THE ARABS 573 



own historians, " like groups of clouds which the winds ere 

 'ong will scatter abroad." No other migratory moveir ent 

 has presented a more striking and instructive character ; and 

 it would appear, as if the depressive influence, manifested in 

 circumscribing mental vigour, and which was apparently in- 

 herent in Islamism, acted less powerfully on the nations under 

 the dominion of the Arabs than on Turkish races. Persecution 

 for the sake of religion was here, as everywhere, even among 

 Christians, more the result of an unbounded, dogmatising 

 despotism, than the consequence of any original form of 

 belief, or any religious contemplation existing amongst the 

 people. The anathemas of the Koran are especially directed 

 against superstition and the worship of idols, amongst races 

 ftf Aramaeic descent.* 



As the life of nations is, independently of mental culture, 

 determined by many external conditions of soil, climate, and 

 vicinity to the sea, we must here remember the great 

 values presented by the Arabian peninsula. Although 

 the first impulse towards the changes effected by the Arabs in 

 the three continents emanated from the Ismaelitish Hedschaz, 

 and owed its principal force to one sole race of herdsmen, 

 the littoral portions of the peninsula had continued for thou- 

 sands of years, open to intercourse with the rest of the world. 

 In order to understand the connection and existence of grea* 

 find singular occurrences, it is necessary to ascend to the 

 primitive causes, by which they have been gradually prepared. 



Towards the south-west, on the Erythrean Sea, lies Yemen, 

 the ancient seat of civilisation (of Saba), the beautiful, fruit- 

 ful, and richly cidtivated land of tta JoctaniclaB.f It pro- 

 duced incense (the lebonali of the Hebiews, perhaps the Bos- 



* Hence the contrast between the tyrannical measures of Motewekkil, 

 the tenth Caliph of the house of the Abassides, against Jews and 

 Christians (Joseph von Hammer, Ueber die Landerverwaltung unter 

 dem Chalifate, 1835, s. 27, 85, und 117), and the mild tolerance ol 

 wiser rulers in Spain (Conde, Hist, de la Domination de los Aral en 

 en Espaha, T. i. 1820, p. 67). It should also be remembered, that 

 Omar, after the taking of Jerusalem, tolerated every rite of Christian 

 worship, and concluded a treaty with the Patriarch favourable to the 

 Christians. (Fundgruben des Orients, Bd. v. s. 68.) 



t It would appear from tradition, that a branch of the Hebrews mi 

 grated to southern Arabia, under the name of Jokthan (Qachthan.) be 



