12 "The Preliminary Difcourfe. Sect. I.
had the crown refigned to him by his uncles the Jorhamites'",: tho’
others lay the defcendancs o f IJ'mael expelled that tribe, who retiring
to Jobainah, were, after various fortune, at laft all deftroyed by an
inundation \
O f the kings of Hamyar, Hira, Ghaffan, and yorham, Dr. Pocock
has giveh us catalogues tolerably exadt, to which I refer the curious K
The fub- After the expulfion of the yorhamites, the government of Hejdz
Govern- feems not to have continued for many centuries in the hands of .one
ment prince, but to have been divided among the heads of tribes; almoft in
tbeitlne tbe fame manner as the Arabsof the defart are governed at this day. At.
of Mo- Mecca an ariftocracy prevailed, where the chief management of affairs till
bammed. t}je tjme 0f Mohammed was in the tribe of Koraijh; efpecially after
they had gotten the cuftody of the Caaba from the.tribe of Khozaah 4.
Befides the kingdoms which have been taken notice of, there were
fome other tribes, which in latter times had princes of their own,
and formed Hates of leffer note; particularly the tribe of _ Kenda5:
but as I am not writing a juft hiftory of the Arabs, and an account
of them would be of no great ufe to my prefent- purpofe, I lhall
wave any further mention o f them.
of the After the time of Mohammed, Arabia was for about three centu-
ment'oT ties under thcKhalifs his fucceflors. But in theyear 325 of the Hejra,
Arabia in - great part of that country was in the hands of the Karmatians6, a
fucceed“« new fed who had committed great outrages and diforders even in
ing tlmes' Mecca, and to whom the Khallfs were obliged to pay tribute, that
the pilgrimage thither might be performed: of this feit I may have
occafion to fpeak in another place. Afterwards Taman was governed
by the houfe of Thabateba, defeended from Alt the fon-indaw of
Mohammed, whofe fpvereignty in Arabia fome place fo high as the
time of Charlemagne. However it was the pofterity of Adi, or pretenders
to be fuch, who reigned in Taman and Egypt fo early as the
tenth century. The prefent reigning family in Taman is probably
that of Ayub; a branch of which reigned there in the 13th century,
and took the title of Khalif and Imam, which they Hill retain A
They are not poffeffed of the whole province of Taman8, there being
feveral other independent kingdoms there; particularly that of
■ Fartach. The crown of Taman defeends not regularly from father
to fon, but the prince of the blood royal who as moft in favour with
the great ones, or has the ftrongeft intereft, generally ftlcceeds.».
1 Poc. Spec. p. 45. ? Ib. p. 79. 3 lb. p. 55- feq. * V. Ib.. p, 41. and Prideaux'sMc
of Mtbtmtt. p. *. * V. Poc. Spec, p, 79, &c., ■ V. Elmacin. in vita alRadj. _/£ Voyaged«
* I’Arab. hear, p, 255. 3Ib, 1.53. *73.1. /Alb, .254.'
Se<S. I. 7^5 Preliminary Difcourfe.
■ The governors' of Mecca and Medina, who have always been o f
the race of Mohammed, alfo threw off their fubjedion to the Kha-
lifs, fince which time four principal families, all defeended from Ha-
fan the fon of Alt, have reigned there under the title of Shartf,,
which fignifies noble, as they reckon themfelves to be on account of
their defeent. Thefe are Banu Kader, Banu Muja Thani, Banu Ha-
Jhem, and Banu Kitdda ■ ; which laft family now is, or lately was in
the throne of Mecca, where they have reigned above 500 years.
The reigning family at Medina are the Banu Hajhem, who alfo
reigned at Mecca before thole of Kitada 2.
The kings of Taman, as well as the princes of Mecca and Medina,
are abfolutely independent3 and not at all iubject to the Turk, as
fome late authors have imagined4. Thefe princes often making cruel
wars among themfelves, gave an opportunity to Selim I. and his fon
Solimdn, to make themfelves mafters o f the coafts of Arabia on the
Red fea, and of part o f Taman, by means of a fleet built at Sues: but
their fucceflors have not been able to maintain their conquefts ; for,
except the port of yodda, where they have a Bajha whofe authority
is . very fmall, they poflefs nothing eonliderable in Arabia I
Thus have the Arabs preferved their liberty, of which few nations
can produce fo ancient monuments, with very little interruption
from the very deluge; for tho’ very great armies have been fent
againft them, all attempts to fubdue them were unfuccefsful. The
Affyrian or Median empires never got footing among them6. The
Perfian monarchs, tho’ they were their friends, and fo far refpedted
by them as to have an annual prefent o f frankincenfeA, yet could
never make them tributary8; and were fo far from being their mailers,
that Cambyfes, on his expedition againft Egypt, was obliged to
alk their leave to pafs thro’ their territories 4; and when Alexander
had fubdued that mighty empire, yet the Arabians had fo little ap-
prehenfion of him, that they alone, of all the neighbouring nations,
fent no embaffadors to him, either firft or laft; which, with a defire
of poffeffing fo rich a country, made him form a defign againft it,
and had he not died before he could put it in execution1“, this people
might poffibly have convinced him that he was not invincible : and I
do not -find that any of his fucceflors either in Afta or Egypt, ever
* Ib* 143. 1 a Ib. 145.
de 1’Arab. heur. p. 14&
c. 91. Diodor, ubi fup.
} Ib. 143. 148. 4 V. D’Herbel. Bibl. orient, p. 477- • Voy\
6 Diodor. Sie. 1. 2. p. 131. 7- Herodot 1. 3, c. 97. Idem ib.
9 Herodot. 1. 3. c. 8. & 98. 10 Strabo. 1. 16. p. 1076. 1132-
The freedom
of the
Arabs. .
made