14'.

whether ancient or modern, in their calculations and statements as to the northern frontiers of Arabia, it is now admitted that the length of Arabia from the Cape of Babel-Mandeb, to the extreme angle on the Euphrates, is 1800 British miles, and its mean breadth about 800, or from the port of Jedda to the Cape of Razal Gad, not less than 1200. Some geographers assert that its length is about 1430 miles, and its breadth 700 or 900. On the south, a base of 1200 miles is washed by the Indian Ocean. Arabia, taken in its largest extent, lies between north lat. 12° 50', and 31° 30′; and east long. 34° 14′, and 59° This vast peninsula was first divided by Ptolemy and other geographers into three districts, or grand territorial distinctions-ARABIA PETRÆEA, ARABIA DESERTA, and ARABIA FELIX; and the arrangement of that illustrious ancient geographer has been generally followed since his time, the first signifying stony, the second sandy, and the third happy. ARABIA PETREA, or the stony, is bordered on the east by Syria and Arabia Deserta; on the west by Egypt and the Isthmus of Suez; on the north by Palestine, the Lake Asphaltites, or the Dead Sea, and Colo-Syria; and on the south by Arabia Felix. Its metropolis was Petra, or Joktheel, and the other considerable towns mentioned in the sacred history as belonging to it were Dunia and Pithon. The most remarkable places in this region were the town of Colsum or Kolzom, the Wildernesses of Shur, of Sin, and of Sinai, the Mounts Casius, Sinai, and Ezion-Gaber, the promontories of Paran, Adra, Elusa, Bostra, and Mocha. It was in ARABIA PETREA, between the Gulfs of Suez and Acaba, that the Israelites travelled forty years in the Wilderness, after their emigration from Egypt. In Arabia Petræa were also "Mount Horeb, with its burning bush, and its caves that gave shelter to Elijah when he fled from the persecution of Jezebel the pastoral solitudes where the Jewish deliverer, then an exile from Egypt, kept the flocks of Jethro, the

priest of Midian-Shur and Paran, with the bitter wells of Marah, and the smitten rock that yielded water—the land of Uz, the scene of the wealth and woes of Job, of the trial of his patience and the triumph of his piety."-Arabia Deserta, or the sandy, extends along the base of the Chaldean mountains, washed on the north by the Euphrates, which separates it from Mesopotamia; on the west it is bounded by Syria, Judea, and Arabia Petræa; on the east by Chaldea and Babylonia; and on the south by Arabia Felix, from which it is disjoined by several ranges of hills. The towns of this region, enumerated by Ptolemy, were of no great importance. It is supposed to have contained the district called the Land of Uz, or country of Job, in the Book of Job. The principal city of Arabia Deserta, and also said to have been its capital, was Thapsacus, now called El-Der, remarkable in ancient history by the passage of the army of Cyrus through the Euphrates, when marching against his brother Artaxerxes, accomplished by wading through that river, an exploit never before attempted; and here was the bridge which the unfortunate Persian monarch Darius crossed when flying from Alexander the Great, after the battle of Issus.-ARABIA FELIX is surrounded on three sides by the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Persian Gulf; and on the north it is bounded by the countries already mentioned. Its remarkable fertility and wealth procured for it the appellation of the Happy. It produced great quantities of gold. So prolific was it in ancient times in this precious metal, that massy pieces of household furniture, such as couches, beds, not to mention ordinary utensils, were made of it; and it is recorded by Strabo, that double the weight was given in gold for iron, triple for brass, and ten times for silver. It was also celebrated for its spices and perfumes, the finest in the world. Europe, Asia, and Africa, poured their treasures into this favoured region, which were purchased by the Egyptians, who, enjoying an

exclusive monopoly of traffic, would not allow it to be shared by any foreigners. Its principal cities were Nysa, Arga, Badeo, Pudni, Musa, Ocelis, Aden, called also Emporium Arabia, Moscha, or Maskat, and Cadhema. It is now described as a sterile region, retaining few traces of its former prosperity, and exhibiting only some detached spots of verdure, as solitary monuments of what it was in ancient times. But the district or territory called Yemen, also an independent hereditary kingdom, governed by an Emir or Imaum, is described as extraordinarily fertile, where an eternal spring cheers the inhabitants, the trees always in verdure, the air pure, the temperature mild, and almost at all times an unclouded sky.

The modern geography of Arabia is entirely different, and more indistinct. Some writers divide the whole Arabias into two grand provinces, Yemen and Hedjaz; and others, again, maintain that there are five great divisions, Yemen, Hedjaz, Tehama, Nedjed, and Yehama. Niebuhr adopts eight divisions, in which he follows the Arabians themselves, who enumerate eight provinces entirely independent of each other, namely, Yemen, on the south, towards the Straits of Babel-Mandeb; Hadramaut, the mountains of which are termed the Spicy Mountains; Oman, on the south entrance of the Persian Gulf; Hadsjar, or Hajar; Nedsied, or Negedand; Hedjar, or Hejaz. The territory of the Bedouin Arabs in the Desert of Syria is reckoned the seventh province; and the Arabian settlements on the southern coast of Persia the eighth. The preceding divisions are, however, purely arbitrary and conjectural; but the following have been given in the latest account of Arabia as the acknowledged, or admitted modern, divisions. “Arabia-Petræa, the Hedjaz, Tehama, and Yemen, comprehend the western portion of the peninsula, including the range of mountains that extends from the Mediterranean along the coast of the Red Sea, as far as the Indian Ocean. The province of Yemen lies

Of the modern provinces of Arabia, so far as they are connected with the geography of holy scripture, the following account is compiled from the most authentic sources. Hedjaz, so called because it divides Najd from Tehama, is bounded on the north by the deserts of Syria, on the east by the province of Najd, on the south by Yemen and Tehama, and on the west by the sea called Al Kolzom. It has been styled the Holy Land of the Mahometans, because it contains among its chief towns Medina and Mecca, famous in the history of the Arabian impostor, Mahomet, and held in peculiar veneration by the Moslems. This territory, which is said by a French geographer to extend over a coast of 750 miles, is described as a barren district, affording neither water, fruit, nor much general produce; its plains sandy and sterile, its hills rocky and bare. There are, however, a few verdant spots, as if nature intended to contrast these, in a peculiarly forcible manner, with the barrenness of the surrounding country. The town of Tayf, seventy-two miles from Mecca, is described as possessing some fine gardens; and the fields in the neighbourhood of Medina are cultivated. But, although generally the province presents an appearance of desolate sterility, doomed by nature to scarcity and want, it has become rich by the superstition and credulity of the Mahometans. In this province, as we have said, are situated the towns of Mecca and Medina, the former the birthplace of Mahomet, the latter distinguished as having afforded him an asylum in the outset of his career; and the pilgrimages which the Koran prescribes for every follower of the prophet to these

places, especially to Mecca, have been the sources of wealth to its inhabitants. Thousands of Moslems traverse its deserts every year, fulfilling the injunction of their prophet, that once during their lives they must visit his shrine, at the penalty of being excluded from Paradise; and many of these bring with them the riches of their respective countries, which find their way among the tenants of the deserts. But other and more hallowed associations are connected with the Arabian province of Hedjaz. "It was here, according to report, that Abraham laid the foundations of the most ancient temple in the world; it was here that Ishmael, on being forced to quit the paternal roof, came to seek a second country; it was here that Moses, when a fugitive from Egypt, withdrew from the vengeance of those who wanted to punish him for having killed the Egyptian; it was here he married the daughter of Jethro, a prophet highly revered, who, as the Arabians relate, gave useful lessons to the leader of the Hebrews; in short, it is here that we behold the two Mountains of Horeb and Sinai, where Jehovah gave laws to his people amidst awful thunders and lightnings. It is from these illustrious claims, that a province, which offers to the sight only sands and rocks from which flow bitter waters, establishes its pre-eminence, and finds resources ever new in a glorious and profitable tradition.” We need not dwell at any length on the provinces of Tehama and Yemen. Tehama is described as "bearing every mark of having been anciently a part of the bed of the sea, from which it has gradually emerged. The soil is interspersed with manure, fossils, and other exuviæ, and contains large strata of salt, which in some places shoot up into hills. As the sea continues to recede, Tehama extends its limits in proportion. The coral banks gradually increasing, and the intermediate space being filled with accumulating sands, new ground is thus formed and annexed to the continent, but this conquest over the watery element is of little

advantage to man, as the land is altogether unsusceptible of cultivation." Yemen exhibits a variety of soil and climate throughout its extensive region, which is calculated to include 20,000 square miles, divided into a number of petty principalities. It is healthy, and fertile among its mountains, and altogether is reckoned the finest province of a peninsula the aspect of which, in general, is bleakness and desolation. Among the petty sovereignties which it contains is Khaulan, supposed to be the Havilah of scripture. Hadramaut, mentioned in scripture under the name of Hazarmaveth, bears a close resemblance to Yemen, the adjoining province. Oman, lying between Hadramaut and the Persian Gulf, abounds with lofty mountains, rugged and sterile. Lahsa, or El Hassa, or Hajar, is washed by the Persian Gulf, and extends to the mouth of the Euphrates. Its coast is flat and uninteresting, although occasionally groves of palm-trees occur near the sites of towns and villages. "Its breadth," as Mr Crichton well describes it, in his History of Arabia, "inland is only fifty or sixty miles. It is celebrated for its numerous wells, some of which are covered over with vaulted roofs, supported by tall white marble columns, seen at a great distance. Real clover pastures abound, which supply food to a pure breed of Arabian horses. The rivulets are fringed with lilies and privets, but the country suffers fearful encroachments from the drifting sands, by which whole cantonments are sometimes invaded. The inland boundaries of these maritime provinces are far from being accurately defined. Nature, however, has set limits to them in the immense central desert of Southern Arabia called Akhaf, which extends from the mountains behind Tehama to the frontiers of Oman, and is perhaps one of the most dreary regions on the face of the earth. The Arabs give it the name Roba el Khali, or the Empty Abode. This vast expanse of sand contains nearly 50,000 square miles, and has no supply of water except

from the clouds. The skirts of this fearful wilderness produce herbage when refreshed by the winter rains, but its depths have never been explored. One single station, the Wady Jebrin, on the route to Hadramaut, diversifies this solitary tract; it has wells and date-trees, but its noxious climate renders it unfit for habitation." The other provinces and districts of Arabia are generally alluded to in the sequel.

As to the origin of the Arabians, or their descent, it is universally admitted that they derive it from Joktan, the son of Heber, of the family of Shem, as well as from Ishmael, the son of Abraham by Hagar. It is well known that Arabia has been peopled from the earliest ages, but all the traditionary accounts given by the Arabian writers themselves are intermingled or obscured by fable and superstition. The Arabian antiquities, like those of other ancient nations, are obscure and uncertain; the habits of the people, the roving and unsettled life which for ages they have led, and their disposition to plunder and predatory incursions, have all tended to envelope them in mystery, as they have been successful in restraining the progress of civilization in a country and among a people which can never be civilized. "Shut up for so many ages," says the writer from whom we have often quoted," within their rocky peninsula, they appear to have occupied themselves entirely with their own feuds and factions, which left them neither taste nor leisure for other avocations. Their chief study was a knowledge of their genealogies; but these could only preserve isolated facts, and in so far as appears, they possessed no general annals-no historical records, either common to the whole nation or to particular tribes. Songs and traditions perpetuated from one generation to another the superstitions and idolatries of their forefathers, the wars and exploits of their chiefs, and the invasions of their enemies." The Arabs, however, preserve a peculiar distinction as to their origin. The posterities of

Joktan are denominated pure Arabs, while those of Ishmael are called naturalized Arabs. Arabah, as it is called by Moses, or Western Arabia, was originally peopled by the Casluhim, a race descended from Mizraim, the father of the Egyptians, the Captorim, and the Horites, who occupied Mount Seir, before they were expelled from it by Esau and his posterity. Ishmael and his descendants afterwards settled there, and finally the Edomites or Idumeans. Kedem, or Eastern Arabia, was first peopled by the progeny of Joktan, the pure Arabians. Joktan, the son of Heber, had thirteen, or, as the Arabian traditions affirm, thirty-one sons, who, after the confusion of tongues at Babel, and the general dispersion of mankind, are pretended to have settled in the south-east of Arabia, whence they advanced into Judea, with the exception of two, Yarhab and Jorham, the former of whom gave name to the country. Yarhab settled in the province of Yemen, and Jorham founded the kingdom of Hedjaz, where his posterity long reigned. The progeny of Joktan are therefore reckoned the Aboriginal Arabians, although the Ishmaelites afterwards spread themselves over Kedem; and the Cushites, and the descendants of Abraham by Keturah, of Lot, Esau, Nahor, and others, augmented the number of its inhabitants.

Every reader of sacred history is familiar with the story of Ishmael, the son of Abraham by Hagar. Sarah, Abraham's wife, being barren, desired her husband, in conformity with the practice of those early times, to take Hagar, her handmaiden, as she is called, an Egyptian slave, that by her she might have children. The result of this intercourse was the birth of Ishmael, a name which signifies God that hears. Hagar, while pregnant, taunted her mistress on account of her barrenness; and Sarah, stung with jealousy, treated her so harshly, that she found it necessary to leave the patriarch's family. She retreated into the wilderness, lamenting her hard fate; and while at a loss whither to direct her

steps, an angel appeared, who commanded her to return to her mistress, saying, "Thou hast conceived, and shalt bring forth a son, and call his name Ishmael (the Lord hath hearkened), because the Lord hath heard thee in thy affliction. He shall be a fierce and a savage man, whose hand shall be against all men, and the hands of all men against him." Hagar, in obedience to the divine command, returned to the family of Abraham. Fourteen years

after the birth of Ishmael, Isaac the son of Sarah, figuratively termed the son of the promise, was born; and Ishmael, who till then had been considered as Abraham's sole heir, at once saw his hopes disappointed, unconscious that another destiny was ordered for him in the inscrutable counsels of Divine Wisdom. The situation of Ishmael would naturally produce some resentful emotions as he advanced in years; and the animosities which ensued rendered his expulsion necessary from Abraham's family, which the patriarch, who loved the lad, submitted to with great reluctance, and only in obedience to the command of God. Ishmael, at this period about twenty years of age, was taken by his mother into the Wilderness of Beersheba, where, wearied and disheartened, she left her son under a tree, and went to a distance to lament what appeared to her a hard fate. A remarkable interposition of providence was manifested to Hagar on that occasion, encouraged by which she carried him into the Wilderness of Paran, where he afterwards resided for a time, and became, as the sacred historian informs us, an expert archer. His mother married him to an Egyptian, and he became the father of twelve sons, and a daughter named Mahalath, or Barhemath, who married Esau. From these twelve sons of Ishmael, who afford a striking analógy to the twelve sons of Jacob, are descended the twelve tribes of the Scenites, or Wild Arabs, now existing, who at first inhabited the region between Havilah and Shur. According to the Arabian tradition, Ishmael afterwards

married the daughter of Modad, king of the Hedjaz, lineally descended from Joktan, and he is thus considered by the Arabs the father of their nation. By these tribes was Arabia ruled in ancient times for a succession of ages; and a genealogical list is said to be preserved of the kings of Yemen and other provinces, of whom nothing is known but their names. The ancient Arabs were, however, as we shall subsequently see, divided into tribes, as well as the Ishmaelites; and some of these tribes still exist in Arabia, while others have become completely extinct. They were thus succeeded by the descendants of Ishmael, or the mixed Arabians, or Mota-Arabs, or Mosta-Arabs. It is to be observed that the descendants of Ishmael, who are also known under these names, are widely different from the modern Mota-Arabians or Mosta-Arabians, so denominated by the Spaniards, because they are Arabians blended with other nations. Among the Malays, for example, and other natives of the islands in the Indian Ocean, to be called an "Ishmaelite" is a term of great reproach, which would be punished by the death of the offender. It has been conjectured, and not without reason, that this indignation against the name of Ishmael may result from some traditionary story respecting his progeny, who may have settled themselves by force in these countries, after expelling the original inhabitants; and that the feeling of animosity for this act still exists, although the original cause of it has been long forgotten. This certainly appears congenial with the character of Ishmael, as a "wild man, whose hand was against every man." The descendants of Ishmael, dwelling near to the territories inhabited by their kinsmen, the descend. ants of Lot, and of Abraham by Keturah, addicted themselves alternately, in process of time, to commerce and plunder, as circumstances required or permitted, making frequent inroads on the neighbouring states. They were invaded in turn by the Egyptians, Assyrians, Medes, and Persians; but, whatever may be