i\6 NATURAL HISTORY: 



difficulty they are discovered. Their complexion 19 

 fair, and sometimes even red, like that of the Europeans. 

 They do not speak the language of Ceylon ; nor indeed 

 has their language the least affinity to that of any of 

 the other Indians. They have no villages, no houses, 

 no intercourse with the rest of mankind. Their arms 

 are, the bow and the arrow, with which they destroy 

 a number of boars, stags, and other animals ; and 

 though they never dress their meat, they sweeten it 

 with honey, winch they possess in great abundance. 



The inhabitants of Persia, of Turkey, of Arabia, of 

 Egypt and of the whole of Barbary, may be consider- 

 ed as one and the same people, who, in the time of 

 Mahomet, and of his 'successors, invaded immense ter- 

 ritories, extended their dominions, and incorporated 

 with the original natives of all those countries. The 

 Persians, the Turks, and the Moors, arc to a certain 

 degree civilized ; but the Arabians have, for the most 

 part, remained in a state of independence, which im- 

 plies a contempt of laws. They live, like the Tartars, 

 without order, without government, and almost with- 

 out society. Theft, robbery, and violence, are author- 

 ized by their chiefs. They glory in their vices ; and 

 of all human conventions, those only have they ad- 

 mitted which owe their existence to fanaticism and 

 superstition. 



They are a people much inured to labour ; and to 

 it they habituate their horses. They allow this ani- 

 mal to eat and drink but once in twenty-four hours ; 

 and though their horses are meagre, they are excellent 

 coursers, and seem indefatigable. 



The Egyptian women are very brown ; their eyes 

 nre lively ; their stature is rather Jow ; their mode of 

 is by no means agreeable ; and their conversation 



