SOCIAL STATE OP THE ARABS. 347 



being universally just. A longer residence among 

 them and better opportunities of judging have con- 

 tributed to remove many erroneous impressions as to 

 their social and domestic habits. 



No people are more remarkable than the Arabs 

 for their spirit of nationality and family-pride. The 

 poorest of them glory in their birth, and look with 

 disdain on the natives of other countries. They 

 boast of the accuracy with which they have pre- 

 served their genealogies ; yet the lower, and most 

 even of the middle classes, keep no register of their 

 parentage, and would often be at a loss to know their 

 fathers or grandfathers, were it not regulated by 

 custom that the son frequently joins their names to 

 his own. The sheiks and sheriffs are the true aris- 

 tocracy of Arabia j and these have reason to be vain 

 of their ancestry, which some of them can trace in 

 regular descent from the days of Mohammed or 

 Moses. The oldest nobility in Europe are but of yes- 

 terday compared to these petty princes of the desert. 



Though the title of sheik is the most ancient and 

 most common in use among the Arabian grandees, 

 the sheriffs, being the descendants of Mohammed, 

 hold the first rank in point of dignity. This has 

 arisen doubtless from the singular veneration in 

 which the family of the Prophet is held, and it has 

 entailed on his posterity the double honour that al- 

 ways attaches to splendid descent and superior sanc- 

 tity. The sheriffs are very numerous, and multi- 

 plied over all Mohammedan countries. Whole vil- 

 lages are peopled with them ; and they are frequently 

 found in the lowest state of misery. Still their pre- 

 sence commands universal respect ; in a fray no arm 

 would violate their person, their character is held 

 sacred, and furnishes a better protection for their pro- 



