Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Anatomy-Astronomy

AHA
Arabia, and the value of the presents he made to Her Majesty Queen
Victoria, on her accession to the throne, was estimated at
L.50,000, being all articles grown in his own dominions, or
manufactured by his own subjects. In 184:5, Prince Hilal, the
son and heir of the imam, visited London, accompanied by two
young Arabic chiefs, and made himself much beloved through
the courteous simplicity of his manners, and the amiability of
his disposition.
It is expected that the friendship between the British govern¬
ment and the imam will be a great support to travellers in¬
tending to explore Central Africa from the side of Zanzibar.
Arabia has been peopled from the earliest times, but its
ancient history seems to have been lost or corrupted in a
long course of oral tradition. The narratives of the Arabian
historians are absurd and fabulous, resting on no evidence;
nor have later writers succeeded in withdrawing the veil of
oblivion from the history of those early ages. The com¬
mon notion among the Arabs is, that they are descended
from Joktan the son of Eber, as well as from Ishmael the
son of Abraham by Hagar ; and the posterity of the former
are denominated pure Arabs, while those of the latter are
called naturalized or engrafted Arabs. Joktan had thirteen,
or, according to the Arabian traditions, thirty-one sons, who,
after the confusion of languages at Babel, are said to have
settled in the south-eastern parts of Arabia, and to have
gone afterwards to India, with the exception of two, namely,
Yarhab and Jorham, the former of whom gave name to the
country. Yarhab settled in Yemen, while Jorham founded
the kingdom of the Hedjaz, where his posterity reigned.
Ishmael being dismissed by Abraham, retired to the wilder¬
ness of Paran, where he married an Egyptian, by whom he
had twelve children, who were the heads of as many potent
tribes of the Scenite or wild Arabs. He afterwards, accord¬
ing to tradition, married the daughter of Modad, the king
of the Hedjaz, lineally descended Horn Jorham ; and is thus
considered by the Arabians the father of the greater body
of their nation.1 By these tribes Arabia was ruled in an¬
cient times, and a genealogical list is preserved of a long
line of kings in Yemen and other provinces, of whom nothing
further is known than the names. The ancient tribes who
inhabited Arabia maintained flocks and herds. They were
addicted to commerce and rapine, and frequently by their in¬
roads molested the neighbouring states. They were invaded
in their turn by the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the Medes, and
the Persians; but whatever ancient historians may relate
concerning the victories of Sesostris, it does not appear that
either the Assyrians, the Egyptians, or the Persians, ever ob¬
tained any permanent footing in the country.
The Greek and Roman writers describe w ith accuracy
the general features of Arabia, the scarcity of water in the
desert, the deep wells known only to the inhabitants, and
the pastoral and predatory habits of the people; and, in the
fertile districts, the rich produce of corn, wine, oil, honey,
frankincense, myrrh, and odoriferous gums ; but this infor¬
mation is mixed with fabulous tales and absurd exaggera¬
tions. From the rare and precious produce with which
Arabia abounds, the most fanciful ideas were formed of its
vast wealth. It was said to possess abundant mines of pre¬
cious stones, and gold, which was found in small pieces of
the size of nuts, of the brightest colour and polish. (Dio¬
dorus Siculus, Hist. lib. ii. sect. 48.) This favoured land
was besides supposed to be enriched by the peculiar nature
of its commerce, its valued products being sold to other
nations, while their produce was not required in return.
B I A. 361
The balance of trade was thus alw'ays in its favour; and, ac- Arabia,
cording to this hypothesis, a supply of gold and silver was
perpetually flowing into it from all other countries.2 Cassia
and cinnamon are also erroneously mentioned as the pro¬
ducts of Arabia, probably because they came directly to
the Romans from that country, which has been in all ages
the great depot of Indian produce. The great lake, men¬
tioned by the ancient writers, and said to contain bitumen,
and to yield a large revenue, must be the Dead Sea, thus
included by the ancients within the limits of Arabia; or the
existence of this sea so near Arabia may have given rise to
the report of another lake in the interior, which we know
does not exist. Pliny says that the inhabitants shave their
beards, with the exception of the upper lip—a custom which,
if it ever existed, has not been transmitted to the modern
Arabs, who hold the beard in peculiar honour; and the
story of their promiscuous cohabitation, related by Strabo
and Ptolemy, is entirely contradicted by all the latest and
most authentic accounts of Arabian manners.
In describing the zoology of Arabia, the ancient writers
give an accurate account of the camel and the dromedary;
but some of' them assert that the country contains no horses,
for which in modern times it has been so famed; and their
description of the ostrich is altogether fabulous and absurd.
Pliny asserts that it exceeds the height of a man on horse¬
back ; Diodorus, that it is of the size of a new-born camel,
that it throws stones with its feet at its pursuers, and adds
various extravagant and unfounded details of its habits and
the manner of its death. Ptolemy was the first writer who
divided Arabia into three parts; namely, Arabia Petraea,
Arabia Deserta, and Arabia Felix ; which division, agreeing
with the natural features of the country, is still recognised.
Ptolemy and also Pliny give a long list of towns, and of
the various tribes which ranged over the country. The site
of Petra, that splendid capital of Arabia Petraea, was re¬
discovered by Burckhardt, a silent necropolis in a deep, in¬
accessible wadi. The nations who inhabited this tract were
the Ishmaelites, the Nabatheans, the Cedrei or Kedareni,
and the Hagareni, all which appellations have in later times
been lost in that of the Saracens, so celebrated for several
centuries all over the East. Numerous towns are men¬
tioned in Arabia Deserta, of which, being originally of little
note, all knowledge is now lost; and of the tribes of the
iEsitae and the Agrsei we know nothing but the names.
Arabia Felix was the chief seat of population and of wealth.
It included the fine provinces of Yemen, Hedjaz, Tehama,
Nedjed, and Yumama. It was inhabited by many differ¬
ent tribes, such as the Sabaei, who from the account of
Pliny were a powerful tribe, trading in frankincense, and
extending from sea to sea, either from the Red Sea to the
Indian Ocean, or to the Persian Gulf ;3 by the Minaei,
Atramitae, Marinatae, Catabani, Ascitae, Homeritae, Sap-
phoritae, Omani, Saraceni, &c., of whose history nothing is
now known. The towns of Yaman or Yemen were, Aden,
the emporium Arabice of Ptolemy, on the Indian Ocean;
and Musa, the modern Mocha; both noted marts of trade,
at which were exchanged the precious produce of the coun¬
try (consisting of myrrh, frankincense, perfumes, and pearls,
of which there was a noted fishery near some islands in the
Red Sea), for goods brought by the annual fleets from India.
Those goods appear to have been landed at Aden or Musa ;
to have been carried northward in caravans to Leucocome,
or Portus Albus, in latitude 25° N.; then, according to Strabo,
1 Universal History, vol. viii. chap. ix.
2 Tlin. Historia Naturalis, lib. vi. cap. 32. “ In universum gentes ditissimae, ut apud quas maxim* opes Romanorum Farthorumque
subsistant, vendentibus quae e mari aut silvis capiant, nihil invicem redimentibus.” Strabo (lib. xvi.) mentions that they sold their
gums for precious stones and for gold; and that the invasion of Arabia under Augustus, by Allius Gallus, was prompted by the desire
of attaining the alliance of rich friends, or the conquest of rich enemies. If these ancient writers had been versed in the modern doc¬
trines of political economy, they would have known that the balance of trade could not have been permanently in favour of a country
which abounds in gold.
3 “ Sabad Arabum propter thura clarissimi, ad utraque maria porrectis gentibus.” Plin. Historia Naturalis, lib. vi. cap. 32.
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