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ARABIA.
3$B
COMPRISING ITS
GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY, AND TOPOGRAPHY,
WITH A MAP AND ENGRAVINGS.
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PHILADELPHIA:
PUBLISHED BY THOMAS WARDLE
1833.
•
I
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CONTENTS.
Page
Boundaries of Arabia, 1
Etymology of the name, ib
Ancient and modern divisions, 3
Provincial distribution, 4
Physical geography, 7
Natural history, 14
History of Arabia, 20
Peninsula of Mount Sinai, 105
Convent of Mount Sinai, 129
From the convent to the gulf of Akaba, 196
Voyage$down the Red Sea, 207
Djidda, 212
Mekka, 220
Description of the temple, 222
Description of the city, 239
Character and costume of the population, 249
Pilgrimage to Mount Arafat, • 256
Description of a Hadji caravan, 267
Medinah, 270
Boundaries of the Holy Land, 271
Voyage from Djidda to Loheia, 278
Route from Loheia to Beit El Fakih, 280
From Beit El Fakih to Djobla, 285
IV CONTENTS.
Page
From Beit El Fakih to Mocha, 288
Aden, > 289
Mocha, 292
From Mocha to Sanaa, 311
Sanaa, 319
Coast of Omaun, 327
Petra, 329
DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES.
Map of Arabia, to face the Title.
View of Mount Sinai, 129
Mosques at Mekka and Medinah, 224
View of Moosa, 310
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MOUNT SINAI & C ONVENT.
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A
POPULAR DESCRIPTION
GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL,
OF
[ A peninsula forming the south-western extremity of Asia, lying between lat. 12° and 35° N., long. 36° and 61° E.£ bounded on the N. by Syria and the Euphrates-; on the E» by the Persian Gulf ; on the S. by the Arabian Sea, or In- dian Ocean; on the W. by the Red Sea.]
Arabia is one of those countries which belong to sacred geography. It is the land of Ishmael, — the country of the Edornites, the Amalekites, and the Midianites, — the scene of those wonderful transac- tions which immediately followed the exodus of Israel. Mount Sinai and Mount Nebo rank among its moun- tains, and the Red Sea, the Jordan, and the Euphrates form its western and northern boundaries,, Combined with these sacred associations, others of a romantic kind attach to the name of this almost unknown country. For if, as the native land of the Arabian Impostor, it has no claims on the veneration of the Christian, to his successors in the khalifate, literature and science were greatly indebted; and the link between ancient literature and the revival of letters was supplied by Arabian learning.
vol. i. 1
2 ARABIA.
The word Arabia is of doubtful etymology. The most probable conjecture is that which derives it from the Hebrew orebeh, a wilderness or desert,* in which case Mount Horeb might seem to have given its name to the country; or it may be understood as simply denoting the desert mountain. The Arabians, then, are the inhabitants of the desert, the pastoral hordes of the wilderness. This etymology may be thought to receive some support from the coincident import of the word Saracen, under which name the Arabian tribes from Mecca to the Euphrates were confounded by the Greeks and Romans.| One of the many words in Arabic signifying a desert, is zahra,% from which the appellative Saracen (« Zagaxuw** Qvm) has pro- bably been formed.^ The Turks and the Persians
* Schleusner gives the preference to this etymology. Bo- chart supposes it to be derived from areb, the west, i. e. of the Euphrates, and that the country received that name from the Assyrians. But this is unlikely, as Arabia would rather have been described as the south, which is actually the import of the modern appellative yemen. Pococke adopts the notion of its being so named from Yarab, the son of the patriarch Joktan, the supposed founder of the kingdom of Yemen.
t See authorities in Gibbon, vol. vii, c. 50.
t Kafr, mikfar, stnlis, mahk, and habaucer, are all used to imply a naked desert covered with sand; tanufah denotes a steppe or plain covered with herbage; zahra is either a naked desert or a savanna. — See Humboldt's Pers. JVarr. vol. iv, p. 315.
§ Others have derived it, Gibbon says, < ridiculously, from Sarah, the wife of Abraham; obscurely, from the village of Saraka ; more plausibly, from Arabic words signifying a thievish character and an Oriental situation. The last and most popular of these etymologies,' (the one adopted by Sale, from shark, the east,) < is refuted by Ptolemy, who ex- pressly remarks their western and southern position.' Mr Charles Mills, in his History of Muhammedism, says: * Of the various definitions of the word Saracen, I prefer the Ara- bic word Saraini, whieh means a pastoral people. Tne cor- ruption from Saraini to Sar acini can be easily imagined.1
ARABIA. 3
call the whole country Jlrabisldn, the country of the Arabs; a name recognised by the natives themselves,, who are divided into two grand classes, M Jiarub ahl el hudar, or ahl al madar (clay), i. e. the dwellers in towns, and M Jiarub ahl al Bedoiv, or Bedoweeoon, or ahl al wibar, i. e. dwellers in tents. By the oriental geographers, the northern part of Arabia Petraea is included in the Bar-el- Sham (the country on the left), or Syria; while the tract of land comprehended by the Greeks under the name of Arabia Felix, is called Bar-el- Yemen, the country on the right or south. This has by some writers been denominated Arabia Proper. Roman Arabia, or Arabia Provincia, the kingdom of Aretas, which had for its capital Bostra, and included at one time Damascus, comprised that tract of country now called the Ledja and the Haouran, the ancient Batanea and Auranitis:* it is now included in the pashalic of Damascus.
Ptolemy was the first geographer who divided the peninsula into the well-known regions of Arabia Deserta, Arabia Petrsea, and Arabia Felix. Desert Arabia extended on the north and east as far as the Euphrates, which separated it from Mesopotamia, or Arabian Irak: its chief city was Palmyra. Arabia Petrasa was so named from Petra its capital: it comprehended the tract of country south of the Dead Sea, between Palestine and Egypt, at the northern extremity of the Red Sea. Arabia Felix designated the remainder. This division, however, is vague and arbitrary, and will be of little use in laying down the modern geography of the country. The first of these Arabias was the country of the ancient Nabatheans and the people of Kedar, answering to
(p. 2S.) Is it not probable, that Saraini, or Zaraini, is itself fanned from zahra, s£»u'o? — a pastoral wilderness,? * See Mod. Trav.., Syria, vol. ii, p. 85,
4 ARABIA.
the modern Bedoweens;* the second was peopled by the Amalekites, the Cushites, the Moabites, and the Ammonites; the third is supposed to be the Sheba of Scripture.f The kings of Arabia are mentioned as having brought gold and silver to King Solomon, and the Arabians paid an annual tribute of 7,700 sheep and as many goats to Jehoshaphat.J The latter was evidently the tribute of a pastoral nation, — probably of the Bedoweens inhabiting the country east of the Jordan and bordering on the kingdom of Judah. The precious metals must have been supplied by a com- mercial people ; and accordingly, we find these kings of Arabia mentioned together with the merchantmen (or collectors) and the spice-merchants, as furnishing the gold, which appears to have been obtained partly in the shape of duties on traffic, partly as a contribu- tion from the provincial governors and tributary chieftains. This Arabia, therefore, doubtless bor- dered on the Red Sea.
Arabia Proper is distributed by the oriental writers into five provinces, as, in the time of Strabo, it was divided into five kingdoms: these provinces are, Yemen, Hedjaz, Tehama, Nedjed, and Yamama, to which some add Bahhrein as a sixth. § Niebuhr divides Arabia into, 1. the country of Yemen; 2. the country of Hadramaut; 3. the country of Oman; 4. the independent states on the borders of the Per- sian Gulf; 5. the country of Lachsa, or Hadjar; 6. the province of Nedjed; 7. the province of Hed- jaz; and, 8. the desert of Mount Sinai. In this division, Tehama, the flat country extending along
* It is clear from Isaiah xiii, 20, and Ezek. xxvii, 21, that the Arabians of Scripture were dwellers in tents, and that they extended to the borders of Babylon.
t Ezek. xxvii, 23.
j 1 Kings, x, 15. 2 Chron. ix, 14; xvii, 11.
§ Sale's Koran, prel. disc. § 1 .
ARABIA. 5
the coast between Mecca and Aden, which is reckon- ed by the ancient geographers as a separate province, is included in the Jlrd el Yemen; while Hadramaut and Oman, which they include in Yemen, are made distinct provinces. The fact is, that the Arabian peninsula, being parcelled out into various inde- pendent territories, has at no time formed, strictly speaking, one kingdom, and, therefore, has never been divided into distinct provinces. Certain grand natu- ral divisions may be laid down; but these convey no correct notion of the political or territorial arrange- ment.* The following may be considered as an approximation to a correct geographical division of the country : —
J. MARITIME DISTRICTS. On the coast of the Red Sea.
1 Hedjaz: the holy land of the Moslems, nominally subject to the Porte, under the jurisdiction of the Pasha of Djidda.
2. Teh ma: subject for the most part to the Imaum of Sanaa; chief places, Mocha and Aden.t
* Malte Brim professedly follows Niebuhr in dividing Ara- bia into Nedjed, Hedjaz, Yemen, Hadramaut, Oman, and Lachsa; but, according to the learned Traveller, a considera- ble tract of country is not included in those provinces.
t The Tehama of Yemen (the Yemen of our maps) is described as extending along the western coast almost from Mecca to Aden. (Sale, vol. i, p. 6.) It is also called Gaur* from its low situation. Niebuhr includes it in the JLrd el Ye- men, we think improperly: he might as well have included Hadramaut, which, together with Yemen and Tehama, compos- ed the ancient Arabia Felix. Of the fourteen subdivisions of Ye- men which he enumerates, we have omitted three as com- prised in Tehama; viz, the sheikhdom of Aden, the territory of Abu Arisch, and the district between Abu Arisen and Hed- jaz, inhabited by Bedoween robbers.
VOL. J, I*
6 ARABIA.
On the coast of the Arabian Sea.
3. Hadramaut: governed by independent sheikhs.*
4. Omaun: divided among several petty sovereigns, of whom
the chief is the Imaum of Mascat.
On the coast of the Persian Gulf.
5. Lachsa, (El Ah'sa,) or Hadjar, including Bahhreinrt for-
merly subject to the Porte; now governed by the reign- ing sheikh of the Beni Khaled, whose capital is Lachsa.
II. INLAND DISTRICTS.
6- El Arud, or Nedjed-el-arud, comprising Aijana, the birth- place of Abd-el- Wahheb. 7. El Kherdje, or Yemaumah (Yemama, Imama)t. 8*. El Nedjed, comprehending the greater part of Arabia De-
serta. 9. Yemen Proper, including,
(1.) The dominions of the Imaum of Sanaa. (2.) The canton of Sahaun, governed by independent sheikhs; the chief is the Imaum of Saade*§
* In this province are included the mountainous country called Seger (Sheh'r) celebrated for its producing frankin- cense; Mahrah, a large hilly district; and part of Jafa.
t The name Bahhrein (two seas) has been erroneously transferred to the Isle of Aual and the other smaller islands in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Hadjar. The Arabian writers evidently employ the term to denote a district of the conti- nent bordering on yemaumah. Niebuhr says, it denotes the part bordering on the Gulf. — See Niebuhr, p. 293; Price's Essay towards the Hist, of Arabia, p. 110; Sale's Koran, p. 2.
% The province of Yemama is stated by Golius (apud Sale) to be called also Arud, from its oblique situation in respect of Yemen; but this must be an error, as the city of Yemama is in El Kherdje, which Niebuhr erroneously places in the S.W. part of the Nedjed. Yemama is celebrated as the residence of the prophet Moseilama, the rival of Mahommed. It forms, with the cities of Lachsa and Djebrin, an equilateral triangle, of which each side is a three days' journey.
§ Three days E.N.E. of Saade is the city and sheikhdom of Nedjeran, and, three days further north, on the road to Mek-
ARABIA. J7
(3.) The country of Djof, including the ancient Mareb, or Mariaba, the capital of the Sabeans: it is divided among the Bedoweens, the Shereefs, and various petty Arab sultans.*
(4.) The principality of the Sultan (or Seid) of Kaukeban.
(5.) Bellad el Kobail, or the country of Haschid u Bekil, governed by various independent sheikhs.
(6.) The small territory of Nehhm.
(7.) The small territory of Khaujan (Havilah).
(8.) Ard el Jafa, or Yafa: formerly subject to the Imaum of Sanaa; now shared by three petty princes. t
The whole peninsula, Niebuhr says, may be consi- dered as an immense pile of mountains, encircled with a belt of flat, arid, sandy ground. This belt, to the
ka, the sheikhdom of Kachtan; both of them enumerated by Niebuhr as separate districts of the Ard el Yemen ; but they seem properly to belong to Sahaun. Nedjeran was formerly subject to the Imaum of Saade.
* The country of Djof (or Djof-er-Szyrrhan) is divided into Belladel Bedoui, Bellad es Saladin, and Bellad es Scheraf. The second of these denominations designates the territory of the petty Arab sultans, or independent chieftains of the moun- tains. The Bellad es Scheraf denotes the towns and villages governed by the descendants of Mahommed.
t Niebuhr makes fourteen territorial subdivisions; viz, the eight above enumerated, three comprised in the Tehama, two whieh we have included in Sahaun, and a small district called Khaulan, between Sanaa and Mekka, which does not appear to have any claim to be considered as a distinct subdivision. In fact, there is no end to subdivisions, if the territories of every village sheikh who stands up for independence, are to be reckoned as a separate province. Southey has happily seized the leading features of the country in the following lines:
' Now go thy way, Abdaldar! Servant of Eblis, Over Arabia Seek the Destroyer! Over the sands of the scorching Tehama, Over the waterless mountains of Nay d; In Arud pursue him, and Yemen the happy, And Hejaz, the country beloved by believers.'
Thalaba, book ii, stanza 27.
8 ARABIA.
whole of which he gives the name of the Tehama, begins at Suez, and extends round the whole penin- sula to the mouth of the Euphrates, being formed, towards the north, by the Syrian desert and Arabia Petraea. Its breadth varies: that of the plain adja- cent to the Red Sea, is generally about two days' journey from the sea-shore to the rise of the hills. It bears every mark of having been anciently a part of the bed of the sea. The bottom is a grayish clay with a large proportion of sand, interspersed with marine exuviae to a great distance from the sea-shore. It contains large strata of salt, which in some places even rise up into hills. Its regular inclination to- wards the sea indicates that, it has emerged gradually. The small eminences upon the confines of this plain, are composed of calcareous stone of a blackish appear- ance, as if burnt by the sun. The adjoining hills contain schistus and basalt. The sea on this coast continues to recede, and the Tehama is on that side gradually extending its limits. The banks of coral are also increasing and coming nearer the shore, so as to render the navigation of the gulf more and more dangerous.* The sand gradually fills up the inter- mediate space, and joins these beds of coral to the continent; but these newly formed lands are un- grateful and barren, and, unlike the new ground formed by rivers, promise no advantage.; being unsus- ceptible of cultivation.
The principal chain of mountains runs nearly parallel with the lied Sea, at a distance of from thirty to eighty miles. It increases in elevation as it ex- tends southward, and sends out a branch in a line
* These immense banks of coral, which almost fill up the Arabian Gulf, rise in some places ten fathoms above the sea. They are soft under the waters, and, being easily wrought, are preferred to all other stones for building materials. Great part of the houses in the Tehama, Niebuhr says, are built of coral rock,
ARABIA. 9
parallel to the shore of the Arabian Sea, as far as Omaun, terminating in the point called Ras al Had. From this point to the Ras Miissendom, the coast of Omaun is mountainous, and the Tehama disappears, except for about a day's journey between the village of Sib and the town of Sohar. The Persian Gulf is described as a prolongation of the banks of the Euphrates. In several parts, particularly near the islands of Bahhrein, fresh water springs rise in the middle of the salt water.* At the mouths of the Euphrates, the alluvial depositions were very percep- tible so far back as the time of Pliny : the direction of its basin, forming the great plain of Chaldea and Mesopotamia, is the same as that of the gulf in which it terminates.
The interior of Arabia is believed to be an elevated table-land, declining towards the Persian Gulf. A large proportion of it is occupied by a series of deserts: but these deserts are separated by small mountainous oases, which seem to form a continued line from the S.E. of Palestine to Omaun. That part of the interior plateau which is particularly known by the name of JNTedjed,'f" is a mountainous district, covered, Niebuhr states, with towns and villages; and almost every town has its independent sheikh. It abounds in all sorts of fruits, particularly dates; but there are few rivers: that of Astan, laid down in D'Anville's map, is only a wadi, or mountain- torrent, which is the character of all the Arabian rivers, few of which reach the sea.J A Turkish geographer, however, states, that the Nedjed contains some lakes, and Strabo mentions lakes that are
* The same phenomenon is seen in the Bay of Xagua and at the mouth of the Rio de los Lagartos off Yucatan. — See Mod. Trav., Mexico, vol. ii, p. 150.
t Nedjed, or Najd, signifies, according to Sale, < a rising country,' i. e. highlands.
t The Red Sea receives no river: some small ones find their way to the Persian Gulf.
10 ARABIA.
formed by rivers.* This is the country of the Waha- bites. Nedjed el Arud appears to be a ridge of lime- stone rocks, extending from north to south, of abrupt form on the west, but gently declining towards the east. It is the Monies Mqrithi of Ptolemy. To the south and south-east, Nedjed is said to be separated from Yemen and Omaun by the desert of Alikaf, i which, according to tradition, was once a terrestrial paradise, inhabited by an impious race of giants, called Aadites, who were destroyed by a deluge of sand.?|
The position of these mountains in the middle of a peninsula, occasions a phenomenon similar to what is observable in the Indian peninsula, which is in the same manner intersected by mountains. The rainy seasons are here singularly diversified. West- ward, in Yemen, from the month of June to the middle or end of September, the mountains are watered by regular showers; but even then, the sky is seldom overcast for twenty-four hours together. As, during these months, the heat is the greatest, these rains are invaluable. During the remainder of the year, scarcely a cloud is to be seen. In the eastern part of the mountains, towards Mascat, the rains fall between the middle of November and the middle of February; while in Hadramaut and Omaun, the rainy season commences in the middle - of Fe- bruary, and lasts till the middle of April. Thus it should seem, that the rains make the tour of the pe- ninsula every season, as impelled by the prevalent winds. In the Tehama, a whole year sometimes passes without rain, and the drought is so extreme, that the mountain torrents are lost in the sands before they can reach the sea. These streams, however, when swelled by the rains which fall in the moun- tains, afford the means of fertilising the lands by irri-
* Malte Brun, vol. ii, p. 193. t Ibid, p. 20 6
ARABIA. 11
gation, which otherwise would be wholly barren. It is obvious, that, by being thus drained off from their channels, and diffused over a wide surface in a tropi- cal climate, rivers, which might otherwise be con- siderable, would lose themselves by evaporation. Niebuhr was informed, however, that there is a spring rain which falls for a short season in the Tehama, the period of which is uncertain, but on which the success of the harvest greatly depends. These regular rains render the valleys lying among the mountains both fertile and delightful.*
In the Tehama, the heat, during the summer season, is intense: at Mocha, the thermometer rises, in July and August, to 98° of Fahrenheit, while at Sanaa, in the mountains, it only reaches 85°. In the latter district, it sometimes freezes, though rarely; and falls of snow take place in the interior, but the snow never lies long on the ground. The nature of the winds differs according to the tract which they have passed over, so that the same wind, in different places, is dry and moist. On the shores of the Persian Gulf, the south-east wind, which comes charged with moisture, is said to occasion violent perspiration, and on that account is deemed more disagreeable than the north-west, which is more torrid, and heats metals in the shade. Water placed in jars exposed to the current of this hot wind, is rendered very cool by the effect of the sudden evaporation; but both men and animals are often suffocated by the blasts.. The much dreaded Semoum or Samiely however, seldom blows
* The rainy season in Yemen, which lasts dining the months Tamuz, Ab, and Ailul (June — Sep.), is called Mattar el Kharif. The spring rain, which falls in the month Nisan (March — April), is called the Mattar es Serf, and answers to the Malkosh (the spring or latter rain) of the Hebrews, for which it was customary to pray in the month Nisan, as, preparing the grain for the harvest. — See Deut, xi, 14. Zech.' x, 1.
12 ARABIA.
within Arabia, though frequently on its frontiers. It is in the desert bounded by Bassora, Bagdadt, Aleppo, and Mekka, that it is most dreaded. It blows only during the intense summer heats. The Arabs of the desert, being accustomed to an atmo- sphere of great purity, are said to perceive its ap- proach by its sulphurous odour, and by an unusual redness in the quarter of the atmosphere whence it proceeds. The only means of escaping from one of these poisonous blasts, is to lie flat on the ground, till it has passed over, as they always move at a cer- tain height in the atmosphere: instinct teaches even animals to bow down their heads to the ground. The effects of the semoom on any who are rash enough to face it, are, instant suffocation, and the immediate putrefaction of the corpse, which is observed to be greatly swollen.
< The Arabs of the desert,3 says Volney, ( call these winds Semoum, or poison, and the Turks Sham- yela, or wind of Syria, from which is formed the Samiel. Their heat is sometimes so excessive, that it is difficult to form any idea of its violence without having experienced it; but it may be compared to the heat of a large oven at the moment of drawing out the bread. When these winds begin to blow, the atmosphere assumes an alarming aspect. The sky, at other times so clear in this climate, becomes dark and heavy; the sun loses his splendour, and appears of a violet colour. The air is not cloudy, but gray and thick, and is in fact filled with an extremely sub- tile dust, which penetrates every where. This wind, always light and rapid, is not at first remarkably hot, but it increases in heat in proportion as it continues. All animated bodies soon discover it, by the change it produces in them. The lungs, which a too rarefied air no longer expands, are contracted, and become painful. Respiration is short and difficult, the skin parched and dry, and the body consumed by an in-
ARABIA. 13
ternal heat. In vain is recourse had to large draughts of water; nothing can restore perspiration. In vain is coolness sought for; all bodies in which it is usual to find it, deceive the hand that touches them. Marble, iron, water, notwithstanding the sun no longer appears, are hot. The streets are deserted, and the dead .silence of night reigns every where. The inhabitants of houses and villages shut them- selves up in their houses, and those of the desert in their tents, or in pits they dig in the earth, where they wait the termination of this destructive heat. It usually lasts three days; but, if it exceeds that time, it becomes insupportable. Wo to the traveller whom this wind surprises remote from shelter! he must suffer all its dreadful consequences, which some- times are mortal. The danger is most imminent when it blows in squalls, for then the rapidity of the wind increases the heat to such a degree as to cause sudden death. This death is a real suffocation ; the lungs, being empty, are convulsed, the circulation disordered, and the whole mass of blood driven by the heart towards the head and breast; whence that haemorrhage at the nose and mouth which happens after death. This wind is especially fatal to persons of a plethoric habit, and those in whom fatigue has destroyed the tone of the muscles and the vessels. The corpse remains a long time warm, swells, turns blue, and is easily separated; all which are signs of that putrid fermentation which takes place in animal bodies when the humours become stagnant. These accidents are to be avoided by stopping the nose and mouth with handkerchiefs. An efficacious method likewise is that practised by the camels, who bury their noses in the sand, and keep them there till the squall is over.
1 Another quality of this wind is its extreme aridity; which is such, that water sprinkled on the floor, evaporates in a few minutes. By this extreme vol. i. 2
14 ARABIA.
dryness, it withers and strips all the plants; and by exhaling too suddenly the emanations from animal bodies, crisps the skin, closes the pores, and causes that feverish heat which is the invariable effect of suppressed perspiration.'
In the most arid tracts near the sea, the dews are singularly copious, notwithstanding which, the natives sleep in the open air; and Niebuhr says, he never slept more soundly than where he found his bed all wet with dew in the morning. In some places, how- ever, this practice is dangerous.
NATURAL HISTORY.
c There are some groves or thickets on the mountains of Arabia,' says M. Malte Bran, ' but no forests, properly so called, are to be found.' It may be doubted whether our knowledge of the country is sufficiently complete to justify this state- ment. JNTiebuhr speaks of forests in the south of Arabia, which abound with thousands of monkeys without tails. The country is rich, he says, in indi- genous trees; and forests are to be seen in the high lands, though they are rare. Among other trees, the following are either indigenous, or have been intro- duced, jViebuhr supposes, from India: the Indian fio--tree (Jicus varta), the date-tree, the cocoa-palm, and the fan-leaved palm, with other native varieties of both the palm and the fig-tree; the corneil-tree ; the plantain or banana (inusa) ; the almond-tree; the apricot-tree; the pear-tree; the apple-tree; the quince-tree; the orange-tree; the acacia vera, from which the gum arabic is obtained; the mangoustan (mangifera) ; the papaya (p. carica), the sensitive plant, and other mimosas; the balsam-tree (amyris opobalsamum); and the tamarind.* The cedar is
* Niebuhr gives the following names of undescribed trees:
ARA&rA, 15
hot found in Arabia, and there is little timber fit for building, the trees being mostly of a light, porous texture. Among the shrubs may also be enumerated, the coffee-plant, the indigo-shrub, the castor-oil plant (rtcmus communis), the senna, the aloe, the styrax, the sesamum (which supplies the place of the olive)^ the cotton-tree, the sugar-cane, the betel, the nutmeg' all sorts of melons and pumpions, the ouars, which yields a yellow dye, the foua, which supplies a red dye, and a great variety of leguminous plants, pot- herbs, and officinal herbs. Among the odoriferous plants are lavender, marjoram, the white lily, the globe amaranth (gomphrama globosa) , the sea-daffodil (pancratium mariiimum), various species of the pink, the ocymum, a beautiful species of basilic, the imula, a very odoriferous species of elicampane, the cacalia, the dianthera, the moscharia (so named by Forskal on account of its musky smell — it is found in the desert), the ipomcea (a plant of Indian origin resem- bling the rope-weed), and a beautiful species of hi- biscus. Wheat, Turkey corn, and dhourra, cover the plains of Yemen and some other fertile places; the horses are fed on barley, and the asses on beans.' Arabia is the original country of the horse,* the
the elcaya, the keura, (both famous for their perfume,) the chadara, the antura, the culhamia, the catha (the buds of which are chewed), the oliban (frankincense tree), the tomex, the noemam, the gharib el baik, the sesleg, thebaka* and the anas.
* Of the Arabian horse, there are two distinct breeds, the kadishi and the koshlani. The former are in no higher esti- mation than European horses, and are employed as beasts of burden. The latter are reserved for riding only. They are considered as sprung from the breed of Solomon, and a written genealogy of the breed has been preserved for 2,000 years. The greatest care is taken to secure the purity of' the race. The best are bred by the Bedoweens in the northern desert. The koshlani are neither large nor handsome, but
16 ARABIA.
eamel,* and the wild ass.| There is a race of oxen with a hump on the back like those of Syria. The rock-goat inhabits the lofty hills of Arabia Petnea, and the plains are stocked with gazelles. There is a breed of sheep with broad, thick tails, but their wool is said to be coarse, and their flesh far from delicate. The fierce and solitary hyaena inhabits the caverns of the desert mountains, and is common on the shores of the Persian Gulf, where, marching out at night, it has been known to carry off children from beside their parents, while sleeping in the open air. Among the other carnivorous animals, are the nemer or pan- ther {felts pardus), the falh or ounce, the jackal (properly tschakal, called by the Arabians el vavi), wolves, foxes, and wild boars. The hare is seen in gome mountainous parts; the sandy tracks abound with the jerboa (mus jaculus) ,- and troops of mon-
amazingly swift, ancl capable of sustaining great fatigue; they can pass entire days without food, and make an impetuous charge on an enemy. The Turks hold this noble breed in lit- tle estimation, preferring larger and more showy horses.
* There are several species. Those of Yemen are small, and of a light brown colour: those from Nedjed are dark brown, large, and lubberly. The Arabian camel (djammel) is distin- guished from the Bactrian species (bocht) by having only one hump. The dromedary (hadjin, called droma, the runner, by the Greeks) varies from the camel, not in species, but in breed: it is of a light and slender frame, and swifter than the horse. A dromedary bears the same relation to a camel that a hunter does to a race-horse. Djammel is used as a generic term: hadjin always denotes a particular species.
t There are two sorts of ass also in Arabia. The larger and more spirited breed are highly valued. In Yemen, the soldiers perform their patroles on asses, and every military service in which parade is not an object. Niebuhr thought them fitter for a journey than horses. He reckons the pro- gress which they make in half an hour at 1,750 paces, double the pace of a man. , The larger camels make 775 paces, and the smaller ones 500.
ARABIA. - 17
keys inhabit the hills of Aden, and the forests in the south of the peninsula.
Eagles, falcons, and sparrow-hawks are among the birds of prey ; but the most serviceable is the carrion vulture (yultur petenopterus), which, besides clearing the earth of all carcases, and sharing with the dog, in most eastern cities, the indispensable office of sca- venger, here befriends the peasant by destroying the field-mice, which would otherwise, in some provinces, render the labours of the husbandman wholly abortive. The performance of these important services induced the ancient Egyptians to place this bird in their pantheon; and it is still held unlawful to kill them. A degree of respect bordering on adoration is paid to the samarmar or samarmog* a species of thrush (turdus Seleucus) which annually visits Arabia from eastern Persia in pursuit of the locust, and destroys immense numbers of those formidable enemies to vegetation. The ashjal is valued for two beautiful feathers in its tail, to preserve which uninjured, the bird is said to leave a hole in its nest.f The thaer el hind is a rare bird, which fetches a high price on account of its golden plumage : it is a bird of passage, supposed to come from India, The thaer es-djammel,
* This is its name at Mosul and Aleppo. It is elsewhere called the abmelec.
t Such was the statement given to M. Forskal, Niebuhr's companion, but he did not see the bird. A similar account is given of the quetzal by Juarros, in his History of Guatemala. The plumage of the bird is of an exquisite emerald colour. The tail feathers, which are very long, are favourite ornaments with the Indians, as those of the ashjal are with the Arabi- ans ; and * the birds themselves, as if they knew the high estimation their feathers are held in, build their nests with two openings, that, by entering at one, and quitting them by the other, their plumes may not be deranged.' — Mod. Trav., I Mexico, vol. ii, p. 289. Both of these birds are probably species of the genus pica paradises a, or bird of paradise.
VOL. I. 2#
18 ARABIA.
or camel-bird, is the name given to the ostrich, which is found in the deserts. The hudhud, a beautiful species of lapwing, is common on the shores of the Persian Gulf; and there is a tradition current among some of the natives, that its language may be understood. Tame fowls are very plentiful in the fertile districts. The woods of Yemen abound with the pheasant, the pintando or guinea-fowl, and the wood-pigeon. In the plains are to be seen the gray partridge, the common lark, and a white crane, with the under part of its belly of a beautiful red. A beautiful variety of the plover, and sometimes the stork, are seen in places which have water; and peli- cans and other sea-fowls are numerous on the coasts of the Red Sea. Niebuhr says, he heard much talk of two species of birds which are highly valued by the Arabians, called the salva and the sumana. The former, he understood to be a bird of passage of the rail species: as to quails, he could obtain no evidence of their being birds of passage. The fact is, that the salva (in Hebrew selav) is the quail; and the sumana is either the same bird, or of the same genus. That the quail is a bird of passage, is indubitable.
All the coasts abound with fish. Niebuhr states, that he never met with the turtle, but the land-tor- toise is so common, that the peasants bring cart-loads of it to the markets of several towns : it forms the chief food of the Christians during Lent and other fasts. On the southern coast of the Persian Gulf, all the domestic animals are fed chiefly on fish, and the hysena js sometimes obliged to content himself with the same food. The flying fish is found in the Red Sea, together with a great variety of undescribed species, including a peculiar genus of torpedo. All Arabians eat locusts: the Turks, on the contrary, have an aversion to this food. The muken, or red locust, is preferred as the fattest and most delicate species. The dabbe, another species, is not deemed
ARABIA. 19
esculent, because it tends to produce diarrhoea. The flesh of the locust is said to resemble the small sardine of the Baltic*
There are several sorts of serpents in Arabia; but the only one that is much dreaded, is a small slender species called the baetan, spotted black and white, the bite of which is said to be instantly fatal. There is a species of flying or leaping serpent which, by means of its elastic tail, springs from branch to branch of a tree till it reaches the top. Of the various sorts of lizard, the guaril is said to equal the crocodile in strength; and the species called jekko by the Egyp- tians, is dangerous from the venomous properties of its saliva. The arda, a species of ant (termesfatale),
* e We saw locusts,' says Niebuhr, < put into bags or on strings, to be dried, in several parts of Arabia. In Barbary, they are boiled, and then dried upon the roofs of the houses. The Bedouins of Egypt roast them alive, and devour them with the utmost voracity. The Jews in Arabia are convinced that the fowls of which the Israelites ate so largely in the de- sert, were only clouds of locusts, and laugh at our translators., who have supposed that they found quails where quails never were.' This notion, however, which has been adopted by Ludolphus, and favoured by Bishop Patrick and Saurin, has been ably refuted by Harmer and others. The Septuagint, Josephus, and all commentators, ancient and modern, have understood the Hebrew selav, or shalav> as signifying quails. Mohammed, speaking of the miracle in the Koran, uses the Arabic salva, which is explained by one of his commentators as the same as the samani (in Persian setnavah), the quail. In Psal. Ixxviii, 27, the selavim^&xe termed ouph canaph, fowls of the wing. Maundrelf asked the Samaritan high- priest of Nablous, what sort of animal he took the sela- vim to be, and he described it as a fowl answering to the quail. Josephus remarks, that the Arabian Gulf is peculiarly favour- able to the breeding of these birds ; Pliny and others mention their astonishing numbers ; and Diodorus describes the man- ner in which they are caught near Rhinocolura, in terms simi- " 1r to those of the sacred historian.
20 ARABIA.
the scolopendra, and the tenebrio, are among the in- sect tormentors.
According to Niebuhr, Arabia contains at present no mines of either gold or silver; but M. Malte Brun remarks, that the positive and unanimous testimony of the ancients will not permit us to doubt of ihe former wealth of the Arabian mines. All the gold now in circulation is drawn from Abyssinia or Eu- rope; and it is remarkable, that the Arabians are much infected with the mania of alchemy. In Omaun, there are very rich lead mines, and a large quantity is exported from Mascat. There are iron mines in the district of Saade, but the iron which they yield is brittle. The onyx is common in Yemen; the agate called the Mocha-stone, comes from Surat; and the finest cornelians are brought from the Gulf of Cambay. Our knowledge of the natural productions of this country cannot be' regarded, however, as by any means complete. The pearl-fishery carried on in the