﻿14 THE FOURTH DISCOURSE : 



ent from that of the Hindus, and that their first esta- 

 blishments in the respective countries where we now 

 find them, were nearly coeval. 



I cannot finish this article without observing, that, 

 when the King of Denmark's ministers instructed the 

 Danish travellers to collect historical books in Arabic, 

 but not to busy themselves with procuring Arabian 

 poems, they certainly were ignorant that the only mo- 

 numents of old Arabian history are collections of poe- 

 tical pieces and the commentaries on them j that all 

 memorable transactions in Arabia were recorded in 

 verse ; and that more certain facts may be known by 

 reading the Hamasah, the Dhvan of Hudhail, and the 

 valuable work of Obaididlah, than by turning over a 

 hundred volumes in prose, unless indeed those poems 

 are cited by the historians as their authorities. 



IV. The manners of the Hejazi Arabs, which have 

 continued, we know, from the time of Solomon to the 

 present age, were by no means favourable to the cul- 

 tivation of arts-, and, as to sciences, we have no rea- 

 son to believe that they were acquainted with any j 

 for the mere amusement of giving names to stars, 

 which were useful to them in their pastoral or preda- 

 tory rambles through the deserts, and in their obser- 

 vations on the weather, can hardly be considered as a 

 material part of astronomy. The only arts in which 

 they pretended to excellence (I except horsemanship 

 and military accomplishments) were poetry and rheto- 

 ric. That we have none of their compositions in prose 

 before the Koran, may be ascribed, perhaps, to the 

 little skill which they seem to have had in writing, 

 to their, predilection in favour of poetical measure, 

 .and to the facility with which verses are committed 

 to memory ; but all their stories prove, that they were 

 eloquent in a high degree, and possessed wonderful 

 powers of speaking, without preparation in flowing 



