ARAB GENEALOGY. 



369 



called Benu Yernin, sons of the right hand, because 

 they dwelt to the south or on the right hand of the 

 Ka'ahah. Their migration is attributed to the 

 bursting of the dyke of Arim, near Mareb, the 

 Mariaba of Ptolemy, which is the Babel-tower of 

 Arabian history in the Days of Ignorance. The 

 learned Dr Wetzstein (p. 104, Reisebericht iiber 

 Hauran, &c. Berlin, 1860) believes this event to 

 have taken place about the beginning of our era ; 

 most authors, however, place it at the end of the 

 1st or the beginning of our 2nd century. It was 

 probably the over-populating of the land which 

 sent forth the two great Sabsean tribes of Azud 

 and Himyar to Bahrayn and X. Eastern Arabia ; 

 they united, and were known as the Tanukh or 

 Confederates. The former, also called from a chief 

 ' Xasri,' settled upon the Euphrates, and founded 

 the East Tanukh kingdom, whose capital was after- 

 wards Hira. The Himyar or Kudai originated, in 

 the Hauran and the Belka, the West Tanukh king- 

 dom, also termed from a chief ' Salih.' These men, 

 converted to Christianity, were probably the 

 builders of the 'Giant cities' of Bashan, mere 

 provincial towns of the Greco-Boman Empire. 

 Ta'alab (Thalaba), one of the sons of Malik bin 

 Fakhm, is mentioned as the first ruler of East 

 Tanukh. The extinct family of the Druze 



vol. L 24 



