The tragical deftruftions of thefe two potent tribes are often m-
■ fifted on in the Koran, as inftances of G o d’s judgment on obftinate
unbelievers. „ _ s , , . c „ .
The tribes The tribe of Tafm were the pofterity of Lud the fon of Sem, and
of/ i f ’. Jadis of the defendants of Jether'. Thefe two tribes dwelt pro-
7 miftuoufly together under the government of Tafm, till a certain tyrant
made a law, that no maid of the tribe of Jadis (hould marry, unlefs
foil defloured by him“ ; which the Jadifians not enduring, formed a
confpiracy, and inviting the king and chiefs of fa fm to an entertainment,
privately hid their fwords in the fand, and in the midlt ot
their mirth fell on them and flew them all, and extirpated the great-
eft part of that tribe ; however the few who efoaped obtaining ai o
the king o f Taman, then (as is faid) Dhu Habpdn Ebn Akran \ affaulted
Jadis and utterly deftroyed them, there being fcarce any mention made
from that time of either of thofe tribes4.
The tribes The former tribe of J or ham (whofe anceftor fome pretend was one
oijorbam 0f tj,e 80 perfons faved in the ark with Noah, according to a Mo-
Z t Ma' hammedan tradition >) was contemporary with Ad, and utterly penfti-
ed « The tribe of Amalek were defended from Amalek the fon or
Eliplaz the fon of Efau\ tho’ fome of the oriental authors fay Ama-
M was the fon of Ham the fon of Noah1, and others the fon of
A zd the fon of Sem *. The pofterity of this perfon rendered them-
felves verv powerful10, and before the time of Jofeph conquered the
lower Egypt under their king Walid, the firft who took the name of
Pharaoh, as the eaftern writers tell us " ; feeming by thefe Amalehtes
to mean the fame people which the Egyptian hiftories call Phoenician
fhepherds But after they had poffeffed the throne of Egypt for
fome deftents, they were expelled by the natives, and at length totally
deftroyed by the IJraelitesI?. .
The pre- The prefent Arabians, according to their own hiftorians, are fprung
fent Ara- from jw0 flocks, Kahtân, the fame with J obi an the fon of Eber '4,
bians- and Adndn defended in a dired line from Ifmael the fon of Abraham
and Hagan the pofterity o f the former they call al Arab al A -
riba 't, i. e. the genuine or pure Arabs, and thofe of the latter al A -
t Abulfeda. * A like euftom is fiid to have been infofile manners i n „ ' a n d ajfo in
S w W , where it was called Culliage or Collage, having been cftabhfhed by K .£wm andabplilhed
iyM M m III. See Beyle's Dift. Art. Sixte IV. Rem. H. Poc. Spec 60 *■ l b , . ! ,
i lb p ,8. 6 Ebn Shohnah. ’ Gen. xxxvi. iz . 8 V D Herbelot p. I io. 9 Eb»
Shohnah. V. Numb xxiv. 20. ” Mirât Caïnât. • “V. Jofcph. cent. Apion. 1. i ■ V
Exod xvii i8, See. i Sam. xv. z. See. Ib. xxvii. 8, 9. i Chron. lv. 43. R. Saad. in Verf.
Arab Pentat Gen X. zc- Some writers make Keblin a defeendant of Ifmael, but agamft the
currenf of oriental hiftorian«. See Poc, Spec. 39. . . expreflion fomething like that of St.
P##} vtho calls himfclf an Hebrew of the Hebrews. Philipp, in. 5*
rab al mojiareba, i. e. naturalized of infititious Arabs, tho’ fome
reckon thé ancient loft tribes to have been the only pure Arabians,
and therefore call the pofterity o f Kahtdn alfo Mótareba, which
word likewife fignifies injititious Arabs, tho’ in a nearer degree than
Mojiareba ; the defendants of Ifmael being the more diftant graft.
The pofterity of Ifmael have no claim to be admitted as pure A -
rabs; their anceftor being by origin and language an Hebrew, but
having made an alliance with the Jorhamites, by marrying a daughter
of Modad, and accuftomed himfelf to their manner of living and language,
his defendants became blended’with them into one nation.
The uncertainty of the defeents between Ifmael and Adndn, is the
reafon why they feldom trace their genealogies higher than the latter,
whom they acknowledge as father of their tribes; the defeents frem
him downwards being pretty certain and uncontroverted \
The genealogy of theft tribes being of great uft to iHuftrate the
‘Arabian hiftory, I have taken the pains to. form a genealogical table
from their moil approved authors, to which I refer the curious.
Befides theft tribes o f Arabs, mentioned by their own authors,
who were all defended from the race of Sem, others of them were
the pofterity of Ham by his fon Cu/h, which name is in icripture
conftantly given to the Arabs and their country, tho’ our verfion
renders it Ethiopia-, but ftridtly fpeaking, the Cupites did not inhabit
Arabia properly fo called, but the banks of the Euphrates and the
Perfian gulph, whither they came from Chuzejldn or Sufiana, the
original fettlement of their father \ They might probably mix them-
felves in procefs of time with the Arabs of the other race, but the
eaftern writers take little or no notice of them.
The Arabians were for fome centuries under the government ° f Their g»-
the defendants of Kahtan -, Tarab, one o f his fons,- founding the king- vernme
dom of Taman, and Jorham, another of them, that of Hejdz.
The province o f Taman, or the better part of it, particularly the The king-
provinces of Saba and Hadramaut, was governed by princes of the e
tribe of Hamyar, tho’ at length the kingdom was tranflated to the rim in J j-
defcendants of Cahldn his brother, who yet retained the title of king man'
of Hamyar, and had. all of them the general title of Tobba, which
fignifies fuccejfor, . and was affedted to, this race of princes, as
that of Ceefar was to the Roman emperors, and K halif to the fuccef-
fors of Mohammed. There were feveral leffer princes who reigned
in other parts of Taman, and were moftly, if not altogether, fubjedt
* V. Hyde Hift. Rel. veter. Perfar. p. 37. Öfrv
C
2 Poc. Spec. p. 40.