INTRODUCTION. 29 



Portuguese had, in 1197, opened up a new passage 

 to India by the Cape of Good Hope, the genius of 

 ancient commerce abandoned the shores of the Red 

 Sea; and its altered course dissolved, in a great 

 measure, the only remaining bond of connexion 

 which had hitherto attracted the cupidity of stran- 

 gers towards the fertile regions of gold and frankin- 

 cense. 



In process of time, however, these barriers, which 

 ignorance and bigotry had reared, were gradually 

 broken down. Literary men, both here and on the 

 Continent, began to study the works of the Arabian 

 authors ; and to unlock, by means of their transla- 

 tions and commentaries, the sealed treasures of 

 oriental learning. Pocock, at Oxford, spent more 

 than sixty years in this laudable toil.* Various 

 foreign scholars trod in his footsteps -svith equal 

 erudition : and to them the world is indebted as the 

 first restorers of Arabian literature. Since their 

 time numerous societies have been instituted for 

 the purpose of collecting and giving to the public 

 such information respecting the East as may lie 

 scattered among the hoarded stores of modern libra- 

 ries ; or can be procured by the research of indi- 

 viduals who have visited or resided in the countries 

 whose history, mamiers, and productions it is their 

 object to illustrate. Several Arabian works have 

 recently appeared under the auspices of the College 

 of Fort'William in India, and of the Oriental Trans- 

 lation Committee established in London. Within 

 the last two or three years, a periodical work in 

 their o^vn language was projected in the capital of 

 France, for the benefit of the Arabs, in order to 



* The elder Pocock (Edward) is a name of which Enghsh 

 literature mav well be proud. He studied in the East, and on 

 his return was dismissed b}- his master with this compliment, — 

 " Go thv way ; wheresoever thou goest, thou knowest more 

 Arabic than the .Mufti of Aleppo."— Oc/c?ey's Hist. Pref. voL ii, 

 p. 2a 



C2 



