[ 462 ] 



MANNEES, CUSTOMS, &g. 



OF 



NATIONS AND CLASSES of PEOPLE. 



The Arab Pirates. 

 (From Morier^s Travels inPersia. J 



THE Arabs in every age, have 

 been alike distinguished for 

 a spirit of commerce and of plun- 

 der: and were early and great 

 navigators, both as merchants and 

 as pirates. In the time of Ma- 

 homed there existed a predatory 

 tribe, whose chief is described in 

 the Koran, according to Ebn 

 Haukal, as " the King, who for- 

 cibly seized every sound ship." 

 This empire is said to have been 

 founded prior to the time of Moses ; 

 and if the continuance of the same 

 occupations on the spot be a proof 

 of the identity of the people, it 

 may be traced to the Arabs of the 

 present day. 



The Portuguese power was often 

 violated by these pirates: and in 

 the same age the English interests 

 in tlie East were so much endan- 

 gered by them, that one of the 

 agents in Persia (who had all in- 

 deed successively made represen- 

 tations on the necessity of sendin"- 

 an armed force to destroy them) 

 declared, that " they were likely 

 to becomeasgreatplagu€sinIndia, 



as the Algerines werein Europe." 

 Some of these ships had from 30 to 

 50 guns : and one of their fleets, 

 consisting of five ships, carried 

 between them one thousand five 

 hundred men. Within the last 

 few years, their attacks have been 

 almost indiscriminate; nor had 

 they learnt to respect even English 

 colours, as the instance in the 

 text, and the subsequent capture 

 of the Minerva, Capt. Hopgood, 

 proved too well. The British go- 

 vernment, however, knowing the 

 intimate connection of these pirates 

 on the coast with the Wahabee, 

 proceeded in the suppression of the 

 evil with cautious judgment; and 

 when, by the extension of these 

 outrages to themselves, they were 

 driven to vindicate the honour of 

 their flag, and to extirpate their 

 enemies, they regarded all the 

 ports, which had not actually in- 

 cluded the British within their de- 

 predations, as still neutral ; and 

 endeavoured to confine their war- 

 fare to reprisals, for specific acts 

 of violence, rather than to commit 

 themselves generally against the 

 Wahabee, by extending the Ht- 

 tack to those of that alliance who, 

 amid all their piracies, had yet not 

 violated the commerce of England. 



We 



