NATURE IN THE NUDE. 181 



pended entirely upon the intellect, could these bar- 

 barians have preceded the Greeks, so far their superiors 

 in every other respect ? The anomaly, however, can 

 be easily explained. In the first theological epoch 

 every object and every phenomenon of Nature was 

 supposed to be a creature ; in the second epoch, the 

 dwelling or expression of a god. It is evident that 

 the more numerous the objects and phenomena, the 

 more numerous would be the gods ; the more difficult 

 it would be to unravel Nature, to detect the connec- 

 tion between phenomena, to discover the unity which 

 underlies them all. In Greece there is a remarkable 

 variety of climate and contour : hills, groves, and 

 streams diversify the scene ; rugged snow-covered peaks 

 and warm coast lands, with waving palms, He side by 

 side. But in the land of the Bedouins Nature may 

 be seen in the nude. The sky is uncovered ; the earth 

 is stripped and bare. It is as difficult for the inhabit- 

 ants of such a country to believe that there are many 

 gods, as for the people of such a land as Greece to 

 believe that there is only one. The earth and the 

 wells and some uncouth stones ; the sun, the moon, 

 and the stars are almost the only materials of super- 

 stition that the Bedouin can employ ; and that they 

 were so employed we know. Stone worship and star 

 idolatry, with the adoration of ancestral shades, pre- 

 vailed within Arabia in ancient times, and even now 

 are not extinct. " The servant of the sun " was one 

 of the titles of their ancient kings. Certain honours 

 are yet paid to the morning star. But in that coun- 

 try the one-god belief was always that of the higher 

 class of minds, at least within historic time ; it is 

 therefore not incorrect to term it the Arabian creed. 

 We shall now proceed to show in what manner that 



