delay, and diligently to-succour and attend to them, Mid may the eye of God be upon th e e !'” 26th o f the lunar month Safler, year o f the Hejira. 12 8 1. (May 1806.)* T h e accuracy o f punctuation in the A rabic language is. a matter that ou ght to be strictly attended to;, thus they maintain. writing to. be the first qualification o f a scholar, and that, ir'ooi a want o f a due knowledge o f punctuation, the Christians have misunderstood the word of God, which says, I h a v e begotten thee, and thou, art my son.” T h is passage, they say, first stood as ibllows, (which if the Scriptures had been origin ally written in A rabic wou ld have h a d some plausibility.]. “ I have adopted thee, and thou art my prophet.” The difference o f punctuation in one word makes all this difference in signification, for— (_yi punctuated th u s ,^ signifies, son, and punctuated thus, i_-~i signifies prophet. It has been already observed, that the Mohammedans believe in Jesus Christ, and that h e was a prophet sent from God; but the y acknowledge no eq^ial with God. T he doctrine o f the T r in ity is incomprehensible to them, hence they w ill not admit o f the punctuation ^ but allow that o f <_-J • T h e foregoing observations w ill serve to prove the insufficiency o f a knowledge o f this language, as professed or studied in Great Britain when unaccompanied with a practical know- » W hen they write to any other but Mohammedans, they never salute them with the words“ Peace be with thee,” but su bstitute-“ Peace be to those who follow the path ofthe.true.G od,” Salem alam in itaba el XJda. Languages o f Africa. 219 ledge. These observations may ap p ly equ ally to the Persian language.* I f the present ardour for discovery in A fr ica be persevered in, the learned world m a y expect, in the course o f a few years, to receive histories and other works o f Greek and Roman authors, which were translated into the A rabic language, when Arabian literature was in its zenith, and ha ve ever since been confined to some private libraries in the cities o f the interior o f A frica, and in A rabia. Bonaparte, aware o f the political importance d f a practical knowledge o f this 'language, has o fla te given unremitting attention to the subject, arid if we may believ e the mutilated accounts which we re ceive occasionally from France, he is lik e ly to obtain from A fr ica in a short period relics o f ancient learning o f considerable value, which have escaped the wreck o f nations. H a rin g said thus much with regard to the A rabic o f the western Arabs, which, with little variation, is spoken thrdughoiit all the finest districts o f North Africa, I shall proceed to say a few wdrds respecting the other languages spoken north o f Sahara : these are the Berdbber and its dialects, v iz . the Zayan and Girwan, and A it Imure; the Shelluh o fS u s e and South * “ One o f the objects I had in view in coming to Europe was ‘tt> instruct young Englishmen in the Persian language. I hoiveVer met with sb little encouragement from persons in authority, that 1 entirely relinquished the plan. I inStthcled however (as I could not refuse the recommendations that were brought to me) dn amiable young•ltiaii, Mr. S -n, and thanks be to'G btt,m y efforts were-crowoed with success ! itnd that he, having escaped the instructions of self-taught masters, has acquired such a knowledge of the principles of that language, and so'fcdVrect an idea o f its idiom and pronunciation, that I have no doubt after a few years residence in India he will attain to such a degree of excellence, as has not yet been acquired by any other Englishman.” Vide Travels of Mirza Abu Taleb Khan, vol. i. p. 200.
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