3 ° The Preliminary Difcourje. Se£t. I.
to afk Kais s afliftance; being in want on the road. Whereupon the
fervant faid, that he had rather fupply his neceffity, than wake his
matter; and gave him a purfe of 7000 pieces of gold, alluring him
that it was all the money then in the houfe. He alfo directed him
to go to thofe Who had the charge of the camels, with a certain
token, and take a camel, and a Have, and return home with them.
When Kais awoke, and his fervant informed him of what he had
done, he gave him his freedom, and alked him why he did not call him,
for, fays he, I would have given him more. The third man went
to Arabab, and met him coming out of his houfe, in order to go to
prayers, and leaning on two Haves, becaufe his eye-light failed him.
The friend no fooner made known his cafe, but Arabab let go the
(laves, and clapping his hands together, loudly lamented his misfortune,
in having no money, but delired him to take the two Haves;
which the man refufed to do, till Arabab protefted that if he would
not accept of them, he gave them their liberty; and leaving the
Haves, groped his way along by the wall. On the return of the adventurers,
judgment was unanimoufly, and with great juftice, given
by all who were prefent, that Arabab was the moft generous of the .three.
Nor were thefe the only good qualities of the Arabs-, they are
commended by the ancients for being moft exaft to their words '
and refpeftful to their kindred *. And they have always been celebrated
for their quicknefs o f apprehenfion and penetration, and the
vivacity of their w it; efpecially thofe of the defart 3.
As the Arabs had their excellencies, fo have they, like other nations,
their defeats and vices. Their own writers acknowledge that
they have a natural difpofition to war, bloodfhed, cruelty, and rapine;
being fo much addifted to bear malice, that they fcarce ever forget
an old grudge : which vindiftive temper, feme phyficians fay, is oc-
cafioned by their frequent feeding on camels flefli (the ordinary
diet of the Arabs of the defart, who are therefore obferved to be
moft inclined to thefe vices) that creature being moft malicious and
tenacious of anger 4; which account fuggefts a good reafon for a di-
ftindtion of meats.
The frequent robberies committed by thefe people on merchants
and travellers, have rendred the name of an Arab almoft infamous
in Europe-, this they are fenfible of, and endeavour to excufe them-
felves by alledging the hard ufage o f their father Ifmael, who being
1 Herodot. 1. 3. c. 8. » Strabo, 1. 16. p. 1129. 3 y . D’Herbel. BiW. Orient, p. m l 4 V.
roc. Spec. p. 87. Bochart, Hicrozoic. 1. 2. c. 1.
turned
Se&. I. _ The Preliminary Difcourfe.
turned out o f doors by Abraham, had the open plains and defarts
given him by G o d for his patrimony, with permiflion to take whatever
he could find there. And on this account, they think they may,
with a fafe confcience, indemnify themfelves, as well as they can,
not only on the pofterity o f Ifaac, but alfo on every body elfe; always
fuppofing a fort of kindred between themfelves and thofe they
plunder. And in relating their adventures of this kind, they think it
fufficient to change the expreflion, and inftead of 1 robbed a man o f
fuch or fuch a thing, to fay, 1 gained i t We muft not however imagine
that they are the left honeft for this among themfelves, or towards
thofe whom they receive as friends; on the contrary, the drifted
probity is obferved in their camp, where every thing is open, and
nothing ever known to be ftoln \
The feiences the Arabians chiefly cultivated before Mohammedifm,
were three; that o f their genealogies and hiftory, fuch a knowledge
of the ftars as to foretel the changes o f weather, and the interpretation
o f dreams ?. They ufed to value themfelves exceflively on account
o f the nobility of their families, and fo many difputes happened
on that occafion, that it is no wonder i f they took great pains
in fettling their defeents. What knowledge they had of the ftars,
was gathered from long experience, and not from any regular ftudy,
or aftronomical rules 4. The Arabians, as the Indians alfo did, chiefly
applied themfelves to obferve the fixed ftars, contrary to other nations;
whofe obfervations were almoft confined to the planets; and
they foretold their effefts from their influences, not their nature; and
hence, as has been faid, arofe the difference of the idolatry of the
Greeks and Chaldeans, who chiefly worfhipped the planets, and that
of the Indians, who worlhipped the fixed ftars. The ftars or afterifms
they moft ulually foretold the weather by, were thofe they call An-
wa, or the houfes of the moon. Thefe are 28 in number, and di-
j vide the zodiac into as many parts, thro’ one of which the moon
pafles every night; as feme of them fet in the morning, others rife
oppofite to them, which happens every 13 th night, and from their
rifing and fetting, the Arabs, by long experience, obferved what
changes happened in the air; and at length, as has been faid, came
to afcribe divine power to them; faying, that their rain was from
fuch or fuch a ftar: which expreflion Mohammed condemned, and
1 Voyage dans la Paleft. p. 220. &c. 2 Ibid. p. 213. &c. ^ A1 Shahreftani, apud Pocock
Orat. ubi fup. p. 9. & Spec. 164. A Abulfarag. p. 161, 5 V. Hyde, in not. ad Tabulas ftellar.
t o . Ulugh Beigh, p. 5.
ab