cii. XXIV.] The Sabccans. 195 



neighbourhood of Souk esli Shiokli, a village on the 

 Shatt el Arab below Hillah, and numbering in all 

 about 3000 souls. 



According to the Sabaaan traditions, which date 

 from the creation of the Avorld, their history has been 

 as follows : Before the time of Noah, they say, all the 

 world was Sabsean, believing in one same unseen 

 God, and speaking the same language. Noah liad 

 four sons, Shem, Ham, Yaman, and Japhet, who 

 some time after the flood began to speak each a 

 separate language, Shem only, preserving that of his 

 father (they know nothing of the tower of Babel), 

 The Sabaeans are the true descendants of Shem, and 

 to the present day have preserved the ancient tongue 

 unchanged. In it their hook is written, and it is 

 described as a sort of Syriac. The Sabseans first 

 settled in Egypt, being the same Egyptians over 

 whom Pharaoh ruled when he oppressed the children 

 of Israel. The present tribe claims descent from 

 Ardewdn, a brother of the Pharaoh who was drowned 

 in the Red Sea. They subsequently founded a 

 kingdom at Damascus which lasted till two hundred 

 years after the death of their prophet, John the 

 Baptist (three hundred and sixty-eight before the 

 Hejira). Then they removed to Bagdad, where they 

 flourished until the Caliphate was overthrown by the 

 Tartars. At that time they possessed four hundred 

 churches, but these were then destroyed, Tamerlane 

 carrying away all their books to Ispahan, where 

 it is believed they still exist. They themselves 



