INTRODUCTION. 19 



tion, and associations that speak more home to our 

 hearts and our aflfections than the proudest monu- 

 ments reared by human labour : with its deserts and 

 moimtains are entwined some of our most ancient 

 and hallowed recollections, as places memorable in 

 Scripture history, and consecrated in the eyes of all 

 civilized nations by having witnessed the visible 

 descent of the Divine Being, and some of the sub- 

 liraest manifestations of his power. It was in Ara- 

 bia that those wonderful transactions took place 

 which immediately followed the exode of the Israel- 

 ites from Egypt ; its Avaters were miraculously di- 

 vided for their passage ; it was through its rocky 

 defiles and barren sands that they journeyed for eight- 

 and-thirty years, doing penance for their murmurings 

 and rebellion, before they could be admitted into the 

 Promised Land. The fleets of Solomon and Hiram 

 frequented its seas, and traded in its markets ; im- 

 porting thence the gold and the ivory of which we 

 read in the chronicles of the times. Its traffic and 

 its merchandise are renowned both in sacred and 

 profane history ; and for many ages it continued 

 to be the only comiecting link of commercial inter- 

 course between the nations of the East and the 

 West. 



The inspired -writers have borrowed from its man- 

 ners and its productions some of their finest allusions 

 and most striking descriptions. They make fre- 

 quent reference to the tabernacles of Edom, the 

 flocks of Kedar and Nebaioth, the incense of Sheba, 

 and the treasures of Ophir. The bride in the Song 

 of Songs draws her imagery from an Arab tent, when 

 she speaks of her beauty as " dark but comely," and 

 compares her tresses to the fine hair of the moun- 

 tain-goat. The terrible denunciations of the proph- 

 ets, and the sublime compositions of the Hebrew 

 poets, are greatly indebted to the same source for 

 many of their most pointed and impressive simili- 

 tudes. Isaiah, in predicting the downfall of Baby- 



