5 02 Thjfical and Mifcellaneous 



being the moil officious ; and who, after his Entertainment is 

 prepared, thinks it a Shame to fit down with his Guefts, but 

 will ftand up all the Time and ferve them". 

 The Arabs Yet the outward Behaviour of the u^rah frequently gives the 

 iJtchZts. Lye to his inward Temper and Indination. For he is natural- 

 ly thieviili and treacherous^; and it fometimes happens that 

 thofe very Perfons are overtaken and pillaged in the Morning, 

 who were entertained the Night before, with all the Inftances 

 of Friendihip and Hofpitality. Neither are they to be accufed 

 for plundering Strangers only, and attacking almoft every Per- 

 fon, whom they find unarmed and defencelefs, but for thofe 

 many implacable and hereditary Animofities, which continu- 

 ally fubfift among them, literally fulfilling to this Day, the 

 Prophefy oi Jacob, (Gen.i6. ία.) that Ifljmael pjould he awiid 

 Man ; his hand fljoidd he againfl every Man, and every Mans 

 hand aga'infl his. However it muft be mentioned to the Ho- 

 nour of the IVeftern Moors, that they ftill continue to carry 

 on a Trade with fome barbarous Nations bordering upon the 

 Tke wcftern Rivcr Niger, without feeing ^ the Perfons they Trade with, or 

 Moors^rWj^^-^j^Q^^ having once broke through that original Charter of 

 ■whom they Commerce , which from Time immemorial has been fettled 



never fee. -» >r i i • i • 



between them. The Method is this. At a certani Time of the 

 Year, (in the Winter, if I am not miftaken,) They make this 

 Journey in a numerous Caravan, carrying along with them ie- 

 veral Strings of Coral and Glafs- Beads, Bracelets of Horn 

 Knives andScifilirs, and fuch like Trinkets. When they arrive 

 at the Place appointed, which is on fuch a Day of the Moon, 

 they find, in the Evening, feveral different Heaps of Gold Duil:, 

 lying at a fmall Diftance from each other, againft which the 

 Moors place fo many of their Trinkets as they judge will be 

 taken for the Value. If the Nigritians, the next Morning, 

 approve of the Bargain, they take up the Trinkets and leave 

 the Gold, or elfe make fome Deduftions from the Gold Duft 

 &c. &c. and in this Manner tranfact their Exchange without 

 the leaft Inftance of Diihonefty or Perfidioufnefs. 



I As wc find the Patriarch did, in the Hillory above, V. 8. And Abraham took_Butter and 

 Milk. <<«'' tl'^ Ciilf which he had drejfed and fct it before them ; and he flood by them tinder the Tree 

 and they did eat. 2 Like their PrcdeceiTors the Carthaginians, who are called by Ttdly (Orat. 

 2. contra ^v\\\.) fraudulenti & mendaces. 3 In like Manner the Seres are laid never to fee or 

 Ipeak with the People they traded with. Euflathins likewifc upon the Faith of Herodotus 

 relates, that the Carthaginians traded after the fame Manner with ibme People beyond Her- 

 ck/w Pillars. Vid. Arbuthnott on Coins P. 230. 



The 



