likewise the
northern parts
of Asia.
The Shemites
occupy
Mesopotamia,
&c.
The Hamites
p art of Syria
and Arabia
Concerning the subdivisions of this branch of Noah’s family,
Gomer is considered to be the progenitor of the Sarmatians, and
the Gomerae, or Galatians and Gauls ; 1 Magog of the Scythians,
Javan of the Ionians and the Greeks, Tubal of the Tibarenians,
Meshech of the Muscovites, and Tiras of the Thracians; the
whole territory occupied by them extending from Media westward
to Gadira, including, consequently, the countries of the
Franks and Spaniards: the northern part of Asia was also
peopled by the posterity of Japhet; and it is not improbable
that they may likewise have spread into America.2
Having thus briefly described the early migrations of the
human family towards the regions lying eastward and northward
of Babylonia, those moving southward and south-eastward
from the same part of the world, are now to be shown.
The Shemitic people no doubt occupied the upper extremity
of Mesopotamia, with some of the adjoining portions of Syria
westward, and of Assyria eastward, more particularly the neighbouring
province known as the territory of the Arapachites ; 3
the city of Haran4 being their principal seat at this period.
Owing to the weakened state of Babylonia, consequent on the
dispersion of mankind, the descendants of Shem gained considerable
power in that territory ; and that they obtained the
chief authority soon afterwards, may be inferred from the
colonies which they sent out from thence : these colonies long
continued in some degree dependent upon that city.
After the allotment of the earth to the sons of Noah, and
previously to the dispersion of mankind, the sons of Ham
possessed the greater part of Syria, in addition to the tract
which extends from the shores of the Bed Sea into Arabia
Felix and Hadramaut; and of these sections, now denominated
the lost tribes of Arabia, the ’Adites were one of the first, being
probably derived from Nimrud himself, who was an ’Adite,
or giant in power. The others, already enumerated,5 were the
.. 1 Jos. Ant., lib. I ., cap. vi., sec. 1.
2 Gen., chap. IX . v. 27. Compare Hales’ Chronological History, vol. I .,
p. 351, with Bar Hebrmus, Chron. Syr., p. 7.
2 Ptolemy, lib. V I., cap. i.
4 ’Abu-l-Faraj, Hist. Dynast., p. 11, ed. Poc. 1663.
5 See above, vol. I., p. 659.
Thamudites, the Amalekites, and the Obailites, in A r a b i a The lost tribes.
Felix ; also the Tasim, and Beni Tasim, and Beni Jadis, tribes
towards Bahrein, with the Beni ’Abd Dhakhan, and the
Omayyim or Omaim, who are said to have been the first to
build houses, that is, to become fixed. Such are the names
given to these branches,1 who were, it appears, worshippers of
the moon, the Ba’alat of Ham.*
That the sons of Ham occupied the banks of the Nile at a
very remote period is generally admitted; and we learn from
Eusebius, that .ZEgyptus, who is also called Mizraim, was
born to Cham, the son of Noah. He was the first who went
to Egypt in order to settle there when the dispersion of the
people took place.3 Although the time cannot be fixed with
very great precision, yet the circumstance of their migration, as
well as their route thither, may be traced in the accounts which
have been handed down to us by the people of India: these
describe the curse of Ham in the spirit,' although not quite in
the precise words, of the book of Genesis. Charma, it is Ham s sin, &c.
related, having laughed at his father Satyavrata, (who had
by accident become intoxicated with a fermented liquor,)
was nicknamed Hasyasila, or the laugher. The royal patriarch,
(Satyavrata,) was particularly fond of Jyapete,
(Japhet,) but he cursed Charma. The children of the latter
being obliged to quit their native country, called Cusha-dwipa
(within), they commenced their journey after the building of
Padmamandira, (Babel,) on the banks of Cumudvate, or
Euphrates. How long they may have continued in Asia,
cannot be precisely determined, although there is a strong
reason to believe that some, or all, remained a considerable
time in Yemen or Cusha-dwipa, before they crossed over and
carried the same name into Africa.4
All tradition appears to coincide in placing the sons of Ham ocou'
in the valleys of Africa, as early as about the second century
after the flood. As this portion of the globe was occupied in
conformity with the original allotment of their grandfather, and
1 Arabic MSS. 7357, British Museum, translated by Aloys Sprenger, M.D.
2 Ibid. 8 Chron. Arm., ed. in fob, tome I ., p. 498.
4 Lieut. Wilford’s Asiatic Researches, vol. I I I ., pp. 313, 322.