81 



« 



habitants of this celebrated empire are for the most part 

 completely miserable. 



§3. 



Of the condition of the Bedouins, or wandering Arabs. 



THE Arabs settled in cities have lost somewhat of their 

 distinctive national manners; but the Bedouins, who live in 

 tents and in separate tribes, still retain the customs and man^ 

 ners of their earliest ancestors — they are the genuine Arabs. 

 The descendants of Jocktan, Esau, and Ismael formed dif- 

 ferent families under the guidance and direction of those to 

 whom they owed their existence.* As these families multi- 

 plied, the younger branches still retained some respect for 

 the elder, wlwch of all the progeny was deemed the nearest 

 to the parent stem. And although the subdivisions became 

 more and more numerous, they still regarded themselves as 

 composing but one body. Such an assemblage of families 

 all sprung from the same stock, formed what we call a tribe. 

 Thus the representative of the eldest branch retained some- 

 what of the primary paternal authority over the tribe to 



VOL. XI. w ^vhich 



