs poured like a flood over the country, and acquired prodigious spoil; nor did they halt in their victorious career till they had reached the banks of the Oxus, and had added to their empire Herat, Merou, Balk, Samarcand, and other rich and trading cities in the East.

The short reign of Ali, from the year 655 to 661, was disturbed by domestic dissension and the rival claims of Moawiyah, the son of Abu Sophian, well known for his tardy and reluctant obedience to the sword, as was alleged, rather than to the doctrines of the prophet. The death of Ali by an assassin was the signal for new contests. Moawiyah reigned at Damascus, which was the new capital of the caliphs of the house of Ommiyah, and was succeeded by his son Yczid A. d. 680, whose title was disputed by the surviving family of Ali, Hozein and Abdallah Ebn Zobeir, his two sons. They fled from Medina to ⅛Mecca; and Hozein was proceeding to Cufa on assurances 1 of aid from the inhabitants, when be was surrounded and barbarously murdered, with all his followers, by Obeidallah the governor. Abdallah, the sole representative of the house of Hashem, was now proclaimed caliph at Medina, from which city he expelled all the adherents and dependents of the house c Ommiyah, to the number of 8000. Yezid dispatched a large force to their aid, by which Medina was taken, after a vigorous defence, and abandoned to pillage. Mecca, besieged by the army of Yezid, was on the point of sharing the same fate, when intelligence was received of Ye; id’s death. His son, ’ Moawiyah IL, succeeded him, and, after a rcign of six weeks, died without naming a successor. Serious commotions now ensued. Merwan, of the house of Ommiyah, was proclaimed caliph at Damascus, while Abdallah reigned at Mecca. The former was succeeded by his son Abdalmalac, during whose rcign the contest for the throne was terminated by the death of Abdallah, who, in a desperate sally from Mecca, where he was besieged by the troops of the rival caliph, was overpowered and slain. By his death the sovereignty was firmly established η the line of the Ommiades, who reigned in Damascus above 70 years.

But the title of this dynasty not being founded on any clear principle of religion or of law, was never recognised by the great body of the Moslems. They regarded with veneration the lineal descendants of the prophet, who on their part still cherished the hope of reigning over the Moslem empire. Numerous partisans of the line of Abbas were dispersed throughout the provinces, and secret plots for their restoration were gradually matured into rebellion. 1he last caliph of the line of the Ommiades was met on the field by a powerful army commanded by Abdallah, the uncle of his rival; and after an irretrievable defeat he escaped to Mosul, and finally to Egypt, where he was defeated and slain, and the last remains of his party extinguished. Amid the ruin and massacre of his family by the conqueror, a royal youth, Abdalrahman, alone escaped, and making his way into Spain, laid the foundation of a new dynasty of the Ommiades, who reigned in Cordova with great splendour for 250 years, from the Atlantic to the Pyrenees. In Egypt and Africa the

Fatimite caliphs, the progeny of Ali, were invested with royal authority; and the new line of the Abassides transferring the seat of government from Damascus to the banks of the Euphrates, laid the foundation of Bagdad, the seat of their empire, and of wealth, literature, and science, for 500 years.

In the course of these various revolutions and splendid conquests, Arabia, the original seat of the Mahometans, had dwindled into an inconsiderable province of their vast empire, and the rude inhabitant of the desert resumed his solitary independence, heedless alike of distant victories as of domestic changes. The Hedjaz, the mountainous district of Arabia, and the chief seat of its commerce and its towns, was governed by the lieutenants of the caliphs,^[23. “Depuis ce tems-là (de Mahomet) les Arabes de l’leinen (Yemen), et de tontes autres provinces de l’Arabie, sont toujours de-lama CS ) SUUS ^'^ e ^ ssance ð es Khalifs, ou de Bagdet ou Egypte, tant que le Khalifat a durée.” (Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientale, Iaman. ] or sherifs as they are called, who are chosen from the tribe of the Koreish, and who have always acted as the resident sovereigns of the country. But their power was unknown in the desert, where the scheiks still continued to rule. In the disorders attending the decay of the Mahometan power, Arabia was occasionally invaded by hostile tribes; but it was chiefly the outskirts of the country that were scathed by the flame of war, which never penetrated to the interior. It appears from the incidental and scattered notices which we possess, that about the year 1173 Sultan Saladin subdued a king who reigned in Yemen, and who had revolted against the authority of the caliphs of the line of Abassides. Having reduced the country, he committed the government to two deputies, who afterwards claiming independent power, were in their turn reduced by the troops of Saladin. In 1517, when Selim I. conquered Egypt, and extinguished the last surviving representative of the second dynasty of the Abassides, the sherif of Mecca brought to him the keys of the city; and the Arabian tribes professed their allegiance, and gave hostages as a pledge of their fidelity. The country continued under subjection for 50 years, when Muttahir, sherif of the kingdom, impatient of the Turkish yoke, attacked and routed the army of Murad Pacha, and freed the country for a time from its oppressors. A powerful army, commanded by the governor of Egypt, was dispatched by Selim II. to Yemen; the Arabian force was defeated and dispersed, and the authority of the sultan was re-established in Yemen, and extended backwards to the highlands. The country, thus reduced, was governed as a Turkish province by pachas sent from Constantinople. But in the interior the independent princes and scheiks still retained their authority, and continued to harass the Turks, and to drive them back to the coasts. They were expelled from the province of Yemen about the middle of the 17th century; and since this period until the invasion of the country by Mohammed Ali they have only possessed a precarious and nominal authority in the towns of Djidda and Mecca.^[24. De Guignes, Histoire des Huns, tome i. livre vii. Cantemir’s History of the Growth and Decay of the Othman Empire ; Niebuhr, Description de l’Arabie. ]

The rise of the sect of the Wahabys, and the rapid extension of their dominion and doctrines, forms a most important epoch in the more recent history of Arabia. These sectaries were the reformers of religion in the East. They were zealous followers of Mahomet, who were scandalized by the departure ofVmodern believers from the simplicity of the faith; by their worship at the tombs of saints; by the luxurious ostentation of their dress; their remiss attendance at public prayers; the immorality of their lives; the scandalous indecencies which they practised in the holy temple of Mecca; and [7:3:344]finally, in opposition to the strict prohibitions of the Ko- 'ran, by their free use of tobacco and other intoxicating drugs.^[25. Felix Mengin, Histoire dc ι ’ Egypte sous le Gouvernement de Mohammed AU, tome i. p. 379. ] Such were the chief articles of the new creed, which, in the same manner as the faith itself, was propagated by fire and sword. Its founder was Mohammed-Ĕbn-Abd-el Wahab, the son of a scheik in an obscure village, born in the year 1691, whose history and success for nearly a century seemed to presage the final triumph of his doctrines and his arms. It is remarkable that the only two great revolutions which have ever taken place in Arabia have had their origin in religion. It was in both cases for religion that the sword was ostensibly drawn. The subjection or extinction of infidel tribes was a step in the progress of the pious work; and these objects being accomplished, the original design, however spiritual in its nature, necessarily terminated in conquest and political dominion. The young apostle of the new faith was trained in the strict principles of Mahometanism. He was sent to finish his studies in the university of Bassora; and on his return to his native village, commencing reformer of religion and of manners, he was banished by the governor. He took refuge in Deraych, the capital of Nedjed, where he was protected by the scheik Mohammed-Ebn-Saouhoud, a zealous disciple, from political views, as was insinuated, of the reformed faith. Here the new tenets were embraced by crowds of proselytes, eager to draw their swords in the cause of truth; and so well did the Wahaby chief Saoud profit by their new-born zeal, that before his death in 1765 he had extended his faith and his dominion over the whole province of Nedjed. His son Abd-el-Azyz enlarged by new conquests the power of the Wahabys. He subdued and rendered tributary the surrounding tribes, threatened the holy cities, and finally spread the terror of his arms over all the northern parts of Arabia, from Mecca and Medina to Damascus, Bagdad, and Bassora. Mohammed-Ebn-Abd-el Wahab, the founder of the Wahaby sect, died in 1787, at the advanced age of 95. But this event noway damped the zeal of his followers. Their expeditions were dreaded all along the banks of the Euphrates, and in the neighbourhood of Bassora, which they invaded every year, committing great excesses, and massacring the Arab settlers who were the subjects of the Bagdad government. In 1797 the pacha of Bagdad undertook an expedition against Deraych, the capital of the Wahabys. He was repulsed by Saoud, the son of the reigning chief, who continued his inroads into the Turkish territories on the Euphrates. In 1801 he stormed the town of Imam Hosseyn, where, according to the intolerant maxims of the new sect, 5000 persons were massacred.

Ghaleb, the sherif of Mecca, was alarmed by the conquests of the Wahabys, and since the year 1792 had been vainly contending against their rising power. In 1801 the sectaries invaded his dominions in great force. In 1802 they stormed the town of Tayf, which they gave up to a general massacre, in which neither men, women, nor children were spared. In 1803 the holy city, notwithstanding the brave resistance of Sherif Ghaleb, surrendered at discretion to the victorious Wahabys. On entering it, the strictest discipline was preserved by Saoud the chief, and not the slightest excess was committed. The inhabitants were, however, compelled to a more punctual attendance at prayers; to conceal their silk dresses; all their finely ornamented Persian pipes were collected before Saoud’s house, and there committed to the flames; and the sale of tobacco was forbidden. Mecca was afterwards given up to the government of Sherif Ghaleb, on the usual condition of big conversion to the Wahaby faith. This conquest was followed by the reduction of the neighbouring tribes, and in 1804 Medina surrendered to the Wahaby arms. Here they rigorously enforced the duty of public worship-the absent were punished; and a respectable woman, accused of smoking the Persian pipe, was placed upon a jack-ass, and paraded through the town with the pipe suspended round her neck. Saoud soon after visited Medina and carried away from the tomb of Mahomet all the valuable articles, namely, jewels and pearls, and Cufic manuscripts of the Koran, which it contained; and ordered his troops, according to the approved maxims of his sect, who reprobate the worship of saints, to destroy the cupola over the tomb; but it was so strong that with all their efforts they could not deface this curious relic of antiquity.

The Hcdjaz continued to enjoy tranquillity during the years 1806, 1807, and 1808, under the divided rule of the sherif of Mecca and of the Wahabys, the power of the former gradually declining, while Saoud was acknowledged as pontiff and king over the greater part of Arabia. The Wahaby hordes extended their inroads southward into the mountains of Yemen, whence they descended to the coasts and plundered the towns of Loheia and Hodeida. On the north they advanced into the Syrian desert, and alarmed the Bedouins in the vicinity of Aleppo, as well as the inhabitants of Damascus, who had begun to send away their valuable property to the mountains of Libanus. The Mesopotamian tribes near Bagdad were attacked and pillaged; and in 1810 Saoud, at the head of 20,000 troops, stormed the Persian town of Kcrbeleh, putting all the male inhabitants to the sword.^[26. Ibid, tome i. p∙ 380∙ ] The regular intercourse of the great pilgrim caravans from Syria, Egypt, Persia, and Yemen, had been interrupted since the year 1803, and the few scattered pilgrims that reached the holy cities from the north and west generally came across the Red Sea from Cosseir to Djidda.

The surrender of Mecca and Medina to the sectaries, and the interruption of the pilgrimages, excited the shame and indignation of all pious Mahometans. Mohammed Ali, who in 1804 was appointed pacha of Egypt, received instructions from the Porte to undertake the reconquest of the Holy Land. He accordingly determined on the invasion of Arabia, and prepared an expedition, which he committed to his son Tousoun Bey, and Ahmed Aga his treasurer. The infantry, ' amounting to 2000 troops, landed at Ycmbo from Suez in October 1811, and took the town after a slight resistance. In January 1812 Tousoun advanced against Medina; but he was assailed in the mountain passes, through which his route lay, by a powerful army of Wahabys, and utterly routed, with the loss of all his baggage and artillery. Being in the course of the summer argely reinforced from Egypt, he again advanced to Medina in November; and having sprung a mine and overthrown part of the wall, he carried the town by assault, massacring about 1000 of the garrison in the streets. The remainder, to the number of 1500, retired to the castle,which they afterwards surrendered on condition of receiving a safe conduct for themselves and baggage,; in defiance of which they were, on quitting the town, treacherously massacred by the Turkish troops-Sherif Ghaleb, intimidated by the capture of Medina, now intimated his desire of surrendering the holy city t° the Turkish commander. Mecca, with Djidda, its port, was accordingly taken possession of in January 1813 without any opposition; and in a fortnight the town of 1ayt, which had been held by the Wahabys for sixteen years, [7:3:345]surrendered after a feeble resistance.^[27. Burckhardt’s Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys, p. 356-7. Mengin, Histoire de l’Egypte. ] In 1813 Mohammed Ali landed at Djidda; and on his arrival at Mecca, suspecting the hostile intrigues of Sherif Ghaleb with the Arab tribes, he caused him to be arrested and sent under a guard to Egypt. He was succeeded in the government of Mecca by Yahya, also of the sherif family, the humble tool of Mohammed Ali. In the mean time the Turkish army, weakened by its losses, remained at Mecca and Tayf; and, with the exception of an unsuccessful expedition against Toraba, the chief town of the southern Wahabys, and the capture of Gonfode, a port seven days’ journey south of Djidda, which was soon after recaptured, no enterprise of any importance had been undertaken since the surrender of Mecca and Tayf. But Mohammed Ali was not idle. He employed the time in reinforcing his wasted army, in collecting magazines and stores, in purchasing camels, and in strengthening his influence among the Arab chiefs, many of whom he succeeded in detaching from the Wahabys by the influence of presents and money.

Saoud, the successful chief of the Wahabys, died at Kin 1814, and his son Abdallah, who succeeded his, though he was brave, was inferior to his father in all the qualities of a political chief. The pacha having completed his preparations, now resolved to strike a decisive blow. In January 1815 he began his march southward in the direction of Toraba. The Wahabys, to the number ?f 25,000, occupied a strong position on the mountains rear Byssel, from which, after some unsuccessful attempts to dislodge them, he contrived, by a feigned retreat, to lraw them into the plain. Here their disorderly host was borne down by the steady attack of the pacha’s disciplined force, and flying in confusion, they were cut down vithout mercy by the Turkish cavalry. A reward of six lollars being offered for the head of every Wahaby, 5000 )f these bloody trophies were in a few hours piled up ιefore the pacha’s tent. Of 300 prisoners who were taken, )0 were, according to the cruel maxims of the East, impaled alive before the gates of Mecca, and the rest at other >arts. Mohammed Ali hastened to profit by his victory, de arrived in four days before Toraba, which capitulated; ιnd advancing southward, he encountered the wreck of he Wahaby army in the mountains near the town of leishe. Here, after a brave resistance under Tamy, their hief, who was seen riding in front, animating the troops >y his war songs, they gave way before the Turkish artil-cry. Tamy, who was betrayed into the hands of his ene-nies by an Arab chief, and by his gallant bearing gained he esteem of the whole army, was sent to Constantinople, there he was instantly beheaded. Another chief, Bakh-oudj, was tortured to death in presence of the pacha. • he Turkish army continued the pursuit of the Wahabys, nd subdued most of the southern tribes. Mohammed Bi was intent on carrying the war into Yemen, whose ich cities he hoped to plunder; but the wasted state of he army forced him to an immediate retreat. He imself accordingly proceeded to Gonfode on the sea- ∣ιore, and arrived at Mecca on the 21st of March, after an absence of 15 days. Of his army, consisting of 4000 urks, he brought back only 1500; and of 10,000 camels, ∏ly 300 survived the fatigues of the campaign.

The war against the northern Wahabys was prosecuted 4h vigour by Tousoun Pacha, who had advanced east-ard from Medina to Khabara, about 300 miles into the interior of the country. Abdallah had fixed his head quarters at Shenana, only five hours’ march from the Turkish army. Tousoun was here seriously embarrassed by the want of supplies. FIis treasurer Ibrahim Aga,^[28. Ibrahim Aga was a native of Edinburgh, named Thomas Keith, a private in the 72d regiment of highlanders, and taken prisoner ıe last expedition of the English to Egypt. He became a mussulman, and on account of his valour was promoted to the high office of treasurer by Tousoun Pacha. ] with a detachment, had been some time before surrounded on the road and cut to pieces, after a gallant resistance, and his remaining troops were averse to a battle. From these difficulties he was extricated by a peace, which .Abdallah weakly concluded with him, and by which he agreed to renounce the possession of the holy cities, to be ranked among the faithful subjects of the sultan, to pray for him in the mosques, and to submit to his authority as his sovereign. But this treaty, however disgraceful to the Wahabys, was far from satisfying the views of Mohammed Ali, who, with his usual contempt of all engagements, refused to ratify it; and conscious of his strength, would enter into no overtures from Abdallah, however humble, having determined either to reduce or to exterminate the rebellious sectaries of Arabia of which he was the head. Both parties accordingly prepared for war. In September 1815 Ibrahim Pacha, son of Mohammed Ali, landed at Yembo with 2000 Turkish troops, besides 2000 peasants pressed into his service at Siout on the Nile, amid the outcries of their wives and children. He had also a corps of 500 Moggrebins from Barbary. Having spent some time at Medina in reducing the surrounding tribes, and visiting the holy sepulchre, he directed all the troops which could be spared from the different garrisons to march on Hanakye or Henakych, about 100 miles eastward of Medina, where, early in December, his whole force was concentrated. Here he remained till the end of April 1817; and though his troops suffered severely under fever and dysentery, the diseases of the climate, he succeeded, by several bold and well-concerted expeditions, in impressing on the Arab tribes the terror of his arms. He extended his alliances among them, and by his policy as well as by his arms he silently prepared the ruin of the Wahaby state. In the conduct of the war Ibrahim combined, with the cruelty of a Turkish conqueror, undaunted courage and skill, a rare perseverance under difficulties, and a fertility of resource which seldom failed him. The discipline of his troops secured his superiority in the field; and the Wahaby host, avoiding the risk of a battle, relied on their fortresses, the nakedness of the land, and the noxious climate. The issue of the war was thus reduced to a mere arithmetical question of the number of men that would be required to carry it on. These being provided, the conquest of the country was certain, and Mohammed Ali was too well versed in war not to see the advantages which he possessed, and too deeply interested to grudge the necessary supplies. He was willing to pay the fair price of his success. The army of Ibrahim, notwithstanding its losses, was accordingly maintained at its full complement by recruits from Egypt; and he now hastened to complete the’ conquest of the country by reducing its strongholds, and especially Deraych, its capital. He had gone to the vil-l’ lage ofMaouych, where he was joined by a powerful chief; and having assembled all his forces, consisting of 4000 infantry and 1200 horse, besides his Arab auxiliaries, he advanced in July to the fortress of Rass. In three several assaults, conducted with desperate valour, but without skill, the assailants were overwhelmed, and finally repulsed with severe loss, by the well-directed fire of the [7:3:346] garrison; and Ibrahim, after vainly contending for three months and 17 days against the obstinate valour of the inhabitants, and incurring a loss of 3400 men, was forced to raise the siege of an ill-fortified place, which, with the aid of engineers, he might have reduced in two days. But this was the only disaster which befell the Turkish arms. The sequel of the campaign was one continued course of conquest. Khabra, Aneyzey and its castle, and Banney-deh, successively fell after a slight resistance. At the latter place the Turkish army remained for two months. Having received large reinforcements, it commenced its march, accompanied by a train of 10,000 camels and other beasts of burden, across frightful deserts of sand, and in January 1818 encamped at Chakra, which was taken after a siege of seven days. The town of Dorama was stormed after a brave resistance, and abandoned to pillage and the sword; and on the 22d of March Ibrahim directed his victorious march to Deraych, the capital, and last stronghold of the Wahaby state. This place, which consists of five small towns, each surrounded with a wall protected by bastions at small distances, was now closely besieged by the Turkish army, which, including infantry and cavalry, amounted to 5500 troops. The siege was long and obstinate, but the Turkish troops still maintained their superiority. The different divisions of the town were successively stormed; and the unfortunate Abdallah, thus driven to his last retreat, was reduced to ask a suspension of arms and a conference. His interview with Ibrahim presented a touching spectacle of fallen dignity. He demanded peace: the conqueror granted his request, but added that he was not authorized to leave him at Deraych,—the positive order of his father was that he should repair to Egypt. Abdallah, after 24 hours of deliberation, intimated his assent to the proposed terms, and only conditioned for his life. Ibrahim would not answer for the decision either of his father or the sultan, farther than that he thought them both too generous to take his life. Abdallah, having bidden a last adieu to his afflicted family, repaired to the tent of Ibrahim, from which he set out on his journey across the desert, and arrived at Cairo. He was sent to Constantinople, where, notwithstanding the intercession of Mohammed Ali, he was beheaded, along with his companions in misfortune, in the square of St Sophia, after being exhibited in every part of the city for three days. With the death of Abdallah terminated the dominion of the Wahabys, which, under a succession of vigorous and politic princes, had in the course of a century been extended over the whole peninsula of Arabia. But their empire, loosely held together by the tenure of recent conquest, was overthrown by the first attack to which it was exposed. The chiefs who yielded to the terror of the Wahaby arms deserted on the first appearance of a hostile army; others were seduced by the influence of gold, which was liberally distributed; and domestic dissension coming in aid of foreign war, dissolved the union of the tribes, and completed the ruin of the country. According to Μ. Mengin, whose information is undoubted,^[29. Μ. Felix Mengin landed in Egypt with the French expedition under Buonaparte. He remained in Cairo for 20 years after the country was evacuated by his countrymen, where he collected much valuable information respecting the internal administrationEgypt and the Wahabys. His account of this Mahometan sect is derived from the grandson of Ebn-Abdul-Wahab, its founder. ] Arabia had ample means of defence, in the difficulties of the country, and in the numbers, intrepidity, and discipline of its troops; and, with an able leader, he expresses his strong and apparently just conviction, that the Turkish army, in place of conquering the country, would have perished in its burning deserts.

The ruin of the Wahabys is deeply to be regretted, “s it may throwback for several centuries the civilization of Arabia. The Wahaby princes reformed the morals as well as the religion of their country. Under the reign of Saoud the administration of justice was rigid and impartial. The crimes of rapine, thieving, and murder, so common among the Arab tribes, were severely punished; an exact police was established throughout the country; and caravans and travellers were seen journeying on all the roads in perfect security. The Turkish conquests will restore the primitive barbarity of the Arabian manners, and anarchy and crime will resume their wonted sway. But Arabia contains within itself the seeds of independence. The distance of Nedjed from Cairo, and the expense and difficulty of sending supplies through the interior deserts, will render it extremely difficult to maintain a Turkish force in the heart of the country; while the religious principles of the tribes, their warlike character and love of freedom, animating them to new efforts, may yet enable them to triumph over the foreign tyranny which oppresses them, and to re-establish their freedom on a new and a more secure basis. (e ∙)