Ohjervaiions &c. 267 



Neither are thefe People much more converfant in any oiThefe Peopu 

 the Branches of Mathematicks. For in the firft Place they MaKa" 

 are altogether Strangers to the fpeculative and abftraded Parts "''''' 

 of them. Even fuch Quadrants, Aitrolabes, and other Mathe- 

 matical Initruments of their AnceffcorSj as have efcaped the 

 Injuries of Time, are looked upon rather as Curiofities, than 

 confulted as ufeful Inventions. Befides feveral of thefe Qa2L-'"'^totf-A^jfe 

 drants, defigned chiefly for taking Altitudes, I oncefaw one atmenVS-c 

 Tozer in, what we call, Oughtred\ Projedion, well executed 

 and of a Foot Radius. We are alfo fometimes favoured with 

 a Sight of their Kalendars, (all of Them likewife the Works 

 of former Ages) wherein the Suns Place, the femidiurnal 

 and noolurnal Arch, the Length of the Twilight, with the 

 feveral Hours of Prayer for each Day in the Month, are calcu- 

 lated to a Minute and beautifully inferted in proper Columns. 

 But thefe again are as little confulted, as the Initruments•, for 

 in Cafe the Cloudinefs of the Weather will not permit them to 

 adjuft their fmall and greater Hour-Glafles, to fome inaccurate 

 Meridian Lines they have made for that Purpofe, the Times 

 of Devotion, which ihould be pundtual to a Minute, are left 

 intirely to the Will and Pleafure of their {Mwezzims) Cryers ♦ 

 no other Methods being ftudied for the Menfuration of Time; 

 and publick Clocks, from the great Averfion perhaps the 

 Mahometans have to Bells, not being allow^ed of in this 

 Country. 



Nay not even the firft Operations, in either Numeral ^ri/>&- f'^'p p<«« 

 metick or Algehra^ are known to one Perfon in twenty thou- AnthmTt icL 

 fand, notwithftanding their Fore-fathers, if we may judge 

 from the Name ', feem to have been the Inventors of the one, 

 as they have given to all Europe the Characters ' of the other. 

 However the Merchants, befides being frequently very dex- 

 trous in the Addition and Subftradion of large Sums by Me- 

 mory, have a lingular Method of Numeration, by putting 

 their Hands into each others Sleeve, and there, touching one 

 another with this or that Finger, or with fuch a particular 

 Joynt of It, (each of them denoting a determined Sum or 



Ϊ j':^ J'^^'^f eft Redudlo partium ad totum, feu fradionum ad integritatcm. £f h'mc Al- 

 gebra nomen babet. Gol. 2 Our Numbers, viz. i. 2. 3. 4. y. 6. 7. 8. p. o. being borrowed 

 /row f/'f Arabian /μμυ^ο^νΛί]» which were Or'iginallj from the laduns. Vid. 

 BernArdi Tab. Litcrat. Seriem VII. 



X X X X Number) 



