CHAPTER XXIII. 



" A greater part of the earth hath ever hccn peopled than liath been 

 known or described by geographers." — Sir Thomas BHOW^yE. 



Geogi-apliy of N'orthern Arabia — Physical features of the Desert — 

 Migrations of its tribes — The Euphrates valley — Desert 

 villages — Some hints for map-makers. 



Arabia is usually represented on our maps as 

 being bounded to the north by a curved line, starting 

 from the head of the Persian Gulf and endino; at 

 the Gulf of Akaba. Its vertex is placed by most 

 geographers in latitude 34°, or a few miles south of 

 the ancient city of Palmyra. This, in the days of 

 the Eoman empire, no doubt represented pretty 

 accurately the limits of fixed authority southwards 

 towards the Peninsula. The line of the Euphrates 

 was at that time guarded, and a military high road 

 connected the river with the hills al)0ve Damascus, 

 shuttino; out the Bedouin tribes of Arabia from the 

 pastures of Mesopotamia and of the upper " Syrian 

 Desert." Within the limits thus traced, settled life 

 was secure acrainst marauders, and the common 

 law of the empire prevailed. But it is many cen- 

 turies now since the Euphrates ceased to be the 

 real boundary of Arabia, or the high road passing 



