The Arabs 

 falfe and 

 treacherous. 



go2 Phyjical and MifceJlaneoiis 



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

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

 will Hand up all the Time and ferve them'. 



Yet the outward Behaviour of the y^rah frequently gives the 

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

 ly thievifh 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 Inilances 

 of Friendfliip 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 fulfilUng to this Day, the 

 Prophefy oi Jacob, (Gen.i6. ii.) that Ifimael JJjould he a wild 

 Man ; his hand fiould be again fl every Man, and every Mans 

 hand againfl his. However it muft be mentioned to the Ho- 

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

 on a Trade with fome barbarous Nations bordering upon the 

 Th. weftcrn River Niger, without feeing' the Perfons they Trade with, or 

 ^i'^^^'^^f without havinff once broke through that original Charter of 

 whom tkey Commcrcc , which from Tune immemorial has been fettled 

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

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

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

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

 Knives andScifiars, 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, fev^eral different Heaps of Gold Dult, 

 lying at a fmall Diflance 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 Deductions from the Gold Dufl 

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

 the leaft Inflance of Dilhonefty or Perfidioufnefs. 



I As we find the Patriarch did, in the Hiftory above, V. 8. And Abraham took. Butter and 

 Milk, ind the Calf which he had dreffed and fet it before them ; and he flood by them under the Tree 

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

 2. contra Ku\\.) fraudulenti & mendaces. 3 In like Manner the Seres are faid never to fee or 

 fpeak with the People they traded with. Euftathius likewife upon the Faith of Herodotus 

 relates, that the dirtbagimans traded after the fame Manner with Come People beyond //«- 

 ««/« Pillars. Vid. Arbuthnott on Coins, p. 2 70. 



The 



