26 A R A 
ftucco, that give a dazzling whiterrefs to them. The har¬ 
bour is femicircular, the circuit of the wall is two miles, 
and there are feveral handfome mofques in the city. Suez, 
tire Ariinoe of the ancients, is furrounded by the defert, 
and is but an ill-built place. The fhips are forced to an¬ 
chor a league from the town, to which the leading channel 
has only about nine feet water. Juddah, or Jodda, is the 
place of the greateft trade in the Red Sea, for there the 
commerce between Arabia and Europe meets and is inter¬ 
changed, the former fending her gums, drugs, coffee, &c. 
and from Europe come cloths, iron, furs, and other arti¬ 
cles, by the way of Cairo. The revenues of thefe, with 
the profits of the port, are (hared by the grand fignior and 
the xeriff of Mecca, to whom the place jointly belongs. 
Mecca, the capital of Arabia Deferta, and the metro¬ 
polis of all Arabia, deferves particular notice ; as does 
likewife the city of Medina. At Mecca, the birth-place 
of Mahomet, is a mofque truly magnificent : its lofty roof 
being raifed in falhion of a dome, and covered with gold, 
with two beautiful towers at the end, of extraordinary 
height and architecture, make a delightful appearance, 
and are confpicuous at a great diftance. The mofque hath 
a hundred gates, with a window over each ; and the whole 
building within is decorated with the fined gildings and 
tapeflry. The number of pilgrims who yearly vifit this 
place is almoft incredible, every muflulman being obliged 
by his religion to come hither once in his life-time, or fend 
a deputy. At Medina, about fifty miles from the Red Sea, 
jhe city where Mahomet was buried, is a (lately mofque, 
fupported by 400 pillars, and furnilhed with 300 filver 
lamps, which are continually burning. It is called the 
Mojl Holy , becaufe in it is placed the coffin of Mahomet, 
covered with cloth of gold, under a canopy of filver tilfue, 
which the bafhaw of Egypt, by order of the grand fignior, 
renews every year. The camel which carries it derives a 
fort of fanCtity from this office, and is never to be ufed in 
any drudgery afterwards. Over the foot of the coffin is a 
rich golden crefcent, fo curioufly wrought, and adorned 
with precious (tones, that it is efteemed a mafter-piece of 
great value. Thither the pilgrims refort, as to Mecca, 
but not in fuch numbers. 
The inland country of Arabia is now under the govern¬ 
ment of many petty princes, who are (lyled xeriffs and 
imans, both of them including the offices of king and 
prieft. Thefe monarchs appear to be abfolute, both in 
fpirituals and temporals ; the fucceffion is hereditary, and 
they have no other laws than thofe found in the Koran, 
and the comments upon it. The northern Arabs are go¬ 
verned by bafhaws, fent from Conftantinople; but it is 
certain they receive large gratuities from the grand fignior 
for protecting the pilgrims that pafs through their coun¬ 
try from the robberies of their countrymen. The Arabians 
have no (landing regular army, but their kings command 
both the perfons and the purfes of their fubjefts, as the 
necefiity of affairs requires. 
ARA'BIAN HE'RESY,y. The belief that the foul 
died or dept till the day of judgment, and then had its 
refurreftion without the body. 
Arabian Horses. See Horse. 
ARA'BICI, a fed who fprung up in Arabia, about 
the year 207, whofe diftinguifhing tenet was, that the foul 
died with the body, and alfo rofe again with it. Eufebius, 
hb. vi. c. 38. relates, that a council was called to (fop the 
progrefs of this rifing fe£t, and that Origen affifted at it; 
and convinced them fo thoroughly of their error, that they 
abjured it. 
A'R ABlS,yi [from Arabia .] In botany, a genus of the 
tetradynamia filiquofa clafs, in the natural order of fiili- 
quofae, or cruciformes. The generic characters are—Ca¬ 
lyx: perianthium four-leaved, deciduous; leaflets from 
parallel-converging; two oppofite larger, ovate-oblong, 
acute, a little prominent at the bafe, gibbofe, concave; 
the two others linear, eredt. Corolla: four-petalled, cru¬ 
ciform ; petals (preading, ending in claws the length of 
She calyx j nedtaries four, each from a little fcale, within 
A R A 
the bottom of the calycine leaflet, affixed to the recepta¬ 
cle, reflex, permanent. Stamina: filaments fubulate, up¬ 
right, two the length of the calyx, four twice as long; 
antherae cordate, eredt. Pifiillum : germ columnar, the 
length of the flamens ; ftyle none; fiigma obtufe, entire. 
Pericarpium : filique comprelfed, very long, linear, un¬ 
equal, with fwellings at the feeds; valves almoft the length 
of the partition. Seeds: very many, roundifh, comprefled. 
— EJJ'ential CharaEler. Nedtareous glands four, one w ithin 
each leaflet of the calyx, like a reflex feale. 
Species. 1. Arabis alpina, or alpine wall-crefs : leaves 
ftem-clafping, toothed. This is a perennial plant, increa- 
fing very faft by its creeping roots, which run obliquely 
near the furface, and fend out fibres at every joint. The 
root-leaves are colledted into heads, fpreading circularly ; 
they are oblong, whitifh, and indented on their edges. 
From the middle of thefe heads arife the flowering ftems, 
which grow near a foot high ; with leaves on them placed 
alternately, broader at their bafe than thofe which grow 
below, and clofely embracing the ftem, The flowers grow 
in loole bunches towards the top ; die petals are white, 
obtufe, and entire ; the calyx is yellowifti, fhorter by one- 
third than the corolla. This plant, in its wild (fate, the 
more open and airy its fituation, the higher it grows, the 
more it branches, and the more hairy it becomes; in the 
(hade it is almoft fmooth, quite creeping, with a Angle 
ftem, the whole plant very pale, and drawn up. Native 
of the Alps, and other mountains of Europe, on rocks, in 
caverns, and in woods. It was cultivated in the botanic 
garden at Oxford, in 1658, and is now become very com¬ 
mon in gardens ; being increafed with great facility, and 
efteemed for its very early flowering, and the pretty ap¬ 
pearance in then makes in cold abject fituations, where 
few other things will thrive. It grows likewife on mount 
Saleve, in Savoy ; flowering in April. 
2. Arabis lucida, or fhining wall-crefs : leaves ftem- 
clafping, fhining. A perennial plant; native of Hungary. 
3. Arabis grandiflcra, or great-flowered wall-crefs : ftem 
naked. This is a perennial, and native of Siberia. 
4. Arabis thaliana, or common wall-crefs: leaves pe- 
tiolate, lanceolate, quite entire. This is an annual plant, 
varying much in fize, from two inches to a foot and more- 
It grows frequently among the corn on fandy ground, and 
alfo on walls; flowers in March and April, and ripens its- 
feed in May. 
5. Arabis bellidifolia, or daify-leaved wall-crefs: leaves 
fubdentate, the radical ones obovate, thofe of the ftem 
lanceolate. Root perennial, producing feveral ftems and 
tufts of leaves, which ate dark-green, thickift), ftiining, 
foinetimes quite fmooth, fometrimes rough, with dots end¬ 
ing in a ffiort hair. Native of the foot of the Alps in Swit¬ 
zerland and Auftria, in moift places. It flowers in May 
and June. Jacquin deferibes a fmaller alpine, variety o£ 
this, under the name of Arabis pumila. 
6 . Arabis lyrata, or lyrate-leaved wall-crefs: leaves 
fmooth, the radical lyrate, the ftem-leaves linear. Root 
annual. The flow^er-(talks rife near a foot high, and are 
terminated by white flowers. Lirmams obferves, that this* 
is of the lize and habit of the fourth fpecies, except that 
the root-leaves are lyrate and fmooth, and the flowers 
larger. Native of North America. 
7. Arabis hifpida, or rough wall-crefs : leaves wedge- 
ffiaped, fub-lyrate, hifpid ; the ftem-leaves half-ftem- 
elafping, lanceolate ; filiques ft iff, aneipital. This refem- 
bles the fourth and fixth fpecies, but the flowers are lei's,, 
and the root perennial. Native of the fouth of France, 
Switzerland, and Auftria; obferved on mount Saleve, in 
Savoy, near Geneva, by Ray ; and on St. Vincent’s rocks* 
near Briftol, by Hudfon, and others ; flowering in May. 
8. Arabis Halleri, or Haller’s wall-crefs: ftem-leaves 
fub-lyrate, thofe on the branches lanceolate, gaftied. Na¬ 
tive of Germany, Carniola, and Piedmont. 
9. Arabis Canadenfis, or Canadian wall-crefs : ftem- 
leaves lanceolate, toothed, fmooth } flowers pendulous. 
Native of North America, 
jo. Arabis 
