PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS OF ARABIA. 85 



easy to discover the Tliainudeni of Diodonis, Pliny, 

 and Ptolemy. Th^^ notion of giants is not uncom- 

 mon, though it may in this instance have arisen from 

 a mistranslation of the Koran. It is curious that 

 the sons of Anak destroyed by Joshua (xi. 21) dwelt 

 near the same place. The .levvash rabbis make 

 Japhet and his son giants. The latter, they add, 

 inherited an iron machine from his grandfather 

 Noah, every stroke of which, when rightly aimed, 

 slew a thousand men ; and when not aimed at all it 

 slew five hundred. The circumstance of dwelling 

 in caves gave rise to the name of Troglodytes ; and 

 this was common to other tribes besides the Tha- 

 mudites. Bruce observed them in Abyssinia ; and 

 Horneman found them in Fezzan, where they had 

 existed since the time of Pliny. 



The tribes of Tasm and Jadis settled between 

 Mecca and Medina, and occupied the whole level 

 country of Yemen, living promiscuously under the 

 same government. Their history is buried in dark- 

 ness ; and when the Arabs wish to denote any thing 

 of dubious authority, they call it a fable of Tasm. 



The extinction of these tribes, if we maj^ believe 

 the Koran, was very miraculous, and a signal exam- 

 ple of Divine vengeance. The posterity of Ad and 

 Thamud had abandoned the worship of the true 

 God, and lapsed into incorrigible idolatry. They 

 had been chastised Avitli a three years drought, but 

 their hearts remained hardened. To the former 

 was sent the prophet Hud (or Heber), to reclaim 

 them, and preach the unity of the Godhead. " 

 people !" exclaimed the prophet, " understand and 

 be converted, and supplicate remission for your 

 sins ! Then shall the heavens drop with rain, and 

 your sustenance shall be renewed." Few believed ; 

 and the overthrow of the idolaters was effected by 

 a hot and suffocating Avind, that blew seven nights 

 and eight days without intermission, accompanied 

 with a terrible earthquake, by which their idols were 



Vol. I.— H 



