132 CIVIL HISTORY AND 



the Desert ; while the latter, through the bravery 

 of Arslan the pasha of Tripoli, defeated the free- 

 booters, and upheld the authority of the Turkish 

 emperor as protector of the sacred territory. Na- 

 dir Shah made an attempt to subdue the Arabs 

 who constantly infested his frontier; and, in the 

 prosecution of this object, had at an immense ex- 

 pense equipped a fleet of twenty-five sail on the 

 Persian Gulf. But the success of the expedition 

 was frustrated by religious animosities ; for the 

 sailors, being Indians who were Sonnees, refused 

 to fight against their brethren of the same orthodox 

 faith ; and after massacring their Sheah officers 

 they carried off the ships. Another of his schemes 

 was to transport these troublesome neighbours to 

 the shores of the Caspian Sea, and settle a colony 

 of Persians in their room ; but his tragical death, 

 in 1747; prevented the execution of this project. 



The precarious authority of the Turks received 

 frequent shocks from the independent princes and 

 sheiks in the interior, who had never been sub- 

 dued. So early as 1630 they were expelled from 

 Yemen, where their name and their government 

 were alike odious, and obliged to evacuate all the 

 places on the coasts, which they had occupied for 

 more than a century. The sultans style them- 

 selves sovereigns of Hejaz ; but their sole title to 

 this distinction consists in a few slender preroga- 

 tives, which may now be considered as nearly an- 

 nihilated. As lord-paramount, the grand seignior 

 can appoint or depose a governor, though he dare 

 not always venture to punish a rebel. The revenues 

 which he draws from this capricious province are 

 proportionate to his diminished authority, being li- 





