206 EPOCHS IN THE HISTORY OF THE CONTEMPLATION 



secution was here as elsewhere (among Christian nation? 

 also), rather the effect of a boundless dogmatising despo- 

 tism, ( 315 ) than of the original faith and doctrine or of the 

 religious contemplation of the nation. The severity of the 

 Koran is principally directed against idolatry, and especially 

 against the worship of idols by Aramean races. 



As the life of nations is determined not only by their 

 internal mental dispositions, but also by many external con- 

 ditions of soil, climate, proximity of the sea, &c., we should 

 first recal the diversities of form presented by the Arabian 

 peninsula. Although the first impulse which led to the 

 great changes which the Arabians wrought in the three 

 continents proceeded from the Ismaelitish Hedjaz, and 

 owed its principal strength to a solitary pastoral tribe, yet 

 the coasts of the other parts of the peninsula had for thou- 

 sands of years enjoyed some portion of intercourse with the 

 rest of the world. In order to obtain an insight into the 

 connection and necessary conditions of great and singular 

 events, we must ascend to the causes which gradurJly prepared 

 the way for them. 



Towards the south west, near the Erythrean Sea, is 

 situated the fine fruitful and agricultural country of the 

 Joctanides, ( 3l6 ) Yemen, the ancient seat of civilization 

 (Saba). It produces incense (lebonah of the Hebrews, per- 

 haps Boswellia thurifera, Colebr.), ( 31 ^) myrrh (a kind of 

 Amyris, first exactly described by Ehrenberg), and what is 

 called the balsam of Mecca (BalSamodendron gileadense, 

 Kunth) : all of which formed articles of a considerable trade 

 with neighbouring nations, and were carried to the Egyp- 

 tians, to the Persians and Indians, and to the Greeks and 

 Romans. It Tras from these productions that the geographical 



