^' 



PREFACE. 



It has been frequently remarked with surprise 

 and regret, that while the annals of almost every 

 nation of any political importance have been illus- 

 trated by British talent, no writer has hitherto 

 favoured the world with a regular and continuous 

 history of the Arabs. This neglect seems the 

 more extraordinary in an age so distinguished as 

 the present for literary enterprise, and \vhen so 

 many valuable accessions have been recently made 

 to our scanty knowledge of the Arabian peninsula 

 in the journals of intelligent travellers and scientific 

 expeditions. Considering the many great and 

 diversified events which the subject embraces, and 

 the feelings of romantic interest that still attach to 

 the celebrated regions of gold and frankincense, 

 there appears some reason for the complaint that so 

 little has been done to elucidate the character and 

 actual condition of this ancient and renowned 

 people, whose exploits once filled all Europe with 

 astonishment ; and that so much yet remains un- 

 known of the sandy deserts they inhabit, and the 

 singular institutions by which they are governed. 



An attempt to supply this omission by connecting 

 the records of the past with the illustrations of 



