ARABIA. 



221 



tribute which he obtains from It Is 2000 hundred 

 weight of coffee. Aden, the chief gum market, lies 

 in ruins. 2. The province Oman, under the imam 

 of Mascat, a seaport, containing 60,000 inhabitants, 

 to which belongs, also, the island Socrota (which fur- 

 nishes the best aloes,) on the coast of Africa. 3. The 

 province Lachsa, or Hadsjar, whose harbours, in the 

 Persian gulf, are infested with pirates, has also rich 

 pearl fisheries. 4. The provinces Nedsched and 

 Jemama, the original and principal country of the 

 M'ahabees (q. v.), or Wehabites, with their chief 

 city, Derrejeh. This country, or central Arabia, has 

 become very familiar by Mengin's Hist, d' Egypte 

 sous Mohammed AH, and a map of Jomard, 1823. 5. 

 The province Hedsjas, on the upper shore of the Red 

 sea. Here is the Holy Land of the Mohammedans, con- 

 taining Mecca, Medina, &c. Not far from the valley 

 of Moses are the remarkable antiquities of Petra and 

 Jerrasch. The seaport, Jidda, population 5000, is- 

 indeed the residence of a Turkish pacha, but the 

 sheriff of Mecca conducts the government himself. 

 In the Syrian deserts lie the ruins of Palmyra, (q.v.) 

 On the western coast of Arabia there are high chains 

 of mountains, which unite on the north with the moun- 

 tains of Syria, and are connected with the primitive 

 mountains of Asia ; among them are Sinai and Horeb. 

 Of 4he rivers, wiiich appear only after great rains, 

 and seldom reach the sea, the Aftan, on the 

 sea coast is the most considerable : the Euphrates lies 

 on the northern boundary. The climate is very vari- 

 ous. Countries where it rains half the year alternate 

 with others, where dew supplies the place of rain 

 for the whole season. The greatest cold prevails on 

 high places, and the most oppressive heat in the 

 plains. Damp winds succeed to the dry simoom, 

 which is as dangerous to life as the liarmattan and 

 kliamseen in Africa. The soil consists of sandy 

 deserts and the most fruitful fields. Wheat, millet, 

 rice, kitchen vegetables, coffee (which grows on trees 

 in Arabia, its home, and on bushes in America, the 

 plants being kept low for the sake of gathering the 

 truit more easily), manna, sugar-cane, cotton, tropical 

 fruits, senna leaves, gums, aloes, myrrh, tobacco, In- 

 digo, odorous woods, balsam, &c., are the rich pro- 

 ducts of Arabia. There are, also, precious stones, 

 (ron and other metals (gold excepted, which the an- 

 cients, however, seem to have found pure in. rivers 

 and in the earth). The animals are, mules, asses, 

 camels, buflaloes, horned cattle, goats, noble horses, 

 lions, hyaenas, antelopes, foxes, apes, jerboas ; birds 

 of all sorts, pelicans, ostriches, &c. ; esculent locusts, 

 scorpions, &c. The inhabitants are principally gen- 

 uine Arabs, who speak a peculiar language, and 

 profess the Mohammedan religion. The Arabians are 

 still, as in the most ancient times, Nomades, of 

 patriarchal simplicity. They are herdsmen and 

 husbandmen. A passionate love of liberty, in- 

 dependence, and justice keeps them in a condition 

 in many respects happy. The old " Peace be with 

 thee" is still their common salutation. " Welcome ! 

 what do you wish?" is the address to a stranger, whose 

 entertainment costs only a "God reward you." They 

 practise robbery, though never at the expense of the 

 laws of hospitality. This warlike people have much 

 activity and skill in bodily exercises ; a good physical 

 conformation ; in warm plains, a skin ot a brownish- 

 yellow: their hardy education, cleanliness, and tem- 

 perance secure them from sickness. They call them- 

 selves Bedouins (Bedevi, sons of the desert, the 

 Arabes Sienita among the ancients), and are distin- 

 guished by their mode of life from the Moors, who 

 dwell in houses, and carry on, exclusively, agricul- 

 ture, trade, and commerce. Besides the original in- 

 habitants, Christians, Jews, Turks, and Banians dwell 

 in the country. Formerly, Arabia was the great 



depot of the Phoenician land trade : at present, the 

 ,rade by land and sea is wholly in foreign hands. 

 That by land is conducted by caravans. Ju the high 

 schools of the Arabians, instruction is given in as- 

 Tonomy (rather astrology), pharmacology, and phi- 

 osophy, so called : attention is also paid to history and 

 poetry. The Bedouins remain in the deepest ignor- 

 mce. Their government is very simple : the chiefs 

 are named the great emir, the emir, and sheikh, and 

 the judges are called cadi. The Turkish sultan is, 

 indeed, nominal master of the country, but the free 

 Arabian scorns his imbecile rule, and only obeys 

 when he pleases. The history of the Arabians, be- 

 fore Mohammed, is obscure, and, on account of its 

 light connexion with the rest of the world, of little 

 interest. The original inhabitants of the country are 

 called by the present Arabs Bajadites (the lost). 

 The present Arabs derive their origin from Joktan or 

 Kahtan in part, and in part from Ishmael. The de- 

 scendants of the former call themselves, emphatically, 

 Arabs ; those of the latter, Mostarabs. The name 

 Arab signifies an inhabitant of the West (for they are 

 in that direction from the Asiatics) : in Europe and 

 Africa, they were called Saracens (inhabitants of the 

 East). The older Arabian historians understand by 

 Arabia only Yemen. Hedsjaz (the rocky) they re- 

 gard as belonging partly to Egypt, partly to Syria ; 

 and the rest of the country they call the Syrian de- 

 sert. The princes (tobbai) of this land were, ancient 

 ly, entirely of the race of Kahtan, to which belonged 

 the family of the Homeyrites, who ruled over Ye- 

 men two thousand years. The Arabians of Yemen 

 and a part of the desert of Arabia lived in cities, and 

 practised agriculture : they had commerce, also, with 

 the East Indies, Persia, Syria, and Abyssinia ; and to 

 the latter of these countries they sent many colonies, 

 so that it was probably peopled by them. The rest 

 of the population then, as now, led a wandering life 

 in the deserts. The Arab is courteous in his man- 

 ner, temperate, and sprightly. Reared to continual 

 wandering, he possesses great bodily activity, and 

 power of enduring fatigue. The attachment of the 

 Arab to his horse, is as well known as the swiftness oi 

 the animal itself. The following cut represents an 

 Arab on horseback in the ordinary dress of the country. 





The costume of the Arabian women is not woli filled 

 to display the graces of person, yet, they arc gener- 

 ally elegantly formed, and would be considered at- 

 tractive in the eyes of Europeans, did they not abuse 

 their skin by paints. The following cut represents an 

 Arabian woman, in the common rank of life, with her 

 leathern pitcher for carrying water over her shoulder. 



