394 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



among strangers ; and the mixed alliances in the earlier 

 period of the tribal history, contracted with Egyptians, 

 Canaanites, Arabs, Babylonians, and even Phoenicians, 

 affected it, till in the end they adopted Greek and 

 Roman names. The males of a race cannot alone 

 maintain its purity, and where polygamy exists, the 

 other sex must necessarily change it almost entirely. 



In China, Cochin-China, and Malabar, Jews now 

 exist in families, according to the most trustworthy 

 account, ever since they were expelled Persia, in the 

 year of Christ 508. There are in the last named 

 region black Jews, probably a mixed race of proselytes 

 of low caste. Though an older people, the Suleimanic 

 Affghans pretend to be descendants of the first cap- 

 tivity ; there is still a clan of them known as the Beni 

 Khaibe in Arabia ; and the Falishas of Abyssinia, 

 according to Bruce, are a tribe of Jews ; finally, the 

 white race of Zafi-Ibrim, in Madagascar, claim Abra- 

 ham for their progenitor. The handsomest of the 

 whole nation are asserted to be the Babylonians of 

 Mesopotamia; and it used to be from among them that 

 the prince of the captivity, now the wretched repre- 

 sentative of the ancient kings, was and still is selected 

 by the Turkish government. 



In all lands they are, as of old, a stiff-necked race, 

 most resolutely attached to their institutions, ever since 

 the Christian dispensation was promulgated. It is 

 difficult to decide whether their own obstinacy of 

 character, or the unceasing injustice of mankind, have 

 been other than agents mutually acting upon each 



