Language
Education.
•Cities and
Towns.
tKefe: were followed: by the Cufic.7*- The Arabian authors, feem to have
magnified the ignorance'óf their'country before the .time of Mahomet,
i.n order- to enhance the illumination diffufed by their prophet; for it
is probable that the idolatrous literature then known was abolilhed by
the fanaticifm of the new fedh. -The chief poets: are now found among
the . wandering Arabs in the.-country of Jof or Mareb, adjoining.'to Yemen
on the E.6 . Some alfo appear in the towns, where they .amufe the
company in coffee houfes 5 in this, as in other, refpedts, refembling the
Turkifh. The day is divided into twenty-four hours, extending from
funfet to .funfet. 3 Niebuhr gives c^rM»us1f f lu ^ t*on4 9 f ^ ' ' ^ ^ W )P y
andfecreticience^, ,as^ they-^re c a l le ^ o r rathfer fancied ;delpbon,s._ Phy-
ftcj^QS are rare, %nd i}l recompenfed, tjhe ,chief.medicine bfing. upiverijl
tenjpetapce | ftnd th e ir flail fcarcely .exceeds jh p f<W ?A
be founddn the writings o f Avicenna. T h e . ancient tre a fu rjt o f A rabian
literature are well known to tffe learned^ world ; but few o f t | | f e
noble monuments were .compofed.in Arabia, beingpnoftly prpduc;ed(in
the conquered countries from Samarcand. to Cordova.
Y Edueftth^i Ü & # wholly negieded,J ajid ^ B ^ ^ e cj ^ m o ^ egple
can read and write ; while thofe o f rank enteytUin preceptors.tp' teaqji
iheffchildren and young flayes. Near every molk th p ^ f s c^nmonbyj
a febopl, the .maffers,, as well as the children q f th e ,p p o r,^ e in g f«p^
ported by legacies. In the large towns there are many ’
to-whieh f ^ p I f 'P f the .middle clafs fend their /fopf, vfho are^taught, to
read, w r i t e , ' and. accompt. T h e girls are inftruiffed apart by women.
In ; the chief cities, are .colleges for aftronomy, aerology, phffofophy,
medicme^&c. j; and.in the little kingdom o f Yemen, there £ two xini-
verfities, or,celebrated academies; one at Ze,bid: for the .Sppms ; and the
other at Damar fa r the Zeidites. T h e interpretation ,of thg E pfah, \vith
th e hiffory o f Mahomet and the firft cbalifs, fofm an pxteniiye
the records being in a dead language.
2 Arabian has been compared to a cloke .of frize, laced with- gold, the
fkirts alone prefenting cities and' other marks o f civilization, while .the
great mafs of the country is poffeffed by wandering, tribes. The moft
celebrated cities are Mecca and M edina; but being facred ground, the
inBdels are not permitted to approach ; aad we a | : obliged to tmft to Cm«
the inaccuracy and exaggeration of oriental writers. Mecca, toi ufe the tff™8-
emphatic language of Gibbon,7 “ was known to the Greeks under the M^ ‘
name o f Macoraba;, and the termination of the word, is expreffive o f
its.greatnefs, which; has noVfihdeSdj, i-n'.the moll -flouriftiing pgr ip d, ex-"
ceeded the fize and Ipopuloufpefs o f ;Mayffe|i|h9!-.iiSome|latenJt. moffveV
perhaps o f fuperftition, muff..hayp,impelled the founders, ffp-thechoice
o f a , moft unpromifing -fituation. They- etched their habitations' of
mud or ftone, in ‘a^aimphopt tv^0^1e^lp^g,and one •mi^br'aad1.at
the. foot o f three barren mopntaips r the fpU is p pqcb;. .th e^ kW even '
o f .the holy w eff.of £emzenj/jh bitter)^, brackifir;^|^e?|U|ures. are re-
.tpote from the ^ tjr ; „ and- grapes ]a.%e t^anfp^tVffibi^leveftff miffs
from the gafdenS of Tayeff The .fame and fpirit o j f / t h ^ M f f t e s ’
who reigngd ■ jn ^ e c ^ were cqnjp.icuops amonggj^'^rabhm
but tljeir ungrateful foil refufed fthe labours' o f agriqffffd^; and their
t^effpterpriffs o ftJ a fe ' By'tl^lfa ip^rt o f1
Gedda, at the.diftance only o f forty lhiles; thdy mainland 4 ' ekff'cof-
. rCfe6tp fnCe ^ T ^ y f f i n i a ; a n d f o r d e d the
* firftffefuge, to the difciples of Mahdfnet. 1 T h i '
conveyed over the peninfulajtp Ge'rrh'a of Katif in tlie'proViri§M‘f Bah-'
f city,;‘^iTt|* I K ijs;taid ^ g f roCklfalf, by"tjffe'fiafejfn^xiife rJ
a n d from thence, with the native pearls o f >the Peifian‘|tf lf ,7they 4 ere’
floated on rafts,, tp the m o u jfeo f the Euphrates. ' M p d fa 'is ”pl|ced al-
moft a t an equal diftance, a month’s' journey,'! Between Yemen’^ t h e
right and Syria on the left hand. The. former-was the. winter, the Iat-
ter the fummer ftation o f’her caravans ; ‘ and their feafonable arrival re-
lieVed the fhips of India from the tedious and troub'lefome navigation
of the Red Sea. In the markets', o f Saana and Merab'' in the harbours
of Oman and Aden, the camels of the Ko.reilhites' were- laden with a
precious cargo of aromatics ; a fupply of corn and manufadurcs was
purchafed in the fairs' o f Boftra and Damafcu's ; the lucrative exchange
diffufed plenty and riches in the ftreets o f Mecca; and the nobleft o f -
«er fons united the love o f arms with the profeffion of merchandize.”
I g g l
VOL. II. BSP1' ■ Other